"I'm kind of scared about moving west because I know we're going to run into problems," said worried fifth-grader Deanna Cunningham."We are off to the Oregon Territory with my wife and kids. While we go, [our friends] wave goodbye. Hopefully, we will all survive," said Angel Sandoval.From a fifth grader's perspective of what life on the Oregon Trail might have been like, Deanna and Angel aren't far off the mark on what settlers would have been experienced in 1851. This past spring, children at Olympic Hills Elementary School, 13018 20th Ave. N.E., recalled their adventures through a creative writing and drawing exercise based on their re-enactment of a day in the life of a settler on the Oregon Trail. Through the process of experimental learning, the Olympic Hill students relived history by literally recreating it in their own back yard. By utilizing a simulation project in which students actually constructed their own wagons - in this case, "little, red" wagons - and developed scenarios for different settler families, students invested in learning history in a very personal way.
Local musicians, bands and songwriters of all styles get their chance to shine in Radiance, a new concert series on Wednesdays at Tower Records stores in the University District and Queen Anne."We want to give these people a chance to radiate into the community," said Travis Anderson, Tower Records' Northwest/Hawaii events coordinator. "Word has spread really quickly, and the response has been nothing but positive."Anderson, a musician himself, started the series this summer to give talented, yet relatively unknown, musicians in the area a chance to perform, get heard and sell records.
When John James Audubon started his documentation of the birds of North America, we as a society developed an interest in the natural world. The annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition brings together some of the best nature pictures taken internationally and showcases these images in a world-touring exhibit. The BBC Wildlife Magazine and The Natural History Museum of London run the annual competition. Aimed at an audience of all ages, this exhibition of wildlife photography makes a global tour of museums, galleries and other venues each year, gracing the University of Washing-ton's Burke Museum for the first time this summer.
Greg Nickels did something amazing recently: The man who would be Pothole King asked the public what it thinks about our crummy roads and decrepit bridges.Sure, he's using a public survey of the so-called "dirty dozen" worst street scenes to promote a 20-year, $1.8 billion tax measure. I mean, the guy is seriously into pricey legacies. Take the Seattle Big Dig (sorry, the Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel), for example.But the fact that Hizzoner wants to get advice from the citizenry means a lot, especially since he seems supremely disinclined to do the same thing for the Seattle City Council. I suspect Seattleites will have plenty of ideas on their own. After all, complaining about the city is such an integral part of "the process" here. The survey (sorry, complaint) results will be released this month, and the top 12 get on someone's priority, fix-it list, pending approval of the hard-sell funding package. There are bound to be some obvious favorites, such as pretty much any bridge in town. But I worry that tackling some of the other problems could change the character of the city for the worse.
Jeanne Kohl-Welles recently launched her campaign for a fourth term as a state senator from the 36th District, an area that includes Fremont and Phinney Ridge.A staunch Democrat, Kohl-Welles began her political career as a state representative, and so far she has no opponents in the Senate race. If history is any judge, she may not face one. "I haven't had an opponent since 1994," Kohl-Welles said. "But I don't take things for granted."Indeed, she noted that the filing deadline for candidates is the last week in July. But Kohl-Welles still thinks it's important to be engaged in a campaign, even if she's not squaring off against an opponent.
A citywide skate-park plan is on the boards for local Seattleites, and it could be affecting your neighborhood next.A Seattle City Council-appointed task force, along with the Seattle Parks and Recreation board, got together with members of the community on June 17 to complete what was the last in a three-part series of sessions aimed at creating a plan that would lead to the formation of more skate parks throughout the Seattle area. Site selection, budget options and existing skate facilities were just a few of the many criteria discussed at the meeting, all of which will be taken into consideration and further evaluated during the next set of meetings, scheduled to take place early this fall.A growing followingAccording to the task force's calculations, skateboarding - which has become the fastest growing sport in the nation, second to snow-boarding - is said to have an estimated 20,500 followers throughout the Seattle area. Fans of the sport, therefore, say that the two main existing facilities, at Seattle Center and the Ballard Bowl, hardly accommodate this great number.
There is a plague in our society: it's called divorce.Marriage has become viewed more commonly as a cheap arrangement-something easy to escape when one is no longer satisfied.At first, couples are deeply "in love," and imagine being together forever. Husbands and wives find out later on in their marriage that making things work is at times extremely difficult. Arguments about housework or finances ensue. Perhaps one, or even both, decide they aren't "in love" anymore, and that it's time to move onto something or someone new.There are divorces that are caused by violence or extremely high conflict in the home. Yet most divorces result from low-conflict marriages. Marriage has become so devalued that divorce is often seen as the best answer to these low-conflict marriages. Parents may think that divorce is really best for the kids so that the fighting will stop, but truly it sets a wave of traumatic changes in a child's life. The divisions start and suddenly children are being shipped around, or they may only see one of their parents once or twice a year, maybe less than that. They spend more time alone and in limbo. They are constantly trying to figure out how to act around mom and dad.The rules change between each parent.
Family reunions have been standard social events ever since the first human beings walked our planet. The desire to affiliate, to come together, is a powerful need. And, as the human species moved into modernity, the shape, style and elaborateness of the reunion evolved.If most reunions followed the kind of get togethers my clan adopted, then it was probably a one-day affair at some relative's home.Usually that relative was the gregarious member who didn't get upset when hoards of children invaded the home and tumbled about on fine furniture.They either had a large back yard for the picnic tables or an ample dining room with a considerable drop-leaf table and a couple of extra card tables for the kids to sit at-someplace distant from the old folks.Of course every attendee was obligated to bring food to share. Getting caught up on everyone's family events during the intervening years since the last reunion takes up the day. The dishes get washed, kids are collected, hugs and kisses are passed around and the group disperses.However, like all rules, there is the exception. In this case, there was a family reunion at the Christine and John Cross residence like nothing I've ever seen. It surely did not fit within the common rules for family reunions.
With Intiman's production of "Richard III" and its connection to the Wars of the Roses still very much in mind, and the wonderful roses blooming in all their glory in Magnolia and Queen Anne gardens, I am reminded of one of my favorite subjects: the roses of England. The English rose has been glorified in song and story through the ages, from Shakespeare to Robert Burns and Gertrude Stein. In the 17th century, Thomas Campion penned this verse about what an ideal woman should look like:There is a garden in her face,Where roses and white lilies grow...It's a delightfully romantic description of beauty traditionally called the English Rose, a delicate girl with translucent skin and modestly blushing cheeks.So sought after was this complexion that 17th-century court painters gave their female subjects the pink and white "look" whether they had it or not. The fashion lasted right up to the Second World War, with society photographers tinting portraits of debutantes so that even the horsiest, most weather-beaten young lady could masquerade as a fragile miss.
With Intiman's production of "Richard III" and its connection to the Wars of the Roses still very much in mind, and the wonderful roses blooming in all their glory in Queen Anne and Magnolia gardens, I am reminded of one of my favorite subjects: the roses of England. The English rose has been glorified in song and story through the ages, from Shakespeare to Robert Burns and Gertrude Stein. In the 17th century, Thomas Campion penned this verse about what an ideal woman should look like:There is a garden in her face,Where roses and white lilies growIt's a delightfully romantic description of beauty traditionally called the English Rose, a delicate girl with translucent skin and modestly blushing cheeks. So sought after was this complexion that 17th-century court painters gave their female subjects the pink and white "look" whether they had it or not. The fashion lasted right up to the Second World War, with society photographers tinting portraits of debutantes so that even the horsiest, most weather-beaten young lady could masquerade as a fragile miss.
As we savor our juicy, sweet, succulent strawberries, revel in the fresh arugula, push the basil along and dream about a ripe tomato, it just seems incongruous that we should be planning and planting our winter garden vegetables now. And by the way, just where in the lush, full overgrowth of the summer vegetable garden do we install the seeds and starts?Winter vegetables include mixed winter greens (kales, Asian greens, mustards), potatoes, winter leeks and fava beans. Combining these with the prolific summer squash (pureed and frozen), your winter soups will have pride of place at the table, and your household food budget will show some significant savings. A friend has kept meticulous production records. She calculates a savings rate of between $300 and $400 for a two-person household. This is just from the winter vegetables!
UW 2006: second time's a charm? Contrary to published rumor (News, July 12), these are the students from Queen Anne and Magnolia who graduated from the University of Washington this June. (The University had seen out a two-year old file of 2004 graduates!) - Ed., 7/19/06
Ah, yes, is what I think soon as I step from my plane into LaGuardia to catch the announcement, "Would passenger Tony Massiotti please report to baggage claim." I hear the name the way others might revisit a birdsong. It puts me right back. I imagine Tony's slick black hair and a gold cross 'round his neck, his manner wrapped in a pelt of machismo, his mother living in the row house next door.Then there's the Third World-ish feel to the airport: smaller, dingier, with stairs (stairs!) to reach baggage claim, no escalator. For a moment, I'm startled. Seconds later, recognition arrives: this is America's Old Country. How much newness, con-venience and space we grow used to on the West Coast living between minute-and-a-half-old walls. This dissimilarity between New York and Seattle, the city I now call home, prompts me to call my husband to laugh about the man next to me who is not "fighting" with his wife and she is not "fighting" with him as they yell at each other contentiously. But any number of my Seattle friends would think they were about to commit a double homicide as they lapse into a loudness that intensifies under the slightest bit of stress. I call my husband because we've had to work on this, he and I, he from the laid-back-I-never-show-emotion Scotch-Irish tradition, raised in San Francisco and, years later, finding himself married to an East Coast Italian girl impassioned easily about any old thing.
Today we're going to talk about the right way, and the wrong way, to take your cat to see the vet for the first time. The right way is to pick it up in your arms, in a nice quiet room, soothe it with your voice and place them gently inside the pet carrier. Carefully close the pet carrier door, all the while talking in dulcet tones to keep your beloved animal peaceful and feeling loved. The wrong way is how my husband attempted to do it today, which resulted in bloodshed, excrement and a chipped tooth. His, not the cat's. The chipped tooth, I mean. Also, for clarification purposes, it was the cat who had the crap literally scared out of him and not (as was the rumor) my husband. We have two cats that have not seen a vet before. One is the mother of the boy, who is the result of an unfortunate act of incest by our third cat, who is now in his fourth month of a serious time out for breeding with his sister. Happily all four kittens were born with the proper number of limbs and no extra eyes. We gave three away and kept one. The children have named this cat Twitchy.
There used to be a theory around the old Seattle (c. 1985) that the weather, the then-eight months of dripping evergreens and grimly gray over-hanging clouds, had a cooling-out effect on outsiders. As the theory went, the seemingly constant dripping rain, combined with the negative-ion-charged air, took the wind out of a lot of human sails.People would come here, hell-bent on changing Seattle and its environs, and within five or 10 years at the most these same folks were wearing flannel shirts and Levis and crowding into Elliott Bay to stock up on reading material for the long, dark winter.But that was before more than 50 percent of our fellow Seattleites were born somewhere else.We have become a city of outsiders. Someone like me, who has been here, off and on, for 20 years, can sometimes not find a trace of the sorta phlegmatically liberal little forgotten city I loved. Folks who were born here often tell me they think the city has changed more in 20 years than in the hundred years before 1980.