Boswell: "Sir, what is the chief Virtue?"Johnson: "Courage, Sir. Without it, opportunity to exercise the others will be found wanting."Now more than ever this nation must find the courage to ask hard questions, and demand clear answers, about the Iraq war.Did the Bush Administration deceive the American public in the run-up to war? Is deceiving our country into war an impeachable offense?We believe, on both counts, the answer is yes.There is considerable, credible information on record to support such a conclusion. We believe President Bush, in a well-orchestrated campaign, sold this country into an unnecessary, incompetently conducted war based not on sound policy but personal pathology. This Administration was not the hapless victim of faulty intelligence - this is an administration of hyper-intentionality. As former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill stated: "From the very beginning there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go.... It was all about finding a way to do it." The integrity of our democracy demands that we not ignore evidence of pre-war deception.
ALICIA APPLE"Oh, gosh ... years ago. I think that it was such a novelty when I was a kid. I work at Pasta and Co., and people are always coming in to get food for their flights. Flying is more of a hassle now than a ride. Yeah, you get across the country in three hours, but you spend at least two hours in the airport waiting to get on the plane."MOUSSA SAMB"Yes, actually. I used to go to the airport and just think about my destination. Back in 2000 it was fun to fly. I am from Senegal, West Africa, and I could bring home anything that I wanted. Now, I am pretty restricted."
Linda Terry lives with 90 other residents at Center West on Third West and Mercer.Center West is a Seattle Housing Authority project, and most of the folks living there are seniors and/or disabled.But whatever impairments some of the residents may have, their love of natural beauty has not been affected.Terry noted there is a small space for a garden just outside the building in a patio area; and that she and some other residents are trying to beautify the space."They never really did anything with it [the small area] at all. There were trees there, and they have been [recently] cut down. They left the stumps. Before we started [the fledgling garden] there was just heather there."But all of that is changing.Terry and two other residents, Susan Irwin and Jack Griffith, planted some flowers. And Terry and her friends don't want to stop there."We have paid for what has been done so far [out of their own pockets]. In a perfect world we'd get rid of the tree stumps, but all we have are those little dollar shovels. If anyone has some garden tools they no longer want, or old tools they have recently replaced, we would love to have them."
"Opera you haven't heard before," proclaims Off-Center Opera, and it delivers on that score. Indeed, your stereotypical tuxed or evening-gowned Seattle Opera-goer might blanch at a production where the cast appears in slightly shined-up street clothes, where the line "cut the s--t" mixes with a soprano's arabesque flutter over the three syllables in "Haagen-Dazs." And the libretto, from National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates, lightly gussies up the infamous Chappaquiddick incident, where Sen. Ted Kennedy drove off a bridge and the young woman riding with him ended up dead, though not necessarily drowned, leaving, many observers agree, a permanent crimp in the senator's plans for higher offices and profiles.In real life Kennedy picked up Mary Jo Kopechne from a party celebrating her service as one of the "Boiler Room Girls," instrumental in the late Robert Kennedy's presidential bid. "Black Water" erases that motivation - the Senator (John Bumbalo) shows up as a favor to his crony Roy (Laird M. Thornton) - and switches the action to the Fourth of July, allowing springboarding on the idea of "freedom," much of it less noble than the Founding Fathers' visions. The Senator sees "a holiday from politics ... I'm one of you today," he croons about the assembled (bringing up the question of what he is when he isn't "one of you").
Richard Wagner's work may be missing from Seattle Opera's regular lineup this year, but it will be the only thing on the menu during the company's first International Wagner Competition on Aug. 19.Ardent Wagnerians and anyone who loves good opera will have an ideal opportunity to be among the first to check out eight up-and-coming young Wagner singers from around the world, according to Rebecca Chawgo. Seattle Opera's individual-giving and information-services officer also noted that the competition offers a taste of nine Wagner operas, which represent the bulk of his works."For people who like Wagner or want to get an overview of his work, the arias selected are like Wagner's greatest hits," Chawgo said. "The pieces run the gamut: 'Tristan and Isolde,' 'Der Meistersinger,' 'The Ring'..."Chawgo, who helps plan donor events, has been involved with the competition since its genesis a couple of years ago. The concept arose during a conversation Chawgo was having with Speight Jenkins, Seattle Opera's general director, and Peter Kazaras, artistic director of the company's Young Artists Program. Chawgo, who heads the Wagner Reserve Fund established in 2004 to help fund Seattle Opera's productions of Wagner's work, had brought up the issue of how to inject some Wagner into the season.
Launched as a part of a national campaign to raise awareness of gay issues, Queer People of Color (QPOC) will present "Within," the second in a three-part series of theatrical performances called the Queer People of Color Liberation Project at the University of Washington Ethnic Cultural Center, 3940 Brooklyn Ave. N.E., on Sunday, Aug. 27.The series highlights the multitude of experiences and concerns of queer people of color, giving those connected to the community an opportunity to meet other like-minded people and those who are unfamiliar a chance to hear some first-hand viewpoints. Each performance is a work-in-progress, developed through workshops and story-sharing. They are each about an hour long, followed by post-play discussion."Each show is different, and each show addresses a different theme," said Joanne Alcantara, Queer Network project manager of the Asian and Pacific Islander Women & Family Safety Center, who spearheaded the project.
Summer is the time for swimming in Lake Washing-ton, for juicy red watermelons, for sunscreen, for barbecues, for the Blue Angels, for sunglasses and for Seattle to have several (nearly) rainless months. It's a time for our city to rejuvenate itself and stock up on sunshine for the winter ahead.So why are a group of teenagers performing a tragedy about death, betrayal, blood and ambition? Macbeth" started rehearsal at Seattle Public Theater at the Green Lake Bathhouse with this question, posed by director Shana Bestock, in the first week of rehearsal. Usually, the question of "Why perform Shakespeare?" is answered by, "Because there is fencing, treachery and deceit!" or "Because the poetry is beautiful!" But this August, we're given new reasons for putting on "Macbeth.""Where violent sorrow seems a modern ecstasy...."These words, spoken by the character Ross in "Macbeth," refer to the violence in Scotland during Macbeth's rule. However, the line also can describe Seattle's tumultuous summer. Violent sorrows have been everywhere - from the shooting of two hikers in Washington to the attack on the Jewish Federation in downtown Seattle.
This fall, expect to hear a lot about "SPACE in Fremont," a new community art installation made possible entirely due to the dogged determination of Fremont artist Jessica Randall. (To learn details about the art, visit the "SPACE" project link at www.fremontartscouncil.org. To learn about the force behind this huge, collaborative and purely volunteer effort, read on.)Jessica doesn't exhibit the outrageous personality or flamboyant style expected of artists or Fremonsters. Instead, a capable, hard-working exterior contains a depth of persistence and endurance that cannot be stopped. You may as well work with her or get out of the way.Jessica has done civic projects like "SPACE" before, but "not of this size," she said. She's worked on projects in other countries and encountered political, funding and police difficulties, although never the logistical problems she's had here.
St. Anne Nursing & Rehabilitation Center counts three centenarians among its residents. Margaret Hurley was born on Aug. 9, 1901; she just turned 105.Rose Belland also is 105. And Margaret Egerer is 103. The three women cannot recall much of their histories, but they are very present. They have firm handshakes and healthy laughs.Does a good sense of humor help?"I couldn't be myself; I'd be a wreck," Hurley said. She wore a pair of headphones plugged into an amplifier the size of an mp3 player. A small microphone for the speaker to hold was plugged into the amp.Full of personalityHurley grew up around Bay City, Mich., and later in Yakima, Wash. She was one of the youngest of eight. She has a son and daughter, Jim and Gerry, and nine grandchildren, all of whom live in the Seattle area.Her memory is hazy, but not her personality. Hurley thinks she was married twice, but quickly added, "It sounds like I was flitting around, but there was no flitting."Her soft eyes search the room, but she can only recall one husband's name, Jim Hurley. He played bridge competitively and obsessively. At night, he would go over bridge hands with her, she said.Hurley grew sick of hearing about bridge after a while. "I had diapers to think of," she said. "I was fed up with it, but he was a prince of a man."
You'd think that somebody would have warned us. When we were first out of our cradles, some kind mentor should have laid down a few precepts for coping with a world that, a poet once wrote, is "so full of a number of things" we should all be happy as kings.It's that "number of things" which is the sticking point. Unlike kings, we don't all have huge castles in which to keep the things.For instance, our advisor should have told us never to buy a house with more than two rooms, no matter how many people might be housed there, because, as a matter of course, we'd furnish all those rooms, leaving us, at some point in our lives, having to unfurnish them.We should have been warned, as well, never to accept inheritances of any goods that are larger than a breadbox - a very small one. No sets of antique china or ginger jar vases. No French armoires. No plush albums with photos of long-gone and now unidentifiable ancestors. Travel souvenirs would have warranted another warning. The Mexican bark paintings, the camel seat from that Moroccan bazaar, brass rubbings, masks and other reminders of happy vacations and overseas sojourns.Collections? A wise advisor would have suggested the avoidance of any collectibles larger than thimbles.
Two of Robin Hood's merrier men reveal themselves, upon not-at-all-close inspection, as merry women-just one of the pleasant surprises of Theater Schmeater's "Robin Hood" extravaganza staged in Volunteer Park near the conservatory. Midge (Britt Boyd) and Jamie (Adrienne Mays) scout the scrub, reconnoiter, inform their master and work sword and quarterstaff with aplomb. Not the stuff of typical renditions, but no definitive text exists on the deft rebel bowman of Sherwood. The director, Beth Peterson, working from a script by David Richmond, obviously feels women get the short end of the (quarter-) staff in ass-kickage and aims for amends. Also cross-cast: Allan a Dale (or Alan a Dale depending on where in the program one reads), the blithe minstrel quickly made merry by Robin. This tosses a saucy counterspin on "his" covetous eyeing of the barmaid Roxy (Boyd again). In this kid-friendly and everyone-welcome "Hood," songmeister and barmaid settle for eyeing each other over solicitations involving other body parts. On the other hand, the Merry Men decide on assuaging their tensions as wanted men over a few tankards at the local tavern. Roxy, after all, must make her entrance somewhere.
The teachers, lessons and surroundings are different. So are the expectations.The changes - and potential stresses - are significant for students making the milestone leaps between elementary, middle school, high school and college.Pre-teens entering middle school must leave the cozy comfort of a single classroom to go to a bigger building with multiple subjects and teachers. Young teens entering high school must balance greater academic and social pressures as they look ahead to college. High-school seniors face a state graduation test, college requirements, career choices and separation from parents as they enter adulthood.To help bridge these big transitions, Bertie Conrad, a school-based counseling supervisor at Youth Eastside Services, has these words of wisdom.
Ever since the 2001 Nisqually earthquake cracked and weakened the Alaskan Way Viaduct, we as a city have faced a serious problem which will take serious money to solve. Serious, as in billions of dollars. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels knew what he wanted right away: tear down the viaduct, replace it with a tunnel, repair the seawall, open up waterfront property to new development and fold in improvements for Mercer and Aurora north of the Battery Street Tunnel to enhance South Lake Union. Eventually, given the $5 billion price tag, the tunnel was shortened and plans for South Lake Union put on hold, bringing the cost down to a mere $3.6 billion. That is, if you don't think cost overruns will happen here.PlansMeanwhile, citizens groups have come up with alternatives: the rebuild, the retrofit and the surface-only plan. The rebuild means replacing the current viaduct with a better-engineered structure in the same "footprint" along Alaskan Way at a cost of about $2.1 billion. Like the tunnel, the rebuild involves shutting down State Route 99 for up to seven years, while displacing some 110,000 cars that regularly drive the viaduct each day. But it's a lot less expensive and the state legislature has put cash on the barrelhead for the rebuild.The retrofit is the least expensive alternative and the least disruptive to freight movement, to commuter traffic from Ballard and West Seattle and to current businesses located on the waterfront. In spite of eight reputable engineers who have made the case for the retrofit at a cost of under $1 billion, the Washington State Department of Transportation has cold-shouldered this option.The surface-only plan makes the radical proposal to tear down the viaduct and not replace it at all while making various improvements to the street grid to absorb spillover and expanding bus and rail service. By not building it, they believe that many of the car trips will simply disappear as has occurred in other cities eliminating major thruways. This alternative is not as cheap as it might seem: $1.6 billion by proponents' estimates.
Saying there is a lot of development in the works on Capitol Hill is something of a mild understatement. But while much of the attention has understandably been focused on Broadway, especially the former QFC and Safeway sites at the north end of the street, a great deal of new construction is under way along the Pike-Pine corridor.Consider The Braeburn, on East Pine Street between 13th and 14th avenues, a 159-unit condominium project. Or the Walgreens-Capitol Hill Housing joint effort well under way at the corner of Broadway and East Pine Street. Several other large developments are in their early stages as well. An 80-unit project with ground-level retail is being planned for 1500 East Madison Street, where Thumpers now stands. A huge mixed-use project is slated for most of the block that is now home to BMW of Seattle, between Harvard and Boylston avenues and Pike and Pine streets.But arguably the most dramatic changes are taking place along 12th Avenue. Looking south from East Pike Street and you'll immediately notice a great deal of activity already in progress. Several large projects, along with considerable renovation, will likely transform an area that, if urban density is a desirable neighborhood goal, could be considered underutilized.
It's the dog days of summer, and if you have young children, you know it's time to start thinking about back-to-school - and back to the formation of the "great pile": school art projects, homework assignments and permission slips that collect on kitchen counters, creating clutter that never seems to go away. You can help you and your family prepare for the new school year by spending some time getting organized now. Remember, getting organized is not just going through and clearing the piles, but also creating a system to prevent the clutter from forming in the first place. Here are some tips to help you get started.