It would be impossible to summarize the storied life of North End resident Danila DellaGuardia and do it justice. In just 27 years, her eyes have witnessed war and bloodshed in her homeland of Eritrea. She has sought refuge in Sudan and lived through the unimagineable - the murder of her younger brother, Rico. What is most impressive about DellaGuardia, however, is not her story, but her undeniable sense of optimism and eager spirit. She carried that positive attitude into this year's Miss Eritrea competition, which took place in July in Burien. The nationwide-competition is in its second year. Embracing diversityDellaGuardia and her family arrived in America in 1983. After fleeing Eritrea during a long-tenured war with neighboring Ethiopia, her family found brief refuge in Sudan. When she was 4, her mother, father and three brothers finally left Sudan and landed in Seattle. The family arrived as a part of the growing population of Eritrean people in the Northwest during the 1980s. "I love Seattle and the people here," said DellaGuardia, who shares a dual heritage of Eritrean and Italian. Her mother, Belainesh Habtai, is fully Eritrean, while her father, Luigi, is of Italian decent. "There are a lot of different cultures in Seattle, and everyone embraces the diversity openly," she said.In recent years, the local Eritrean community has made major efforts both locally and nationally to reconnect those living in different parts of America.
The heavily-used North and Northeast 45th Street, crossing both Wallingford and the University District, is scheduled to receive entirely new pavement beginning as soon as possible.The paving of 45th is part of a Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) program to improve Seattle's streets. This Arterial Asphalt and Concrete Program is comprised of a series of locations chosen by SDOT's pavement and engineering section each summer.Factors for qualification include pavement conditions, volume and type of traffic, and even the concerns of businesses and residents around the affected area.According to the Seattle Department of Transportation's website, 45th is a prime area to improve pavement conditions as well as pedestrian safety.Project delayed due to strikeJessica Murphy, the SDOT project manager, is anxious for the project to start. According to Murphy, the project was scheduled to start this month, but was delayed to due to concrete workers striking."The project will begin as soon as the strike is over, and will continue until spring 2007," she said. [The strike officially ended Friday, Aug. 25.]Fortunately, according to Wallingford Chamber of Commerce co-president, Kara Ceriello, the construction will take a holiday break beginning in November.
The security staff at the Frye Art Museum are seeing a lot of new, younger faces pouring in to see the exhibit, "Henry Darger: Highlights from the American Folk Art Museum." And indeed, there is much to attract a younger crowd. Henry Darger used images from popular culture to tell his story in his own unique process in much the same way that a cool, urban hipster combines digital photos with other media files. Divided in to four sections - Nature, Violence, The Figure and Painter - an overwhelming sense of massiveness in artistic output and creative activity pervades the exhibit. Set in a somewhat sterile, clinical display of paintings, drawings, manuscripts and ephemera, the essence of Darger's complicated story comes through. And Darger's story, both personal and artistic, is fascinating. A self-taught artist and lifelong recluse, Henry Darger lived alone in a poor, nondescript Chicago rooming house and worked manual labor jobs at local hospitals. It was only after his death in 1973 at 82 that anyone became aware of what his life's work was as it lay in towers of paper in the cramped airless room. Included was a 15,000-page illustrated manuscript titled "The Story of the Vivian Girls, In What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal."The scope of his artwork is guessed to be in the realm of several hundred watercolors, drawings and collages of various sizes. Darger never received recognition for his work during his lifetime. In many ways, that is the way we prefer to treat artists by relegating them to the clichéd myth of the bohemian artist. This story is as old as modernism in art. Alone, the artist works in a threadbare room creating visions unrecognized by the public until, poor and in ill health, they die. Van Gogh, Modigliani and Darger belong to this tradition. It is a sad state of affairs when we prefer our artists, poor and deceased, before we can enjoy their work. That said, Darger never let on that he was an artist during his life.
America is growing like Topsy, or so it seems.Wild, almost weedlike.McPaper - I mean USA Today -bannered that fact in a front-page headline early in July.The reason national media trendster folk are noting our national growth is that this year we are approaching a population of 300 million people. We're expected to cross that particular numerical finish line in early October.We are growing faster than at any time since census takers started collecting extensive data early in the last century.In 1915, 91 years ago, America was a country of 100 million people. Pundits of the day pronounced shock and amazement.But 100 million was just the beginning. By 1950 there were 150 million of us. And in fact, that rise was nothing compared to what we Baby Boomers were going to do.Between 1946 and 1964 another 50 million of us came onto the American scene.In 1967, America's population was 200 million. Now, 39 years later, the country has added another 100 million people.Naysayers are worried about immigrants and immigration, legal and illegal, but I am all for letting in damn near anyone who wants to come. New blood, new life.Plus, there has always been an outcry and prejudice toward the newest Americans.Nowadays, many of my Irish-American brethren are police officers, but in 1850 the most dangerous, bloody-minded gangs in New York City were overwhelmingly Irish, including the Dead Rabbits, who got their name by nailing dead hares to large signboards and carrying the deceased bunnies as calling cards before they beat the upright citizens' brains out.
Craig KelsoYes, although I'm not up here at night. Plus, we have lesbians at the coffee shop to protect us (See Lindsey). Never cross a lesbian!Lindsey EltonI work here and spend all my time here. I feel safe most of the time. I have been harassed. The crime is getting worse. The crime is getting random and it's not petty crime anymore. The police aren't being proactive. I don't walk down the alleys anymore. I've seen super creepy stuff in the alleys.
The Comet Tavern, a venerable watering hole at 722 E. Pike St., has a new owner. Chris Dasef now owns the Capitol Hill landmark, having previously owned the Park Pub on Phinney Ridge, Temple Billiards in Pioneer Square and Chop Suey on Capitol Hill."I took over on Aug. 4," Dasef said. "My birthday." He is acting as manager while the sale is still pending. A grand-reopening celebration took place on Saturday, Aug. 26.An oft-used word that appears in many of the tavern's descriptions is "dive." It is generally used as an endearing term, rather than one of condemnation. And most people smile when The Comet is mentioned."It's actually one of the top 10 dives in the United States," Dasef boasted, citing various publications. "I like that aspect of it. It just won't be a dirty dive anymore."Stuff Magazine indeed declared the Comet one of the 20 Best Dive bars in the country in January 2004. High praise to be sure, but "dive" is a pretty vague word these days. It no longer carries the connotation of drunks being shanghaied out the back door.There will be some changes at the local watering hole. Some cosmetic work has already been done at the tavern, mostly involving paint, removing clutter and applying healthy portions of elbow grease. Many reviews of the tavern also include the word dirty, a description that Dasef wants to toss on the dust pile of history."It's going to be a cleaned up dive," Dasef declared.Even so, the Comet Tavern has the familiar look and feel that it had 35 years ago, and would probably not look much different to a patron who attended the opening of the joint (joint used in a legal way, of course) in 1948. A small, second level above the bathrooms and storage, where the pinball machine is, was added in the early 1970s. In those days, long before the state's smoking ban, it was referred to as "the cloud room."
So the race is on. For the 43rd District's legislative seat, that is. The upcoming primary election may or may not have generated overwhelming passion throughout the city, but the 43rd district has a genuine contest on hand. When longtime incumbent Ed Murray announced he would seek the senate seat held by Pat Thibaudeau (who then chose not to seek reelection), the seat became open for the first time since 1995. The district includes the vast majority of Capitol Hill, as well as the University District, Wallingford, Fremont and downtown Seattle.Six democrats filed for the chance to fill Murray's Position 1 shoes. (In Position 2, house speaker Frank Chopp once again is running unopposed.) Realistically, the primary decides the contest. The district is overwhelmingly democratic. The Republican challenger is University of Washington sophomore Hugh Foskett, who, if the past is any indication, has little chance: Murray won reelection in 2004 with 86 percent of the vote, Chopp with a shade under 85 percent.Earlier this week a candidate's forum at Seattle University provided a chance to see all six Democratic candidates at the same time. Roughly 35 people, mostly students, attended the Monday, Aug. 28, event.
On one of the hottest days of a fading summer, the Uptown Stroll celebrated the arts and artists in Counterbalance Park on Queen Anne on Aug. 26.From poetry to pottery, painters to plays and crafty ladies to city officials, the Stroll had something for everyone. Dozens of artists painted scenes in the park and along Queen Anne Avenue. Thespians strolled the labyrinth at St. Paul's and thrilled one and all with Julie Newberry's play "The Wine of the Reluctant Prince." The Seattle Glee Club gave a rousing performance, and King County Council member Larry Phillips presented a $50,000 check for Uptown's new Counterbalance Park to an approving crowd.But in the end, it was all about the artists.... Three jurors - Bob Purser, Lars Husby and Ellen Borison - made tough decisions, and three winners emerged from the crowd of contenders.
I have often used this space as a therapy session for myself. Yes, you poor people have been the unwitting recipients of my psychological effluvia. You have probably already sensed this on some level. I hope I've not done any damage to your psyches, or have deterred any of you from having children of your own after reading about some of the exploits of my offspring.Having said that, I apologize beforehand for whatever damage may befall you by reading the following. It's about my son, but then you probably already knew that was coming as it's been approximately two weeks since he's done something column-worthy. It's time to tell you about yet another mind-bogglingly stupid action that my son took this week.First, let me inform you that, being of semi-sound minds and stretch-marked bodies, we purchased a trampoline for our children. We believed the advertisements that touted the health benefits for our little ones.We wanted them to be active and healthy and not couch potatoes. We made this purchase out of the innocent good intentions of our hearts. We pooh-pooh'd the worries of friends and family. "Aren't you scared that your son will do something stupid and paralyze himself, thereby necessitating 24-hour care and a respirator for the rest of his life?"Nooooo. We're good. We even bought one of those safety nets that entirely surround the trampoline so that no one can fall off and break her neck.
I have been so focused lately on Seattle's growth, Mike McGavick's extraordinary retirement bonus and Mel Gibson's anti-Semitism that I've missed - and you, faithful reader, may have missed - a whole slew of interesting little news and feature items from here, there and everywhere in the crazed world we share.The Blue Moon, an ancient and honorable watering hole and musical venue on the west side of the University District, has finally come to some sort of agreement with our goodly-sized mayor's office and will be allowed to continue to do business. The city was trying to close the venerable tav down, citing alleged problems with drug dealers the bar denied hosting.Cynics in the area thought maybe it was the fact that the Moon's clientele don't generally look like condo owners with tiny dogs of unpronounceable breed waiting outside coffeehouses, yapping away merrily, a form of noise pollution the new Seattle, Queen Anne division, doesn't seem to mind much at all.
"Summer's leaves hath too short a date."Shakespeare got that right. The last days of August are like the remaining drops of a fine wine. I wish they could be corked. The evenings have been especially beautiful as the earlier dusk settles over the sound, and the sky over the Olympics flushes nectarine.August 2006, we're told, is the driest on record. We've had one-one hundredth of an inch of rain-a single splat on your big toe-rather than our normal half-inch. School starts Sept. 6-the real end of summer. I still feel a certain chill when I see the kids trudging off to the September classrooms. As a 10-year-old it felt as if I'd been recaptured by pirates.For us older folks, before that happens, there's Bumbershoot Sept. 2-4. Bumbershoot takes a lot of heat from the hipsters for being too commercial and too middle class. I'm not so sure.This year's headliners include Kanye West, Blondie and the Steve Miller Band, but beneath those marquee names there's a lot of musical talent. It could be worse: Herman's Hermits are playing the Puyallup Fair.
A drunken Renton man in a jealous rage allegedly stabbed a University District man in the back of the knee at the south entrance of the Queen Anne Dick's around 1:45 in the morning on Saturday. It was a week ago to the day when a shooting that wounded a Queen Anne man took place outside the same restaurant. The latest attack happened after the victim and a Magnolia woman walking on the street saw the Renton man in a heated argument with his girlfriend next to the Key Bank across the street from Dick's, according to the police report.The victim and the Magnolia woman were concerned that the Renton man was going to attack his girlfriend, so the victim walked over and tried to intercede. But the Renton man's girlfriend refused any assistance, and the victim and his female friend walked across the street to Dick's.And just as the victim got to the door at Dick's, the Renton man came up behind him without warning and stabbed him in the back of the knee, according to the police report.
A week's worth of filming wrapped up a couple weeks ago at Victory Studios in Interbay for a new movie about Marilyn Monroe. It's a full-length biopic that stars Queen Anne actress and singer Sunny Thompson, a woman who bears an eerie resemblance to the famous movie star.Written originally in the 1980s as an award-winning play by her husband, Greg Thompson of Greg Thompson Productions on 15th Avenue West, the story takes place during the last photography shoot Monroe did before she died more than four decades ago."This is a very, very famous photo sitting she did," said Kelly Johnston, executive producer. And the dialogue was woven together using only quotes from Monroe, she added. Monroe starts out upbeat at the photo shoot, but she's drinking the whole time and gets drunker and drunker, and also starts popping pills, Johnston said. And she's a mess by the end as she talks to the photographer about the men in her life and everything that has happened to her."First, she really has no regrets; she did what she had to," Johnston said. "But there's still that desperation. All she wanted to be was loved, but she was used by everybody." It was her idea to film the play, Johnston said of the $350,000 production. "I've actually been working with Greg for two years on this project," she added.However, it's not the first time filming the play has been discussed. HBO optioned it in the mid-1980s for a movie, but HBO wanted to add characters such as Monroe's husband Joe DiMaggio and have Greg write dialogue for them, he said. Thompson wasn't interested, he said."Then they (HBO) sold it to BBC," Greg said of the option. "They came to me in 1995 and also wanted me to add characters," he remembers. "So I got it back."But the movie isn't the same as the original play, said Seattle Shakespeare Company artistic director Stephanie Shine, who was the director for the filming. "It's been completely rewritten and developed over the past 18 months," she said.
Talk about a commute. Jamie Moyer plans to keep his home and the foundation named after him in Magnolia even though he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.The Moyer Foundation was formed in 2000, said Sandy Murray, the organization's communications director. "The foundation came out of Karen and Jamie's passion for caring for children in distress," she of the all-star pitcher and his wife.Jamie and Karen Moyer financed the start of the foundation, which is located above the Porcelain Gallery in Magnolia Village. "But most of our funds are raised with public support," Murray said.The nonprofit foundation has been remarkably successful, too. "Over the past five years, the foundation has raised more than $9 million to support children in distress through grants and our key initiatives," she said.
Talk about a commute. Jamie Moyer plans to keep his home and the foundation named after him in Magnolia even though he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies (see letter on page 3).The Moyer Foundation was formed in 2000, said Sandy Murray, the organization's communications director. "The foundation came out of Karen and Jamie's passion for caring for children in distress," she of the all-star pitcher and his wife.Jamie and Karen Moyer financed the start of the foundation, which is located above the Porcelain Gallery in Magnolia Village. "But most of our funds are raised with public support," Murray said.The nonprofit foundation has been remarkably successful, too. "Over the past five years, the foundation has raised more than $9 million to support children in distress through grants and our key initiatives," she said.