(WSB photos by Ellen Cedergreen)
Appropriately enough, a West Seattle moviehouse with history was the place today to kick off a celebration about history – On the eve of the 100th anniversary of Washington women winning the right to vote (HistoryLink.org tells the story here), West Seattle Democratic Women screened a suffragette saga at Admiral Theater. Above, WSDW chair Karen Chilcutt, who told the audience before the screening of “Iron-Jawed Angels,” “If it weren’t for them, we — in this room, couldn’t vote.” About 75 people turned out, mingling before the film:
Afterward, Alki’s Libby Carr led a discussion – she’s at center here, with Fran Presley and Donna Stewart:
At the info table, WSDW secretary Sue Backs(left) and treasurer Beth Grieser, as the group accepted new memberships today.
On November 8, 1910, Washington became the fifth state to grant women the right to vote. That was almost a full decade before the 19th Amendment was ratified in summer 1920. The anniversary will be marked in Olympia tomorrow with Day of Jubilation activities – the schedule is on the Washington Women’s History Consortium homepage. Then WSDW has a big party at the West Seattle Golf Course on Friday night, “highlighting the success and struggle of women in Washington State history,” as their announcement puts it, with period costumes welcome, hat/dress fashion shows planned, recognition of women in politics, and more, $25, reservations at wsdwomen@yahoo.com or 206-935-3216.
3 more weekend scenes to share: Kevin McClintic shared that photo after happening onto the mobile cancer-screening van at 35th and Henderson on Saturday – one of the periodic free-screening days for non-insured/underinsured women 40-65 offered by West Seattle Community Clinic. The next one is January 8th; Kevin says the clinic staff told him they’ll likely start taking appointments around the first of next month (937-9722). Moving ahead to this morning’s West Seattle Farmers’ Market:
The Kiwanis Club of West Seattle not only is selling tickets to its traditional December 4th pancake breakfast (details here), it’s also loaning wagons to families to help them get around the market while they shop – so next time you go, look for Kiwanis volunteers and little red wagons! Meantime, this afternoon at Lafayette Elementary:
Lafayette parent Luckie shared photos from the Sports Swap – as reported here on Saturday morning, this is part of an intensive fundraising process in Phase 2 of the school’s playground renovations, now called the Play It Forward Project. Volunteers are working to raise $100,000 to match a city grant that’ll go away in two months if they’re not successful. Regarding today’s sale, Luckie says, “I’m not sure how we did money-wise, but we sold a bunch of stuff!”
Several West Seattle Crime Watch reports to share this afternoon, starting with this one from Cassandra:
Recently sighted three men breaking into home on corner of 10th Ave. and SW Elmgrove St. They were surprised by the homeowner¹s landscapers. The three men fled on foot heading south bound down alley between 10th Ave. and 9th Ave. Occurred approximately 1:15pm. Police have been notified.
The skull you see with Jeff Hogan from Killer Whale Tales is labeled “please touch!” – just one of the welcoming aspects of the first-ever OrcaFest, happening right now at Alki Bathhouse. KWT is a co-sponsor of OrcaFest, as is Donna Sandstrom‘s Whale Trail organization:
Jeff and Donna are both West Seattleites – and both devoted to making sure people of all ages come to know and love Puget Sound’s orcas even more than they do now. (Donna’s group has just won a matching-fund grant for more local signs to tell the orcas’ tale, as we reported here.) The tree that Donna’s standing next to in our photo, by the way, is being decorated with cut-out orcas, onto which you are welcome to write your vision for our whales as they continue their journey toward recovery:
There are lots of other interactive activities and exhibits at OrcaFest – admission free, but there are opportunities for you to donate to the nonprofits that are making this happen (other groups on hand include Seal Sitters) – you also have the chance to see whale bones in a Seattle Aquarium setup (volunteer Darcie will be happy to help you guess which human bones they correspond to). OrcaFest is scheduled to continue till 3 pm. ADDED 2:16 PM: Duwamish singing and drumming welcomed and blessed visitors in the first hour of OrcaFest:
At the Duwamish Tribe’s West Seattle home – the Longhouse at 4705 West Marginal Way – you can learn even more about orcas this Wednesday night at 7, during a presentation by NOAA’s Brad Hanson, sponsored by The Whale Trail (admission $5; tickets available online; ticket link and more info here).
One year after the murder of Seattle Police Officer Tim Brenton, Saturday night’s Seattle Police Foundation awards banquet honored the West Seattle High School graduate posthumously, as well as honoring the survivor of the deadly ambush and many SPD personnel who played a role in the response and the investigation. Other officers and SPD staff with West Seattle ties were honored in the annual awards event too – read on for photos and details:Read More
The first day of Pacific Standard Time dawns to spectacular sunshine, and you have many reasons to get out of the house, among them: Celebrate Puget Sound’s resident orcas, and their traditional fall return to the central sound, at the first-ever OrcaFest presented by Killer Whale Tales and The Whale Trail, 11 am-3 pm at Alki Bathhouse … Also on the West Seattle waterfront: The WS Wildlife Habitat Project‘s native-plant demo garden at Seacrest needs some fall love, 10 am … Two extra reasons to go to the West Seattle Farmers’ Market: Among the local groups scheduled to be there are West Seattle Hi-Yu (selling these ornaments) and Kiwanis Club of West Seattle (selling tickets for the December 4th pancake breakfast) … Furry Faces Foundation has a wine and art fundraiser this afternoon, 3-6 pm, at Ola Salon – read all about it (including winery links) in the WSB Forums … Commemorate the centennial of women’s voting rights in our state with West Seattle Democratic Women, planning a movie and discussion at Admiral Theater (new start time, 4:30 pm) …
SDOT was scheduled to resume guardrail repair on the Alaskan Way Viaduct tomorrow, related to a recent crash. Now you can expect to see repair crews soon in a different spot, after two crashes that closed The Viaduct southbound for a while early today. In the first one, police say a woman was speeding when she smashed into the wall, sending a chunk of its concrete down onto 2 parked cars below. Then one of the fire trucks on the scene – with no one inside at the time – got rear-ended by an allegedly under-the-influence driver. Police tell the tangled two-crash tale on SPD Blotter.
“The epicenter of the achievement gap in Seattle.” If you watch that video clip from our partners at the Seattle Times, you will hear West Seattle Elementary fourth-grader teacher Chrissie Coxon use that phrase. In the start of a special series of Times stories, she discusses how they are working to close it – and her hopes for her students. The Times also reports that because of implementation of the mandated transformation plan for West Seattle Elementary, which must shake itself out of being one of the lowest-performing schools in the state, about half of last year’s teaching staff chose to leave. Find the Times’ first story here.
That was fast. Tonight the WSB inbox yielded news of activity at the former Café Revo, which is apparently going to become a “Mediterranean-influenced” restaurant called Avalon. There’s no business license or liquor-license application in that name yet, but we did find social-media accounts for its apparent owners, mentioning the purchase and hopes of opening next month. We have messages out to see what more they can tell us.
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