Meet a winner: Paul Sureddin
Last month, we announced the winners of the first quarterly West Seattle Community Recognition Awards, 
a new way to honor West Seattleites working to make a difference — the brainchild of Julie Mireille Anderson from Divina, with the nominating process open to everyone in West Seattle. As we open the next round of nominations, we are profiling the first three winners — people you may or may not have heard about or met, people whose hard work makes West Seattle a better place. Thursday, we told you about Cindi Barker from the Morgan Community Association (meet Cindi here); Friday, Larry Carpenter from the Alki Community Council and Southwest Seattle Historical Society (meet Larry here); and today, we profile Fairmount Springs community organizer Paul Sureddin, who also is webmaster for FS and MoCA:Read More
2 more politix pix: Obama crowd in Seattle, JP in Olympia
ADDED 6 PM: Thanks to Cami for sending this close-up photo from the Obama KeyArena rally:
From earlier:
That’s one more from Josh at KeyArena earlier, while Sen. Obama was speaking. If you squint at the stage on the lower right quadrant of the pic, you’ll see Rep. Adam Smith, Gov. Gregoire (in the reddish-pinkish top), and West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician (bringing that phrase back for old times’ sake) behind him. For those who asked if the speech was archived anywhere yet – just checked all four tv news sites, both dailies, plus Slog … not yet. Now, a photo from Olympia:
We told you last night that West Seattle’s state Sen. Joe McDermott was introducing a resolution today honoring Chris “JP Patches” Wedes on the 50th anniversary of the start of his classic local kids’ TV show. This pic sent by Sen. McDermott features him with Chris Wedes – sans the makeup – and the senator’s cousin Emmett Blake (“Patches Pals and West Seattleites both,” notes Sen. M). Also, he sent a link to the text of the resolution introduced today.
Meet a winner: Larry Carpenter
Last month, we announced the winners of the first quarterly West Seattle Community Recognition Awards, a new way to honor West Seattleites working to make a difference — the brainchild of Julie Mireille Anderson from Divina, with the nominating process open to everyone in West Seattle. As we open the next round of nominations, we are profiling the first three winners — people you may or may not have heard about or met, people whose hard work makes West Seattle a better place. Yesterday, we told you about Cindi Barker from the Morgan Community Association; today, Larry Carpenter from the Alki Community Council and Southwest Seattle Historical Society, who has stories galore to tell, starting with the one about the day he and his wife started the cross-country drive to get here:Read More
West Seattleites on the airwaves
-The latest WS’er featured on KUOW Radio‘s “Sound Focus” show is Katy Shaw of The RollerBlog (one of the highlighted sites on this WSB page). Have a listen: Audio links are on this page. (Two weeks ago, the same show featured Jim Edwards of West Seattle Big Band; audio links here.)
–Our Other Blogs in West Seattle page, however, will be one blog shorter soon … public-radio guy and funny, funny writer John Moe is leaving West Seattle, moving someplace far to the east (and we don’t mean Issaquah), according to various mysterious posts on his blog Monkey Disaster.
-West Seattle-based Pirate Radio is about to make another fleeting appearance. We got word recently: “We will probably be on the air February 16th starting very late in the evening and run through the 24th or so. The reason for being on this week is that we are planning to carry the 11th annual Homelessness Marathon (www.homelessnessmarathon.org) in its entirety.” Our source says they’ll be at 87.7 FM, a frequency that might not be receivable by all radios.
–Lora Lewis at Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) was excited this morning about Hotwire’s star turn earlier this week on Evening Magazine, talking about the Valentine’s matchmaking contest. No video clip online at this point but the proof is on the links page. You can see photos of some of the “sweeties” who are participating at this page on the Hotwire site; find out more at the cafe, where it will all culminate with a gathering at 5 pm 2/16.
-Last but not least – tomorrow morning around 10 am, West Seattle’s state Sen. Joe McDermott will introduce a resolution in the Senate honoring J.P. Patches, aka Chris Wedes, who will be on hand for the occasion. This marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the J.P. Patches kids’ TV show, which ran for 23 years.
Meet a winner: Cindi Barker
Last month, we announced the winners of the first quarterly West Seattle Community Recognition Awards, a new way to honor West Seattleites working to make a difference — the brainchild of Julie Mireille Anderson from Divina, with the nominating process open to everyone in West Seattle. As we open the next round of nominations, we are profiling the first three winners today, tomorrow, and Saturday — people you may or may not have heard about or met, people whose hard work makes West Seattle a better place. Today, we want to tell you about Cindi Barker from the Morgan Community Association, which has its next quarterly meeting tonight (7 pm, The Kenney); even if you don’t live in the Morgan Junction area, chances are that Cindi’s work has touched you:Read More
Reader report: Public thanks for Good Samaritans
Just out of the WSB inbox, from Amy:
Can you help me shout out to some helpful bystanders who came to my aid yesterday? My toddler, newborn and I were leaving Swedish Physicians (on California Ave & Hinds) and getting off the elevator to the parking garage when my son’s hand got trapped in the elevator door as it opened. I tried to pull it out to no avail and was screaming for help when several people arrived. One was a man holding a small child; he put the child down and managed to extricate my son’s hand. Another woman helped me push my infant’s stroller while I got my hysterical son back up to the doctor. In all the commotion I never thanked either one of them. Fortunately his hand is merely bruised, but it was very traumatic for him and for me and I really appreciate the kindness of strangers to get through a scary experience. Thank you, fellow West Seattlites!
Welcoming a new WSB sponsor: Jenaya Van Horn
Today, our traditional WSB sponsor welcome goes out to Jenaya Van Horn, MA, LMFT, CMHS, whose West Seattle practice offers individual, couple, and group therapy. As you will see on Jenaya’s ad in the right sidebar — the one that is headed SAY NO MORE! — what she offers includes EFT Coaching, and here’s what she would like you to know: “The challenges we face are part of being human. They present us with opportunities to learn more about ourselves and the possibilities that life can hold. Attending to these can give our lives greater depth and make life more meaningful. This is often described as ‘work’; however, I prefer to see it as a labor of love. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, trained in EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) and Lifespan Integration, two approaches that I have seen to be helpful in resolving depression, anxiety, relationship conflict, difficulty making or acting upon decisions, addictive or self-harming behaviors, anger, grief, trauma and transitions; more gently and quickly than talk therapy alone. If you are ready to enjoy a healthy, happy life with purpose and want to explore what you can do to make your life better or different, then let’s begin.” Thanks to Jenaya for supporting WSB; if you are interested in becoming a sponsor, the first step is to check out our Advertise page. That page lists all our current sponsors; we hope that if/when you do business with any of them, you will consider thanking them for supporting WSB, as we get closer to sustainability. Thank you, and thanks to all of them!
West Seattle teenagers reach out to help
Thanks to Mike for sending this link from today’s Times. It’s about 8 girls, described as high-school freshmen from West Seattle, visiting a 96-year-old Lake Forest Park Alzheimer’s patient they’d read about after someone bilked her of her life savings. As the woman is quoted as having said after the girls’ visit, “That’s a good bunch of kids.”
Raffle to benefit Red Cup Espresso owner’s family
There’s a new way to help out the son and husband of Red Cup Espresso owner Angelia Paulsen, killed in a crash on I-5 earlier this month, and the organizer says West Seattle rock superstar Eddie Vedder‘s band is involved. Here’s the announcement e-mailed to WSB by Jonathan French:
I am hoping you can spread the word about a raffle we have set up to benefit the O¹Dea family. (Sean & Julian O’Dea) The band Pearl Jam has asked me to donate 2 very rare, autographed limited edition prints signed by the entire band on their behalf. There will be 2 drawings with one win per person. First person who wins chooses the first print. Buy as many tickets as you wish. Tickets are $10.00 each. They can be purchased at Red Cup Espresso (4453 California Ave. SW) (206) 923-0431. Or people can e-mail me (Jonathan French jfrench@alki.net) and I can make other arrangements to get tickets out. Drawing is at 12 pm February 23, 2008. Need not be present to win. Write your name and contact info on the back of one of the tickets and they’ll put it in the bucket. Framed prints can be viewed inside Red Cup Espresso.
As we mentioned earlier this week, Red Cup is currently open 6-2 weekdays, 7-4 weekends.
Red Cup Espresso update
Two and a half weeks after owner Angelia Paulsen‘s untimely death, Red Cup Espresso in The Junction is open 7 days a week, according to a sandwich board we saw out front – 6 am-2 pm weekdays, 7 am-4 pm weekends, which appears to be a bit of an update from what her husband told WSB last week.
Question: Is it soup yet? Answer: Yes.
So who says the Internet is a threat to face-to-face interaction? It brought us 10 more acquaintances tonight — in the name of soup. We’d never been to a Soup Swap, had never even heard of the concept, but that all changed after a recent visit to Nerd’s Eye View (among the 100-plus West Seattle-based blogs linked and frequently updated here). There, we saw this post, and left a comment along the lines of “wow, cool concept” – which to our surprise and delight brought us an e-mail invite from the person who hosted tonight’s West Seattle Soup Swap. This has actually become a national phenomenon (you’ll note from that site, National Soup Swap Day is supposed to be this Wednesday, but many gatherings like the one we attended west of The Junction tonight are being held on other dates). NEV author Pam explained tonight that the whole thing started right here in Seattle, on Capitol Hill, a couple years ago. If you’re a soup fan, check it out. The ones now in our freezer following tonight’s Soup Swap range from carrot habanero to beef ‘n’ cabbage (the full lineup, six containers from each contributor, shown above). This time of year, as temps keep dipping, it’s truly Nature’s Perfect Food.
Roasted romance, latte love, coffee for your corazon …
Hotwire Coffee (inaugural WSB sponsor) proprietress Lora Lewis has those decorations up in her Junction store now, and there’s more to them than meets the eye – part of some Valentine’s matchmaking innovation, and Lora tells the story better than we can:
Remember in grade school those little Valentines cards you would secretly pop in someone’s lunch box or desk? Well, just turn the clock forward a ‘few’ years and that’s what we’ve got going on at Hotwire. For the next month you can stop by the shop, have a little photo taken and put it on your very own grown up sweetie box. Maybe someone comes in and sees what a cutie you are and perhaps pops a little valentine in the box. Not that adventurous? Well, then just come over and see who is up for grabs and maybe put your own little message in a box! You never know unless you try!
Already ‘taken’? Then don’t hesitate to pass this on to any of your friends who you feel are ready to meet that special someone! Oh, on Saturday, February 16th from 5 pm-7 pm, we’re going to have a meet & greet where all the people who had a picture and everyone who put a card in a box will be there to read their Valentines.
If you only have a photo available in digital format – here’s how to send it to Hotwire.
1st-ever West Seattle Community Recognition Awards
That’s what the sign on Capers’ back door said. And first, we must thank them yet again for playing host, with refreshments (including delish brownies) for all in attendance. Now, thanks to the people who dropped in, some of whom you see here —
Attendees included some folks we already knew (including some of our fine WSB sponsors), some we didn’t. (We met “Bob Loblaw”! But sorry, no photo. You had to be there.) And the winners are …Read More
Join us in The Junction tonight
Second-to-last reminder (we’ll bring it up again toward day’s end) — if you’re in The Junction tonight or not otherwise occupied, we hope to see you TONIGHT at Capers, 7-8ish pm, at the informal gathering announcing the honorees in the first-ever quarterly West Seattle Community Recognition Awards (explained here). 
Since this is the first time, there’s no big formal program planned — no big speeches, no golden statuettes, no tuxes and gowns (sorry), just a chance to come say hi, find out who the recipients are, and meet some of your fellow West Seattleites. Can’t say whether 10 people will be there or 100, but the three of us will be, as will Julie Mireille Anderson of Divina (who hatched the idea for this as a new way to recognize and thank some of the unsung heroes of West Seattle), and the nice folks from Capers who offered to host the gathering (thank you, and also thank you to the judges, who we’ll be listing later, as well as to the people who sent nominations). 7-8ish pm, Capers in The Junction (west side of California, midblock between Oregon and Alaska).
Early start for “Day of Service” @ West Seattle Elementary
After we mentioned the “Day of Service” volunteer work planned for Monday @ West Seattle Elementary, Seattle Works e-mailed to let us know some of the work it’s doing in conjunction with City Year would actually start today. Here’s some of what’s happening at the school right now — starting with the outlining of a hummingbird mural outside a classroom:
Outside the school, these volunteers are literally laying the groundwork for a play area that will serve the district’s special-needs preschool that’s on the WSES campus:
And this carpentry work will create decorative planters for the school’s entrance:
As you might have guessed from the orange shirts, most of the volunteers at WSES today are from Home Depot — Seattle Works says the Delridge store coordinated the effort but the HD workers are from all around Puget Sound. Meantime, organizers are still looking for donations to complete the preschoolers’ play area; our original post has info on how to help.
Red Cup Espresso update: Message from Angelia’s husband
Eight days after Red Cup Espresso owner Angelia Paulsen‘s tragically early death in a car crash, her husband Sean O’Dea e-mailed WSB early this morning to ask us to share this with you:
I cannot possibly find the words to describe or thank everyone for the level of support that has been offered to us at this time. I have had hundreds of people come to me with offers of help with anything I could possibly need. This has come from merchants, customers, neighbors and friends. It feels like the entire community has stepped up at at a time of overwhelming grief, and overwhelmed us with care and love. We are doing our best to keep the shop open, and will be open every day from 6 am to around 2 pm. As soon as I can, I plan to have it back to regular hours. I know how much Julian and I loved Angelia, and am extremely touched and honored by the love and respect shown to her memory. Thank you all.
Sean had previously posted in the comments section — up to 111 as of early this morning — following our original report on the accident.
Saying goodbye
One more reminder that friends of Angelia Paulsen, the Red Cup Espresso owner killed in a crash last Monday, are planning a candlelight vigil outside her shop in The Junction tonight – 7 pm, 4451 California (just north of Oregon; Ginomai has offered its parking lot on 42nd just south of Genesee if you have trouble finding parking). And anyone who wants to make memorial donations to help pay for her son Julian‘s education can do so at Viking Bank.
Also, a followup – it’s been exactly a week since a diver died after getting into trouble at Seacrest; his fiancee (who provided the photo shown at right) posted about him on WSB the next day. According to an online obituary, the diver, 33-year-old Josh Magee, was laid to rest yesterday in Reno, where he lived before moving to Seattle in 2000.
Update: Red Cup Espresso open today to benefit owner’s son
Since we first reported Tuesday on the tragic death of Red Cup Espresso owner Angelia Paulsen, the comment area below that first report has become a touching board of tributes and memories. One of those came from her husband Sean O’Dea; we e-mailed him to ask him if there was any information he would want you to know about the shop’s future and how to help the family, and he wrote back late last night:
I have been thinking of renaming the shop to Angelia’s Espresso and keeping it open as a tribute to her. As you can probably guess, I have a lot on my plate right now, and am not too sure of when that will happen, but I will let you know. Angelia’s brother, sister and nephew want to open the shop tomorrow [WSB NOTE: that’s today, 1/10] and offer coffee for whatever donations patrons would like to make for our son Julian’s education, and Viking Bank has set up a fund for him as well.
As reported previously, her memorial service is 11 am tomorrow at St. Stephen the Martyr Church in Renton (church website here), and friends plan a candlelight vigil at 7 pm Saturday night outside Red Cup (on California north of Oregon, next to Pagliacci).
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