West Seattle, Washington
03 Sunday
(From the WSB Flickr group pool, red flowering currant at Greg Davis Park, by “old desolate“)
From the WSB West Seattle Events Calendar:
DON’T GET RID OF IT, RECYCLE IT: As noted here earlier this morning, 1 Green Planet‘s trucks are at Fauntleroy Church‘s lot till 3 pm – here’s what you can and can’t drop off for FREE recycling.
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm as always – with this week’s highlights listed as “Rhubarb! Green Garlic! Asparagus! Local Wheat! … CommuniTea Kombucha will be sampling in their booth this weekend only!” 44th/Alaska in The Junction.
SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH: Newly renamed La Romanza Bistro Italiano (WSB sponsor) in The Junction, 4521 California SW, will serenade you during brunch, which is served 10:30 am-4 pm on Sundays (menu here).
PLAYDATE FOR K-5 STEM AT BOREN FAMILIES (AND PROSPECTIVE FAMILIES): Noon today outside Fauntleroy Children’s Center (north side of the Schoolhouse at 9131 California SW) – even if you haven’t committed yet (enrollment is still open), come meet other families; here’s the calendar listing.
CATSINO! 2-6 pm today, West Seattle animal advocates invite you to join them at Beveridge Place Pub (6451 California SW) with a fun crowd gathered for a silent auction, hors d’oeuvres, and recreational Vegas-style games to help animals via these 4 organizations, as described in the event announcement:
Furry Faces Foundation (helping financially restricted folks with medical and basic care for their pets)
A.A.R.F. (rescues dogs, many of who are in dire straits)
Purrfect Pals (Cat rescue and sanctuary)
Regional Animal Services of King County (King County’s shelter, which takes in all species of animals)
$25 at the door also gets you a drink ticket and a chance at door prizes.
SEAL SITTERS BOOK: Brenda Peterson and Robin Lindsey from West Seattle-based Seal Sitters have co-authored a children’s book about two seals that visited WS, “Leopard and Silkie,” and will be at a 2 pm reading today at Elliott Bay Books (details and map here).
MUSIC AND THEATER: 3-5 pm, Bobby Woods performs at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 5612 California SW … 3 pm is also the start of today’s matinee of “Exit, Pursued by a Bear” at ArtsWest Playhouse, 4711 California SW (click their name to see their newly revamped website) … And 3 pm is also the start time for all-ages live music at Skylark Café and Club, 3803 Delridge Way SW, with Tuktu and Bobby Heinson.
(Added 11:46 am: The 1 Green Planet team this morning in the early going)
Last time the Fauntleroy Church Green Committee brought 1 Green Planet to West Seattle for a “Recycle Roundup,” the recycling company’s trucks went away with 14 tons of electronics and other items. 9 am-3 pm today, they’re back, and will be set up in the church parking lot (9140 California SW) again awaiting your recyclables. If you haven’t checked it yet, here’s the list of what they will and won’t accept. It’s a free service (though the Green Committee will accept donations if you’re interested in helping them cover their costs).
Thanks to Jennifer Hall for sharing photos of West Seattle High School‘s YMCA Earth Service Corps club (and friends) taking advantage of the Saturday sunshine to get their new raingarden going.
You might remember the boost the project got last month — it won a $1,000 grant from Sustainable West Seattle for rounding up a crowd to learn about fighting the Tox-Ick Monster.
Jazz musicians from Chief Sealth International High School are in the Birthplace of Jazz this weekend, on the road and on a roll, according to this update from their director Marcus Pimpleton:
Congratulations are in order for the students of the Chief Sealth International Jazz Ensemble I on their outstanding performance at the Worldstrides Heritage Jazz Festival in New Orleans, LA this afternoon.
The jazz ensemble received a rating of gold and trumpet player Cameron Nakatani received a Maestro Award for outstanding solo from the three-judge panel that included professors from Arizona State University, Tulane, and Loyola. The students are on the second day of a five-day trip. Tomorrow will include a Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues, followed by a full day at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. On Monday, the students will receive a clinic from the jazz-studies professor at Loyola University before heading home Tuesday night.
It was an intergenerational event at The Kenney (WSB sponsor) during Saturday’s annual Kenney Foundation Champagne Brunch/Auction, raising money for the Life Care Fund, helping residents stay on if they outlive their financial resources. Above, you see The Ellis Brothers trio, whose members played jazz, while, for adult guests, the promised champagne awaited:
With late-morning sun spilling through the windows, a tropical mood was enhanced by the leis toted by Dave Salove of Forest Lawn (WSB sponsor), who chairs the foundation’s board:
This was the sixth annual Champagne Brunch, also featuring a silent auction and keynote speaker Nick Del Calzo, whose most recent claim to fame is his his “Medal of Honor” photography. Miss the brunch? You can donate online.
(Visiting teachers with Explorer West Head of School Evan Hundley, right)
You’ve heard of exchange students – how about exchange teachers? More than a dozen of them from the other side of the Pacific have just visited Explorer West Middle School (WSB sponsor), and Amy French shared photos along with this report:
Earlier this week, Explorer West Middle School hosted 14 Japanese teachers for an unique, educational exchange opportunity as part of the The Japan-U.S. Teacher Exchange Program for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The visiting teachers participated in small-group discussions with Explorer West students and faculty about topics of sustainability and how it is taught at Explorer West.
They also learned about the school’s Outdoor Education Program. For more information about this teacher exchange program, visit www.iie.org/Programs/ESD. To learn more about Explorer West’s Sustainability Program, visit explorer-west.org/sustainability.
We’re making the list and checking it … more than twice … as we count down to the 8th annual 
West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, exactly two weeks away – 9 am to 3 pm on Saturday, May 12th. The final total, barring any last-minute cancellations (Wednesday’s the deadline for those), is 250 sales – all sizes! Group sales, block sales, business sales, school sales, multi-family sales, a BIG roster of benefit sales for myriad causes … a sale at a gas station … a sale at a bar … a sale at a P-Patch … sales in all five West Seattle zip codes, and neighborhoods from Alki in the north to the Arroyos in the south. So that you have a week to plan, we will have the map available (in clickable and printable formats as in years past) next Saturday – we’ll publish the links in all our channels when it’s ready, including the official West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day site, the WSCGSD Facebook page (where we invite sellers to post photos/info in the week before sale day), the WSB Facebook page, and of course, here. But most of all, whether you’re selling or shopping, get ready for May 12th (and invite your off-peninsula friends to come shop, not just the sales, but also WS businesses/restaurants while they’re here!).
Tonight we have details of the West Seattle Community Orchestras‘ upcoming concerts – first noted here in our coverage of the WSCO gala last month. Their official announcement, out of the WSB inbox tonight:
May 8: Stepping into Spring featuring the WSCO Debut and Intermediate Orchestras, 6:30 pm, Chief Sealth International High School.
A multifaceted show highlighting our youngest players just beginning to adults taking up instruments for the first time or after an extended absence. We are so proud of these musicians’ growth and improvement. The Debut Orchestra will show off their new skills in Sword Dance, a march and “Ode to Joy” featured in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The Intermediate Orchestra will shine through “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Stars and Stripes Forever.” Together, both groups will add sparkle to the night with an enthusiastic rendition of the “Can Can.” Also on the program will be a very special performance of the WSCO Trombone Quartet, performing “A Song for Japan,” a gorgeous piece written to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the 2011 tsunami.
May 15: Classic to Contemporary with the Symphony Orchestra, 7:00 pm, Chief Sealth International High School
Classics, contemporary works and a world premiere – a full night of symphonic music awaits. Our Symphony Orchestra, with 50 + members, will play Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony’s gorgeous second movement, Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”, Copland’s “Hoe-Down” and Stravinsky’s “Danse Infernale” – the Firebird Suite. Two debut works will round out the program including “A Song for Japan” featuring the WSCO Trombone Quartet and “Fantasies and Fugues” composed by the Symphony’s conductor and West Seattle resident, Rob Duisberg, Ph.D.
Admission to both concerts is free, donations welcome at the door. West Seattle Community Orchestra’s vision is to inspire an enjoyment of music-making through instruction and mentoring in mixed age ensembles culminating in quality group performances. Participation in the West Seattle Community Orchestras is offered free of charge to all students K-12.
For more information on WSCO: www.wscorchestras.org
Thanks to Luckie for the photo and report:
Today Lafayette Elementary second-grade teacher Dano Beal led a workshop for educators at the Washington State Theatre in Our Schools conference at ACT Theatre, presented by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. Dano gave an example of how to incorporate theater into teaching history, using creative theater games and techniques.
Several weeks ago, each student in his class was assigned the identity of an actual passenger on the Titanic. After researching the person, each student then created a character based on the historical figure and wrote and performed a first-person monologue describing their character’s connection to and experiences aboard the Titanic. To help demonstrate the assignment for the conference participants, students (l-r) Cashen Tomlinson, Claire Ellerbrook, Tennessee Herrin, and Cosmo Davis performed their classroom monologues onstage at ACT.
Maybe “cash flow” would be a better term for what happened at Village Green Perennial Nursery (WSB sponsor) this afternoon, more than “cash mob.” When the appointed hour for the latter event arrived, around 2 pm, certainly there were a lot of shoppers. We counted about 20, between a few who came early because 2 pm didn’t work for them, and some who said they were definitely there for the “mob,” which, as reported here 3 weeks ago, was the idea of social marketer Michael B. Maine of Menrva Labs, after meeting VG’s Vera Johnson at a conference:
So in all it was a good day for the rambling nursery in the unincorporated area between West Seattle and White Center. An afterparty was planned at Company in WC, and Vera was scheduled to head to Vashon Island, invited to speak about her consumer-rights activism tonight at Michelle Shocked‘s “Roccupy!” performance.
For the second consecutive Saturday, valiant volunteers are helping the Walking On Logs Landscape Restoration Group literally dig in at one of West Seattle’s “gateway” spots – around the “Walking on Logs” sculptures on the slope west of the Fauntleroy Way SW end of the WS Bridge. There’s still time to go join them – they are working till about 4 and would appreciate even an hour or two of your time; today they’re planting, as part of a project to re-landscape the often-overgrown area. Access is via the frontage stretch of Fauntleroy upslope from the work zone, which you can reach from the eastward turn on 35th, just north of the bridge exit/entrance. (Thanks for sending the photo!)
4:28 PM UPDATE: Stopped by just before 4 – volunteers had wrapped up, but check out the empty planting containers in the foreground, showing how much they planted!
You can see the landscaping plan – funded in part by a city grant – in this story from earlier this month.
9:09 PM UPDATE: One of the Landscape Restoration Group volunteers, Sharonn Meeks, tells WSB the group planted 75 trees and 500 shrubs and indigenous plants, and volunteers “worked their hearts out.” Also from the group, Nancy Driver sent another photo:
Nancy promises an update later this week on today’s accomplishments and what’s next.
(First 3 photos by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
Music, fun, and food right now in the north lot at Westside School (WSB sponsor), 34th just south of SW Holden, where CoolMom‘s “Think Outside the Car” kickoff celebration continues till 2 pm. BottleRockit is playing, and the Lumpia World and Athena’s food trucks are selling lunch:
There’s another kids’ bike parade planned at 1:30 pm, and in the meantime, don’t be chicken about getting an “Undriving License”:
(added) Here are Hannah and Elliot Goldstein with theirs:
(Photo by Undriving’s Julia Field)
“Think Outside the Car” is a campaign not to get you entirely out of your car, but to encourage walking and biking when possible, and also to reduce driving impacts – asking people not to idle their engine while waiting at school, for example. Watch for more info and events to come.
ADDED 5:40 PM: One more photo – this one from Don Brubeck, who was there volunteering with Cascade Bicycle Club:
The Cascade mention reminds us – Bike To Work Day is coming up on May 18th.
(Photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
That’s Officer Mike Hope, who’s at the front desk in the Southwest Precinct, where you can drop off unneeded/expired medication (liquid too, for those who have asked) till 2 pm, as part of Drug Take-Back Day. The lobby entrance is off the parking lot, which you enter from SW Webster, just west of Delridge, south side of the building, and the front-desk window where you’ll find him is right inside.
Two notes this morning – first, from Brandon:
I guess I can add myself to the list of car-burglary victims.
My red Jeep was broken into last night on the 3000 block of Alki. They cut the soft top to steal a large item out of the back.
If anyone saw an individual carrying a large box (2’x2’x3′) between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. last night on Alki, the incident number with the Seattle Police Department is 12-129616.
Second note is a warning from us. Might have just been an accident – something falling – but also might have been thrown, so we reported it to police and wanted to mention it to you too: Within the past hour, as we drove eastbound on Sylvan Way, east of High Point, through the greenbelt area between the cemetery and the Delridge/Orchard commercial area, something large and heavy suddenly hit the right side of our windshield – sitting on that side of the car, looked to your editor here as if it fell straight down It left a semicircular crack in the glass and also scratched the hood before apparently sliding to the road. In case it had been thrown, we decided not to go back to look, and called 911 instead – they said they’d send an officer to “check the area.” (Not likely a case of something from an “unsecured load,” since there were no vehicles near ours.)
It’s the kids who are supposed to be having all of the fun … but you’re never too old to be a kid, we guess, like the West Seattle Y‘s Josh Sutton in the dunk tank in the early going at the Y’s Healthy Kids Day funfest, till 1 pm at their 36th/Snoqualmie HQ in The Triangle. The inflatable obstacle course is up and running too:
Though this year’s theme is Western – and we did hear a lot of hootin’ and hollerin’ – we also bumped into … Space Ghost?
West Seattle is one of 10 area Y’s celebrating Healthy Kids Day today, and as part of it, joining fees are waived all weekend – if you’re thinking about joining the Y (which we should note is a longtime WSB sponsor), keep in mind that they’re offering facility tours during HKD too (and other indoor activities, so what you see outside the Y today is just part of what’s happening).
If you’ve headed eastbound on the high-rise West Seattle Bridge in the past hour-plus, you probably drove right by the Pigeon Point Spring Clean volunteers, hard at work in the little 22nd SW street-end park that’s something of a well-kept secret (“hidden jewel” is how Pigeon Point’s Pete Spalding describes it). It’s an annual tradition and they’ll be at it till about noon.
(Don Brubeck photographed Alki sand work on Friday – discussed at the last Alki Community Council meeting)
Another mega-busy Saturday! Highlights from the WSB West Seattle Events Calendar:
PIGEON POINT SPRING CLEAN: 9 am-noon today in West Seattle’s northeasternmost neighborhood – details here.
(Thanks to Sharonn for the photo – the plants have arrived!)
WEST SEATTLE’S GATEWAY NEEDS YOU FOR JUST 2 HOURS: Give two hours between 10 am and 4 pm today and make a big difference as volunteers transform the landscape around a key element of West Seattle’s “gateway” – here’s how to pitch in and make a BIG difference. Today’s big focus is planting!
HEALTHY KIDS DAY: The West Seattle Y (WSB sponsor) hosts the annual celebration with an inflatable obstacle course, arts/crafts, dunk tank, face-painting, and more, Western-themed this year, plus the chance to become a member with joining fees waived. 10 am-1 pm, 36th/Snoqualmie.
FIRST FUNDRAISING CAR WASH OF THE SEASON: The Seattle Lutheran High School Booster Club and student athletes are hosting a car wash 10 am-2 pm at West Seattle Autoworks (WSB sponsor), 35th/Webster.
SPEAKING OF HEALTH … DRUG TAKE-BACK DAY: 10 am-2 pm, drop off your unneeded/expired prescription drugs at the Southwest Precinct (Delridge/Webster), no questions asked. (Here’s our preview from Friday.)
‘THINK OUTSIDE THE CAR’ KICKOFF: Kids’ bike rodeo, live music, food trucks, more at CoolMom‘s kickoff event for “Think Outside the Car” – all outside Westside School (WSB sponsor), 10 am-2 pm – and you can bike there if you join a ride from Lincoln Park (by SW Kenyon) at 9:30 am!
INTERESTED IN APPLYING FOR A ‘LARGE PROJECTS FUND’ CITY GRANT? Then you need to be at the special workshop at 10 am, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW).
FIGHT IVY AT THE SANISLO WETLAND: 10 am-1 pm, as previewed here on Friday (1812 SW Myrtle).
FREE YOGA! SoundYoga (WSB sponsor) offers a free class periodically, and today’s the day – 10:30 am-11:45 am.
CAMBODIAN NEW YEAR IN WHITE CENTER: The Cambodian community’s annual festival is full of music, entertainment, food, and more, 10:30 am-5 pm on SW 98th between 15th/16th in downtown White Center – here’s the Facebook event page.
THE KENNEY’S ANNUAL BRUNCH: Hopefully you’ve RSVP’d already – here’s your reminder, the fundraising brunch starts at 10:30 am today; details here (7125 Fauntleroy Way SW).
PUGET RIDGE GARDEN CENTER, SPECIAL ‘OPEN’! It’s the garden center you can only visit once or twice a week, and it’s open 11 am -3 pm today on the north end of South Seattle Community College‘s campus (6000 16th SW).
‘CASH MOB’ AT VILLAGE GREEN PERENNIAL NURSERY: The “cash mob” concept is to show up at a small independent local business and “mob” it with money to show your support. A local social entrepreneur announced a few weeks back that he wanted to organize one for Village Green Perennial Nursery (WSB sponsor), and today’s the day, be there at 2 pm (10223 26th SW). In the “cash mob” tradition, there’s also an afterparty – at Company in downtown White Center. And VG entrepreneur Vera Johnson is “paying it forward” by organizing one for next weekend (details here).
CYSTIC FIBROSIS FUNDRAISER: Dinner, Zumba, education, and support for a local family, all happening at Peace Lutheran Church starting at 5 pm – details in the calendar listing (39th/Thistle).
Even more, for today and beyond, on the calendar!
As part of its weeklong 3rd-anniversary celebration, Morgan Junction’s rock-n-roll Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) welcomed a band tonight that, well, wasn’t just another band – it’s led by The Feedback’s general manager, Bradi Jones. Just after 9 tonight, she and her fellow Black Bangs took the stage by storm:
Tomorrow (Saturday) night at 9, you’re invited to more live music at The Feedback – a daylong video shoot by Van Eps wraps with a live performance for which they’d love to have a live audience on camera, per the FL website. But live music is only a small part of what they’re about – they’re renowned for co-owner Matt Johnson‘s cocktail creations:
See the menu here (and join the Cocktail Club here). And then there’s the food … Just stop reading and go. Happy birthday week, Feedback!
A bit delayed because we didn’t find the district-posted video clip till tonight, here’s the third of three Seattle Public Schools superintendent candidates who visited this week, Dr. Sandra Husk from Salem, Oregon. The video is from one of her three sessions with small groups of reporters. Here’s the Seattle Times (WSB partner) report on her interviews; here’s how Seattle Schools Community Forum covered her appearance. Our previous reports with the same three sources: José Banda here, Steven Enoch here. Send your thoughts to schoolboard@seattleschools.org. Also note that West Seattle’s board rep Marty McLaren has a community-conversation meeting this Sunday, 1:15-3 pm, at the West Seattle (Admiral) library branch.
From this week’s monthly meeting of the Highland Park Action Committee: Mark your calendar for May 19th – the annual Spring Clean, at the HP Improvement Club and surrounding area. That was one of the major announcements, but much of the night’s discussion was dedicated to an update from Seattle Police, and concerns about illegal motorcycle-riding in the West Duwamish Greenbelt:Read More
(WSB video of the game’s first half, starting with player introductions; clip #2 here, conclusion here)
As noted here in recent weeks, the Chief Sealth International High School boys-varsity soccer team is having an outstanding year, currently ranked #4 in the state. Tonight, the #2 team, Bainbridge Island, crossed the Sound to visit Sealth, and the result was the Seahawks’ first loss of the year, 6-2. Sizable crowd for the evening game at Southwest Athletic Complex, and somebody even brought a vuvuzela!
Next week, Denny International Middle School students have a round of testing called the Measurement of Student Progress. To spur them to success – besides all the traditional methods – the Denny faculty, with the help of volunteer filmmaker Will Braden, has made another in their series of what principal Jeff Clark calls “inspirational videos.” This one is “MSP in the Morning,” a take-off on T-Pain‘s “5 O’Clock.” The original Denny video hit was “Teach Me How to Study” (51,700+ views on YouTube!), featured on WSB (and even on KING 5!) back in winter 2011, followed in May 2011 by “The Test Goes On” (which like the new video preceded the MSP). Denny’s principal explains about “MSP in the Morning,” “We know our scholars are brilliant and college-bound—staff made this video to motivate, entertain, and connect with them. A special thank you to Denny teacher Gary Lai, and Will Braden, our volunteer producer!”
Today we welcome one of our newest WSB sponsors, Omsho Crysalis, whose co-owner Kate Reust says, “I’ve had the honor of treating clients from around the world. I’ve had them ask me to move closer to their homes – and always joke they should move to our corner of heaven instead. 
Welcome to our corner of heaven! It’s got to be about finding the right fit for your body’s needs and someone that you ‘mesh’ with. Finding the care providers that can truly listen to what your body is saying – and then provide you with the best course of care. Our team of care providers work to help you experience excellence. If we don’t provide something you need we’ll work to make a referral to a skilled practitioner that fits your needs. Being able to ‘listen’ is a learned, practiced and perfected skill – one that has to be experienced. My skills and years as a medical and body empath deepen my abilities to educate clients through every service that we provide.”
Also about her work at Omsho Crysalis, Kate (pictured at right with co-owner Al Reust) adds, “Often when working with a client – either with bodywork, the Biometric Surveys, or through homeopathic and nutritional intervention – I find that we’re able to ‘connect the dots’ that were being treated as separate issues by their other health-care practitioners. We believe that our job is to educate. When our clients have knowledge, they are able to make the best informed decision on their care and life changes that they need. … With 20 years as a massage practitioner in Washington, I’ve developed deep therapy techniques that allow me to facilitate deep therapeutic work, without the pain often experienced with deep tissue work. I’m also endorsed and experienced in Cranial IntraOral – working to identify and resolve such issues as TMJ, Migraine, concussion, complex whiplash and other traumas of the face, head and neck.” Omsho Crysalis is a member of the new Admiral District Business Association, located in West Seattle at 4222 SW Walker, #5 (also with a location in the Municipal Tower downtown), and online at OmshoCrysalis.com.
We thank Omsho Crysalis for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.
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