The theme of Seattle's 1962 World's Fair was "Century 21." Look around today at the major public buildings in our city - from Fisher Plaza to City Hall, Experience Music Project to the Washington State Convention Center - and you will note that our city's architecture reflects that space-age theme.Magnolia Library has a place in making that happen. As one of the first public buildings commissioned after the World's Fair, the bold, Asian-modern design signaled wider public acceptance of that style in public buildings. Think about that next time you are sitting down to an Asia-Pacific inspired feast at Wild Ginger restaurant.Flash-forward 40-some years, and our library is one of the busiest small libraries in the city. It performs admirably in a variety of missions, including celebrating literacy and kindling a love of leaning in toddlers, providing research tools for lifelong learners and serving as a friendly community crossroads. All in a small - even intimate - community setting.
"Have another doughnut! Don't be bashful. Eat, eat!," Bronia said after I consumed her 10,000 calorie, five-course meat-and-potatoes meal.Residents of the United States, it is reported, eat 33 percent of their meals outside the home, as compared with Polish villagers, who almost never dine out. Our ubiquitous, fast food franchises exist in Poland's major cities primarily for tourists. But dining out is far too expensive for the average Pole, whose monthly income is about $200.Still, I never lacked for home-style snack foods. Morning offerings included open-face sandwiches, made with one slice of fresh rye bread, butter, thin slices of cold cut meats, sliced tomatoes and white onion. I was never served a two-bread sandwich. I added the second slice to their wide-eyed looks of amazement.
but they're looking at people who are. Last Saturday - designated World Naked Bike Ride Day - approximately 50 Northwest souls got down to brass tacks, or something or other, "to protest the country's dependency on oil [sic] and to empower people to feel more comfortable with their bodies." They bicycled from Gas Works Park, over the Fremont Bridge, along Dexter, and cooled off at the Center before heading for the finish line (if there was a line) on Capitol Hill.To see what they were looking at, click for the full story.
The debate swirling like a moral tornado around the Schiavo case boils down to two issues: first, what is life and when are we merely holding on? and, secondly, who benefits from prolonging the life of the dying person?Life, it seems to me, is defined largely by interaction with others. Some years ago, as we struggled with a pet dying from kidney failure, we asked our veterinarian for advice on when to let our cat go. "When an animal no longer responds to your touch or reacts to your voice as they did when they were healthy," he answered, "then perhaps it's time to let go."This didn't make our decision any easier, but it did help us reach a decision. We can't equate the life of a pet with that of a son, daughter or spouse, but there seems to be a rationale in the vet's advice that could apply to the Schiavo controversy.
Last month, following Tom Dillon's sudden resignation in the wake of the Lake and Central decision, the Kirkland City Council was faced with the unanticipated problem of finding a replacement. The council turned to a familiar face: Nona Ganz.
Many film reviewers are wont, these days, to go on about the mindless homogeneity of much of mainstream American cinema. Is there any future for movies, they wonder, except as blockbuster video-game extravaganzas? Canadian director Guy Maddin wonders, too. "The Saddest Music in the World," his latest and most accessible movie, unreels in a twilight zone located somewhere between the flickers' past, as Maddin reimagines it, and a present where the self-destructing medium spreads outward from Hollywood to infect the world - not unlike the expanding fascist darkness that oozed over maps of Europe in so many World War II movies.
The monorail, as a concept, could be a great transportation achievement for this city - moving people quickly along congested routes without disturbing the lives and locomotion of the people below.The reality, however, is that the monorail has so badly miscalculated its income that it doesn't have enough money to do what it promised.
Image, a Journal of the Arts and Religion, headquartered since 2000 on the campus of Seattle Pacific University, will conduct a national conference exploring the relationship between storytelling and religious faith this week, beginning Thursday, Nov. 6.
It wasn't that long ago that 3-year-old Vinny Speziale was fighting for his life at Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center, a victim of neuroblastoma, a relatively rare form of cancer that strikes only around 600 to 700 young children a year. Vinny underwent about a year and a half's worth of treatment - chemotherapy, radiation therapy, an operation and a stem-cell transplant.
Remember when we were going to invade Afghanistan a couple of years ago? We had to capture, or kill, Osama bin Laden, the Saudi terrorist who was the alleged "mastermind" behind the World Trade Center (WTC) demolition of Sept. 11, 2001.
When it comes to entertainment, Seattle residents have a plethora of choices. Coffee house chats, city park strolls, dinner dates, live music, dramatic and comedic theater, professional sports, and vigorous outdoor activities make the to-do list of most folks. But of all the popular ways Seattleites spend their money and time to blow off steam and indulge in a brief escape from their daily urban routines, catching a movie is up near the top of the list.There's no doubt The Emerald City is a movie-loving town. Each year the Seattle International Film Festival plays to long lines of casual to die-hard movie fans, and dozens of movie theaters are doing steady business throughout the city's neighborhoods. The multiplexes, art-house theaters, and gargantuan IMAX screens located downtown and in the city's North End neighborhoods dominate area ticket sales.However, for nearly a year now Paul Doyle has been building a dedicated core audience of South End movie lovers at his single-screen Columbia City Cinema.
Young musicians will have the opportunity to laugh in the face of competition during the fifth-annual Chamber Music Anti-Contest/Concert on Saturday, March 26, at University Preparatory Academy.
Harry Potter, the bespectacled boy wizard with the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, is visiting us once again. This time the cause of the excitement isn't the release of yet another in J.K. Rowling's celebrated series of novels, but the third film adaptation of Harry's literary adventures.While the film is playing at many theaters around town, one of the most enjoyable venues is the IMAX auditorium at the Pacific Science Center. The 70-foot-tall screen and 12,000 watts of surround sound present the film with a magnificence that is lacking at the shopping-center cinemas.
I realized most of the legislators were going from meeting to meeting, listening to requests from groups like us, lobbyists and individual constituents and finding time somewhere to study the issues and figure out how to divide a negative pie.
Today, we're going to be talking about rabbits. (Don't worry, I'm not going to launch into a long tale about Volkswagens.) I'm talking about bunnies. You know, the little bundles of fur with long ears that hop to and fro?
Thanks to Robert C. Atkins - may he rest in peace - we live in an increasingly carnivorous culture. Lovers of steak/haters of broccoli are gloating in growing numbers, and Atkins' hi-pro, low-carb diet labels have replaced the old "heart healthy" low-fat flags in our grocery stores and restaurant menus. But before you swear off veggies and grains and sink your face into a plate full of well-marbled protein, consider a few caveats.
Rachel Thompson and Michael Gruenwald's wedding was not the usual affair. Their wedding song was taken from a jukebox. The "cake" was a plate of Valentine's Day cookies that a friend of Rachel's had baked. The bride wore a veil of ribbon, and the flowers were plastic.
