April 2009

For senior baseball captain Austin Lastimado, baseball is more than just a hobby. He’s played the sport since he was 4, when his father introduced it to him.

As the school team’s second basemen, he plays as No. 23. Lastimado reveals that he used to play football as a freshman, but decided to focus on baseball full-time.

“Baseball is my life,” said Lastimado.

He plans to further his baseball career at his choice school, the University of Hawaii. Lastimado would also like to make it to pros.

This year’s baseball team, he said, is very young and many of the top players – like Tyler Cherin, Kyle Hesse, Michael Oliver, and Galen Howard-Markley – graduated last year. Still, the team is far from lacking. Lastimado describes the team as a close group of friends and long-time boys’ baseball coach Velko Vitalich as one who “runs the team well.”

In return, his coach and teammates highly regard him. Last year, Lastimado was voted as the most inspirational player by his teammates, which his coach wholly approves. Vitalich highly respects Lastimado both as a baseball player and a person.

Last year’s baseball season ended with fireworks. The boys won four games in a row to make it to the state playoffs; including a victory over Eastside Catholic – the number one-ranked team in the state.

Junior Stephen Adams returns this season, after leading the state with ten home runs last year. However, he isn’t satisfied yet.

“I want to improve on what I did last year, to make myself a more well-rounded player,” said Adams.

Infielder Austin Lastimado comes back for his senior campaign after hitting .473 last year, and leading the team in hits. Senior Bryan Duncan, juniors Trevor Martin, Ryan Wiggins, and Brandon Mackinnon, along with freshman Jeff Freeman, will lead the team on the mound this year, as the primary pitchers.

The expectations are high for 2009 after last year’s performance. The boys have been training hard in the off-season to get better.

“We’ve been working out every day and playing baseball five days a week,” said Wiggins.

Staff, families and community members are invited to attend quarterly community meetings on May 5, 7, and 9, for discussions and updates on the Seattle School District's Strategic Plan Excellence for All, development of the new Student Assignment Plan, changes being implemented to advance learning programs next year, information about upcoming levies, K-12 assessment strategies, as well as other key topics.

Interpreters will be available. Presentations, handouts, feedback and other information from previous community meetings are available in the Engagement section of the Strategic Plan Web page.

Tuesday, May 5, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Ingraham High School, Library
1819 N. 135th St.

Thursday, May 7, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Filipino Community Center of Seattle Public Schools
5740 Martin Luther King Jr. Way

Saturday, May 9, from 10 a.m. to noon
John Stanford Center, Auditorium
2445 3rd Ave. S.

There will be a "Tour de Fronds" free walking tour of Fauntleroy Park, Sunday, April 26 at 1 p.m.

The meeting place is at Barton Street entrance (Southwest Barton and Southwest Henderson, between 40 and 41st Southwest)

The tour will be guided by Steve Richmond of Garden Cycles.
 
Come see native flora and fauna in Fauntleroy Park’s 28 acres – a hidden gem of Seattle’s remnant urban forests.   There will be a native plant treasure hunt and other diverse plants rarely found in other Seattle parks.
 
Walk a 1-mile loop (some steep areas) and enjoy the work of neighborhood volunteers, EarthCorps, and Seattle Parks restoration contractors trying to battle invasive species and restore native plant communities.

"With luck we may see pileated woodpeckers, owls or salmon fingerlings local schoolchildren have released in an effort to establish coho in Fauntleroy Creek.  Afterward, let's visit the nearby bakery and discuss our ecological challenges.  Dress for the weather!" say the organizers.

At the West Seattle Golf Course, the practice tee was teaming with irons, including the one belonging to 4-year-old Lily Brush.

The Historic Admiral Theater will be hosting films as a part of the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF).

Now in its 35th year, the SIFF is the largest and most highly-attended film festival in the United States, showcasing more than 400 films from more than 60 countries to an audience of 150,000 attendees annually. Listed by Variety magazine as one of the world's "50 do not miss film festivals," SIFF continues to be recognized as one of the top festivals in North America and combines the best aspects of a casual film marketplace with a well-established reputation as a great audience festival that filmmakers love to attend.

The festival will be screening a selection of films at the Admiral Theater from June 5 to June 11.

“We’re thrilled to have a home at the Admiral Theater for this year’s Festival,” said SIFF Artistic Director Carl Spence. “West Seattle is a terrific place for SIFF to reach out to find new audiences and showcase films from around the world that would not otherwise be seen in this neighborhood. My home is in West Seattle, so it’s especially gratifying for me to have this new association.”

A Spanish festival was held at Whittier Elementary School Thursday night to honor the new Spanish classes offered there.

Spanish class was dropped from the regular curriculum, so parents and the PTA organized an all-volunteer class that meets before regular classes start. Beth Aguilar is the teacher. She also teaches Spanish and art classes professionally at Broadview-Thomson.

"I graduated from Whittier and still live right up the street," said Aguilar.

"Tonight is the chance for our school to celebrate our volunteer-based early morning Spanish class," said event organizer Anne Skalicky, a parent of Whittier 3rd grader, Pablo Martinez.. "I'm bilingual and lived two and a half years in Guatemala. I am married to a Chilean. Learning a new language early in life is important. It gets harder as you get older."

This Saturday, April 18, there will be a Longfellow Creek Community Garden Spring Work Party from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Meet at 24th Avenue Southwest between Southwest Myrtle Street and Southwest Willow Street, just off Delridge, by the Home Depot.

Directions: From Delridge, turn West on to Southwest Myrtle then north onto 24th Avenue Southwest. Look for the “King Kong” fence mid-way up the street.

From the organizing group:

It’s that time again. The ground has finally warmed up enough (mostly) for planting and projects at the Longfellow Creek Community Garden. The quarter acre plot is ready to plant and spruce up for this year’s exciting growing season. Most of the spring crops are in the ground but there is plenty to do to revitalize, repair and prepare the garden for the late spring planting and for our new projects.

Bring your enthusiasm, willingness to work (get dirty) and prepare to meet your neighbors in a great day of community building.

On April 25, merchants in the West Seattle Junction will offer their customers some financial relief by offering special promotions and discounts and charging no sales tax.

Coupons for April 25 are available to download at the West Seattle Junction Association's Web site. Special offers include: Buy one get one free tickets at ArtsWest, 1/3 off any full priced item at Capers, $1 off any loaf of bread from Great Harvest Bread Company, free coffee at Red Cup Espresso if you bring your own cup and much more.

The event was designed to stimulate West Seattle's local retail economy, the West Seattle Junction Association claims it has no affiliation to the political Tea Party protests on April 15.

Seattle is a city of two film cultures. The first is the butter-tub popcorn world of the multiplex where Hannah Montana holds court. The second is the culture of Seattle International Film Fest, the Harvard Exit and intense late-night conversations about movies with subtitles. It is a smaller, richer world where film buffs find comfort.

On April 18, the Admiral Theater takes another step in joining the latter. The 7 p.m. showing of the acclaimed independent film “Wendy and Lucy” will feature a live appearance by one of its stars, Wally Dalton.

Mr. Dalton will answer questions about the film and his experience working with his co-star, academy award nominee Michelle Williams. This is a night designed for those who truly love film.

“Wendy and Lucy” is the story of a young woman living on the ragged edge of our faltering economy. Wendy (Michelle Williams) packs up her dog, Lucy, and the few dollars she has to her name and heads out for Alaska hoping to land a job in a fish cannery. In a small Oregon town her aging car falls apart and so do her plans. She can’t afford the repairs, gets arrested for shoplifting and loses Lucy.