August 2015

information from South Seattle College

After 40 years with Seattle Colleges, Chancellor Jill Wakefield has announced her retirement, effective June 2016. She was appointed as chancellor in 2009, becoming the district’s first female in that position. When she retires, she will be the longest-serving chancellor in the district’s history.

Dr. Wakefield started with the district as a program assistant in the veterans office at South Seattle Community College, then served as public information officer, director of development, vice president for institutional advancement, and vice president for instruction, as well as president from 2003 to 2008. She succeeded Charles Mitchell as chancellor.

“I couldn’t be more pleased to have spent my professional career with Seattle Colleges,” says Dr. Wakefield. “It has been an honor and a pleasure to represent this great district and its talented educators and staff, and I believe we have a solid foundation in place to educate tomorrow’s workforce.”

Dr. Wakefield’s focus this final year includes:
· Getting more students to the finish line by improving recruitment, retention, and completion.

By Peggy Sturdivant

“I hope your birthday wish was for a rain,” a friend wrote to me. That is exactly the wish I made on what would total 55 candles, on the birthday I’ve been told to call double nickels.

As someone who has never tired of Seattle’s “wet” weather and recently watched leaves dying on trees the rain finally falling on August 14th was the perfect gift. The lightning bolts and thunderclaps were a welcome change from the anger roiling around the neighborhood related to Ballard’s extreme growing pains. Let’s hope the rains dampen the current and future wildfires…and tempers.

Remediation work halted on the former Seattle City Light substation during the rain while they investigated the cause of an accident that caused yet another power outage throughout Ballard. Throughout the streets of Ballard most residential construction halted. Instead of compressors there was the rapping of raindrops against dusty windowpanes. Finally, a day we didn’t have to feel guilty about watering, or not watering, our plants.

By Katy Wilkens, MS, RD

One of my favorite parts of summer is the 10-day kayak trek I do through the San Juan Islands with my husband and about a dozen Boy Scouts. That’s 30 meals to plan, shop for, pack into kayaks, cook in the wild and clean up after! Having done this for 20 years, I have it down to a science.

Not only are our meals tasty, they’re also low in sodium and quick to prepare, allowing us to spend more time looking for whales, peering into tide pools, playing cards and sleeping on the beach. Here are some tips I’ve learned from summers spent feeding hungry people in the wild.

1. Try recipes at home first — a couple times if you can. You’ll get a feel for how they should look, and you can practice cutting down on utensils, bowls and ingredients while you’re at home, not in the wild.

2. Plan fast, easy meals for days you have a quick getaway schedule. Save more complicated, time-consuming meals for days when you have more time.

3. Do as much food preparation at home as you can. Your goal is to enjoy the wilderness, not to do dishes.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR
Chief Sealth graduate Keone Kela is back with the Texas Rangers after a brief stint at AA Frisco.
Kela has picked up one win since his return, upping his record to 6-5 to go with a 3.06 ERA in 47 innings pitched over 52 games.
Kela has 50 strkeouts compared to only 14 walks and has one save in four opportunities.

Burg still with Frisco

Des Moines native Alex Burg remains with the AA Frisco team in the Texas Rangers' system.
The catcher is now hitting .288 (43-for-146) with 22 runs, 20 RBI, seven doubles and six home runs.

Brett now batting .226

Highline graduate Ryan Brett is now batting .226 (58-for-257) for the AAA Durham Bulls of the Tampa Bay Rays' minor league system.
Brett has scored 37 runs for the Bulls and driven in 25 to go with 14 doubles, one triple and four home runs.
Brett is a second baseman.

McClatcher at UW

Federal Way graduate Chico McClatcher has found a home as a true freshman with the University of Washington football team.

The West Seattle Garden Tour held July 17 raised $24,605 and held a special event at the estate of David Jones & Maryanne Tagney to thank sponsors and introduce the beneficiaries.

Beneficiaries for the 2015 event were:

• ArtsWest
• City Fruit
• Plant Amnesty Urban Forestry Symposium
• Seattle Chinese Garden Society
• Solid Ground --Lettuce Link
• Southwest Seattle Historical Society
• West Seattle Farmer's Market

To learn more about the benefciaries click here.

The sponsors for the annual event were:

• Gini Johnson and Shari Kruse of Berkshire Hathaway NW Real Estate
• Junction True Value Hardware
• Kae Dental
• West Seattle Nursery
• Blue Willow Catering
• Budget Blinds
• PINN People's Injury Network Northwest
• Karen Lavallee, Windermere Realty
• West Seattle Thriftway
• Brooks/Wanless Gardens
• Jackson, Morgan, & Hunt PLLC

by Sarah Cecil
 
Contributing to an IRA can help you build some of the resources you will need to enjoy a comfortable retirement. But what happens to your IRA if you don’t use it up in your lifetime?
You can still put the IRA’s assets to good use — as long as you’ve made the right moves and communicated your wishes clearly to your family.

When you opened your IRA, you should have named a beneficiary — someone who will receive the IRA assets when you pass away. You could also name a contingent beneficiary if the first beneficiary dies before you. These beneficiary designations are important because they can supersede the instructions left in your will. 

If you name your spouse as beneficiary of your IRA, he or she has options unavailable to other beneficiaries. Here are two possibilities:

West Seattle Chamber After Hours
Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
4408 Delridge Way SW
Thurs., Aug. 27, 5:30-7:30 p.m. The West Seattle Chamber invites prospective members to join members at this event to give you the opportunity to have those casual one-on-one conversations to become better acquainted with WSCC members and experience networking at the chamber first hand. Join us for refreshments and find out what all the buzz is about. Registration required. No Fee. More info: http://goo.gl/iSO7J7 or contact us at: info@wschamber.com

Chief Sealth Class of 1965 50th Reunion Plans
Sat., Aug. 22, 2015 at South Seattle Community College. We are looking for our classmates who can contact us with their name, maiden name, address and email address at: Sealth1965@yahoo.com. More information will be forth coming as the planning process continues.

Free Summer Drop in Family Events
Neighborhood House High Point Family Center
6400 Sylvan Way S.W.
206.588.4900 / megand@nhwa.org

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

Since I was born after my father died I was not conditioned to defer to the man as master. My mother never modeled the subtle behavior that young women of her day usually learned in order to attract a man. Since she did not model this behavior, my sisters and I never acted either consciously or unconsciously in ways that would encourage men to approach us. For that reason I spent my teen years without taking part in the dating ritual that most young high school women engaged in. I say “women” because in my view any female past the age of puberty is a woman.

By Pat Cashman

“Our operating assumption is that everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast.” Kenneth Murphy, FEMA director for Region X, which includes Washington State.

Kenneth “Chuckles” Murphy was quoted above in a recent New Yorker article detailing what will happen when a huge earthquake---and then tsunami---hits our area. It is all so scary that it’s probably best to just give up. Reading.

Despite modern science, predicting earthquakes seems little more precise than picking the ponies. Yet, there are plenty of experts who think “the big one” could happen around here at any time---perhaps right in the middle of this paragraph.

Of course, if the “big one” HAD happened in the middle of that last paragraph, you would not likely still be reading this one. So far, so good.