December 2015

By Andrea Reay, Executive Director, Discover Burien

We’ve all heard the term the “Seattle Freeze”; but what does it mean? Does it really exist and how does it impact our communities and social or business relationships?  As someone who was born in Seattle and raised in the Pacific Northwest, I was a little skeptical of the term.  Us North Westerners just value our privacy and independence, right? In a 2014 report by KUOW’s Jim Gates, local historian Knute Berger offered the following definition of the Seattle Freeze as “the surprising cold nature of Seattle residents towards newcomers.”  That may be a commonly held definition, but is it real, does it truly exist?  Diane Douglas the Executive Director of Seattle City Club, reported to Mr. Gates “Yes, absolutely”.  In fact when it comes to simply talking with neighbors, greater Seattle is ranked 48 out of 51 similar communities across the United States.  

On Dec. 14, the Tillicum Chapter of Daughter of the American Revolution awarded Mr. Richard Body of Des Moines the DAR Community Service Award for 2015.
 
Mr. Body has been called a 'Super Volunteer' by the South King County Fire and Rescue.  Mr. Body was being acknowledged, for his service to this country while being a member of the military, for his thoughtful interactions with Meals on Wheels clients, his accomplishments a  Volunteer fireman, and for his volunteering at the Des Moines Senior Center Legacy Foundation.
 
Friend Dona Ozier said, "Dick has a big heart...Every Thursday he visits my mother, arriving in his bright red sports car with a wonderful smile and a story to tell. My mom and her caregiver, Candace Lee, always look forward to seeing him. I know he has the weight of caring for his wife who has dementia and he does it all with love."

On Dec. 14, the Tillicum Chapter of Daughter of the American Revolution awarded Mr. Richard Body of Des Moines the DAR Community Service Award for 2015.
 
Mr. Body has been called a 'Super Volunteer' by the South King County Fire and Rescue.  Mr. Body was being acknowledged, for his service to this country while being a member of the military, for his thoughtful interactions with Meals on Wheels clients, his accomplishments a  Volunteer fireman, and for his volunteering at the Des Moines Senior Center Legacy Foundation.
 
Friend Dona Ozier said, "Dick has a big heart...Every Thursday he visits my mother, arriving in his bright red sports car with a wonderful smile and a story to tell. My mom and her caregiver, Candace Lee, always look forward to seeing him. I know he has the weight of caring for his wife who has dementia and he does it all with love."

If you would like to obtain some well considered financial advice, contact Sarah Cecil 206-938-6017.

Brought to you by Sarah Cecil Financial Advisor with Edwards Jones Investments.

Sponsored post.

The Advanced Women's Chorale and Concert Choir have been invited, along with nine other schools across the country, to Choirs of America's Nationals where they will perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City next March. Only ten high school choirs from across the country are participating in this prestigious event, March 17th to 19th, 2016.

While in New York, the choirs will attend master classes, receive clinics and adjudications from world-class choral conductors, and combine with other top choirs for an awe-inspiring performance on stage in Carnegie Hall. Directed by Dr. Anton Armstrong of St. Olaf College, the concert will include a Massed Choir Performance, a Spotlight Performance from Ballard High School, and the World Premiere of a new composition by noted composer André Thomas.

A recent letter to the editor discussed a cannabis shop opening in the Ballard Avenue Historic District. Readers may have thought the idea to be erroneous considering that the Seattle Municipal prohibits recreational and medical cannabis shops in overlay/historic zones. However there could be changes coming to the code that opens those areas to pot shops.

City Council introduced amendments to the code last Tuesday concerning where cannabis shops can operate. Currently cannabis shops are prohibited from operating in historic districts. However, there was some talk about opening Pioneer Square and Ballard districts to retail cannabis shops. The Council is considering an amendment to the code that would allow one store to open in each of the districts.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

McPhee enjoys solid weekend at SPU

Mount Rainier graduate Jordan McPhee swished in 12 points in a 76-62 Seattle Pacific University win over Eastern New Mexico on Friday and hit 11 in a 60-53 loss to Wisconsin-Parkside on Saturday.
McPhee also had four assists, four rebounds and one steal in Friday's game and had four rebounds, three steals and two blocks Saturday.

Brittany McPhee knocks in nine

Fellow Mount Rainier graduate and twin sister Brittany McPhee scored nine points for Stanford University in its 93-38 victory over Cornell on Saturday after being held to one in a 69-55 win over Tennessee on Wednesday.
MPhee had four rebounds in Wednesday's game, however, and one rebound and one steal in Saturday's.

Collier contributes for Huskies

Seattle Christian graduate Katie Collier had five points and five rebounds for the University of Washington women's basketball team in its 78-43 victory over UC Riverside on Friday.

Walton tallies 12 points for UW

By Amanda Knox

Yoga taught me that a full breath comes in four parts. Breathe in, pause, breathe out, pause. The all important pauses are ever easily glossed over by the eager amateur, like myself.

It’s a weakness of mine, especially when it comes to making decisions about change. It takes courage to acknowledge the feeling in your gut, to sort it all out, to realize a conclusion and implement it against the momentum of the things that are already. After all of that work, I get so excited that I’ve made it that far that I often forget to pause to examine the new stillness in my life before setting off in a tantalizingly different direction.

You’d think it’d be easier to recognize the moment to pause with the many forms it takes throughout anyone’s life.

By Zach Watson

Over the last month I’ve been getting emails from Healthcare.gov nearly everyday, reminding me that the deadline for healthcare was arriving on December 15th and that I needed to sign up in order to avoid the fine for 2016. They’ve extended this deadline to today, December 17th, and still I’m letting the hours slip away.

I have a particular case. I am a healthy thirty-one-year-old single man without children and I work for a small bar that has less than ten employees. So it is up to me to find my own health insurance.

Okay, all well and good.

I went to my email, clicked on the icon, went to my account and found my way to the state of Washington Marketplace. I typed in my zip code, my age and my annual income and hit okay. This took me to the next page, a list of private insurance companies and the plans they offer conveniently arranged in price from lowest to highest.

I put that I made $30,000 a year, a fair estimate. The cheapest plan came up with no government aid at $178 a month, $2136 bucks a year, or about 7% of my annual salary.

Last week the Associated Press released a report that revealed most shrimp eating Americans have been consuming a product processed and cleaned by slaves in Thailand.

AP reported that slaves are imprisoned by their captors and forced to work up to 16 hours a day deveining, peeling and cleaning shrimp in “shrimp sheds” attached to distributing plants. Some slaves — including children — have been processing shrimp for over a year, with little or no pay, fueling a $7 billion export industry. According to AP, much of the shrimp distributed in the U.S. made its way via supply chains of companies like Kroger, Aqua Star, Waterfront Bistro and Chicken of the Sea and end up in popular grocery stores across the nation. The AP based their findings on U.S. Customs reports, which listed over 40 companies distributing slave-tainted shrimp. They also reported that they found shrimp linked to forced labor in grocery stores in every state in the U.S. The product also made its way onto plates in restaurants like Red Lobster and Olive Garden.