October 2016

Chief Sealth International High School will have higher level of political education than normal on Nov. 1 as they stage a mock election, voting their preferences and in addition create short documentaries about how high school students are feeling about the upcoming 2016 presidential election.

As if that wasn't enough, Senator Patty Murray will visit to take a look at the Technology Education and Literacy in School (TEALS) program at Sealth. It's a chance for Sen Murray and others to see how the TEALS program is helping provide high-quality computer science education to students in public schools in Seattle and the state. The program itself isn't new, but Murray's interest is in the newly-passed Every Student Succeeds Act that she wrote with her Republican counterpart (the nation's new K-12 law) which provides new support for TEALS.

More information on TEALS is found here: https://www.tealsk12.org/

On Nov 1st, members of the West Seattle Chamber (and possibly YOU) will meet at the 7-11 at 3801 California Ave SW at 4:30pm to hand out supplies and form teams. The plan is pick up trash from SW Charlestown to SW Alaska.

Many hands make light work.

Lynn Dennis of the Chamber said, "When we "Talked Trash" in Sept we had the street spotless in an hour. Register today so we know the amount of supplies to have on hand for the volunteers."

Following the 90 minute cleanup the plan is to stop at a local establishment for food and drinks.

Register online here.

Seattle Parks (SPR) has been collecting information on what to do about the state of Lowman Beach Park whose seawall broke and partially collapsed almost a year ago in November of 2015. At that time SPR said they were looking at options including taking the seawall out and grading the area down to beach in a more natural state, but that might mean taking out the tennis court there. In a followup story last May SPR said they were applying for grants to take the project further.

The King County Murray Basin CSO construction across the street has taken out much of the parking there and the park itself is the site of temporary construction offices and a staging and storage area. Those are expected to be removed once the CSO project is complete sometime late this year.

“It’s the Vietnam War bond. I felt I had an obligation to these guys to tell their stories.”  
 
The words of Vietnam War veteran and Ballard High School alumnus, Jerry Smith, ring true for many veterans. Many of them come back from serving with traumas, memories, wounds and a sense of solidarity in enduring a great sacrifice among their fellow veterans. For Smith this bond is apparent even between the men whom he never met, but especially the ones that went to his high school.  
 
With this link in mind, Smith recently took on the endeavor of telling each story of the 18 names on the Ballard High School Vietnam Memorial Plaque. He was going to compile his findings in a book called the “Ballard 18,” but in his research he found there was one name missing, one soldier from Ballard somehow lost to the memorial. What Smith discovered has added so much more to his book and has been instrumental in memorializing a soldier named Douglas Lee Zeller.  
 
“The book is an explanation about what each individual accomplished and what went on in their life from childhood until their loss,” said Smith, who served in Vietnam in 1969 to 1970.  
 

By Amanda Knox

It all started when I watched Prescription for Change, a new documentary about the opioid epidemic hosted by Macklemore. Thinking to write a column about it, I sat down in front of my computer with a cup of coffee and a notebook. A few minutes in, I gasped. There was my cousin, Justin! Sitting right next to Macklemore in Recovery Café, a Seattle treatment facility where recovering addicts come together to share stories, solidarity, and support. My cousin Justin, a recovering addict.

When I came home from prison in October 2011, I quickly realized that I had missed out on even more than I imagined (which was a lot), especially in the lives of my sisters and cousins. Deanna had matured from a headstrong high school socialite into a career-driven medical-science nerd. Ashley and Delaney had transformed from little, doodle-drawing, gymnast prodigies into complex young women—bright, ambitious, stricken with anxiety and anger. My cousin Justin…well, he had a problem and no one really talked about it.

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By Lindsay Peyton

West Seattle resident Russell Lundwall is not one to argue with the old adage, “Behind every great man is a great woman.”

In fact, when revealing his secret to a long and happy life, the 99-year old credits three women.

“When people ask how I’ve stuck around this long, I tell them, ‘My mother, my wife and my daughter -- who were all extra special,’” he said.

Lundwall most likely inherited his spunk from his mother, who was born in Norway in 1887.

“She went to high school when women didn’t go to high school and worked when women didn’t work,” Lundwall said. “She was way ahead of the times.”

His mother moved to Minnesota with her first husband and ran a boarding house for miners in Chisholm. She then divorced and remarried Lundwall’s father, who was a policeman for U.S. Steel Company.

Lundwall was born on Nov. 4, 1916 when iron ore was king in Minnesota. He remembers the cold winters of his childhood, even one so brutal that the hard-working furnace couldn’t keep up and broke.

Hot Topics For Seniors: Elections
Seattle Public Library, Southwest Branch, 9010 35th Ave. S.W.
Wed., Nov. 2, Noon–1 p.m. Hot Topics for Seniors is a place to discuss current national, state and local issues. This month’s topic is Elections. This meeting is free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Brown bag lunches are welcome. Free parking is available in the branch parking lot. for more info call 206.684.7455.

Dirt Bikes, Drones and Other Ways to Fly
Barnes & Noble, Westwood Village, 2600 SW Barton St
Fri., Nov. 4, 5 p.m. Discussion by local author Conrad Wesselhoeft at Southwest Seattle Historical Society’s “Words, Writers & West Seattle.” All purchases made by those attending the free talk that afternoon and for the next five days will result in a contribution of ten percent of proceeds to the Southwest Seattle Historical Society under the Barnes and Noble’s Book Fair program.

Daystar Toastmasters
Daystar Retirement Village
2615 SW Barton

By Pat Cashman

It is hard to believe that decision day is at hand. There are an abundance of conflicting issues to sort through---and it’s no longer OK to be uncommitted, undecided. The time is now to make a choice.
I am of course referring to Halloween, 2016.

For adults the debate is unceasing: Should kids be allowed to trick-or-treat for candy---or is Halloween tantamount to consorting with Satan? (Here is a made-up statistic: 57% of dentists say that Satan is the cause of tooth decay.)

Halloween goes back to the ancient Druids. As it turns out, most Druids are ancient---even though there are always efforts to start Young Druid clubs in local high schools.

The ancient Druids believed that on Halloween the Lord of the Dead called forth the hosts of evil spirits. I caught up with the Lord of the Dead by phone last week---who despite the name seemed like a pretty nice guy.
“Those evil spirits went door to door in search of candy,” said the Lord of the Dead.

By Amanda Knox
 
It all started when I watched Prescription for Change, a new documentary about the opioid epidemic hosted by Macklemore. Thinking to write a column about it, I sat down in front of my computer with a cup of coffee and a notebook. A few minutes in, I gasped. There was my cousin, Justin! Sitting right next to Macklemore in Recovery Café, a Seattle treatment facility where recovering addicts come together to share stories, solidarity, and support. My cousin Justin, a recovering addict.
 
When I came home from prison in October 2011, I quickly realized that I had missed out on even more than I imagined (which was a lot), especially in the lives of my sisters and cousins. Deanna had matured from a headstrong high school socialite into a career-driven medical-science nerd. Ashley and Delaney had transformed from little, doodle-drawing, gymnast prodigies into complex young women—bright, ambitious, stricken with anxiety and anger. My cousin Justin…well, he had a problem and no one really talked about it.