May 2017

By Lindsay Peyton
Two positions on the board of Highline Public Schools are up for election in November.
Candidates may begin filing on Monday, May 15. The filing period closes at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 19. The deadline for candidates to withdraw is Monday, May 22 and the deadline to file as a write-in candidate is Friday, July 14.
The election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
The positions, each with four-year terms, will fill the seats currently held by board members Angelica Alvarez for district 2 and Joe Van for district 3.
Tyrone Curry Sr, district 1, Bernie Dorsey, district 4, and Michael Spear, district 5, will retain their positions.
Current board members Van and Alvarez have decided to run for reelection.
 
“I want to continue with what we’re working on,” Van said. “I have three kids in the system, so I have something invested. It’s not only my kids, but also their friends and my community.”

Alvarez, a Burien resident, had four children graduate from the district and currently has one grandchild enrolled.

By Pulemau Savusa
In 2013, I graduated from my local high school in the Highline School District. My sister, who was a year older than me, had just graduated in 2012 from a high school in Seattle Public Schools. Because we were both in high school for the same amount of time, I noticed things were different when we were at home. At my high school, we were not allowed to take our textbooks home. We had to share books with other classes and, as a result, we weren’t able to utilize our books for homework. When I saw my sister coming home with several textbooks, it made me wonder why this was. But as a freshman in high school, I wasn’t sure how to articulate that.
My brother, who is now a high school senior, has expressed that this discrepancy between districts still seems to be an issue. He struggles to understand how we, who attend under-resourced schools, are expected to perform the same on state tests as students who attend school in more affluent communities where they have access to graphing calculators instead of a basic one.

By Jean Godden

I won't ever look at Seattle the same way again -- not after reading "Too High & Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle's Topography," a book that's just now available in paperback.

What I had not realized before stumbling onto this remarkable volume was how much Seattle's features have been changed. No other major city in the world has had such extensive man-made remakes in a comparatively short history. The city we see today looks vastly different from the one that Midwestern settlers found when they landed at Alki Point 165 years ago.

The author, geologist David B. Williams, chronicles Seattle's amazing transformation. He begins with a quick thumbnail account of the region's geology, taking us back 17 thousand years when glacier-driven forces carved the troughs we call Hood Canal, Lake Washington and Puget Sound.

I am writing this letter in response to the proposed cuts to U.S. foreign aid. Not long ago, I moved from Ethiopia to the United States. I come from the Northern part of the country, where there was recurrent drought and famine, resulting in forced migration and child malnutrition. According to the Washington Post, the drought and famine are affecting close to 7.5 million people. Many people from my home country, including children, are depending on the U.S. to maintain funding for humanitarian programs. Their lives are counting on it.
The United States is a global leader in helping to save the lives of children from illnesses such as malnutrition, pneumonia, malaria and diarrhea. Since 1990, American international aid has helped reduce preventable deaths of children worldwide by more than half. There is more work to do, but that is an incredible accomplishment that has helped stabilize our world.

By Pat Cashman

My college sophomore nephew surprised me twice the other day. “Hey, Uncle Pat,” he said. “I want to feature you in a class assignment.” That was a surprise. And it caused me to wonder exactly what the assignment might be? Drop me from a tree to see if gravity is a real thing?

The second and bigger surprise was that the assignment was for his journalism class. Journalism? Didn’t that subject vanish from curriculums years ago? At the very least, some would say, it’s as relevant these days as taking a course in telegraph receiver repair.

But it turns out that journalism---even in the midst of being pilloried by the latest U.S. president and others---is nonetheless hot as a career choice. Even as traditional birdcage-liner newspapers are getting harder to find, many readers keep turning to them. Plus, their favorite publications (like this one) are also on-line. Then, that version can be printed for the birdcage.

Journalism was a key part of my own college experience. I was the editor of the school newspaper---taking bold editorial stands on hot campus issues---like why pizza had been dropped from the cafeteria menu.

Thief takes bike, leaves cycle

Seattle police are investigating after a bicycle was stolen from a garage on First Avenue N.W. on April 16. Police were dispatched to the home after the resident discovered their bicycle was missing from their garage. The garage was open for a few hours that day, and the complainant believes that’s when the burglary occurred. Police discovered there was no forced entry into the garage. They also found an abandoned women’s bicycle in the yard. It was missing its seat. Officers were unable to find the abandoned bicycle in their registry. Officers logged their report in their stolen bicycle database. They encourage citizens to report any theft they suffer in order to track the crimes.

Burglar flees after shattering window

Seattle police officers are investigating after an attempted burglary occurred at a business located on N.W. Market Street. According to SPD, a suspect “kicked” the glass window of a business that night and it shattered. However, the suspect did not enter the building. No fingerprints were recovered from the scene.

By Ken Robinson

There should be a tax on coffee drinks.

Alcohol is a drug and we realized a long time ago that taxing things people want is a very good way to raise money for the operation of government. Same with marijuana. Once government realized that people were going to get it anyway, they also realized taxing it would raise a lot of money.

That is why we should put a tax on another popular drug, coffee. Coffee contains caffeine. Even so-called ‘decaf’ has trace amounts of the drug in it. And caffeine is a drug a lot of people crave.

A tax on coffee-crazy Seattle could raise money to fund so many of our local needs. You have to give credit to the brilliance of the founders of Starbucks, now possibly the largest drug dealer in the world. And we do not say this to denigrate the sellers of coffee. Starbucks was not the first to recognize the value of a jacked-up populace. There have been ‘dealers’ of this drug brewing and selling coffee for a very long time. The use of caffeine is is deeply rooted in many cultures. Why? Because you get a little high from it.

South King County Democrats Spaghetti Dinner May 20

The South King County Democrats announce their Annual Spaghetti Dinner, Saturday, May 20th, at the IAM Hall in South Park. Please join us for a spaghetti buffet dinner, selecting from the sauces participating in our “Sauce-Off" Competition judged by elected officials in attendance, and choosing desserts donated to the Dessert Potluck!

The Third Annual Spaghetti Dinner features the keynote speaker Mark McDermott who will be speaking on the topics of saving Medicare and Social Security. Candidates for the 2017 ballot will have an opportunity to come to the stage and introduce themselves to the audience in our famous Candidates' Roll-Call. Our Silent auction will round out the evening.

Tickets are available now for $25 through Brown Paper Tickets ( http://skcd.brownpapertickets.com/ ) and will be $35 at the door. So get yours now!

SKCD Third Annual Spaghetti Dinner
IAM Hall
9125 15th Pl S
Seattle, WA 98108
Saturday, May 18th
Doors open at 5pm
Dinner begins at 5:30pm

West Seattle Bee Festival
High Point Commons Park

By Pat Cashman

My college sophomore nephew surprised me twice the other day. “Hey, Uncle Pat,” he said. “I want to feature you in a class assignment.” That was a surprise. And it caused me to wonder exactly what the assignment might be? Drop me from a tree to see if gravity is a real thing?

The second and bigger surprise was that the assignment was for his journalism class. Journalism? Didn’t that subject vanish from curriculums years ago? At the very least, some would say, it’s as relevant these days as taking a course in telegraph receiver repair.
But it turns out that journalism---even in the midst of being pilloried by the latest U.S. president and others---is nonetheless hot as a career choice. Even as traditional birdcage-liner newspapers are getting harder to find, many readers keep turning to them. Plus, their favorite publications (like this one) are also on-line. Then, that version can be printed for the birdcage.

The Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) has announced nominees for the Northwest High School Awards of Excellence. These awards celebrate the most outstanding productions from five Northwest states: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. Productions are nominated by NATAS industry professionals. Students from the Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking Program earned seventeen nominations, more than twice the number of any other school or organization in the five-state region. The winners will be announced on June 3 at the 54th Annual Northwest Emmy Awards.

Ballard’s nominations span seven categories, reflecting the diverse skills students learn in the program. These are the nominations by category. Some of the productions can be screened on the DFP vimeo site at the links included.

Best Short Form Fiction:
Comeback by Skala Leake, Avery Davis, Aaron Miller & Cameron Miller ( https://vimeo.com/190952853

Missing Sister by Veronica Redpath, Miles Andersen & Willow Hudson

Best Short Form Non-Fiction: