December 2018

Ballard Music’s free Winter concerts Dec. 18-20 featuring choral-orchestral masterwork, Handel’s Messiah
Performed nightly: Choir Concert, Dec.  18; Band Concert, Dec. 19; Orchestra Concert, Dec. 20, 7:30 p.m.

  The Ballard High School music program brings a sparkle to your holiday season with their Winter Concert Series December 18, 19, and 20. Enjoy three free nights of spectacular performances by the award-winning BHS Choir, Band, and Orchestra programs. Each evening will culminate in a masterwork performance with a full symphonic orchestra and choir featuring selections from Handel’s Messiah. You won’t want to miss the biggest night of music of the year! Each performance begins at 7:30 p.m.

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A Festival of Lessons & Carols features West Seattle students

The Northwest Boychoir celebrates its 40-year tradition of the presentation of its A Festival of Lessons & Carols concert series featuring eight regional performances in December. These holiday concerts showcase the 90-member combined chorus of the Northwest Boychoir and Vocalpoint! Seattle.

The local performance is at Holy Rosary Church on Sunday, December 16th and Friday, December 21st.

Two local students are members of the Northwest Boychoir: Jackson Cecil (17, The Northwest School Senior), and Hayden Wainwright (17, Garfield High School Senior) and Forest Macnab (12, McMurray Middle School 7th Grade). Photos included by name. Photo credits Ben VanHouten.

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The Kindness Quotient: Cultivating Community

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series titled  The Kindness Quotient: how we individually create community

By Sarah Mackay

Coffee and kindness seem to go well with together. I visit one of the best coffee shops in West Seattle on a partly cloudy day in honor of Kindess Day. Admiral Bird is a corner café with a delicious vibe of happy customers and staff. At the helm is co-owner, Corina Luckenbach who smiles easily for all who enter. “No Hate” stickers adorn various spaces, greenish blue walls compliment the wood surfaces, along with vibrant plants and big windows for added decor. The well-lit space is brimming with ambiance; it’s the setting for one of the busiest coffee shops in town. My first thought is, “I’m in good company”.

I meet Corinna, we shake hands, and settle into discussing kindness next to fragrant arrangements separating the coffee shop from the floral business in the back.

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A Tale of Three Cities

By Jean Godden

In November, two East Coast cities received momentous news: they have been selected as the second North American headquarters for Amazon, the e-commerce goliath that Seattle landed for little more than the city's good looks.

Long Island City in New York and Crystal City in Virginia won Amazon's HQ2 bidding war but paid dearly for the privilege: a collective $2 billion in tax credits, rebates and other incentives. That's what it took to attract Amazon and its jobs, 25,000 per city. It's costing Long Island City about $48,000 total per job; Crystal City will be paying $22,000. The cities also had to promise Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos a helipad -- something he's failed to score here.

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Huckleberries, the blueberries of fall

By Katy G. Wilkens

Several years ago I decided I needed access to huckleberries without driving all the way to a friend’s cabin to pick them.

I naively ordered 12 small bushes from my favorite native plant nursery and scattered them all over my yard, in my flowerbeds and garden. Now they are taller than I am and covered with thousands (yes, thousands) of dark blue huckleberries.

After I found a picking tool (a bear-like paw with a handle) to gather the tiny fruit, I was set. This year was a record huckleberry harvest: 28 cups of beautiful berries. Now I just need to figure out how to use up that much fruit. Thankfully, huckleberries freeze really well.

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