December 2007

Upside down fir Christmas trees became a tradition a millennium ago in Europe. The base pointing upward symbolized the Holy Trinity. Photo by Steve Shay

poor conditions

Property taxes have sky rocketed as assessed value of homes have increased. Let us say assessed value is $300,000 and your real estate taxes are $3,000. When your assessed value is determined to be $600,000 your property taxes automatically go to $6,000.

What exactly do our basic taxes pay? Each year we are asked to vote for or extend and increase school levies (maintenance, building, small classes) Medic One, low income housing, parks, etc. that are added on to the basic tax.

Hollywood vs. West Seattle

By Emily Williamson

Here is the reason that I want to write this column...

I am tired of movie stars. Aren't you? I don't care about Brad and Angelina, or Britney, or Paris.

It is time we honor our own. It's time we shout hooray for the local postal worker who remembers our name, not the glossy magazine that is in our mailbox. It's time we praise the mom whose child says please, instead of wondering what Britney is going to do next.

So sorry Hollywood, but you're "out."

Ads to save the world

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

Since we first got TV when our oldest son was 10 years old in the 1950s, corporate ads have proliferated. They still mount an appeal to greed, envy, and luxurious living. Female enticement has certainly not been eliminated as evidenced by the butt wobbling young things walking away from the camera or the plunging necklines at every turn.

At Large in Ballard by Peggy Sturdivant

Last month I drove across Lake Washington on the I-90 floating bridge and followed mysterious directions regarding a hilly driveway and a large flagpole. As directed I took an elevator to the fifth floor, even though I didn't know if I was in the right building.

Memories of home updated

By John Oliver

Thomas Wolfe wrote You Can't Go Home Again, but I don't agree with him. You can and can't return. I grew up in Ballard and recently returned after a long absence. What I found was a delicious mixture of then and now. Memories updated.

I searched for the home where I was born. What better place to start but at the beginning? But I couldn't find the house or the exact location. Somebody pointed out a place they thought it might be, but that was wrong.

A new exhibit at the Nordic Heritage Museum features the work of three local Finnish artists who explore their interest in ancient Finnish beliefs of Animism and their personal connection to Finland.

"Kolmenkertainen: Three Times Finnish. The paintings of Peter Juvonen, Diane Lijelund and Matt Timo," opened on Nov. 30 and runs through Feb. 3.

Animism is a religious belief based on a concept of a soul that departs the body after death.

Juvonen was born in in Turku, Finland.

Leif Erikson Lodge historian Luci Baker Johnson will talk about the murals in the lodge today (Wednesday, Dec. 5) at 7 p.m. She will also discuss the artists who painted the artwork and the architecture of the lodge. The mural pictured here was painted by Yngvar Sonnichsen in 1916 and is an oil on canvas. It depicts Native American figures on the right, watching as some Leif Erikson and his followers arrived in Viking ships in the 11th century. There are seven murals lodge and other framed artwork on the walls of the located at 2245 N.W. 57th St. The program is free.

We are like most cities, we never seem to do much about ending homelessness, we just move it from one place to another. People often are caring and give to food banks, to those feeding the homeless and to other groups which do their best to give some help to those living under staircases, in cars or in abandoned buildings.

But they are still homeless, even many who are trying hard not to be.

A climbers dilemma: How to cut footprint

By Susan Heller

Whether it be hybrid cars, the development of alternative energy sources, or calculating and offsetting one's carbon footprint, global warming is no longer a concern relegated only to scientists and tree-hugging hippies. The subject has become so pervasive in the last several years, evoking such a variety of fact-riddled opinions and studies about how to best love mother earth, that I have become paralyzed in all matters green.