February 2010

“Everybody’s Fine” starts out as a mediation on yard work. Frank Goode (Robert De Niro) is sprucing up his place in anticipation of a visit by his four grown children. This is a big deal to Frank. Retired and recently widowed, Frank has a lot of time on his hands and no one to share it with. But as the scene unfolds, the kids call one by one to bail on the visit. Frank is suddenly transformed into a cautionary tale of retirement’s perils: a lonely man with a tidy lawn.

Frank is also a stubborn guy and he decides that if the kids can’t come to him, he’ll hop on Amtrak and visit them.
“Everybody’s Fine” follows Frank’s journey, not just around the country, but into a long overdue understanding of what his children’s lives are really like and the unintended consequences of the way he raised them.

The Monogram Club shared both team spirit and lunch Thursday, Feb. 4, at the West Seattle Golf Club. Nearly 50 of its 140 members that meet four times a year showed. To become a member you must have lettered in a varsity sport at West Seattle High School at least 50 years ago.

In addition to reminiscing, club members donate $8,500 per year in college scholarships to about seven West Seattle High School male and female athletes. Their scholarship program has continued since the club began in 1965 and have awarded 194 scholarships.

The eldest club member is 99. He lives in Everett and couldn’t find a ride.

After him, a mere five years younger is Al Bolstrom, Class of ’34. He usually shows up and may be considered the club’s patriarch. He’s been playing handball following WWII and just received the National Handball Association’s Kendler Award. However, he lettered in basketball and baseball.

“How can you know what is right for the world? By knowing what is right for your own life.” – Tao Teh Ching

If you or a loved one experience feelings of depression for short or long periods of time, you are familiar with its oppressively heavy cloak.

Studies show that 9.5 percent of Americans 18 and older are diagnosed with depression and 27 million are prescribed medication for their symptoms.
These medications for depression are, by design, short-term remedies which mask – not cure – symptoms, create dependency, withdrawal symptoms, adverse side effects, new illnesses and have an 80 percent relapse rate.

Add to this the fact that depression often goes undiagnosed in a culture where a state of discontent is often the accepted norm, and we start to see that it is time to look at other ways to understand and treat depression.

As a practitioner who sees clients with symptoms of depression, it would not be my wish to take the medications away.
However, I see them as a crutch, and we don’t want to walk with a crutch for the rest of our lives. What we want is for our broken parts to be mended so we can stand on our own two feet.

Meet Hap Walker

He is Highline Medical Center's facilities medical supplies distribution and sterilization manager. What that means is he is responsible for seeing that the various nursing floors and departments have the supplies they need to treat their patients and in addition to this he oversees the sterilization of all surgical instrumentation-- the whole magilla.

We were both in the hospital's Midway therapy unit and I urged him to sit down and talk. I found out he has worked for Highline for 32+ years, was born on a ten-acre farm on the Cowlitz River, loves fly fishing, and has a small collection of rifles and shotguns but, has not been hunting since he was five years old.

His dad gave him a BB gun one day just to plink at tin cans and taught him how to use it.

He was out in the family's barn looking for targets and spotted a sparrow on a high wire. He hit it miraculously and knocked it down.

He instantly began bawling from guilt, dropped the BB gun and ran into the house.

His Dad said, "Well, son, if you only wounded it, you need to kill it."

The Ballard High School gymnastics team edged out Issaquah by 0.05 of a point for third-place in the Feb. 6 KingCo 4A Championships and a spot in the district meet.

Woodinville took first, as Ballard coach Stephanie Gundel predicted they would, with a score of 176.3. Inglemoor came in second with 165.925. Ballard rounded out the top three with 164.25, beating Issaquah's 164.2.

The Beavers' Taylor Stern took second all-around with a score of 36.6.

She placed first on the bars with 9.15 and second on the vault, also with 9.15.

Despite not placing any gymnasts in the top three spots in the beam, Ballard had its best performance of the season in that event.

"[The girls] just kept feeding off each other," coach Stephanie Gundel said. "You could see the confidence growing as each person went."

Gundel said the team had an uncharacteristically rough time on the vault, which made things close at the end. The 0.05-point difference between Ballard and Issaquah is equal to one pointed toe or arm out of place, she said.

Stern was the only Ballard gymnast to crack the top three in any event.

The game between the Colts and the Saints wasn't the only game going on, Feb 7th. There are those here who love football so much they get out and play it themselves even on Super Sunday. "We play about four times a year," said Mitchell Weeks," on election days and on Super Sunday, New Years and Thanksgiving Day."

This is a group of weekend warriors who don't mind the mud and play hard. Though it's not tackle and there are no referees, everyone in
this casual game understood that fun was the primary goal.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS

Among those playing on Sunday were Dave Jones, Eileen Norton, Alan Painter, Mitchell Weeks, Alex Lehmann, K.G. Fukumoto, and Jesse Fukumoto.

Photographer Kurt Howard captured these images during the Kennedy Catholic - Mt. Rainier boys' basketball game on Thursday, February 4. Click on the photo to start slideshow.

The Seattle-based animal advocacy group, Animals First Foundation, presents West Seattle cat maven Teri Ensley of Furry Faces Foundation who will give a short talk about feral cats at the Feedback Lounge, Wednesday, Feb. 10, from 6:30 pm. - 9:30 p.m.. Snacks will be served, and then the playing of the card game, Bunco, will follow.

Prizes will be awarded. Entry fee is $10.

Facebook link to event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=312382607753&index=1

Feedback Lounge
6451 California Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98136
(206) 453-3259

Woman imprisoned

Three men and a woman are facing charges ranging from assault to rape on allegations that they held a woman captive in a King County home. After speaking with the alleged victim, investigators were told she'd been essentially held prisoner for several days in a home in the 12600 block of 12th Ave. S. The woman's entire face was swollen and carried deep bruises, she said to investigators she'd been beaten by Candice l. Sanders, 23, then sexually assaulted by Christapher Tarence White, 21, and Luis A. Perez 22. A third man, Troy Dante O'Dell, 25, is accused of holding the woman against her will for more than two days.

Suspicious suitcase

A police bomb squad blew up a suitcase chained to a bus schedule sign at the Burien Transit Center early Feb. 1. It contained only clothes. A Metro bus driver spotted the suitcase around midnight at the center, located at 14900 4th Avenue Southwest.

Reward increased

Eight of the Seattle area's best jazz performers, including Pearl Django and the Uptown Lowdown Jazz Band, will appear at the Highline Vintage Jazz Festival Feb. 20.
Two three-hour shows, a matinee at 2 p.m. and an evening performance at 7 p.m., will feature a mix of early 20th-century jazz styles, from Dixieland and swing to French cabaret.

The Canote Brothers will emcee both shows at the Highline Performing Arts Center, 401 S. 152nd St., Burien.

The afternoon program will include: Holotradband (Chicago style Dixieland); Leftover Dreams (vocals from the American songbook); Pearl Django (Gypsy jazz); and Rouge (French cabaret).

The evening show will present: Harley's Horns A' Plenty (swing); Ray Skjelbred (stride piano); Uptown Lowdown Jazz Band (Dixieland); and Del Rey & Craig Flory (blues queen and reed king).

Tickets are $20 per show for adults or $35 for both shows. Admission is free to those 18 and under. For $100, sponsors receive two all-day passes, preferred seating and other extras.

Tickets are available at Brown Paper Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com or 800-838-3006, Burien Arts at 206-244-7808, or at the door.