May 2011

Artist Garreth Schuh will be displaying his artwork at the Burien Community Center for the month of May.

The artist writes about his work:

I grew up in a rural area south of Seattle where I spent much of my time with my grandparents, who farmed, made things by hand and lived a rich but frugal life. My grandmother introduced me to oil painting, and her "matter-of-fact" portrayal of her subjects stayed with me as I matured. I studied art and architecture through college and I obtained a Master's Degree in the late 1980s in Philadelphia. I built a career around a parallel focus on creating art and architecture, and though I have left that rural life behind, I have always felt the pull of the lessons of my childhood and a connection to my grandparents' generation.

The mayors of Burien, SeaTac, and Tukwila will address members of the Southwest King County Chamber of Commerce at the May Membership Luncheon at the Puget Sound Skills Center in Burien, on Friday, May 13.

The mayors present will be Joan McGilton of Burien, Terry Anderson of SeaTac, and Jim Haggerton of Tukwila.

The mayors will address specific issues within each of their cities, focusing on economic development including current and future successes, challenges and opportunities. There will be time for audience members to ask questions.

The event will be held from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. at the skills center, 18010 8th Ave. S,
Lunch is $20 pre-paid by noon on May 12th or $35 at the door. Sponsored by Domestic Abuse Women's Network (DAWN). Register by contacting the Chamber at (206) 575-1633 or email staff@swkcc.org.

The web registration link is http://swkingcowa.usachamber.com/custom2.asp?pagename=calendar&a=view&e…

A process to design a future "neighborhood center" in the area of Normandy Park's Manhattan Village will continue with two community workshops on Wednesday, May 11 and Thursday, May 12 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Normandy Park Recreation Center, 801 SW 174th St.

All city residents and especially those living or working near the Manhattan Village shopping area are encouraged to attend one or both events.

The Wednesday meeting will introduce a set of conceptual plans for the area, each based on comments from an earlier meeting and previously adopted plans. Facilitators will lead group exercises to identify the best features of each plan and to consider "guiding principles" to lead all planning efforts.

Thursday's event will introduce new schemes developed in response to Wednesday's work, and will ask residents to suggest conditions for the plan's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

Highline Medical Center's Cancer Care Program has received the 2010 Outstanding Achievement Award from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC). This award recognizes excellence in providing quality care to patients.

The award is granted to facilities that demonstrate a commendation level of compliance in six areas of cancer program activity: cancer committee leadership, cancer data management, clinical management, research, community outreach, and quality improvement. Compliance is determined during an on-site evaluation by a physician surveyor.

CoC surveyors were impressed with how Highline provides care in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Highline's cancer program is the only program in Washington to receive this award in 2010.

For more information about Highline's Cancer Care Program, visit www.HighlineCancerCenter.org or call 206-439-5577.

As part of April 30's Burien Clean Sweep, Davy Wilson, a Sylvester Middle School student, sprays a stencil next to a street drain on Southwest 152nd Street to help stop stormwater pollution. The stencil reads "DUMP NO WASTE - DRAINS TO SOUND" as Heather Kmitta, left, and Beth Wilson (Davy's mom) hold the stencil in place.

Tickets for the 2011 Highline Garden Tour went on sale May 1. This popular annual event, which takes place Saturday, June 11, allows participants to visit beautiful private gardens in Burien, Normandy Park, and SeaTac. Ticket holders also will be treated as well to access to the organic kitchen garden that supplies the gourmet Copperleaf Restaurant in SeaTac.

As part of the tour this year, gardening expert Lorene Forkner will speak on "Small Is the New BIG: 3 Big Rules (& 4 Small Ones) for Designing Small Gardens with Impact." Her talk will include pointers for people who want to fit gardening into their lives even as Americans' leisure hours are shrinking.

Other tour features include a plant sale at the Highline-SeaTac Botanical Garden and discount coupons and other specials provided by tour sponsors including Herr Backyard Garden Center, The Bean, Sal's Deli, and Lavina Mays. Additional support comes from John L. Scott realtor Susan Plecko and Burien Bark.

Some stories are hard to beat.
 
In our family, the story of how our Dad climbed Mt. Hood in tennis shoes when he was 18 is one of those. We know it is true because we have a photo of a bony young guy in goggles at the summit. I suppose it could have been faked, staged on Rocky Butte near his Portland home. But enough details have emerged to convince his five sons that he really did it.
 
That was in 1938.
 
In 1961, I had my own parallel adventure on a much smaller scale but in some ways just as perilous and in retrospect, kind of crazy, as young men sometimes can be.
 
We were wearing suits and it was Thanksgiving. There were four of us, all from Highline High School, buddies and in our senior year. I don't remember why we were wearing suits and London Fog raincoats. It may be because  it was raining. Our shoes were polished, our hair trimmed and we looked like proper gentlemen.
 
That seemed like a good time to head out in the early evening, after a big dinner, and climb the Space Needle.
 

Seattle City Councilmembers Jean Godden, Nick Licata, and Mike O’Brien will make an appearance on the Seattle Channel to to answer questions from the public.

Hosted by C.R. Douglas, the Seattle Channel wants to give the public an opportunity to have their questions answered during the Council edition of City Inside/Out.

City Inside/Out: Council Edition is a monthly conversation with host C.R. Douglas, featuring three of Seattle’s nine Councilmembers. Past episodes are available on the City Inside/Out: Council Edition website.

Questions for the Councilmembers should be submitted by Thursday, May 5 at 5 p.m.:

· Email: contact@seattlechannel.org
· Online: http://www.seattlechannel.org/CouncilEdition/
· Twitter: @SeattleChannel or @SeattleCouncil
· Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SeattleChannel

City Inside/Out: Council Edition, May Edition will air on Wednesday, May 11 at 7 p.m. on the Seattle Channel, Cable 21.

My son was a happy baby, but he wasn’t an easy baby. In utero, he used to move his body towards my midwife’s hands during every exam. “You’ve got a snuggler in there,” she’d say and I’d beam with pride. Out of the womb he proved my midwife right. If he was in my arms, he’d coo and smile better than any Gerber baby. But if I dared put him in a swing, Johnny jump up, or exersaucer, he’d cry after a mere minute or two. As for his crib, that became storage for clothes and toys. And my breasts were no longer mine, they were on demand for his soothing and nourishment every couple of hours.
This exacerbated me to the point of often screaming, “I can’t take this!” at two, three, and/or four in the morning. But I did take it, because that’s what mothers do. Being a first time mother meant I didn’t have a reference point to my son’s demeanor or needs. In many ways, his needs were simple: he needed me. When he had that, he was full of giggles and baby babbles. His face lit up every time he looked at me, even when I was by his side all day and night. This unadulterated love softened the burden of being on demand twenty-four hours a day.

Just open for four days is the newest tanning salon in West Seattle, Desert Sun at Westwood Village. It's located across from Barnes and Noble.

Owned by Mage Gangon, who already owns 3 others in the franchised chain in the Seattle area, Desert Sun is not what you might expect. If you haven't tanned in a salon before, or been concerned about warnings, Gangon is convinced that the warnings are out of proportion. He's spent up $30,000 on a single specialized tanning machine. Gangon says that the warnings are about "basic level equipment which 90% of our tanners are not using. We pay the money for the technology to tan people the right way." He's spent more than $300,000 just on tanning equipment for this location.

This location was four years in the planning and the company was offered other locations in Westwood Village previously. They negotiated on a lease but the deal fell through. When Hollywood Video closed, the former shopping center owners Wesbild came calling again.