February 2012

From the BLOG:

There are two free in-store concerts coming to Ballard’s Sonic Boom Records in the following week, and you’re not going to want to miss them.

The first is Ghosts I’ve Met on Sunday, Feb 19.

A project started by Michigan born songwriter Sam Watts, Ghosts I’ve Met was formed in Seattle and features former Modest Mouse band members Ben Blankenship and Brent Arnold.

In 2011 Ghosts released their first full-length vinyl album entitled “From A Spark” which features guitarist Bill Patton (Fleet Foxes, J.Tillman) as well as Jenna Conrad (Damien Jurado) The album Spent months on Seattle’s Kexp radio charts and warranted an In studio performance at the station.

The in-store will take place, Sunday, February 19 at 3 p.m. at Sonic Boom Records, 2209 NW Market St.

Just days later Damien Jurado will take the stage on Tuesday. Feb 21.

A unique after school program is headed to West Seattle this spring: Spark! for Girls.

Created by Puget Sound native Jill Rose, a mother of three (including a middle school-aged daughter who served as inspiration) and certified Yoga teacher, Spark! “is a program dedicated to celebrating, empowering and igniting girls through yoga and creative arts.”

After running a successful program on Mercer Island last year, Rose is bringing the program to West Seattle from March 23 to May 18. She said the two-hour sessions are guided by a weekly theme and will be on Fridays from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m at Spira Power Yoga (across from the Admiral Theater at 2332 California Ave S.W.). The cost for the 8-week course is $210 which includes tuition and supplies.

The Herald spoke with Rose to get the scoop on how this program came about.

“Spark has been swimming in my head for years,” Rose said.

Yoga and art have been a part of her personal life for many years (she is 41 now), and she said, “Yoga took on a different meaning in my life and it really became a passion of mine” after moving back to Seattle from Bend, OR a few years ago.

By Coach Rob Mathison

In a fast-paced game that saw a furious Seattle Swag comeback simply run out of time, the Loyal Heights 13-Year-Old Boys Basketball team lost to Bitterlake 42-30 this past Saturday.

Playing a zone defense for just the second time this season, the Swag was exploited early by Bitterlake for a series of short jumpers.

Despite several driving lay-ups by Antonio Diaz-Mitchell, a free throw by Josh Brown and a powerful three-point play by Michael Scherrer, the Swag trailed 32-10 shortly after halftime.

Bitterlake padded its lead before The Swag, wielding The-Never-Surrender attitude it has displayed all season, kicked its game into overdrive.

On defense, Robert Mathison and Remy Martin worked in tandem to shut down the quick Bitterlake guards, and Tim Malone played stingy defense underneath, drawing loud applause from the crowd with a perfectly-timed leap to block a layup attempt. Meanwhile, Scherrer and Diaz-Mitchell continued to pour in points.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR FAMILIES

Highline School Board Selects Three Finalists for Superintendentt

The School Board has named three finalists in its search for a new superintendent.

Dr. Susan Enfield

Dr. Susan Enfield is currently the interim Superintendent for Seattle Public Schools. She came to Seattle as Chief Academic Officer from Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver, WA where she served as the Deputy Superintendent from 2006-2009.

Before moving to Washington, she was the Director of Teaching and Learning for Portland Public Schools. Prior to coming to Portland, Dr. Enfield served as the Bureau Director for Teaching and Learning Support for the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Dr. Enfield is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and earned master’s degrees in education from Stanford University and Harvard University. She also earned a doctorate in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University with a concentration in the Urban Superintendents Program.

Dr. David Engle

Dr. Susan Enfield, Interim Superintendent for Seattle Public Schools has appointed a new principal for the K-5-STEM program at Boren. She shared the news in a letter to the families of students on Tuesday, Feb. 14.

Dear Seattle Public School families,

I am delighted to announce that I have appointed Dr. Shannon McKinney as principal for the new K-5 STEM at Boren, which will be opening in September 2012 in West Seattle

Dr. McKinney comes to Seattle Public Schools from Tucson, Arizona, where she spent the last three years as Turnaround Principal for Hohokam Middle School, an ethnically diverse middle school in the Tucson Unified School District.

The Northwest Flower & Garden show wrapped up this weekend and among the prizewinning displays was Ballard High School's funky garden.

Ballard High School's "Club Fungi" was part of the Funky Junk category, which encourages high school horticulture students to create unique garden displays using recycled materials and found objects.

Born from the creative collective mycelium of BHS greenhouse students, Club Fungi grew into the interactive musical party space and judges named the display "Most Funky/Cool/Unusual/Creative".

India Carlson, who teaches horticulture and botany at Ballard High School and supervised the project, said the exhibit was made by student volunteers who earn
service learning hours by participating.

"This year they racked up an impressive total of 150 hours in about 5 and a half weeks of time," she said.

UPDATED story, Friday night:



Over 50 performers competed in the "Battle of Burien" breakdancing competition Friday night, Feb. 10, at the Burien Community Center, 14700 6th Ave SW. The event was packed with onlookers. Judges sat on the sidelines of the dance floor, parked on thick black chairs with pad and pen in hand. The competition was divided into two styles, the "1 vs. 1" and the "2 vs. 2".

There were b-boy and b-girl participants competing together. The terms come from "Break Boy" and "Break Girl" originating in the Bronx.

Luke Cruise, rec leader for Burien Parks since 1999, and Samuel Pasana, a volunteer, started the event in 2007.

"There are a lot of Highline High School kids here tonight, said Cruise, 29. "We want to give these kids an outlet that when adults see them and think they're troublemakers, the will see that the kids are just going to dance. We want to provide a structured environment where they can grow and become constructive members of society.

"The young guys see the 'vets', the older guys who help mold and shape kids into good dancers, and good people," Pasana said.

The still new Admiral District business association took further steps on Monday Feb. 13 to get better organized as they elected their first official slate of officers and heard a presentation about visitors to the area from the Office of Economic Development, SDOT and EMC Research.

The new officers for the business association now formally called Admiral District are Parris Sadow of Atomic Boys as President, Kirk Mead of Umpqua Bank as Vice-President, Eric Renn of Crossfit Gym and Krystal Kelley of Mind Unwind sharing the duties of Secretary, and Jay Wergin of the Heartland Cafe as Treasurer.

Following the election the visitor survey presentation began. Andrés Mantilla of the City of Seattle Office of Economic Development, Ann Sutphin AICP for the Seattle Department of Transportation and Brian Vines, Research Analyst for EMC Research took part in a survey of visitors to six Seattle neighborhoods last year including the Admiral area. The survey, conducted from Sept. 29 to Oct. 16, produced a few surprises, all of them positive.

By Greg McCorkle

The West Seattle Cooking Club converged on White Center Sunday evening, Feb. 12 for the weekly “Soup Off” hosted by Big Al Brewing. Every week a different type of soup is featured and participants prepare their version for consideration.

West Seattle Cooking Club was started by Jennifer Gibson and Aaron Debnam. They would create gourmet home created snacks to pair with beers and share with customers at Beverage Place. That eventually grew into an Iron Chef style competition with full on entrées.

This week was an open competition with fifteen different types of soups presented:

• Captain B’s Fish Stew
• Wanton Mushroom
• Pea and Mint
• Oxtail
• Butternut Squash
• Mexican Carrot
• Peanut
• Sage Paneer
• Cheeseburger
• White Bean Kale
• Asian Noddle
• Chicken and Dumpling
• Smoked Salmon
• Seafood Chowder

Deadline for receiving items for Community Calendar is 5 p.m. Wednesday for the following week’s Times/News. Events are published based on timeliness and space availability. Email submissions to: hteditor@robinsonnews.com Items can be accepted from nonprofit groups and government agencies only. Others may call Dona Ozier at 206-708-1378 for inclusion in our “Out & About” advertising section.

Call to artists
City of Burien Arts Commission Mural Project-- The city of Burien and the Burien Arts Commission is seeking an artist or artist team to create a dynamic, innovative mural on the exterior surface of the Dollar Tree Store at S.W. 152nd St. and 4th Ave. S.W. in downtown Burien. This project is open to all Northwest artists and the budget is $12,000, inclusive of materials. The deadline for application materials is Friday, Feb. 24th. For more information please contact Gina Kallman, Cultural Arts Supervisor, City of Burien, ginak@burienwa.gov, 206-391-6605. Call can also be found on www.burienparks.net, click on “Arts and Culture.”