May 2017

By Lora Swift

The West Seattle Junction is pleased to announce the 6th year of partnerships between Summer Fest and Sustainable West Seattle. Sustainable West Seattle volunteer their time to program GreenLife, a community stage and area full of interesting sustainability demos, debates, and world music. As you may not know much about Sustainable West Seattle, this article I thought I would give you some background about the organization’s President and why they were chosen as one of our community partners.
The mission and vision of Sustainable West Seattle is to educate, create and be advocates for urban sustainability in their local community. Their vision is a West Seattle community of empowered citizens who actively lead us toward greater self-reliance, local democracy, social justice, and existence in harmony with life on earth.

If you drive on Ambaum Boulevard to and from Burien you might have noticed (and just in time for warm weather) the newly opened ice cream shop independently, locally owned near 128th SW. called Cream Dream.
The location was formerly occupied by Baskin and Robbins. The address is 12825 Ambaum BLVD. SW.

The owner is Miran Lee.

They serve 32 flavors of premium ice cream in scoops with cup or cone, sundaes with toppings, milk shakes, smoothies, cappuccino blasts and ice cream cakes.

They also serve 15 different flavors of bubble tea with tapioca, popping pearls and coconut jellies.

When you stop by be sure to ask about their specialty the Snowflake Bowl. "We make the snowflake bowl with milk and strawberry, pineapple, Oreo cookies and cheesecake pieces as toppings," said Lee.
"This new menu is very popular in Asia and we are the first store serving this in area," Lee explained.
You can call them with questions at 206-243-6700.

Starting in late May, King County Road Services will build new sidewalks and make other improvements along the south side of SW Roxbury Street between 28th Avenue SW and 30th Avenue SW beginning later this month and extending into July.

While this work is being done, one lane of the road will be closed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. While the lane is closed, flaggers will direct two-way traffic and pedestrians will be detoured.

During this project, Roxhill Elementary School will move its bus loading areas to the west edge of its property (next to 30th Avenue SW). Businesses in the work area will remain open.

This project to improve safety and pedestrian mobility is funded by the Federal Highway Administration and the City of Seattle. The work is expected to last through July, but the schedule may change if the weather doesn’t cooperate.

· Work is scheduled from late May-July, if weather cooperates
· Area is SW Roxbury Street between 28th Avenue SW and 30th Avenue SW
· One lane of road will be closed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., each day
· Flaggers will direct two-way vehicle traffic
· Pedestrians will be detoured

By Amanda Knox

Approaching Century Link Field in a throng of green-and-blue people, flanked by an ecstatic marching band, I couldn’t help but think about the Roman Colosseum, and how sporting events have been experienced by humans in the exact same way for as long as civilization has existed. The same spirit of adrenaline-spiked tribalism that motivates Seattlites to show up in droves to watch grown men skillfully kick a ball around motivated the Romans to show up in droves to observe the clashing of gladiator against gladiator, Christian slave against starved lion.

We are the same. As Tim Urban wrote recently on Wait But Why, if you were to swap a newborn from a Medieval farming village with a newborn New Yorker today, no one would know the difference. That’s because the modern human brain hasn’t evolved in over 10,000 years. Some evolutionary psychologists think our brains are the same as those belonging to humans from as far back as 50,000 years. For context, that’s the stone age, around about the time humans invented the needle.

By Ken Robinson

A mournful mayor

Patrick Robinson’s powerful image of Mayor Ed Murray expresses the pain of his decision to not seek re-election. The burden of bearing an accusation of crimes committed many years ago, based on assertions alone, have had a withering effect on him for sure.

If any among us were similarly accused, we might also be crushed by the words. His decision is a courageous one, meant to spare both him and his family from additional humiliation. The shabby part of this is the notion that an accusation is a conviction. His dynamic tenure as mayor of one of the great cities of America will be discounted.

Quote of the Week
"Someday is not a day of the week” ~Janet Dailey

Ballard High School Activities Calendar
May 15-19, 2017
Online Calendar Link -
https://goo.gl/TJPTNY

Monday
Lockdown Drill - 8:45
Athletic Booster Club Meeting - Staff Lounge - 6:30pm

Tuesday
Student Senate - DAM Time
Safety Team Meeting - SE213, 3:45pm
Spoken Word - 7pm

Wednesday
Staff Meeting - Library - 3:45pm
Key Club Blood Drive - Aux Gym - 8am-3:45pm

Thursday
CSIP Meeting - Staff Lounge - 3:45pm
Spring Play: The Importance of Being Earnest - PAC - 7:30pm

Friday
Prom Ticket Sales Begin - Activity Center - Lunches and After School
Spring Play: The Importance of Being Earnest - PAC - 7:30pm
Saturday
Spring Play: The Importance of Being Earnest - PAC - 7:30pm

On the Horizon (next week)

May 22-26 - Awareness Week
May 24 - Blood Drive - Aux Gym
May 25 - Spring Choir Concert

Ballard Athletics

Tennis vs “District 2 Tournament” - Tues, May 16th
Softball vs “District 2 Quarterfinals” @ SEAC - Tues, May 16th,
4pm
Men’s LAX vs Bellevue @ TBD - Fri, May 19th

By Peggy Sturdivant

For the last three weeks I was in the same time zone as my family. Which is not the same as feeling that I belong there. I have always felt like an imposter of sorts in my childhood hometown. I was thinking about this even before I flew east at the end of April. In Ballard I’m always looking for familiar faces. In Topsfield I keep my head down, in part so townsfolk won’t think I’m my sister the resident, ignoring them.

There’s that adage that you can’t choose your family, but you can choose your friends. For thirty years I’ve chosen Seattle as my hometown. But I do love to visit because it seems like time travel, from the October when I was there for the pumpkin weigh-in to ice-skating on New Year’s Eve.

By Katy G. Wilkens

Breakfast in a jar, tasty wherever you go

It seems I am always late getting off to work. I walk through my garden on all but the rainiest days, and I can get sidetracked picking rhubarb, snacking on blueberries or watching a robin hop through the lettuce. So I need a quick and easy breakfast I can eat at home or take along.

Breakfast in a jar is an excellent solution. I just put a hearty grain in a Mason jar or plastic container, and then add fruit, milk or yogurt along with some nuts. Voila! Breakfast is served.

Most breakfast in a jar recipes use oatmeal, but one of my favorite grains is farro, the ancestor of modern wheat. Unlike oatmeal, it needs to be cooked. I put a batch in my slow cooker the night before and wake up to a hearty whole grain breakfast that I can dish up for a week. The next week I switch to quinoa, couscous, oatmeal or brown rice. I even have a mix of black, brown and red rice that cooks nicely in my rice cooker.

Pant-less man tracked by K9, arrested

Seattle Police officers were dispatched to the 300 block of North 105th Street just after midnight on May 12 following reports of a half naked man loitering in the shrubs. A 20-year-old-woman made the call. She told police that while walking on the sidewalk a man naked from the waist down jumped out at her and told her he had a gun. She immediately pulled out her small pocketknife to scare off the man. She ran after him and threw rocks. The naked man climbed over a fence nearby. The woman showed officers where she had chased him. The K9 Ziva and Officer Mark Wong tracked the man to some bushes not a block from where the incident occurred. The 34-year-old man was found still not wearing pants. He was booked at King County Jail for lewd conduct.

By Lori Ann Reinhall

During the past six years, the celebration of Norwegian Constitution Day at Bergen Place in Ballard has taken on new dimensions and risen in popularity under the musical direction of Lori Ann Reinhall, longtime volunteer in the Nordic community and popular performer in her own right. Last year crowds were wowed by a new rendition of Edvard Grieg performed by an entire orchestra of accordions, as the music director and emcee has been careful to balance the program with new and returning performing groups. “I love the festival for its connection to tradition,” comments Reinhall, “but I also very strongly believe in renewal. That’s why I always try to feature at least one new act or guest artist to keep up the interest and expand everyone’s musical horizons.” No wonder, then, that Lori Ann was delighted when she heard that Eva Vea, a popular gospel singer from the island of Karmøy, was interested in coming to Ballard to perform at Bergen Place on the 17th of May.