Photos from Seattle youth who learned black and white photography this fall will be on display at Douglass-Truth Library following an opening reception November 30.

Students of the Youth In Focus afterschool program will present on their work starting at 6 p.m. (apologies for the late notice!) The class exhibit is titled “Struggle.”

From Youth In Focus:

Join us on Wednesday 11/30 from 5:30-7pm for the Opening Reception of the Advanced Black-&-White Photography class’ exhibit, “Struggle.”

Each student will present on their collection of 3-6 photos on their individual exploration of the topic “Struggle” that they explored during Fall Quarter, Sept-Dec 2011.

The exhibit will be on display at Douglass-Truth Library located at the corner of 23rd and Yesler in Seattle’s Central District.

Refreshments and presentations will be held in the conference room. Presentations start at 6pm sharp.

Jonathan Cunningham (who, among other things, hosts Central Sounds on Hollow Earth Radio) alerted us to the exhibit, and has a lot of praise for the program. From his blog Digital Scoop:

The talented photographers over at Youth in Focus are having a showcase of their work this week across the city and more people need to know about it. If you’re not familiar with Youth in Focus yet, they’re a Seattle-based after school program centered around giving teens access to intensive photography training and allowing that to change their lives.

I’ve seen their artwork around town for quite some time and I’m consistently impressed with the images they’re able to capture. I can remember them hanging a bunch of pieces at the Hidmo where I used to work last year and all of the work from that exhibit captured not only my eye, but most of the customers that frequented the restaurant while their photos were on the wall. I can only imagine how transformative the experience must be for a lot of the young folks in the program.

In addition to the Douglass-Truth exhibit, YIF classes will have exhibits at Seattle Central Community College and the 2100 Building:

Advanced Digital Photography
Theme: “DREAMS”
M. Rosetta Hunter Gallery at Seattle Central Community College
Room 2BE2116, 1701 Broadway, Seattle, 98122
Opening Reception: Thursday December 1, 5:00 — 7:00pm

Beginning B&W / Intermediate B&W / Beginning Digital
Youth in Focus Gallery
2100 24th Ave. S., Suite 310, Seattle 98144
Opening Reception: Friday December 2, 5:00 —7:00pm

Hundreds of students walked out of Garfield High School in the middle of the school day to protest harsh budget cuts from the state legislature.

The walk out comes on the heels of large protests in Olympia, including an action lead by Garfield AP US History teacher Jesse Hagopian in which he brought handcuffs to arrest legislators for failing to uphold what he said was their constitutional mandate to fund education.

Justin from our sister site Capitol Hill Seattle is on the scene:

CHS posted about the planned action, including this message about the planned walk out posted to the Occupy Your High School Facebook group:

We are Garfield High School students, speaking on behalf of and with Seattle Public Schools students tired of the constant cuts to our education. We are the people who have been affected most by these cuts, and we are showing that we care. For too long, this state’s budget has been balanced on the backs of its students. Apparently, our representatives in Olympia have forgotten that the constitution says that funding education is this state’s paramount duty. This is a student voice reminding our legislature of that fact. And also of this one: We are this country’s future. We will vote. And we will hold them accountable.

We will walk out of Garfield High School on Wednesday the 30th of November at 12:30 PM to march to City Hall and tell the world that we are fed up with the lack of funding for education.

We have two primary goals we hope to accomplish:

We want to stop the constant cuts to education that have hurt our school and other schools in the state.. We want to insert a student voice into the political discourse in issues regarding education.

Following are our grievances, things that have already happened as a result of past cuts:. Students who want full schedules have been denied them due to a lack of teachers. Many seniors were denied a science class due to a complete lack of state science funding.. Academic courses, such as math classes, have been repeatedly cut from our school.. The removal of summer school and night school has removed resources that allowed many students to graduate on time, therefore effectively increasing the amount the state must spend on those students.

Join the movement (Walk Out), spread the word, get active.

UPDATE: More photos from jseattle:

Occupiers at the 23rd and Alder house cheer the students

UPDATE x2: The students marched to City Hall, where they got the mayor’s attention:

Also, jseattle posted video of the march over at CHS:

UPDATE: Garfield students plan Wednesday walk out

Garfield High School AP US History teacher Jesse Hagopian lead a group of fellow teachers and protesters in Olympia Monday, calling for a citizen’s arrest of the legislature for breaking the law by underfunding education.

Slog posted the following video from a tipster:

Brandishing a pair of handcuffs, Hagopian told the police that rather than arresting protesters (no one was actually arrested), they should go down to the house chamber and arrest legislators for not upholding the state constitution. “Arrest them, not the people that don’t have camping permits,” he said, echoing Matt Taibbi’s call in Rolling Stone for the NYPD to stop focusing on the Wall Street protesters and arrest the people who caused the financial crisis instead.

In February 2010, King County Superior Judge John Erlick ruled in the case Network for Excellence in Washington Schools vs. Washington State (the ongoing case brought by education groups and parents challenging the state’s declining funding for K-12 schools) that state policy was unconstitutional because education is identified in the state constitution as the state’s “paramount duty.” (K-12 funding has dropped from 50 percent to 41 percent of the state budget over the last several decades—and has taken a $2.5 billion hit in the last three years.)

“I came down to Olympia today to demand that the state fulfill its constitutional duty,” Hagopian said. “The kids in my classroom should come before tax loopholes for some of the wealthiest corporations in the world.”

After a series of public meetings, the preferred design for Jimi Hendrix Park will be revealed December 1. The public design meeting will be a chance for the community to see the design and to give input about which parts of the plan should be prioritized.

The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. at the Northwest African American Museum (2300 S Massachusetts St), next door to the park.

From above, the design looks a bit like a guitar, and the “body” is made up of a small gathering space that can be used for performances.

In other Jimi news, Rolling Stone recently named Hendrix the greatest guitarist of all time. And lets be honest, who wants to hang out in Eric Clapton Park?

More park details from the design schematic document:

In plan view, the concept takes in the form of a guitar, with the fret of the guitar leading down to the southeasterly (Mt. Rainier direction) of the site. The southeast corner retaining wall will be cut down and a staircase brought through, to provide better connections to the community. The stem of the guitar is an opportunity for specialized paving, incorporating a time line of Jimi Hendrix’s life. At the terminus of the timeline, there will be internally lit columns that also can have cut outs with rich Jimi Hendrix imagery.

Taking advantage of the existing topography, we are proposing sculpting the land a bit more to provide higher vantage points, particularly at the north end. Integrated into the north hill, there will be concrete radial benches which can incorporate interpretive elements, like imagery of Jimi Hendrix, his artwork, impressions of his notable clothing patterns, or handwritten lyrics. The creation of a slight bowl to the center will focus on a central space that can be used for classroom gatherings, picnics, or performances. NAAM regularly takes children out to the park for lunch, and this could contribute to the fun and education during their lunch gatherings. One feature of the heart of the park is a “wall of sound”, a colorful curved wall, imitating the curves of the side of a guitar, curving around to form a backdrop to the center gathering space. This wall can incorporate openings of colored glass, images, and sound, with the use of speakers or an amp. Any sound elements would be moderated with a maximum volume and would be connected to a controller so that they would be off during park close hours. Electrical service would also be provided for the occasional larger event. A shelter over the central space could be curved painted steel, with a form to take on the feel of a “Little Wing”.

Additional shelter spaces will be provided throughout the site, 5’ wide concrete paths radiate from the site, in a spiral fashion, to other spaces. At the south end, we propose a small picnic area with a shelter somewhat smaller than the central shelter, with a similar curved “little wing” canopy. At the east end of the site, we are proposing a similar canopy, but with an opening for the rain to be funneled into a source piece for the beginning of a rain garden.

To the northeast, custom sculptural seating shelters, inspired by artwork that Jimi did while at Garfield High School, will provide intimate seating opportunities, and an icon to the park. Celebrating sound waves, we’re proposing a curved colored steel wall with cut outs of notable figures of Jimi Hendrix performing. As the sun passes over the wall, people can walk past his long shadows.

At the north end of the site, we are proposing clusters of purple flowering Pawlonia trees to provide a “purple haze” in the spring. For the most part, the planting would remain turf grass, flexible and easy to maintain. There will be additional shade trees of different varieties to provide seasonal change, and a rain garden at the south, low parts of the site. The central part of the site may need subsurface drainage, which can tie into these rain gardens for a slower release. A new, lower fence will replace the existing one, and portions of the base of the wall will be planted in Boston ivy to cover the existing retaining wall in green. The weep holes from the existing wall will provide enough irrigation to the vines.

Schematic Package

Help homeless kids this holiday season by joining Wellspring Family Service’s Holiday Open House with a special performance by Caspar Babypants.

When: Saturday, December 3, 10 am – 3 pm; Caspar Babypants performs live at 1 pm.

Where: 1900 Rainier Avenue South, Seattle 98144

Who: Kids, families, and adults who want to help homeless children in our community

Admission: Free for all ages, but please bring a new, unWrapped toy to donate to a homeless child for the holidays

Learn more at www.wellspringfs.org

The Police Dept wants to know:  http://mayormcginn.seattle.gov/on-danny-vegas-passing/

I hope this becomes a hate crime and the jerks who so brutally attacked him are found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

A report evaluating the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative says the number of young people arrested for violent offenses in targeted areas of the city fell over 20 percent, compared to 12 percent in areas not targeted by the initiative.

The initiative focuses on areas of the city with ongoing youth violence issues, including the Central District as well as southwest and southeast Seattle.

The report comes just a few years after the program got off the ground in 2009. It aims to find youth who are at risk of falling into violence and provide a more “holistic” approach to preventing that from happening, according to the report:

To ensure that Seattle has safe youth and a safe community, the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative…

… connects and coordinates services to youth through the establishment of Neighborhood Networks led by longstanding community organizations.

… assesses the needs of at-risk youth, helps them set goals and connects them to the help and services they need to succeed.

… deploys street outreach workers to meet and engage youth wherever they are.

… trains and employs youth and helps prepare them for the world of work.

… mediates conflicts before they escalate by deploying School Emphasis Officers in four middle schools.

… teaches youth how to manage anger. … empowers youth by engaging them in the design and creation of their own recreation and arts programming at youth and community centers.

… connects youth to caring adults as mentors.

… engages and funds community and grassroots groups to provide programs and services through matching grants and sustaining funds.

The initiative was a response by Mayor Nickels’ administration to a wave of youth violence, and it was given preliminary funding in the wake of the 2008 Halloween killing of Quincy Coleman near 25th and Jefferson.

The goal is to reduce violent juvenile court referrals and suspensions from certain middle schools (including Washington Middle School) by 50 percent. And the city put over $4 million behind the plan in 2010. The report outlines the spending:

See below for the full report:

SYVPI-2011ProgressReportlowres

A shot was fired when a man resisted a robbery around 10 p.m. November 25, according to SPD. According to police, the man pulled a hammer from his bag and charged at three attempted robbers. Nobody was injured.

From SPD:

On November 25th, at approximately 10:09 pm, East Precinct officers responded to a report of shots fired with a victim standing by for contact with officers in the area of 27th Avenue East and East Marion Street.  When officers arrived, they learned that a group of unidentified suspects had attempted to rob the male victim at gunpoint.  The weapon was fired during the confrontation, but no one was struck.

The victim told officers that he was walking on 27th, approaching Marion Street when he passed a group of males standing on the corner. As he passed the group, three of the suspects began following him.  He stated that he turned to speak to the suspects when one of the men produced a handgun and demaned his bag.  The victim pulled a hammer out of his bag and held it high in an effort to intimidate the suspects.  According to the victim, the suspects repeated their demand and the victim charged toward the suspects.  It was at that time that the gun was discharged, although the victim was not sure if the shot was aimed at him or not.  The suspects then fled northbound on 27th Avenue East. 

The victim ran a few blocks and called 911.  The responding officers conducted an area search, but the suspects were not located.  It does not appear that anyone or any property was damaged by the gunshot.  Officers did recover one spent semi-automatic shell casing from the street at 27th and Marion.

The description of the suspects is as follows:

#1 Black male, early 20s, 6’0, 140-150, wearing black hooded winter coat and khaki pants.  Armed with gun.

#2 Black male, early 20s, 5′ 8″, 150, wearing black coat and black pants.

#3 Black male, early 20s, no further description.

In the middle of Thanksgiving dinner, residents thought there was an earthquake. A loud sound went through the neighborhood and the ground rumbled. But when neighbors and residents near S Main Street and Lavizzo Park went outside, they saw the cause: A very large tree had fallen into a parking lot, crushing and damaging several cars but narrowly missing the multi-story Seattle Housing Authority apartment building at 2035 S Main St.

Though damage to several vehicles will be expensive, nobody was hurt when the tree fell.

“Everyone was inside eating dinner, so nobody was outside in the parking lot,” said Jan Berumen, the manager of the property. In fact, they do not currently believe there is any damage to building despite the fact that the tree was originally leaning toward the structure.

But several residents now have damaged cars, and Berumen says it all could have been avoided had the tree’s owner taken care of the problem. She said she has tried for a year to get the tree taken care of because it was sickly and leaning toward her building.

Unfortunately, she said she has had trouble finding who owns the property.

The Low Income Housing Institute (“LIHI”) recently purchased many pieces of property along S Jackson St to build affordable senior and workforce housing. Over the summer, the Jackson Street Music History Project opened in the vacant lot with the blessing of LIHI.

The property at 2020 Jackson St was purchased out of foreclosure in September 2010. We are working to contact LIHI to confirm they own the property.

As part of a recent feature on city noodle makers, The Seattle Times went inside Northwest Tofu at 19th and Jackson to show how they make their popular tofu noodles. 

From the Times:

Growing up in Guangdon province, Cantonese tofu-maker Yong Huang ate tofu. But tofu noodles? “We never heard of tofu noodles,” says his sister, Lisa Li. You likely never heard of them, either.

Unless you’re a tofu fancier like the folks crowding the inner sanctum of Northwest Tofu — a factory, retail shop and Chinese cafe in the Central District. In the cafe, those lightweight noodles are served as a simple, carrot-strewn salad and a popular takeout item, or better still, twisted into knots and floated with five-spiced tofu and mushrooms in a winter-worthy stew made by the siblings’ uncle.

Huang and Li were teens when they arrived in Seattle, joining their mother’s extended family. Now 40, Huang was in his 20s when his culinary education began. Their mother’s friend owned a small tofu factory. Knowing nothing about making tofu, they bought the place. Huang would meet his destiny in the spacious tofu shop out back — and it came with a bonus: a master Taiwanese tofu-maker. Huang worked as his apprentice for two more years. He learned fast and eventually developed his own way, his sister says.