The first drop of ballot counts in the 2013 August primary foretold promising results for incumbent Mayor Mike McGinn and his expected top challenger, Ed Murray. But there were also surprises like the strong showing of Socialist candidate Kshama Sawant who shows signs of being to hang in the race with incumbent Richard Conlin in the race for his seat on the Seattle City Council. You can find the latest results here via King County Elections. The next update is expected Wednesday afternoon.
21st Avenue between Union and Marion will be holding their annual Night Out Block party!
Northwest African American Museum with children of all ages to experience the ancient art of storytelling with stories from around the world or just around the corner. Also there will be stories recounted following oral traditions. The event is free family & friends are welcomed.
Four Seattle Public Schools graduates are among this year’s winners in the 58th annual National Merit Scholarship Program; three of them are graduates of Garfield High School.
Catherine E. Carey, Joanna Lynch, and Samuel A. Rasch of Garfield join more than 2,500 high school seniors nationwide who have been awarded National Merit Scholarship awards, which are underwritten by U.S. colleges and universities.
Carey will attend Colby College and plans to major in Environmental Science. Lynch is headed to Carleton College and is undecided. Rasch will attend the University of Arizona and pursue a degree in Computer Science. They will each receive scholarship awards ranging from $500 to $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate coursework.
Friday August 23rd and Saturday August 24th every single item at Two Big Blondes Plus Size Consignment Shop will be on sale for 25-95% off. This includes all clothing, shoes, purses, jewelry, hats, scarves, bras and other accessories. All designer labels are included in the sale plus wedding gowns, evening gowns and swimsuits.
PLUS we have our twice yearly BAG SALE going on downstairs on Friday August 23rd. You get to fill a 13 gallon garbage bag with clothes and accessories of your choice, all for $6.50 a bag, including the tax. There are over 4,000 items to choose from and proceeds benefit Seattle Women’s Assistance Fund (SWAF) helping low-income women with clothing.
Hours are 11:00 am to 6:00 pm both days at 2501 S Jackson, on the corner of Jackson and 25th in Seattle. Bag sale will be Friday ONLY – opening at 11:00 am but people do line up early.
Starbucks has announced plans to turn the 23rd and Jackson store into its fifth “community store,” a partnership involving a local charity that receives a portion of the shop’s sales.
Starbucks on 23rd and Jackson
The busy Central District shop will partner with the YWCA’s GirlsFirst and Young Parent programs. These programs will receive 15 cents from each transaction; the donations are expected to reach around $100,000 in the first year. The programs will also have the opportunity to use the store as a platform for their message, which Starbucks hopes will drive customers.
The new partnership will also mean a remodel for the 23rd and Jackson store. They will plan to move the massive in-store mural dedicated to Central District musicians, though Starbucks will preserve it in some way. The renovation will take place in September, and the store will remain open during the process.
Starbucks started its community store program in 2011; the chain hopes to add 45 stores to the program over the next five years.
The Seattle Times, which first broke this story, has more information on the YWCA programs:
The GirlsFirst program offers girls of color after-school activities, summer leadership training, mentoring and internships (including at Starbucks). The Young Parent Program helps people find permanent housing and offers parenting classes, GED tutoring and employment-skills training.
Saturday, September 7th from 6 – 9 pm, Pratt Fine Arts Center opens its doors to the public for a free open house providing an exciting and welcoming environment for the public to learn about Pratt Fine Arts Center’s classes, studios, instructors, and more. Artist demonstrations will give visitors a behind-the-scenes look at Pratt’s unique programming, and a chance to meet instructors, students and staff. Visitors will see dozens of artists blow glass, turn wood, pull prints, carve stone, fabricate jewelry and forge hot steel! This is a fun, family-friendly public event. Hands-on art activities for kids ages 5 and up will be available. EvolutionRevolution food tuck will be onsite to provide tasty fare. Special discounts will be available to Open House attendees on classes at Pratt Fine Arts Center.
In honor of the Community Night Out we will be hosting a special Tuesday Edition of “Movies Under the Moonlight at Mann”. Last Friday we were rained out for The Princess and the Frog movie, so we will be playing that this Tuesday August 6th, 2013. Same time and location. Snacks and refreshments for the kids and everything will be FREE! Look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday!
Several animated shorts created by local artists will be screened Saturday at the Northwest Film Forum. Among the artists featured is Central District resident Britta Johnson.
The screening, called Strange Creatures, explores our relationship with the natural world. Contributing to the piece are the award-winning filmmakers of the Seattle Experimental Animation Team,which includes Johnson, Drew Christie, Bruce Bickford, Stefan Gruber, Webster Crowell, Clyde Petersen, and Tess Martin. The screening takes place at 4 p.m. tomorrow. Tickets are available on Brown Paper Tickets.
Britta Johnson photo by Regan MacStravic.
These independent artists create their films one frame at a time in what is called stop-motion animation, a rare method in the age of computer technology.
We caught up with Britta Johnson ahead of the screening for a Q&A.
CD News: For the uninitiated, what is stop-motion animation?
Britta: To animate using stop-motion, one moves an object or puppet or substance a little bit at a time, taking a picture (a frame) with a camera each time; when the frames are played back at film speed, the object appears to be moving.
CD News: What’s your background? How did you get into animation?
Britta: I grew up watching stop-motion clips on early Sesame Street and MTV, but the real trigger for me was seeing Jan Svankmajer’s film “Alice” in college; shortly after that, I found a super8 camera in a drawer in my parents’ house and started to experiment.
CD News: What can you tell me about this latest project and your role in it?
Britta: I have two films in the show, both of which I directed and animated: “Crashing Waves,” in which people are the objects moving a little bit at a time, and “King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki- Me- O,” which isn’t stop-motion animation at all, but made up of several hundred watercolor drawings. I had great collaborators for both projects; “Crashing Waves” stars DK Pan and Haruko Nishimura – really stunning dancers – and “King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki- Me- O” is a music video I made for Laura Veirs. I really like her take on the traditional song, and Bela Fleck’s banjo playing can’t be beat.
CD News: What other recent projects or upcoming work should we mention?
Britta: I just made a fun music video for the band Qui that should go live soon, and this September I’ll be installing and animating a project involving hub caps on the SEAT section of the red wall at Cal Anderson park. Also, I’m currently developing a series of animations about internal organs and healing. More on that soon…
CD News: What’s it like being an independent artist?
Britta: Fun! And complicated. The errands are sometimes the best part.
To view more of Britta’s work, head to her website.