A woman is being hailed on social media after she confronted a heavily armed Russian soldier and offered him sunflower seeds – so that flowers would grow if he died there on Ukraine’s soil. ‘You’re occupants, you’re fascists,’ she shouts, standing about a metre from the soldier.
‘Take these seeds and put them in your pockets so at least sunflowers will grow when you all lie down here’
Thanks to Diana C.
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“He had delusions of adequacy .”
Walter Kerr
by Sunny Bunch
Thanks to Mary Jane F.
On weeks like these, it’s hard not to feel … well, a little silly or impotent writing about movies and their business. So instead of doing that, I’m going to relay a story about Jack Palance.
Palance is one of the most famous tough guys in Hollywood history, coming to showbiz after boxing and serving in the United States Army Air Force during World War II. I remember seeing him in one of the first movies I can remember seeing: Batman, where he played the crime boss who set Jack Nicholson’s Jack Napier up for the fall that turned Napier into the Joker. But he had a long and storied history: the heavy in Shane (for which he received an Oscar nomination) and Second Chance (in which he went toe to toe with Robert Mitchum). He eventually won an Academy Award for City Slickers as aged cowboy Curly Washburn.
Jack Palance was not born Jack Palance; like so many movie stars, he changed his name to something a bit more palatable to the ticket-buying public (though the ticket-buying public was buying tickets to see him box at that time). And that’s how Volodymyr Palahniuk became Jack Palance.
My point: his parents were Ukrainian immigrants and Palance remained proud of his heritage to the end of his life. In 2004, he was asked to accept an award at an event sponsored by the Russian Ministry of Culture. When he was introduced to accept the award, he took the stage and said: “I feel like I walked into the wrong room by mistake. I think that Russian film is interesting, but I have nothing to do with Russia or Russian film. My parents were born in Ukraine: I’m Ukrainian. I’m not Russian. So, excuse me, but I don’t belong here. It’s best if we leave.”
And then he walked out.
Vladimir Putin wasn’t there, but one imagines Vladimir Putin was none-too-pleased when he got the report if any underling dared bring it to his attention. Make no mistake: This was an insult to the Russian strongman and a well-delivered one at that, aimed as it was at Russian efforts to expand cultural influence. One could make a larger point here about the importance of artists not offering themselves up as propaganda wins for authoritarian regimes. It would be a fair point, and one artists should think about when China comes knocking or when, say, a golfer is asked about playing for a Saudi Arabia-backed league.
But the narrow point is good enough. Jack Palance was a Ukrainian-American badass. One hopes the home of his parents is filled with similar sorts.
Thanks to Alice W. whose daughter and son-in-law and Jeff Robinson all graduated from Harvard Law and moved to Seattle in the same year.
Interweaving lecture, personal anecdotes, interviews, and shocking revelations, ACLU deputy legal director Jeffery Robinson draws a stark timeline of anti-Black racism in the United States, from slavery to the modern myth of a post-racial America.
Eventually, the film will be available on a streaming service such as Netflix, no doubt. But for now, if you can’t find it at a local theater, or don’t yet want to sit inside a theater, and would like to see it without waiting for months, SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival) is offering an opportunity to stream it, for a fee.
LIVE Q&A – April 13, 5:00pm PT
This film is available to view April 8–18. We suggest watching it on April 13 starting at 3:05pm PT followed by the live Q&A at 5:00pm PT. Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler (directors), as well as Jeffery Robinson (subject) scheduled to participate.
Thanks to Al MacR.
Hello volunteers,
We’ll be restoring the columns under I-5 on James Street downtown Sat March 12 & 26 and would love your help.
Here is the link to sign up with all the info: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4caca823a6f4cf8-james
Please feel free to share this with anyone you think might be interested, and as always friends are welcome!
Thank you and hope to see you there,
Alex
Alex Nason (she/her)
Artistic Associate
Ed note: Sadly we note the passing of a pioneering physician sociologist who has inspired so many. The foundation Paul Farmer left behind, Partners in Health, is a charity well worth supporting. His book, Mountains Beyond Mountains, was reviewed at Skyline’s book club several years ago and was the One Book at the University of Washington.
By Tracy Kidder
Mr. Kidder is the author of “Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World.”
More than two decades ago, I had the great good fortune to spend parts of several years traveling with Dr. Paul Farmer, to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, Russia and Mexico for my book about his life. He was a good companion, funny and talkative and when I got sick from a night of too much rum in Cuba, he took care of me.
In airports, he would buy presents for people he was visiting at his next stop. He’d buy present after present until he could barely manage to carry them all. His itineraries weren’t on any of the usual sightseeing lists. In Russia, for instance, he didn’t see the Bolshoi Ballet but rather went to advise beleaguered doctors at a prison where inmates were dying of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
Paul’s basic belief was that all human beings deserve equal respect and care, especially when they are sick. His dream, he once told me, was to start a movement that would refuse to accept, and would strive to repair, the grotesque health inequities among and within the countries of the world. When I first met him — in Haiti, in 1994 — he had already created a growing health care system in a desperately impoverished area. I thought he’d done a lot already. Now, looking back, I realize that he was just getting started.
In 1987, he and several friends had founded the organization Partners in Health. Membership has come to include thousands of young people, many of whom Paul taught and mentored, and legions of friends and colleagues in the countries where Partners in Health works. Paul was the main inspiration for so many efforts: medical education and hospital-building in countries such as Haiti and Rwanda; campaigns against diseases such as multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, AIDS and Ebola; providing surgery and giving chemotherapy in places where all sorts of illnesses and injuries have typically gone untreated.
From my time with him, I remember most vividly a moment in Lima, Peru, when he had just been reunited with a boy he had treated who had been afflicted with a case of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis so severe that it had broken the long bones of his legs. Paul was visiting a hospital to meet with Peruvian doctors about a different patient when he ran into the boy’s mother and father and saw the boy come running toward him down a hospital hallway, actually running. The boy wasn’t just healed, he was restored. After cries of delight and hugs, Paul met with the Peruvian doctors and then headed out to the parking lot. I sensed that someone was following us. I turned, and so did Paul, and we saw the little boy’s mother approaching with her head bowed. She came up to Paul and said in Spanish, “I want to say many thanks.”
Paul immediately took her hands and said, also in Spanish, “For me, it is a privilege.”
Paul was not a perfect human being, any more than you or I. He didn’t always treat everyone as well as he might have, but to be a patient of his was a great privilege. He was a gifted doctor and a deeply compassionate doctor, the kind of doctor we all would like to have. And I believe that the love of doctoring was the ultimate source of his strength and perseverance in the face of endless obstacles and disappointments. He wanted to make the whole world his patient, and he made a good start on that.
Paul described what he did as “accompaniment,” working alongside others as a member of a large cooperative enterprise. With his Rwandan colleagues, he had conceived and seen to fruition a large medical project in a rural district where there had never been a hospital. This team created a beautiful, full-service facility, which now serves as a cancer-treatment center for the entire country and as the campus of the University of Global Health Equity. Paul had gone there to teach and celebrate the white coat ceremony of its first cohort of medical students. He died on the campus on Monday.
I’m told that he had been up late the night before, seeing patients, which in my experience was for him the equivalent of a night on the town. The next morning, feeling tired, he lay down for a nap and didn’t wake up.
Many people feel deep grief at his death. Speaking only for myself, I find it hard to imagine a world without him in it, especially in this moment when cynicism and cupidity seem to have become cardinal virtues, and compassion and decency are deemed a sucker’s pursuit. But Paul’s plans and dreams live on in the minds of thousands of people, who are equipped and eager to follow his example. I like to think he died happy.
Thanks to Mary Jane F.
Thanks to Bob P.
by DEBRA CASSENS WEISS in the ABA Journal
An 11-year-old girl has written to President Joe Biden asking that he nominate her to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The girl is Maddi Morgan, who told Biden that she would be able to walk to work because she lives only blocks from the Supreme Court, CBS News reports.
“It all kind of started in fourth grade where we’re learning about America’s government systems,” Maddi told CBS News. “There aren’t really many requirements to be a part of the Supreme Court. You just have to be appointed by the president. So, I thought, why not? And I just shot my shot.”
Maddi said children don’t have a voice in this county, and they should be given one.
If a Supreme Court career doesn’t work out, Maddi said she has another ambition.
“I have always wanted to be an astrophysicist,” she said.
Walt Whitman wrote “O Captain, My Captain!” as a dedication to Abraham Lincoln, a man he greatly admired Although it seems like it is just a poem about a sea captain who dies at the end of a victorious voyage, it really refers to Lincoln ‘s untimely death shortly after his victory in the Civil War.
Whitman never met Lincoln, though he would see him daily ride past his home to the Whitehouse accompanied by 25 cavalry with sabers drawn. He said they would courteously nod to one another.
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Ed note: This article is one of most practical one I’ve found in terms of reusing a mask and how to store one not in use. Please note that the Corner Store at Skyline has KN95 masks for sale at $1/each if you need one. I wish that the staff in the dining areas, where residents are unmasked, were required to wear an N95 or KN95, but that is not current policy.
By Alison Saldanha in the Seattle Times
With more businesses now returning to the office, the use — and especially the reuse — of N95 and KN95 masks is set to be a popular choice for many.
Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance to recommend the use of these respirators after previous supply shortages recovered. The government also began distributing free N95 masks along with free at-home tests to combat the omicron surge.
Masking is a critical public health tool for preventing spread of the coronavirus, and while all masks and respirators provide some level of protection, properly fitting respirators provide the highest level of protection, the CDC said. The center recently released a new study that found respirators are significantly more effective than cloth or surgical masks.
There is no time limit to wearing a respirator, says N95 manufacturer 3M. They are designed for multiple uses and can be worn until they are dirty, damaged or difficult to breathe through.
In fact, the N95/KN95 respirator is more likely to be physically damaged or worn out before it needs to be replaced because of a COVID-19 exposure, said Marisa Baker, assistant professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences.
“You’ll need to toss it because the strap broke, or it got wet in the rain, well before it would be overloaded and lose its filtration efficiency,” Baker said. She added that this does not apply to respirator use aimed at protecting against general air pollution, including wildfire smoke or dust in the air.
These respirators are designed to both filter particles and seal the face. To be effective, they must be worn and fitted correctly. A better seal leads to more filtration of the air you breathe in. If a respirator is not sealed well, airborne hazards may enter through gaps.
To help protect the condition of respirators to function correctly, it’s important to store them well. Here’s what you can do to maximize the use and reuse of your N95 or KN95.
When wind encounters a tall building, it goes up or around. (It would also go beneath, if it could.)
Thanks to Sybil-Ann. Keep scrolling down to see more
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From The Guardian – thanks to Bob P.
It was April 2020, the sixth week of home schooling, and eight-year-old Lara was fed up. Her father, photographer Helge Skodvin, along with his wife and two elder daughters, was stuck inside with Lara at home in Norway. The first wave of Covid had closed schools across the country, so at 9am every day, each of Skodvin’s daughters took a room in the house to join online classes; his youngest was supposed to be in the kitchen. Instead, Skodvin found Lara hiding under her bed, refusing to go back to her screen, table and lesson. He is pretty sure it was maths she ran away from.
“I was walking past her bedroom and spotted her legs sticking out. I had my phone in my hand, so I just snapped the scene,” Skodvin says. “I loved the colours, the chaos, the authenticity, and there was beautiful spring light coming in through the window. There was no need for my work camera, or even any edits.”
After a few minutes, Lara went back to the kitchen, and returned to school a few days later. Soon afterwards, her sisters followed suit, much to the relief of their exhausted parents.https://www.theguardian.com/email/form/plaintone/inside-saturdaySign up to our Inside Saturday newsletter for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the magazine’s biggest features, as well as a curated list of our weekly highlights.<br>
In the months that followed, the image was included in two books about lockdown, and in one of Skodvin’s exhibitions. Lara, now almost 10, loves the photo. In fact, she considers herself something of a celebrity.
Sue P. sent along this note she recently received from a friend. “I fell in my office when my chair tipped over. Could I reach my cell phone? No. Was I wearing my safety pendant? No. What could I do? I told Alexa to call the concierge and ask for help. It worked.”
Ed note: I’ve tried this and it works, but your Alexa device needs to be within shouting range and set up properly to make this work. And some folks have privacy concerns about Alexa (it always seems to be listening to you)!
Alternatively, an Apple watch, when programed properly, can detect your fall, ask you to respond–and if you don’t call 911 (or other programmed number). This of course can work away from home because of its cellular connection.
Best of all, talk to Lisa and her fitness crew. Engage in fall prevention. Enjoy life!
But there’s some things you just can’t anticipate. A few years ago a friend called me from his hospital bed in Pittsburgh. He was a hiker, in good shape, and had been exploring a graveyard in western Pennsylvania to find his ancestor’s tombstone. The parking lot was empty. It was a rainy cool day and when climbing a hill, he slipped and fell resulting in a leg fracture.
The cellphone was in the car at least 100 yards away. With no other choice, he dragged himself to the car and managed to call 911. The dispatcher asked, “Just where are you sir.”
He replied, “I’m in Mountain View Cemetery.”
Through his pain he had to smile when she replied, “Gosh, we don’t get many calls from there.”
Thanks to Sybil-Ann
Thanks to Sybil Ann (make sure to scroll down!)
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Thanks to Mary M.
Thanks to Mary Jane F.
Thanks to Ed M.
This nifty map of Seattle originally appeared in the Seattle Star newspaper on July 5, 1907. The map “will give the reader some idea of what sooner or later will be the heart of Seattle. As soon as the Denny Hill will have been lowered to grade, great blocks will be erected on the site and that of itself will draw the city to it as well as beyond it.” The removal of Denny Hill, which forms the heart of the heart, did not occur as fast as the writer hoped. Not until 1930 was the entire hill lowered, and with the Depression, little expansion of the city’s economic base happened so no new blood for the heart.
Part of what prompted the drawing and accompanying article was concern about one of Seattle’s seven hills. In particular, the writer was annoyed that the “courthouse is too high on the hill.” The courthouse he was referring to was the old King County Courthouse, located for many years at the site of the modern Harborview Hospital, on what was, and is, known to some as Yesler Hill.
Because of the steepness of the hill, it had another name, Profanity Hill, prompted by the utterances of the legal eagles who had to ascend it. This name so bothered some Seattleites that they regularly called for regrading the hill, simply so that no one would have to walk up it and use foul language.
Suffice it to say, it was easier to raze the courthouse than the hill, which is why the hill still is there. And, with the removal of the building, the hoards of foul-mouthed lawyers no longer had any reason to sully the ears of those pious citizens who preferred delicate discourse when ascending one of Seattle’s notorious hills.
Katherine Graubard, Facilitator
Rick Baugh, Minutes
Report on CEG being a part of SRA
Coming events:
| DATE/TIME | EVENT | Place |
| Feb. 19, 1:00 p.m. | 43rd District Town Hall, Sen Pedersen, Reps Macri and Chopp – Individuals can join Zoom | Sky Club Lounge, Individuals’ Zoom |
| Feb. 26, 10:30 a.m. | Congressman Adam Smith – Registration Provides Zoom information | Sky Club Lounge, Individuals’ Zoom |
| Mar. 18, Fri – 4:00 p.m. | CEG Meeting | Mt. B & Zoom |
Updates on Involvements in Civic Organizations: WACCRA – Legislation to Support in 2022 Session: Rick Baugh State of Bill as of Sun., 2/13/2022
Discussion on Future Activities Ideas on topics and speakers for future meetings. Steve Hobbs, Secretary of State
Marc Dones joins King County Regional Homelessness Authority as Chief Executive Officer (kcrha.org)
Judge Hazelrigg from the judiciary to explain the judicial system
Other Reports of Civic Activities
Individuals Involved in the Community Interview of Jim Sanders: His years of involvement with elected officials.
Next CEG Meeting (New Meeting Date – 3rd Friday of the Month)Fri., March 18, 2022 at 4:00pm Mt. Baker.
CEG CoordinatorsRick BaughKatherine Graubard
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