Dear friends,

All my companions agree that your celebration of the independence of our country is a wonderful event.
We, if we could, would join in with you cheering the founding of this great country.
We enjoy, to a limited extent, your parades, picnics and swimming hole gatherings on the fourth of July.
We have also grown somewhat accustomed to the fireworks and ceaseless explosions on the 3rd, 4

^th and 5^th. of July.
In my neighborhood the kabooms began on 21 June and continue every night from sundown to midnight.
Could you please consider limiting your celebrations to those days around the 4th so we can come out from under your beds for our late night walks, free of fear.
Thank you.
Your pal.
Sage
Aussie/Border Collie

I know a lot of Hill residents don’t contemplate travelling to the backabeyond but there are occasions you might want to consider packing up and heading to the hinterland-

Ever wonder what life was like long ago in far away places?

Experience it yourself with the Empire of Medieval Pursuits.

A group of dedicated artisans, sword makers, knife makers, re-enactors, come together to educate, share and delight the crowds that flock to these events in order to go back in time for a grand adventure. 
Be sure to attend when the “ring of fire” brings a group of warriors together to battle it out in full regalia while encircled by fire. Yikes!!

Sunday, when I arrived out in the shire of Bothell, in Washington State, ( also known as the Arch Duchy of Astaroth, centered in Bothell ) a fair number of warriors were crawling out of their tents shaking off the previous evenings festivities. 
In mere seconds they were practicing their archery, sword handling, dressing in armor, and drinking their coffees from horns-

Ira, a warrior and merchant, works in the Vulcan Knife store in Ballard as a apprentice/student to the owner.  
Interesting and talanted guy, as you’ll see. ( I want a pair of those gloves!! )

At the end of the video Ira turns me over to Arch Duke, Lord Khan Ironfist, of the Arch Duchy of Astaroth, who is a gracious man and the organizer of this weekends frivolity. 
After the shoot we went over to his car to look at an outrageous collection of weapons. 
The Rattan weapons they talk about are in themselves lethal. 
The Lord Khan told me getting hit by a Rattan sword when wearing armor hurts more than when hit by an actual metal weapon. 
These are some tough boys!!  
Oh, some of the wenches look like they could slay interlopers, or a dragon or two, without a blink. 
One fair damsel was doing that two-sword thing that Conan the Barbarian loved to pull on his opposition. 
I was unable to track her down after hanging with the Lord Khan.
I’ll presume she went to see her chiropractor to get her arms re-connected to her shoulders!!

I did meet Tierany, who is a fire-eater…Not sure I know what that means but will check out Ignition to watch a performance.

When the Lord Khan, aka The Pillar of Ardesca isn’t kicking arse on the field of honor he tosses jerks out of a local watering hole, a righteous thing to do even in modern times-

Should you venture to Bellingham, Washington, next month, 6-10th June, many will be gathering to battle it out—The magic word Ragnaroc will guide you there.

In September, in the Shire of Duvall, warriors will use full size catapults (some fancy French word) to hurl pumpkins at, well, someone.

Check out the Arch Ducy of Astaroth or www.empiremp.org to get the scoop on the next bloodletting-

Great event with a lot of really fun cool people! 
Go, have a good time!

And some say Seattle is a boring town!!!

What follows below was written by a number of students seeking recognition and permission from their high school to form a LGBT club on campus.

I was fortunate to have interacted in and out of the classroom with a number of the kids seeking this recognition. 
If asked, I would be happy to play some minor role in advising them, or mediating with the school officials for recognition. 
I may be much more aware of what they might face as their church has taken a strong stand on their position with the gay community. On the one hand they claim to love all people, as they define gays as “intrinsically disordered.” 
Not the kind of love I ever want to receive! 
Can you imagine how that feels to a teenager full of angst about just about everything in their lives!! 
The Archbishop in the Seattle Archdiocese has been appointed by the Pope to bring the nuns back into conformance with their stated positions on a number of subjects. (See article in today’s Seattle paper) They feel the nuns have gone too far on supporting-homelessness, poverty, choice; contraception etc in ways the church does not approve of-
If the nuns have angered them you can imagine how this request might boil the water.

I have deleted the name of the school in respect of the process. When and if the kids receive a definitive reply I will be more than happy to share it-

  _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“The biggest disease today is the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for and deserted by everybody” – Mother Teresa

Never before has this statement been more true, especially in the LGBT community. XXXXXXXXX High School (AKA XXXXXX Catholic High School) has long promoted an image of acceptance and love but its lack of support and acknowledgement of its homosexual and lesbian students says otherwise. 
Consistently, the school’s leaders have denied students from beginning a Gay Straight Alliance based off of the beliefs of the Catholic Church.

Its refusal to allow a GSA to be formed despite the constant attempts to do so sends a message of hate and intolerance to all students and teachers alike. Its actions tell students who feel oppressed and hopeless that they are not equal or accepted at XXXXXX Catholic High School.

Though XXXXXXX Catholic High School is a school grounded in its religious roots, that should not stop it from promoting love and acceptance. Its leaders refuse to allow the formation of a GSA because of fear of the backlash it will undoubtedly receive from the Catholic Church. Still, the need for change is evident and it is time for XXXXXXX Catholic to be on the right side of history by being the first school in the archdiocese of Washington to approve of a GSA.

This is an actual letter received a day after President Barack Hussein Obama spoke up for equal ciivil rights and marriage opportunities for all citizens.

 “Dear Everyone,

With the recent idiocy in North Carolina, followed by the glorious support from our POTUS & Senator Harry Reid, a lot of old feelings are stirring in my gut; feelings I shelved away back in 2000 after being personally devastated by the Prop. 2 Campaign. 
Back then, I HAD a dream. I dreamed that one day, I would wear a gorgeous white dress & walk down an aisle on the arm of a man proud to be walking with me, toward a woman who loves me & will vow to always love me, in front of all our friends & family, who want nothing more than to celebrate & honor that love. 


Since 2000, that dream has been shattered & pieced together again many times, as various state & federal governments teased me with the notion of human equality. And with each “PSYCH!”, my heart broke a little. It’s hard not to take that kind of blatant discrimination personally. 
The Defense of Marriage Act has been cited against me~ ME, a girl who has always wanted to get married! 
Protect Marriage, Protect Families, Save Our Children… from ME? ME??? 
I am a nanny, for goodness sake! 
I LOVE my families and I eat, sleep and BREATHE children!
It finally got to a point where I had to emotionally withdraw from all of it. It hurt too much to fight and be systematically let down each time. 
Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships are the modern equivalent of separate drinking fountains for whites and blacks. 
They are crap. 
There is no such thing as Separate But Equal, just as there is no such thing as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. 
Protect Marriage FROM DIVORCE! 
Protect Families FROM PARENTAL NEGLECT! 
Save Our Children FROM CHRISTIANS WHO MISINTERPRET THE WORDS OF CHRIST TO PROPAGATE HATE!


My emotions are stirring again… finally… as though there is actually a light at the end of this tunnel. At this point, however, should I even get excited? Cuz I’ve gotten excited before & had my joy dashed by ignorance. Is that daylight I see, or just reflections of strobe lights bouncing off a drag queen’s sequined gown as we continue attempting to dance the pain away?
Sincerely,

I must have dozed off when the price of cheese, per pound, became greater than the price of Copper River salmon. 
There are competitions to see which Seattle store will have the salmon first! 
High-end stores eagerly await the escorts flying in from Alaska to deliver the fish to jostling consumers lining up to throw down their dough for a slice of chilled ruby red salmon.

 What’s going on?
Has anyone noticed prices lately? 
Really, I must have hit my head and awakened into a land where just about everything in the store hovers near the $5.00 mark. 

Maybe I just haven’t been paying attention. 
That’s entirely possible.

 According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics the average hourly earnings for those living in the USA is $23.38. That rounds out to around $48,880.00 a year or $4,073.33 a month. *
Most of us are concerned with that monthly figure in order to maintain.

 A great many of the people I associate with, through Let Kids Be Kids, are making from $10.00 – $12.00 an hour. At 40 hours that brings in monthly income of $1,733.33 and $2080.00 respectively. (Most are not working forty hours)

Knock out the big one, rent or mortgage; add in medical, lights, sewer, water, gas for the guzzler, access to the internet, unless you are coughing up a $1.80 for coffee at Starbucks for free internet, bank fees, telephone, oh yeah, food etc. etc. etc
Some are servicing college debt.
At the end of the day you don’t have a lot of what they love to call disposable income. That money that you can make decisions with above and beyond the demands of just maintaining standing still. 
That money that everybody wants and you don’t have to give.
You have no savings, no emergency money, and no additional money to give to your kid’s education, field trips, supplies, snacks in the lunch bag, if you have kids. 
College for your kids – forget it!
No thoughts to ever having a vacation, a more reliable car or a moment when you are not fretting about money.

 The store can offer you red kidney beans at $2.89 a tin, toilet paper at $5.20 a four-pack, day old chicken pieces for $6.00, fatty hamburger at xyz per pound, boxes of pasta at $5.29—-on and on and on as you look to find eatable items with what money you have in your jeans.

 You begin to look at everything as a percentage of that hourly wage you are so desperately trying to stretch. 
Gas costs you a half an hour of labor per gallon.
Milk, creamer, sugar and mass produced coffee in a five-pound tin is an hour of labor.
Apples, bananas, grapefruit is an hour of income.
Boxes of pasta, discounted pasta sauce, tomatoes, garlic, onions, peppers, capers is an hour plus of your bankroll.

If you ever lose your grip and treat yourself to a film it will cost you close to two hours of pay. You might have no option but to pay for street parking, at roughly $4.00 per hour, but cheaper than a lot if you can get back to your car before that $48.00 overtime ticket. Add in your ticket and $5.25 for a small bag of popcorn and you’ve blown your wad. 
Your extravagance brings you lots of guilt and little enjoyment.
You didn’t really deserve that popcorn!
You know you can never take anyone to the movies. Not your kids, a friend, or anyone.

 The other day I took a man to a high school to talk with teenagers about what life is like for him as he fights the ravages of AIDS. He has $55.00 to spend each month. That’s it – $55.00 a month!! All his stay alive costs are covered by insurance, wiped out savings, gone 401k’s, AIDS programs, some debt, government programs and Social Security.

 He apologized to me for me spending so much on his favorite Colonel Sander’s combination, accompanied by a gigantic Coke.
An hour and ten minutes of pay!

 Something’s wrong out there in the land of the free and the home of the brave!

 *[1] Each month the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program surveys about 141,000 businesses and government agencies, representing approximately 486,000 individual worksites, in order to provide detailed industry data on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on nonfarm payrolls.

Tim, a long time resident of Bailey – Boushay House, in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, shared his Friday with three classes of young ladies at a Seattle area private high school.
Tim was diagnosed with AIDS some years ago.
Tim wants to reach out with his story so young people, and others, will give a bit more thought to the choices they may tend to make a little faster than they should. The focus of his talk is around loneliness, isolation and abandonment that are often the not so silent partner to this disease.
Should questions come up about HIV/AIDS he will field them in an appropriate fashion depending on the audience.
His years in nursing, combined with his fight to stay alive, have made him, and others that are infected, experts on the disease.
As he will share with his audiences, “Sufferers of AIDS are living longer, though not necessarily better.”
Tim is generous of his time, though he pays a price for that generosity.

A day before a scheduled visit to a school, business or social organization Tim goes off a number of his meds. He discontinues them because the side effects require him to be close to a bathroom at all times. Vomiting, diarrhea, confusion, tremors and feelings of exhaustion are his constant roommate.
Insulin and morphine, along with a few of the thirty-six pills he takes a day, are all that he allows himself prior to a visit.
He stays in bed for most of the previous day trying to bank the energy required to stay focused physically and mentally as he makes a presentation.
Because it is impossible to get his motorized wheelchair into my car he struggles with a walker.
Drugs, and the unrelenting disease, have him sporting braces on his legs. It is difficult for him to manage walking but he is determined to get from his room to the car.

This particular visit required that he walk about a city block from the parking area to the schools main office.
He needed to stop twice to rest along the way.
I tried wheeling him in his walker but that just left the two of us howling at the impossibility of it all-

Tim sat on his walker as he spoke to each group of kids.
Chairs were drawn in a circle to give a more welcoming feeling and to minimize any separation that might be crouched between Tim and the kids.
For some this was their introduction to a gay man.
For many this was the first time they had ever been around anyone with AIDS.
The kids were surprised that Tim looks so “healthy.”
That observation allows him to share some of the realities of “dying by inches.”
If one can measure silence this is one of those moments.

Tim shares what people’s reactions to him being sick have been over the years. He has had friends and relatives walk away from him fearing they will become infected.
The kids, those who know how one is infected with the virus, are surprised that anyone, here in Seattle, would be afraid.

In one class Tim broke down as he spoke about people who told them they could no longer be around him. Through tears he shared with the girls the story of a couple, who essentially adopted him, when he became so terribly ill he could no longer work or support any of the usual life expenses.
They took care of him in their home for over a year. They insisted he move with them from Kentucky to Seattle.
One young lady took this moment to give him a hug.
Hopefully she will know some day how much that meant to him.

Tim’s sense of the absurd, combined with perfect timing, allowed many laughs to accompany his story. 
He is realistic, hopeful, determined, courageous and beyond all extremely generous.

When I got him back to his room he collapsed on his bed.
He will go back on his drug regimen spending the next two days in bed to recover. As I was leaving his room he asked me when we could do another presentation-

Thanks Tim-

 Bailey – Boushay House

“In 1987, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) cases were mounting in King County, as they were in the rest of the U.S. At that time, the disease was considered fatal. Hospitals balked at the prospect of having to handle all the potential cases, while individuals, government medical programs, and insurance companies cringed at having to pay hospital costs of $600 to $800 a day. Yet for more and more people, AIDS was becoming a part of their lives. Friends or family members were diagnosed; children were born with AIDS; loved ones were dying; and people’s hearts froze when their own blood tested positive for HIV.”

“…Bailey-Boushay House specializes in the complex nursing care needs of people with severe AIDS and HIV-related diseases, with a staff-to-patient ratio not provided in other facilities. Our intensive nursing care model also serves people with disabling conditions not related to AIDS, including:

• Cancer
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
• Huntington’s disease
• Kidney or liver disease, and others

In addition, outpatients suffering episodes of acute illness may enter residential care to regain their health and return to outpatient care.

Bailey-Boushay House functions more like a home with nurses than a traditional nursing home. Around-the-clock care is not only focused on the needs of patients, but on the important people in the patient’s life. Partners, friends and family members are included in creating treatment plans as trusted allies in the patient’s care. Social and cultural diversity is respected and honored by our staff members, who actively participate with families and loved ones to honor special wishes and needs during the patient’s stay.

The residence’s 35 private rooms can be decorated to help every patient feel at home. A living room, dining room, meditation room, greenhouse and four solaria offer open community spaces unique to our facility. Services for residents are designed to help patients with the most complex care needs feel well and engage in restorative activities. Services include:

• Treatments by occupational, physical, and speech therapists to increase function and wellness
• Individual and group counseling by experienced social workers
• Opportunities to exercise, make art, enjoy music, and socialize under the guidance of recreation therapists
• Spiritual guidance from a pastoral counselor
• Nutritional counseling and flexible food program supported by a dietician
• Psychiatric care from an in-house psychiatrist and dedicated social workers

Clinicians at Bailey-Boushay House treat the whole person, not just the diagnosis. Residents facing the end of life are supported in all ways; medically, emotionally and spiritually. In our nurturing environment patients can know the pleasures of living, and experience more comfort and ease at life’s end…”

On Wednesday Professor Ed Reed PhD, Seattle University, Matteo Ricci College, World Poverty Course, accompanied 25 students on a tour of Tent City 3, presently housed at Saint Marks Cathedral on Capitol Hill, Seattle.

The students got a thorough tour and explanation of the inner workings of this Tent City by a long- term resident.
I was proud to have played a role in this visit as well as being enormously honored by these students reading “View from the Tent” as one of their class readings prior to this visit.

Here is a short video clip of one of the students reacting to her visit to the homeless camp. (Another group of 25 students will visit the camp on Friday 27 April) 

Thank you Dr. Reed for stretching education out into the real world of day to day survival for some in our community.

The other day, a see him once in a while kinda friend, was carried out of his house on the Hill for an emergency ride to the hospital.
I don’t think he is coming back-
He’s in his eighties, has a damaged heart, bad kidneys and liver that isn’t doing its job.
I’ve gotten to know him over the last year while I give him a rides to his doctor appointments whenever he needs to get checked, tested, probed, poked, whatever-
He has always been full of laughter, soft sarcasm, and insightful comments about the news as he shuffles towards the car for his ride.
Over the last six months he’s been moving much slower and needs a slight hand getting in and out of the car.
He makes fun of himself as he drops down into the softness of the passenger seat.

A couple of weeks ago I took him to see his heart doctor. When I picked him up he told me they kicked around the idea of surgery but that the doc thought he’d die on the operating table. He told me he didn’t want the surgery anyway and they should save their skills and help out younger folk who could use a few more years.

Before I could ask anything he told me he was ready to go. “I’ve been around death my entire life and it doesn’t scare me. I am okay with moving on. Go see what’s to be seen.”

Before retiring he spent seventy years in and around funeral homes. His dad was a mortician housing the family above the preparation rooms, viewing and remembrance rooms. He later became a mortician himself working for various cities before founding his own successful business.

He never married telling me that not too many young ladies found his career choice all that inviting. He had a couple of long term girlfriends that he spoke kindly of as he wondered what had ever happened to them.
I could feel a touch of sadness as he spoke about making this trip all on his own.

I hope he comes home.
Of course no one will tell me anything at the hospital since I’m not a relative.
Too bad just caring about someone isn’t enough in our over lawyered land…

If he’s gone I hope he gets more than he thought might be waiting up the road.

I want to share the story of a young lady I have known for a long time.
A local hill resident that shows us all how to make a difference.

In high school she began volunteering to coach various teams, from a community of adults, who are living with physical and mental challenges. She has been a friend, coached, mentored, and organized games and trips to faraway cities so the various teams can compete in basketball, T ball and bowling.

Watching her communicate with some of her friends on the team, who are often hard pressed to get an idea across to others, is watching a miracle in patience and empathy.
Once I watched her develop a touch code with a young man who was mostly blind, deaf and mute. Somehow they communicated and she understood his needs -remarkable!
After high school, and a cruise by college, she spent the last dozen years working in a women’s health clinic that offers all the services that women need in our complicated society.
She continued her participation with “Special Olympians” over the years.

Recently she joined the local school district to become a full time aide to a little six year old saddled with cerebral palsy.
She is with the girl for the entire school day helping with lessons, exercising, bathroom breaks, assisting with the young girls lunch, snacks and any other needs that come up during the day.
She and the little girl have already formed a strong bond as they juggle the rigors and complications of first grade.
Only the parents spend more time with the little angel.
The only time she is away from the little girl is during her thirty-five minute lunch break.
The child’s physical abilities are, at the moment, limited. The hope is she will be able to develop the strength and confidence to use her arms, hands and fingers with much more control in the future.
The little girl has a specially programmed Ipad that allows her to communicate over a broad range of topics. For instance, she can touch an icon of her mother and it will open to share a little information on her mother. Once one knows how to ask the proper question, or elicit a question from her, the Ipad allows a pretty good flow of conversation.
Thank you Apple!
To watch the two of them during class, recreational time and during lunch is to watch two people becoming tied together by the strongest of bonds.
I remind myself never to be surprised as this has been her gift to others for years.

In a society that often overlooks the people who are out there offering themselves to others it’s nice to stop and look around at those who are doing so much for so little. This particular lady is a single mom raising a teenager on a salary that would take her more than two years of loving this little girl to equal what Willard Mitt Romney makes in a single day doing nothing more than saying what he may do given the opportunity.

My hope for the future is built on people like the one described above.
Those that put what’s most important where it belongs-
Thanks from all of us to all of you behind the scenes, holding it all together for all of us.

For years we have been trying to nudge various church members to step away from the definition of gay children, “intrinsically disordered” that causes so much injury to so many young people.
Their plan to further descriminate is contrary to the message of who they claim to follow!!

It is refreshing to see Father Whitney say no to the plan to survey, persuade and further color the reality of accepting all people as one-
He is living up to the following:
“In order to teach it is enough to know something. But in order to educate one must be something. True education consists in giving oneself as a living model, an authentic lesson.”   Alberto Hurtado S. J. 

Father John Whitney S.J., pastor of St. Josephs, in Seattle, posted the following in response to the church wanting to collect signatures. Lets hope more priests follow his lead-

“…Referendum 74, which aims at repealing the marriage equality bill passed by the State of Washington, is being supported by the Archdiocese of Seattle, who have asked the Knights of Columbus to collect signatures at parishes. I believe that this involvement around the issue of civil marriage is a mistake, and risks placing the Church on the side of injustice. Thus, I cannot in conscience allow such signature gathering at St. Joseph. I am not telling others how to vote, but I think that a Catholic, in good conscience, can oppose this referendum…”

Danny Westneat, Seattle Times wrote the following on 11 April 2012.

“…This weekend, many Catholics going to Mass will be greeted by something they haven’t seen in their churches for decades: political petitions.
The Catholic Church here is set to start collecting signatures, in churches, to repeal gay marriage, Referendum 74.
Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain announced last week he had approved the petitioning of the flock as part of church services in all local parishes.

That’s quite a volatile stew. Start with two topics you’re unwise to even broach at dinner — God and politics. Add in homosexuality. Marriage. A dash of separation of church and state.

We’ve got on our hands one big come-to-Jesus moment.

“We believe this issue is critically important,” Sartain wrote, explaining why the church was turning itself into campaign central this spring.

“The whole thing is very disturbing, to many of us,” counters Barbara Guzzo, 62, a Seattle Catholic who has formed a group to oppose her own church’s signature-gathering effort. “There’s a zealousness to it that just doesn’t seem very Catholic.”

Nobody is surprised that Catholic officialdom opposes gay marriage. It’s how it’s involving the whole operation, top to bottom, in a political campaign.

Churches can’t do political campaigning, or they risk losing their tax-free status. This doesn’t apply to initiative and referendum campaigns. Those are considered legislation, and churches are permitted to lobby on pending laws — even if that means passing political petitions around the pews.

But a lot of churches shy from it. Separation of church and state is partly to benefit the church.

A pastor in Tacoma recently said in a forum that while he planned to sign the anti-gay-marriage referendum, he wouldn’t allow a signature-gathering “three-ring circus” at his church, Life Center. The electioneering would detract from the “church’s message of transformation in Jesus.”

Local Catholics last did such signature-gathering in church in the 1980s, said Dominican Sister Sharon Park, director of the Washington State Catholic Conference. One cause was the 1989 Children’s Initiative to raise money for poor children.

“We don’t do it often, but we will if it’s a priority for us,” Park said.

Guzzo expressed disbelief that gay marriage could be the drop-dead issue of the last 25 years.

“I don’t think the church should be involved at this level in politics, but especially on an issue like this,” she said.

Guzzo says she’s pained her church now is in league with the entity that set up the group sponsoring Referendum 74, the National Organization for Marriage.

A confidential strategy memo showed that group had planned extreme tactics to try to defeat same-sex marriage. Such as trying to find disillusioned children of gay parents to talk on camera about their sorry upbringings.

This idea — to troll for broken families and exploit them, dubbed in the memo as “documenting the victims” — has got to be one of the most despicable campaign tactics I’ve ever heard of.

“The National Organization for Marriage is the antithesis of everything the Catholic Church is supposed to be about — like inclusivity and compassion for others,” Guzzo said.

Park said the church has coordinated with the group. The archdiocese also plans to donate money to the referendum campaign, she said. But “the National Organization for Marriage isn’t telling us what to say or do. We’re sending out our own materials, with our own message.”
To that end, in his letter about the heated campaign the church is embarking on, Archbishop Sartain struck a plaintive note. Please, he wrote. Give us room to explain our views on marriage.

“Catholic teaching cannot be reduced to a sound bite!” he said.

Probably not. But welcome to politics. It can be like dirt — it sticks to you when you roll around in it.

Danny Westneat’s column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or [email protected]