(Photo by Dina Johnson)
Only one guest was truly two-dimensional at last night’s lively wake for local activist/advocate Cherisse Luxa: The life-size cardboard version of Howard Dean, for whom Ms. Luxa had served as a delegate during his presidential run (above, that’s Liz Giba with “Flat Howard”). A month and a half after her death from cancer at age 62, she was feted tonight by a standing-room-only crowd at Mick Kelly’s Irish Pub in Burien, with friends from West Seattle to White Center to Burien and beyond (in both directions) crowding the pub, like the 34th District Democrats‘ King County Committeeman Ivan Weiss:

(Photo by Dina Johnson)
Dina Johnson took that photo while, as she says, he was “speaking about his admiration and respect for Cherisse as an ally, and occasionally adversary. (He) said the only time she was wrong is when she asserted she could get Dave Reichert to flip parties and become a Dem.” Also in that photo, State Sen. Joe McDermott at right, Liz Giba at left.

(Photo by Dina Johnson)
Dina also made and photographed that collage of scenes from Ms. Luxa’s life (given to her family). We took a photo of one of the snapshots you see in that collage – one from her years with the King County Sheriff’s Office:

(WCN/WSB photo by Patrick Sand)
Reminiscences of Ms. Luxa’s law-enforcement work were shared, too, says Dina: “… we found out she loved ‘bones and bugs’ forensics that date the death of a corpse.” And an emotional moment: “A short video was shown of her testimony about annexation at a public hearing, from just a week before she was hospitalized. I felt, being familiar with her normal voice, that she spoke with some difficulty, but it was not obvious. That made me tear up.” Last night’s wake took the place of the monthly Drinking Liberally event, at which Ms. Luxa had long been a fixture.

As we’ve said before, though we didn’t know Ms. Luxa for long, she was a tremendous help with coverage of complicated White Center/North Highline issues here on WCN, and while covering 34th District Democrats meetings for West Seattle Blog and WCN, we saw what a tremendous force she was there. So we appreciate her contributions as well as everything else for which she has been and will be feted.

If you have ever attended Drinking Liberally, you almost certainly know of Cherisse’s incredible energy and her unstoppable drive to make our community a better place. From her decades as a King County Sheriff’s Deputy to her impressive track record as an activist an advocate, Cherisse made a huge difference, both for Burien and for the broader community.

Cherisse touched thousands of lives and was a role model for many of us. We will sorely miss her.

We will be in touch with memorial information. In the meantime, if you know of or are able to provide a home to two of Cherisse’s much-loved cats (Howard and Harris, who are four years old and would prefer to be adopted together), please let us know as soon as possible.

(Via Liz Giba) Photos from Flickr

Sometime in my adolescence my mom became a fundamentalist Christian.  I abhorred this sect from the very outset.  I found their rituals, primitive:  speaking in tongues, meeting in store-fronts, fire & brimstone, the rapture – coming very, very soon.  And when I went away to college and matured into my progressive political views, I despised their unabashed right-wing politics.  Needless to say, none of this played well with my mom.

In high school, I would always goad my mother about politics, religion, culture; pretty much anything incendiary that would ignite a fire-storm between us.  These dramas took on heightened intensity on holidays like Thanksgiving, when my mother wanted everthing to proceed just so.  So, many of my memories of Thanksgiving revolve around the interactions with my mom.

My mom adopted, not only the rituals of Christian fundamentalism, but the cultural affects as well.  Instead, of mole and tamales, we got mashed potatoes and gelatin.  When I visited from college and the “gringo food” was served I would storm into the kitchen, fry up some beans, warm up rice and dig out the salsa.  I would set them down and exclaim, this is our food and we should celebrate the holiday with our food, (the turkey is ironically – our food – a New World bird).  I did not goad my mother, but I did ask her why we had to eat mashed potatoes when beans and rice were so much healthier.  And besides, “it is our food.”

I’ve mellowed considerably as I have become a parent.  The curse, “may you have kids like yourself” has come to bite me in a big way.  If I were celebrating Thanksgiving with my folks in El Paso, I would still pull out the home-made salsa, the tortillas, beans and rice, but instead of berating my mother, I would give her (and my dad) a big hug and a kiss and say, “I”m so very happy to be here.  I love you.”  And then we would retire after the meals and root for who-ever was playing the Cowboys.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in Barbara’s name to: North Highline Fire District Aid Car Fund, 1243 Southwest 112th Street, Seattle, WA 98146. In her memory, Barbara asked to please spend time with a child that is close to you. That time spent and your love for that child will be with Barbara forever. A graveside service will be held at 1:30 PM on Monday, November 2nd at Riverton Crest Cemetery, 3400 S.140th, Tukwila 98168 with a reception following at Rainier Golf and Country Club, 11133 Des Moines Memorial Dr. S.

You can read Ms. Peters’ full obituary here. She was 72 years old.

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Fr. Ramon Velasco, who many will remember was our parish’s parochial vicar until last year. Fr. Ramon passed away earlier this week, and leaves behind many friends and family members one of whom is a member of the parish, Rosa Velasco. His funeral Mass is scheduled for this Friday at Holy Family before his body is returned to the Philippines.

Unfortunately, we discovered this just as all of the events concluded – a reception has just ended, following a Funeral Mass earlier today that was to be led by Archbishop Alex Brunett.

Years ago, I used to have an office job in downtown Tacoma.  If we wanted to get something to eat, we would troop into our cars and head to Old Town or the Tacoma waterfront.  The downtown core was desolate.  As one of my colleagues used to say, “you can’t buy an Aspirin in downtown Tacoma.”  Sadly, he was right, there was nary a Bartells, Walgreeens or even a small Asian grocery store to buy anything essential.  Coffee shops were nonexistent and the hilltop area was still a war zone.  I relate this, not to knock Tacoma, after all, it has really improved, but it has improved in ways far different than White Center.

Most of Tacoma’s improvement has been the subject of heavy top-down government investment and tax incentives.  While the Greenbridge Project on the west side of White Center might be considered similarly, “top down,” it is but a small part of what makes the area a better place.  White Center has always had a community and a functioning business core.  Many White Center businesses, (Center Tool Rental, White Center Glass), have been there for decades.  Nonetheless, there was a time, not too long ago, when the walk on 16th Avenue SW, south of Roxbury, was undertaken with trepidation and certainly never after dark.   Today, White Center is a different place.

Immigrants from all parts of the world have opened businesses throughout the White Cener business core. This is organic growth, from the roots up.  Projects such as Greenbridge seek to encourage such growth.  As well, there are businesses opening from locals who want in on a dynamic area.  Cafe Rozella is but one, there is also Full Tilt Ice Cream, Proletarian Pizza and word of a couple of other new businesses.  These are businesses operated by young people who are dynamic and future-oriented.  Tolerant and educated, they are what social scientist, Richard Florida would call the creative class.  Rather than berate the lack of a McDonalds, we celebrate the Pho shops, the Salvadorean pupusas and the Guyamas Burritos amongst many other great eating establishments.

So next time you have friends visiting from out-of-town, do the Space Needle but bring them to White Center and invite them to take in the rich melting of cultures inherent in this corner of the world.  And, if by chance, one of your guest gets a headache and, if you want to buy an Aspirin there is the Super-Walgreens and the local Bartells.  But I suspect a custom ice cream cone from Full Tilt or an Americano from Cafe Rozella would work just as well.   Cheers!

His bias is evident when discussing Amanda Knox’s initial alibi, which was that the bar owner, for whom she worked, had committed the murder, while Knox was in the apartment.  To wit, Egan:

Still, Knox’s statements were troubling. She and Sollecito gave different versions of what they had done the night of the killing, their memories clouded no doubt because they’d been smoking hashish. And Knox raised the possibility that a bar owner with an airtight alibi could have been involved.

Knox did not “raise the possibility” that the bar owner might be involved she gave a long narrative blaming him with an array of sordid and lengthy details.  Not exactly a problem in translation.  For those who want a more balanced piece you can read my take, “The Curious Case of Amanda Knox.”

This is unfortunate, as I very much like Timothy Egan’s writing.  In fact, his subjectivity is often the best part of his pieces.  Unfortunately, in this case, he is no better than the Seattle reporters who are rooting for the hometown girl.  Tis a shame.

UPDATE:  Timothy Egan responds to his critics.

I read Egan’s response to his critics regarding his opinion piece on Amanda Knox, “An Innocent Abroad.”  There is some measure of contrition in his response, as with his use of “innocent abroad.”  But, overall, Egan does little to give substance to his very clearly biased opinion piece in which he rails against the prosecutor and calls the case a “railroad job.”  He says he took a month to review the evidence, but there is very little in his piece that could be called factual.

1.  Egan’s account of the conviction of Rudy Guede is, to put it mildly, incomplete and inaccurate.   He draws a straw man, implying that the “anti-Knox” crowd is completely discounting his guilt.  That is sheer nonsense.  Guede is clearly guilty, the only question is whether he acted alone and on that score the forensic evidence points to more than one actor.  Guede was caught almost immediately, and in one of Knox’s permutations of her alibis, she claimed that she let him in and that she was in the next room while he raped and killed her — hearing her screams as well.   If so, why didn’t Knox call the police herself?  She has since ditched that story.  The only thing Egan falls back on is police duress.  But Knox changed her alibis over a period of time and it took three weeks before her first victim, Lumumba the bar owner, was cleared.  She never volunteered that her story was false until his alibi panned out.

2.  Egan claims that Knox had no motive.  This was not a vendetta, robbery or revenge killing.  It was a crime of passion.  As I explained when it comes to sex a little motive goes a long way.  It is not the prosecution’s case that Knox planned to murder Kercher.   The theory of the case fits the case, a sex game gone awry.  This explains the brutality of the murder and incompetence in disposing of evidence.

3.  Egan spends a lot of time impugning the Italians and the British as having prejudged this case.  My reading leads me to the exact opposite conclusion, it is the American media that has prejudged this matter in favor of the American girl.  I sourced much of my material to Der Speigel and the BBC, hardly tabloids, as Egan pronounces the foreign press.

As my original post made clear, I am not prejudging this matter, I certainly have no stake in it.  Although, by all accounts, I should be in the Knox camp, being as we are part of the same community.  Egan is a very able writer, but he is no legal analyst ala Jeffrey Rosen or Kurt Eichenwald.   I think that Egan is simply out of his element and out of his league, on this matter and his shoddy work clearly indicates as such.

If you’ve ever been to a White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition meeting, you know that’s Kathy Kaminski, one of the WCSDCSC’s energetic co-facilitators (along with Karen Greene). At the end of Thursday night’s meeting, Kathy had a personal announcement: Next meeting will be her last, as she is leaving Seattle Neighborhood Group in July to return to school, seeking a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. She says she hopes to return after her two years of studies; she’s been with SNG for five years (per its staff page).