just laura

Today was the photo protest/workshop down at the Ballard Locks. While it’s hard to imagine anyone getting harassed by Homeland Security for taking photos of one of Seattle’s biggest tourist attractions, it’s a sad but true state of world affairs. Today there were thousands of tourists milling around, exclaiming noisily about the locks, the boats, the migrating salmon, the flowers, or the live music. There were also 50+ photographers there in a photography protest. Many were spurred to action by Myk’s blog a few weeks ago, while others heard of it more recently after the Stranger and local media gave the protest idea some press. More photos (including one from the PI?) later this week.

The bridge photo that got Ian into trouble

Getting ready to call in reinforcements? Doubtful. Today they didn’t seem concerned with a bunch of photographers.

Photographers breaking the law!

Stricken with Hepatitis C in April 2003 and lacking health insurance, Alejandro Escovedo has been the focus of scores of benefit concerts in Austin, Texas, and across the U.S. There’s a new 2 disc CD just out this week, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Alejandro Escovedo Medical & Living Expense Fund (as well as a developing effort to develop an ongoing assistance effort for musicians afflicted with Hepatitis C). The album has Austin bands like Los Lonely Boys and Charlie Sexton, Seattle bands like The Minus Five, Alejandro’s family members Shelia E (Prince) and Pete Escovedo (Santana), and many others. Buy yours today, enjoy some great music, and help out a favorite Austin musician.

Por Vida: A Tribute To The Songs Of Alejandro Escovedo

But don’t just take my word for it. From Amazon.com: These 32 songs offer further aid–and a dizzying, daring appraisal of a brilliant, if commercially hard-luck, songwriter. Opening with Lucinda Williams’s slurred, Spartan electric groove, the set covers the obscure (“Sacramento & Polk,” in a manic paranoid take by Lenny Kaye) and the exquisite (the road-weary ballad “Thirteen Years,” in a stately, aching reading by Tejano legend Ruben Ramos). Those familiar with the restless style-shifting of Escovedo’s career won’t be surprised by the juxtaposition of Ian Hunter’s bar-band strut with the Jayhawks’ psychedelic wall of delay, or Peter Case’s glam garage with Bob Neuwirth’s unguarded, accordion-laced sigh. Surprises include a poignant vocal turn from keyboard legend Ian McLagan, a reunited and stunningly revived Son Volt, and Escovedo himself, charging through a new tempo-twisting rocker cut just before he fell ill. There is tangible enthusiasm, even love, in the performances of these wildly diverse admirers. –Roy Kasten

FLUFF: It’s true that I got my hair chopped off about two weeks ago… this time it’s about an inch above my chin. Short, but in a fun (maybe even sassy?) style that’s good for summer. Not exactly hip, but I am getting more whistles and cat calls than before. (Maybe that also has something to do with tanktops that girls wear in the summer?). Either way, Suzan requested a hair photo so here it is. It’s from a friend’s housewarming party this weekend. You probably can’t see much of my hair under the cowboy hat that was getting passed around, but you can see my tan. I think the haircut actually makes me look a little younger (despite my grey hair), as I’ve been carded twice in the past two weeks. Anyway, the housewarming party on Sat was fun, as was the party on Friday, as was the BB King concert Sunday. (BB King was AMAZING, in fact, and I’ll post some pics very soon). G’night!

Last night I had the opportunity to drive around Seattle in the Pants on Fire mobile and it was a pretty entertaining ride. The giant Bush trailer had signs, lights, and flames up his pants… kind of a less than subtle “Liar Liar Pants on Fire!” reference. There was peace music blasting from the speaker system that included songs like Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up.” There were also links for the PantsOnFire.net website on all sides of the trailer as well as an LCD screen that scrolls lists of the lies Bush has told the country. The goal: “Pants On Fire is a campaign to make Americans aware that George Bush has lied to us about many of the most important issues facing our country. Our aim is to make sure that Americans never forget about those lies so that we DON’T GET BURNED AGAIN.”

We received many supportive shouts, cheers, and honks are we drove around town… some folks even knew about the car, knew the website partners, and even knew who began the campaign (Ben, of Ben & Jerry’s). Many people shouted supportive niceties like “F*ck Bush!” and “I’m not voting for that ***hole!” Others responded with “What the heck?” or “Sh*t!” as they tried to figure out why a flaming Bush was driving down the street. Others seemed to miss the subtlety(!) and they seemed to think it was pro-Bush. One favorite was when a guy at the Whisky Bar downtown saw us from inside, and came running right out the front door towards the car, grabbing himself, and shouting “You can suck my f*cking c*ck with that f*cking s*it!” Of course, to be fair, not everyone in Seattle is anti-Bush. There was one car of people who didn’t cheer for us: a few 16 year olds in an SUV that shouted “Kerry can suck my left nut!” before throwing something at Emily. It was kind of funny (luckily, they had bad aim so she wasn’t hit).

Overall it was definitely a fun night. Police men smiled at us, bus drivers grinned, taxi drivers gave thumbs up, 10 year old kids cheered, and even Cadillac owners tooted their horns for us. BTW, if you missed us last night, the car will be around Seattle for two weeks, with different volunteers driving each day. Look for our buddy Andrew to be driving Thursday and Friday nights.

The webmaster at A Picture’s Worth 1000words.net has been emailing me and asking for photo and essay submissions for the past year. I finally submitted both and apparently they are today’s feature. If you’ve got time to kill, you can read my essay (less than 1,000 words) as well as check out the photo. :)

BB King with Magic Dick

Elvin Bishop sings his classic “Fooled Around and Fell in Love”

The BB King Blues Fest rolled through town and did two shows this weekend at the Pier. I saw the concert on Sunday night and had a fantastic time! There were three opening bands before BB came on for the headlining set, including Dr. John, Elvin Bishop, and Shemekia Copeland. There were a few special guests: Jay Geils and Magic Dick! Both played in the blues rock J. Geils Band that formed back in the late 60s. It was a “hard driving white rhythm and blues show band” and they continued to evolve as the years went on. I wasn’t around in the late 60s, but I do fondly remember their foray into cheesy 80s at about the time MTV got it’s start. I think we’ve all probably danced to Freeze-Frame and sang along with (Angel is a) Centerfold!

BB himself was fantastic! He’s 78 years old, has bad knees, bad back, and Diabetes, but he’s still touring and still having a grand time on stage. He is a funny, funny man and had total control over the crowd, the band, and the mood. It was fantastic, and I’m glad I got to see the show while he’s still able to tour!

Rating: Highly recommended, must see! Shemekia Copeland and Dr. John might have been good, but they weren’t amazing. However, I’d love to see Elvin Bishop, BB King, Jay Geils, and Magic Dick again!

Caroline and I were running around Greenlake this morning and the at one point the topic turned to the recent amount of crime in the area. Anyone else feeling a bit creeped out by this increase? I hate to admit it, but the recent string of 14 arsons in Seattle is a bit alarming to me. There were 5 within a mile or two of me… including one less than a mile to the East in Wallingford, and another that was barely a mile to the West in Phinney Ridge. There’s been an increase in gang activity in the U-District neighborhood where my office is located. Even closer, there’s been an increase in theft at the Chevron station two blocks away. And right at my office, for my little nonprofit, there was a break in last week. One woman was working late, alone, was confronted by a robber in her office. He had her bags and other items and was in the process of leaving with them. Screaming wouldn’t matter in an old, empty building. She didn’t know whether to attempt running, give everything away, or attack. She didn’t know if he had a gun, or a knife, or if he was going to be violent, or if he was going to abuse her. Luckily when she walked in the office it caught him off guard, and he dropped the items and left. However, you never know what the next desperate person might do. I work late pretty often… sometimes till 10pm, midnight, or even 2am if I’ve got a big deadline and I’m on a role. I’m not keen on the idea of someone picking three sets of locks to get into my building, floor, and office. Alas.

Kind of funny… Terrorist threats don’t worry me in the least… I don’t cancel fireworks plans or buy duct tape or stay away from large celebrations. I kept flying after 9/11… hopped a flight a couple of weeks later and continue to fly almost monthly. I don’t get nervous when traveling alone to places like India or Europe or Latin America… even when it’s often considered unsafe for single, American woman to travel alone. I don’t get nervous going into the supposed “bad” parts of town. I don’t get nervous walking home at night, by myself, even after leaving a bar or a concert after midnight. I don’t get worried about homeless or drunks. However, as odd as it is, the recent fires and robberies are just a bit disarming. I’ve decided to plug my smoke detector back into the wall… that’s the best I can think of right now. Guess I’ll leave the rest to someone else more capable than me?

Janine at last month’s baby shower

In college we had an automated phone system to register for classes, with the voice prompts done by one of the assistant deans. At the end of the call, when you completed all of your class selections, the closing was always the same very serious refrain: Goodbye and good luck. It’s been a familiar sentiment lately as there’s been lots of change happening around here in my professional life.

One staff member who’s been with our agency for 18 years just left… and I regularly find myself thinking “Oh! I’ve just got to show her this thing!” and then come to the sad realization she’s gone…

There’s also tons of turn over right now among my peers who direct other programs in the Puget Sound. There are about seven or eight main programs in the county, and three of those directors are leaving their jobs this summer. They’re all great people who’ve been there since way before me and are all the folks I’ve worked most closely with over the past three years. I’ll be sad to see them go, but I am excited for the new opportunities they’ll be pursuing!

Closer to home… while graduation for most of my staff was last week, yesterday was my last team meeting with my original 5 staff members. I decided we’d celebrate with a road trip and so we took a day trip to Whidbey Island. We rode the ferry, hit small towns, ate way too much pizza, found silly stuff at a thrift store, and spent a long while playing around at Deception Pass Park. We also took tons of silly photos while goofing off and reminiscing about the year. It’s good stuff, just sad to see such a great team moving on.

And finally, I just came home tonight from a goodbye celebration for Janine and Chris who are moving back to Australia. I’ve known for about four months that she’s be moving this week, but it doesn’t feel too real yet. I suspect it’ll take a while to sink in… like each morning when I get to work and want to run over to her desk first thing to give her the latest updates. Janine started just a month or two after I did and it’s really not going to be the same working there alone after these past few years. You’d think I’d have had time to cope since I’ve now been to one baby shower, one goodbye party, and one joint baby shower/goodbye… but it’s hard! It’ll be great for them to move back home to the beach and be near family. However, I’ll miss having her here and will really miss not getting to see her have the baby! She’s 33 weeks right now and doesn’t have much longer to go! Guess all I can say now is goodbye and good luck!

I’m taking a class this week at the University of Washington’s Evan School / Graduate School of Public Affairs. It’s the final class for my Certificate of Nonprofit Management program. Even more than last year’s class, this is making me want to go back to grad school. While hundreds of pages of assigned reading each night was never ideal (not in undergrad and not this week), I do love the studies and the theories, I love the debate, and I love the case studies and consulting projects given so we’re forced to apply the ideas. It reminds me that school could be fun… unlike my business undergrad that I didn’t appreciate as much as I should have. Of course, the first step in going to grad school would be finding time to study for and ace the GREs. Guess it could be a while…

I apparently was too tired this weekend to post on Sunday, despite the fun that ensued. So, here’s a belated recap. I forced myself to come home Saturday night after one party and skipped out on a second beach party (eliciting a midnight phone call from Andrew… sorry about that!). I decided I should continue reading my assignments for class instead of party it up in a bikini at Chuck’s house. Of course, once home on a Saturday night, the more I read, the more I was distracted and inspired to create new programs for work, so those two got intermingled and I spent a few hours doing each until the wee hours of the morning. Sunday I woke and read, ate some food, read some more, and then treated myself to a well-earned break: Shakespeare in the Park. Lovely Chris (of the walking across country fame) and his lovely sister Wendie (the international traveler) invited me to picnic with them in Lincoln Park and see Greenstage’s production of All’s Well That Ends Well. The play was, well, adequate (not my favorite Shakespeare, but it did elicit some laugh out loud moments when you have to groan at the bad puns or cheesy plot twists). Chris and Wendie’s company, on the other hand, was fantastic. Hopefully I’ll get to hang with them more before Chris leaves Seattle to move back to Denver. :)

And on that note, I should really get back to more reading for this morning’s class and our first group assignment. Hope everyone’s well! BTW, anyone planning to attend the photo meetup on Wed? I’ll be giving myself another study break and will definitely be there! Take care!

Some might say I’m burning the candle at both ends right now… getting up in the 5am hour to read for class, then going to work for 7-8 hrs after already sitting in class for 8 hours. Yep, I’m tired and operating on very little sleep. But that’s not why I’m writing. This is a story about Monday. A manic Monday. Monday night after a very long day I was in bed, trying to sleep. It should be easy considering how tired I am this week, but my eye was giving me such trouble that eventually I dragged myself out of bed to inspect it in the mirror. Turns out there was something large and white poking me… hence the discomfort. It wasn’t a hair, an eyelash, or a little fiber. I’m not really sure what it was. All I do know is that I couldn’t get it out with my finger or by flushing it with water. I didn’t want to poke two much for fear of re-living my childhood eye trauma. (On two separate occasions I was climbing tress, got debris in my eyes, itched them, scratched my eye, and had to wear an eye patch. Perhaps it’d have been cool if I was playing pirate, but that was never really my agenda. I was always just pissed to be hurt and a bit scared of causing myself further injury). Anyway, back to Monday night. So eventually I became so distraught in the middle of the night that I got dressed, went over to my ex-boyfriends, and continued to knock loudly enough that it roused him out of sleep. After a few (excruciatingly long) minutes of painful operating, he eventually made it disappear. I then quit crying and went home to bed feeling a bit pathetic and even more tired. Man… some days just seem more manic than others.

Today, however, feels more like I’m on speed. Hopped up on too much coffee and too many immediate deadlines. Looking forward to a run tomorrow morning to force my body into something less intense. :)

From today’s New York Times

I.R.S. Will Broaden Inquiry Into Salaries at Nonprofit Groups

By Stephanie Strom

The Internal Revenue Service said yesterday that it had broadened its inquiry into the compensation practices and policies of charities and foundations.

The agency has already begun examinations or sent letters of inquiry to 200 organizations, and it plans to query roughly 1,800 more as part of its effort to crack down on excessive compensation and benefits.

Steven T. Miller, commissioner of the tax exempt and government entities division at the I.R.S., said more than 500 organizations would be subject to an examination, which involves them having revenue agents in their offices rather than simply submitting responses to written questions.

Mr. Miller said the I.R.S. would add 70 auditors to its staff overseeing tax-exempt groups, raising the total number of agents to roughly 300.

The nonprofit world has been bracing for this I.R.S. inquiry for some time, but it expected the scope to be smaller.

In testimony at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on charitable oversight, the commissioner of the I.R.S., Mark W. Everson, said in June that his agency would be looking into compensation practices at “hundreds” of organizations.

Michael W. Peregrine, a lawyer in Chicago with several large nonprofit clients, said, “So many organizations were assuming this wouldn’t apply to them, and now it’s clear that the scrutiny is going to be much broader.”

I’m sure it’s not aimed at 99% of nonprofit staffs… but it still seems funny to add 70 auditors to evaluate the salaries of the lowest paid sector of the economy. I’m pretty confident I won’t be evaluated in the crackdown. :)

Nope… nothing exciting in my life to report, but I thought I’d brag about Charles for a moment. For those following along from home, Charles is one of my oldest friends (I think we’re at 13 years!!). Not only is he a long time friend, he just gets better with age. Take this month. He just had his birthday two weeks ago, and not only did he have a birthday party, he also got a new roommate AND got a new girlfriend… two entirely different girls! I could only hope something that exciting would happen on my birthday!! Not the roommate part… I love having Erin! But the birthday party or new relationship… either of those would be much fun! Go Charles!!

Last night, Wed, was a fun photo meetup. A couple of new faces in the crowd, and a couple of updated portfolios from old and new alike. One newcomer works for an agency and was in full story telling mode all night… and I was pretty content to listen. He’s wasn’t on the level of Shutterbabe, but not bad for a local freelancer.

Thursday was the 4th or 5th or 6th week in a row that Caroline and I went running around Greenlake… despite the millions of meetings that seem to keep up both busy.

Today doesn’t feel like today yet… considering I haven’t slept yet. However, in a few short hours today I’ll be in class making my final group presentation on a strategic analysis case study of a local nonprofit social service agency. It has been a really great class. Lovin it. A few hours after our presentation, I’ll run home, throw clothes and a camera in a backpack, and then head to Guatemala. At some point between now and death, I plan to catch a quick nap. :) Not sure about internet access in Guatemala, but if I get it, I’ll be sure to post a quick blog. Hope everyone’s well!

By the way… don’t forget to mark your calendars for Aug 21st – the gallery opening of our joint photography show. I won’t be there, but you can still go to the White Dove Gallery in Lakewood, look at all of our photos, and give tons of praise to Jeff, TYD, and John. I’ve never even see the photos, but I still highly recommend it. :)

I’m here in an internet cafe getting a massage from a handsome Egyptian guy. There are many handsome Egyptian guys… que bueno! Actually, there are tons of interesting folks from all over the world… Kenya, Japan, Germany, USA, UK, Columbia, El Salvador, Mexico, etc. The conference is quite disorganized, and they’re having problems with translation, but all else is going well. Meeting lots of folks is great fun… some speak fantastic English, others laughed at my broken Spanish, but all are great. Antigua is very touristy, but very nice. Clean. Pretty. Antique. Amazing history. Ruins. Surrounded by volcanoes on all sides. It’s a very poor country (over 1/2 live in poverty), but Antigua is nice. Flush toilets with toilet paper. Paved streets. Even some street lamps. Not at all the in your face poverty of India. The only problem: my converter doesn’t work, and my digital camera battery will die any time now. Que MALO! Alas, I’m off for a night on the town with the Egyptian boys. Adios!

I´ve just got a sec to post and I´m not feeling terribly like writing. However, there´s net access so it seems like a good idea. My short update for the week: The work´s been good, we´ve been putting in long hours, I´m super tired, the people have been amazing, and I´m bummed today was the last day of the conference. I fly out bright and early tomorrow morning and am not ready to go home. I´ll be quite sad to leave here… I´ll post more later and include photos. Take care!

This morning was a rush to get to the airport after the pre-paid shuttle the conference arranged for never came to pick me up. It was sad combination of saying goodbyes, a solo breakfast, and the lack of shuttle… I think the combo actually had me a bit emotional. Luckily, I was able to get to the airport in time, didn’t miss my flight, and was only out $40. Not ideal, but better than a missed flight.

Happily, getting home from the airport proved much easier and infinitely more enjoyable. Both flights had movies and meals, and upon arrival in Seattle my friends Rod and Clare were very sweet and picked me up and delivered me and my luggage safely home! It’s now time to attempt to unpack a tiny bit before midnight. :) Hope everyone is well!

Antigua, Guatemala

Because I was busy in the conference for the whole week, and because my battery charger and adapter would not work to charge my camera, I was only able to take a few photos during the trip. However, I’ll try to pick from the ones I did take and post a few here over the coming week or two.

Most of Antigua’s economy seemed to be tourism: language schools for tourists, bars and restaurants for tourists, and textiles sold to tourists. The local Mayan women and their kids would come daily from the neighboring villages to sell goods in Antigua. They’d pile huge baskets of goods tall on their head, walk through the streets, and sell from the Parque Central. All of the goods were very colorful, hand woven textiles like this little girl’s outfit. The vibrant colors and outfits were too much to resist and on the last day of the conference I bought myself a skirt from one of the street vendors in el Mercado.

Tikal National Park

One of the highlights of my Guatemala trip was meeting amazing people from all over the globe… like Hector, Lucia, and Oscar from Guatemala, Ann from Chicago, Sophie from Kenya, Christian from Brazil, and Samer from Egypt.

The other major highlight was a trip Samer and I took to Tikal. Located in northern Guatemala, it’s in the middle of Tikal National Park, a wildlife preserve covering 222 square miles and the first such park in Central America. After seeing a presentation by the NGO who runs the tours, we decided to join a two day eco-tourism trip to Tikal in hopes of seeing some of the 3,000+ Mayan temples and tombs. The ruins there date back to 200-800 AD and include the tallest pyramids in all of the Mayan lands (Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, and Honduras). These ruins were deserted over a thousand years ago and have since become overgrown by the jungle. Ten or twenty buildings, tombs, and temples are now uncovered, a few are a bit restored, and others are still tree covered hills known to contain pyramids and tombs within. There are now monkeys, tucans, snakes, birds, wild turkeys, and other fun animals in the jungle that you’ll see as you hike from ruin to ruin.

To give you a sense of just how tall these pyramids were, I took this photo after I climbed to the top of Temple Four. I stood on the steps at the top, overlooking the rest of the park, in awe of the land’s amazing history and beauty.

Why do I always catch a cold when returning from trips? I’m not sure if it’s the plane full of germs, or my body protesting my always-too-busy travel schedule, but it’s kinda lame. Don’t get me wrong… I’d rather be sick in Seattle than sick in India or Florida or Guatemala… but wouldn’t it be nice to not be sick anywhere?

Currently reading: Bodega Dreams

Currently watching: Himalaya on DVD

Currently feeling: Sniffly and exhausted

My partner in crime for the week in Guatemala was the lovely, tall, dark, and handsome Samer from Egypt. I was fortunate enough to meet him before the conference actually started… we ran into each other outside my hotel as we were headed to the outdoor market a few blocks away. We hung out that day, and that evening at the semi-formal dinner, and just bonded more and more as the week went on. He taught me about all things Egyptian, and I shared with him the power of Tres Leches. He grew up in and went to college in Cairo, went to grad school in Berkeley, and he’s now in Canada getting his PhD. He’s a great guy and easy to gush about… founded a nonprofit in Egypt, is a great photographer, is a world traveler, speaks many languages, and best of all he has one of those amazingly sweet, funny, and insightful personalities that just draws people to him. He’s even offered to be my tour guide if I ever make it to Montreal or Egypt… a very alluring idea!

And speaking of travel… it seems my holiday plans this December are still up in the air. I was originally debating Thailand with Ben or the other Sameer (since I skipped Thailand last year to travel with Jens). But then Ajit and Crow decided to do their wedding in Bombay in December, and I’d love to be there for the wedding and would love to see Southern India. (Turns out Suzan, Jeremy, and John will also be heading to India for the wedding, so it’d be a good time for a reunion!). And now Samer has invited me to Egypt when he’s home in December… how great would that trip be? There are so many exciting options I’ve got no clue where I’ll be heading! Any advice?

The Mariners aren’t doing too hot this season. However, a free ticket is still a free ticket so Samantha and I went to the game yesterday to watch some ball but mostly just talk. :) The people watching is always fun too… especially when there are beer guys like this dude who are much more interesting than the Mariners.

My first friend in Seattle: Moses

This incredibly sweet, cute kid grew up into one of the incredibly sweetest, cutest, kindest, most generous men I know! He will always, always hold a very special place in my heart. Incidentally, this fantastic man ran off last week and eloped with his incredibly sweet girlfriend! While I was working in Guatemala, they were off honeymooning in Cancun! :) Yea lovebirds and secret weddings! Please join me in wishing them all the best!!!

This past week has been rainy, cold and gray, but that didn’t stop me and Caroline from enjoying our girls weekend up in the San Juan Islands. Neither of us had been before, so we were in full relaxation/exploration mode. We camped by the lake, hit a few parks, saw a cheesy re-enactment of a British-American skirmish, did some ocean kayaking (didn’t see whales, but the seals were cool!), ate Thai food, made yummy s’mores, and enjoyed girl talk around the campfire. All in all it was a lovely weekend despite the occasional rain showers. :)