All posts by Wendi Dunlap

Editor of the Beacon Hill Blog.
City Services, Education

Library to offer free computer classes

Photo by go-team in the Beacon Hill Blog Photo Pool on Flickr.
Need to learn computer skills? The Seattle Public Library will offer free computer classes at the Beacon Hill Library (2821 Beacon Ave. S.) during January and February. These courses include a series of classes for people who have little or no experience with computers, as well as a few more advanced classes.

All classes are free and open to the public. Registration is not required, but seating may be limited. For more information, call 206-386-4636.

The class list:

  • Computer Basics 1: Learn how to use a computer keyboard and mouse.
    6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday, January 2
  • Computer Basics 2: Learn how to use basic features of the Windows software operating system. The session will cover using the toolbars, scroll bar, and text boxes.
    6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday, January 9
  • Email Basics: Get a free email account and learn how to use it, including how to send email, send attachments, and use the address book.
    6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 6
  • Internet Basics 1: Learn about Web browsers and how to navigate a Web page.
    6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday, January 23
  • Internet Basics 2: Learn how to use search engines, evaluate websites, and print from the Web.
    6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday, January 30
  • Library Catalog Basics: Learn how to search the Library’s catalog to find DVDs, CDs, books, and other materials, and how to reserve and renew items.
    10:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, January 7
  • Downloading E-books & Audiobooks: Learn how to download e-books and audiobooks from the Library’s website.
    6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 13
  • Web 2.0 Basics: Learn about blogs, wikis, Facebook, and more.
    6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 27
Crime

Group of 10 juvenile burglars strike South Beacon home

by John Discepolo, KOMO 4 News (Beacon Hill Blog news partners)

Burglaries and break-ins are on the rise this holiday season, which one victim found out the hard way when her own brother called to tell her that her home had become a crime scene.

Police say a group of 10 juveniles broke into a South Seattle home Tuesday night at around 7 p.m.

The woman who lives at the home, Betty Darang-Macalma, was at church when the burglars struck.

Luckily, her brother lives across the street and saw the thieves walk into the house. He called police, and then he called his sister.

When police arrived at the house, located at South Holly St. and Beacon Ave. S., they found two suspects inside and two more outside. Those four were taken into custody, but the other six burglars are still on the loose.

Darang-Macalma said the crime has her shaken.

“Violated,” she said. “They went into the privacy of your home.”

She said the thieves got away with roughly $10,000 in valuables.

“I think four laptops—they recovered one—the Wii, some jewelry. They didn’t get the most important jewelry, but my husband’s wedding band is gone,” she said.

Residents in the area say this latest burglary is just another sign that things are changing.

“My neighbor’s car got broken into and my house got burglarized. I’m just scared living here,” said Anh Ngyen.

Darang-Macalma said she has an alarm system, but didn’t have it turned on Tuesday night. She said she’s lived at the house for 31 years and is considering installing security cameras.


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Arts, Local Events

Tuesday Folk Club celebrates a year of music on Tuesday, 12/27

The Tuesday Folk Club at ROCKiT Space has been happening for a year now. To celebrate this year of folk music and community participation, there will be a holiday/anniversary party on Tuesday, December 27 at 7 p.m. The site is the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S.

The party starts with a casual open mic, followed by a barn dance, complete with callers. There will be light refreshments, and drawings for ROCKiT gear. ROCKiT Space and Beacon Rocks! t-shirts will also be available for sale.

Admission is $5; ROCKiT members and kids under 12 get in for free. Donations for food and drink are welcome. For more information, see the ROCKiT Space website.

Arts, Local Events

Skin Deep Dance invites you to celebrate the season

Photo by Holly Kuchera via Creative Commons/Flickr.
Skin Deep Dance is celebrating the season on Wednesday evening with a Winter Solstice Hafla and Four Year Anniversary Party. The event is at their dance studio in El Centro de la Raza, 2524 16th Ave. S., #311, from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday, December 21. It’s free, family-friendly, and open to all ages, but it’s a potluck, so guests are asked to bring “holiday cheer” of one kind or another. Gifts will be given to the first 50 guests.

There will be performances by Bollywood Bliss (adult Bollywood students), Bollywood Dolls (kid Bollywood students), Egle (guest belly dancer – wings of Isis), J9 Fierce (guest belly dancer), Jen Cerdena (guest belly dancer – double sword), Katrina McCoy (flamenco), Maysun (guest belly dancer), Nomaditude (guest student dance troupe – tribal improv), Sierra Bloom (guest belly dancer – fusion style), Tales From the Hip (advanced ATS belly dance students), Verbena (guest belly dance troupe).

Skin Deep Dance Boutique and Pharoah’s Treasures will also be there to sell holiday gifts.

For more information, see the Facebook event page or Skin Deep’s main Facebook page.

Education

Cleveland High School showing academic improvement

Aerial photo of Cleveland High School in 2001, courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives.
Cleveland High School on Beacon Hill is one of the schools that showed strong academic growth during the 2010-2011 school year, according to a report by Seattle Public Schools Interim Superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield.

Seattle schools are ranked according to absolute performance scores and year‐to‐year growth scores on a 1-5 scale, with Level 1 being low and Level 5 being the highest level. Cleveland, which began a new Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) academy program last year, moved up from Level 2 to Level 3, and achieved a 218 percent increase in students meeting the math standard. Additionally, the school showed a small increase in enrollment in Fall 2010.

Here are further details in the report sent out by the school district:

At Cleveland High School, which moved up from Level 2 to Level 3, students have shown impressive academic growth after their first year of participation in both the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program and the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program.

Their success is illustrated by their performance on the statewide reading and math exams taken by students in grades 9 and 10: In reading, the percentage of students meeting standard increased by 6 percent from spring 2010 to 2011, rising from 63 percent to 69 percent; and in math, the school saw a 218 percent increase, as the number of students meeting standard increased from 17 percent to 54 percent.

Since the state changed some parts of the state’s high school math test, it is impossible to fully compare Spring 2010 and Spring 2011 math results until Spring 2012, when the students will have taken the same test for a second year in a row. Even so, Cleveland students have made significant progress in just one year. Cleveland principal Princess Shareef said that faculty are working to increase the level of challenge in the coursework, as well as providing extra math instruction to students who are not yet meeting standards.

Two other measures of successful high schools are enrollment counts and graduation rates. Cleveland’s enrollment had been declining for years, so one of the school’s goals has been to attract more students. Those efforts are paying off: in Fall 2009, Cleveland had 738 students enrolled; by Fall 2010, enrollment had increased to 795 students.

Cleveland’s graduation rates are also showing progress: The school’s overall graduation rate jumped from 55 percent in Spring 2010 to 68% in Spring 2011. Shareef notes that staff focused on closing the gap in graduation rates between Anglo‐American students and students of color.

Meetings

Save the date: Library wants your input on options for upgrading services

The Seattle Public Library is holding a community meeting next month to discuss improving library services, along with funding strategies to accomplish the needed improvements. The meeting is scheduled for Saturday, January 14, from noon until 2 p.m. at the Beacon Hill Library, 2821 Beacon Ave. S.

Community members at the meeting will hear about suggested options for improvements in four essential service areas: collections, library hours, computer access, and building maintenance. They will also learn about ideas for stabilizing library funding into the future. There will be an opportunity for public comment on the various options.

City Librarian Marcellus Turner and Library Board members will be in attendance to hear what the community has to say.

For more information, see the Libraries for All project website or call 206-386-4636.

Neighbors wait for the library to open in the morning. Photo by Jason.
Arts, Local Events

Erotic art exhibit opens tonight at Quetzalcoatl Gallery

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An Erotic Art exhibition opens tonight as the last hurrah at the soon-to-close Quetzalcoatl Gallery (3209 Beacon Ave. S.) with an artists’ reception at 8 p.m. Artists featured in the exhibit, which continues through December 31, include Cecilia C. Alvarez, Eric Todd, Jen Etsitty, Keven Furiya, Mark Mueller, Andie deRoux, Cariña Booyens, Paul Dahlquist, Travis Hughes, Almendra Sandoval, Sienna, Eduardo Tillman and Brett Austin.

Works will be for sale, and the gallery promises they will be “priced affordably for holiday gift-giving.”

Over the next few weeks there will be a variety of performances at the gallery as well, including:

  • Friday, December 16: Choroloco at 7:30 p.m.
  • Saturday, December 17: Tradicional Posada Mexicana Fandango Project at 7 p.m. and Barry Bremer Jazz Experiment at 8 p.m.
  • Thursday, December 22: Lili Delight Burlesque at 9 p.m.
  • Friday, December 23: Barry Bremer Jazz Experiment at 8 p.m.
  • Thursday, December 29: Jaque Larrainzar at 8 p.m.
  • Friday, December 30: DJ Liability at 9 p.m.

On New Year’s Eve, you can ring in the New Year right here on Beacon Avenue at Quetzalcoatl’s Closing Gallery and Exhibition Party at 9 p.m. RSVPs are required for this one at 206-334-0749. Tickets are $50 including appetizers and champagne.

For more information, please see the Quetzalcoatl Gallery website.

Clean and Green, Meetings

Your feedback wanted tonight about street trees

Street trees make Beacon Hill streets colorful. Photo by Wendi.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is hosting a meeting tonight at Van Asselt Community Center to get your feedback about street trees and a revision of the street tree ordinance, which was last revised in 1961. The new revision is intended to improve protection and preservation of street trees. Street trees are defined as any trees growing in any city right-of-way.

The draft ordinance may be read here, and addresses tree protection and preservation, restrictions on tree removal, requirements for replacement trees, requirements for private tree companies, and penalties for violations of the ordinance.

Tonight’s meeting is at Van Asselt Community Center on South Beacon Hill, 2820 S. Myrtle Street, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The Van Asselt meeting is one of five community meetings. The first was held Monday night at Highpoint Community Center and three further meetings are also scheduled for Miller Community Center, Meadowbrook Community Center, and Ballard Community Center.

You can find out more about the ordinance and upcoming meetings, and submit comments online at the SDOT website.

Arts, Local Events

Gravity-defying dance performance returns next month

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Choreographer Freya Wormus is returning to Beacon Hill next month to present a new version of her work hold on anyway at Yoga on Beacon, 3013 Beacon Ave S. The performance includes five dancers who swing and launch themselves from walls using gravity-defying rigging, and according to Wormus, the work “challenges the dancers’ perceived relationship to the floor and to gravity itself.” (Here is what the Seattle Weekly had to say about last year’s version.)

The dancers, Laura Aschoff, Victoria Jacobs, Alex Martin, Sarah Shira and Freya Wormus, will perform alongside the band Estocar (hear them on their website).

The performances will be on Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as Sunday matinees, from January 13-29. Tickets, $15 for adults and $10 for students and children, are available at Brown Paper Tickets.

Photo by Libby Lewis.