Columbia Citizens

Live locally.

Consult your community calendar.

• planning the next March for Youth (Wed),
• library story and playtime (Fri),
• C-City runners (Sat, Tue),
• Solstice luminary-making (Sat),
• a holiday kids' fair (Sat),
• Arts Gumbo (Sat),
• African dance (Tue),
• Healthy & Active Rainier Valley Coalition (Wed),
• "You art what you eat" (Wed),
• and Citizens post more events all the time!

In the calendar, you can click through to each event's online information. If a local event is missing, please send a Citizen's alert.

Twilight, Bolt, and Quantum of Solace end Thursday, 12/11.

Starting Friday: The Day the Earth Stood Still, Changeling, and Four Christmases.

Coming Soon: Valkyrie, Yes Man, and Marley and Me.

Be sure to check our website for the most up-to-date movie information! Or, better yet, sign up for our weekly newsletter and get movie times delivered straight to your inbox.

See you at the movies.

Grupo Bilingüe de Juegos / Bilingual Play and Learn Group Fridays from 11:30-1pm. Grupo bilingüe de juegos para padres y cuidadores con niños entre las edades de nacimiento hasta 5 años. / Bilingual play group for ages birth to 5.

Teen Gaming Tuesday, December 16th from 3 to 5 pm. Come play Mario Kart, Dance Dance Revolution, American Idol Karaoke, and more. Free snacks, and you might win a prize just for coming!

Homework Help Except for school holidays, volunteers will assist students with homework on a drop in basis. Mon-Thu, 5-7:45pm.

• Wed — LBC Sublime Tribute, Forced Elegance, The Galaxy Machine, The Hershey Squirts & Season of Vision
• Thu — (theater) Mahon & guests
  (lounge) Women In Arts & Music Showcase, The Side Project w/ Julia Massey & Kim
• Fri — (theater) Warsaw Poland Brothers live DVD shoot w/ guests 20 Riverside, Legal Lies
  (lounge) Jamasaurus Rex
• Sat — (theater) Back Porch Blues live recording
  (lounge) Cielle Kiewit, Kevin Davis, Rosie Okumura
• Sun — (theater) Jet Black Stare w/ The Crying Spell, featuring members of Point One & Second Coming, The Atomic Outlaws, Illusion 33, The Late September Dogs
  (lounge) Shyan Selah, Justin Black
• Mon — XIL Presents Tribute to Dimebag Darrell, Pantera (exotic vertical gymnast), edge of oblivion, deathbeat, ranofer, stories under sin mourning sixx, final wish, before the quarantine gift of prophecy
• Tue — Audio Art w/ the Jesus Rehab & guests

More details here...

We need volunteers for a food drive

At the Rainier Valley Food Bank, we don't need the news to tell us the recession is here, we see the reality of it every week. In May 2008, we provided food for nearly 5,000 people. In October 2008, that number jumped to 9,200 — nearly 100% increase in just five months.

So, we need all the help we can get to keep those shelves stocked and funds in the bank. Safeway has agreed to allow us to hold a drive at a Rainier Valley store, and we sure could use your help spreading the word and collecting food.

Where: a Rainier Valley Safeway — I'm waiting for confirmation — it'll be either the 3820 Rainier Ave S. store, or the Rainier Beach store. I'll update all volunteers.

When: Saturday, December 13 & Sunday December 14 from 10 am – 6 pm

read more...

Thanks so much for your interest. Hope we see you at the food drive!

Columbia City Holiday Kids Fair 2008

MUSICA Entertainment is hosting a Kids Fair that focuses on the importance of health, nutrition and the role of parents as their child's first and most important teachers.

Columbia City Theater, 4916 Rainier Ave S, 723-0088
Saturday December 13, 12-3pm

This afternoon event includes:

• a visit and pictures with Frosty the Snow Man, Santa Claus and Rodney Raccoon
• Early education, school readiness and parenting information
• Tabling opportunities for education, health and business organizations
• Guest speakers, musical performances, clowns, face painting and interactive games for families
• For more information on this event please contact Emoree Martin at moc.tnemniatretneacisum|meerome#moc.tnemniatretneacisum|meerome or at 425 373-6244

read more...

Arts Gumbo: World Music of Peace

Don't miss our final Arts Gumbo performance this Saturday, Dec 13th at 7pm with vocal percussion ensemble Abrace and The MB Orchestra! Learn about Ladino (Jewish) and Arabic music, with multi-lingual songs from around the globe, featuring Middle Eastern and Afro-Brazilian dance. Evening includes free song-arranging workshop at 8:15pm for audience members and Middle Eastern tasters served at 8:45pm.

purchase advance tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com or at the door.
Rainier Valley Cultural Center, 3515 S Alaska St
contact: Kathya Alexander, RVCC Manager, 725-7517

New Listening Mothers group

Starting on Friday, January 9, 2009, Listening Mothers will begin a group at Seattle Home Maternity Service (map).

Listening Mothers is a small group for moms with babies 0-6 months of age. The group focuses on the mother's and baby's experience and the relationship they share. It's an opportunity to connect with other moms in a safe and supportive environment with a trained facilitator to learn about the emotional development of babies, as well as the rich and sometimes intense emotional experience as a mom. Integrating recent research findings with the intuition and understanding mothers have for their babies sets the foundation for long lasting emotional health.

This Listening Mothers group will meet from 1-2:30 PM on Fridays for 8 sessions beginning January 9 and ending February 27, 2009. The next group held in Columbia City is scheduled to start on March 6, 2009. For more information about this valuable program, you can check out their website or email me at moc.liamg|oerbma#moc.liamg|oerbma.

If you or someone you know has had a baby in the last six months, please spread the word. We welcome the opportunity to help parents and children deepen their relationship, come to know themselves and their babies better, and find more confidence in their own native parenting wisdom.

South Seattle Solstice: Festival of Lights

Drop by the Rainier Valley Cultural Center this Saturday, Dec 13th between 10-1pm for a free Lantern-Making workshop hosted by The Gateway Group & SEEDArts. Bring a tin can that has been filled with water and frozen overnight or we will have one for you, while supplies last!

Then, join us on Sun, Dec 21st for the first South Seattle Solstice: Festival of Lights. We will meet at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center parking lot at 4pm with our lanterns and noisemakers and head south to Hillman City to celebrate community on the darkest day of the year, with light, music & refreshments.

Contact: Abbey Norris, Public Art Manager, 760-4289

Learn more...

March For Youth planning

A party to celebrate Obama! Be a part of the movement to improve the lives of youth in our community - join the next March for Youth planning meeting:

Wed Dec 10, 6:30–8pm
Boys and Girls Club, 4520 MLK Jr Way S

Questions? contact Denise Gloster, 795.5824, 723.4637 or moc.oohay|retsolgesined#moc.oohay|retsolgesined

See the slideshow from March for Youth 2008.

Community gardening

Here's a great site to link people who want to garden with people who have available land. It's through the Urban Land Army site and we're forming a new unit in Columbia City.

To edit the site you need a Google logon, but this is pretty easy to do. Here's a link to the site. Once you get to the map it's easy to post on it.

If you have any comments or questions please e-mail Diana at vog.ytnuocgnik|hniv.anaid#vog.ytnuocgnik|hniv.anaid.

Artique: Holiday Gift Shop

Start your holiday shopping in Columbia City at ARTIQUE: A Holiday Gift Shop of small works and contemporary crafts. Featuring handmade works by Seattle artisans, craftspeople and designers, with gift items ranging from $5 to $500. Artique will be open til January 18th!

Columbia City Gallery Hours: Weds - Sat (12 to 8pm), Sun (10-6pm)
Location: 4864 Rainier Ave S
Contact: Kathy Fowells, Gallery Manager, 760-9843

You Art What You Eat: Verve Wine Bar & Cellar

Dine at Verve Wine Bar & Cellar, 3820 S Ferdinand St, Ste 102), on Wednesday, December 17th anytime between 4-10pm and a percentage of the proceeds will benefit SEEDArts!

The Annual Fund supports all SEEDArts programs, including the Columbia City Gallery, the Rainier Valley Cultural Center, the Rainier Valley Youth Theatre, and the Public Art Program. Contribute to SEEDArts Annual Fund today!

Columbia City in the news

• Seattle Weekly asks "Another Step for Gentrification in Columbia City?" — and gets an earful.
• Afrikando Afrikando is Delicious Delicious, says Columbia Citizen ECB, in the Stranger.
• The South Seattle Beacon gets the lowdown on BeatWalk.
• a Beatwalk shout-out from Columbia Citizen and Times columnist Jerry Large.
• The Times also marks the passing of Leahe Wilson, a teacher with deep neighborhood roots.
• And the PI profiles Tony Benton, the driver behind this week's holiday kids' fair:

In 2004, looking for ways to more actively promote the causes in which he believes, Benton founded his own events firm, Musica. Through it, he has sponsored a voter-registration drive, annual black history celebrations and several music festivals showcasing local hip-hop artists. On Saturday, Musica will hold a children's health, nutrition and early learning fair.

Hillman City Posts

• Welcome carleric, lankypup, and Rainer W Adkins.

• Site members can update their own posted comments, send private messages, upload small files, and have broader write-access across the wiki. It's easy to join.

• Scottb has updated Friends of Columbia School — What's the School District planning for this building?