CONTENTS 9/30/2020
Science Source
Resisting Polarization
New Murals
Pumpkins & Wildlife Safety
Doghouse?
Seeking Housemate
Fairhaven College Live-Stream
RIP Ralph Estes
Guardian
Radio Free Fl!p: PJ’s Lullaby
SCIENCE SOURCE
Suffering from COVID-19 science overload? This UW team wades through the deluge so you don’t have to.
Article excerpt from Seattle Times, by Sandi Doughton
Remember early spring, when it felt like we were all plunged into a crash course in epidemiology, heads spinning with terms like “R-naught,” “flatten the curve” and “herd immunity?” Every new nugget of data and scientific insight about the novel coronavirus was headline news, ricocheting from Twitter to technical journals to talking heads.
The wall-to-wall coverage has eased since then, but the pace of discovery hasn’t. Every day, hundreds of new research papers are published or posted about the virus and pandemic, ranging from case studies of single patients to randomized, controlled trials of potential treatments.
It’s a fire hose of information that overwhelms even the most fervent COVID-19 science junkies.
But there’s a way to keep current without having to spend your days and nights clicking through journal websites. For the past five months, a small group of faculty and students at the University of Washington has been wading through the deluge so you don’t have to. Five days a week, the Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness produces the “COVID-19 Literature Situation Report,” which provides a succinct summary of key scientific developments.
RESISTING POLARIZATION
I had a report this morning of an election sign being vandalized. I would not be surprised if there were others as well. This one was a Biden sign, but I’ve had reports of Trump signs too. I’m working on getting Map Your Neighborhood meetings on every block before the election in hopes that the act of looking one another in the eye and making concrete plans to care for ourselves and each other as a community, in case of an earthquake, may calm some of this down. I would love your help if you are willing to host. I’ll help you do that, and facilitate your meeting too. ~ Fl!p 360-671-4511 flip@columbianeighborhood.org
NEW MURALS
On the wall of Bellingham Wind Works
2405 Meridian Street, Fountain District
(Across the street from Diamond Jim’s and next door to the ReStore)
From A Child’s Point of View: Presenting murals of what 4th-graders from Birchwood and Sunnyland Elementary Schools are Thinking About, Worrying About, and What They are Doing About It: Students are learning how human activities impact planet Earth. When drama is offered in support of this part of the core curriculum, students are thrilled to discover that they can use gesture and voice, laughing, speaking loudly, and speaking softly, and moving their bodies as if at play as they step inside an event that dramatizes a core subject, such as habitat loss. What happens when a wild animal like a bear or a cougar comes down from the hills into someone’s backyard in search of food? Stepping into the action is where engagement begins, and cognitive learning takes root. Using their own words and bringing their experience to a scene, students discover a kind of audacity, fueled by a yearning for understanding. Time restrictions caused by Covid-19 cut short this year’s public art project. The text messages in this mural represent their thoughts and feelings shared from their journals after each Drama World class. By plainly stating their ideas, students invite the Bellingham community to see the world from their point of view.
www.fromachildspointofview.org
~ Lisa Citron, Project Director, 323.702.9682
PUMPKINS & WILDLIFE SAFETY
PSA: Please do not bleach your carved pumpkins to make them last longer for Halloween. Please remember, pumpkins are food, especially to lots of the wildlife! Deer, squirrels, raccoons, possums, mice, rats, chipmunks, birds, and even bugs. After we carve them we deliberately stick them outside somewhere where wildlife can access them. We don’t want our wildlife eating bleached pumpkins. Use vinegar instead. One part vinegar to 10 parts water.
DOGHOUSE?
Does anyone have a large or extra large wood doghouse that is not being used? Looking to buy one locally.
Jill Schmitz jillaschmitz@yahoo.com, West Illinois Street
SEEKING HOUSEMATE
My name is Annika Fain. I’m looking for a housemate for a cute 2 bedroom house on Maple St. There is also bonus room you could use for a home office or art studio, a small yard, and off-street parking. I have a dog, but Omni Property Mgmt says no other animals are allowed. $725/mo, lease through June. Please pass along to friends! Contact me at 206-799-0432 (phone or text) with questions.
[I’ve been getting a lot of housing requests lately, and decided to run a couple house-shares even though they are outside our neighborhood. ~Fl!p]
FAIRHAVEN COLLEGE LIVE-STREAM
Fall Music Festival
October 1st, 7 PM J.P. Falcon Grady is a self taught acoustic guitarist, singer, songwriter and a proud member of the Blackfeet Nation. He performs originals and covers all over the Pacific Northwest.
October 8, 7 PM. Coty Hogue is such an impressive young talent – an amazing powerful singer and instrumentalist – songwriter. One foot is planted solidly in older traditions and the other moving forward into new musical worlds. She is indeed, as has been described, a young woman with an old soul.”
https://www.facebook.com/groups/298533994557015
RIP RALPH ESTES
A long-time member of the Bellingham folk and blue scene has passed on. For those who knew him, he was a generous musical stalwart, a strong guitarist with a voice that could drill a hole in a brick wall from 20 feet.
GUARDIAN
My sister Kitty Breskin died in September of 2015. I wrote this upon returning home from Maine after caring for her through her final illness. My brother joined me there as the three of us siblings found our way through this task together. ~Fl!p
I guard the Gates Of Death
With my brother I wait in the anteroom
Watching at the door back into the world
Behind me, the lone traveler seeking passage
Before me, any who seek to distract her
The traveler lays her hands
On the door that must open
Searching for the narrow way
A crack or crevice for leverage
She gathers her remaining strength
We watch for intruders
You shall not pass
Unless the traveler calls us off
I lock eyes, raise hackles, half rise
One tooth slips free of lip
I never need to growl
I am a kind and courteous beast
The traveler needs silence
I sing only in my mind
Guardian & attendant
Her thirst for life is boundless
We serve at the altar of her dying body
The traveler directs us
Choosing the plan of attack
We are untrusted advisors
Our proposals considered
But not relied upon
The traveler is in charge
She turns back to the world
To say some loving farewells
Specify a few last gifts
Affront a final enemy or two
She does not bid farewell to us
She still has need of us
To defend her against
The world’s need of her
Her goal: Consciousness
Not to be carried, to drift or
Be swept through the Gates
But to enter, aware, under her own power
A marathon runner
Utterly focused on driving her body forward
Bursting through the ribbon
With her final, focused
Intentional breath
Sighing to silence
A queen, entering her domain
One tear for the world left behind
We go beside her as far as we can
Alert & watching
Every step of the way
Till in the end she leaves us
To guard her cooling body
And still she is fully in charge as we
Lay out the body
Notify the authorities
Summon the musicians
Order the feast
Summarize the life
Gather the mourners
Recite the Kaddish
Donate the clothing
Bequeath the artwork
Scatter the ashes
Work completed
The last item dutifully checked off
We are free to go
Flying home
To our lives
To those who love and cherish us
A last tender, parting hug
My brother, my fellow guardian
To acknowledge our triumph
We got our sister through
On her own terms
Present
Every step of the way
That’ll do
RADIO FREE FL!P: PJ’s LULLABY
Fiddler Martin Hayes from County Clare joins Chicago-born Dennis Cahill on guitar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaMqChG81p4
Love/Fl!p 360-671-4511 2518 Cherry Street flip@columbianeighborhood.org
If you want to ask me to post something, just email me. If it’s urgent, phone. If it’s a real emergency, call 911.