The children who excel in school excel despite it not because of it. Now, there are those who will say that not all children come from healthy environments and the school is keeping them from falling off the cliff. If this is the case then let’s call it what it is, a glorified Children’s House, and quit pretending education is happening. IT IS NOT!

My son Oliver (who never attended a day of school, public or otherwise) got a GED after 30 days of study. His percentile ranking against all high school graduates nationwide on the five exams was, 93, 75, 66, 66, and 50.

My son Lennon (also school free) has just been accepted to the University of Washington.

My son Yonatan (also unschooled) has just graduated from The Evergreen State College.

Albert Einstein, perhaps the world’s most famous school dropout, commented that “It is nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.”

(More famous dropouts here) http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/lists/dropouts.html

“We are students of words: we are shut up in schools and colleges and recitation- rooms for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bag of wind, a memory of words, and do not know a thing.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

If the middle school was gutted and brought to standard by bidding, with local contractors, for each aspect of the work, demolition of interior walls, earthquake reinforcement, interior shear walls, sheetrock, painting and HVAC. No gigantic performance bond would be necessary.

This is too rational for dreamers.

Save your money and vote no. Education will not suffer.

Harvey Aldort

Betty Reynolds, author of An Artist’s Journey to Bali will be at Darvill’s at 7 p.m. The book is a cultural exploration into the mysterious and colorful Indonesian island of Bali. In her beautifully illustrated artist’s watercolor sketchbook, the author shares her good fortune of meeting many Balinese who allowed her to witness important aspects of their lives and culture, and to participate in the religious rituals that mark their passage through the major stages of life.

Saturday, July 10

Orcas Island Farmer’s Market 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Village Green in Eastsound.

Indian Island Marine Health Observatory Field Research Days
Join local scientists and community volunteers at Eastsound Waterfront Park in conducting surveys of fish and intertidal animals on low tide days during the spring and summer.  Wear appropriate footwear for walking to the island (wet sand, gravel, shallow water), and come on down to the beach!11:30 a.m. until the tide comes in.

Writers Roundtable The Art of Revision – Learn techniques to bring out the best in your writing, removing dampening language, and making the work shapely and vivid. Bring pieces written during the June Writer’s Roundtable, or other pieces you’d like to polish. We’ll revise, then share. 1 to 3 p.m. at the Orcas Island Library. All are welcome.

Tango Soirée  at Rose’s Cafe, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $50 per person. Performances by Tango En Vie, Seattle-based dance troupe, choreographed and directed by Sara Thomsen. Calll 376-4292.

Sunday, July 11

Indian Island Marine Health Observatory Field Research Days – See Saturday, July 10.

Museum Gala at the Orcas Center, to benefit the Orcas Historical Museum’s “Journey Stories” Exhibit, which opens July 17.Underwritten by the Anders Foundation, with all proceeds going towards the Museum. The evening will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a delicious light supper, wine included, in the Madrona Room. Bill and Valerie Anders will each speak on their life journeys at 7:30 p.m. Dessert and coffee in the Madrona Room follows. Silent auction included. Tickets for this evening will be $75 inclusive. To attend, RSVP to the Museum at 376-4849.

At 1 p.m. on Friday, July 2 friends, family, associates and county employees will gather in the Superior Court Room on the 2^nd floor of the San Juan County Courthouse to dedicate a plaque honoring the late Superior Court Judge John Linde.

The proclamation, issued by the County Council in honor of Judge Linde, reads in part, “so that all who enter will know the significant contribution that the Honorable John O. Linde made to the furtherance of   justice for the benefit of the citizens of this County.”

Linde served as a District Court Judge in San Juan County for 21 years. He was in private practice in Friday Harbor when Governor Christine Gregoire appointed him to be the first Superior Court Judge for the newly created San Juan County District in December 2007. He was elected to a full term in 2008.

Judge Linde died in December 3, 2009 at age 62.

Early historical parades showed a more rural Community in Motion .

By Tom Welch

Our tradition of historical parades on Orcas Island began in the early 1950’s when the newly-organized Orcas Island Historical Society organized the first parade in 1952. Intended to stimulate interest in the history of Orcas Island in general, and the Historical Society and Museum in particular, early parades were long on horse-drawn farming equipment and short on cars and trucks.

When these first parades were organized, many sons and daughters of our early pioneer settlers were still alive and active in the community. They expected to see exhibits and activities that reminded them of their early years. Draft horses, teams pulling wagons and buggies, a horse-drawn threshing machine from a Crow Valley farm, an old doctor’s buggy: all spoke volumes to parade watchers of life on Orcas Island in the days when agriculture was the predominant industry.

Irene O'Neill and her mom Jane Barfoot, dressed in pioneer clothing for a Historical Days parade

The community embraced the annual Historical Days parades wholeheartedly, with social and fraternal organizations such as the Oddfellows, Stitch and Gossip, The Madrona Club, Rebekah Lodge, and others walking, riding in cars or trucks or on floats of their own making. The Grange floats spoke to farming and the value of agriculture, and the Orkie Square Dancers recalled early life on the island when dances were often the only social venue available to island families.

In early Historical Days parades community members wearing period costumes were a popular attraction, as seen in this photograph of Jane Willis Barfoot and her daughter, Irene.  Preparing to walk in the 1955 parade, Jane is wearing a dress made by her great-aunt, who was bridesmaid at Jane’s grandmother’s wedding in 1868, while Irene has on a dress her grandmother, Emma Culver, wore while teaching school at Newhall sometime before 1903.

Arlo Woodward was a familiar figure who made elaborate floats and played his own musical compositions on an organ while riding in the parade each year. Mary Leckrone worked tirelessly to coordinate the 1976 parade, coming up with fifty entries celebrating our nations’ bicentennial year. Dorothy Morrill was another volunteer who labored mightily to stimulate interest in the parades and the Historical Society, joining the Halls, Harrisons, and Langells in the first rank of those renowned for their interest in island history.

Trucks bedecked with flowers lined up in Historical Days parades in the past. (Check out the old cell phone in the back pocket of the blue jeans)

The Historical Days parades, as they progressed annually through the 1950’s, also reflected the vagaries of a small museum membership and an unpredictable local print media. News articles noted that the first parade in 1952 was a big success, the second annual parade equally so in 1953, and the third in 1954 proudly continued this popular new tradition. The 1955 parade was the best yet, with more than a thousand spectators, and was accurately described as the fourth annual Historical Days parade. So far,so good.

Things began to go wrong with the parade count in 1957, with references to the 7th annual parade that July. This remarkable tumble down the counting slope wasn’t helped the following year, when they referred to the 5th annual parade coming up soon. In 1959 it was the 9th annual Historical Days Parade, and in both 1960 and 1961 it became, somehow, the 10th annual parade. Both years. It was at about this point that everyone stopped counting annual parades for a while, no doubt out of sheer exhaustion.

Our Historical Days parades have always been popular events, great excuses for everyone to come to Eastsound and visit old friends and neighbors, and occasionally have a good laugh, too. One year, in the late 1970’s, there were so few parade entries that they went around the parade route twice, to the delight of entrants and spectators alike. Another year saw the band tumble around atop a flatbed trailer, instruments flying, as the driver took the corner a bit too fast. We don’t always know what we’ll see at the parade each year, but very few islanders willingly miss it.

The parades became more organized as the Historical Society grew and more volunteers got involved, but it eventually became difficult for the board and members to muster up the energy and resources for the annual parade. When the Chamber of Commerce took over management of the parade in recent years, it was a boon to the members of the Historical Society board. Now they concentrate their energies on insuring that the Historical Days Fair remains a popular annual event.

This event is being generously underwritten by the Anders Foundation, with all proceeds going towards the Museum. The evening will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a delicious light supper, wine included, in the Madrona Room.  At 7:30 p.m,. all will adjourn to the Center Stage, where Bill and Valerie Anders will each speak on their life journeys.

At 8:45 p.m. all will return to the Madrona Room for dessert and coffee.  During the course of the evening, a silent auction will take place, with items including a signed, framed iconic photograph of “Earthrise”, taken by Bill Anders from moon orbit during Apollo 8.

The cost of this very special evening will be $75 inclusive. To attend this informative and entertaining evening, RSVP to the Museum at 376-4849 by Thursday, July 8th with check by mail or in person, or call in with credit card information.

The Journey Stories exhibit will open at the Museum July 17th and runs through August 29th. Journey Stories is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and Humanities Washington.

“Community in Action” is the theme for this year’s parade, scheduled for Saturday, July 3.  The parade will begin at 11 a.m. We celebrate the people, organizations, and businesses who volunteer, donate, create and do so much for our community.  Truly, a Community in Action!

Our Grand Marshals for this year’s parade are two people who have been community members in action for many years – Dick & Velma Doty.  This year the Chamber is providing cash prizes for the best floats in the parade!   We want you to be creative … have some fun with your entry.

First Prize is $250 … Second Prize is $150 … and Third Prize is $100! To be eligible for these prizes, your float needs to be built on a vehicle, or towed behind one.  The judges are looking for creativity, entertainment value, and representation of this year’s theme (Community in Action). Please be sure to enter, even if it’s not a float … we have an additional $100 prize for Best Entry (non-float).

Download a copy of the ParadeEntry&Guidelines . Copies are also available from the Chamber office, or from the Chamber website. Entries must be accompanied by a signed copy of the guidelines, and the entry fee of $10.

The event was sponsored by Endow Orcas, a collaboration led by the OICF among nonprofit organizations to create ‘planned gifts’ from community members that will one day mature and fund endowments for non-profit organizations. Planned gifts include bequests (from will or trusts), charitable trusts of various types, and other planning strategies.The interest on endowment funds will be used to support island non-profits in their mission.

Retiring OICF Board Member and Endow Orcas Chair Joe Cohen facilitated the meeting, and described the treasure of stories, and the potential for legacy-giving and endowments to bring fulfillment to people. The group engaged in three exercises to draw out each person’s story and learn of their passions and motivation, as a model for engaging potential legacy-builders.

The first exercise was a circuit of the room, participants giving their name, describing the “people that I come from,” and relating what they learned or received from their people. Along with many stories of recent immigration to America, themes of community service and developing a sense of integrity came out in many of the stories. Later discussions hearkened back frequently to Orcas Island Education Foundation President Janet Brownell’s comments on the value of listening to the stories of others.

The gathering then broke out into smaller groupings of three to describe photos of families, “then and now,” and when the larger group reconvened, people shared the stories of other members of their “trio.”

The last exercise was a display of three representative objects while telling what they have meant in the person’s life.

The group discussed the ways in which just learning more of a person’s life story can help ensure that the “intangible” legacy they would like to perpetuate can continue for the benefit of future generations.

In addition to Cohen, Helen Bee, Diane Berreth, Margie Doyle, Martha Farish  and Nanette Pyne serve on the Endow Orcas Committee.

The OICF and Endow Orcas plan to build up Legacy Giving on a smaller scale and over a longer term, than most Community Foundations, says Cohen. “We hope, in 3 to 10 years, to reach a good pool of philanthropists that will really sustain the island,” he said.

To that end, Endow Orcas proposes a “Legacy Circle” that will honor donors past and present who have made or intend to make, Legacy-style planned gifts. A steering committee led by Endow Orcas and the OICF Board will work to detail the formation and announcement of the Legacy Circle, with the tentative goal of a formal introduction of the Legacy Circle at the OICF Annual Luncheon in September.

Kids enjoying Caryn Simmons' Singing Camp, to be held at Morningstar Farm July 19-24. Photo courtesy of Mimi Anderson.

By Caryn Simmons

Kids ages 6-13 will have fun singing, dancing and creating in a loving and supportive environment at beautiful Morningstar Farm for a week in July, from Monday July 19 to Saturday, July 24.

Singing Camp (our 4th annual day camp) is great for building self confidence and learning to share one’s creative self. Through song, dance, laughter, theater improv, song writing, costumes, art, swimming and playing together, exploring nature and performing.. .we learn to have a great time being open, expressive and creative! We also learn to support each others creativity. Most importantly we have FUN!

A beautiful, inspiring setting amidst acres of organic gardens, a lovely swimming pond, lots of animals and a beautiful barn that is our studio when we’re not outside. There will be a lot of personal attention from the instructor, Caryn Simmons in this very intimate small group setting. (Maximum enrollment is 15.)

Improve singing skills while having a great time! Get exposed to dozens of songs of many genres and eras: jazz, swing, Motown, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, classical, world music, and show tunes. Kids will learn to harmonize, or to sing solos (whoever wants to), to choreograph, to write songs and to use a microphone. Everyone who wants to can also participate in the final performance in front of a live audience in the big barn.

Instructor Caryn Simmons has fifteen years experience as a music teacher and the founder/director of various children’s choirs on Orcas Island and in Bellingham. She has conducted workshops and worked as a visiting artist in many schools in Washington state and has been directing summer camps for five years. Caryn has performed at many festivals and venues as a singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader. She has a degree in ethnomusicology from the U.W. Caryn has played lead and supporting roles in theatre and musical theater on many stages and has also worked professionally as a costume designer.

This year’s visiting artists are Afro Cuban percussionist and dancer Antonio Diaz and dancer Heather Haugland. They will be teaching a workshop in Latin drumming and dancing. They are highly skilled facilitators who have taught hundreds of people to drum and dance, most recently running a school in Juneau Alaska. They have spent many years studying, playing and dancing in Cuba. I am thrilled to have them!

The schedule is Monday, July 19 through Thursday, July 22 -  10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, July 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. On Saturday, camp will run 3 hours (to be announced), including the performance finale.

Cost is $300, with a discount for siblings.  Registration is first come, first served. Community members interested in sponsoring a student are asked to contact Caryn Simmons.

To reserve a spot send a $75 deposit to the following address:
Caryn Simmons
2700 Kulshan
Bellingham, WA 98225

Contact Caryn Simmons at  360-820-2292 or
carynsimmons@hotmail.com

Todd Spalti stands before his monumental sculpture "Tribute"

By Susannah Beck for the Orcas Island Historical Museum

The face of downtown Eastsound is about to get much more interesting this coming week, as a major new sculpture by local artist Todd Spalti is installed in front of the Orcas Island Historical Museum.

Titled “Tribute,” the massive 14’ 3” sculpture depicts Spalti’s interpretation of a Tlingit creation story featuring Heron, Raven, Raven’s sister, and a red-hot stone. It is carved in red cedar in both European and Northwest Coast carving styles.  From the front, the dominant feature of the piece is the head and neck of Heron holding a metal ball in its beak.  On the back is a life-size vignette of Raven and two human figures emerging from a shade of stones and leaves.

Spalti, 51, a 30-odd-year resident of Orcas Island, had wanted to build “something big” on the site for the past several years, and has worked with an anonymous donor to bring the piece to life.  “We wanted a show-stopper, something really amazing that would bring people into the museum, and get the community excited about art, and especially public art, in the islands,” said museum Board President Bill Buchan on Thursday.  “The installation of ‘Tribute’ is also a great educational opportunity for local kids and art lovers, and we plan to partner with the schools and the Funhouse to follow up with carving classes, lectures, and more.”

The piece was designed so that the ball in Heron’s beak can be switched out every year, with the plan for an annual island-wide, all-ages call-for-artists to compete to fill the spot, for what amounts to showing new work in very unusual gallery space.  “It’ll be a great way to get local people involved with art, and it will also keep ‘Tribute’ fresh and visible after everyone’s kind of blind to it and used to seeing it,” Spalti said.

The sculpture was built from several pieces of a single old growth cedar tree that Spalti salvaged from the Trapper Creek Wilderness area near the Columbia Gorge six years ago.  It was carved using traditional adzes and knives as well as modern tools.  “Whatever you can get a hold of to make a neat form, I’ll use,” says Spalti, who also works in metal and stone.

While the outside of the piece is worked with fine hand carving, the inside of the piece is held together with large threaded rods, bolts, and steel plate.  The museum even hired an engineering firm to confirm the imposing structure’s soundness.

The work of art is a donation by a local anonymous donor and the artist.  Several local contractors are also donating time and equipment to help get the giant piece installed. Work on the concrete pad that supports the base of the two-thousand pound sculpture is already underway.  John Willis, Ron Montgomery, and Al Minnis provided early digging and forms work, while Rocky Arnt at Sea Island Sand and Gravel provided the concrete. Dave Hall’s Boom Truck Services is scheduled to maneuver ‘Tribute’ into place on Monday, June 28.  A reception for the artist is planned in the weeks following the installation.

Citizens’ Alliance for Property Rights is a non-partisan political action committee organized to allow individual citizens and existing organizations to work together defending property rights. “We support equitable and scientifically sound land use regulations that do not force minority groups of private property owners to pay for public benefits enjoyed by all,” the group’s website states.

Dinner will be served at the July 6 event, with donations accepted for dinner

Guests are asked to bring a potluck dessert. The agenda is as follows:

• 5:30 – Dinner
• 6:00 – Introductions
• 6:10 – Guest Speaker: Richard Fralick

For reservations, contact knych@rockisland.com or 378-4662. For more information about CAPR, go to www.capr-sanjuan.org or email: info@capr-sanjuan.org