New Site for Governor
Gov. Chris Gregoire last week launched a new interactive Web site, www.governor.wa.gov. The site provides accessibility features and easier navigation capability. It also invites feedback from the public on budget-savings suggestions.
The updated site offers RSS news feed capability and will incorporate other online technologies in the coming months. Earlier this year, the governor introduced her blog and within the past week added a feedback function to solicit suggestions from readers on ways they suggest to reform government and save money.
The governor's Web site receives about 40,000 unique visitors per month with nearly 160,000 page views in that same timeframe. The most popular pages are the governor's priorities, contact information, newsroom, and flag lowering information.
Winter at the Library
Kids and teens, is it too wet and cold outside? Celebrate winter inside at the Winter Celebration at branches of The Seattle Public Library in December with crafts, games and food!
The programs are free and open to the public. No registration is required. Free parking is available in the branch parking lots.
The celebration will include video games, board games, crafts and pizza. Times and locations are: 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10 at the Wallingford Branch, 1501 N. 45th St.; and 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19 at the University Branch, 5009 Roosevelt Way N.E.
For more information, call The Seattle Public Library at 206-386-4636.
Name Your Heroes
The American Red Cross Serving King & Kitsap Counties is looking for "everyday heroes" from your community. Do you know someone who performed life-saving CPR, pulled a person from a burning building or raised money to help someone in need?
You can help the Red Cross recognize these extraordinary people by nominating your hero. Information about the nominations and the form are available online at www.seattleredcross.org or by calling (206) 726-3543 or emailing melissa.hopkins@seattleredcross.org.
The Red Cross will honor the heroes on March 26, 2009 at the Thirteenth Annual Heroes Breakfast. Each year the Red Cross presents its Everyday People, Everyday Heroes awards.
The nominee must be a resident of, or employed within, King County or the heroic act must have occurred in King County. The heroic act must be ongoing or have occurred between December 1, 2007, and November 30, 2008.
Proceeds from the Heroes Breakfast support disaster relief efforts in King County.
Afro-Mexico Forum
The Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas presents American Heritage Series: Afro-Mexico, Thursday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m. at the Northwest African American Museum, 2300 South Massachusetts St.
American Heritage is an ongoing series of lectures and discussions that offer new perspectives on the role of African-Americans in American history. This is the first of two discussions dealing with the African Diaspora.
The African presence in Mexico is rarely recognized or widely known. Two hundred years before the United States abolished slavery, a community of free Blacks was established in the 1600s in what is now Veracruz, Mexico. As a result, issues of nationalism, color and race are integral to the discussion of what it means to be Mexican. Join the CD Forum and a panel of experts as we discuss historical and contemporary issues of Afromestizo identity.
Moderator is Ileana M. Rodriguez-Silva, assistant professor of Latin American and Caribbean History at the University of Washington.
Panelists include Sagrario Cruz Carretero, the curator of the Main Gallery exhibition from the University of Veracruz, Mexico's leading expert in the investigation of African history in Mexico; Naomi Andrade Smith, chef and owner of Villa Victoria/Cafe Mocambo; and Ben Vinson, director of the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University and author of "Bearing Arms for His Majesty: The Free-Colored Militia in Colonial Mexico and Afromexico."
Tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets at www.BrownPaperTickets.com or phone 1-800-838-3006. For more information, visit www.cdforum.org or call 206-323-4032.
Caregivers' Support Groups
Caring for someone with memory loss? Alzheimer's Association African American caregiver support groups provide a place for people who are on a journey of providing care to a person with dementia. A free info and support group will be held the second Thursday of each month at the Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Ave S. 1:30–3 p.m. Contact Letitia London at 206-841-4230.
