March 2019 News & Views
Look for News & Views in your inbox every month to see what's happening at Seabeck
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A Message from the Director
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I am so tired of being cold all the time. I’m generally not a hot weather type of guy. I am insulated like a polar bear, but I am ready for a tropical heatwave. WELCOME SPRING!!!
I think we were the only operating campus in the entire Puget Sound during that snowy weekend. We had a group of hearty folk harpists that made it in on Friday morning and made it out Sunday. Our Seabeck staff went over and above that weekend. Many stayed in Firs and worked multiple shifts for us. I couldn’t be prouder of their efforts. They really pulled together for the guests. Luckily when we got hit the hardest, we were empty.
The new patio in front of the Inn is almost complete. The redone steps and patio are open now. We need some dry weather and we can complete the paving. I hope you will like my choice for guard rails. I’m pretty sure there would have been hitching posts in front of the Historic Inn for horses in the past. This is a little nod to that history. I also thought a heavy railing system would look like a cage out there. We will add a couple of planters when they arrive. I think it will be a very nice and much safer area to enjoy while you are here.
The Pines total keeps rising. We are approaching 1.3 million. We have letters of interest turned in to many foundations, so we are hoping to see that number grow greatly soon. We are starting a look at our vendors for donations as well. If your place of work has a charitable program that gives to places like us, please let us know. We are also going to start a campaign to get every group that stays with us to have a brick on the new patio. Many of our groups have done this already, but wouldn’t it be cool if more did? Maybe you could start the conversation with in your group? Everyone seems to enjoy seeing their group on the Inn Lobby wall, why not the Pines patio? We will send out letters to group leadership soon.
There is an article below about the Seabeck Annual Meeting. This year is going to be unique to say the least. Please plan on joining us. It will be an especially hard meeting for me as we say goodbye to three longtime and strong Board members. Phil Lloyd, Barbara ten Hove, and Cary Clark have served a collective 28 years on the Seabeck Board. I hope we have a big turn out to thank them for their years of service. It will be a fun event in a great venue!
Lots of small projects will be wrapping up in the next month or so. We should see improved lighting on the campus and the completion of the portables. We will keep you informed via this newsletter.
Thanks,
Chuck
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Sunday, April 28th, 2019
Starts at 1:00 PM
Please join us for this unique event. We will belatedly celebrate the Lunar New Year. As many loyal readers of News and Views knows, 2019 is the year of the pig in the Lunar calendar. Although the year started in February, there’s no reason to let that stand in the way of a good celebration.
We will gather at the Georgetown Stables just South of Seattle. The Stables is a funky place with lots of cool things to see and discover. They have a great patio with a built-in spot for a food truck. The Yummy 8 Asian Food truck will cater the event. Guests will get the full food truck experience by being able to order from their menu. We will eat from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm and then the program will start. We will update guests on the past year, share new information about the Pines project and say goodbye to three long time board members: Phil Lloyd, Cary Clark and Barbara ten Hove. The event and food are free so I hope you will join us.
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History of The Stables
Georgetown is an especially unique neighborhood in our city of neighborhoods and its main drag on Airport Way is lined with one-of-a-kind restaurants, bars, galleries, shops, saloons, and cafes. The locals are diverse and friendly, consisting largely of bohemians, artists, fringe society folk, blue-collar workers and families.
Settled in 1851 by Luther Collins and developed by Julius Horton (brother of Dexter Horton), Georgetown is Seattle’s oldest continually settled neighborhood and has a rich and fascinating history.
In 1910 Georgetown was annexed to the city of Seattle. During this time Seattle was cracking down on “undesirable” activity. Georgetown, however, remained a haven of 24 hour vice, gambling and red light district.
The residue of this areas resistant history still saturates Georgetown and many impressive structures from that by-gone era still stand strong.
The Stables itself is rumored to have the oldest standing wall in the neighborhood dating back to 1888. In the first decade of the 1900’s, the Meadows Racetrack, now the home of Boeing Field, was a huge draw for this city. During this time the Stables was used to house race horses from the track. The building still maintains its best original features; the high ceilings, brick walls and beautiful thick ceiling beams represent the best of historical structures from this era. The space is furnished with antique and vintage items and oddities.
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St. Patrick's Day Fun Facts
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1. Saint Patrick was not even born in Ireland.
In fact, he was born somewhere in Great Britain. Rumor has it that when he was 16 years old, he was kidnapped by pirates and held in captivity in Ireland for six years. During this time, Saint Patrick found religion, which gave him the hope to survive and eventually escape. He later proved that he was infinitely braver than I could ever be, by returning to Ireland a few years later as a Christian missionary.
2. The first Saint Patrick’s Day parade was not in Ireland, but in Boston.
If there’s one thing you should know about Boston, it’s that everyone who lives there will claim they are part Irish at some point or another, even if they’re not. No one knows why Bostonians and the Irish have such a strong emotional bond. Maybe it’s the shared love for excessive drinking. Maybe it’s the mass of people who immigrated there after the Great Potato Famine. Maybe it’s Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Who knows? Either way, it’s important to
note that Bostonians hosted
the first St. Paddy’s Day Parade, long before the Irish realized that that was their job.
3. Chicago dyes their main river green to celebrate the holiday.
Using a mixture of vegetable dye and other compounds, the city of Chicago dyes their main river green, every year, to commemorate the Irish holiday. If this were School Spirit Day in elementary school, Chicago would definitely win the free pizza party.
4. Saint Patrick’s real name is Maewyn Succat.
Try saying that five times fast. After becoming a priest, Maewyn adopted the name “Patrick,” which means “well-born” in Latin. If you really want to test the breadth of your friends’ knowledge, wish them a “Happy Maewyn Succat Day” and wait for their response. If they give you a high-five, you know you’re both equally as weird and destined to be lifelong friends. If they throw you a weird look, you might need to find a new trivia partner for that pub quiz.
5. Leprechauns are actually fairies/shoemakers in Irish folklore.
If you thought superheroes had a lot of code-switching to do between their civilian and vigilante lives, imagine how leprechauns feel telling their friends that they are both fairies and shoemakers. Sure, having magical powers is cool and all, but apparently they don’t get you out of manual labor.
6. The shamrock’s three leaves are meant to represent the Holy Trinity.
You may find the luck of the Irish in a four-leaf clover, but the national symbol for Saint Patrick’s Day is actually a three-leaf shamrock. Though it may seem weird to have a plant represent a holiday, it makes more sense when you know that,
according to legend
, Saint Patrick used shamrocks to teach children about the Holy Trinity.
7. The Guinness Book of World Records originated with the Irish native Hugh Beaver, who was the managing director of the Guinness Brewery.
Some of the best ideas come from petty arguments with friends.
Hugh Beaver learned this fact all too well
when, one day, over a couple of beers, he and his buddies began arguing over which bird was the fastest bird in Ireland. When Beaver realized that there weren’t any reference books that could answer that particular question, he had the idea to make a “book of records” that could officially settle any friendly pub arguments. And thus, the Guinness Book of World Records was born.
8. Divorce was not permitted in Ireland until 1997.
Not directly related to St. Patrick’s Day, but still mind-boggling enough to be included on this list. In a country where the odds of drunkenly eloping are incredibly likely, I can only imagine the miserable or awkward marriages that people had to live with before 1997.
9. There are more Americans of Irish origin than there are Irish in Ireland.
Well, sort of. In 2008,
around 36 million Americans claimed Irish ancestry
, while at the time the population of Ireland was only 4 million. However, not everyone who claims Irish ancestry is fully Irish. As I mentioned before, most Bostonians will show off their boxing leprechaun tattoos without admitting that they are, in fact, only 2% Irish, so this statistic is a bit skewed.
10. There are 10,000 three-leaf clovers for every four-leaf clover.
The odds of finding a four-leaf clover are not exaggerated. Next time you find one (if you find one), spray it with hair-spray, stick it in a laminated folder, and frame it on your wall with the caption “I win at life” beneath it, because you may never find another one…ever again.
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The Compassionate Listening Project
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A non-profit organization dedicated to empowering individuals and communities to transform conflict and strengthen cultures of peace
Compassionate Listening helps us to awaken to what the mystics from all of the great faiths have known for centuries: that cultivating the wisdom of the heart is the key to real peace from the inside out. The intention of Compassionate Listening is to access our deepest wisdom to transform separation and conflict into an opportunity for connection, healing and peace.
Compassionate Listening is:
A personal practice
– to cultivate inner strength, self awareness, self regulation and wisdom
A skill set
– to enhance interpersonal relations and navigate challenging conversation
A process
– to bring individuals or groups together to bridge their differences and transform conflict
A healing gift
– to offer a compassionate listening session to a person who feels marginalized or in pain
Compassionate Listening was conceived by Gene Knudsen Hoffman (1919 - 2010), international peacemaker, founder of the US/USSR Reconciliation program for the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and student of Vietnamese Buddhist Monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. The concepts were further developed by Leah Green, Carol Hwoschinsky, and a group of dedicated individuals who are now facilitators of the work.
As Gene originally conceived it, Compassionate Listening requires non-judgmental listening and deepening, non-adversarial questions. Listeners seek the truth of the person speaking, seeing through ‘masks of hostility and fear to the sacredness of the individual.’ Listeners accept what others say as their perceptions, and validate the right to their own perceptions. In this way, listeners seek to humanize the ‘other’. Compassionate Listening can cut through barriers of defense and mistrust, enabling both those listened to and those listening to hear themselves in new light, to change their opinions, and to make more informed decisions. Through this process, fear can be reduced, and participants will be better equipped to discern how to proceed with effective action.
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The Pines Capital Campaign
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We have a desire to continue to offer our services for many years to come. Seabeck Conference Center is happy to serve people like you, and we invite you to be a part of our legacy. Your donation will help us build a new Pines (ready by Spring 2020) that will be a place for future generations to gather.
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All gifts are welcome. Seabeck Conference Center is a 501c3 nonprofit organization and your contribution may be tax deductible. If you have any questions, please contact our Executive Director, Chuck Kraining at (360) 830-5010 or email him at
chuck@seabeck.org
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Seabeck Conference Center
13395 Lagoon Dr NW
Seabeck, Washington 98380
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