Submitted by Susanne Bacon. As a kid and young teenager, I loved playing soccer. The boys in my class even let me play on their teams as the only girl during our sports classes until eighth grade (after that we were separated by gender and explored different fields of athletics). Soccer was the game shown […]
To Ponder
Letter: Hearts On a String
It was the day before this last Valentine’s Day. And it was to be our last. “You’ve battled well. It’s been a long journey,” her oncologist said, “but we’ve reached the end.” I suppose we’d expected – one day – to hear those words. But not that day. And not any day, anytime soon. But now […]
Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville at Tacoma Musical Playhouse – Review
Peg and I took our kids to live theatre when they were young. I think their favorite production was School for Clowns by Friedrich Karl Waechter at Empty Space Theater in Seattle. My cousin, Lavinia Whitworth, was an actress at Empty Space during this time. The clowning in theatre forms was hilarious and the three […]
For Afghan Women, it not just about the Burqa
This is something a little different from the light hearted items I usually share with readers of The Suburban Times, but for the past several years, I ‘ve been following and sharing the efforts of Tim Ham to rescue an Afghan artist and his family from almost certain death in Afghanistan. Only a few months […]
Letter: Upon Returning Home
It was a generic birthday card for my wife mailed to our home. As I returned from the mailbox, sorting through the bills and advertisements, there it was. The balloons and flowers and best wishes for a “Happy Birthday!” emblazoned on the envelope brought me pause, and I stood for a moment at the gate. […]
In the Book Nook with … Susan Old
Submitted by Susanne Bacon. Author Susan Old lives on the Stillaguamish River just outside Granite Falls, Washington. She is a retired addiction therapist, which makes it possible to write whenever taking care of her family dog, cats, and volunteering allows. Susan started writing in her 20s but never completed a book till her late 30s. […]
How to increase parent participation in the CPSD budget process: Artificial Intelligence’s (AI) answer
Submitted by John Arbeeny. Over a family dinner my sons mentioned the rapid increase in AI as an analytical tool, so we tried out several queries and were amazed at some of the answers. We queried CHAT GPT, an internet AI source, “How can Clover Park School District increase parent participation in the budget process?” […]
Across the Fence: Altbier and Kölsch
I grew up in a German city with a number of big breweries. Their names mean nothing over here, and one got torn down when I was in my early twenties. I don’t remember what happened. It seems they merged with a brewery downtown. A specific area always also had that peculiar smell that goes […]
Letter: What does it take to get parents and the public to attend CPSD budget meetings?
Submitted by John Arbeeny. Systems can only achieve what they’re designed to achieve. When it comes to Clover Park School District (CPSD), it would seem its budget planning system is not designed to gain meaningful public participation. The evidence? In the last two “community budget meetings” on 7 March and 21 March 2023 a single […]