How to Perform Like Poetry Slam-master Karen Finneyfrock

photo by Inti St. Clair, http://finneyfrock.wordpress.com/

Karen Finneyfrock didn't look intimidating. She had weaved a braid through her thick hair. Her skirt was short, cute, and she never stood still--boundless energy, I thought.  She smiled easily, seemed genuinely interested in the people who had joined her class last night at 826's How to Write Like I Do 2010 Adult Writing Workshop. She wanted to know each of our names, what we write, and what brought us to her class.

But I was intimidated.  I was in awe of Finneyfrock, just because she was her.  And then there was the microphone on a small bit of a stage, that she told us we would use before the class was over.  The microphone we would use--that's when my hands started getting clammy.

From what I heard in the introductions, none of us had imminent plans to go on a book tour or read a just-published book of poems, short stories, or a selection from a best-seller novel. But I'm sure, without hearing it said in the room last night, that all of us hoped one day to have those plans.  Which was the reason none of us left after she told us we would get a chance to practice getting up in front of a low stakes group and get a chance to use a microphone like a pro.  After a few tips and tricks, she said.

Don't get me wrong. I was thrilled to be so close to a widely known performance poet, who I had heard myself perform at a Seattle Poetry Slam event.  Karen Finneyfrock is one of the members of the female national slam team, and apparently, according to her blog, two other national teams, too.  She regularly MCs the poetry slam events. She was named “Slam Legend” at the National Poetry Slam in 2006.  She has published two books of poetry, including the recently released, Ceremony for the Choking Ghost.  She is a Writer-in-Residence at Richard Hugo House and teaches for Seattle Arts and Lectures’ Writers-in-the-Schools.  She also writes young adult novels, and her first, Celia the Dark and Weird, will be released by The Viking Press in summer of 2011.

The woman is "accomplished." Without doubt, she knows her "stuff."  She first read "Night Things," which she introduced as a poem she wrote for some friends getting married.

That she introduced the poem before she began, she explains, has to do with the fact that it's important to think about the audience and what they need to know to follow and experience the poem as the writer/reader wants them to.  Reading a poem and hearing a poem are different experiences.  When a poet reads, the audience needs a context, a framework from which to start.  So, for example, a short reference to what prompted the poem or tale to be written. Or a short bit about the writer. Who you are.  What you do.

She told us she grew up Southern Baptist, and  that was one of the reasons she was so familiar with Bible stories.  This was just before she read a haunting poem told from Lot's wife point of view, just after she turned into a pillar of salt.  The most striking line, the one I wrote down, was what his wife would have said, if she could. Instead "...an ocean has dried itself on my tongue." Apparently it was an image that resonated with Paul Constant as well, as he cited it in his review of Frinneyfrock in The Stranger.

Finneyfrock tells us that imagery is key to reading aloud.  When she shares her work aloud, she says it--the cadence and speed--sound like it sounded in her head. "If you can see that image in your mind, the listener will see the image, too," she assures us.  So, when reading, the "noise" has to be silenced.  Any worry or thought that gets in the way of projecting that image gets in the way of the audience seeing that image.  Don't think about the microphone being too far away, or the boy in front who is texting on his cell phone, or the person caught in a coughing spasm, or the number of empty seats. Focus. Get back to that moment when the words came streaming out of the imagination, spilling on the page as if the event and the feelings sparked just happened.

Then Finneyfrock read one more poem.  This one was highly personal. "How My Family Grieved" is from the new collection of poetry. (Read another interview with Finneyfrock in City Arts Magazine). The poem is raw, like someone opened up the refrigerator door and pull out a bag of vegetables. Some of  the tomatoes have gotten soft and squishy. But others are salvageable, so you put your hand in that soured juice to pull out the one or two still edible. Finneyfrock's voice has completely changed. She is vulnerable. Her voice is quiet. She is back in that emotional place when she wrote that poem. 

"We all have ways to hide on the stage," Finneyfrock explains.  We talk fast. We fidget.  We check out. All to get around the discomfort of being in front of an audience.  But to get through and connect with an audience, we just have to tap into that natural story-telling ability that we have when we're off the stage.  Speak in a normal voice. Be yourself on stage, despite any preconceptions or rules that a speech teacher once taught you.
But there are a few differences.  Finneyfrock says to talk slow.  People are processing what you are saying.
Enunciate. Project.  Your voice must be loud, because who knows the needs of the people in the room.
"Go slower and talk louder than you think you need to," she says.

She indicates the microphone on the stage.  Adjust the microphone before you start speaking. Make it work for you. Don't compensate for it.  The mic itself should be at a 45 degree angle and one closed fist from your mouth.  Don't speak directly into it--speak over the microphone.

Then there is the end.  Finneyfrock imagines the end of a poem or a story is just like a bell has rung and is still resonating.  "Pause and let the audience absorb the meaning," she explains.  The pauses may feel like hours, but to a listener, they often create a longing to hear more.

So, our prompt--as we needed to write something before we could practice speaking out loud--was to describe a garden that has been in our life.  We had to include an emotional relationship and use imagery.

Since I had been working in my garden the last few weeks, I was excited about the prompt. But once the pen starts moving, isn't it funny where it takes you. What I turned out was something a lot different:

This father's day, as I sat down to write a card, I thought twice about thanking my dad for instilling in me the pride of cultivating my own food from a plot of my own making.  See, I thought twice because for years I fought and fought with my father when he asked me to go out and help him in the garden.  I hate weeding. I hated raking the cut grass to use for mulching.  I hated watering and weeding some more.  The leaves on the crowded together tomatoes gave me welts on my arms.

Then there was the zucchini and yellow squash, which meant casseroles and lasagnas.  Yellow squash in watery tomato sauce.  I got so sick and tired of squash, squash, squash.

But now at the age of 38, still a renter, no plot of land to call my own, I decided a rented piece of land is better than no land at all.  So last summer I borrowed a shovel and a hoe and hacked up a 12 X 3 piece of lawn turf. I hauled in a a truckload of planting soil and started my own garden.

That summer, tendrils of sweet peas crawled up a twine trellis.  The fruit from the cherry tomatoes plants, with names like chocolate kisses and yellow pear and golden nugget, hung proudly from sturdy stems.  French fillet beans dangled gracefully, long, thin limbs trembling in the breeze.

Somehow the harvest, whatever was ripe, was never enough. I wanted succulent raspberries, sweet strawberries. I wanted tart, spicy arugula and curling leaves of kale.  And garlic.  I wanted cloves and cloves and cloves and cloves of garlic.

And so more and more of the grass disappeared under my hoe.  The sun setting. Then rising, I peeped out from my bedroom window each morning to spy the early seedling.

All this I remembered, looking down at the card. But I couldn't quite bring myself to admit he had been right, been right all along about gardening. Instead, I prefaced my thanks with:

"Hey Dad.  Just got my own garden started.  But before you start on the told-you-so's, I wanted you to know that I still thinking weeding is a waste of time.  But mulching--well--you were right about that.  Except you never told me that mulch can come in a bag from the store.  Shame on you for keeping me in the dark."

Food Writing and Food Writers

The last post I wrote was about Dorothy Richards, a food-writing blogger who sat next to me in Dianne Jacob's Food Writing for Food Lovers workshop on Saturday, May 22nd. Jacobs is author of the book and blog, Will Write for Food, http://www.diannej.com/FoodWriting.shtml.

http://www.diannej.com/, photo by Pamela Zacharias

Food writing--the Profile
The story was an interviewing exercise--practicing asking the right questions to get information I needed to put together an interesting profile.  'Course it would be unfair for me to let you assume that I was able to glean that information in the five minutes we were allocated.  Dorothy and I had been chatting the whole morning, and little tidbits she told me fed into what I eventually wrote about her.  What I didn't do--and should have--was describe Dorothy in a way that a reader could imagine what she looks and sounds like.  I didn't capture "a character" in the story I wrote.  And for profiling, I feel that is an essential element.  I mean, I don't want to merely write about the color of her hair or the shirt she wore, unless those details in some way reflect a peculiarity or uniqueness to the person I am profiling.  But I could have commented on the lunch Dorothy chose to eat, what she said about it.  As she had ordered the gluten-free option for lunch.  Thick white slabs of flour-less bread that she said were awfully dry.  A very different experience from the chicken curry sandwiches or the grilled eggplant rolled in a pita that others in the room ate.

I ploughed right in to the type of writing I prefer--profile writing.  But food writing, according to Jacobs, is predominately recipe-writing: www.101cookbooks.com; www.epicurious.com, and allrecipes.com. And a number of the people in the room that day were recipe writers.

Recipe writing
I don't consider myself a recipe writer. I follow recipe writers; I search for recipes written by recipe writers.  But every once in a while, a friend or relative asks me to write down a recipe for something I have made. So, a few basic points I learned for future reference:

1. put the ingredients in the order they will be used
2. write the method in the order that the food is prepared (and use every ingredient)
3. check the amounts, be specific, and don't be redundant. For example, if the ingredients calls for "one potato, diced," then don't explain in the method to dice the potatoes.  It's a "waste of space," Jacobs says.
4. There are four parts to a recipe: the title; headnote, list of ingredients, and the method.

The headnote is the section of a recipe to give a bit of history, talk about food pairing, or a story associated with the food.

The other less obvious thing I learned about recipe writers is that they don't paint their nails. It makes sense. Because isn't it gross to imagine a person with painted, chipping nails kneading dough, or picking out a piece of eggshell from a bowl? 

Many of the people who shared their writing and experience about writing recipes during the workshop impressed me, there was a young girl who stood out, likely because she was so young and talented.  Elissa writes the blog 17andbaking.com.

And it's no wonder.  Her blog is full of beautiful pictures and succulent details about the food she's baked.

Blogging about Food
Clearly, nearly everyone at that workshop had a blog. At the end of the workshop, each of us stood up and announced the name and URL of our respective blogs.  Some of the blogs were more famous than others. Jacobs reiterated what I had heard before--publishers are looking for writers who already have a blog, some kind of Internet presence that can be referenced and tabulated.  The 5th edition of her book is coming out this summer and includes a section dedicated to blogging.

Not just any blog will do.  A blog, in order to be read, must stand out in a crowd.  So, for example, don't choose a topic that is overdone.  Take a new or different approach to a topic that's already been done.  Write about anything sweet.  Use a strong voice and be opinionated.  

How to blog well enough to get readers' comments
On Elissa's blog, 17andbaking.com, one of her posts has 63 comments, which begs the question--how did that post get so many comments? What did she do that interested that many folks to get involved and start talking about what she wrote?

During the workshop with Jacobs, there was a great deal of discussion about this topic, starting with the example of Lee Drummonds's post on how to make cinnamon toast, which garnered 1000 comments.  Jacobs sent her an email to ask her why she thought so many people commented.  Here's what Jacobs learned:

1. triggered childhood nostalgia
2. loyalty fights about the "right" way to fix the toast
3. suggestions for other ways to do it.
4. comments about husbands (Drummond comments in her post about her husband and the way he makes the toast) and how wrong they are

But in general, why do people comment on blog posts? Or rather, as a blog author, how do you get people interested in your blog, interested enough to comment on it? There seems to be a number of ways:

1. Ask a question
2. have a really strong opinion about something (i.e., start an argument)
3. write how to make a classic, old-fashioned dish
4. post a seasonal food
5. include photos
6. write about food that's trendy (bacon, raising own chickens, making own macaroons, being your own butcher, goats)
7. inexpensive food recipes
8. comfort foods
9. kitchen disasters
10. gadget or kitchen appliance reviews
11. recipe based on popular restaurant chain dish
12. familiar recipe ingredients used in an interesting way
13. ordeal in trying a new diet
14. cooking events--where everyone makes the same thing (http://daringbakersblogroll.blogspot.com/; cooking carnivals such as http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_208.html)

Food writers to read
The following names keep coming up as models of excellent food writing.  If you see someone missing that you think should be in this list, leave a comment.

Ruth Reichl
Lee Drummond, The Pioneer Woman
Sam Sifton of The New York Times
Sallie Tisdale 
David Lebovitz
Jane and Michael Stern
MFK Fisher
Elizabeth David
Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations
Jeffrey Steingarten
Molly O'Neill
Jonathan Gold
Francis Lam

The Gluten-Free Foodie

You might say Dorothy is an alternative foodie. Alternative, as in, on the cutting-edge, in-the-know. She writes about gluten-free foods. Heard of it? Of course you have. It’s the talk of the town. But Dorothy isn’t just talking; she’s in the kitchen, figuring out how to capture the flavor of foods without the wheat that makes a person with celiac disease or gluten allergies sick. Sick as in depression, anxiety, headaches, skin rashes, bloating, a week on the toilet, either with diarrhea or constipation. Not the post-meal siesta you would hope for. Or for your daughter. Dorothy’s daughter suffered through all of these until her own Internet search turned up symptoms she recognized. A trip to the doctor confirmed the diagnosis. She had celiac disease, which is an inherited, autoimmune disease in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged from eating gluten. “Very genetic,” Dorothy says. A year after her daughter found out she couldn’t eat wheat, Dorothy realized she had herself been living with the same disease for years as well.

Albeit our foods are largely derived from wheat, Dorothy explains that there are many other grains out there to use. Sorghum, brown rice, millet, for example. So, now she’s baking chocolate chip and snicker-doodle cookies, and all of her favorite foods are still her favorites. If fact, they’re even better, Dorothy explains, because she never feels sick.

Check out her recipes on Giddy-Up Gluten Free

NORTHWEST SCIENCE WRITERS ASSOCIATION (NSWA) JUNE CALENDAR

 FEATURED EVENTS

 

• Wednesday, June 2, 7:30 p.m. (and drinks with NSWA members afterward). Eli Kintisch & David Battisti: Geoengineering Possibilities and Dangers. After science reporter Eli Kintisch and University of Washington (UW) professor David Battisti discuss geoengineering’s possibilities and dangers in a time of planetary tipping points—and sign their new book Hack the Planet—they’ve graciously agreed to let NSWA host a post-talk discussion with us. Geoengineering includes direct and radical ways to cool the planet. Presented as part of Seattle Science Lectures, with Pacific Science Center and University Book Store. Series sponsored by Microsoft, media sponsorship by KPLU.
  Advance tickets are $5 at www.brownpapertickets.com or 800-838-3006, or at the door starting at 6:30 pm.

Venue: Town Hall Seattle, Downstairs, 1119 8th Avenue (Enter on Seneca)

Please RSVP for NSWA gathering over drinks to mbradbury@realscience.us as soon as you can, as space is limited.

 

• Friday, June 4, 9:45 a.m.-3 p.m. (with intimate kickoff party on Thursday, June 3 at 5:30 p.m. at the Seattle Yacht Club outpost at Elliott Bay Marina with Dr. Gordon Orians, President of the Washington State Academy of Sciences and Professor Emeritus of Biology at UW; online registration) Salish Sea Expeditions' Student Science Symposium. Hosted by Salish Sea Expeditions, and sponsored by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the Puget Sound Partnership, the Woodland Park Zoo and the Washington State Academy of Sciences, it brings together student scientists, professional scientists, and science teachers to share, explore and discuss research on Puget Sound and its streams, tributaries and shorelines.

Venue: Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle

Online registration

 

• Wednesday, June 30, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Rapid Response: Revenue Models in the Changing Media Landscape. The traditional media revenue model of selling advertising can’t support most outlets. What seems to be working best: online only? Global, hyper-local, or topic specific? For profit with micro-pricing, or nonprofit with listener, reader, or grant support? How will paid news content affect readership and an informed citizenry? Is there one new model that all will eventually adopt? This event is chaired by Monica Guzman of SeattlePI.com and Jim Simon of the Seattle Times. Moderated by Hanson Hosein, Director, UW Digital Media, the discussion features Pat Balles, SeattlePI.com; Cory Bergman, Next Door Media; David Boardman, Seattle Times; David Brewster, Crosscut; Josh Feit, Publicola; Rita Hibbard, Investigate West; and Greg Huang, Xconomy.

Venue: Rainier Square, Third Floor Atrium, 1333 Fifth Avenue, Seattle 

Register online: $18/CityClub Members, guests, and co-presenters; $20/General public, including appetizers and drinks.

 

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

 

With our partner, the Seattle Public Library, NSWA is putting on three events this summer, under the heading of Science Friction. These events are for teens and adults—and questions from the audience are essential. Encourage your friends to pencil this on their calendars:

 

• Saturday, July 18, 2 p.m. "The Science of Avatar" boasts former astronaut Bonnie Dunbar as the moderator. Researchers Chris Kenaley, of the UW, and Hilary Kemp of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, will join Bonnie to discuss the earthly creatures that share characteristics of the fictional "Pandoran" wildlife. (Kenaley studies deep-sea fishes, for example, that have luminescence. Kemp is ready to talk about neural connections. All events are at 2 p.m. in the Central Library auditorium.

 

• Sunday, July 31, 2 p.m. Mark Roth of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center discusses his "zombie" rat experiments, and why suspended animation could save human lives some day.

 

• Sunday, Aug. 29, 2 p.m. Alan Boyle, NSWA’s own former president, discusses Pluto and the controversies about its label as a planet. Alan is the author of the book, The Case for Pluto, and the popular science blog, Cosmic Log.

 

Venue: Central Library Auditorium, downtown Seattle

 

JOIN US

 

As an NSWA member, you get discounts on some of our events, inside information on job openings and other opportunities, and the satisfaction of knowing you're supporting the Pacific Northwest's community of science communicators. Annual dues for 2010 are just $25. For information on joining up, check out www.nwscience.org/join/join.html

 

JUNE NSWA BOARD MEETING

 

Monday June 14, 6:30 p.m.: NSWA Monthly Board Meeting. All members are welcome. Please contact Michael Bradbury for venue and other details: mbradbury@realscience.us

 

JUNE CALENDAR

 

Tuesday, June 1, 7:30 p.m. Science on Tap/Science Café: Unlocking the Secrets of Dark Chocolate. Andy McShea, Theo Chocolate’s Chief Operating Officer and Head Scientist. If you attended NSWA’s sold-out special event at Theo’s Chocolate in November 2008, you know what a delightful speaker he is.

Presented in association with the Pacific Science Center and KCTS Public Television
Venue: TS McHugh's Irish Pub & Restaurant, 21 Mercer St., Seattle

Admission free.

 

Wednesday, June 2, 9 a.m. - Thursday, June 3, 5 p.m. Seattle Green Drinks: Community Energy Roadmap. This two-day summit and workshop focuses on the policies, planning, and projects of community-based efficiency and energy solutions. Join policy makers, community leaders, developers, and planners working to harness interest and leverage technology in energy and efficiency. Hear the latest success stories of projects that are working, get practical answers as to how to design or move forward on your projects, and meet solution providers who have the technology to support innovative design that will form the infrastructure for future development of our communities and region.

Venue: Meydenbauer Center, 11100 NE 6th Street, Bellevue, WA

Read more

 

Wednesday, June 2, 7 p.m. Ann Linea - Keepers of the Trees at Third Place Books. Whidbey Island writer and activist Ann Linnea interviewed 14 tree keepers about their work in Keepers of the Trees: A Guide to Re-Greening North America.

Venue: Lake Forest Park Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, WA

Admission free.

 

Thursday, June 3, 4-5 p.m. SLUG presents TAPAS: Mitochondrial Calcium and ROS Crosstalk Signaling in the Heart. Shey-Shing Sheu, PhD, University of Rochester Medical School, NY.

Venue: 815 Mercer St. Administration Building, Orin Smith Auditorium, South Lake Union campus, UW, Seattle

Admission free, including refreshments before the talk, which begins at 4 p.m.

Information: http://slubio.blogspot.com/2010/05/tapas-june-3-2010-shey-shing-sheu.html

Thursday, June 3, 6:30 p.m. UW Energy Future: Renewable Energy Landscapes. Daniel Schwartz (UW Chemical Engineering) discusses solar, wind, and biomass resources: the three leading options for renewable energy production at a scale that will make a difference in the U.S. energy economy. Because each is a diffuse resource whose implementations will affect landscapes on large scales, it is important to consider environmental and societal impacts along with the technological and economic considerations. This talk describes new work, with several Columbia River Basin Tribes, aimed at improving both renewable energy production and ecosystem services at the same time, with a special focus on bioenergy.

Venue: Kane Hall rm 130, on UW campus, Seattle

Online reservations for the free tickets for the June 3 lecture are now open
Information: http://courses.washington.edu/efuture/.

Project sponsors are the UW, the Office of the Provost, the Applied Physics Lab, the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and the Environment, the Evans School of Public Affairs, the Institute for Advanced Materials and Technology, the NSF Science and Technology Center for Materials and Devices for Information Technology Research, the NSF Center for Enabling New Technologies Through Catalysis, and the UW Department of Physics. 

 

Thursday, June 3, 7 p.m. Christopher Chabris & Daniel Simons: The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us. At University Book Store.
Venue:  U District store, 4326 University Way NE, Seattle

 

Thursday, June 3, 7-10 p.m. Party with a Purpose. With Seattle CityClub, Washington Global Health Alliance is throwing this Party with a Purpose for young professionals that will be equal parts glam cocktail bash and global health awareness raiser.

Venue: Pan Pacific Hotel, 2125 Terry Avenue, Seattle
Admission: $25. Cocktail attire
Tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/109879
Information: www.apartywithapurpose.org

Friday, June 4, 7:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., 8th Annual Health Care Conference. With Seattle CityClub, presented by Washington Policy Center, featuring Harvard Business School Professor Regina Herzlinger and Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna

Venue: SeaTac DoubleTree, 18740 International Blvd, Seattle
Admission: $65 Lunch & Conference ($60 WPC supporters); $35 Lunch Only
Information: contact Lindsay at 206-937-9691 or lleveque@washingtonpolicy.org

Saturday, June 5 (10 a.m.-7 p.m.) through Sunday, June 6 (11 a.m.-6 p.m.), Seattle Green Festival. More than 150 speakers, with how-to workshops, interactive kids' activities, and organic cuisine in the third annual festival devoted to environmental sustainability.

Venue: Washington State Convention & Trade Center, 7th & Pike in Downtown Seattle Information: Visit this page for a list a featured speakers, including Thom Hartmann and Amy Goodman. Visit this page for a schedule of events. To learn how to volunteer, visit this page.

Weekend Pass is $10 online or $15 in person, including entry to all activities/speakers on Saturday and Sunday, a subscription to Ode and Natural Solutions, and a one-year membership for one to Green America and Global Exchange.

 

Saturday, June 5, 7 p.m. Kurt Hoelting at Elliott Bay. The Whidbey Island fisherman, wilderness guide, and meditation teacher wrote The Circumference of Home: One Man's Yearlong Quest for a Radically Local Life. He stayed within 100 kilometers of home for a year.

Venue: Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 Tenth Avenue, Seattle

Free admission.

 

Sunday, June 6, 6 a.m.-9 p.m. IslandWood: Wild Wings Bird Festival. Nationally acclaimed author and ornithologist David Allen Sibley joins IslandWood for a day of celebrating birds, their habitat, and those committed to protecting them. The first 50 registrants can also attend a private wine and hors d’oeuvres gathering with the author before his presentation.

Venue: IslandWood, 4450 Blakely Ave NE, Bainbridge Island, WA

Click here for a detailed event schedule

Register by phone at 206.855.4300 or online: https://community.islandwood.org/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?pid=487

 

Monday, June 7, 9 a.m. - Friday, June 11, 5 p.m. Climate innovation trip to Vancouver. a unique opportunity to learn by meeting, discussing, and seeing. An interactive alternative to passive sustainability conferences. A small-group Study Tour by Foresight.

Read more

For registrations and complete information, see
www.foresightdesign.org/vancouver/

 

Monday, June 7, noon-1 p.m. Seattle BioMed: Monday Seminar Series: Breaking the mold -- Initiation of Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses to Aspergillus

Tobias Hohl, MD, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute.
Venue: Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, Discovery Conference Room (1st Fl) 307 Westlake Ave N, Seattle

Free admission.

 

Monday, June 7, 7 p.m. Temra Costa: Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat. At University Book Store. Temra Costa searched the sustainable food industry for 26 stories of women at work to transform our diets. Farmer Jane chronicles these women, and asks them questions about how we can create community-supported agriculture, change policy, and help finance renewable energy.
Venue:  U District store, 4326 University Way NE, Seattle

Monday, June 7, 7:30 p.m. Linda Greenlaw at Town Hall Seattle. In Seaworthy: A Swordboat Captain Returns to the Sea, the author/sailor returns to the setting of her The Hungry Ocean. Co-presented by Elliott Bay Book Company with the Town Hall Center for Civic Life.

Venue: Town Hall Seattle, 1119 Eighth Avenue (at Seneca)

Admission: $5 tickets available at the door starting at 6:30 p.m., or in advance via www.brownpapertickets.com (or 1-800-838-3006).

Preferred seating for Town Hall members.

Information: Call Elliott Bay at (206) 624-6600, Town Hall at (206) 652-4255, or see www.townhallseattle.org.

 

Tuesday, June 8, 5:30 p.m. – 9 p.m. June Greendrinks, sponsored by Friends of the Cedar River Watershed & Synapse Product Development. Friends of the Cedar River Watershed is a local non-profit that inspires conservation and protection of a healthy Cedar River Watershed through restoration, education, and stewardship, and Synapse is a cutting-edge design firm focused on product design and technological innovation.

Venue: Synapse Product Development, 1511 6th Ave Suite 400, Seattle, WA

Admission: $5 suggested donation at the door be split between featured non-profit, Friends of the Cedar River Watershed, and Seattle Greendrinks.

Read more

 

Tuesday, June 8, 6:30 p.m. Elliott Bay Global Issues & Ethics Book Group. In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction is a compassionate look at drug addiction by author and physician Gabor Maté. It explores the scientific and psychological causes of addiction, as well as the impact on the addicts treated at the Downtown Eastside Vancouver clinic where Maté is a physician. He widens the lens to address the larger societal problem. He challenges the War on Drugs, proposing more holistic, constructive alternatives.

Venue: Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 Tenth Avenue, Seattle.

Free admission.

 

Tuesday, June 8, 4-5 p.m. Group Health Research Seminar: The Cost Implications of Fall-related Injuries. Alex A. Bohl, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Health Services, University of Washington, is also on the falls prevention team at UW-HPRC.

Venue: Group Health Research Institute, 1730 Minor Ave., rm. 1509, Seattle.

Admission free

Tuesday, June 8, 7 p.m. Multidisciplinary Treatment for Spinal Cord Injury Pain: Improving pain, function, and psychological coping 

Spinal Cord Injury Forum: Kathleen Burgess, James Moore, and Randy Hermans, all from the UW Department of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Venue: Cafeteria Conf. Room B/C, UW Medical Center. 

 

Tuesday, June 8, 7 p.m. Kim Ricketts Presents Edible Conversations: An Evening with Ben Hewitt. Jill Lightner, the editor of Edible Seattle, will interview the author of The Town that Food Saved speaks in the first event in a series on food, sustainability, and community. The author and farmer banded together with other farmers and entrepreneurs to create a comprehensive food system and revive the dying economy of his hometown, Hardwick, Vermont.

Admission $25 including appetizers.

Venue: Tom Douglas' Palace Ballroom.

Information: www.kimricketts.com

 

Tuesday, June 8, 7:30 – 9 p.m. Science: Dan Ariely: Capitalizing on Our Irrationality. The behavioral economist says irrational behavior influences every aspect of our lives—but that’s not necessarily bad. The author of The Upside of Irrationality says our illogical instincts actually hold hidden power, with unexpected benefits awaiting those who defy logic at work and at home. Presented as part of Seattle Science Lectures, with Pacific Science Center and University Book Store. Series sponsored by Microsoft.
Venue: Downstairs at Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave; enter on Seneca Street.

Advance tickets are $5 at www.brownpapertickets.com or 800/838-3006, or at the door beginning at 6:30 pm. Town Hall members receive priority seating.

 

Wednesday, June 9, 5:30 p.m. wine reception, 6:30 p.m. seminar: Our Food and Eating. Mary Embleton, Executive Director of Cascade Harvest Coalition, and Britt Yamamoto, a member of the Core Faculty at the Center for Creative Change at Antioch University, discuss what a sustainable food system might look like. Supported by the Center for Creative Change at Antioch University, SVP Seattle, and Gourmondo Catering. Part of a series of conversations with local experts titled "Seeking Sustainable Systems" sponsored by Seeking Sustainable Systems at Town Hall Seattle in June and September and cosponsored by Seattle CityClub. Topics include conversations about green economy, food and eating, and sustainable design.

Venue: Town Hall Seattle, Downstairs, 1119 8th Avenue (Enter on Seneca)

Advance tickets are $10 at www.brownpapertickets.com or 800-838-3006, or $15 at the door starting at 6:30 pm.

 

Wednesday, June 9, 1 p.m. Alice G. Dewey with S. Ann Dunham's Surviving Against the Odds. S. Ann Dunham's anthropological study, Surviving Against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia, was published posthumously after her son, Barack Obama, became President. Alice G. Dewey, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Hawai'i (and whose field is also Indonesia), will discuss the life and scholarly work of Ann Dunham.

Venue: Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 Tenth Avenue, Seattle.

 

Wednesday, June 9. Summer Seattle Association for Women in Science (AWIS) social.

Information: http://www.seattleawis.org/events.htm

 

Saturday, June 12, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Solar Power 201, Back by Popular Demand

Learn the finer points of how a solar panel is built and works. Not all solar modules are created equally; so understand how to interpret the specifications of a solar module. Learn about online tools and the independent agency that evaluates solar equipment to calculate how a module and a system will perform in the real-world conditions of our climate.

Venue: Sunergy Systems Main Office, 4546 Leary Way NW, Seattle,

Admission free. Signups available at Solar-U.com

Read more. Questions: Call (206) 297-0086 or signups@solar-u.com

 

Monday, June 14, noon-1 p.m. Seattle BioMed: Monday Seminar Series: Mechanisms in Immunology and Parasitology Revealed by a High Content Imaging Flow Cytometer. Tad George, PhD, Amnis Corporation’s Director of Biology.
Venue: Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, Discovery Conference Room (1st Fl) 307 Westlake Ave N, Seattle

Free admission.

 

Monday, June 14, 6-8 p.m. Amazon Web Service - Infrastructure as API: eScience Pub Night. Over the past few years, the ability to provision computing and storage resources, and scale them up and down with web services APIs has revolutionized IT. Elastic computing and storage can have a similar impact on life sciences computing. Deepak Singh, with Amazon Web Services, will talk about why this paradigm interests him and where it can/should be used.http://myuw.washington.edu/ucal/addEventRef.do?eventId=838456

Venue: College Inn Pub - Snug Room, Seattle

Information on eScience Institute: E-mail info@escience.washington.edu

See:http://escience.washington.edu/news.html

 

Monday, June 14, 7 p.m. Eastside Science Café: Autism, Social Cognition and the Brain. Dr. Raphael Bernier of the UW and Seattle Children's Hospital will describe autism spectrum disorders and what is known about how the inner workings of the brain lead to the outer symptoms of autism.

Venue: Wilde Rover, 111 Central Way, downtown Kirkland, WA

Admission free.

 

Monday, June 14, 7:30–9 p.m. Science: Spencer Wells: The Cost of Civilization. We live in an era of unprecedented material wealth and scientific advantage, so why are we still mired in disease, stress, depression, and societal chaos? The population geneticist and National Geographic Explorer in Residence, and author of Pandora’s Seed blames our shift 10,000 years ago from hunter-gatherers to farmers. Presented as part of Seattle Science Lectures, with Pacific Science Center and University Book Store. Series sponsored by Microsoft.
Venue: Town Hall Seattle, Great Hall, 1119 8th Ave; enter on 8th Avenue

Tickets are $5 at Brown Paper Tickets or 800/838-3006, and at the door beginning at 6:30 pm. Town Hall members receive priority seating.

 

Monday, June 14, 7:30–9 p.m. Soundings from Island Press: Peter Gleick on Water as a Commodity. The scientist and MacArthur fellow drinks water right from the tap. So why don’t the rest of us? Gleick, author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, shows how life’s most basic necessity went from being a free natural resource to one of the most successful commercial products of the last 100 years—and why we all are poorer for it. Presented by Town Hall and Island Press through The Town Hall Center for Civic Life, in association with IslandWood and Elliott Bay Book Company.
Venue: Downstairs at Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave; enter on Seneca Street

Advance tickets are $5 at Brown Paper Tickets or 800/838-3006, or at the door beginning at 6:30 pm.

Visit www.islandpress.org for more information.

 

Wednesday, June 16, 7–8:30 p.m. Peter Ward: Our Flooding World. The UW professor will discuss how sea levels rise and fall through two main mechanisms: reduction of the ocean basins by increased heatflow, a very slow process; and melting or freezing of continental ice sheets—which is dramatically quicker. He will examine the consequences of varying sea-level rises on civilization—and sign copies of his The Flooded Earth: Our Future In a World Without Ice Caps. Presented by Foundation For the Future as part of the Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series, with Elliott Bay Book Company.
Admission is free; no tickets required. Call 425/451-1333 or visit www.futurefoundation.org for more information.

Venue: Town Hall Seattle, Great Hall, 1119 8th Ave, enter on 8th Avenue

 

Thursday, June 17, 7 p.m. David Helvarg at Elliott Bay. The journalist and activist has reported on everything from the Vietnam War to Hurricane Katrina, and is currently writing about the still-unfolding Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. His Saved By the Sea: A Love Story with Fish tells of his five-decade love affair with the oceans, his many adventures in Antarctica, the Great Barrier Reef, the waters of Central America, and more.

Venue: Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 Tenth Avenue, Seattle

Free admission.

 

Thursday, June 17, 7 p.m. Vanessa Woods: Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo. At University Book Store Native to a country that has seen some of the bloodiest human war in recent years, the primates called bonobos appealed to Vanessa Woods because of the lack of violence in their societies. Her new book is an examination of that matriarchal, highly sexed society, and a plea to the world to help the endangered cousin to human beings.
Venue:  U District store, 4326 University Way NE, Seattle

 

Thursday, June 17, 7:30–9 p.m. Science: Jen Molnar and Jon Hoekstra: Everything We Know About Nature. Two Seattle-based lead scientists for The Nature Conservancy, their Atlas of Global Conservation asked researchers and conservationists around the world to share what they know—ultimately collecting data from most every field of inquiry into nature on Earth. Presented as part of Seattle Science Lectures, with Pacific Science Center and University Book Store. Series sponsored by Microsoft.
Venue: Downstairs at Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave; enter on Seneca Street.

Tickets are $5 at www.brownpapertickets.com or 800/838-3006, and at the door beginning at 6:30 pm. Town Hall members receive priority seating.

 

Sunday, June 20, 2 p.m. Cecile Andrews & John de Graaf at Elliott Bay. The local activists, a writer and a filmmaker, are among the renowned researchers and practitioners who describe in State of the World: Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability: A Worldwatch Institute Report how we can harness the world's leading institutions -- education, the media, business, governments, traditions, and social movements -- to reorient cultures toward sustainability. They also speak about their work on the Gross National Happiness Project, an indicator of a country's prosperity.

Venue: Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 Tenth Avenue, Seattle

Free admission.

 

Monday, June 21-Tuesday, June 22, 8 am-5 p.m. 2010 NIEHS-EPA Symposium on Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease. Sponsored by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The Health Effects Institute. The fifth in a series of NIEHS-EPA "Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease" conferences held since 2001. Bringing together leading investigators in the area, this symposium will provide a forum for research dissemination and critical discussion related to the mechanisms by which air pollution affects the inception, progression and nature of cardiovascular diseases. Organized by the UW NIEHS DISCOVER Center on CardiovascularDisease and Traffic-Related Air Pollution in collaboration with the Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety.
Venue: UW Tower Auditorium, 4333 Brooklyn Avenue NE, Seattle
Registration required
For more information contact Meghann Seiler

 

Monday, June 21, 7:30–9 p.m. Science: Nicholas Carr: The Internet and Your Brain. The journalist asked, “Is Google making us stooped?” in his Atlantic story tapping into a well of Internet anxiety. His book, The Shallows, explores the Internet’s intellectual and societal consequences. He argues that it is rerouting our neural pathways, and replacing the contemplative mind of the book reader with the distracted mind of the screen watcher. Presented as part of Seattle Science Lectures, with Pacific Science Center and University Book Store. Series sponsored by Microsoft.
Venue: Downstairs at Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave; enter on Seneca Street.

Tickets are $5 at www.brownpapertickets.com or 800/838-3006, and at the door beginning at 6:30 pm. Town Hall members receive priority seating.

 

Wednesday, June 23, 7:30 a.m.-noon. Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Puget Sound Professional Development Conference: Managing media in an opt-in world. Social media is driving a new way of getting messages out and having them heard. Join PRSA for a hands-on session detailing the best of traditional and "new" media opportunities from some of the best. Plenty of case studies and discussion from "veterans" of social media. Features social media guru Peter Shankman, founder of the Geek Factory, a marketing and public relations firm in New York City, HARO (Help a Reporter Out); Vulcan’s David Postman; Lori Hunter of mGive; and panelists from Microsoft, Publicola, Starbucks, West Seattle Blog, PEMCO, and KEXP. Sponsored by Microsoft Corp.

Venue: Seattle University Student Union, Seattle

Admission: Early bird rate: $75 PRSA member, $85 non-member

Register today by calling 206-623-8632

Information:  suzanne.hartman@Seattle.gov or (206) 615-0050

Wednesday, June 23, 7:30–9 p.m. Gwynne Dyer: The Geopolitics of Climate Change. Climate change won’t just make your world a little warmer—it’s also going to make it a lot more dangerous, says the geopolitical analyst and journalist, and author of Climate Wars: The Fight for Survival as the World Overheats. In the decades ahead, he says, we can expect dwindling resources, massive population shifts, natural disasters, crashing economies, and political extremism—and any of them could tip the world toward conflict. Presented by The Town Hall Center for Civic Life with Elliott Bay Book Company. Series media sponsorship provided by Publicola. Series supported by The Boeing Company Charitable Trust and the RealNetworks Foundation.
Venue: Downstairs at Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave; enter on Seneca Street.

Tickets are $5 at Brown Paper Tickets or 800/838-3006, or at the door beginning at 6:30 pm. Town Hall members receive priority seating.

 

Thursday, June 24, 7:30 p.m. Clay Shirky at Town Hall Seattle. Co-presented with Elliott Bay Book Company and the Town Hall Center for Civic Life. The NYU professor of interactive telecommunications at NYU has a new book on the social impact of our relationship with technology: Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age. He argues that new technology is making it possible for people to collaborate in ways that have the potential to change society. 

Venue: Town Hall Seattle, 1119 Eighth Avenue (at Seneca).

$5 tickets are available at the door starting at 6:30 p.m., or in advance via www.brownpapertickets.com (or 1-800-838-3006).

Preferred seating for Town Hall members.

Information: Call Elliott Bay at (206) 624-6600, Town Hall at (206) 652-4255, or see www.townhallseattle.org.

 

Friday, June 25, 6:30 p.m. Shawn Thompson - The Intimate Ape at Third Place Books. With color photos, this book draws on extensive research to reveal the intricate lives of these great apes, and the people who protect and care for them. Shawn Thompson is a coauthor of

The Intimate Ape: Orangutans and the Secret Life of a Vanishing Species.

Venue: Lake Forest Park Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, WA

Admission free.

 

Monday, June 28, 7 p.m. James Tabor. Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth. As more and more of the "ultimate discoveries" in this world had been made, the search for the world's deepest cave went unclaimed. And then, in 2004, American Bill Stone and Ukranian Alexander Klimochouk both found what they believed to be the deepest cave known—and Blind Descent is the story of those dangerous and decisive explorations.

Venue: The Mountaineers Program Center, 7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle

REMINDER

 

The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at the UW hosts International Conservation Photography Awards from June 19 through September 6.  This summer, for the first time, the Burke Museum will present the winners of the 2010 International Conservation Photography Awards (ICP Awards) in an exhibit of more than 75 images representing the best of conservation photography from around the world. The ICP Awards competition was founded in 1997 by Art Wolfe, a Seattle native and nature photographer and author.

Venue: Burke Museum, on the UW campus at the corner of 17^th Ave NE and NE 45^th St

Information: Call: (206) 543-5590 or visit www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/

 

Additions? Corrections? Write calendar@nwscience.org. 

 

 

Rebecca Hughes | SENIOR MEDIA CONSULTANT 

Group Health Research Institute*

E-MAIL hughes.r@ghc.org | PHONE 206-287-2055

AFTER-HOURS MEDIA LINE 206-793-6552

 

1730 Minor Avenue, Suite 1600

Seattle, WA 98101-1448

www.grouphealthresearch.org