“Border Songs” Onstage Beginning February 25th

What happens when a local playwright adapts for the stage a local author’s bestselling book? You get “Border Songs,” a a co-production by Saint Martin’s University Theatre Department and Book-It Repertory Theatre.
The lush Northwest Washington border between Canada and the United States and the gulf between “normal” folks and those regarded as peculiar are often as imperceptible as they are illusory. They are the stuff of “Border Songs,” which has its world premier in February at the Olympia State Theater.

Based on Olympia author Jim Lynch’s novel, a 2010 Washington State Book Award winner, “Border Songs” was adapted for the stage by Bryan Willis. David Quicksall directs the production.

At the heart of the story, threading between the borders, is unlikely hero Brandon Vanderkool, a naïve and dyslexic, six-foot-eight misfit pushed into joining the U.S. Border Patrol. While he’d rather bird-watch or tend the cows on the struggling family dairy farm, his skills of observation make him surprisingly adept at spotting and busting drug smugglers. A finely-drawn cast of small-town characters and illicit activities drive a plot that is both amusing and poignant.

Performance Dates:

Feb 25th, Mar 2-5 at 7:30pm

Feb 26th, 27th at 2pm

(March 2nd is pay what you will at the door only)

And on March 3rd, the audience will have an opportunity to participate in a ‘talk back’ with Jim Lynch (book author) and Bryan Willis (playwright) after the show.

Click here to read The Olympian’s article “Crossing borders; Small-town life, political issues: Novelist Jim Lynch’s refreshing story with complex characters adapted for Oly stage”
 
Text from this article is largely from the performing arts calendar, published in The Olympian.
 
 

Captain Charles Moore Discussion and Benefit Presented by South Sound Sierra

Wednesday, March 16
Capitol Theater Downtown Olympia
Doors Open 6:00 pm – Event begins at 6:30 pm

Captain Charles Moore will talk about the effects of plastics on marine life in Puget Sound as well as the Washington and Oregon coast. We will also show several videos on South Puget Sound and the effects of corporate farming on our tidelands. Donny Westfall, a local musician will also perform. Plan on buying a Sierra cup and having something to drink and eat while looking at the tables of other environmental groups.

Charles Moore founded Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF) in 1994 to focus on the “coastal ocean.” In 1997, his focus dramatically changed. While returning to California from Hawaii aboard his 50-foot catamaran, the Alguita, he chose to chart a course though the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, where he encountered enormous amounts of trash, mostly plastic, scattered across the area now commonly referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

On the most recent voyage in the summer of 2009, AMRF’s area of study extended to the International Date Line which revealed more of the same – plastic sludge in our trawl samples. Captain Moore has made numerous research voyages resulting in a body of authoritative research publications and date and educational programs and has appeared on the Letterman Show and The Colbert Report as well as many national radio programs.
Founded in 1892, the Sierra Club is the oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. More information about this event can be found at http://cascade.sierraclub.org/
 

Community Meeting March 1st May Put to Rest Issue of Hunting on Area Waters

Proposed changes to the County’s ordinance regarding the discharge of firearms may at last put to rest a two-year effort by local residents to limit where firearms can be used over the waters surrounding our peninsula. A community meeting regarding the proposed ordinance will be held Tuesday, March 1, 7 to 9pm, in the Thurston County Courthouse Bldg 1, Room 152.

Note the date has been rescheduled to March 1st, due to inclement weather in the forecast.

The entire ordinance is available on the County’s web site (click here to download the PDF file). The portion of the ordinance which is probably most pertinent, to local residents, makes it unlawful for any person to discharge a firearm in these areas:

All those areas zoned Residential LAMIRD One Dwelling Unit Per Two Acres; and

All those areas zoned Residential LAMIRD One Dwelling Unit Per Acre; and

All those areas zoned Residential LAMIRD Two Dwelling Units Per Acre (all LAMIRD areas are marked in green, on the County’s map); and

All that portion of land and marine waters of Puget Sound lying 300 yards, waterward, from the ordinary high water line (marked in blue, on the map); and

That portion of Eld Inlet south of an east-west line starting from a Point 300 feet North of the Meander Line as it crosses the East Line of Section 31, Township 19, North Range 2 West, thence due Westerly across Eld Inlet to the Western Shoreline (marked in orange, on the map);

Click here to download a copy of the full-sized map of current and proposed limited shooting zones[PDF].

Local residents that wish to do so may send comments regarding the ordinance to smithr@co.thurston.wa.us

Enforcement of the no shooting and limited shooting zones will fall the the County Sheriff’s Department.

For many residents, this issue didn’t revolve around a desire to ban hunting outright; many of our neighbors enjoy hunting. However, as densities have increased along shorelines, the issue of safety prevailed. Waterfront homes have been struck by shot and most hunters would likely agree that it’s good to separate hunting parties by several hundred yards. The changes proposed in the ordinance reflect a commonsense approach to safety, applied to zoning densities and the size of bodies of water in the area.

The need to reassess the County’s shooting ordinances was brought to the attention of Commissioner Karen Valenzuela by Griffin area homeowners. We have written about this issue in the past (click here to read those prior articles) and we encourage interested residents to review the proposed ordinance and to either attend the community meeting or email comments to the County.

“The Power of Brazil” – February 17th

A free, public lecture on Brazil will take place at the Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St. at 7:30pm on Thursday February17th.

Brazil is one of the fastest developing countries in the world. It is expected to be the fifth-largest economy in the world by the time it hosts the 2016 Summer Olympics. How has Brazil moved so far, so fast and what are the opportunities to do business in such a dynamic economy? Where is the country headed after the election of its first woman President, Dilma Rousseff?

Pedro Costa, Brazil’s Consul in Seattle and founder and CEO of The Information Company, will answer these questions and share with us his knowledge and understanding of his native country. Señor Costa may be accompanied to the lecture by the Brazilian Ambassador, as well.

The event is sponsored by the Olympia World Affairs Council.  For more information call 360-867-0919.  http://www.olympiawac.org/