An Extraordinary Time

“This Pete-e is the love of my life and also my best friend. Having this ceremony is really a public sanctioning of our relationship together. It’s not legal recognition, but it’s as close as we can get right this minute. And, of course, if that comes, that will be the frosting on the cake. But at least we’ll have the cake.”

- Jane Abbott Lighty, left, speaking of Pete-e Petersen at Seattle First Baptist Church following their wedding.

 

Seattle First Baptist Church on Capitol Hill has been performing same-sex weddings, also known as “covenant ceremonies”, since the mid 1980’s.

In 1996, the federal Defense of Marriage Act defined marriage as being between a man and a woman. This prevents same-sex couples from enjoying the same benefits married heterosexual couples do, including family health insurance and the transfer of Social Security benefits upon the death of one partner, as well as taxation, inheritance and hospital visitation privileges.

The Washington State Supreme Court is expected to decide soon on marriage equality for same-sex couples. If the court legalizes same-sex marriages, churches still would not be required to perform them. But gay couples who marry in civil ceremonies would be recognized by the state.

Massachusetts is the only state that legally allows gay marriages; it passed the law in 2004. Canada also allows it, as does Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Featured in local filmmaker Drew Emery’s documentary “Inlaws & Outlaws”, Jane Abbott Lighty, 70, and Pete-e Petersen, 78, are also known for their active participation in the Seattle men’s Chorus and Seattle Women’s Chorus. Romantic partners for 28 years, they decided not to wait for the Supreme Court ruling.

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Jane Abbott Lighty and Pete-e Petersen hold hands during their wedding reception. Says the coordinating pastor, the Rev. Stephen Jones, “Marriage is a commitment between romantic lovers. It is also a commitment between cherished friends.”

“This Pete-e is the love of my life and also my best friend. Having this ceremony is really a public sanctioning of our relationship together. It’s not legal recognition, but it’s as close as we can get right this minute. And, of course, if that comes, that will be the frosting on the cake. But at least we’ll have the cake,” says Jane Abbott Lighty, left, hugging Pete-e Petersen at Seattle First Baptist Church on Capitol Hill on Oct. 29.

Said Pastor Jones, during his opening greeting, “You gave serious thought to postponing this wedding until the Supreme Court of Washington state grants marriage equality to all couples. You finally decided that the romantic bond between you far exceeds any legal authority the state could offer, and that marriage isn’t a possession of the church or state. Marriage is your business, your concern and your decision.

“It’s a way of celebrating who we are and what we are and the fact that we have a wonderful circle of people in our lives who are there to support us and share those feelings,” says Jane Lighty as she and Pete-e Petersen leave Seattle First Baptist Church on Capitol Hill.

Heather Andersen, center, and Leslie Christian were given the wedding bouquets of Jane and Pete-e in the hopes that they would be the next couple to be wed. Both are plaintiffs in the Washington State Supreme Court case dealing with marriage equality laws for same-sex couples, expected to be decided shortly.

Zombie Walk / Fremont / October 29, 2005

Cleo Wolfus, 30, organized three Zombie Walks in Seattle this year, including one in Fremont last Saturday.  At the Zombie Walks, people lurched and hobbled down city streets, just like the undead you see in horror movies.

 

According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the first movie to feature a zombie was the 1932 flick “White Zombie,” directed by Victor Halperin and starring Bela Lugosi.

 

Zombie Walks started in Toronto in 2003, and they’ve started to catch on in the United States.  Other cities that hosted walks this year included Boston; Columbia, S.C.; Richmond, Va.; Dunwoody, Ga,; and Madison, Wis.

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Cleo Wolfus:  (We are) dressed up like zombies acting as we would in any classic zombie movie – clawing along windows, looking for brains, piling on top of parked cars and generally trying to scare people.

I think the idea of zombies really goes well with people being apathetic about what’s politically happening right now.  Especially young people.  They don’t have a voice.  A lot of people just feel powerless, and I think the zombie really embodies that.  Most people are excited about that right now.  I don’t think it will be a thing next year.

Republican Ralph Munro served as Secretary of State of Washington State for five terms beginning in 1980. He has a theory that the state is made up of two diverse sections, the Space Needle State (Seattle) and the Goat Rock State (the rest of Washington state) which reflect our partisan values.

Seattle ranked as the 16th most liberal city in America according to the Bay Area Center for Voting Research in Berkley,CA . American cities that contained high African American populations concentrated in the Northeast, Midwest and California were the most liberal.

During the 2004 national presidential election, 52.8% of Washingtonians voted for the democrats. 45.6 % voted for Republican President Bush.

Ralph Munro, 62
We used to talk about the Cascade Curtain and it was eastern Washington versus western Washington. That’s pretty much all disappeared. What I call these two states (today) are one: the Space Needle State, and that’s basically, standing on top of the Space Needle, everything you can see from there. That state tends to be social issues, votes on the democratic side of the aisle, and elects people like Patty Murray. The other state I call the Goat Rock State because there is a place south of Mt. Rainier called the Goat Rocks Wilderness Area. There’s these tall pinnacles there and from the top of these pinnacles you can see everywhere in the state of Washington except Seattle because Seattle’s behind Mt. Rainier. So that’s kind of like a big donut around the Space Needle State…. And that’s a state that goes very much Republican, is much more conservative as opposed to liberal and is much more interested in property related issues.

I think this has really evolved as the Puget Sound basin just exploded with growth. King County now has a third of the state’s voters…

If you look in the legislative records, the first legislative sessions especially, the territorial days, 1850’s through 1889, you’ll see that the powerhouses were over in the wheat country. That was big time power.

There’s certainly been a time where it was much more conservative then it is today. In the 1960’s Seattle was a fairly conservative place.

I think what we have to do is figure out ways to bridge the gap. You know, I would love to see the mayor of Seattle make appearances in Eastern Washington. And same with the Mayor of Tacoma. And spend some time, because much of the economy of Seattle revolves around how well we do in wheat, how well we do in cherries, how well we do in soft fruits, you know, all that kind of stuff. And I would love to see the rural leaders spend more time in the city because they really have to rely on each other.

There’s one thing I worry about politically and that is the fact that there are virtually no Republicans left in the city, as far as elected officials. That’s a real problem because that could work both ways.

There’s no question in my mind that the center of world commerce is moving west…. China, Japan, Indonesia so forth is going to play a major role in that. If you look what flows through these cities and the commerce that’s taking place there’s no question in my mind that Vancouver, Seattle, and Los Angeles / Long Beach are going to play a very pivotal role for America’s trade future. Very much so.”

In Yee We Trust / Seattle / October 18, 2005

 

After thanking the community for its support Former US military chaplain and officer, James Yee,. spoke of these “historic times of eroding civil liberties” during the promotion his new book “For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire” at the Seattle Public Library recently.

 

Two years ago the Fort Lewis-based Muslim chaplain was imprisoned for 76 days in solitary confinement and interrogated after the military accused him of with mishandling classified material, failing to obey an order, making a false official statement, adultery and conduct unbecoming an officer while he served as a Muslim Chaplain for detainees at the US Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.  Last year all the criminal charges were dropped.

 

Yee is one of about a dozen Muslim chaplains in the U.S. military, according to officials.

 

There are between 4,000 and 10,000 practicing Muslims serving in the U.S. armed forces.

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Ray and Stella Leong, both 54, from Issaquah

Ray (left in photo)      We came to hear about the struggle that he went through and the part of the story that we’re not hearing.  We came to support him as an Asian American.  There’s just too many of these cases.  You just wonder what the government is doing to its own people.  It can happen to anyone.

Now we’re in this war.  What are we doing about it?  Why are we there?  We have 600 and something prisoners in there supposedly and they’re not charged.  What about civil rights? You know, what’s happening to all that 

I think we have to approach this a little more cautiously.  Its been 4 years and we’re still fighting a different war versus trying to pin down Bin Laden.  He’s the guy we were trying to go after.  Now we’re going after another guy.  You know this government is just out of… we need to stay focused.  And right now there’s just no focus.  And all the lies that we’ve been hearing from the government… something needs to be done with the government.

Stella (center right in photo)       He mentioned in his talk about the American image overseas is terrible.  And we’re not safe at home.  We’re not safe outside the United States and you don’t feel good when you’re claiming yourself as an American and people put you down so bad.  And its not safe.  People would not like to be associated with American… US dollars is you know, the exchange rate is coming down.  We’re not as strong a country as we used to be.  We need to be a role model rather than going around and beat up everybody.  And send all the sons and daughters over there and die for no reason.  

There’s just too many of these cases. You just wonder what the government is doing to its own people.  Open up a newspaper.  Across the region.  Across the country, there are people being targeted for charges that are anonymous.  It just kind of make you wonder what happened to our great American justice system?  

On August 14, 1935 President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into Law. 

At that time, in 1930, the census reported that 5.4% of the population,was over 65 years old.

Due to advances in medicine and baby boomers coming of age today in the US, in 2000, 12.4% of the population is over 65 years of age.

In 2030, it is projected that over 20% of the population, will be age 65 and older.

As social security funds are expected to run out, President Bush proposed younger workers be allowed to divert some of their Social Security payroll taxes into private investment accounts.  This idea garnered little support from democrats or the public. Three generations of Seattle women share their views on what social security means to them.

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Mary Bess Kelly, 85  (in photo)

Tom, my husband, has been in Columbia Lutheran Home now for over 3 years and is getting very excellent care and I try to get here everyday and help feed him his lunch.  And then wheel him down the hall.   We listen to his favorite music of the big band era.  When he was playing as a young man in dance bands, he had bands of his own and loves this music.  It seems to bring back wonderful memories because he does respond to it and he doesn’t respond much to anything else at all.

(Social Security is)  a nice handy thing to have of course after your 65 however I’m worried about the future of it.  I think its going to be a major problem now that the present generation is aging.  I don’t think Bush’s plan of private investment is a good idea.

Diana McKinney, 52  (Mary Bess’ niece talking about her own parents)

Until my father died 4 months ago I didn’t know really anything about how the social security system worked.  It doesn’t come with an instruction booklet.  Had I known a few things like “you can only have $2000 in your name I would’ve… they didn’t have very much but now they have nothing.  I could’ve done some things ahead of time and I didn’t ‘cuz I didn’t know.

Lindsey McKinney, 20 (Mary Bess’ grandniece)

I was in Japan last summer and I had the opportunity to stay with some families. When your in a family situation, everybody lives in the same house.  The Grandparents took care of the kids while the parents went off to work and fixed dinner and it wasn’t like you got old and didn’t contribute to society anymore.

With the current social security program for my generation its almost harming us to contribute because with president Bush’s current plan to privatize it there’s not going to be any money left over of our money that we’re already paying in there for us to get it.

From 1981-93 the “zero tolerance” climate of the Reagan and Bush administrations resulted in passage of strict laws and mandatory sentences for possession of marijuana.

In 1993 the Green Cross Patient Co-op of Seattle opened to Washington State residents that present a need for medicinal cannabis on the advice of their physician or other health care professionals. The Green Cross refers patients suffering life threatening or disabling diseases to where they can get their medicine. They also provide educational and informational counseling, and verification and registry for legal protection. They have an active rotating membership of around 500 members in Washington State.

1998, the Medical Use of Marijuana Act was passed as I-692 in Washington State allowing doctors and their patients to discuss the benefits of marijuana as part of their medical treatment. Doctors are not allowed to prescribe it. Pharmacies are not allowed to sell it. Some individuals to legally possess and grow marijuana of up to a 60-day supply.

On June 6, 2005, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling that upholds federal authority to punish the medicinal use of marijuana.

In Washington, California, Oregon, and eight other states with medical marijuana laws, sick people who are covered by state law are still protected from state prosecution and imprisonment. Under federal law, these same people – some of the most seriously ill in our society – are still technically at risk of prosecution by federal agencies.

Alice Meier, 63, Auburn
Seven years ago I had a heart attack and I’ve had a bad back for a long time. I’ve had 3 bypasses. My lungs are shot. I have stomach problems in taking all the medicine. If I don’t have pot I’m sick. I need to get a doctor that will give me a prescription to Green Cross so I can do it legally.

If I have to buy it on the street it costs me a lot of money and I’m not rich. I won’t buy the stuff on the streets, because I don’t know what I’m smoking. But the medical pot, I know exactly what I’m smoking.

Every morning at 9 :00 I take my morning meds and that’s 7 pills. And then at 3:00 I take 7 more. And then tonight before I go to bed I’ll take 3 more. I usually take 2 hits of pot right after I take the medication so I don’t throw up.

I buy it illegally. I have too. I could get arrested for it. If I get pulled over and I have a joint in my purse they’re gonna take me to jail. And that’s not right. It should be legal. Alcohol is legal. Why isn’t pot? The alcohol is not good for you. Pot is.

If we could get it legalized it would be wonderful. ‘Cuz old people like me, and people who are sick with AIDS or cancer, it’s a wonderful thing for pain and nausea.

If I don’t get some from the doctor then I’ll just buy it on the street ‘cuz I’m not going to be sick.

I just go outside and tell a couple of the neighbor boys. They call me Grandma. “We know Grandma” (they say). I give them $20 or $40 and they go out and get me just a little bit. It costs me a lot of money so I can’t afford it.

It’s a medical drug and God put it here. We didn’t have pain pills back a hundred years ago but we had pot. People took it, smoked it all the time, and they were perfectly healthy.

From 1975-1979, approximately 1.7 million people lost their lives in Cambodia under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime (21% of the population). 2,400 Seattleites listed themselves as Cambodian in the 2000 census. About 95% of them are Buddhist.

The teachings of Buddha are characterized by the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path.

The Truths suggest that:
1. Suffering is universal.
2. The cause of suffering is craving or selfish desire.
3. The cure for suffering is to rid oneself of cravings.
4. The way to rid oneself of cravings is to follow the 8-Fold Path: Right knowledge, right intention, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

William Sang, 54, owner of Sang Taing Heng market, renting the property
Every Thursday the monks from temple Olympia come to get something, like rice or food or whatever you have or money. I put in cooked rice and then she adds … a little at a time until you empty the bowl. You can give anything you want.

(In my) Asian grocery store I sell everything… I have meat. I have fresh food, vegetables, a lot of Asian food.

It took about 20 years working 2 jobs (to get the store). I never saw my kids because in the morning she go to school and in the nighttime she was sleeping. I have 2 daughters. They don’t like the store because it is hard work. They don’t like that kind of job.

When my daughter graduates college I will be so proud. Because I want my daughter to get a good life and future and don’t be like me. (laugh)

I enjoy my life in United States because its freedom and liberty. I leave from Cambodia 1980. I don’t like regime. The Communists force you to work hard. Not enough food. And they kill a lot of people. I have 12 brothers and sisters and they kill 6 or 7 and my Dad too.

I think in the future when (the light rail) is done I think it will be more busy then it is right now. I hope so. I think it brings more people but I don’t know what race. Right now I have all Asians come to my store.”

Phra Sangob Dhammasantiko, 37, monk from Buddhangkura Monestary in Olympia
Usually (people) think Buddhism is a religion but Buddhism is not a religion. It is a way of life.

They offer food to us and we give them blessing to inspire them to do the good thing. Try to be good people in society. Sometimes you can see a monk singing. Usually we use a Bali, an ancient language from India.

If we are good people our goodness will be spread around like the sun or the moon. … It’s a blessing.

Even a small house we can live with happiness. Even a small car we can drive to work. It doesn’t matter that we must have no money. We can have happiness without money. If you look inside (yourself) you can understand.”