An Extraordinary Time

The Pike Place Medical Clinic opened in 1978 at the site of the Motherlode Tavern on First Avenue in Pike Place Market. Its main purpose was to serve low-income elderly people, the bulk of downtown Seattle’s residents then. As the population downtown has changed, the clinic’s clientele has gotten much younger, averaging between 40 and 55 today.

Every year the clinic receives about 23,000 visits from about 3,500 patients. Three-quarters of those live below the federal poverty level. About half are uninsured. A third of the patients are homeless.

Because it can be difficult to find funding for clinics not serving children, the clinic relies heavily on private donations to continue its work.

Joe Martin, a social worker for the Pike Market Medical Clinic since its inception, visits 101-year-old downtown resident Pete Vensor as part of his job.

Joe Martin, 55
Back in 1978… many (downtown residents) were elderly living in old hotels, some of which are now either gone or have been transformed into upper-income use.

We made the argument that there was a need for accessible health care. Very quickly we became the primary health-care source for a lot of low-income people who otherwise had no place to go… For a great many people, the confrontations with bureaucracy – even bureaucracies that are ostensibly set up to help them – they’re intimidating… if a person is ill physically or mentally. Old and not as spry and mentally acute as they were, if a person is poor and desperate and feeling depressed or completely demoralized as a result of their economic desperation… surmounting the barriers of some of these bureaucracies can be almost impossible, and that’s where people like myself come into play to help them navigate these systems.

We are living in a time where increasing numbers of people don’t have health insurance, where the cost of health care keeps going up, where large numbers of people are being displaced and marginalized due to changes in the economic order.

The main challenge is making sure that I do everything I can to see that the clientele that come to me for help get the help that they need… This is one way I can manifest my commitment to a more just and equitable society…

Our society, sadly, is in the clutches of a mentality that is very anti-social and does not seem to give much care to those who are on the margins, and I’d like to see that change. I think we can change that.”
To learn more about Pike Market Medical Clinic and other Puget Sound neighborhood health centers visit: www.psnhc.com

About 35,000 grandparents in Washington – including nearly 2,200 in Seattle – are raising their grandchildren.  Many of them are single women living in poverty.

 

According to the national Center on grandparents Raising Grandchildren at Georgia State University, grandparents are raising 6 percent of the nation’s children.  “Between 1990 and 2000, the number of U.S. children in grandparent-headed households increased by 30 percent.” the center reported.

 

Ozella Bradley became the primary caregiver of her grandson in 1996 and of her granddaughter in 2000.  Through determination and hard work – including 3 ½ years at First place, a school, shelter, and a social-service center for families struggling with homelessness – she and the children are now in permanent housing.

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Ozella Bradley, 52:  I’m raising my two grandchildren… When my granddaughter was born, my daughter had drugs in her system… My daughter is not responsible enough to care for the kids; that’s why they’re with me.

I waited ‘til I was 50 years old before I ever became homeless.  I didn’t really know what homeless was.  Like I explained to my grandkids, we were homeless, yes, but we weren’t on the street.  My No. 1 goal was for us to be together, and what we went through together, that just made our love stronger.

No one’s gonna love my grandkids like I love my grandkids.

Like I tell my grandkids:  You never look at a person and frown sleeping at the busstop or somebody downtown sleeping on the ground because we were almost there.  We were just blessed that Grandma had enough get-up-and-go or spark, still have my capabilities and sense, to speak up for us to be in a place instead of being homeless.

I received two unsung hero awards in 2004 and 2005 from First place… I called my mom, because I wanted to know what ‘unsung’ meant.  I looked it up in the dictionary, also, but she said it’s for people that aren’t recognized for things that they do in the community, etc….  I love First Place.  When I had no one to actually help me, First Place was there for me…

They’re my grandkids, but they’re my kids.  I raise them pretty much the same way that I raised my kids….  If there’s anything they should remember about Grandma, it’s that Grandma cooks healthy meals.  We don’t eat sandwiches.

Traditional Arabic coffee is made with lightly roasted green coffee beans ground up fine..  Cardamom is added to give it a distinctive flavor. Saudis always hold their coffee cups in their right hands.  It is served oldest to youngest.  Dates (as in the fruit) often accompany it. It is served in a traditional long-handled coffee pot called a dallah.

 

On a recent visit to Seattle, Saudi Ambassador Prince Turki al-Faisal said 10,000 Saudi Arabian students were offered full four-year scholarships to study abroad. Most of them will study in the United States, a turn-around since 9/11 when many Saudi students fled back home fearing American reprisals. 

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Ahmed Alrowaili, 23

The most valuable thing I brought with me is the Holy Koran. The other thing I value next is something that we call Dallah.  It’s a pot to put the coffee in and serve it to other people.  It’s a traditional thing in Saudi Arabia.  Its very emotional.  Everybody comes to my apartment and Saudi people see it. They tend to cry.  They say “Oh my God, you brought this with you!  I love you.”

 When I was in high school (in Saudi Arabia), I intended to stay up late for studying and I took my car at the night after 12:00 and nothing opened…They have small places for Seattles Best… I asked (the barista) “What is Seattle’s Best”? …He said “It’s a city, Seattle.”  He said “it’s a beautiful city and has a lot of rain.” And I love rain.  So I said “OK if I ever go to America I will go to Seattle.  And that was what happened.  That bring me here.  I’m studying now English but I’m intending to study international law.

My goal is to study, get the most knowledge here, go back home and try to improve my country to become as your country. 

Faisal Alrowaili, 25

Its like a tradition that when we drink coffee we sit on the ground. … it’s the first thing that you give your guests – a coffee.  If you don’t serve him with Dallah you are not respecting him. It’s a tradition back home.  Almost every Saudi house has one just like this one.

Actually we go to Starbucks, we meet there a lot.  But on the weekends we have a special meeting.  We drink Arabic coffee.  So it makes more value that we remember our families and all that by drinking Arabic coffee.

Everybody comes from a different family.  Everybody comes from a different city.  And we all met here.  And like we’re building a new family.  And we feel about each other just like we feel about our brothers (back home).

Ahmed

…for me I like it very much.  It reminds me of my days in Saudi Arabia.

The Beer Poet / March 5, 2006 / Safeco Field

Beer at baseball games — it’s a proud tradition that once caused quite a controversy. Back in 1880, the Cincinnati reds were expelled from the National League in part because of the team’s refusal to stop selling beer at games.

Today, though, vendors’ shouts of “ice-cold beer are part of the pastime. Ron Fasnacht who works close to 200 games a year at different sites, says there are two types of stadium vendors:: “those that slug it out in the trenches and those that are showmen – and I’m one of the showmen.”

Fasnacht, a beer vendor at Safeco Field during the Mariners’ season, proudly points out that he calls out 20 different beer poems while he’s hawking ice-cold bottles through the aisles. Here are several of them:

Ron Fasnacht, 40
If your tongue’s parched
and your throat is dry
You might want to give
a cold beer a try.

You can’t be too young
if you’re 21 or older,
You’ll find my beer
is just a little bit colder.

I know all you fans
love to yell and cheer,
But it goes even better
with a bottle of beer.

I’ll serve it to you
friendly, fast, and frigid
It’s only the price
that is rigid.

Who else is thirsty
and needs a cold beer.
I got the brewsky’s
right over here.”

If you’re dying of thirst
or drooling for flavor
I’ve got the cold stuff
I’m your lifesaver.

Beer so cold
Brew so cool
The taste is bound
to make you drool.
Iced cold beer right here

I’ll help make you happy
and serve you with pride
If you love your beer cold
I’ll rush to your side

I’ll help to ease
those losing game blues.
I’ve got several types
of fermented brews.

It’s not so cold out
It’s all in your mind
Drink a couple beers
You’ll warm up just fine

Bud, Redhook
Lemonade, or Coors
Some of these bottles
could be yours