Fuerte Fitness has returned as a Wallyhood sponsor, and just in time for Wallingford Moms looking for some summertime activity for their little ones:

This summer, we will be offering a day camp for kids that will take place each MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, and FRIDAY from 9am-12pm, beginning July 21. Each week will be $129 per child. Parents can drop their children off at Fuerte Fitness (1225 N. 45th Street. Seattle, WA 98103) and then use our facility to workout, or take the time to run errands, or just take a breather at a coffee shop.

Call us at (206) 420-3142 or email us at [email protected] if you have any questions or are interested in signing up!

Joanne Factor wrote to let us know about a film followed by a panel discussion this coming Tuesday, July 29th at Mosaic Cofeehous (4401 2nd Ave NE):

A female solider in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. That was a “secret” nobody was talking about in public. Until this film came out.

The Invisible War is a groundbreaking investigative documentary about one of America’s most shameful and (formerly) best kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military. Focusing on the powerfully emotional stories of rape victims, The Invisible War is an indictment of the systemic cover-up of military sex crimes, chronicling the women’s struggles to rebuild their lives and fight for justice. It also features hard-hitting interviews with high-ranking military officials and members of Congress that reveal the perfect storm of conditions that exist for rape in the military, its long-hidden history, and what can be done to bring about much-needed change.

This screening available and free to the public on Tuesday, July 29. Showtime is 6:30 pm at Mosaic Coffeehouse, 4401 – 2nd Avenue NE, Seattle WA 98105. Seating is limited to only 40 people, so registration in advance is required. Please register online.

After the film we will hear from an expert panel of a veterans’ psychologist and women veterans who have been working with rape survivors long before it became a trending topic. Dr. Ann Cotton is a psychologist at Seattle’s Veteran’s Administration Medical Center and co-director of Taking Charge: Self-Defense Therapy for Women. Julia Sheriden is a veteran and founder of OARS for Women Veterans. Janis Clark is also a veteran and founder of Ladies Operation Moving Forward.

New Belgium Brewing’s Clips Beer and Film Tour returns to Gas Works Park this Friday, July 25th:

New Belgium Brewing’s annual Clips Beer & Film Tour is hitting the road again, making its ninth stop of the 2014 tour in Seattle, Wash. on July 25. The event will take place in Gas Works Park from 8:00-11:00 p.m., with the films starting once dark descends. This beer-toting, film-traveling, nonprofit-benefiting show is going coast-to-coast hitting 21 cities in its fifth year. The best part is that 100 percent of the proceeds from beer sales benefit local nonprofits working to improve communities nationwide. Since its inception in 2010, Clips has raised close to $370,000 for nonprofits nationwide and raised $9,348 in Seattle last year. Since this is a fundraiser, outside alcohol is not permitted.Clips offers a venue where guests can try New Belgium’s most esoteric beer offerings, while watching short films created by New Belgium fans. Many of New Belgium’s Lips of Faith beers can be hard to come by and Clips offers the best way to try them. Up to 17 varieties from Lips of Faith to brewery classics will be on tap.

New Belgium beers will be available in 3-ounce samples or a 12-ounce pour. Served up by local beneficiary volunteers, there’s plenty of fun to be had alongside a host of traveling tricks and contests. KEXP’s very own DJ Greg Vandy will be there spinning some warm summer vibes and food from The Sammich Truck, Evolution Revolution, and Hallava Falafel will be available.  
 
New Belgium selects approximately 20 short films for the tour each season. All selected filmmakers for the 2014 tour receive a trophy-worthy beer in a custom screen-printed bottle, made exclusively for the winning submissions. This year, the chosen films include a banana with an attitude, ultra marathoners running with stubborn animals, neon spandex, and much, much more! It’s a diverse and highly entertaining line-up with something for everyone.

Admission is free, children and leashed dogs are welcome (children may not drink beer, dogs may) and you are welcome to bring a picnic dinner (but no outside alcohol).  

(Photo taken in Kansas City, so, ya know, that’s not Gas Works.)

I have a love affair with Little Free Libraries. To the point that my children now try to distract me whenever we walk near one (“Look Mom! Over there!”). Despite my offsprings’ best efforts, I have located three more nearby LFLs since I last wrote about them (see below).

Apparently I am not alone in my book lust, as Little Free Libraries are riding a wave of popularity that has crossed the globe. And now, the local architect/ humanitarians at Architects Without Borders bring us Libraries on the Loose, an LFL design contest with the ultimate goal of making LFLs even more accessible to homeowners, community groups and businesses through good, affordable and replicable LFL design. The contest has the added benefit of raising funds for some inspirational architecture projects such as the building of schools in developing nations.

New projects and existing LFLs are eligible for the contest, which will consider such components as affordability, replicability, adaptability and creativity. The LFLs will actually be installed as part of the contest. Interested parties need to register their intent to participate by August 1st, and submit by August  27th. Entries will be part of the Seattle Design Festival on September 6-7 and 13-14th.

You can get inspired by visiting your local LFL today! The fun but difficult to search LFL official map has thousands of LFLs listed, but as I have found from walking the neighborhood, most of our local LFLs aren’t on it. The following list of Wallingford’s Little Free Libraries was generated by reader contributions. If you know of an LFL that should be on this list, please let us know!

• 3634 Woodlawn Ave N
• Southwest corner of 39th and Burke
• Bagley Ave. N between 36th and 37th
• N 38th between Bagley and Corliss
• Bagley just north of 41st
• 4111 Midvale
• 1200 N 44th Street
• N 43rd, a few houses east of Corliss
• Densmore N. at the top of the 4300 block
• 4550 Thackeray
• 1815 N 47th St
• 5420 Kirkwood
• 53rd and Wallingford
• Northwest corner of Latona and 51st
• 5738 Ashworth N
• 1831 North 57th St.
• 6110 Latona

The neighborhood fruit trees are having a great year so far. They’ve produced bumper crops of cherries, yellow transparent apples, and are now into plums.

Did you know there are 40 fruit trees along the Burke-Gilman Trail between the University Bridge and Northlake Place, west of Gas Works? Come and see a group of them on Sunday.

City Fruit, a local non-profit which harvests fruit from private trees throughout the city, also takes care of fruit trees in 11 public Seattle parks, two of which are in Wallingford: Meridian Playground and this southerly section of the Burke-Gilman Trail.

On Sunday, July 20, City Fruit staff will lead a work party at a site with one pear and ten apple trees on the north side of the Burke-Gilman, just east of where the Trail intersects with 7th Ave NE (that’s the crazy five-way intersection with Pacific and upper and lower 40th.) Look for our blue canopy from noon to 3 pm.

We’ll be cutting and digging different kinds of weeds, making wooden props for one tree we call the “Burke-Gilman Red,” and doing summer pruning. Gloves, tools, water, and snacks will be provided. Wear closed-toe shoes and socks, and long pants and sleeves if you choose to tangle with blackberries (your choice.) Or, wear whatever you want and just stop by and say hi!

First time volunteering with City Fruit? Sign up on our volunteer page.

Interested in nearby fruit and tree-related classes, work parties, and other events? Check out the City Fruit calendar.

And if you need help harvesting surplus fruit on your trees at home, email Luke, the City Fruit harvest coordinator:  [email protected]

Considering using (or using more!) Public Transportation this summer? With all of the summer construction projects on our local highways and byways, letting someone else do the driving sounds like a good idea.

Come to Wallingford Community Senior Center on Tuesday, July 22nd between the hours of 11 AM – 1PM to get your ORCA card and learn more about the transportation services King County Metro provides.

Representatives from King County Metro will be on hand with their “ORCA-TO-GO” card printing machine, so you can get your card printed or re-filled while you’re here!

The ORCA information session will be taking place during our Community Lunch, so come hungry and get lunch while your ORCA card is being printed! Community Lunch is open to all and is served on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays here at WCSC!

Following lunch, we’ll be featuring one of our “Happy Hour” programs from 1:30-2:30. This Tuesday, get more flexible with Gentle NIA presented by NIA instructor Sherry Riddick.  NIA is a fun, expressive, no-impact workout that combines martial arts, dance, and yoga – no experience is necessary!

Learn more about these and other inter-generational programs offered by Wallingford Community Senior Center by visiting our website.

Hope to see you at WCSC soon!

Wallingford Night At the Meaningful Movies (5019 Keystone Place N. (1 blk east of Meridian Ave N & ½ blk north of N. 50^th St) is back this Friday with “The Next American Revolution”:

Wallingford Meaningful Movies:  AN EVENING EXAMINING THE GROWING WORKER-OWNED COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES …A Viable Economic Model?

Please join us Friday, July 18^th at 7PM for this fascinating film, an eminent panel discussion and a community conversation exploring new alternatives for our economic and cultural future.

Film: “THE NEXT AMERICAN REVLOUTION”, Gar Alperovitz: Beyond Corporate Capitalism and State Socialism

In partnership with S.L.I.C.E. and Central Co-op: A PANEL DISCUSSION, Q&A AND COMMUNITY CONVERSATION ON THE FUTURE OF WORKER-OWNED COOPERATIVES with: ALISON BOOTH from Equal Exchange, S.L.I.C.E. (Strengthening Local Independent Co-ops Everywhere), & D.A.W.N. (Democracy At Work Network), MARK DWORKIN, filmmaker of “SHIFT CHANGE” on the worker-owned cooperative movement and SCOTT DAVIS from Black Coffee Co-op

While there’s been no shortage of commentary about the structural crisis plaguing the American economic and political system, from wage stagnation and chronic unemployment to unchecked corporate and state power and growing inequality, analyses that offer practical, politically viable solutions to these problems have been few and far between.

Pointing to efforts already under way in thousands of communities across the U.S., from co-ops and community land trusts to municipal, state, and federal initiatives that promote entrepreneurship and sustainability, Alperovitz marshals years of research to show how bottom-up strategies can work to check monopolistic corporate power, democratize wealth, and empower communities. The result is a highly accessible look at the current economy and a common-sense roadmap for building a system more in sync with American values.   (47 min, Sut Jhally, 2013)

To add depth to the discussion, we will be posting articles and information this week related to co-ops on our Facebook page: