Kwok@ SeattleU
Although now it's really starting to be more of what's happening in Seattle. So, what is up? Is it a hip Santa, Christmas carolers in Pike Place, or a new piece of public art near the ST Link Light Rail construction? Come find out!
So, I’ve been thinking about this blog and how infrequent I’ve been using this blog to tell more about my time at Seattle U, while there has still been little in Seattle that I have gone to see. How can I call myself a local, how can I still get the feel of a city if I really haven’t been outside and taken advantage of this chance that I have. I’m paying $30,000 each year and still really don’t have anything to show for it. So, here is my new year’s resolution for this blog.
I pledge to get out more and see Seattle and its hidden gems. I will no longer be afraid of that time spent wondering when the next bus will come, instead taking the chance to occasionally get lost. I will visit AT LEAST two new places each month, one when finals come around. But by the end of the academic year, I will have been to places from the canal down to West Seattle.
I think it’s a bold resolution, but with everything else on the rise and starting to take more responsibilities on, I at least want to take what little time I have left in the emerald city to gain a feel for it. Tomorrow, hopefully I can go visit the areas near Volunteer Park, the Water Tower, Interlaken Park, and the Seattle Asian Art Museum. I’ll be sure to take as many pictures as I can, while enjoying each moment of it.
Alex, signing off.
These were a couple of pictures that I took a while back after stepping out onto the “porch” of the first floor of the Seattle City Hall for the first time. Before I worked at the City Hall, I had never gone out onto the balcony, however seeing the door and no one on it, I rushed out to see the wonders of Seattle that workday. It was a somewhat overcast day, yet the protests in Seattle were just in their third week. Some of the protesters by this time had started to find other places besides Westlake to set up camp. Well, Mayor McGinn invited them to use City Hall as a site, citing of course that it was illegal to camp out in city parks overnight, and some of them decided to move there. Although the City Hall Occupy Seattle tent city never was a huge representation of the movement (now based in SCCC and Westlake), it still serves as a reminder to those in City Hall and the City Council of those who are hurting and largely being affected.
November 16, 1989: Six Jesuits, their housekeeper, and her daughter are murdered by soldiers of the Atlacan Battalion on the campus of the University of Central America for speaking out in solidarity with the poor and oppressed in El Salvador.
Every year Seattle University gets together as a Jesuit university to remember the lives of all 8 victims of the massacre at UCA through a Celebration of Hope and a procession to the memorial on campus. The Celebration of Hope this year was not only punctuated by the solemnity of a rainy day, but also the power of Spanish liturgy and the homily of Fr. Michael Kennedy.
Fr. Kennedy, who was in El Salvador shortly before the murder of the 6 Jesuits, gave the homily this year, where he called for the ability to speak “truth to power” and to show mercy, hope, and solidarity to the poor and oppressed even in the face of danger. He blended his own life threatening experiences in El Salvador, with those of the refugees and juvenile detainees that he ministers to in South LA.
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Homily Reading from Matthew 25:31-46
After the celebration we then processed outside to the memorial on campus dedicated to the martyrs of UCA, the “Bowl of Tears”, where everyone then laid down roses on the memorial and reflected silently. During that time I felt that I just needed to reflect on the legacy of the Jesuits in all Catholic universities and what it is that we are all called to do.
These pictures are from that moment, as well as show the crosses on campus during this week dedicated to massacre victims in all the Latin American countries.
These pictures were taken on the One Equal Heart Foundation’s annual Tseltal Maya visit to Seattle University. Usually, when at Seattle U, the OEH Foundation holds a sustainable development session where they explain how the OEH tries to promote the idea of il buen vivir (or harmony with the earth, each other, and the individual). Then, they hold a 4 directions prayer that is a part of the Tseltal Mayan culture. It’s a little hard to explain, so I’ll see if I can scan in the explanation and post it here.
But just to see the respect that the Tseltal Mayan have for the Earth embodied in the Prayer of the 4 Directions was something that was a nice reminder. This reminder draws us back to the Earth that we have for so long forgotten, it draws us back to a simpler way of life, one not cluttered with tech, fast food, or busy streets. The idea that we can all live in harmony and even maintain this harmony through a restorative justice when things are disrupted is something that many people may find refreshing in the world today.
I took this pictures today during the afternoon, as I was reflecting on the outside beauty of Kolvenbach and how it would be nice if we could have these pictures and make Christmas cards out of to send to people that have shared in our first quarter with us! They turned out pretty well for a camera phone!
More snow pictures, except for the most part in the past couple of weeks it has been pretty chilly. The first few pictures were taken only a couple of days ago when the temperature was close to below freezing, and the most recent ones were taken last night of the snow that did fall (and has now melted because of the newly fallen rain!).
So far, here’s the tally:
Fall Quarter: 3 “class snow days”, 6 days with snow (class & no class days)
Winter Quarter: 1 day with snow
The following are a few pictures of what I saw when I got back to Seattle U, yesterday evening. Even though the pictures aren’t the best, they do show the effect of the low temperatures this week (30 degrees)on the water features on campus. Suffice to say that all of the features weren’t turned off, and all got frozen (though the reflection pool almost melted by the time I got to it).
There were reports of a couple of people that I know who did fall in when trying to step and cross the frozen pond created by the water in the fountain freezing :)
