Jennifer Wing

'We weren't going to let something like this stop us'

Jennifer Wing — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:01:00 +0000

May 30, 2012 was a beautiful, sunny day. It was also the day when residents and students in North Seattle were told to stay indoors as police searched for the gunman who had opened fire inside a busy café.

When it was all over, five people had been shot dead and the gunman had taken his own life.

Saturday language schools growing in popularity

Jennifer Wing — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:30:49 +0000

For most kids, the weekends are prime time to play and catch up on cartoons. But for thousands of children across the country and here in the Northwest, Saturdays mean waking up early to head to another school where they sharpen their academic teeth and learn a language that ties them to their cultural heritage.

Bringing the arts back into Seattle schools

Jennifer Wing — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Will providing greater access to the arts boost academic achievement?

Seattle Public Schools is betting it will, and is working to bring arts education into more of its elementary and middle schools.

How this Seattle woman won her very own pub in Ireland

Jennifer Wing — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:16:00 +0000

St. Patrick’s Day holds a special place in Erika Lee Bigelow’s heart. After all, the holiday once brought the Seattle woman a life-changing dose of Irish luck.

Bigelow was 27 and living in Portland when, on a whim, she entered a contest hosted by the beer company Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day. The prize: the winner’s very own pub in Ireland.

“You had to write a 50-word essay finishing the sentence ‘The perfect pint of Guinness...’” she said. “I had been an English major in college and I thought, ‘I can do that.”’

Vivian Maier, a reluctant genius photographer

Jennifer Wing — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 07:53:37 +0000

Vivian Maier is an artist who is considered one of the greatest street photographers of our time. She was a nanny who lived in Chicago. She never talked about her work when she was alive and became famous for it after she died. That’s when thousands of her negatives were discovered and developed. Some of her work is on display right now at The Photo Center Northwest in Seattle.

Jeffrey Goldstein is a collector and owns the negatives of the photos that are on the walls. We are looking at a black and white picture taken by Vivian Maier. It shows girls, young women, laughing and playing in the shallow waves of Lake Michigan near Chicago in the late 1960's. You can almost feel their joy as they splash each other in the hot sun.

“And this is the north shore, with wealthy households and girls who have most things that they want and they are having fun, with bikinis and they are splashing water and here is Ingar, looking out towards the water and she’s the only one with a white bathing cap on."

Ingar Raymond is a chubby girl. She’s about six or seven years old and Vivian Maier was her nanny. In this picture, Ingar is the only person with her back turned to the camera.

"The lightest areas in the photograph are the clouds and Ingar’s cap. And she’s almost like one of these clouds. Just floating out there in the water by herself."

Gun buyback: Mayor says "gaggles" of private gun buyers "insane"

Jennifer Wing — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 19:30:08 +0000

Seven hundred and sixteen guns were collected at Saturday’s gun buyback program in Seattle. But officials say they are disturbed by the large number of private gun buyers the event attracted.

Mayor Mike McGinn says he was shocked by what he describes as the “gaggles” of private gun buyers who showed up to tempt people away from the long lines and gift cards and offer them cash for their weapons.

“We had a gun bazaar break out of the streets of Seattle outside of a gun buyback. That was just insane."

Seattle gun buyback event attracts private buyers

Jennifer Wing — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 06:04:34 +0000

Seattle’s first effort in 20 years to give people money for turning in guns was so popular on Saturday it ran out of gift cards and had to end early. But even if you were one of the people who didn’t get there early enough, there were lots of opportunities outside the event to get money for your weapons.

New marijuana law could cause backlogs at state crime labs

Jennifer Wing — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Washington State law enforcement officials are slowly becoming familiar with the details of the new marijuana law. It makes it legal for people 21 and older to possess small amounts of the drug. However one aspect of the initiative could create huge backlogs at the state’s crime labs.

Wedding bells ring for same sex couples in Washington State

Jennifer Wing — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 07:04:59 +0000

After waiting for hours in line last week to obtain marriage licenses, hundreds of same sex couples finally got to tie the knot this weekend. The ceremonies were made possible by the new voter approved same sex marriage law.

Inside the sanctuary at Seattle First Baptist Church twenty five couples, dressed in everything from matching, dapper suits and white dresses to coordinated western cowboy shirts, became a part of Washington State history when Pastor Tim Phillips said these familiar words.

Street corner caroling competition gets figgy in Seattle

Jennifer Wing — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 05:27:09 +0000

The streets of downtown Seattle are filled once a year with hundreds of people singing Christmas carols, or a wacky version of them, for the annual Great Figgy Pudding Street Corner Caroling Competition. Thirty-nine teams are competing for various titles tonight, Friday. Nearly 10,000 spectators came to the event last year.

Some of the teams change the lyrics of traditional tunes to sing about everything from the joys of coffee to solar power. At least one team, the Emerald City Cloggers, dances to Christmas songs.

Maria Cantwell vs. Michael Baumgartner for U.S. Senate.

Jennifer Wing — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 06:09:09 +0000

The race between Democratic U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell and her Republican challenger State Senator Michael Baumgartner is not getting a lot of national attention. Political watchers say Baumgartner is a respected, credible candidate. Despite this, polls are predicting Cantwell will have a very easy path to victory.

How should you talk to your kids about marijuana?

Jennifer Wing — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 12:15:05 +0000

Talking about drugs and alcohol with kids is awkward.

Seattle researcher uses DNA to fight ivory trade, protect elephants

Jennifer Wing — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 06:21:53 +0000

Ivory, it’s that beautiful creamy white, sometimes even pinkish tooth that can only be had by killing an elephant. Now, A researcher at the University of Washington is helping to put a dent in the illegal ivory trade in Africa. His name is Sam Wasser and he is the director of the center for conservation biology at the University of Washington.

Why doesn't that part of Washington belong to Canada?

Jennifer Wing — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 08:03:45 +0000

There’s a tiny part of Washington state that is so remote you have to cross an international border twice to get there.

Isolated, surrounded by water and Canadians … why did Point Roberts become a part of Washington and not Canada?

'Upcycling' is taking recycling to a higher level

Jennifer Wing — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 05:56:06 +0000

You already know what recycling is. Soon you will start hearing more about upcycling. No, it doesn’t involve going up a steep hill on a bike. Upcycling is one of the focuses of this week's Seattle Design Festival and a good example of what it is can be found in an old wooden warehouse in Seattle’s SODO neighborhood.