Bob Littlewood to offer seminar at Orcas Library

An eight-session discussion called “Radical Doubt” is being offered by Bob Littlewood at the Orcas Island Public Library on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. from March 31 through May 19.

Topics under discussion will include culture and language and their limitations; the centrality of inauthenticity to our existence; the recent spate of “God-nayers” and what may be missing from their polemics; ways of re-visioning our thinking (and non-thinking); and the five rules for a meaningful life. The cost of the class is $15. For more information and to sign up, call the library at 376-4985.

“Ecotopia” author to speak

Ernest Callenbach, author of “Ecotopia,” will be offering a talk, “Recipe For a Sustainable Future” on Saturday, March 21 at 3 p.m. at the Odd Fellows Hall on Orcas Island. The talk will focus on sustainability and community, other local and national political/economic questions, and personal lifestyle issues.

More than 30 years ago, in “Ecotopia” and “Ecotopia Emerging,” Callenbach described a sustainable, ecological way of living that inspired a generation and is, perhaps, even more relevant today. Both books are still commonly assigned college reading.

The event will be a benefit for the Orcas Island Recreation Program youth activities and is brought to the community in collaboration with Kangaroo House Bed and Breakfast, The Exchange, Good Earth Works, and the Orcas Island Recreation Program.

Admission is $10. There will be no pre-sale tickets. A finger food potluck follows. Call 376-5339 for additional information.

Orcas Garden Club to present Mediterranean Gardens

Mediterranean Gardens is the topic for this month’s garden club meeting on Wednesday, March 18 at 10 a.m. in the Madrona Room of the Orcas Center.

Terry Stanley and Terry Moyemont, owners of Mesogeo Gardens on Bainbridge Island, will travel to Orcas to present a program on Mediterranean plants and design. In addition to their nursery ownership, they are also the leaders of the Northwest Chapter of the Mediterranean Garden Society.

Stanley has designed and installed gardens for 20 years, and her design work has appeared in numerous gardening books and periodicals. Moyemont’s photographs have appeared in Pacific Horticulture, Garden Design and in the Encyclopedia of Exotic Plants for Temperate Climates. The public is encouraged to attend.

Kids invited to write poetry for library read

In honor of Young People’s Poetry Week, April 13-18, the Orcas Island Public Library invites young poets, from ages seven to 18, to submit one poem for display in the Orcas Library during the month of April, as well as for reading at a public poetry reading featuring young poets on Friday, April 17 at 7 p.m. in the library’s meeting room.

Completed poems should be submitted to Nita Couchman, children’s librarian, at the Orcas Public Library by Wednesday, April 1. Poems should be limited to no more than two pages in length. Submitted poems will be prepared for display by the library staff and will be displayed in the library during the month of April.

National Poetry Month is celebrated every April, and Young People’s Poetry Week is being incorporated into the festivities at the library to support, encourage, and showcase the young poets of Orcas. For more information, contact Nita Couchman at the Orcas Public Library at 376-4985.

Healthy Aging Class spring session

The Healthy Aging: Solutions and Enhancements class taught by Lindalena Dingman, who has a Master’s degree in Gerontology, will be offered during the Spring Semester through Skagit Valley College at the Orcas Senior Center.

Class begins April 7 and runds through April 30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the Conference Room at the Senior Center.

The Healthy Aging class last fall was attended by locals aged 60 to 86 and is open to all adults as well as caregivers for older adults that are interested in being proactive in their own preventive healthcare and increasing their knowledge.

The class is presented in three segments: physical activity, nutrition and vitamins, and cognitive exercises. Healthy Aging class activities include class discussion/questions on handout materials, visit to Orcas Athletics, special speakers, health surveys, memory games and brain-teasers, and five food pyramid comparisons of U.S, Asian, Latin American, Mediterranean, and Dr. Weil. On completion of the class, students will have a general evaluation of their own health status based on information from the class.

Early enrollment is encouraged, as the class fills up quickly. For more information about the class, contact Lindalena at 376-4272. To register, call Skagit Valley College at 378-3220.

Literary salon and open mic featuring Ann Pancake

The public is invited to attend a reading by novelist Ann Pancake followed by a spoken word open mic at Kangaroo House Bed & Breakfast on Saturday, March 14 at 7 p.m. Sponsored by Artsmith, the

literary salon features Pancake whose book, “Strange as this Weather Has Been” (Counterpoint 2007), tells the story of a family devastated by mountaintop removal mining.

Pancake’s novel has been reviewed in publications from Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine to the New York Times Book Review, which called her writing “powerful, sure-footed and haunting.” Pancake’s collection of short stories, Given Ground, won the 2000 Bakeless award. She has also received a Whiting Award, an NEA Grant, and a Pushcart Prize. She earned her BA in English at West Virginia University and a PhD in English Literature from the University of Washington. She currently

teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University, and makes her home in Seattle.

Kangaroo House is located at 1459 North Beach Road in Eastsound. The event is free to the public. For more information, go to orcasartsmith.org, or call 376-2175.

St. Patrick’s Day parade

’Tis that time again, don’t ye know, for dustin’ off the green and getting’ out the marchin’ shoes! The 9th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be takin’ to the streets of Eastsound on Tuesday, March 17. They welcome everyone – those who are Irish, those who wish they were Irish, and those who are grateful they’re not Irish. Marcher, decorated vehicle, float, costume, and of course anything green is the order of the day.

They’ll gather at noon in the Island Market parking lot, and will take off as soon as the group is organized – or when St. Pat is ready, whichever comes first! The weather promises to behave, so join them, to march or to cheer them on, and then off to the Lower for brews and singin’ the good auld songs. For more information, call Tony Lee at 376-2099.

Intermediate Birding Class

A six-week course called Intermediate Birding: Summer Birds will be offered by Kim Middleton at the Orcas Island Public Library starting Monday, March 23. Two sections will be offered, one meeting on Mondays from 6 to 9 p.m., and one on Wednesdays from 1 to 4 p.m. beginning the week of March 23. The course will include five classroom sessions and one field trip. Class size is limited to 20 students. Sign up now at the Orcas Island Public Library. For more information, call the Library at 376-4985.

Spaghetti dinner

The Annual Orcas Middle School Spaghetti Dinner will be held at the Orcas School Cafeteria on Friday, March 27. The dinner, sponsored by Island Market, supports middle school activities throughout the year. There will be two seatings: 5 to 6:30 p.m. and 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tickets are available from any middle school student or at the door.