Even after three years, Shoultes Elementary’s school plays still manage to surprise Nancy Hammer.
Hammer, a 15-year teacher at Shoultes who’s also served as a school librarian for the past few years, has directed versions of “Beauty and the Beast” and “Peter Pan” in the past two years that were specifically adapted for large casts of young performers. This year’s version of “The Wizard of Oz” boasted 38 students in the cast, only three more than last year’s play, but it presented new challenges nonetheless.

Read Story

TULALIP — Native American author and filmmaker Sherman Alexie couldn’t get over how far Indian people have come when he visited the Tulalip Tribes.
“It’s so fancy it’s hilarious,” Alexie said March 29 in the Orca Ballroom of the Tulalip Resort Hotel and Casino. “You have an outlet mall on your reservation. My sons have never seen an Indian take a sip of alcohol. It was different being an Indian when I was growing up.”
The Tulalip campus of the Northwest Indian College hosted Alexie’s speaking appearance, part of the first in what they plan to make an annual “Tulalip Reads for Unity” program. Copies of Alexie’s novel, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” were distributed to Tribal members who made it the subject of book clubs before Alexie’s visit. During his engagement at the Tulalip resort, Alexie recounted his own childhood on the Spokane Indian Reservation, which served as the basis for the life story of his novel’s protagonist.

Read Story

MARYSVILLE — Two Washington-born patients of the Providence Physician Group’s Marysville Clinic recently celebrated their centennial birthdays, but one of them snuck in an extra birthday party on the side.
Providence’s Marysville Clinic threw a combined birthday party on Feb. 22 for Floris Krag, who was born on Feb. 23 in Bayview, and Marion Thompson, who was born March 6 in Yakima. Both centenarians now live in Marysville and have been Providence patients for years. Krag has lived in the area for at least 80 years, while Thompson has lived in the area since 1968.

Read Story

MARYSVILLE — A choir of African children aim to entertain and enlighten Marysville audiences.
The Ugandan Orphans Choir, a group of 10 talented children ranging in age from 8-12, will be performing at the Marysville Seventh-Day Adventist Church, located at 12012 51st St., on March 19 starting at 6 p.m.

Read Story

MARYSVILLE — The last track on her debut album is entitled “Live Your Dream,” and after a lifetime of playing the piano, Marysville musician Amy Janelle is putting those words into practice.
“Shining True” collects a year’s worth of musical compositions, but Janelle’s journey to becoming a professional musician at the age of 31 began when a friend taught her how to play a song on the piano in the third grade. Janelle’s freshly discovered passion was nurtured by her parents and the piano teachers they hired for her.

Read Story

MARYSVILLE — Jean Glab was born only 11 years after the Wright brothers flew their first glider in 1900, and she’s still around to tell the tales of the century of history she’s witnessed since then.
Glab, a resident of the Marysville Care Center, celebrated her 100th birthday on Feb. 20, surrounded by more than 50 family members and guests, as well as fellow residents at the facility. Her party included not only the usual cake, flowers and balloons, but also a slideshow of her 100 years, to give a historical context for the changes she’s lived through.

Read Story