Saturday, January 28, 2017

Yesterday Remembrance Day About The Holocaust

On Facebook yesterday I saw it was remembrance day for the Holocaust.  There was a request that we print we remember on paper and show our face with the paper.   So I did so, there was a sticky note with an empty side on the notebook I had with me at the Archive at PLU - Scandinavian Immigrant Experience Archive.  I made a Women's Rights sign last Saturday and carried it up to Westlake.  Because I thought I might not walk as fast as everyone and was not certain about walking over three miles briskly, I joined the walk at Westlake Center and did about eight blocks or so to the Seattle Center, and not trying three miles probably made sense.

 Often in the evening I hear stories on talk radio, often in the day I visit the computer labs at the library.  The women's walk mattered.





Monday, January 23, 2017

I Remember the Valhalla Hall


Hurt and bewildered, I must remember the Valhalla Hall as today the building is torn down.  It is so very sad that this old building is not a restoration. My first public appearance probably was at the Valhalla Hall, a song accompanied on the piano by my mother.  She was ten when she gave a piano solo at the hall, with much praise.   
2008
The Swedish Order of Valhalla was a men’s organization from 1884, they built the hall in 1905, it represented the architectural style of American Renaissance.  It served as an interim venue for First Swedish Lutheran Church of Tacoma when First Lutheran’s second building burned in November, 1924. The group sold the hall in the 1990s, in 2008 a group associated with the Allen AME leased the building to try to remodel it as a similar performance and activity hall.  The group removed the interior: that included removal of the original horsehair insulation, an architectural detail that had made activities at the hall hard to insure.

The Swedish Order of Valhalla was a men’s Masonic-type group.  The Order of Runeberg, the Swedish-Finnish Group my mother’s family could belong to,  in the 1960s began to  meet at the new, accessible Wild West VFW Hall because many of their members could no longer climb the stairs to the second floor where meetings and events were held.

2017
During the activity at MLK during the subarea plans I did enter comments about the hall and I allowed an interview for the project, which was included among others in a video about the history at the Tacoma MLK subarea.

The Allen AME fell short of attaining the necessary funding for their project, as far as I know the new project there will be a housing building that had promised to reflect the hall.  Some were uncertain that the new project intends to reflect the appearance of the old hall.  And now the hall is torn down. 
Stairs 1995
During interior removal












Since 2009 I have done some volunteer work at the Scandinavian Immigrant Experience Archives at Pacific Lutheran University, where the Valhalla Archives are kept,  with the guidance of the archivist I was able to help advance the Valhalla Papers preservation.   

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Thirty Years Vegetarian January 1987- January 2017

Melon
January 1987 to January 2017 - thirty years of Vegetarian foods.  The third floor galley kitchen of the brick apartment building had less ventilation.  As I moved in I stopped eating meat, began with eggs and dairy but continued to vegan.  Now I buy eggs but not dairy. 

At the Puyallup Fair one year I knew a memorable moment in a quiet spot close to the dairy building - I had a free small cup of chocolate milk.  For the most part, I complied with the necessities of being a vegan. 

Part of my lunch during my volunteer job break today was cantaloupe I carried from my apartment. (I have moved twice since my move-in to the brick apartment building in 1987.)

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

A New Year 2017

The bus yesterday went past snow on the lawns and roofs on the east side of Tacoma.  A bus I thought I wanted left as I reached the downtown transit center, because it was cold I got on another bus.  At the Goodwill I found a plastic coated metal small rack but cannot find one like it anywhere on the internet, so I do not know what it was for.  At the University Place library later I saw someone taking down the Menorah.  It was a chilly day, with some snow remaining along the transit routes.