Love & Wisdom
2009 Spotlight Award: Kristen T. Ramirez
Artist Kristen T. Ramirez prioritizes place.
NAME: Kristen T. RamirezART FORM: Visual ArtsWEB SITE: kristenramirez.comNEXT UP: The grand finale of the bridge project on or near 9/12 (visit thebridgereport.blogspot.com for details). Also see Ramirez’s visual work at Capitol Hill’s Grey Gallery in October/November (greygalleryandlounge.com) “As an artist, I’m really not used to all this attention,” says Kristen T. Ramirez, climbing the…
2008 Spotlight Award Winners
Get this: According to a 2008 study by Americans for the Arts, Seattle has the most artist-related business per capita in the nation. The most! In the nation! We think the best way to celebrate this impressive statistic is by making the art your business-that is, by getting out there and experiencing our amazing wealth…
2008 Spotlight Award: Paul Rucker
Paul Rucker pushes himself as hard as he pushes the boundaries of music.
Being an artist, says musician Paul Rucker, is like constantly being on a job interview. “If you’re an actor or a musician, you’re looking for the next gig,” he says, “but during that time you’re constantly developing, you’re constantly growing; as an artist you can always get better.” A celebrated improvisational cellist, bass player, composer…
2007 Spotlight Award: Joshua Roman
Gifted Seattle Symphony principal cellist Joshua Roman thinks outside the music hall.
It’s common knowledge that Seattleites rarely bother to dress up for anything, not even the symphony. But retirees in jeans and Tevas are nothing compared to the unorthodox audience at a recent Sunday afternoon concert at Benaroya Hall. Five minutes before start time, a young woman wearing a tube top tapped furiously at her BlackBerry….
Most Influential: M.D. and CEO Mitchell Gold
Mitchell Gold is CEO of Dendreon Corp. rocked into national headlines
Mitchell Gold and the company he heads, Seattle-based Dendreon Corp., rocketed into national headlines this year when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Dendreon’s Provenge as a treatment for late-stage prostate cancer. The value of the company’s stock multiplied more than 10 times as analysts estimated the drug could generate about $1 billion in…
Most Influential: Group Health Cooperative
Insurer and Health Care Provider, Group Health is the highest-rated commercial health plan in Washin
In September, Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative learned it’s the highest-rated commercial health plan in Washington state—and in the top 50 nationally—in a new ranking by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. With more than 600,000 members and more than two dozen medical centers throughout Washington state, Group Health has become a destination for health care…
Most Influential: Senator Tracey Eide
State Senator Tracey Eide has worked since 2000 to pass the primary-offense law for cell phones behi
Considering our burgeoning iPhone, smartphone, anyphone population, it’s virtually impossible to dispute state Senator Tracey Eide’s influence over our daily lives. As the driving force behind Washington state’s new cell phone law, which mandates parking our handheld phones before getting behind the wheel (or risking a $124 fine), Eide has worked since 2000 to pass…
Most Influential: CEO Paul Davis
Coinstar CEO Paul Davis spent much of 2009 fighting legal battles with movie studios
Penny-pinching consumers looking for cheap entertainment have flocked to Redbox DVD-rental vending machines and, in a year’s time, catapulted Bellevue-based Coinstar—Redbox’s parent company—onto the corporate big screen. Earlier this year, Redbox—originally a creation of McDonald’s but acquired by Coinstar last year—had grabbed 25 percent of U.S. video-rental sales, up from 18 percent a year earlier,…
Most Influential: The Seattle Times Staff
The Seattle Times staff is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news
The Pulitzer Prize for breaking news in journalism celebrates “a distinguished example of local reporting…with special emphasis on the speed and accuracy of the initial coverage, presented in print or online or both.” Last year, when The Seattle Times learned that four Lakewood police officers had been slain in a Pierce County coffee shop, Times…
Person of the Year: The Police Officer
We are not accustomed to seeing police officers as victims
We are not accustomed to seeing police officers as victims. Or as villains. But the past year in the Puget Sound region has focused our attention on law enforcement personnel so relentlessly, so vividly, that no year in recent memory can compare. Between October 31 and December 28, 2009, six officers—one from the Seattle Police…
Most Influential: Seattle Storm Lauren Jackson
Forward Lauren Jackson help lead Seattle Storm to victory
Possibly the finest player in the Women’s National Basketball Association this decade, Lauren Jackson reminded basketball fans in 2010 that experience, maturity and talent are an awesome combo platter on the menu of leadership skills. At 29, Jackson’s body has experienced enough bruises and breaks to qualify her for a lifetime of guest appearances on…
Most Influential: Bill Gates Sr.
William H. Gates Sr. is the Yes on 1098 Campaign Spokesman and co-chair for The Bill and Melinda Gat
As if working to eradicate polio weren’t enough, Bill Gates Sr. has, in his mid-80s, ventured forth and not only approached, but actively embraced, the so-called third rail of Washington state politics: the income tax. This is in addition to his co-chairmanship of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and his active involvement in numerous…
Most Influential: Ones to Watch
Seattleites whose actions are soon likely to affect our city and our daily lives
Common SenseShe had been in office only a few months when Seattle City Council member Sally Bagshaw earned a citywide high-five for seeking to delay a proposed (and controversial) Dale Chihuly museum project at the Seattle Center. Convincing the center that it should at least entertain other proposals for how to use the former Fun…
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