This week! RSVP for Thursday's Civic Social

Hi friends, it’s me, Erika, coming at you with issue #2 of this informal e-newsletter.

A reminder: the next Civic Socials are coming right up. 
Here's where you can RSVP.

We’ll meet on Thursday and in late June at The Hangar in Kenmore.
6:00-7:00 PM, Thursday, May 29th, in the Beaver Room
5:30 - 7:00 PM Thursday, June 26th, in the Otter Room

• Several of you have offered to help out with these gatherings, and I’ll happily accept! Watch for a follow-up email from me later today.

• Even if you can’t attend, please let me know if you have resources to share, and I’ll pass along. And as always, feel free to invite civic-minded friends and neighbors to join us.

Upcoming community events that might interest you:

Pop Up Book Sale, Bothell Library 11 AM - 5 PM, Saturday, May 31st

Habitat Restoration Work Party, Wallace Swamp Creek Park, 11 AM - 2 PM, Saturday, May 31st (and many more through August)(Sno-King Watershed Council)

Celebrating Women Lake Washington Symphony concert 3 PM, Saturday, June 7th at Bastyr University Chapel (amazing venue!)

Copperworks Distillery, Trivia Night every Thursday, 7 - 9 PM; Spin Your Own Vinyl every Friday 4 - 8 PM; many more events on the website

Third Place Commons live music every Friday and Saturday night, 7 - 9 PM; many more events on the website

Local farmers markets are now open or opening soon -

Third Place Commons Lake Forest Park Farmers Market

Juanita Friday Market

Northshore Farmers Markets (Woodinville and Kenmore)

And many more summer events are being posted:

City of Bothell’s Music in the Park and Movies in the Park (July - August)

City of Kenmore’s Special Events lineup

We the people need places to be together! What other local events, parks, open spaces, hang out locations would you recommend?

I'm just back from several weeks of travel, and it was interesting to talk to European folks about what's happening in the US. Drivers, guides, hotel staff, people in our tour groups, random people in the airports... many wanted to share their opinions. A few shared their disappointment and frustrations. One person said, "We thought that when you Americans elected George W. Bush, that was the low point." (It's always humbling to be reminded how closely other nations follow our politics while so many of us here just want to tune out.)

Almost all offered sympathy and encouragement. I heard from more than one person, we know you’ll turn things around. These interactions reminded me of one of Eric Liu’s recent posts. In “What Does It Mean To Live Like A Citizen Right Now?” he wrote:

“A president is not the government; the government is not the country. We are the country – we the people and our countless institutions and associations and patterns of interaction…That is why Citizen University exists: so that we remember the power we have – and use it to help create the planet’s first enduring mass, multiracial democratic republic…We are what Alexis de Tocqueville called “partisans for democracy” — champions of a spirit of self-organizing rather than spectating, solving rather than complaining, and being independent in thought and action rather than being dominated and intimidated into group-think.” read more at Citizen University’s site

Questions? Comments? Write me at [email protected] 
So glad to be in your good company and sending civic love,

Erika