The world impacts our residents, and they respond with resilience and creativity. Two of our residents have recently been featured in articles in the Seattle Times.  

Michael Ragsdale

Like so many of us Northaven residents, Michael Ragsdale has been deeply disturbed by Russia’s war on Ukraine. He wondered what to do. He refused to feel powerless and his answer was picked up by The Seattle Times: 

Kroger, which owns QFC and Fred Meyer, said it had taken Russian-produced vodka off the shelves last weekend, according to spokesperson Tiffany Sanders. That was welcome news to Seattle Northaven resident Michael Ragsdale, a retired videographer who spent a day ringing up local grocery stores and asking them to stop carrying Russian-made vodka and other products. As a consumer thousands of miles from the war, “I said to myself, what can I do?” Ragsdale said. “Maybe I can call some stores and get them to drop the vodka.” Michael doubts, however, his phone calling is what made them pull the vodka. But just maybe it was a part of a movement that created a response.

Valerie Hill

Valerie Hill is a librarian to her bones. In addition to managing our Northaven Library she directs the Community Virtual Library and her work in this very 21st century project was also highlighted in The Seattle Times, in a recent article about the “metaverse.” The reporter’s research led her to Valerie, who uses virtual worlds for educational purposes. She is the author of a recent book, Metamodernism and Changing Literacy.

Second Life is an immersive online platform that somewhat replicates the physical world. Users customize avatars that interact with others in spaces designed for all kinds of activities, from lectures to campfire singalongs.

Valerie Hill’s Second Life avatar has long blond hair, as she does in real life. Unlike in real life, a stack of books balances atop her head. Hill directs the Community Virtual Library, open to anyone on Second Life. The library looks like a Spanish-style building on a beach. (There seem to be many beaches in Second Life, because why not?) People visit to find resources but also to hear speakers or take classes.

While you can do the same things in a physical-world library, the virtual version has its perks. “Sometimes when we’re doing book discussions, we can go into a hologram of the book together,” Hill says.