Kathy Kiefer's blog
The Lava Lamp: My Turn
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A few ‘locals’ refer to the Lava Lamp as an icon of the 1960’s and equate its existence to the use of drugs and indiscriminate sex. Their reasoning is that if a giant Lava Lamp is placed in Soap Lake it will inspire untold acts of sexual pleasure and attract dope smokers and other trip seekers. It’s likely these things are already happening on a regular basis around the lake. Afterall, it’s one of the most beautiful natural settings in the state of Washington, who wouldn’t want to find a cozy place along the shore to make love?
Support McKay
To those who hold a vision of Soap Lake as the beautiful, natural, and healing place that it is and has been for tens of thousands of people for the last century and beyond; please note the following letter sent to all six state legislators that represent our town and area.
Happy New Year!
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Happy New Year from Soap Lake! With several inches of snow still on our front yards and alleys, we’re past the longest day of the year and heading for the golden days of summer. Hard to imagine right now – but it won’t be long before the lake water color changes from grey to aquamarine and the spring winds chase the suds to shore; a springtime reminder of why our lake was named. The sky will be brilliant blue cradling cloud puffs passing overhead as camp trailers arrive with weary travelers on board. Once again visitors will ogle and shuffle around the world’s largest human-figure sundial, the B and B will open it’s drive up stall speakers, just like in the old A & W days, and Daisy street will be alive with an incessant stream of traffic heading north and south.
A Rogue on Rogue
The first time I heard Werner Herzog speak was last fall when he was interviewed on NPR. His voice stopped me in my tracks. He was discussing his then recent films, My Son, My Son, What have Ye Done? And Bad Lieutenant, Port of Call. He talked about his films like they had body parts and landscapes. He used words that unwrapped ideas, bending my ear to hear the silence between each thought that was surely tethered to a great mind. I wanted to know more. I set out to watch his films and quickly consumed Fitzcaraldo, The Enigma of Kasper Hauser, Stroszek, Even Dwarfs Start Small, Bad Lieutenant, and Wheel of Time: A smattering of the sixty some films he has produced. I devoured and left scars in the book Herzog on Herzog, edited by Paul Cronin.
Soon after hearing the interview I discovered Werner Herzog’s Rogue film School Seminar. Described as not for the faint-hearted: it is for those who have traveled on foot, who have worked as bouncers in sex clubs or as wardens in a lunatic asylum, for those who are willing to learn about lock-picking or forging shooting permits in countries not favoring their projects. In short: for those who have a sense of poetry. For those who are pilgrims. For those who can tell a story to four-year-old children and hold their attention. For those who have a fire burning within. For those who have a dream.
Boobalogues on the Road Again
From this post forward, Kathy Kiefer’s Soap Lake blog is going open sesame. No longer a kernel of Soap Lake only news, bee-bops, happen-ins and postscripts, I’m opening the floodgates and writing about all the cool things I am doing, seeing, feeling, partaking in, happening by, overstepping, undoing and observing; in, on, and around Grant County and wherever the aforementioned things take me. Here’s to open floodgates, and all the news that wends forth from my keyboard. Here's the first tid-bit:
Boobalogues: Our Breasts, Our Lives was released on Mother’s Day 2004. Since then it has won several awards and has made its small, but indelible mark on the world. I thank my seven associate producers for their efforts and all the people who have supported the film. It is now sold or viewed through Netflix and through my distributor, Filmbaby.
Last weekend I was invited to screen Boobalogues at Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU). Back to my home state I flew. Don’t ya just hate how the airlines charges $25 for a checked bag both coming and going? Also – NO FOOD of any kind on the planes except the over-priced, puny snack packs that you can buy only with a credit card. Okay, so enough of that.
Soap Lake is the Winner
What better place in the world to have a gravity racing car derby than our own Soap Lake. The name Soap Box Derby is a registered trademark of the International Soap Box Derby Corporation, but we have the town with the ‘name’ and the cars, well, the cars are all about the same: four wheels, no motor, and gravity-powered. Main Street Soap Lake is the perfect venue for the sport because of its natural 5.2 percent grade from the top of the hill by the city library, to the bottom by The Inn at Soap Lake. It has been said by a few that Soap Lake had gravity car racing years ago and that perhaps the hill which is now Main Street was actually elevated to make it the best gravity racing venue in the state. Well, so much for rumors, it sure has been a great hill for the annual 4th of July bed races.
Sharing Our History
On December 13, 2009 a small gathering of interested Soap Lake fans attended the first in a series of visits honoring our senior citizens through sharing stories. The event was held at Brix and Stone hosted by Linda Bonneville. Linda grew up in Soap Lake and it is her abiding interest in the town that inspired the idea to start a series of Sunday story sharing sessions. Activities start with tea and scones served by hostess truly, Linda. During the interview section of the program, the audience of seven invited guests can ask questions or show photographs and inquire about what life in Soap Lake was like at the turn of or during the last century.
The Red Ribbon in our Hearts
Two gay guys, 4,097 hand-tied red ribbons, and World Aids Day, all wrapped up in the idea that it’s not what you think, it’s what you do to make a difference that counts. Soap Lakes own John and Nathan figured out how to make a twenty foot ribbon drape from roof to earth across the side of their brightly painted JONAH Espresso stand in “almost” downtown Ephrata; our sister city, made more colorful on account of John and Nathan.
New Beginnings at Westhaven
Soap Lake’s own Edna Jurgens was bestowed many lofty titles over the years. Madoline McNamara said she had a heart of gold and called her the angel of Soap Lake. Her son Joe said, “My mom had a heart bigger than the moon.” Father McDonnell from St. Rose of Lima Catholic church in Ephrata told her she was, “the best Baptist Catholic” he ever knew. She earned these accolades through her unstinting service to the poor over the 40 years she operated her Catholic Charities Thrift store. Edna is no longer with us, but her legacy is.
Woven Through and Through
Judy Rice is a maven of textured magic. From her earliest memories of peeking up from beneath the woof and warp of her cousins loom, Judy spun her own fancy from a life happily tethered to the value of handiworks - the practical, utilitarian kind, like egg baskets, rag rugs, and quilts for warmth and not displaying. She admired her grandmother’s quilts and enjoyed the warmth of women-kin gathered together, stitching, weaving and sharing conversations.Growing up poor in rural Kentucky was not a misfortune. It was a solid base from which the value of hard work and determination knit with family values steered lives in certain directions. Judy was the first child in her family to finish high school. Young women raised in the hollers of Central Kentucky in the early 1950’s were expected to get married and raise children. Against her father’s wishes, Judy forged her own path, attending beauty school during her last two years of high school. When she graduated she became a hairdresser. It was her way of separating herself from the expectations of her family so she could move towards the life she wanted to live.
