Alec and I drove up to Seattle on Thursday aftternoon. We were meeting Noel when he got off work at 5:30 but traffic wasn’t bad and we got there early. It was a beautiful day so we got some excercise by walking around the Seattle Center and over to the Experience Music Project (EMP).
The EMP was about to close but we were able to take a quick look in the gift shop and the display of outfits/costumes worn by some of the music stars in the lobby. One had a quote that I remembered on the base. It was Alice Cooper saying, “People think because I cut dolls heads off that must mean I hate babies, but its not true, I just hate dolls.”
We met Noel and ate at Sofrito Rico, a Puerto Rican restuarant in Ballard ~ a neighborhood in Seattle. Our waitress said they would be changing the name soon to La Isla Seattle. I had been wanting to try the restuarant ever since hearing about it last year about the time they opened. The food was great. (I lived in Ponce, Puerto Rico when I was in middle school.)
We spent the night at Noel’s place with him and his cat Linus, then on Friday I went to the Shoreline Conference Center (north of Seattle) for “Rights and Recovery: Promoting GLBTQ Wellness in a Changing Environment” ~ Addressing Alcohol, Tobacco, Other Drugs, Mental Health and Other Health Issues Facing the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Communities.
The conference was sponsored by:
- Department of Social and Health Services – Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse
- Department of Social and Health Services – Mental Health Division – Sexual Minority Subcommittee
- King County Mental Health, Chemical Abuse and Dependency Services Division
- Public Health– Seattle & King County, Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Program
The keynote speaker was Lorri L. Jean ~ Chief Executive Officer, L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center
The two excellent workshops I took were:
- Chemical Dependency/Mental Health Counseling Needs of GLBTQ Community ~ facilitated by Cathy Speelmon, B.A., C.D.P. and Chris Tolfree, M.A., L.M.H.C. of Seattle Counseling Service
- Working with Transgendered Clients ~ facilitated by Marsha Botzer, M.A.
Then Alec picked me up and we drove home, getting caught in bad rush hour traffic!