Pia Hallenberg

There’s a lot of talk about sustainability these days. Sustainable gardening, sustainable communities, sustainable buildings – the list goes on. Some people take little steps toward a more sustainable lifestyle, such as bringing their own grocery bags when they go shopping. Others change their lifestyles completely.

When Claudia Kirkebo purchased Leland’s on Wall four years ago, she knew what she was getting into. She had worked at the barbershop since 2001, so when the opportunity came to purchase it, she didn’t hesitate. “I’ve always wanted to own a barbershop,” said Kirkebo, who relocated from Seattle. “When I came over here to visit my kids, I’d drive around downtown and look for a good spot to have a barber.”

It’s a Thursday afternoon, and the Spokane Youth Symphony is rehearsing at the Masonic Center on Riverside Avenue. It’s a steaming hot day, so the dress is casual, right down to conductor Verne Windham’s bare feet. Yet the heat doesn’t keep the musicians from working hard as they make their way through Robert Kapilow’s musical adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham.” The Spokane Youth Symphony kicks off its 60th anniversary season next Thursday with a concert in Audubon Park.

When the Rev. Kevin Connell decided to take a position as principal at Gonzaga Preparatory School in 2006, he was excited about the job. He also knew that returning to Spokane would give him a chance to pursue another project he had had in mind for some time. During the 10 years Connell spent working at Jesuit schools in Portland, he performed in outdoor Shakespearean productions there, and at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival in Boise. This weekend he’s bringing outdoor Shakespeare to Spokane.

When the Rev. Kevin Connell decided to take a position as principal at Gonzaga Preparatory School in 2006, he was excited about the job. He also knew that returning to Spokane would give him a chance to pursue another project he had in mind for some time. During the 10 years Connell had spent working at Jesuit schools in Portland, he performed in outdoor Shakespearean productions there, and at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival in Boise. This weekend he’s bringing outdoor Shakespeare to Spokane.

The little sign hanging under the deck reads, “Life began in a garden,” and Liz and Gib Kocherhans could certainly add that it continues there, as well. The couple have lived in their North Side house for 36 years. On Sunday, their beautifully landscaped yard on West Excell Lane will be on display as part of the Associated Garden Clubs of Spokane’s annual yard and garden tour.

Earlier this summer, a picnic shelter in the lower part of Lincoln Park was tagged with red and blue graffiti. Like several times before, the graffiti outside the shelter was removed by staff from the Spokane parks department, yet a lot of graffiti remains on the inside of the shelter. Also on the inside walls of the picnic shelter is a mural done by neighbors and children from Franklin Elementary School six or seven years ago.

Every branch in the Spokane Public Library system is getting one or more new computers funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with more coming next year. “We are looking at a total of $111,800 over two years, including the matching funds component,” said Eva Silverstone, the library’s communications manager. “Some are Internet computers and some are public access catalog computers with limited Internet access.”

When the South Perry Street Fair opens on Saturday it’ll be the last time that Spokane Valley Quilters put on their Kindred Spirits Outdoor Quilt Show in support of Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery. It’s the 10th time the Valley Quilters put on this show and this year’s theme is Christmas in July. About 120 crib-sized quilts will be on display and for sale at the Crisis Nursery. Proceeds from the quilt sale and any quilts left over at the end of the day all will go to Vanessa Behan.

There is one thing Jordan Elliott Clark, 20, has always shared with President Barack Obama: a birthday on Aug. 4. Yet when he was born in Moses Lake nothing indicated that he would one day be sharing workspace with the president as well. Today, Clark, who graduated from Lewis and Clark High School in 2006, is filling an internship in the White House communications department. He was one of more than 6,000 people who applied for 138 internships and in an e-mail interview he writes this about his reaction when he found out he got the job: “I decided to go for a walk and listen to R. Kelly’s ‘I believe’ song like 300 times. And then at 3:11 p.m. I got the e-mail that said I had the job. I was overjoyed, so packed full of emotion that I just cried for five minutes. After that I ran around campus screaming at the top of my lungs.”

Locally grown food is popular these days, with health professionals, chefs and nutritionists singing the praises of eating food that’s grown as close to the dining table as possible. There are many farms in the Spokane area where visitors can pick fruit and vegetables from the field.

After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, one very visible change was a surge of flags on homes and businesses. People who’d never flown a flag before suddenly did. People who’d had flags sitting in closets for years brought them out, dusted them off and put them up on their houses. Old Glory was waving across the country. That’s something the Spokane Southeast Lions Club likes to see, so the group is helping business owners in Lincoln Heights, the Manito shopping area and the shopping area around 57th Avenue and Regal Street to fly the flag on major holidays.

Danna Snow is a petite woman with a firm handshake. Sitting in regular sweats on a Friday morning at Gold’s Gym on the South Hill, she looks like a marathon runner: wiry, toned and tan. Absolutely nothing in her appearance gives away the fact that she can deadlift 345 pounds – almost three times as much as she weighs.

Parking lots are necessary, but they aren’t always the prettiest addition to a neighborhood. With that in mind, the Nevada Lidgerwood Neighborhood Council and the Neva-Wood COPS Shop set out to find a way to build a much-needed parking lot without creating an eyesore. They held a community barbecue Friday evening to celebrate the newly completed parking lot just north of the COPS Shop, on the corner of Wellesley Avenue and Addison Street.

In West Central’s Cannon Park, the passing of the city’s pool bond meant the replacement of a worn-down, leaking pool with a new pool, complete with slides and other water toys. But to make room for the new pool, it also meant the small yet heavily used basketball courts had to be torn down. “There was no money in the pool bond to replace the courts,” said Brenda Corbett, chairwoman of the West Central Neighborhood Council, “but we just couldn’t be without basketball courts.”