Jim Halfaker, B.D.

Louisa "Sandy" 1961 and I live 4 days a week in Seattle, and three days on Whidbey Island on our small farm. Pruning fruit trees, cutting out blackberries, mowing, and maintaining, in both places, plus walking, keeps me somewhat fit.

My passion is Arts-Impact, a program and teaching method that uses the drama, painting, poetry, movement, to teach math, English, science. The program provide intense summer training of teachers, with artis mentors, to experience and then implement this teaching concept. My part has been to support by helping create a development plan for the future, since the feds dropped their funding.

Louisa reads a book a day, while I read one once a week, mainly novels, or in my case strong ecology and save the earth literature. Environmental issues for our grandchildren and beyond is a big theme for me.

At church in downtown Seattle we are filled with "undoing institutional racism", a theme that impacts worship, preaching and all the program. With an African American pastor and a mainly white congregation, it is a fascinating, sometimes very challenging season in the life of the church.

Occasional Seattle Symphony visits and Seattle Mariners game help me keep life in a wider perspective. Notes from Dean Greg Sterling, thanks to the internet, are a wonderful experience these days.l Going slower, enjoying grandchildren and life even more.