Quite a party in Secretary Sam Reed’s office yesterday afternoon!  

What a motley crew of folks — powerful pols, ink-stained wretches, County Auditors,  rock fans, Grange activists, history buffs and a surprise guest or two all joined to honor the likes of rocker Krist Novoselic, trailblazing female journalist Adele Ferguson and African-American-Cuban-Native American jurist Charles Z. Smith.  See photos of the event here.

It was the launch of Washington’s new free, online oral history program called the Legacy Project, which is part of the cool new Washington State Heritage Center planned for the Capitol campus.  All three of the initial crop of sparkling profiles and transcripts of long chats about lives-well-lived are already up for your read … or printing out….

 As House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, told the festive crowd, what diversity! These three pioneers are representative of the breadth of fascinating and innovative people who make up the tapistry of this amazing state, he said.

Smith, celebrating both Black History Month and his 82nd birthday, was feted by Reed and by former Justice Robert Utter, who has known Smith since Smith was the only non-white graduate of his law school class.  Novoselic was presented by both a Grange leader and a rock historian; the former Nirvana bassist talked more about his back-to-the-roots life and his work “democratizing democracy.” Ferguson, feisty as ever, was honored by former Senate Majority Leader Gordon Walgren and a late-arriving surprise guest, former Senator Slade Gorton.