Tomorrow Is Speight Jenkins Day

That would be Speight [rhymes with "eight"] the cultural icon, general director of Seattle Opera: white-haired, courtly, soft-spoken. A Texas native, attorney, and journalist who for the past 25 years has run our little band of singers and players, shrewdly and tastefully transforming the local troupe from an also-ran into one of the nation's most respected opera companies. In a city reluctant to bestow official recognition to anything artsy, the official proclamation of April 25 as Speight Jenkins Day is a good thing.