By March Twisdale
Recently, I attended the first inaugural meeting of Freedom Sisters, hosted by Harborview Fellowship Church in Gig Harbor. Women living in Western Washington gathered on a cold, rainy night in early December to discuss how best to recover and move on from our region’s epidemic of cancel culture, virtue signaling, and skyrocketing intolerance.
Freedom Sisters is a great idea, and I hope they do well. But, this group has not made it onto my plate for the new year. Why? And if so, why do I even mention them?
Because of Jennie Young, a state committeewoman for the Pierce County Republican Party, who was the primary guest speaker of the evening. She told three real-life stories about women who changed our society, culture, and shared history. These women were not politicians or activists. They were everyday women with conservative, Christian values, who focused on what was right in front of them. In so doing, they directly and indirectly caused powerful and crucially important changes in American Society.
“Choose your lane,” Jennie Young said.
I instantly knew what would be my lane in 2026. How I could “leave the world better than I found it.” That lane is not to get involved with Freedom Sisters. That lane is not my Substack. That lane is not to be found on social media, at marches or rallies or protest events.
My lane, in 2026, will be my monthly articles written for The Vashon Loop, and I’m going to focus on two topics. First, the amazing “ah-ha” moments as I’ve shifted from being a full-time homemaker to a full-time wage earner. Homemaking is a form of super glue for society, and I will be laying out reasons for why a healthy society has more homemakers, not less. Secondly, I’m going to tackle “cancel culture” on Vashon Island.
In 2026, I will write several articles sharing my personal rationale for how I’ve come to hold views considered “unacceptable” by our Island’s cancel culture crowd. I hope that by sharing the deep, complex and very thoughtful reasons behind my current views and opinions, I will surprise readers who have made the mistake of writing people off as two-dimensional, evil characters should they not fall in line and parrot what they’ve been told is appropriate thinking.
My readers may disagree with me at the end of each article, but that’s to be expected. As I wrote in December 2025, we all agree and disagree. This is a fundamental truth and, as an American, I believe true diversity is beautiful to behold. Of course, “beholding” it is a bit hard to do when people are being threatened and pressured to the point where they limit themselves to only uttering “acceptable thoughts” or otherwise staying silent.
And so, I’m going to go out on a limb and speak the unspeakable.
Am I worried? No. It is my lived experience that most Americans are balanced thinkers with middle ground values. The vast majority of us exist within the bulging middle of the Bell Curve. Yes, the screamers at either end tend to dominate our air waves, screens and talk shows, but they do not reflect society.
I expect a lot of Islanders are going to be nodding their heads. Albeit, quietly. Begging the question, “Why are so many of us choosing silence?”
We have not arrived here accidentally. There are “chaos makers” afoot, intentionally tossing hot potato issues into our communities like bombs. After the initial explosion, they resemble biological warfare, becoming a corrosive disease spreading throughout our people, weakening and crumbling our beautiful society and culture from within.
Totalitarianism and its hallmarks of speech/thought control (which is one of the results of cancel culture bullying) is never an accident. It’s never organic. It never comes from the grassroots. It’s a plot by people who seek power, over us. Not with us. And we must guard against it.
In 2026, I will do my part by going out on a limb, each month, and saying the unpopular thing. What could be more American than that?
Disagreement, in a healthy society, is a form of mutual learning. Debate is glorious, when done respectfully. Together, by opening our mouths and speaking honestly, we can reinvigorate our community and embrace true diversity, all while being honorable and true to ourselves.
This will be my one lane this year, and what a relief! Setting a limit on who and what gets my attention and time has left me feeling both relieved and happy, knowing I’m doing my part. As many of you have also discovered, learning to say “no” is one of life’s great lessons.
Boundaries, it turns out, are beautiful.
