In the summer of 2022, three members of our Editorial Team gathered in a garden to discuss our Island’s media landscape. No one newspaper can do it all, we concluded, and voila! The Vashon Loop was rebirthed, under new ownership! At the same time, the cost of paper and fuel skyrocketed. Two months later, we…
Editorial Page
Why Not Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Starting with this issue, The Vashon Loop has updated its editorial policies to clarify that AI-generated art and writing are not eligible for publication in the paper or on the web site. I felt like I should explain my reasons for proposing this new policy, and why I’m pleased it has been adopted. Why do…
Editorial Page
How Does a Mistake Become a Lie?
Many of us have heard the story of a regretful young George Washington who, upon being accused of harming his father’s cherry tree, said something along the lines of, “I cannot tell a lie … I did cut it with my hatchet.” This story perfectly illustrates the well-understood and universally accepted axiom that honesty is…
Island Voices
Treaty Day – December 26, 1854
The Vashon Loop is grateful to the author and those involved with its writing, and to the Vashon-Maury Heritage Museum for permission to reprint this article. In late December 1854, hundreds of Native people from villages in south Puget Sound gathered at šxʷnanəm (Medicine Creek), having been invited to a potlatch by Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens. They…
Health Matters
Grief Literacy – Start With Yourself
Two different experiences brought me to today’s column topic. First, I remember reading a poet’s work, after the death of one of his parents, about the surprise of learning there is a whole world of grief support, materials, and organizations. Second, in my own grief experience, I at first thought we had to create what…
Editorial Page
Land Acknowledgement
Last issue, we suggested that nature expresses in the language its people speak, especially over generations, when the people have a rich relationship with place. Here in the Puget Sound region, the language of land, sea, and people is called txʷəlšucid (which sounds a bit like “twuhlshootseed”). It is also known as dxʷləšucid, or xʷəlšucid,…
Island Voices
Early Wage Slaves – Part One
I hired a crew to reroof the cabin. After 60 years, the leaks and weight of the moss had compromised the roof. There are just some things that have to be done, whether you need to or not. John and I were watching the workmen, and were grateful we were not up on the…
Health Matters
Kitchen Medicine – Consider Trees
Marj remembers a Sitka spruce, on the ridge above the Siletz River in Oregon where she grew up, as sacred to the indigenous coastal people who lived in the Siletz Valley. Marj says, “When I was a girl, we had many Indian friends. I was told that sick Indians would climb up to the spruce…
Island Voices
The Six Virtues for Saving Humanity
Truth – Honor – Dignity – Compassion – Courage – Love Many humans have trouble understanding the deepest meaning of these words, and how important they are to the success of both humanity and their own personal success and happiness. If you can understand and live the deepest meaning of any one of these words,…
Island Voices
Falling Through the Cracks – Part 2
In Part One, I shared how our family found itself deserted by the Social Security Administration, for over ten months and counting… Thankfully, I speak Spanish. Thankfully, the Mexican Consulate helped us piece together this bureaucratic puzzle. Thankfully, I have a cell phone service that allows me to call Mexico. Thankfully, after a woman put…