Legends of Vashon By Tripper Harrison No one was safe in the summer of ’68, and few were above suspicion. Only the scorcher of 1941 was hotter, when it was said you could bake biscuits on your barn roof. It was Vashon’s thin topsoil and intermittent humidity, however, that were particularly ideal for the fan-leafed…
By Andy Valencia Unless otherwise noted, all photos courtesy of CAL FIRE I was in Cafe Luna and overhead a discussion about prison inmates being forced into firefighting in California. It’s a small world, as I have a nephew – I’ll call him “Ben” because that’s his name – who was in the California state…
By Jane Valencia Vashon was once known for its strawberry farms, and our Strawberry Festival was named in celebration of these berries. But, as has been the case for several decades, strawberries – much less Island-grown – are a rare and precious occurrence. Off-Island attendees of the Festival often find themselves bewildered: “Where are the…
By Michael Shook … Or, how I learned to stop worrying, and love AI. Artificial Intelligence is getting a lot of attention these days. The Spectator magazine devoted its cover stories in the August issue to examining all things AI, and newspapers have been full of stories about the ongoing construction of data centers to…
By Seán Malone and John Sweetman August is the month that time pauses for 10-year-olds. Hitting a fly ball to left field? The ball seems to hang in the air forever, but maybe at 10 years old, we were closer to the ground than we are now. In August, a month with no holidays and nothing…
By Hugh Lord Kurt Cobain was born in Aberdeen, WA, to an abusive father and mother, by modern standards, and was a very sweet child until his parents decided to get divorced. This made Kurt rebellious and confused, then he dropped out of high school knowing he didn’t have the grades to graduate. In 1987,…
By Dave B This is a subject near and dear to all Islanders’ hearts. So where is your heart? I love the fact that cyclists come to the Island to enjoy our hospitality and beautiful yet hilly topography. However, our Island is nothing but two-lane roads with little bike lanes, except on Vashon Highway. Does…
By Pam “Gates” Johnson You have to be a friend to make a friend. As I get older, I’m realizing how true that old saw is. It was a lesson that took a long time to learn. So here we go into the way-back machine. When I first came to Vashon, the only person I knew…
By March Twisdale Throughout most of 2023, I wrote about the ubiquitous “transaction fees” that have quietly infiltrated our modern lives. I refer to them as “Bank Taxes” because they occur with all debit and credit card transactions, skimming money off the top of communities with every purchase. These are an unavoidable burden placed on…