By Caitlin Rothermel What’s brought Russ Baum, a central Indiana-based touring musician, to Vashon’s Strawberry Festival? It started with a long-distance friendship formed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is part of a bigger story about the ways musician-audience engagement changed, quite suddenly, during that time. Baum describes his music style as “folk-rock, Skamericana,” that also…
By Caitlin Rothermel Since 2001, the Northwest School for Animal Massage, run by Lola Michelin and her husband, David Cota-Robles, has trained students in the art and science of animal bodywork. In 2011, the school relocated to a scenic 12-acre property north of Vashon town, and now welcomes between 80 and 120 students each year….
By Caitlin Rothermel This spring’s 2025-2026 session of the Washington state legislature has pushed the envelope in terms of how much state government should spend and how little the public needs to be involved in the process. The final 1,366-page 2025-2027 proposed operating budget totals $77.9 billion and was released with barely a day to…
By Caitlin Rothermel On Vashon, conversations about health happen everywhere, all the time, and go well beyond the typical topics of diagnoses and drugs. We discuss what we eat, where that food came from, how we move, and how we want to age and ultimately die. At a time when conventional healthcare can feel increasingly…
By the Vashon Loop Editorial Board Try as we may to deny it, there is a problem, and we know it. Vashon has an oxygen (O2) crisis, and our situation may actually signal an unrecognized issue for the entire region. The world first took notice of greenhouse-gas-induced climate change in the 1970s. We were asked to…
By Caitlin Rothermel Walking into Giraffe, located in the heart of town, always gives me that peaceful feeling of entering a special place. Every corner is so carefully arranged. The store’s warm tones are so inviting, making me feel both restful and attentive. When I visited most recently, soft yet peppy Malian music was playing in…
Control, Acrimony & Taxes! By Caitlin Rothermel Washington state politics are absolutely lit this year. To start, we are broke. As a state, we are broke. Only after the November election did we learn that Washington has at least a $12 billion deficit – maybe more like $15 or $16 billion. On his way out the door,…
By Caitlin Rothermel An interview with Tracy Chait, owner of “Refill Vashon” and “Golden Afternoon” Can you tell us about your background and what inspired you to start Refill? It’s hard to pinpoint just one thing – it’s been a journey of many threads coming together. As a teenager, I was part of an Eco club…
By Caitlin Rothermel Will you pick a word for 2025? Choose a word that captures what you want to aim for this year. Applied well, one meaningful word can act like an anchor, helping to focus your thoughts and align your subconscious mind with your intentions. Different than new year’s resolutions, which force you onto…
By Caitlin Rothermel Last month, we ran part 1 of our interview with Dr. Marli Parobek, a Vashon resident and doctorally prepared nurse practitioner who is board-certified in family practice and psychiatry. Dr. Parobek previously developed and managed a voluntary inpatient medical rehab/detox center at the Astria Toppenish Hospital in Yakima, and is currently the…