By March Twisdale In 2021, my husband and I began to prepare for his retirement, planned for March of 2023. Most of my husband’s friends and family had already retired. They’d had no trouble. We expected the same. Then, we tried to create an online Social Security account, and couldn’t get past the first screen….
Literary
An Old Take on the Emperor’s New Clothes
If you blended Beatrix Potter with Stephen King, you might come close to Hans Christian Andersen. All three writers started life with severely limited opportunities. All three overcame those challenges through hard work, grit, and the necessary dashes of chutzpah and luck. And, all three focus (in their own, unique way) on the tough realities…
Editorial Page
“It Takes a Village” – In Action
“It was the truly international murder case that captivated the world.” This is how People Magazine described the media circus surrounding the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher in the home she shared with Amanda Knox in Perugia, Italy. Across the globe, millions watched, wondered, gossiped, and guessed at what truly happened on that…
Literary
The Endless Light of Life
If modern scientists are to be believed, when the star we orbit starts to die, it will expand into a red giant, becoming so large that it engulfs Mercury and Venus, and possibly the Earth as well. Until then, life will endure on our planet, and the vast majority of that life will be non-humanoid….
Editorial Page
Loop Upgrade – How You Can Help
Since its inception, The Vashon Loop has been two things: free to all and primarily supported by the Vashon business community. We aim to keep the first and change the second, and we are asking for your help to do this. Our reasoning is simple: The past three years have been extremely challenging for small…
Editorial Page
Code of Ethics – Delegate Carefully
When people talk about “trusting the experts,” what they’re really talking about is delegating decision-making to someone else. Sometimes this makes sense, sometimes it doesn’t, but in all cases … it’s an illusion. Our decisions are always our own, including a decision to follow another person’s lead. Life is challenging. Anyone telling you it isn’t…
Editorial Page
Code of Ethics in Action
Reflections on the SPJ Code of Ethics As a receiver of information, a reader of newspapers, a browser of magazines, a participant in social media platforms, a subscriber on YouTube, Rumble, Substack (and other platforms), a listener of radio shows and an all-around consumer of media … what does honesty look like to you? Isn’t…
Entertainment
Sometimes You Hear the Light
By March Twisdale Welcome to our new series, focused on Island Businesses that lie well outside of Vashon Town. For the Island newbie and the occasional visitor, this network of resources, services, professionals, experts, and knowledge is almost entirely hidden from view, and discovery is not easy. Many do not advertise. Some do not even…
Literary
Hard History = Powerful Stories
By March Twisdale Written roughly 100 years ago, Upton Sinclair’s novel, “The Jungle,” captures the breadth of human behavior, both then and now. There is an interesting fact about fictional stories. No matter how far the author’s imagination strays from what is considered real or mundane, the fundamental basis of their work, the world, the…