By March Twisdale You may have noticed that young folks working the register tend to automatically assume customers will pay with a card. This happened at C&P Coffee a few weeks ago. As I was tapping on the screen, my brain started to ping at me. Only when I handed my $20 bill to the…
Editorial Note: In this article “Know Your Home Waters”, the Vashon Loop reports on information which is in the possession of the Vashon School District. Such information includes items such as a report from a professional investigator and parent statements. The Vashon Loop reminds our readers that none of this has been tested in a…
By March Twisdale We need people who know the job. If I were running for the school board, this would be my first and primary focus. What is my role? My duty? My obligation? Who do I serve? We need people who can hold power responsibly and gently. Power is scary, because coming along right…
By March Twisdale When we hear something said often enough, we have a human tendency to believe it is true. This is known as the illusory truth effect: Hearing or reading a claim, especially repeatedly, makes you more likely to think it’s true. And it’s used against us, again and again. When businesses hire advertisers…
Abuse happens. How we respond determines whether the abuse is effectively stopped. Or whether a pattern develops, as the abuse is tacitly allowed to continue. On Thursday, April 27th, Vivian Lyons read a letter at a Vashon Island School District board meeting, written by one of two women who have co-filed a formal complaint against…
Awhile back, I began to question my credit/debit card habit. It felt like a convenience – with a hidden cost – and I wasn’t the only one to notice. “Keep Cash Alive” and “Cash is King” have entered the public sphere, along with several reasons for returning to good old-fashioned paper money. For me, two…
Our society champions the “freedom to love who you wish” with great consistency. The movie “Loving” portrays the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose arrest for interracial marriage in 1960s Virginia began a legal battle that would end with a historic Supreme Court decision in 1967. The documentary film, “The Case Against…
Local experts, inspired by Yellowstone National Park, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, have formulated an innovative plan to simultaneously curb Vashon Island’s growing coyote and deer populations. “These intelligent and adaptable animals now manage to occupy almost every conceivable habitat type, from…
The path leading to my first gun purchase has been long. It began in the summer of 1992. I was a young, healthy, and carefree college student, riding my bike along the American River Bike Trail in Sacramento, CA every day, to and from college, work, and just for the fun of it. Until the…
Centuries ago, when the colonists decided to throw off the yoke of British control, they were faced with a monumental task. Create, seemingly from scratch, a new government system that might serve the interests of the people better than most or all previous attempts. Of course, the founding families and their supporters didn’t pull ideas…