By Suzanna Leigh If you asked me now if I love Jesus, I would probably say something like “Yes! and also Yeshua, and Isa and Buddha, and Quan Yin, and every other Spiritual representation of all-encompassing love.” Years ago, when I was a hippie in Hawaii living in a Christian commune, it was Jesus, Jesus,…
By Seán C. Malone and John Sweetman Seán and I talked about our story and came up with the idea of our early money-making jobs. It turns out that Seán had been involved for some time in a “pen pal” arrangement with some young literate persons and had pursued this; his story follows mine. In…
By March Twisdale Today, on Vashon Island, most people police themselves and their speech. Reticence to express full and honest opinions has become the norm. I know this because people tell me it is so. A woman slows to a stop in the middle of the road, calling out to me, “You’re March Twisdale, right?…
By Mike Ivaska What does it mean to be “from” somewhere? Do the places we are from still exist? If so, in what sense? And if not, should it matter? Like any good, self-respecting longtime Islander, I have been known to wax philosophic about the way Vashon “used to be.” Even as I sat to…
By Suzanna Leigh Beside me, Steve holds his cat Bunny gently, wrapped in a blue bathroom towel. We are driving to the Fair Isle Animal Clinic. The glow of love emanating from the two of them fills the car. This may be Bunny’s last day. When Steve called me first thing this morning, he was…
By Suzanna Leigh James and I were still living with the evangelical Jesus-loving Pilgrims in a mansion on Hilo Bay when it happened. One day while James was in school, I hitchhiked into Hilo to buy some watercolor paints and a roll of rice paper. Karl and his partner, who had so generously put us…
By Gates (Pam) Johnson Tomorrow morning at o’dark thirty I will be off to the hospital for my hopefully first and last cancer surgery. Seems like it has been a long journey to get here, but in reality it has been about two months, give or take. Those months have been filled with super highs…
By Richard Odell Some among us get trees like a disease. Big boys are especially prone, but big girls get it too, sometimes. The psychosis might simmer for years, before it really starts to roil. I’d always been a plant guy, and I liked trees well enough. Wanted to see more of them, hated to…
By Michael Shook In previous pieces about Communism, we saw how its foundational Marxist doctrine renders the individual null and void, and declares that humans are infinitely malleable. Such a doctrine readies the ground for a system that is free to ignore the sovereignty, both individual and collective, of the people living within it. Such…
By Daniel Hooker Three From Debbie at Ace Hardware: Q: Why do the French eat only one egg for breakfast? A: In French, one egg is un oeuf. ~ Q: How many nihilists does it take to change a light bulb? A: It doesn’t take any, because why should they change the light bulb? It’s…