We had put a great deal of effort into our humble monastery, located inside a home in residential Richmond, California. But after the dramatic drug raid at a neighboring house – including a helicopter with spotlights – I prayed that we might be permitted to find a new monastic home in a rural location. The…
Island Vehicles, Island Voices, January 2025
Island Vehicles: When Oil Filters Attack
By Marc J. Elzenbeck Motor oil contains hydrocarbons, detergents, viscosity enhancing agents, and after being used in an engine, fine metal particles. It is not recommended for skin care. But if it sprays you in the face, it imparts a nice supple feel for a week or so. Running an errand in Seattle, my route…
December 2024, Island Voices
Santa Loves Cigars!
By Seán C. Malone and John Sweetman As very young children, Christmas was always an exciting and wondrous time, but not for the same reasons that adults experienced. We were totally taken in by the family and church gatherings. Religious rituals, stories, and experiences were just taken for granted. We did have the eminently logical…
December 2024, Editorial Page, Island Voices
Boys Save the World
By Andy Valencia Even as an old dude, I still remember bits of my own boyhood. Parts were great, and parts were terrible. But I thought I should mention the thing that really sticks out in my memory: Boys are the greatest force for good in the world. The odd part is that, mostly, modern…
December 2024, Island Voices
Re-read, Re-connect, Re-ligion
By Michael Shook “Christmas is coming” … I don’t know if the goose is getting fat, but some of us undoubtedly will add some, given all the delicious, butter-laden food that is such a wonderful part of the season. We should also grant that, for those not fond of wet, short, cold, and dark days,…
December 2024, Island Voices
Making Christmas
By Suzanna Leigh In Oatman, Arizona, the gold-mining ghost town where we were living when the boys were small, there were no malls, no blaring of tired old Christmas Carols, no Salvation Army Santa’s jingling bells on the street corners. Actually, there were no street corners to speak of, unless you count where the pot-holed…
December 2024, Island Voices
Tuesday Morning at the IGA
By Pam (aka Gates) Johnson One of the great things about aging on Vashon is Tuesday at the local IGA. If you are on the south side of 50 – or is it 55 – you get a 10% discount on your entire order every Tuesday. This is a serious bonus if you, like me,…
Island Voices, November 2024
KC Council & Executive: CUT IT OUT, Will Ya?
By Bernie O’Malley, Vashon Mayor 2016 Rural Vashon Town has great charm in its own unique Island way. Yes, rain, shine, chilly, or all of those, just see the hundreds of “visitors” on ordinary Fall and Winter weekends. Five thousand people in September to see Stupid Bikes, 2,500 for October’s CiderFest, 3,000 to see Santa…
Island Voices, November 2024
No Man Is an Island: The Power of Community
By Seán C. Malone and John Sweetman “And let’s try a wee dram of Laphroaig,” I said to Seán. A rare bottle of this peaty, rare single-malt came about as the result of a trade between us. The trade details are obscure but somehow involved a battery for his vintage Ford for a bottle of whisky…
Island Voices, November 2024
At the (Old) Movies
By Michael Shook Though I fancy myself a modern-enough person – apart from my animus toward cell phones, which has nothing to do with modernity and more to do with a desire to be nominally present, at least, to what is going on around me – I have nonetheless always felt drawn to other ages,…