Olympia lawmakers are poised to begin discussions of a proposed “Equitable Ferry Initiative,” with plans to pursue legislation in 2027 to increase revenue while balancing personal responsibility among Washington State Ferry system users. Washington State is unique in that its ferries are part of the state Department of Transportation highway system. Known as the “marine…
By Deborah H. Anderson Three weeks ago, I was introduced before preaching on “Fasting as a Practice of Calling Down Justice” at an Ash Wednesday service. The Sister of the Cloth said “… And when she sings, it comes from a place so deep inside of her.” I was so grateful to hear that the…
[Jane–see image accompanying this story; I think it would go well in the print version too] By Gates (Pam) Johnson I have been asked this question about eight million times in the last, I’m going to guess, three decades. Not sure why it is such an interesting topic. Is “Gates” that odd a name that…
By Michael Shook Last month, we had a brief look at the history of human efforts to live communally, and how those did, or did not, work out. This month, we assess some of the life and work of the man perhaps most associated with modern Communism, Karl Marx. Marx was a man of prodigious…
By Dave B. I almost hit a deer the other day. The deer was in a pothole. All I saw were antlers as I slammed on my brakes just in time. Luckily for me (and the deer), the pothole was deep and saved its life. After the deer got out with great effort, I had…
By Seán Malone and John Sweetman Seán and I grew up on the beach and spent a lot of days just wandering aimlessly looking for edible or merely interesting sealife and valuable beach treasures, which our moms generally classified as “junk.” We had other diversions beside combing the beach. One was riding our bikes to…
By Daniel Hooker Recently a friend/acquaintance passed, Country Joe MacDonald, a Navy veteran honorably discharged who served from 1959-1962. Joe’s service to his countrymen/women continues through his gift called music. It has been documented in a film called “Woodstock” where between 400,000-600,000 “hippies / peacenicks” gathered to celebrate life, liberty, and not just the pursuit…
By Richard Odell Identifying points of origin is like picking up ice cream with one’s fingers. One never gets all of it. It might be said, however, the Farmers’ Market we have today began with some now forgotten young man selling oranges by the drop-off box at the post office. This marketing genius was soon…
By Anthony Latora As I prepared to move to New Mexico in June of 2016, I searched for an herbal book about the local plants I might encounter. After a bit of digging, I settled on “Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West” by Michael Moore. Little did I know that moving to New Mexico and…