By Alex Soriano
July 2024, Legends of Vashon
Legends of Vashon – 40th Secret Mud Bog Anniversary
By Marc J. Elzenbeck As with many great ideas, it started with a Ford Bronco and a keg of beer. On a Friday night before the Strawberry Festival, several earth-movers and excavators were gathered around a job site after knocking off work. They happened to be parked near an old peat bog pond west of town,…
Commentary, July 2024, News
Is SIHB Telling the Truth About Their Plans?
By Katy BallardThere are many concerning zoning changes that Islanders should be paying attention to. Let’s start with the proposed zoning for drug rehab and psychiatric hospitals. Whether you’re for or against the proposed Thunderbird Drug Treatment Center at the former Vashon Community Care (VCC) building, can we all agree that the truth matters? It is…
Arrival Stories, July 2024
What Brought You (Back) to the Island?
By Stephen Buller Where do a Michigan farm girl and a Detroit city boy go to start a family? For my parents, the answer was Vashon. I was a baby on the go, born in New Hampshire, moved to a Decatur, Michigan farm shortly thereafter, and made my way to Vashon by the time I…
Commentary, July 2024
Goodspaceguy: A Perennial Candidate
By Andy Valencia f you’ve been a voter in Washington for more than a few years, you have seen a candidate calling himself “Goodspaceguy.” In fact, if you’ve lived here 10 years, or 20, or 30, or even 40 – you’ve been seeing him on your ballot. Since 1980, he’s run for public office 21…
Commentary, Editorial Page, July 2024
Controlling Your Mind
By Andy Valencia What would you guess your political view is worth? What would it cost to change it? The 2020 election could have gone differently if just the right 100,000 voters had voted differently. Given that our federal government prints $1 trillion dollars every three months or so, you could easily justify spending $10…
Announcements, Editorial Page, July 2024
Being a Reader and Writer for The Loop
Two years ago, in a garden, a wish arose to provide a print space for community conversation and the sharing of ideas. “The Vashon Loop” lay fallow. Perhaps we could relaunch it? Long story short, the rebooted Loop is nearing its two-year anniversary. We thank our readers, writers, advertisers, and financial supporters for making these…
Island Voices, July 2024
Friendship Grows with Song and Ceremony
By Erin Durrett Drums in hand, we stand on the edge of the central tidepool at Point Robinson and watch a tiny speck afloat on the East Passage waters just off Redondo Beach. A great blue heron is fishing nearby, and we watch it take a bit of a fish just caught by two otters….
Island Voices, July 2024
Innocence and Demons, Part 3
By Michael Shook Kirttimukha, Face of Glory, is a demon in Hindhu mythology who symbolizes the monstrous nature of life and the glory to be found in realizing that this is just how life is, and discovering how to live in it. Read more about Kirttimukha in Part 1 of this series, published in May…
Island Voices, July 2024
Peace is the Goal, But How Do We Get There?
By March Twisdale Authors Note: Written in collaboration with Jane Valencia, Island queer community residents, business owners, and others impacted by recent events. No matter how you slice it, a pitchfork mob is to be avoided. Lately, we seem to be forgetting this. Most are familiar with the story of “Beauty and the Beast.” In…