By Claudia Hollander-Lucas This poem is inspired by a train ride I took from New York City to Washington, DC in early April last year. The seasons morphed in the frame of my window from bare limbs on budding shrubs to fragrant huge blooms on the evergreen Magnolias that line many streets and yards –…
Entertainment, January 2025, Poetry
Haiku Comic – While The Crescent Moon Sleeps
By Laura Jones Introduction from Jane Valencia Recently, my friend Laura Jones shared with me some comics she had created for an online Haiku Comic class with David Lasky. I was captivated and charmed, and asked if we could print one. Though traditional haiku has three lines containing 5-7-5 syllables, not all haikus stick to…
Entertainment, January 2025, Llaughing Llamas
Llaughing Llamas Chronicles
By Daniel Hooker Amelia, a librarian at the Vashon Library, said that she ate a synonym roll yesterday. It gave her the saurus’t throat she ever had. ~ From Chad at the library: What is Grumpy of the Seven Dwarves’ favorite bread? Sour, d’oh. ~ From a checker at Thriftway: Q. Have you heard about…
December 2024, Editorial Page
DispatchHealth Adoption
Investor and Warren Buffet partner Charlie Munger famously said, “Show me the incentive, and I’ll show you the outcome.” The quote serves as a rule of thumb when thinking about business and performance metrics, shorthand for how human behaviors can be profoundly altered by what at first glance may appear to be minor changes. Recently,…
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, Legends of Vashon
Going Shopping in ’78
Legends of Vashon By O.S. Van Olinda This account of a day’s shopping in 1878 is from the diary of a fifteen-year-old boy, whom I shall call Bill Jones. His real name is John Smith, but he might not wish that his identity be disclosed. Bill’s father was among the first settlers on Vashon Island,…
Book Review, December 2024
Book Review: Discovery of Geminus
By Neil Orint Earth has a magical twin, and it is called Geminus. While on Vashon Island, 15-year-old Henry Brooks discovers Geminus, a twin world to Earth powered by spirit and magic instead of materialism and technology. He travels to this new land with his friends Kate, Max, and his faithful dog Rocky. Upon his…
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…