By Rainier Maria Rilke Translation by Marc J. Elzenbeck
Entertainment, Llaughing Llamas, November 2023
Llaughing Llamas Chronicles – November
Lately, I’ve been seeing a mermaid. We met online. She’s quite a catch. ~ What does a mermaid wash herself with? Tide. ~ What do you call a wreath of one hundred dollar bills? Aretha Franklins! ~ The media is a weapon of mass distraction!
Book Review, Children, Literary, November 2023
Book Review – Icon: A Novel
By Jane Valencia On Thursdays, I head across the water to an Eastern Catholic church where I am learning how to write (paint) icons – sacred images in the Orthodox tradition considered to be “windows into heaven.” I also happen to love juvenile and young adult fiction. Imagine my delight when I found “Icon: A…
Island Voices, November 2023
Legends of Vashon – The Lantern Man of Burton
By Tripper Harrison “Oh, man, I am NOT going out there alone again,” said Kemal. A university kid from Morocco who speaks several languages, his English was heavily accented, but correct as usual. “Please would someone walk with me to the Lodge?” Maybe because it takes so long in the summer, darkness fell without anyone…
Announcements, November 2023
Vashon-Maury Students Need Us, and We Need You!
By Anne Terry The Vashon-Maury Island Backpack Pantry Program was established in 2016 to provide weekend meals throughout the school year for students who experience food insecurity. This program is run completely by volunteers and operates under the 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax ID of Vashon’s St. John Vianney Parish. All donations go directly to purchasing food for…
Island Voices, November 2023
Sailing out of My Comfort Zone
By Suzanna Leigh Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years. Japanese proverb Why am I so terrified to take the helm today? We are coming into Fairhaven to tie the boat to a mooring line between two big yellow bouys. In all my decades of sailing, I’ve never tied up…
Island Voices, October 2023
Legends of Vashon – Whispering Firs Bog
By Tioga Webb I’m going to keep this vague, because I don’t want any trouble after all these years. If you were around back then, you can fill in the blanks. Some people say Vashon is all boggy spots, at least in the winter. The bog I lived near was called Whispering Firs Bog. It…
Editorial Page, October 2023
A Mousetrap for Billionaires
By Caitlin Rothermel It’s a serious sign of how culturally messed up we are that we so often defer to experts – sometimes even refusing to take advice from anyone who’s not an expert – while allowing wealthy generalists to claim they have real expertise across a number of areas. This is a big-picture problem…
Health Matters, October 2023
Support Your Immune System
By Jane Valencia Note: Links within the article are to articles and recipes previously published in the Vashon Loop. As we enter Autumn and the flu season, a responsible thing we can do for ourselves, our loved ones, and our community is to ensure that we ourselves are in excellent health. Here are three avenues…
Announcements, October 2023
Clothing Drive at the Food Bank
By Jane Valencia If you stop in at the Food Bank on most Wednesdays, you’ll come upon tables arrayed with clothing, sleeping bags, blankets, and other gear, available for free. Your host is Daniel Hooker, who is not only a humorist, offering jokes as he does here in The Loop pages, but, when asked, sharing…