By Daniel Hooker Right now, the stories we are being fed are conflicting and dividing us. We are just human beings, trying to have happy daily lives, enjoying the peacefulness of our communities. Vashon Island, with its diverse cultural and artistic nuances, is our home, and our neighbors are our friends. We have to remember…
Children, February 2026, Fiction
The Story of Tomtomtidimiddletom, Part 6
Tom is a weed who has grown up on the bumper of a car, rooted onto a bit of dirt he found caked in a crevice. He has traveled widely as a stowaway, but recent months have been peaceful. Tomtomtidimiddleton – Illustration by Jane Valencia Tom was familiar with his car’s trips to a terribly…
February 2026, Island Resilience
Lyndsey’s Conservation Conversation
By Lyndsey Braun-Palmer There’s something grounding and reverent about the process of cleaning skulls – carefully removing the layer of tissue to study the animal’s bone structure. Each skull has its own anatomy, subtle differences that make every one unique. It becomes a quiet moment of respect, curiosity, and reflection. This one is my blacktail buck from…
Entertainment, February 2026, Llaughing Llamas
Llaughing Llamas Chronicles – February
By Daniel Hooker Does anybody remember the chiropractor joke I told? It was about a weak back. ~ Everyone knows that Albert Einstein was a genius. But did you know that his brother Frank was a monster? ~ I met a friend the other day with my dog. I was telling her a joke, when…
February 2026, Poetry
Poem From “Grief Age Love”
The following poem is included in a new anthology of poems written by over 30 Vashon poets, and edited by Jeanie Okimoto of Endicott and Hugh Books. ~ tail end of winter lighting the wood stove with the obituary page ~ Michael Feinstein is a writer and poet living on Vashon Island.
Island Resilience, January 2026
Lyndsey’s Conservation Conversation
By Lyndsey Braun-Palmer Moss at my side, foraging along forest paths, the smell of damp PNW air filling my lungs – this is what settles my soul, ties me to the land, and brings me back to myself.
February 2026, Letters to the Editor
What Language Can Do: A Student’s Experiment
By Sri Lakshmi Happy New Year! May every day be filled with beautiful fuel for your next trip around the sun. It’s a great time to be a student. An even better time to study communications. Last September, our president inspired me to enroll in college. As part of this communication study, we students chose a…
February 2026, Island Voices
Giving Up Hopelessness for Lent
By Mike Ivaska The church I pastor has historically had, at best, a tenuous relationship with the church calendar. The generation before me was iconoclastic in every way. Many were former hippies and, in their own words, “recovering Catholics.” When I started at the church, we practiced Advent (the season leading to Christmas), Christmas Eve,…