On June 23, and continuing for eight weeks, 14 Seattle Metro downtown buses are displaying the following paid advertisement declaring “Twenty miles west of Seattle is the largest concentration of deployed nuclear weapons in the United States.” Included in the advertisement is a map showing the proximity of Seattle to…
Posts published in “Uncategorized”
Policy changes that matter The most recent incident I’ve seen of a police officer shooting a Black person was reported by Nika Wright on July 19 on the Common Dreams website. According to Wright, and now more widely across news sources, Charles Kinsey, a caregiver at a group home in…
The carnival rides and games, food, parade, and fireworks are all highlights of Capital Lakefair, a five-day festival that began 59 years ago in downtown Olympia. It’s gone through a lot of changes over the years, but maybe there’s room for just a little more change. About 100 entries from…
A thick strand in the history of U.S. policing is rooted back in the slave patrols of the 19th century. Patty rollers were authorized to stop, question, search, harass and summarily punish any Black person they encountered. The five- and six-pointed badges many of them wore to symbolize their authority,…
The actions of men and women, part 1 The Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges once stated that heaven and hell seem to be out of proportion because, according to him, the actions of men do not deserve so much. That may be case for divine justice ruling the afterlife, but…
Las acciones de hombres y mujeres, parte 1 El escritor argentino Jorge Luis Borges dijo alguna vez que el cielo y el infierno parecen estar fuera de toda proporción, ya que, según él, las acciones de los hombres no merecen tanto. Ese puede ser el caso de la justicia…
Today is warm spring day, the end of school is drawing nearer and nearer, and my homework load is getting lighter and lighter. In fact, spring just happens to be my second favorite time of the year. I would like to say that it’s my favorite time of the year,…
Our survival is on the line. As we all know, the US presidential campaign has divided many in the progressive community. Our news team has worked hard over the last year covering the Democratic presidential primary. Many of our long-time supporters are not happy with us and our extensive coverage…
Did you know? Did you know that you were the gasp of air between my every breath? The tip-tap to my every step Love captivating my every sense Your heavenly scent lingered on my neck From where lips have last been… The notes on my five line score Finger stroke…
No one farm can afford to distribute to places where immediate point-of-purchase occurs At this writing, I’ve just returned from the Olympia Farmers’ Market, now in full season. Although the Market was open all year on Saturdays, and open weekends from October through December, now four full days of…
Because everything is broken in this country of squandered and pillaged dreams, even the sonnet’s usual bliss can’t right it all in fourteen jagged lines. When all remains said and undone, this sonnet will list like the Andrea Doria, mortally wounded off the stone coast of New England,…
In support of Palestine and farmworkers On May 31, 2016, students at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington voted overwhelmingly to endorse resolutions expressing support for freedom and equality for Palestinians and labor justice for migrant workers at Sakuma Bros farm in northern Washington State. The three resolutions asked…
(for those departed and surviving in Orlando and everywhere) I am struggling now to comprehend how I still have one after all the opportunities I’ve had to die with my hands at the wheel after too many drinks in bars while I waited to become my uncloseted self.…
I might add a few words to Wes Prang’s “What we love…” [published in the June 2016 issue]. Not only is it for love of money that we must forbear, it is the addiction to power that serves its purpose. I speak not of the power of Government, although tattered…
Annual effort honors South Sound women and a business making positive impact in the community (OLYMPIA) – They have changed policy. They have increased access to education. They have stood in the face of adversity. They have empowered women. They are Women & Businesses of Achievement. YWCA Olympia is…
I want to provide some validity to the possible legal arguments of claims for Roger Calhoon and also Steven Wayne Tafoya, who is also waiting trial in our Thurston County Jail for driving without a license. I first became intrigued by Roger’s plight due to the possible denial of a…
For twenty-four years in a side yard in bucolic Ashfield, MA, my friend Jan Freeman has held a sacred ritual on the 4th of July outside her home, which also serves as the headquarters for Paris Press, a homegrown publishing mecca she founded for the sole purpose of putting and…
Evergreen Faculty Commencement Address — Spring 2016 Good afternoon, I would like to begin by sharing a poem. While I am not the author of this poem, the poem resonates with me in a particular way, I offer it today as a lens for understanding the content of what I…
Call from a tree One of the reasons I supported Bernie Sanders’ bid to be president was the clarity with which he said we have to address climate change. In late June, a federal district judge in Wyoming, Judge Scott W. Skavdahl, overturned the Department of the Interior’s ban…
Recently (June 6), one of the Downtown Strategy Meetings that the City Council and Mayor do, was disrupted by us. We wrote this up as a way to explain why we did this as well as expand the narrative outside of the article that The Olympian put out. The city of…
Stopping the refugees One of the main factors cited for the June 24 vote by UK citizens to leave the European Union (EU) was the feeling that neither the EU nor the UK could manage the flow of immigrants into the EU. Given the EU’s incompetent, ad hoc, and often…
“Why are we using the word Palestinian? There’s no such thing as a Palestinian person,” Brooke Goldstein declared to enthusiastic applause at a meeting of key Israel lobby operatives in New York in June. [A video of her statement can found on The Eletronic Intifada website.] Goldstein is the director…
How to prevent fossil fuel train derailments The following is a prepared statement to the Port of Vancouver Commissioners on June 14, 2016. I’m here to address three people as you approach a decision. I do so as the current local incident commander on what for my community is still…
Business-backed lawsuit filed to halt Tacoma ballot initiatives Two local business organizations, together with the Port of Tacoma, have joined in a lawsuit to halt the ballot efforts of Save Tacoma Water, a citizen conservation group. In addition, the plaintiffs ask that Save Tacoma Water be ordered to pay the…
Those killed–28 males,10 females and two unidentified persons–were generally young. Male victims had an average age of 29 and females had an average age of 31. Twenty-five of the males were 25 years old or younger. Five of the ten females were 25 years old or younger. Three were 60…
Olympians arrested in Anacortes opposing climate change and fossil fuels: Twenty-one Olympia area climate activists with Olympia Confronts the Climate Crisis went to protest fossil fuel expansion at Tesoro Refinery...
Comments on presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s malodorous feminism Learning from others is anti-American, even if it could benefit women Occasionally Hillary Clinton is inclined to tell the truth. One of those sparse occasions took place in the early 90’s when she reassured Larry King that “there is no Left in…