Posts published in “Uncategorized”

Copwatch is a peaceful kind of occupation. Tom and I sit at a table someplace where the street people can find us, and wait for them to come to us with their stories. We hope eventually we’ll have a database of cop stories that we can use to lobby for…

An appeal for Father’s Day, June 17, 2018 [Ed. Note: Marion Lardner, the 87-year old mother of Emily and a retired kindergarden teacher wrote this letter about the Administration’s policy of arresting and deporting undocumented parents and of separating children from families newly entering the US. She persuaded members of…

One effect of radical economic inequality is to make it difficult for those of us who have sufficient income to imagine how little it takes to push a person over the edge—or to keep them from it. The fact that small amounts of money can make a huge difference in…

After more than a decade caring for refugee and immigrant children as a pediatrician, [I find] stories of family separation the most difficult to hear. Children are typically silent and withdrawn as their caregivers break down in tears in front of me describing families torn apart by politically motivated incarceration,…

On June 3, KGHI radio in Grays Harbor broadcast the passionate talk that Reverend William Barber had delivered at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on May 1.  Some listeners had attended the original gathering of the Poor People’s Campaign, but it was helpful to hear to Reverend Barber’s words again, in…

Douglas Hofstadter, in the third volume of his philosophy of human consciousness titled I Am A Strange Loop, laid out a model of the mind he called the “careenium.” Rather than searching out “the seat of the soul,” he observed molecular interactions directing human action. If the brain is a…

A UN official who inquires about extreme poverty and human rights recently came to the US to check out our performance in those areas.  (1) He had some interesting things to report: “[Professor Philip Alston’s] visit coincides with a dramatic change of direction in US policies relating to inequality and…

Members of Congress were in their districts this Memorial Day, giving speeches about how much they appreciate the sacrifices of service members. But their constituents should take these fine words with more than a grain of salt. Just five days before the holiday, the US Senate passed a measure that…

Seattle June 11, 2018: Anti-nuclear activists called for the abolition of nuclear weapons in Seattle on the eve of the historic US-North Korea summit. Activists from Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action began their summer campaign against nuclear weapons by holding banners over Interstate 5 during the morning rush hour.…

Reader, I am Lucy Gonzalez Parsons. I was born to an enslaved woman in Virginia, in 1851, although I fashioned another origin story when freed. I claimed I was the daughter of Mexican and Native American parents. It has been said of me that personal history, or ethnic identity meant…

The July 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” helps us and our society understand how science works – and helps us push governments for smart and wise public policies based on honest science. In modern America, honest science is being attacked by gigantic business corporations in order to corrupt all…

History will remember In this latest Palestinian protest, the Israelis are murdering mostly non-violent civilian protesters by the score and maiming them by the thousands. They intentionally target the arms and legs of protesters so as to maim rather than kill. Maiming doesn’t receive as much public attention as killing.…

Alchemilla Feminist Economic Collaborative is a project of P.O.W.E.R. (Parents  Organizing for Welfare and Economic Rights), a non-profit organization that works to empower low-income people. What is Alchemilla? The authors gravitate to their own definition of Alchemilla: “A unified, feminist perspective, containing working foundational elements, sent to task in combinations that…

A warning about labels Liberals have taken a bashing over the last fifty years — earned in many instances — both from their left and most assuredly, although less honestly, from their right.  Radicals to the left of liberals have suffered a kind of guilt-by-association because of the persistence of…

I can read the labels, I know what they say but I still eat bananas, for pennies a day I kick a can down the street to Circle K and pay a buck thirty nine for fresh OJ I lie awake at the end of every day thinking of the…

This issue’s theme: The surveillance society I took a class in college in the 60s called “Totalitarianism and Society” (and the college wasn’t Evergreen). Totalitarianism is a political concept where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to control every aspect of public and private life wherever…

These rocks have been huffing in violent respiration for more than two and a half billion years and each astonishing breath has served up an ageless banquette of gigantic bowls and massive plates with saw teeth cutting the landscape and serrated clouds consuming the jagged cuisine. Rivers have joined the…

Twenty-some people who help directly and indirectly to make this newspaper possible met together in May to discuss ways to transition Works in Progress to a more sustainable mode. Lots of good ideas—now for people to execute them! For over a decade the person principally responsible for creating and shepherding…

I-1600, Universal Health Care for Washington State All month signature collection. Volunteer at www.wholewashington,org I-1631, Carbon Fee and Dividend Collect signatures all month.  Volunteer at Yes on 1631 (Facebook) Poor People’s Campaign rallies Mondays beginning June 2. See schedule in the article. Rock against Trump! Saturday, June 2, 6 pm at Capitol…

From the May reporting on the National Bail Out Collective:  The call  raised over $440,000 to help local organizers fight mass incarceration  This past Mothers Day, the contributions freed over 140 Black women from jail and gave them the opportunity  to reunite with their families, From the December 2017 WIP…

Emily Lardner “We are building a new story for Grays Harbor County. We are reclaiming our right to fresh food, to sustainable use of the land, and to an economy that benefits all of us, not just the few at the top.” How can a tiny vegetable farm change the…

The Harbor Roots story A rural logging and fishing community, with industry in decline, Grays Harbor County can feel isolated and forgotten by the rest of the world. When the timber economy collapsed, the region was left with very few jobs and little hope. But many of the people didn’t…

Walter Smith Last year, two Stanford researchers announced their automated process could analyze facial images and predict human subjects’ sexual orientation with much higher accuracy than human investigators guessing the subjects’ orientations. This discovery gives me pause, thinking of the dystopian possibilities it suggests. Sure, artificial intelligence like this could…

Staff writer From press releases A couple of years ago, then NFL starting quarterback and Superbowl hero, Colin Kaepernick decided either to remain seated or kneel during renditions of the Star Spangled Banner in support of Black Lives Matter, and to protest police violence against Black people. Bigger than football…

In the days and weeks following the 2016 Presidential election, people in our South Sound region and all across America got to work organizing, protesting, developing resources, planning actions, networking, and creating websites and Facebook pages. In the Spring of 2017, Olympia Indivisible’s original web developer Nono Burling was working…

The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice Building community and making room for joy For eleven years, the Rachel Corrie Gaza Sport Initiative has conducted football tournaments for juniors, men and athletes with disabilities. Thousands of spectators and hundreds of competing athletes participate each year. The initiative is unique…