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Posts published in “Issue: February 2021

Diagnosing the 2020 election malady

The author is a veteran of five decades of electoral work. His goal for 2020 was to take the Senate for Democrats. He agreed to work in Montana, a Trump state, but where the popular Democratic Governor was challenging a first-term Republican. He spent the last three weeks before the election leaning into cold winds from the mountains, talking with the dispersed voters of Montana. It turned out the headwinds from the Biden ticket were so powerful that they crushed the life out of the workers’ hopes for the down-ballot race. 2020 ended in Montana with a Red sweep. Here is Jeff’s diagnosis of how to cure the illness before the next cycle

Will the US sign the treaty?

The nine countries that have held the world captive to the threat of nuclear war are losing moral ground to 122 smaller countries that approved the world’s first nuclear weapons ban in July 2017. Once 50 of those 122 approving countries completed the ratification process of the UN Treaty for…

How to submit your writing or art to Works in Progress

Works in Progress is a community resource, so please take advantage by submitting your writing, drawings or cartoons.
Our priority is to focus on stories that are ignored or misrepresented in the mainstream media, especially those that relate directly to our mission.  Informed opinion pieces are welcome, especially when accompanied by facts, examples and sources. We like articles or stories or reflections that relate to the issue outlined for the theme, but that’s not necessary. Once we receive a submission we will contact you if we are interested in publishing it.

Mental health in the time of COVID Experiencing grief, loss and isolation

As we enter the “darkest hours” of the winter, each of us copes with isolation, social distancing, anxiety, grief and loss from the effects of the pandemic. Many in this area experience SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, the absence of sunshine. The pandemic has layered new symptoms on mental health issues…

Salud en tiempos de COVID

Nuestra experiencia de duelo, pérdida y aislamiento Al entrar en las “horas más oscuras” del invierno, cada uno de nosotros está lidiando con el aislamiento, el distanciamiento social, la ansiedad, el dolor y la pérdida por los efectos de la pandemia. Muchos en esta zona del país se enfrentan al…

An exercise to shift from fear to calm

We’re all familiar with suggestions for countering occasional feelings of anxiety, fear and depression such as taking a walk, listening to music or reading something uplifting. All are helpful but they may not go far enough in harnessing the power available to us to create a physical shift in our feeling life.

Telephone of the Wind

This telephone from times past appeared mysteriously on a tree in Priest Point Park in January.  It is there now with a sign inviting anyone to make a call – a call that allows you to connect with someone not otherwise available, or to speak your mind, even to connect with your own emotions.

West Bay Woods

Once you’ve walked the streets of your neighborhood more times than you can count, there are two trails on Olympia’s westside where you discover the magical shelter of the West Bay Woods. The West Bay Woods is a special kind of park, on land purchased to protect and restore habitat…

On the inseparability of race and class

Towards the end of his life, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. began arguing that racism, poverty, and militarism must be addressed as interrelated issues, as a package, in order to create a more equitable society. Many scholars today claim that connecting those issues is what led to his untimely death.

COVID-19 and the Crisis of Racial Capitalism

The escalating COVID-19 pandemic impacts all of us, but for Black and brown people in particular, the combined health and economic devastation is truly terrifying. Communities of color have higher rates of asthma, less access to health care centers, are more likely to live in food deserts, and are among…

A way to hold the past in your hand

The National Archives at Seattle holds 56,000 cubic feet (1 million boxes) of permanent records, including documents and artifacts from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska. Access to these documents and artifacts is particularly important to genealogists, historians, writers, and others who seek a more intimate understanding of and connection with our region’s past.

Biden ends discriminatory policies affecting travelers, immigrants and refugees

President Trump and his advisors used their power to stop people from majority Muslim and other disfavored countries from entering the US, and to get rid of people from those and other countries who already lived here.  Trump’s “travel ban” first prohibited people from six countries from coming here and…

Thoughts on the Theme — Time — February 2021

There’s a sentence that has stuck in my mind for years. I think it was in a book written by Richard Wright (the author of Invisible Man), but I’m not positive. This is the sentence: It’s not that we don’t know what to do. It’s that we’re not going to do it.

Community Spotlight — February 2021

WA Notify ♦ Gilda Sheppard and Simone Nicole Savannah ♦ Film: The Commons ♦ Garden raised bounty ♦ Just Housing Workshops ♦ Mutual Aid Partners ♦ CIELO ♦ Creative Writing ♦ Glen’s Parallax Perspectives ♦ West Central Park Ground Breaking