Download as PDF IT Bike Commuter Winter Challenge February 1 – 28 It’s time to celebrate winter bicycling, with the Winter Bicycle Commuter Challenge! The Winter BCC runs for the whole month of February, with awesome prize drawings each week, and a bonus drawing at the end of the month…
Posts published in “Issue: February 2022”
For 27 years, YWCA Olympia has recognized community members leading change at the intersection of racial and gender justice. On February 19, Womxn of Achievement recognizes Elizabeth Satiacum and Ti’eri Lino. Elizabeth Satiacum is the Native American Coordinator at Puget Sound Education Service District (PSESD), where she works with over…
Every few months we read about another parcel of land being sacrificed for housing. The planned destruction of the forest near Evergreen and the ten acres of “non-forested” land at LBA Woods are recent examples and more will follow. Indigenous people have a different way of seeing the natural world.…
YOU WRITE TO WIP: The Port of Olympia investigation of Port Commissioner Amy Evans’ possible conflicts of interest has to be done by an outside group. The Port’s staff and their attorney answer to Port Director Sam Gibboney who has shown herself to be biased in this issue. We recommend that new Chair Bob Iyall select an independent investigator.
Our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is growing rapidly and the unemployment rate is low, yet there’s been a mass resignation by workers, an increased number of strikes, inflation is high and we are all experiencing greater stress and anxiety about the future. What’s going on?
Grifters get the money—grandma gets the boot On Halloween, 2021, six grandmas and one grandpa in a 16-unit apartment community received a notice from their new property management company. It said “120-day renovation notice” and referenced an upcoming rent increase. The notice was quite a shock, because over this last year, any…
“We call ourselves Housers,” said a former staffer of the Housing Authority of Thurston County. I had never heard the term before but now I had a word for the opposite of “Developers.” Housers build housing for people in need of homes and a place to live at a price…
Not surprisingly, statements pledging a new commitment to “equity,” and acknowledging the effects of racial discrimination began to appear in many public documents after the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the summer of 2020.
It wouldn’t be our style to have an entire issue, even a February one, devoted to flowers and Valentines, but if you look closely, love is a major player in this issue. But before we go there, here’s a question....
Not soon enough.... Just in time.... Not at all....
For 11 years, Thurston Santo Tomás Sister Community Association volunteers have donated time and energy to fundraisers that support young people in Olympia’s sister community in Nicaragua, who are pursuing education in the face of challenges from political unrest and ongoing economic crises.
PERSPECTIVE: In the January 2022 issue of Works in Progress, “Cassandra” wrote a perspective piece objecting to vaccine mandates. She compared restaurants requiring proof of vaccination to Jim Crow and called abortion rights “the mantra of progressive left voters.” Here is my response to what I found to be a thoughtless and irresponsible “perspective.”
Amy Evans won election to the Port of Olympia Commission in 2021. Evans is a Vice-President at Kidder-Matthews (K-M), one of Thurston County’s most prominent commercial real estate firms, which has regular dealings with the Port of Olympia. Evans took the lead with K-M Senior V-P Evan Parker in negotiating…
BOOK REVIEW: Lynda Mapes’ book opens with the heart-breaking story of Tahlequah, a member of the J pod who in 2018 touched the hearts of millions of readers as she carried her dead calf, who lived for only 30 minutes, for 17 days and over 1000 miles. Sharing in Tahlequah’s grief, the world was asking why. Why was her newborn calf unable to survive?
The Paycheck Protection Program provided $800 billion for uncollateralized, low interest loans of up to $10 million to businesses with fewer than 500 employees. These forgivable loans were administered through the private banking system. 94% of eligible firms took advantage of the program.
Window Seat Media is a community storytelling organization in the South Sound that uses oral history and personal narrative to spark conversation, connection, and social change. When it launched its Third Thirty Oral History Project to honor and amplify elder voices, Window Seat trained community members in oral history interviewing…
According to Project Equity, 85% of business owners do not have a succession plan. In Washington State, 49% of small business owners are baby boomers nearing retirement age. The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic—from safety restrictions and supply chain disruption to the “Great Resignation”— suggest the majority of small business…
What often makes a real difference in the lives of Thurston County residents are decisions about policies and projects made by the city councils, the Port of Olympia, and the county Board of Commissioners. To influence those decisions, residents are directed to contact their local appointed and elected officials directly…
WIP’s unofficial four-legged mascot, Greta Ahimsa Star, crossed o’er the rainbow bridge early this year. A service companion for longtime WIPster Scott Yoos, Greta was a familiar sight to Olympians, walking and bussing around town with Scott, faithfully delivering the paper and greeting her many friends. Our condolences to all…
LOOKING FORWARD: How dangerous is Trumpism? Are people not more rational, long-term, than this, able to reject much of Trumpism once the leader is out of power and not setting the agenda? To get insight into such possibilities, we examine what transpired in the Soviet Union with the rise of Stalin.
Almost all of the old growth forests that once populated the south end of Puget Sound have been logged. The South Puget Sound lowlands are now covered mostly by commercial and residential developments, agricultural fields, and industrial forestlands.