It’s hot and the water is cool and wet! A new spray park in Olympia’s Westside has become a gathering place for people from nearby neighborhoods. From toddlers to elementary schoolers and up—that’s the action in Woodruff Park this summer. There’s a picnic shelter, restrooms and trees making enough shade…
Posts published in “–”
It’s like Chatham Strait writes in his article about the Evergreen State ferry moored at the Port of Olympia. The boat is daily decaying at its berth, but to us it looks the same as it looked 66 years ago.
Art ‘N The Alley * Music at West Central Park * Empowerment camp for girls * Tour of Bigelow House * Women’s Rights Day * Trees Action Group * Olympia City Council * Regenerative bioregional culture project * Free movies and stuff on the waterfront * South Sound senior centers* Glen’s Parallax Perspectives
BACKPAGE: Key tax rules. Who really pays the taxes.
THOUGHTS ON THE THEME: What does it mean, “the ballot or the bullet”? When we first thought of the theme for the July issue, we were thinking about Malcolm X’s declaration that 1964 “would be the year of the ballot or the bullet.”
INTERVIEW: Christine Yorba is part of a coalition of educators from the North Thurston Public Schools (NTPS) working for meaningful teaching around equity and anti-racism. She recently talked to WIPster Matt Crichton about her experiences with the implementation of that goal at NTPS.
…attention 3 Percenters and Proud Boys.... ...a new tactic to nullify the First Amendment right... ...with friends like this... ...just stop complaining!... ...Jeff needs help with childcare!... …One dollar, one vote...
Six Thurston County artists with the support of Thurston Climate Action Team (TCAT) met with members of the public on June 26 to imagine and plan for a large climate justice mural to be painted in Olympia in the coming year.
Toward a happier, healthier community Each year, the Community Sustaining Fund (CSF) awards funds to local groups based on applications in the Spring and Fall. The Fund is supported primarily by people contributing via the “Round Up at the Register’’ option at the Olympia Food Co-op; and in recent years…
Resisting nuclear build-up at the ballot box—or in the street Citizens of Washington State consistently vote for government officials who support building and stationing nuclear weapons in our state. In the 1970s, Senator Henry Jackson convinced the Pentagon to locate the Trident submarine base on Hood Canal. Senator Warren Magnuson…
I think back to instances where the real state of America, so flagrantly defined, stood unabashedly before us, baring itself for all to see. I often referred to my husband’s favorite sports team as “Team Xbox” which caused unrest in our home. I could not stand the corporate take-over of…
The Farm Workforce Modernization Act would likely lead to enormous increases in the number of workers brought to the US by growers.
Washington is known for having a strong economy; however, even before the pandemic, one in four Washingtonians struggled to make ends meet. Obscured by the one in four number is the fact that those who are Black, indigenous or people of color in Washington are sometimes two to three times as likely to live in deep poverty as those who are white.
WIP still has funds from our “Readers Review” grant. Each month we publish a list of books (see right column). If you’d like to be considered to review one of them, email us and put BOOK REVIEW in the subject line. We will buy the book (or reimburse you if…
BOOK REVIEW: If you were walking by your favorite independent bookstore and saw the title Mirage of Police Reform: Procedural Justice and Police Legitimacy, by Robert E. Worden and Sarah J. McLean, you might think what awaited you between the covers would be a look at the many cycles of proposed police reform of the past few decades.
My last column discussed the movie Imperium, about the infiltration of white supremacist groups by FBI agent Mike German. The commercially available disc of this movie has some extra features, one of which is an interview with the producers and German. They make the crucial point that many white supremacists…
Wild Grief is an Olympia-based non-profit whose mission is to facilitate peer groups for teens, young adults and families who are grieving a death by creating the space for sharing, connecting and healing in nature. We do this because we know and have witnessed that nature heals.
POETRY: Blackbirds carry tear filled carnations wrapped with green fern leaves, twisting together memories...
In late May, artist Kathy Gore-Fuss brought to fruition an idea that had been building in her mind for months – an outdoor art installation addressing the physical and emotional losses of the pandemic. Gore-Fuss and other artists wrapped thousands of flowers onto the surface of a large stone sculpture…
Master Gardener Plant Sale ♦ Wild Grief Teen Day Hike ♦ Solar panels at Farmers' Market ♦ Restoring watersheds ♦ Estuary Explorers ♦ Big Brothers/Big Sisters ♦ Abolish Nuclear Weapons ♦ Stonewall Youth 30th! ♦ Washington: Easy to vote! ♦ Glen’s Parallax Perspectives ♦ Music at West Central Park
On a given Tuesday morning last month, anyone traveling on or around Franklin Street in downtown Olympia would have beheld a curious spectacle.
Over the past seven years or so, the city of Olympia has offered a variety of incentives to several developers to invest in “market-rate” apartment buildings downtown. One of the most lucrative offers is an 8-year exemption from property taxes for the building’s owner.
Our city leaders keep telling us that building more market rate housing will help moderate real estate prices. More supply brings prices down. Thousands of new housing units have been built in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater in the last year or so—including many of the sought-after single-family homes. It won’t be long until…
The news lately is that businesses just can’t find people to fill the jobs they’re offering. But it’s not a sign that people don’t want to work, it’s a sign that something is wrong with the American economy. Businesses have become addicted to a low-wage economy—one that contributes daily to…
In Thurston County, the need for advocates for children who have been relinquished to the foster care system is intensifying. Local volunteers who work with children in foster care report that the pandemic has affected children’s welfare in ways that may be unseen.