Black Lake District residents have submitted a petition to the Thurston County Commissioners asking for the dissolution of the current Black Lake Flood Control District (BLFCD). More than 200 residents from across Thurston County submitted a supporting petition requesting that the County create a Lakes Management District in place of the BLFCD.
Posts published by “Esther Kronenberg”
Many people who qualify as homeless do not live on the street or solicit donations with a cardboard sign. They have full or part-time jobs, live in cars or tents, or lodge with others in dwellings designed as single family units. Among them are over 40,000 school-aged children in Washington...
Another unarmed black man was killed at the hands of police last month. Marchers took to the streets, fists in air. The mother and father of the victim cried on TV. And countless other parents of black and brown bodies shuddered at the thought of this crime visiting upon their sons’ heads someday...
At a US Special Forces camp near Kandahar, Afghanistan, on December 5, 2001, the Taliban offered an unconditional surrender. They would disband and disarm: a military force would no longer exist. George W. Bush ignored the offer …and continued attacking the Taliban until the end of his term. If only in…
On Tuesday June 29, temperatures in Eastern Washington farm communities including Ephrata, Wenatchee and Yakima rose above their highest recorded levels, reaching 116 degrees in Ephrata and 113 in the other towns. Farmworkers in those communities and across the state endured the brutal heat with little protection or respite....
(In 4/4) Listen —a sharp snare cracks A simple rock fill strides down On the toms boom, daboom—boom. Right foot plows the kick—exactly. There’s wild prancing singing up front But built on this groove. Do you ever wonder, How long in the pocket Can one stay? It’s a mystery, Only…
In the last column, I reviewed the movie Imperium based on the experiences of undercover FBI agent Mike German who infiltrated white supremacist organizations, as related in his book Thinking Like a Terrorist published in 2008. Here we shall see how the author approaches the problem of terrorism, in contradiction…
Requirements for this $150/month position are: A commitment to overseeing the distribution of WIP to over 30 locations in Thurston and Mason County every month as soon as the paper is delivered from the printer Reliable transportation to deliver issues in Olympia and beyond Coordination between team members to ensure…
An August article about Olympia’s Hearing Examiner, highlighted his role in a case where citizens were appealing a new zoning ordinance adopted by the City. The HEX had rejected the group’s appeal, leaving the ordinance intact. The article pointed out that when the citizen group took their case to the…
A Place to Reflect • GarageBand for iPad • Black Hills Audubon Annual Picnic • Variety Show Auditions • Become a Gleaner • "Walls Tell Stories" Walking Tours • Join Orca Board of Directors...
In 1994, students in the master’s in public administration program at The Evergreen State College tried to characterize the future (our current) historical epoch. Few would argue their forecast, twenty-five years later, was inaccurate.
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...