Submitted by KM Hills. On Friday, April 18, 2025, after enjoying dinner at a local Lakewood taco restaurant, located at Steilacoom Blvd. & Edgewater Dr., we headed home along the edge of Lake Steilacoom. As we drove past the boat launch I was surprised to see an empty lot, which the City of Lakewood now […]
To Ponder
Letter: The Beauty of the Tree
Each of them stood, alone, stunning against the sky. One overlooked the far reaches of the sea, its few branches bearing evidence of fierce winds sweeping in from distant and unseen places, gales coming across and up the rocky cliff, beating against all in its path, including the still-standing tree, resisting the onslaught. Another’s limbs […]
Letter: When Will We Learn? America’s Moral Collapse Behind Its Foreign Policy
Submitted by Greg Alderete. In yet another entanglement in the Middle East, the United States finds itself waging war by proxy—or directly—in Yemen. We’re told it’s about regional stability, about threats, about protecting our allies. But beneath the rhetoric lies a much older, more troubling story: America, once the self-proclaimed beacon of democracy and peace, […]
Letter: Where Home Is
John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” resulted in a five-minute standing ovation at its premiere at The Cellar Door in Washington, D.C., one of the longest in the venue’s history (“Behind the music”). The song was popular even in East and Southeast Asia, “Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoa River” being “almost heaven” anywhere someone is […]
Marijuana and Your Oral Health: A Joint Problem
Submitted by Dr. Jeff Reynolds. Washington state has long been a trailblazer when it comes to cannabis. The Evergreen State was the first to legalize marijuana for recreational use in 2012 and medical use has been legal since 1998. While state residents have been riding that high, they also could be doing long-term damage to […]
Lakewood Planning Commission pushes back on tax incentive to replace trees and shops with apartments
Summary of the following post: The majority of Lakewood Planning Commissioners voted Wednesday, April 16, 2025 against including a stretch of Gravelly Lake Drive in a tax incentive to promote multifamily housing. Their recommendation will go to the City Council for a final decision. There will be more said, this time by the public, at […]
Shadows in the Green: A Near Tragedy in the Tropics
Submitted by Gregory Alderete. The CH-47 helicopters descended like creatures from a bad science fiction film—massive, noisy, and otherworldly. As they landed, the U.S. Army infantry flowed into their steel bellies, packs bulging, faces streaked with camouflage, and eyes set on the unknowable. I stood apart, an observer—a field advisor assigned to coordinate with a […]
Letter: Oh, What a Morning!
Mary gathered her skirts about as her sandaled-feet became a blur of motion, a red-cloud of Palestinian dust billowing behind as she, with “the other Mary” – a close second – flew down the path from the empty tomb to where the huddled and fearful disciples were gathered a half mile away. Someone called out […]
Letter: The dangerous simplicity of Pete Hegseth
Submitted by Gregory Alderete. In the closing chapters of a declining empire, history warns us to beware of men who mistake valor for strategy, and ideology for wisdom. The appointment of Pete Hegseth—a television personality, former infantry officer, and purveyor of jingoistic platitudes—to the position of Secretary of Defense is not merely reckless. It is […]