Submitted by Sam Ahn. Hi I’m Sam. I’m the son of the owner of the Lucky Food Store on Hipkins Rd (right next to the Jack in the Box). After everything the business endured with the Hipkins Road construction, I never imagined we’d be facing the same nightmare again so soon. But here we are—another […]
To Ponder
Across the Fence: Turner and Turnverein
Have you ever run into a turnverein (pronounce: ‘toorn-fuh-ine) or a turner (pronounce: toornah) over here in the U.S.? The former means gymnastic club, the latter gymnast. And both are Germanisms in the English language. I haven’t met any so far. In the U.S., the connotation has become something different from that in Germany. As […]
Letter: The last school bell
Submitted by Greg Alderete. By 2029, the traditional American school system was a relic of the past. The grand brick buildings, the morning rush of school buses, the clamor of crowded hallways—all gone. In their place, an entirely decentralized learning system had emerged, one where education was tailored to each child’s intellectual capability, interests, and […]
In the Book Nook with … Cyndi L. Stuart
Author Cyndi L. Stuart from Harstine Island in South Puget Sound, Washington, just recently sold an artisan farm in Puyallup where she and her husband ran a small nursery and pottery studio. After years spent as a garden speaker and horticultural writer, she now teaches an online continuing education class, The Journey from Idea to […]
Letter: Want better Cascades passenger train service?
Submitted by Breck Lebegue MD MPH, WA Physicians for Social Responsibility. Amtrak Cascades service in Washington just received a boost of positive new energy with House passage of ESHB 1837. Senator Nobles co-sponsored a companion bill in the Senate that did not advance, so the House bill now needs to also pass the Senate for […]
Letter: There Is a Place
Looking back down on the way I had come I knew the return would be tough. What got me here was going to be repeated. What goes up must come down. But for now, I rested. The view stretched forever. A snow-covered mountain glistened. The sky was eternally blue. A range of steep, forested hills […]
Letter: Side By Side
She knows I love to hike, though saunter is more the word that describes our pace. Because I am irresistibly drawn to places where beauty, wonder, and awe abound, to be inspired as with Descartes’s portrayal of wonder as ‘that sudden surprise of the soul,’ (“Wonderstruck – How Wonder and Awe Shape the Way We […]
Letter: The Last Appointment
Submitted by Gregory Alderete. Mara sat in the waiting room, staring at the flickering fluorescent light overhead. It buzzed, a low, monotonous hum that filled the silence between the occasional coughs and shifting bodies of the others waiting with her. No one spoke. There was nothing to say. She had spent the last decade chasing […]
Let’s Talk! – A Field of Butterflies
Are you ready to switch off your screens and ponder or discuss another writing/conversation prompt during dinner tonight? You want to know about my thoughts on it? Here’s my take: Isn’t this a pristine image? A field suggests something quiet and peaceful. Butterflies are usually something beautiful, ephemeral, therefore somewhat precious. A field of butterflies. […]