Submitted by John Arbeeny. On 13 November 2023 the CPSD Board was briefed on Lochburn Middle School by Principal Carla Estes. This briefing can be viewed on Youtube at 42:35 on link below: While Ms. Estes has been Lochburn’s principal for 3 years, the EDI philosophy she espoused has been around since 2018. So how […]
To Ponder
Hold On to Your Chocolate Bars
“In chocolate there are nuanced shades of black, veiled mysteries of taste, abysses of pleasure.” – Fabrizio Caramagna Fabrizio Caramagna is an Italian writer and aphorist. He was born in Turin in 1969. He grew up in the Italian countryside with his grandparents, where he spent a happy childhood, developing a particular sensitivity for nature […]
Letter: The Family Room
Life happens in the family room. It is often the scene of laughter and joy and celebrations with and for our family on birthdays, Thanksgivings, Christmases, and other get-togethers. Within the room is the entry to the broom closet and pantry, the door to which has served through the years as a never-to-be-painted-over record of […]
In the Book Nook with … Terry Persun
Author Terry Persun from Port Townsend, Washington, owns a marketing services agency. He has been writing since he was in grade school. His first published poems came out in the early 1970s, his first novel in the early 1990s. Terry has received multiple awards, including two Book Excellence Awards, a Silver IPPY Award, a Star […]
Macbeth Came with a Warning at Pacific Lutheran University
Don’t worry too much about the Macbeth review. The play was a short run . . . an enjoyed run, but still short. Take a look at our comments and consider visiting PLU for entertainment. We look forward to seeing more productions. As an adult, I think I have only seen three PLU productions. As […]
Letter: The Role of Public Comment in County Hearings Is Deliberately Being Violated
Submitted by Claudia Riiff Finseth. At their public meeting on November 15, the Parkland-Spanaway-Midland Land Use Advisory Commission voted unanimously to recommend to the Hearing Examiner to deny the placement of the county executive’s priority project tiny home village on the Spanaway Wetlands. They ultimately felt, as the greater community feels, that high density development […]
Letter: Death Is Not Too Late for Those Left Behind
“You Decorated My Life” (thank you Cheryl Pine for sending this to me), was Bob Morrison’s Grammy-winning song which began as a poem written by Debbie Hupp, a love song which became a No. 1 hit when recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers in 1979. The lyrics describe what happens when the love of […]
Across the Fence: Sprachgefühl
We all know the power of gifts as well as of weapons. But let’s ponder that of words. Because there are so many nuances to what has to be ascribed to something Germans call Sprachgefühl (approximately pronounced ‘spruh-ga-fool), the feeling for language. This term has actually made it into the English language because it describes […]
Honey and a Little Mead Competition
While waiting to have my eyes checked I was reading the September/October 2023 issue of Smithsonian. The headline “MEAD” IT’S NOT JUST FOR VIKINGS caught my eye. I’ve had experience with mead, so I was interested in what the Smithsonian had to say. Mead has been drunk for over five thousand years by Greeks, Africans, […]