A life time ago, I was president of the Tacoma Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees). I was invited to a meeting about the economy and Christmas. Helen Mader and six or seven other people along with me gathered to discuss the situation. Our community was still in the doldrums with Boeing layoffs and on top […]
Blog
Wide Open Spaces and the Love of Camp & Counseling
Campers and Camping means the enjoyment of nature and living! Growing up in the 1950s meant camping out. Usually we would travel to either the dunes and scrub brush near Ocean City with our Whitworth relatives, or to Packwood with our neighbors the Bidisons. Millersylvania State Park (just south of Olympia) was a great memory […]
Pain, Massage, and Relief – Thousands and Thousands of Years in the Learning
It used to be fairly common to see images of Egyptian hieroglyphics and paintings depicting physicians healing with massage. Most people can tell you exactly where they hurt: shoulder, lower back, knee, foot, and other locations. Plus they can also tell you that rubbing or massaging these areas relieves the pain . . . for […]
Across the Fence: Branches of a Saint
Every year since I remember, my mother used to buy some budded, bare branches on December 4. They were most often willow or hazelnut branches, as these seemed to bud pretty much as the earliest in Germany. They looked somewhat austere; and they were usually placed into a puristic designer vase on a medium height […]
Letter: Living Their Nine Lives
Cats have nine lives because they have a death wish. Running in front of cars, needing rescue from a tree or housetop or letting their curiosity get the best of them, they dance with their own demise. Our cat Tilly – short for Atilla the Hun – is a feline who has, maybe, six lives […]
A Minidoka Christmas – Stories of Japanese Internment in World War II
In May of 1942 approximately 7,390 Americans of Japanese descent from Western Washington and Alaska were sent to the Puyallup Assembly Center on the Western Washington Fair grounds. This temporary facility, called Camp Harmony, was part of a system of internment camps set up for Japanese Americans. Later they were sent to War Relocation Authority […]
Letter: “Ten And Two” – The Gift Of Time
My father taught me how to drive a car. On a huge, abandoned slab of concrete I maneuvered the car through a course defined by the weeds which grew in the many cracks. There was nothing to hit that would damage the car – or dent an ego, either. “Just keep your hands at ten […]
Letter: Severely Restricting Religious Freedom During COVID-19 Is Not An Intolerable Act
Seeking repeal of the so-called “Intolerable Acts” of 1775, the first Continental Congress sent Britain’s King George III a petition for redress of grievances which in turn led to Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” speech. But severely restricting any of our freedoms, including religious freedom, during COVID-19 is not an intolerable act. Pushing religious liberty […]
Doing the Right Thing with Steve McQueen at The Mangrove
The American King of Cool, Steve McQueen died over forty years ago. There is another Steve McQueen, however. This one was born in West London. His heritage is Grenadian and Trinidadian. This Steve McQueen was the first Black director to take home an Oscar for best picture (2013’s 12 Years a Slave). Peg and I […]