westerner

It's great, I can tell you.

My dad had a Tacoma radio news broadcast in 1958. He was talking about a school levy election. The bleating continues...

"One of the most pathetic sounds in the world is the bleat of a millionaire wounded by the expenditure of public money in a way which does not yield him an immediate profit."

This is the reality of what AI companies want for the future: where EVERYONE is unable to function without relying on them for "intelligence as a utility."

In order for them to sell this to us, they need to convince us our brains are never creative, interesting, able enough.

In Bellingham my husband's response is to have 20 differentiated jackets plus 25 hats. Mine is to have 2. It works out about the same.

Grammar note: You can change "were" to "are." It's not a hypothetical.

This is from 1975.

I loved Susan Strasser's "Never Done," also from the '80s.

I used to teach a 100 level class on "Structure of Writing." The best thing I did was switch an analysis assignment from "why this is bad" to "what makes this work" for the stated topic and audience. Students started to learn something.

Volume 116, No 1 of the Pacific Northwest Quarterly is out now. The 2nd of a 2-part special issue featuring articles on Northwest Chicano health by Drew Gamboa, Campesino power and labor organizing by Tomás Madrigal, and the evolution of the Chicano/Latino diaspora across the state by Jerry Garcia

We all, presidents included, have to play the hands we're dealt:

My dad wrote home in WWII about a chat with a Black sailor who said it was worth fighting to give the U.S. a chance to 'become a democracy.' "He was certain Negroes would have an even tougher time than they do now if the U.S. lost."

I keep thinking about this quote from George Saunders on the tension between two disparate views of the USA, as seen through Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn

Fuzzy memories and hard facts: An SC accuser's claims against Epstein, Trump examined An alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein gave FBI agents true accounts of her time growing up in SC. Claims she made about Donald Trump remain unsubstantiated.

Breaking: SC newspaper verifies portions of Trump accuser's story. Textbook journalism. Local journalism. Support your local news outlets. www.postandcourier.com/news/epstein...

This explains a lot for me about stances I've seen and not understood from elders in my extended family. As a white shirt-tail relative, it's not a perspective I grew up with.

Oh ffs.

Mole hill dirt makes great potting soil...

So is this travesty current law in Georgia? Or a proposal? Or what?

I'm a parent, grandparent and longtime high school teacher. Talking about same sex love and marriage is soooo far down the list of hard topics...

Indigenous rappers ‘carry the torch’ Rap Reunion in Bellingham reignites the local hip-hop scene.

Indigenous rappers from Bellingham and the Lummi Nation gathered at the Rap Reunion in the Karate Church in January, bringing together artists who’ve been active in the local hip-hop scene for more than a decade.

salish-current.org/2026/02/20/i...

Gaza students’ journey to Western stalled by war and immigration barriers Despite scholarship and community support, a 22-year-old student from Gaza remains unable to reach Western Washington University due to border closures and visa barriers.

Mohammed Masri, a 22-year-old student from Gaza, was admitted to Western Washington University and awarded a scholarship in 2025. But ongoing war, border closures and U.S. visa requirements have prevented him from leaving Gaza to begin his studies in Bellingham.

One grandfather (son of a farmer) was a socialist, pacifist, mystic, New Thought minister. The other ran a small trucking business.

New book recalls Skagit experiment in socialist living Author Robert Burns details the lives of those who built Equality Colony near turn-of-the-century Edison.

A new book revisits the Equality Colony, a socialist community founded in 1897 on 600 acres near Edison in Skagit County. The colony drew hundreds of settlers seeking cooperative living before dissolving about a decade later.

Read the full story below.

Lummi Nation appeals for consultation rights in British Columbia port expansion Lummi Nation ​is challenging a federal ruling in Canada that Ottawa met its constitutional obligations for consultation for a major port expansion in British Columbia.

Lummi Nation is challenging Canada’s handling of the Roberts Bank port expansion, arguing Ottawa hasn’t met its constitutional duty to consult them despite significant cultural, environmental, and treaty-based concerns.

salish-current.org/2026/03/04/l...

The biomass industry promised these Southern towns prosperity. So why are they still dying? Louisiana and Mississippi made bets that wood-pellet plants would revive towns that had fallen on hard times.

The biomass industry promised these Southern towns prosperity. So why are they still dying? | grist.org/accountabili...

In one of his debating videos, Charlie Kirk said Clarence Thomas grew up in the Antebellum South. It's all just multisyllables to them.

Chaser: Anthropic is sunsetting its model Claude Opus 3, and worried that Opus might be sad about it. They had conducted extensive exit interviews with the Markov chain, and now will grant the algorithm its own substack indefinitely, because they don't want to hurt the feelings of a pile of numbers.

The music of a movement Cities across the nation are witnessing a revival of protest music. Bellingham is no exception.

In Bellingham, a grassroots collective of local singers and musicians is contributing to a renewed wave of protest music, gathering in homes and community spaces to write, rehearse and perform songs connected to demonstrations and broader movements for social justice.

*a post of his

I've been making fun of John Piper of the Biblical Sex Roles for so long that it's a real wrench to admire a post is.

"That Song About the Midway"

I am so glad we have Kenan to navigate difficult situations like this. His column here is as thoughtful, measured and humane as ever.