Our troupe came together organically and by serendipity during a time of economic recession and political and cultural turmoil. We were an unusual, evolving group of mostly white, creative, working-class, young adults who wanted our perspectives to be heard. Our hard-working collective created or produced 17 plays on a shoestring from 1975 until 1981.
I arrived in the spring [of 1981] and didn’t really have a plan, just hoped the universe would take care of me. I had my guitar and my flute, headed to Percival Landing, and put out a hat. usking was slow that time of year, but a wonderful woman came by and offered to let me play in her coffee shop for tips and snacks: first gig, Café Intermezzo.
For several years in the ’70s, the folks at Cold Comfort hosted what they called a Harvest Festival . . . One of the highlights of each of these gatherings was firing up the sauna . . . “I was standing in the shadows, observing the scene as the cloud of smoke and steam began to dissipate and the circle of joyous celebrants around the altar began to reassemble. I saw the most amazing sight. One of the glorious bodies stepped into the candle-lit circle and stood for a moment lit by the sparks from the holy fire . . .”
In the 1980s, local activists found the need to go beyond bake sales to create a more reliable form of funding for the many social change projects underway in Olympia. And Paul Cienfuegos had ideas of how to do it . . . How can we raise money collectively and sustainably through our own progressive activist community . . . how could we fund that good work?
She was the most effective, least bossy woman I’d known. In my memory of her, she took up such little space and instead helped others step forward, which definitely included me in my formative years. In the scheme of things, her work was pedestrian. Her name is not widely known in Olympia. Yet, she quietly helped shepherd the Olympia Farmers Market from its inception through its first tumultuous decade.
The biggest protest I recall being involved in with CAAC and CISPES was in fall 1989, during an uptick in the war in El Salvador and after the Salvadoran military had killed six people at a Jesuit home there. Both priests and their housekeepers were brutally murdered. This news intensified the nature of the protest and increased our numbers in front of the federal building on Capitol Way . . . an Evergreen student and I “cased” the building a couple days beforehand, looking for appropriate offices and possible entrance points.
Gladys Burns was a mentor and a dear friend to me. She, Mary Moran, and Margie Reeves supported me and many other parents and children in our community. She taught me to be an organizer for support systems for parents. She said all parents need to ask for help and she encouraged me to do so.
Jolene slowly emerged above the water line in the world of politics, going from what she called, a “citizen meddler” to getting elected to the Washington State House of Representatives in 1984. Then in 1988, she was elected to become our congressional representative in the US Congress where her first act was signing on to what was then called a Gay Rights Bill.
Not sure how to start this but I guess I just will start with the twins. Kirk Russell was living in New York City when his twin brother Tom was located in Washington state. Early in the 1970s Tom went back to New York to pick up Kirk. He told Kirk to pack his stuff and come with him, which he did.
Thomas Wilson Nogler passed away while helping a friend clear brush. Tom was known to family and multitudes of friends as an involved, educated, tireless pillar of the radical progressive community. He was a constant figure on the streets and in meeting rooms, from City Hall to the Artesian Well at the Cop Watch station and on picket lines