authors

A Ride on a Trustafarian Sailboat – By Joe Tougas

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I was just getting set up for some focused work with the One Shot sign paint, my paper pattern, and my brushes, all laid out on my workbench. Without warning, there was a series of taps on the shop door. It was not an aggressive banging like you would use to wake the occupants of a house on fire. It was more like the friendly beeping that Northwesterners use to greet friends while driving down the street. It was a “shave and a haircut” rhythm. I put down my brush and went to the door to see what was going on. It was my friend Trip, a happy-go-lucky guy who was a frequent visitor on that bustling section of 4th Avenue . . . “Listen bro, this is a once-in-a-lifetime event—a meteorological trifecta. The tide is just right for sailing out to Hope Island, going out in the morning and coming back in the afternoon. Wind speed and direction are perfect, and this sunshine, my god! . . .” 

Jolene Unsoeld Tribute – Anna Schlecht

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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. 

Acres of Clams – By Joe Tougas

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The message of the song resonated with a sense of abundance and generosity that made an impression on young people . . . That sense of abundance was also captured by another phrase from Indigenous culture, popular with tour guides and waterfront developers: “When the tide goes out, the table is set.” You can imagine how that sentiment would be received by young people from back east or California ending up in Olympia and hearing stories of going down to the beach and coming back with a gunny sack full of  free seafood delicacies. 

Funding Social Change Work: the Community Sustaining Fund – By Anna Schlecht

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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?

Lu Hall Helped Others Step Forward – By Becky Liebman

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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 Book Store – By Carol McKinley

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This was the mid-1970s. Feminism and a growing number of feminist writers spurred the founding and growth of women-owned and operated presses. These were small businesses started on shoestring budgets by dedicated women willing and eager to get the words of feminist and lesbian philosophers, historians, novelists, poets, and artists into the public sphere. As a bookseller, I wanted to get their books to readers.

Unstoppable Unitarian Women of the 1980s – By LLyn De Danaan

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My tribute here, however, is not to the church itself but to the several women whom I might never have had the opportunity to meet if not for the church. Carol Fuller, the first woman superior court judge in Thurston County, Jocelyn Dohm, founder of Sherwood Press, and Meta Heller, a former D.C. lobbyist, tax reform and antinuclear activist . . . were among those whom I admired. They were outspoken, farsighted, community-minded, and determined to work for justice. Two I want to especially remember are Gladys Burns and Kay Engel.