Sick of Politics? Believe Me, You’ll Want to Read This From the wonderful online news source Salish Current in Bellingham, WA comes this heartening story by Nancy DeVaux. I promise you'll find inspiration here. Read, then tell me what you think!

Take heart: listen to Heather and Tim! www.youtube.com/live/5kqslmq...

Resistance Was at the Heart of This Year's QuiltCon indyweek.com/news/culture...

@ezraklein.bsky.social Please stop calling it the Department of War! Only Congress can rename a department. Using this faux name is simply obedience.

On Moviemaking, Motherhood, and Making a Difference No, this post isn't about Zohran Mamdani. (Well, maybe a little.) I'll skip straight to the moral of the story: if your adult offspring sends you a link, read ALL of it before reacting. That said, sometimes reactions can lead somewhere positive.…

Feeling helpless, watching the invasion of Minnesota? Here's an easy way to say, "I'm with you, stay strong." Donate to the folks keeping their neighbors fed as they hide from the ICE goons. www.zeffy.com/en-US/donati...

@davec3.bsky.social Looking to get hold of emails of CEOs of Minneapolis companies to push them to stand up more against the invasion. Already wrote the Target CEO. Can you suggest other names/emails?

“Loving Forward”: Why America Needs Rev. Dr. William Barber Now…and So Do I Do you recognize this man? Rev. Dr. William Barber If we were back in my childhood of the 1960s-70s, all watching the same 3 or 4 channels, everyone would know this preacher. Everyone would have seen him preaching, heard…

One Question for the Tuned-out Loved One in Your Family "I've tuned out," your adult son, your cousin, your sister-in-law tells you. "Politics is too f**cked up for me bother. And there's nothing I can do anyway." I hope the first thing you do is to support your loved one for prioritizing…

No Name, No Number, No Publication Outlet: My Cousin Puts her Father’s Auschwitz Survival Story on Kindle Fifteen years ago, I interviewed my LA-based cousin, Susi Kaminski Klein, about her experiences as a child survivor of the Holocaust. Over the course of four days, hanging out here on Lopez…

The Week Ahead open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

Ford Owner? You Can’t AfFORD to Look Away Right Now Dear Ford CEO Jim Farley, My name is Ol' Blue. I'm a 2003 Ford Explorer. In case you were wondering about my name... I've asked one of my humans to write this letter for me, as writing is a challenge--me being an SUV and all. After what happened…

A call to action open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport: More Than a T-shirt Slogan (Though it is a really good T-shirt slogan.) Really good shirt, too--thanks, Etsy!) This was my birthday present to myself, fresh from my Virginia-canvassing-and-family trip, and amped up--only a week later--by democracy's powerful…

My Democracy Anti-Panic Medicine: Read Joyce, Read Joyce, You Have No Choice/But to Carry On Not that Joyce. Nothing against Dubliners or Ulysses; I just don't think they'll help get you through another week of our current presidency. I mean Joyce Vance, author of this book that was waiting for…

The Tail That Wagged the Dog of our BC Trip: UBC in Vancouver No, The Mate and I were not touring a college campus in a fit of nostalgia for our parenting days. We had someone to visit. Meeeee! No, Oliver--Ollie to his friends, which we now are!--did not invite us to Vancouver. But Ollie's "dad",…

Disappearing Waterfalls and September Blackberries on Vancouver (“The Other Big Island”) Island You're halfway up Vancouver Island. You only have a few days before heading back to the mainland--not enough time to get out to the Wild West Coast, nor down to Victoria. Where do you go? How 'bout…

Be sure to register your opposition to this new barrier to voting! open.substack.com/pub/rightsan...

(Re)Discovering BC’s Discovery Islands: Quirky Quadra, Cordial Cortes Actually, Cortes Islanders would probably prefer that "quirky" label, while we found Quadrans (Quadrants?) plenty cordial. Either way, both islands, between BC's mainland and big Vancouver Island, became big highlights of our…

BC x 3: Bella Coola in British Columbia in Beautiful Canada For those of you who read my 2023 post on the various meanings of "BC"--don't worry, I won't subject you to more of that. I just couldn't resist a nod to one more extraordinary BC discovery. This place: Bella Coola, BC Since The Mate & I…

Trump’s FCC Threats Pushed ABC To Pull Jimmy Kimmel Off The Air. Free Speech Is Under Attack. open.substack.com/pub/ahmedbab...

Go Ahead, Take Tuolumne for Granite I hereby refuse to apologize for any granite puns. When you're in Tuolumne ("too-ALL-um-mee"), in the high country of Yosemite National Park, you'll know why. That's why. (Half Dome in the distance) The Mate and I hadn't been to Yosemite for--yikes, had it…

The Pacific Crest Trail: The Ironwoman Goddaughter & I Repurpose “PCT” You've probably heard of it, even if you haven't read the memoir Wild, or seen the movie, or hiked part of the PCT yourself. 2,650 miles, it stretches from the Mexican border to the Canadian. Think this is gorgeous? Wait till…

Alabama Shade: My Mini-Civil Rights Pilgrimage "Throwing shade" on someone is bad. So is calling something "shady." But in July in Alabama, the shade is where you want to be. Once my Amazing Mom had finished her track meet and we'd all gone out to brunch (at Waffle House, where else?), the five of…

Sweat Home, Alabama: My 90 Year-Old Mom Demonstrates Staying (Literally) on Track Into Your 6th Decade Look carefully at the number on my mom's back. USATF Master's Nationals, Huntsville, Alabama, July 19 2025 That "W 90" means what you think it means: the person wearing that number is a woman at…

Mamma Mia, Here She Goes Again, Again…Again! When You're 90, a World Record's Beside the Point gretchenkwing.com/2025/07/14/m...

Mamma Mia, Here She Goes Again, Again…Again! When You’re 90, a World Record’s Beside the Point Here's what my mom, Martha Klopfer, said about the upcoming USA Track & Field Masters meet in Huntsville, Alabama: "My intention is to show up and run my best on that day." This time a year ago, at 89,…

Hakeem Jeffries has begun his 8th hour of speaking in Congress! Support the man supporting us!

New England to New Scotland, Part II: “A Moose and a Whale at the Same Time” That's what we were told we might see, driving the Cabot Trail around Cape Breton. As it happened, we saw neither. But in our week up there, we never stopped believing we might. Here's why: To left: whale habitat. Center:…

New England to New Scotland, Part I: Sheep, Cousins, and Great Big Rocks gretchenkwing.com/2025/06/05/n...

New England to New Scotland, Part I: Sheep, Cousins, and Great Big Rocks "I have a week's vacation, use it or lose it," said Son One from Costa Rica. "But getting to Lopez Island and back would take 2 days out of that. Wanna meet somewhere else?" "Way too long since we've seen our New England…

This is the message Democrats need to hammer: While Trump and his family are making hundreds of millions of dollars in their crypto grifts corruptly selling access to the presidency, he's raising prices on Americans, telling us to ration dolls, and decimating small businesses.

Still Quake(r)ly After All These Years I know--Quakely isn't a word, but it fits the Paul Simon reference better than the actual word, which is Quakerly. Which is what My Sister The School is. My lil' sis, Carolina Friends School, turned 60 this year! Happy Birthday! (Photo by Taki Scoville) I…

Our Moral Moment w/ Bishop William Barber & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove ourmoralmoment.substack.com?r=1d4uia&utm...

Be it Ever So Humble: From Bright Blue Waterfalls to the Grey Girls and the Brown Boys To be clear, these are the Brown Boys: Who, us? That's Fino on the left, Raj on the right. They're all that remains of the small herd that's resided at Tierreich Farm in Durham, NC--a.k.a., the place where I was…