While America’s Halloween may be about candy, pumpkins, costumes and horror movies, the holiday also traditionally celebrates those who have passed on and the importance of honoring their memory. Catholics celebrate All Saints Day. Celtic traditions celebrate Samhain and people in Hispanic cultures celebrate Dia de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead. ‘This is Whidbey’s’ photographer David Welton traveled recently with his son to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, for a photo workshop celebrating this important holiday. To get an idea of the experience, one may wish to watch the somewhat Disneyfied version of the practice in the popular…
Author: Kate Poss
Kate Poss
Kate's background includes a career in newspaper reporting in Los Angeles for various weeklies and dailies, including The Los Angeles Times. She was a frequent contributor to the online Whidbey Life Magazine. She is working on her third young adult novel with a writing partner. These days, besides working as a personal chef, she writes about the big and little issues that face our island. 'This is Whidbey' is her first publication.
While many of us don’t think twice about throwing food away, a community non-profit grows, gleans and accepts ‘rescued’ food to feed needy people of South Whidbey. Serving an average of 1,500 people a month, Good Cheer Food Bank receives a monthly average of 4,000 pounds of donated food. The worst cynics may scoff, saying giving food away only enables the poor to rely on handouts. But after visiting the bustling clean kitchen where good-natured food volunteers work together preserving donated and gleaned produce, it’s easy to see the wisdom in using this free resource. The reasons why people go…
On a blustery October Sunday morning folks gathered to honor our resident orcas, mourn the giant dolphins’ recent losses and ask our state representatives to let the dams down so the salmon can return. “We surely need all the pot stirring we can muster around the destruction of Mother Earth, taking care of the environment, and taking steps as a community to make changes that are well overdue,” said Melissa Koch, a Clinton artist committed to raising awareness for our land and sea. Koch, her partner Jamen Shively, and artist colleague Lauren Atkinson organized an orca-shaped mural composed of folks…
By Kate Poss Imagine a Langley realtor on a golden toilet seat in a rolling outhouse racing a nearly 97-years-young poet in a red-hot chili pepper on wheels. Realtor Gary Piper and poet Peter Lawlor hold a grudge match each year in Langley’s Soup Box Derby that finds the two friends rolling neck and neck to the finish line. This year Lawlor won by a nose, but suspects Piper let him win on purpose. Age before beauty? As Whidbey’s poet laureate who has published six books, including “Footprints” this year, Lawlor believes that writing a poem each day is the…
Even though they are more than a hundred miles away, smoke from more than 500 fires in British Columbia and others burning in eastern Washington has clouded our skies during the third week of August and has prompted the Island County Sheriff to declare a burn ban starting Aug. 20. Our air is unhealthy to breath. These sites showed the extent of fires in the American and Canadian West. They reflect a sobering wall of flame and smoke. Usually our island’s July and August weather is seductive. Its mild summer temperatures and mostly sunny skies, along with jaw-dropping views of the…