Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Those of us who listen to NPR heard recently about research into the bill length of our Pacific Northwest Anna’s ...
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The air in Thurston County is changing as we transition from spring to summer, students graduate, and arts companies close their 2024-25 ...
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By Rachel Benton
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6/4/25
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Individualized Educational Program (IEP) meetings can feel like a blur of goals, data collection, evaluation findings, service minutes, mysterious acronyms and educational ...
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By Shannon Sankstone
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6/2/25
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A walk in the neighborhood can be a gardening seminar. There’s so much to learn from other people's front yards, and if a neighbor or two happens to be outside ...
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There are countless wild wonders in Olympia’s 19.69 square miles — rolling hills, bubbling artesian springs, and beaches of gravel, sand, and mud — but much of this beauty is out …
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I always expect incredibly diverse and high quality art in Thurston County, and I love that our artists always keep their creations interesting and ...
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By Rachel Benton
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5/28/25
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On the last day of April, there were approximately 30 Washington legislative bills signed into law in Olympia.
One of the bills was House Bill 1046, which now provides civil immunity for …
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The flowers are blooming. The sky is blue. The birds are chirping.
And if you’re a parent of a child in special education, it’s time to prepare for ...
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By Shannon Sankstone
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5/26/25
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Back in the day, calling someone a pansy was an insult. It meant weak and wimpy. For boys or men, it meant effeminate. Today there are many newer and more pungent insults to choose from. But pansies ...
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We have two members of the goldfinch branch of the large finch family here in Thurston County — the American goldfinch and the lesser goldfinch. All finches are seed-eating birds with a conical bill ...
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Imagine you're competing in a spelling bee and the judge gives you the word, “Art.” Reading it right now, the task seems easy, but nerves take over and you need to ask ...
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By Rachel Benton
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5/21/25
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Here I am in May, writing in the hopes that my and your October is a little calmer and happier. Despite being monikered Shantober (it’s my birthday month) ...
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By Shannon Sankstone
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5/19/25
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In 1990, Olympia’s Yashiro Japanese Garden opened to the public, but because it’s tucked away behind walls along a five-lane street with fast-moving traffic ...
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These tiny insect-eating warblers are perhaps the most amazing of all our Thurston County breeding birds. They weigh less than one-half ounce yet manage to migrate hundreds and sometimes thousands of …
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What I cherish about the arts scene in Thurston County is the sense of originality that electrifies its core.
This week’s column celebrates the originality displayed in Olympia Little …
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By Rachel Benton
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5/14/25
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Almost all of us have heard it (yes, pun intended), the famous philosophical quote that — “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” …
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Hope springs eternal … and readers, it is SPRING! SPRING should always be in all caps, in my opinion. And you know what is really giving me hope lately?
I’m seeing more and …
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By Shannon Sankstone
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5/9/25
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This week I found myself humming a tune from a song in the musical "Camelot." These are its opening lines:
“Tra la! It's May! The lusty month of May! That lovely …
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Growing up as a choir person, I will never forget the words to the song “Part of that World” from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.” I remember countless moments when we …
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By Rachel Benton
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5/8/25
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Recently I received a message from a regular reader and was immediately reminded of my first-ever bird identification.
On a sunny morning in May 1977, I was living in an apartment along ...
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