Contributors

Olympia City Council Passes Resolution Protecting BIPOC Transgender and Non-Binary People

18

Sep

0 Comments

City of Olympia, Columns, Contributors, Tracey Carlos

Olympia City Council Passes Resolution Protecting BIPOC Transgender and Non-Binary People

At their Tuesday, September 15th business meeting, the Olympia City Council passed unanimously a Resolution to Address Injustice and Harm of BIPOC Transgender and Non-Binary People. Each council member read a section of the resolution, which includes several actions for the city to take. Read the full resolution here. The first item was simply that Black Transgender and Non-Binary Lives Matter. It seems simple, but the truth is, as mentioned in the top section of the resolution, that 10 Black Transgender Women were murdered in the United States between June and August 2020 alone. They are more likely to experience…

18

Sep

By Mindy Chambers

0 Comments

Columns, Contributors, Mindy Chambers, This and That

This And That

A bit more on facemasks and campaign donations: The hot, new campaign look sparked by trend-setting candidate for Governor Loren Culp appears to have caught on locally. According to his report to the state Public Disclosure Commission, Thurston County Commission candidate Gary Edwards shelled out nearly $270 for facemasks. For the purchase, perhaps he used some of the $1,000 campaign contribution from a local marijuana retailer, which advertises some amazing events including "Munchie Monday is here again! Who doesn't love to kick back with some stoney snacks," and an upcoming Halloweed sale. That contribution is a bit of a surprise: In 1998,…

17

Sep

By Mindy Chambers

1 Comment

Columns, Contributors, Mindy Chambers, This and That

This And That

Putting your money where your mouth is… literally. Back in June, Republican candidate for Governor Loren Culp left no doubt how he feels about the now ubiquitous facemask, the fashion statement of 2020. "I will not comply with Jay Inslee's unconstitutional and ridiculous mask requirement. We need a real leader in Olympia, not a dictator." So it's a bit of a puzzle why his campaign expenditures filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission show he's spent about $5,000 on facemasks of some kind. Here's one example of what $15 will get you. Despite masks' lack of popularity among the Culp…

13

Sep

By Mel Wilde

1 Comment

Columns, Contributors, Features, Mel Wilde

Mel Wilde

Hello! My name is Mel Wilde. I use she/her pronouns, and I am a white cis queer lesbian. I have lived in Olympia since I was ten years old, and I have watched Olympia grow and change as I have grown and changed. I love this town I am proud to call it home. Like any home, I hope that it gets remodeled every once in a while. I hope to shape this place into a more equitable home for us all; by writing, by protesting, and by being unwaveringly myself. I grew up working-class, raised by a single mother…

13

Sep

By Paul Peck

0 Comments

Contributors, Features, Paul Peck

Sunday Smoky Skies

10

Sep

By Rob Richards

0 Comments

Contributors, Features, Rob Richards

Welcome to the Olympia Tribune

'We live in challenging times' is the understatement of the millennium. Four hundred years of white enslavement, subjugation, suppression, violence, and murder of Black Americans have come home to roost in the form of a long-overdue uprising of voices saying simply, "We Matter" and "Stop Killing Us." The call for an end to this brutality, and murder, of Black Americans is met by violence from a system that knows no other way to solve its problems. As I write this, our state burns, people's homes and livelihoods destroyed by a fire season we've never experienced before. Yet we still have…

10

Sep

By Hillary Detamore

0 Comments

Contributors, Features, Hillary Detamore

On Allyship

My name is Hillary Detamore, and I use she/her pronouns. I am the CEO/Executive Director at YWCA Olympia, and I want to talk about allyship in the fight for racial justice. I think it's important to first locate myself in this conversation, as someone who lives and works on the occupied land of the Nisqually, Coast Salish, Cowlitz, and Squaxin Peoples. I have mixed-race heritage, who also carries white privilege and who grew up socialized as white. I have cis-privilege, able-bodied privilege, educational privilege, and positional privilege as a CEO, among other forms of social privilege. I came from a…

10

Sep

By Mindy Chambers

0 Comments

Contributors, Mindy Chambers, This and That

This and That

Surprise! It's true but underreported that Thurston County will have at least one new commissioner next year. John "Hutch" Hutchings won't be serving a second term after capturing a mere 14 percent of the vote. Top two finishers in the County Commission District 1 race? Two political newcomers: Democrat Carolina Mejia and Republican C Davis. The latter just edged out former commissioner Bud Blake, who ran as an independent. Davis spent a mere $1,300 from a handful of donors, most of it on yard signs. Hutchings, the one-term incumbent, barely campaigned for the seat, but of the $23,000 he raised, much of it was…

10

Sep

By Tracey Carlos

0 Comments

Contributors, Features, Tracey Carlos

My Experience As A Delegate At The DNC

In May of this year, I was elected by local Democratic PCOs to represent us at the Democratic National Convention as a delegate for Joe Biden. It was my first time as a national delegate. I had been a state delegate for Bernie Sanders 4 years ago. I was humbled to be entrusted with such a responsibility. I did my best to do my part at all levels of the journey.First was the state delegation, where I helped write the state platform. As a delegate, I reviewed it, made suggested edits, and then voted on it at our state convention…

10

Sep

By Paul Peck

2 Comments

Contributors, Features, Paul Peck

Paul Peck

Hello, Paul Peck here. I’ve been a visual story-teller since high school and enjoy the beauty and complexities of this place I’ve called home for more than 30 years. I also have a life-long love of bluegrass and roots music, and have hosted “American Anecdotes at least twice a month on KAOS Community Radio, 89.3, kaosradio.org, for more than 10 years. I think flying kites is a great form of relaxation, have a ham radio license and tend to a large garden in our northeast Olympia neighborhood, with my wife of 40 years. We both have been activists in the community,…