Contributors

10

Sep

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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,…

10

Sep

By Mindy Chambers

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Contributors, Features, Mindy Chambers

Mindy Chambers

I believe journalism is a public service. That’s why I’ve hooked up with The Olympia Tribune. Our mission statement says some things that I hope appeal to all of you. We’re a forum intended to shine a light on news and issues in Olympia and greater Thurston County. A platform for community voices that are often unheard. A bulwark to protect the ideals of justice, fairness,transparency, accountability, and inclusivity in our community and government. Governments, which we pay for through our tax dollars, make hundreds of decisions affecting us each year. Yet we know very little, and few of us…

10

Sep

By Hillary Detamore

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Contributors, Features, Hillary Detamore

Hillary Detamore

My name is Hillary Detamore, and I use she/her pronouns. I’m a mom, a single, co-parenting, mother of two young kiddos who are six and eight. I’m also the CEO/Executive Director at YWCA Olympia. I’m becoming a Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, and I also volunteer for NODA (No One Dies Alone). I have mixed-race heritage, white privilege, and was socialized as white. Because of this, I’m working hard to honor all of my ancestors and our histories while also acknowledging my white privilege and focusing my racial justice on uprooting the whiteness patterns within our community and myself. I came…

10

Sep

By Dontae Payne

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Contributors, Dontae Payne, Features

Dontae Payne

Hello! My name is Dontae Payne. I was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and my husband and I moved to the Olympia-area in 2014. We are the proud parents of a beautiful 4-year-old girl and two dogs. I currently serve as the South Sound & Olympic Peninsula Regional Representative in the Office of the Governor. (The opinions here are my own and do not represent the positions of my employer). I also served as treasurer of the Thurston County Young Democrats for the 2019-2020 year. I earned a Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Arts from The…

10

Sep

By Tracey Carlos

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Contributors, Features, Tracey Carlos

Tracey Carlos

My name is Tracey Carlos and I am an activist, photographer, and state employee. Recently I started the most recent iteration of a LGBTQ+ Democratic caucus for Thurston county. Until COVID-19 I would go out to all the local protests and rallies to take photographs. Now my focus is on Olympia city politics as well as being a national delegate for Vice President Joe Biden. I grew up in Yorktown Heights, NY, most recently famous for being the town where Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went to high school. It was a very different place when I lived there as I was one of four…