Tuesday, November 11, 2025
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Once upon a decade ago, I stood on the stage of the James Koval Center at North Thurston High School (NTHS) and performed with all three of NTHS ...
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By Rachel Benton
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6/12/25
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Last month, I mentioned I was paying attention to the avian dawn chorus in my yard. I’d go outside with my smartphone in the early morning, which for me is ...
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No one physically influenced Olympia more than Edmund Sylvester. After taking his dead partner’s land grant, he platted the city and named the ...
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We have all seen it, you can’t drive down any main arterial in Thurston County without seeing trees, trees and more trees cut down in the name of ...
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As the summer sun shines, I find myself looking back to the rainy days of the Pacific Northwest, to a school year that left me drained and ...
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By Shannon Sankstone
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6/9/25
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On Sunday, June 22, the Thurston County League of Women Voters is sponsoring a tour of six local gardens, all tended by democracy-loving gardeners. All six gardens are the ...
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By Jill Severn
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6/6/25
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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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