Sylvia Center closure clouds future for local theater

July 7, 2022
Matt Benoit

Announcement of the closure of Sylvia Center for the Arts — a surprise to many — has prompted questions about the future of local theater.

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Old is new again with early music festival

May 12, 2022
Kenneth Duncan

Salish Sea festival brings baroque music played on period instruments out of the past for local audiences.

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‘A Precarious Edge’ evokes climate change truths

May 4, 2022
Chris O'Neill

Climate change and global warming are front and center in the Museum of Northwest Art’s latest installation, “A Precarious Edge.”

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Tech entrepreneur’s path winds from solar cars to bleeding-edge art

April 15, 2022
Chris O'Neill

Entrepreneur and artist Shawn Kemp’s path has wound from designing and racing solar cars in high school to creating computer-generated art — with loops through the worlds of gaming and social media.

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Farmer-artist counters food, fuel uncertainty — through permaculture

March 23, 2022
Chris O'Neill

The past two years since the outbreak of COVID-19 have been turbulent and uncertain times for many. As fuel and food prices rise, the drive to become more self-reliant is also on the increase. A Whatcom farmer and glass artist suggests the path to that is permaculture.

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Moving from tragedy to hope — with clay

February 16, 2022
Chris O'Neill

In the hands of artisan potter Chris Moench, clay becomes “moving sanctuaries” that evoke remembrance of tragedy — and meditations on hope.

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Keep walking, or keep off? Guemes beach-walking pushes question of private property versus public access

January 27, 2022
Lauren Gallup

Disagreement between those who hold to a long-established practice on Guemes Island of public access to walking across privately owned tidelands and a property owner’s opposition to what he sees as trespassing has evolved into a lawsuit.

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Paradise full: Finding space to rest at Lopez Island cemetery

January 18, 2022
Gretchen K. Wing

At 140 years old, pastorally situated Lopez Union Cemetery is encountering high demand — but running out of space. Managers are looking to ground-penetrating radar technology to help determine just how much space is available in the nonprofit cemetery, and considering other options as well.

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2021: A look back at some stories from the first full year of Salish Current

December 31, 2021
Salish Current Editorial Staff

2021 was a year like no other, with themes such as public health vis-à-vis COVID-19 and opioid addiction; social justice in the courts, the arts, housing and policing; and climate change and natural resources including water rights management. Salish Current offers a look back via articles published during the nonprofit newsroom’s first full year.

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What’s life without a future?

December 30, 2021
Salish Current readers

What awaits us in the new year? Salish Current asked our readers and writers to take us there by sharing one thing they look forward to doing in 2022.

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Fictional whale tale underscores real-life role of kinship in orcas’ survival

October 21, 2021
Gretchen K. Wing

In the newly published novel “Beyond the Human Realm,” Lopez Island scientist and author Gene Helfman draws on the real-life intelligence of orcas in a fictional story that affirms that preservation of the species requires the adoption of an approach characterized by kinship.

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Skagit fair sates longing for fun and ‘normalcy’ in face of COVID-19

August 19, 2021
Teya Heidenreich

After a year’s hiatus, the Skagit County Fair resumed Aug. 11-14 with an increased attendance over past years — despite COVID-19 infections spiking in the county.

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Lummi Island’s original Willows Inn was a local-food hotspot — 100 years before ‘locavore’ was trending

July 1, 2021
Matt Benoit

Today’s Lummi Island in Whatcom County is home to permanent and vacationing residents, local businesses — and a historic resort known for more than 100 years as The Willows.

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photo: Teya Heidenreich © 2021

Local Juneteenth event celebrates diversity, freedom, challenge

June 21, 2021
Teya Heidenreich

Black Lives Matter signs waved over the Maritime Heritage Park amphitheater and booths lined the concrete walkway on Saturday, June 19 — the fourth annual Juneteenth celebration in Bellingham.

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As gun death rates rise in Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan counties, state refocuses to public health approach

June 11, 2021
Kenneth Duncan

With the number of gun deaths in Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan counties on the rise and outpacing statewide trends, policy and law makers are stressing public health-focused solutions that could be more effective in prevention than legal tactics.

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photo: © 2019

In an age of social controversy, the show goes on

June 9, 2021
Matt Benoit

Theater producers, actors and audiences are bringing new perspectives to the question of what play content may be inappropriate, offensive or even harmful. Responses to a recent choice by Western Washington University’s theater department prompted a debate of those questions among the local theater community.

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