In the fall of 2010, Robert Herrmann was asked to help do a job that might be impossible. “It’s very difficult to find somebody willing to work 60 hours a week and only get paid for 20.” That’s how Robert described the challenge before him when he was asked to be an adjunct advisor during…
Bond. In most places, this term conjures up images of top secret missions, evil villains and martinis. On Lopez, the word has nothing to do with martinis. Unless you’ve been living under The Rock, you’ve heard something about the $9.6 million bond that was passed last year to renovate the Lopez Island School District. I attended…
This week, in an effort to get our kids reacquainted with school after a long summer, my wife and I took our soon-to-be 1st and 3rd graders to the Lopez School playground. While there, I noticed a crew installing solar panels on the gym roof. Wondering what other new things are in store this school year, I dropped…
I’d never had anybody say this to me. But these were the words Russ Levine was shouting as he pulled up behind my little sailboat in Fisherman Bay one Tuesday night this summer. It turns out Russ wasn’t referring to my posterior. This was his way of telling my sailing partner and me to move…
When entering a library, one expects a calm, quiet atmosphere. Maybe a few hushed voices and the occasional sound of books being stacked on a counter. As I entered the Lopez Island Library last Saturday, the environment was a cross between a circus and a concert. When I first became acquainted with the Lopez Island…
One afternoon in the summer of 2009, Lisa and her father, William, walked into the Lopez Island Historical Museum, a small building with an old fishing boat in front, nestled in the middle of Lopez Village. William absolutely did not want be there. He had spent quite a bit of time on Lopez as a child,…
“I love entropy.” This is how my conversation started with Nikyta Palmisani, the Outreach and Education Coordinator for the Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District (LSWDD, aka The Dump). I scheduled coffee with Nikyta expecting to learn a few data points about Lopez Island’s garbage habits. I left that conversation with that and an entirely new perspective on human…
“You’d be hard pressed to find an event with so little impact that brings as many people and raises as much money as the Tour de Lopez.” That’s what Becky Smith, lead organizer for the Tour de Lopez, had to say after a few days to reflect on this year’s annual ride. If you experienced…
Over the years, Lopez Island Family Resource Center Executive Director, Celia Marquis, has been asked, “What does the LIFRC do?” A better question to ask might be, “What doesn’t the LIFRC do?” This week I met Celia, Patsy Haber, Susie Teague, Heather Gladstone and Alaya Battalia at the LIFRC in Lopez Village to find out. To put it simply,…
As I’ve biked around Lopez over the past six months, meeting so many people and hearing their stories, the biggest impression left on me is that Lopez is a community in transition. New businesses are popping up, established businesses are expanding, farms are growing, and new families are settling. It seems Lopez has a renewed purpose. That impression…
Project 468 