Peoples' Perspectives: COVID-19 In Whatcom County

Chuckanut Writers Project

Item Set

Items

• The River is Today Becomes Yesterday Becomes Tomorrow
  Liz Stuart is a mom, auntie, partner, educator, and community health strategist who prefers the title Love Warrior. She is a mentor to young people, with more than 20 years of experience in community-based work. She is a persistent instigator who cries easily and relies on human connections for getting things done. Liz loves learning new things, writing poems, communing with plants, and considering solutions to complex social problems. When she’s not working, you might find her in her slippers eating snacks or dancing in her kitchen.
• Letter to my Future Self from the Pandemic
  Rachel Mehl lives in Bellingham, WA where she chairs the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest, and volunteers with Poem Booth. Her poems can be found in Crab Creek Review, Black Coffee Review, and Sweet Tree Review.
• Distraction by Dictionary
  As the library director at WCC, I enjoyed referencing the multi-volume shelf of Oxford English Dictionaries. Now I have digital access—a useful resource for a writer who enjoys writing creative non-fiction, memoir, and occasionally poetry.
• Home is a Yoga Mat
  Curious and restless from an early age, I’ve spent the past decade taking every opportunity I can to travel and explore, splitting time between Alaska, Washington, and abroad. When not traveling, I live in Bellingham, where I work part time as a mountain guide and enjoy the bike trails at Galbraith. I write both fiction and non-fiction, with a focus on landscape and nature writing, and am pursing a Masters in Creative Writing at Cambridge.
• Bridal Shower Feast
  Caity Scott lives in a tiny, no-pets allowed Washington apartment with her husband and a forest of potted plants. When she’s not busy working at a coffeehouse or listening to murder podcasts, she’s spending too much money on books and eating out.
• The Pangolin’s Cry Heard ‘Round the World
  Lynne Masland has written two books of poetry: A Cup of Tea (2013) and Island Reflections: Poems and Paintings (2019). She also wrote the local history book One Hundred Years of Challenge and Change: Whatcom Women and the YWCA and edited others including Western Washington University: 100 Years and Folklore of the Northwest Corner: The Human Touch. For over two decades, she was director of university communications and public relations at Western Washington University.
• Pandemic Procrastination (Covidus Interruptus)
  Dick Little is a retired attorney and government lobbyist who's lived in Bellingham for forty years. His writing has been published in the Seattle Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer; and the Santa Fe Writers Project. His work has also appeared in Cirque Magazine, Clover - A Literary Rag, and So Much Depends, an anthology by Red Wheelbarrow Writers. Dick is the author of two short story collections, Postcards from the Road, and Jakey’s Fork – A River’s Journey, and also novel City Haul. More of his writing can be found at "The Write Stuff," http://pepys2000.blogspot.com.
• Ordinary Breathing
  Wright currently has two published poetry books, Unadoptable Joy and Homeless Joy. Her poems have appeared in Taj Mahal Review, GNU Journal, Solstice and nearly a dozen anthologies. She has been an active members of Red Wheelbarrow Writers, Whatcom Peace and Justice Writers, and Village Books Poetry Group.
• A Veil for All Seasons
  Alexandra M. Lucas is a freelance video game writer and co-chair of the IGDA Serious Games Special Interest Group. She won the GDC Game Narrative Review Platinum Award twice, and she has delivered gender studies presentations at GDC, PAX Dev, GeekGirlCon, and Wellesley College. She contributed chapters to Digital Love: Romance & Sexuality in Games, Pop Culture Matters, the Encyclopedia of Sexism in American Films, and Love & Electronic Affection. Alexandra's poem, "Leftover," won a Merit Award in the 2020 Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest, and her short story, "The Other Side," was published in HamLit's Winter 2020 Issue: No Man’s Land. Professionally, she has written for interactive novels, digital assistants, RTS mobile games, educational MMORPGs, and more. In her free time, Alexandra enjoys baking, playing recreational tennis at Bellingham Training & Tennis Club, and performing in local community theatre.
• A Glimpse of My Life as a Reader
  Troy Faith grew up in the Ozark foothills in Calico Rock, Arkansas where she lived until she went to Fayetteville, AR to attend the U of A. She taught German at a small college, now Campbell University, at Buies Creek in coastal plains North Carolina. After two years she married and began a life of moving about the country following her husband’s jobs, rearing two daughters, gaining wide life experience in a pot-pourri of volunteer positions and part time jobs. During those twenty-odd years, she also prepared for a second career in ministry. After earning a degree at Seattle U in 1997 and having discerned long-term care chaplaincy as her “dream job” she trained as a health care chaplain at St Joseph Hospital in Bellingham, WA and served for nine years as a chaplain at Josephine Caring Community in Stanwood. It was during her program at Seattle University, where a reflection paper on a pertinent issue was required in each course, that she discovered a passion for writing. “It is the best practice I have found for figuring out what I really think about an issue. I come away from a piece knowing my True Self better, appreciating other people and their ideas more, and experiencing deeper joy in life.” Troy Faith and her husband Ron returned to Bellingham in 2010. For a decade of retirement Troy Faith has relished community life by participating in social justice projects, being a member of Bellingham Storytellers Guild, Threshold Choir, Ragin’ Grannies, and a Hospice Volunteer. She also delights in a writers’ group of six women, who are a sub-group of the Western Washington University Retirement Association. They meet twice a month to share writing and seek critique and encouragement from each other.
• Five poems from Camille Hill
  Camille Hill is a retired U.S. diplomat, wildlife photographer, gardener, and nature lover. She grew up in Sacramento, California, and retired to Van Zandt, Washington, in the foothills of the North Cascades. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of California at Los Angeles, a Bologna Center Certificate from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and an MS in National Security Studies from the National War College in Washington, D.C.
• NO VISITORS
• Busker in Fairhaven (Mourning our Dead)
  Lynda enjoys writing about people and places close to home. She is thankful for those who work and sing and pray to keep us all going.
• Braver Than Me
  Suzanne is a retired teacher, ukulele enthusiast, poet and writer. Her poetry and prose have been published in Spindrift and Whatcom Writes!. She is a Walk Award recipient for the 2020 Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest. Suzanne lives “out in the county” and loves to play in the North Cascades. Writing helps her make sense of life’s experiences.
• CONSIDER THE FINGERS
  Jay S. Nahani is an ardent believer in the power of expression to heal, connect, and transform. With training in social work and expressive arts therapy, Jay’s business and practice of Creative Insights (creativeinsightswithjay.com) offers services in writing coaching, compassionate editing, embodied attunement, and group facilitation. Nahani’s poetry has appeared in Bellingham’s Poem Booth and in such anthologies as VoiceCatcher, Yours Truly, The Haro, Pears Like Copper Buddhas, I Want You to Know, Kumquat Challenge, and For Love of Orcas. Most recently, two of Jay's poems appeared in the Dress Poetry exhibit at Allied Arts of Whatcom County.
• THESE….TIMES
  Suzanne Krogh is a professor emerita who taught at Western Washington University from 1990 to 2011. Her field was education with a specialty in early childhood development and education. Although she continues to publish early childhood textbooks, her real enjoyment in retirement is learning to write poetry and finding topics from her life to write about that her sons and grandkids might not mind reading.
• One Child
  Linda Conroy is a retired social worker who likes to write about the complexity of behaviors that make us human, and to comment on the changing times. Her poetry has appeared in various journals and anthologies. She is the author of a poetry collection, Ordinary Signs.
• A Utopia Pandemic
  Patricia Kelly is a freelance writer and the author of The Freedom of Contentment: Letting Go of Unwanted Habits and Managing Everyday Worries. She's certified in Hypnotherapy and Stress Management and works as a Public Service Assistant at her town's public library. Hiking, Yoga and all things tomato are just a few of her favorite things. She lives with her husband and son in Ferndale, Wa.
• FATHOM AN IRIDESCENT SPELL ON TIME
  With a BA (Honours) degree in Applied Illustration Design from South Africa (2018), I live and breathe creativity. I moved back to the United States in August 2019, a member at Mindport Exhibits and intern at Runaway Press in Bellingham.
• Peace in the Eye of the Storm
  Maureen is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in private practice in Bellingham WA, specializing in stress, anxiety, life changes, illness, caregiving, trauma, and career. Prior to being a therapist, Maureen was a director or manager of social service agencies and corporations working in the areas of literacy, health care access, aging, homeless youth, and disability. She shares her home with her husband and hairless cat.