The first Fourth of July parade I watched in Twisp was on Independence Day 2011 — also the first day I was officially the new owner of the Methow Valley News. So with some careful math, I calculate that this Fourth of July would mark my 10th parade and ninth anniversary at the News. Only there […]
No Bad Days
Pressing on
Like everyone else, we’ve been figuring things out as we went along the past several months. Decisions about our weekly paper and our special publications have been affected by the coronavirus containment protocols, and by the related daily uncertainty about when we can move to the next phase of the state’s economic recovery plan. Every […]
Watch yourself
Big Brother may or may not be watching you, but these days someone probably is. In your home, your car, or especially in public, you are only moments away from becoming a You Tube spectacle and a Facebook phenomenon if there is a cell phone within range. Is everybody recording everything? Perhaps not yet, but […]
Class act
We haven’t had many opportunities to publicly celebrate anything in the past few months, or to gather in what would have been entirely normal social settings. A couple of events last weekend, both essentially Methow in character, felt like a joyous emergence from hibernation. On Friday, graduation day for Liberty Bell High School and Independent […]
Phasers on ‘stun’
Phase II. For weeks, as we sheltered and washed and masked and gloved and distanced and sanitized (or did not) under the state’s Phase I reopening and recovery guidelines, it’s all we’ve been thinking about. We’ve been obsessed with it. How do we get to Phase II? How soon? Why not RIGHT NOW?! The prevailing […]
Altered image
It’s the perfect holiday weekend scene in the Methow Valley. In downtown Winthrop, the boardwalks are full and vehicle traffic is backed up at the four-way stop. At Sheri’s Sweet Shoppe, happy visitors are lapping at ice cream cones, crowded into the courtyard, chatting and having a great time. We love this familiar scene. It’s […]
Saluting seniors
We haven’t forgotten the seniors. The Liberty Bell High School class of 2020 has, instead of coming together to finish their final semester as Mountain Lions, been dispersed to their homes for weeks now in what would have been the home stretch of their final year. They are finishing their high school days online, absent […]
Methow moments
I usually have a lot of reasons to say “thank you” every week — to my staff, advertisers, contributors, supporters, vendors, and the community at large — all of whom have a vital role in making what we do possible. Last week was an especially good time to feel and express gratitude. Two readers sent encouraging notes that included […]
How about some commitment?
It’s late Monday night and I’m really tired, and we’ve been working hard to put this week’s paper together, so I pretty much have only one thought, and it’s for all you smug people out there who keep insisting that a lot more of us are just going to have to die (and are doing […]
Turning another page
With next week’s paper, the Methow Valley News marks another anniversary and moves into volume 117, Issue No. 1. I wish we had a way to celebrate, but even a shared birthday cake is not likely, or easily consumed through a face mask anyway. Nearly all of the newspaper staff is working at home, under […]
