If you’ve been around here for a while — and I consider my nearly-10-years-in-the-valley “a while” — you know that the local news goes in cycles. Look back through the bound volumes of the Methow Valley News and you’ll see that valley institutions, organizations and personalities take their turns in the spotlight, then retreat into […]
No Bad Days
No bad days — News notes
Starting this week, our Valley Life columnists get their faces back. For more than a year, Ashley Lodato, Sarah Schrock, Shelley Smith Jones and Joanna Bastian have been wearing COVID-fighting masks in their column “mug shots” on the last page of the newspaper. They all agreed to it to show support for mask-wearing protocol and […]
No bad days — History in the making
Like an odometer rolling over another 100,000 miles, the numbers at the top of the newspaper’s front page, in what we call the “banner,” continue to relentlessly advance. This week’s issue of the Methow Valley News is Volume 118, No. 1. Acknowledging our birthday is a reminder of what it takes to get from one […]
No Bad Days — Toilets in Twisp: a No. 1 priority
By Don Nelson We all understand what it means to answer “when nature calls,” one of many euphemisms for the most basic of human functions. Other analogous expressions are more colorful or inelegant, but nevertheless effective. You can’t miss the point, or underestimate the need. When you gotta go, you gotta go. Gather enough people […]
No Bad days — Revisiting the pass
Was it only 50 years ago? Given the Methow’s demographic, that’s well within the lifespan of many valley residents, full- or part-time. Half a century is not such a cosmic time span that it eclipses our memories or, in the case of more–recent arrivals, our knowledge. In 1972, not entirely coincidentally, two major events happened […]
No bad days — Trendy on the ‘east side’
By Don Nelson In the prevailing political climate, here’s something worth remarking on: Okanogan County, widely regarded as a bastion of “red” politics, is outperforming the rest of the state in COVID-19 vaccination rates. The county’s success in vaccinating a significant part of its population countervails the No. 1 indicator of resistance to vaccines: whether […]
No bad days — Watching the end game
By Don Nelson Lots of news is generated during a session of the Washington state Legislature, even in a year when the imposition of COVID protocols means the Capitol is mostly empty and the usual personal interactions are for the most part virtual. This year, the Legislature is setting the biennial budget, with all the […]
No bad days — Challenging the clichés
By Don Nelson For my entire journalism career, I’ve been listening to politicians at all governmental levels, and of all political persuasions, utter the same empty clichés when appealing to their constituencies. These ubiquitous assertions are repeated thousands of times, year after year, as if they were handed down from on high and therefore must […]
No bad days — Summer daze again
By Don Nelson Now that we’ve all sprung forward, it’s only a matter of time before we start thinking beyond rut season (meaning the roads, not the bucks). As the mud dries, the dirty snow piles recede, the rivers begin rising and the days grow longer, spring will unfold and summer won’t be far behind. […]
No Bad Days — Together again?
By Don Nelson I don’t know if anyone does class reunions any more. The pandemic has made public gatherings a risky proposition. Getting to a reunion site would involve complicated travel arrangements for most people, along with the challenge of finding lodging and meals wherever the event is staged. Zoom just doesn’t seem like a […]
