Jim Knudson
This Saturday we went to a beautiful funeral service for Jim Knudson, the father of one of my good high school friends. He was diagnosed with cancer in August and died, surrounded by his family, this past week. The vigil Friday night and the mass Saturday were at St. Leo Church downtown, and both were very moving. I haven't mentioned any of this here until now, because–for all my time evangelizing social media–it's very uncomfortable to share my grief and my sadness with the open world of the Internet. But at the same time, being silent feels uncomfortable too, as if Read more…
James Monroe | The White House
via whitehouse.gov James Monroe was the last of the Virginian Presidents who were 4 out of first 5 presidents. He was also the last President to have fought in the Revolutionary War. Mostly, we remember Monroe now for the Monroe Doctrine, which asserted that no other power could interfere in the American hemisphere, and for dying on the 4th of July. But the biggest thing that happened during his tenure as president was the Missouri Compromise. (Historical and very short background: Missouri wanted to be a slave state, but free states were worried about the expanding influence they had in Read more…
Did you play with Fashion Plates as a kid? Mary will be at Kings Books craft show Sunday with fashion plate inspired wares!
See the full gallery on Posterous I’ll actually be manning the booth most of the day, so if you want to buy something cute and pink from me, come to Kings Books on Sunday between 12 and 4.
Merging fire departments in UP and Lakewood
Lakewood residents were voting overwhelmingly to dissolve their 70-year-old fire district and merge with the University Place Fire Department, according to preliminary returns tonight. If approved, West Pierce Fire & Rescue would become operational March 1. via blog.thenewstribune.com I’m disappointed about the Pierce Transit results tonight, but I do like these vote results. This is a great example of how cross-municipal governments can often do better working regionally than working alone. There are often real difficulties in getting these things to happen. But here it looks like the plan was well thought out and with each municipality already having the Read more…
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