Janet Thomas - Writer - Results from #14

Thanksgiving and Giving Thanks: In memory of Ben White

It’s Thanksgiving week. It is the week that, in 1999, forever changed my life. My son, Colin, and I went to Ballard for our traditional Thanksgiving dinner with friends. On the way to their home we…

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The Extinction Epidemic Goes Local

Last Thursday, after attending the day-long workshop at Brickworks about the Southern Resident orca whales, I had to make an emergency escape to Jackson’s Beach. My mind was in disarray and so were my emotions. It…

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Janet Thomas: Be It Resolved

Facebook reminded me that my last year’s resolution was to “lighten up.” I’d just finished a year with Orca Relief Citizens’ Alliance and was shaken to the core by how working for the survival of our…

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Janet Thomas: Being of Service

I had to go to India to meet Jeff Asher. I was at Deer Park Institute in northern India when another islander, Kurt Schwalbe, showed up to teach the Heart Sutra—with Jeff Asher in tow. Kurt,…

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Janet Thomas: To Care Or Not To Care

“How do we make people care?” was my last discussion with scientist, Dr. Timothy Ragen, the retired Executive Director of the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission. We’d both been in Olympia on Tuesday to testify in support…

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Janet Thomas: The Science of Exploitation

On my morning beach walks, I bliss out in one direction and pick up plastic in the other. Either, Or and Holy Both. (Or “Wholly Both” if C.S. Lewis is to be quoted precisely.) The Either/Or…

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Janet Thomas: The World Over

I write this at Deer Park Institute (www.deerpark.in) in Bir, Himachal Pradesh in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is my tenth anniversary of coming to Deer Park where I facilitate writing workshops for participants who…

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Janet Thomas: Why Now, Vietnam?

On Saturday, May 26th, the Friday Harbor American Legion Post 163 will be open to the public for a special Memorial weekend visitors’ day event. And I’ll be there. No, I am not a veteran of…

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Janet Thomas: Hanging Out and Hanging In

Recently, while on an evening walk with a friend, out of the blue she said, “I wish I could move to a place just like this was 40 years ago.” Her tone of voice was yearning.…

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Janet Thomas: Sand and Solace

I was in bed too much this past week—trying to shake the coughing crap that is going around. Too much time to reflect, too.

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Janet Thomas: Why Does the World Exist?

I go to the Thrift Store for R&R. This is a long-standing tradition for many islanders. We can’t always take it with us—whether we’re dying or moving—and the result is a fascinating and ever-changing experience of…

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Janet Thomas: Damned To Distinction

October 19th was Orca Recovery Day. The Conservation District organized a shoreline restoration event out at Cattle Pass Visitors Center. There was a good turnout of people. Shovels, gloves, plants and lunch were provided and there…

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Janet Thomas: In Memory of Hope On Our Horizon

It is the 20th Anniversary of WTO Seattle, the week-long wave of protests that shut down the WTO meetings in Seattle and brought a glimmer of hope to our global future. Tragically, for the planet and…

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Janet Thomas: Love Over Language

2020. What’s in a number? Words cannot come close to the feelings I have about this “New Year.” Words, in fact, feel futile given these times in which words themselves are being used to denigrate and…

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