A merchant, artist and haberdasher tips her many hats to 2010
By Marguerite Juve
I make dozens of hats every year, and 2010 was no exception. What is always exceptional are the heads onto which those various hats land.
We all wear many hats both metaphorically and categorically. I wear the hat of artist and am grateful for a spanking new painting studio and to Sandra at MUSEO for giving me a really good excuse to use it!
I also wear the hat of a merchant as the co-owner of Eddy’s, where over the past year multitudes have stopped in to look, chat, share their stories and listen to mine. As a Langley merchant, I am pleased to be a member of a growing movement that encourages people to shop locally. To that end, many of us have spent the past year educating ourselves on all the wonderful shops and amenities available right here.
I wear the hat of nonprofit volunteer on behalf of the youth of our community, and continue to dedicate my energies to our beloved Whidbey Children’s Theater in Langley. WCT is growing up, and this amazing thing that the magical Martha Murphy began 30 years ago found a new artistic director in 2010, Ms. Rose Woods, who comes with her own form of mystical magic. And, although our little theater seats fewer then 100 at any given time, WCT continues to have the heart and soul of a behemoth arena!
My newest hat is worn as a volunteer for Island Shakespeare Festival. It is incredibly exciting to be a part of this grand adventure; one that is ripe with tremendous potential.
As I reflect on the year and decade, I realize it is this crazy cool community of multi-hat wearing artists, merchants, philanthropists and folk that keeps me thrilled for the coming year and the beginning of a new decade. And, of course, for dozens of more hats.
A Year in Verse
by Ramona Fankhauser
Looking back, without doubt 2010 was eventful
Leaving many excited, and others resentful
The Winter Olympics came once more- to Vancouver!
While nationwide tent cities brought to mind Hoover
Anti-Muslim antics were led by fanatics
Guiding the country through paranoid acrobatics
The mosque planned for two blocks away from ground zero
Bred fervent discussion and a famed anti-hero
(a Florida pastor who nearly built an inferno)
March brought the Health Care Bill’s Congressional seal
Whispered Biden to Barack,
“It’s a big f____ing deal!”
Delayed flights in April kept travelers local
All due to that Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokull
Apple launched the iPad, keeping fans on their toes
Yet amid Steve Jobs’ pride, unemployment rates rose
And out on the Gulf Coast many hearts sank
When BP’s hapless Hayward drew up blank after blank
As the rigs drilled on, and more companies were outed
It was Alaska’s rugged beauty that oil-eager Palin touted
Elsewhere, the weather reports were quite bleak
Natural disasters left Haiti and Pakistan weak
Warming oceans and flooding left many nations battered
Lives were lost and homes were shattered
After sly WikiLeaks, our leaders were shocked
By the number of government secrets unlocked
Renegade on-the-run Harris-Moore brought us drama
Until this “Barefoot Bandit” was caught in the Bahamas
Countless fans flocked to Avatar, donning their 3D glasses
The film won an Oscar, and its effects pleased the masses
Mass movements were common; Tea Partiers rallied
And won several posts, once the votes were tallied
Social media spread, gaining many new members
That fire caught quickly, from its first, novel embers
Twenty-ten was tumultuous, that is for sure
But I, for one, cannot wait until next year.
New prospects make 2011 a catch
by Molly Larson Cook
Dear 2010.
I liked the look of your nice round numbers from the beginning. Clean. Crisp. Totally divisible. I could see you were dependable and could hold down a good job. Just the kind of number my mother always hoped I’d find, especially after my disastrous flirtations with 1965 and 1976 and especially with 2003. A girl can wait her whole life for a number like 2010.
And I had.
We started out well enough, our spirits high. Even the chilly weather of January and February couldn’t bring us down. March came with the Ides and all, St Patrick’s Day, my birthday and then the first day of spring, always welcome though not always springy.
March morphed into April, but as May rounded the corner, I could feel the gloss beginning to dim on 2010. Almost halfway through the year and we were still trying to figure out how things were between us. I mean, was this relationship going anyplace or were we spinning our wheels?
When June arrived and then July, I was pretty sure we were not the match made in heaven I’d once thought. Your unpredictable weather and my bouts of “when-is-the-sun- going-to-come-out-again?” mild depression were getting in the way of anything good between us. The dog days of August brought things to a head although we stumbled along together through September and October, neither of us willing to say goodbye.
The holidays distracted us in November, but by December, I knew it was over. Things were very dark and chilly, the kind of weather that comes between people and their favorite year.
Just before Christmas (and isn’t that the best time to call it quits?), we sat down together one last time. “It’s not you,” I said just as you muttered the same lying words. Of course, it’s you. It’s always you! We gave each other a stiff, perfunctory hug and then you turned the corner. I was bereft until I got a flash of 2011 walking my way.
Dashing and handsome 2011. Wow! You ought to be on the cover of a modern romance, pal. Bold. Strong. And not divisble by anything at all. 2011, where have you been all my life?!
A poem to 2010
by Joni Takanikos
The year has passed,
The weather is still
the weather–politics
are still political
and pollsters still poll,
Slippery fisherman cast
their nets for particular fish,
and then we are caught–still fighting,
Still sick–no cure from
constant greed—missing
Understanding and compassion,
no insurance
no assurance
Blowin’ in the wind
Weathered yet another year.
But here in the Salish Sea,
Dragon Isle,
We hold ourselves Past,
Present and Future,
Most Fortunate,
For here we have
Friends of Friends,
Hearts and Hammers,
Shakespeare in the Summer,
Narnia in the Fall,
Art and Music lining the
Streets, our Hearts, another Year in
Our Whidbey Community.
Each passing year is special here on Whidbey Island
by Lynn Willeford
When I came to South Whidbey in 1972, I was really coming to an island. Computers, cell phones, faxes, and big ferries were still in the future. Business happened in person or by mail. We were largely dependent on each other for jobs, services, help, support, and entertainment.
Now, of course, we have access to experts and services around the country and the world. We keep up on Facebook. We don’t need our neighbors in quite the same ways.
So what amazes me is how connected to each other we islanders stay. Despite all the technology that connects us to people and companies near and far, we still feel the need to cultivate a caring home community. We do our jobs well. We help each other with big chores. We try to shop locally.
And we volunteer. Police, fire, EMTs. The folks at the Hub, the Commons, and everyone who’s ever coached a sports team or led a youth group. Those who maintain our trails and pick up the litter on the beach or the roadside. Those who put on the county fair or share their artistic gifts. Mentors to young mothers, and hospice workers who gently see us out of the world. In groups and individually we try to be of service to each other.
In this community, Good Cheer makes sure we get fed, Friends of Friends helps when we’re sick, and Hearts & Hammers keeps our homes safe. Local donors and volunteers make sure our kids have school supplies, Christmas gifts, healthy lunches on weekends and vacations, and tutoring.
Over generations we’ve built an admirable web of relationships and support right here. No matter how connected we are to the wider world in 2010, it’s still the people who live around us who enrich our lives the most.
