A Year of Conversation Makes a Difference!
#7 in a series: For a year, I've written about "Bank Taxes" (transaction fees) and why cash is so much better for all concerned. And, things are changing...!
Saturday, April 27th, 2024
This May, I’ll publish another article about “Bank Taxes” in our awesome, truly local, islander owned newspaper, “The Vashon Loop.”
My upcoming article elaborates on the growing tide of resistance to these ubiquitous, never-ending, resource-extracting fees that siphon resources from every community on Earth, like a giant cream-skimming machine.
I also highlight a massive legal battle that lasted close to twenty years, as a consortium of businesses sued VISA, Mastercard and a few of their partners — and won! This Class Action Lawsuit is worth BILLIONS for all business owners!
Who qualifies? "All persons, businesses, and other entities that have accepted any Visa-Branded Cards and/or Mastercard-Branded Cards in the United States at any time from January 1, 2004 to January 25, 2019."
If you live on the island, look for this exciting article at any of a couple dozen venues where The Vashon Loop is available. (And always consider supporting them with a check in the mail or a voluntary cash purchase at Café Luna.)
Also! Regardless of where you live — tell your friends who are in business about this exciting and important opportunity. Filing a claim is EASY (it’s laid out in the article), but there’s no reason to delay. Start the process today — why wait?
Awhile back, I promised to share all my “Bank Taxes” articles here on Substack, and then I got sidetracked by my “Year of Appreciations.” So, here is my appreciation for today (first) plus my December article (very late and out of date, sorry!) touching upon the value and beauty of cash (and shopping locally)…
Appreciation for April 27th, 2024:
I absolutely love how Springtime works so perfectly. I live in the Pacific Northwest. I’m sure every ecosystem has it’s own perfections. Here are mine…
In late March and early April, we inevitably get a few weeks of warmish, sunny, dry weather, which is absolutely PERFECT for early season mowing and weed whacking (before the grass becomes an impenetrable mass). It’s also absolutely lovely weather for planting seeds, and setting up hoses, because we do need to do a little bit of watering to keep the soil moist during these early spring warm periods.
At this time, people afflicted with a Climate Catastrophe mindset will immediately proclaim the “unseasonably warm weather” as proof of our eminent destruction. This is sad.
Meanwhile, people with a less panicky personality and a deeper understanding of our placement in natural planetary heating and cooling cycles — will luxuriate in the perfection of nature. We find our other goals briefly sidelined as we follow our instincts and do the important work of “facilitating seed germination.”
That’s what we’re doing, as gardeners and farmers. We do not grow anything. We cannot create life, other than human life. What we can do is facilitate the successful germination and healthy growth of seeds and seedlings, giving them maybe an 80% chance of survival versus 10-15% should they simply fly through the wind and randomly land anywhere.
And so, we take the beloved babies-to-be of last year’s plants, which we’ve protected all winter long, and we give them back to the Earth, placing them as carefully as possible in pots and garden beds with ideal levels of sunlight or shade. Then, Mother Nature does that thing that she does, and the wide open blue skies and soothing warmth of the sun fades away, as fresh rain clouds roll across the land, providing continuous moisture that fosters germination, helping to bring the next generation of plant life into being.
For every gardener, these Springtime rains are deeply appreciated, as we have a reprieve from artificially watering our newly planted seeds with hoses and sprinklers. There will be enough of that happening in the true heat of Summer, when rainy days are few and far between!
And so, I appreciate that I grew up in a gardening family and that I am so blessed to be in touch with my land, my garden, my trees and so on.
Gardening gives me the best reason to be HAPPY when sunny spring days fade away into weeks of cloudy, rainy days. And, unlike what the weather people want you to think (when they endlessly present sunny days as great and rainy days as bad) — both are good, necessary, and beautiful.
Holiday Shopping, Vashon-Style!
By March Twisdale
Published December 2023
Some tend to wax negative about shopping during the holiday season, expressing concerns over thoughtless consumption of resources or over-commercialization. In truth, there’s nothing wrong with shopping. We do it all year round, and for good reason. It’s human productivity expressed and shared. And during the winter, traditions focused on love, kindness, light, music, good food, and joy are often vital for those who find the bitterly cold months challenging.
So, yes! Let yourself enjoy the “gift-giving season!” Here on Vashon, we’re not fighting the crowds at a mall, nor are we standing in long lines, surrounded by strangers. When we decide to amble through our beloved town, we’re browsing unique and sense-stimulating items that have been carefully selected by local business owners who excel at knowing our tastes – and surprising us!
Eugenie Mirfin, the owner of Kronos, looks forward to the special moments that fill her store throughout the holiday season. She especially enjoys watching Islanders run into friends they haven’t seen in awhile, fathers bringing their daughters in to help pick out a gift for Mom, grandparents searching for the perfect stocking stuffer, and holiday tourists she’s come to know by name, as they make December shopping trips to Vashon Island a family tradition. While wrapping my own early-purchased Christmas gifts, Eugenie pointed out that gifts purchased at Kronos (like many other Island stores) are super-easy to exchange later, if the size isn’t quite right or a different color is preferred, with no dreaded long lines at the mall or post office! “Even if you think you know what you’re looking for,” she added, “wandering through well-stocked and lovingly curated gift shops can lead to unexpected inspiration!”
Vashon Islanders deeply appreciate community businesses’ role in building up the local economy. Deja Starr, of Vashon Bikes, summed it up as, “Use it or lose it.” In her words, “Locally owned and operated businesses are uniquely important in that they use their expert knowledge to curate services and products that appeal to their specific community. When people purchase something through a small business, they are telling that business (and their distributors) that they are necessary. This ensures stronger margins for business owners, lower future costs to customers, and long-term business sustainability. The more we collectively choose to support brick and mortar businesses instead of purchasing online, the more services we secure for our community. That is how a community not only survives, but thrives.”
“But, wait! What if they don’t stock what I want?” Not a problem!
Vashon Bikes, Ace Hardware, Thriftway, Minglement, Pandora’s, and a plethora of other stores on the Island place weekly orders from huge warehouses. If you want it, they can probably get it, and are happy to do so! Consider our Island’s much beloved Vashon Bookshop. With orders placed 3-4 times a week, it’s easy to receive books in time for the holidays. They can even ship directly to your home or the intended recipient’s home. Drop by between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (except Tuesdays) or call 206-463-2616 for answers to all of your questions.
Curation, curation, curation. Not every business will thrive in every location. The owner of Giraffe, Priscilla Schleigh, is an excellent example of careful, community-oriented curation. She knows Islanders are generous by nature, conscientious about their impact on the environment, and love to make every carefully spent dollar count. Gifts purchased for our loved ones at Giraffe are also gifts given to myriad communities around the world. Drop by to see a world’s worth of imported, handmade items, knowing the profit goes straight to the artists and small business owners. Imagine the good you can do while stuffing stockings and spreading holiday cheer to the ones you love here at home.
And … let’s keep our Island money on our Island. Online shoppers are forced to pay with plastic, automatically racking up fees and other “Bank Taxes,” making December the biggest “resource extraction” month of the year. Are we okay with this? No. Which is why many Islanders are now cultivating a “cash habit,” according to local business owners and banks. Go Vashon!
This month, stop by your favorite ATM machine, grab some cash, and enjoy the town! Meet friends for lunch, sip on a hot seasonal drink, or munch a crunchy, chewy, sweet, or savory pastry as you window shop and meander. Know that, as you find just the right gift to express your love and appreciation for the intended recipient, you’re also spreading joy and economic prosperity to your community, one local purchase at a time.
One last thought. During most of my life, buying gifts was hard. So, I made gifts. In my 20s, I gave cookies and mailed Christmas Cards. This year, I’m knitting two scarves out of island-woven yarn and the stockings will be mostly filled with nuts in their shell and citrus fruits. The point is to take time to appreciate those we love, and a handmade gift is always as good as one bought at a store.