Author Archives: washybeach

(Here’s a newspaper story I wrote and photographed about a theater troupe of homeless people performing their true stories.)             Standing under the spotlight, peering into the faces in the darkness, the performers study their audience in the Oakland High School … Continue reading →

(A story about my brief career as a diner waitress). There’s a trick to this, like anything else. There is a subtle but finely-honed craft to every art. Angela shows me the ropes. There’s a way to carry multiple plates … Continue reading →

(A strange story about a “friend” who turned into a narc.)          There was always an edge of mystery about John Kelly, but we all adored and trusted him nonetheless. After all, friends are the very ones who tend to escape … Continue reading →

“Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?” “Why, I’m not a witch at all.” (A clever witch never admits it.) “The Wizard of Oz.” There’s something about this glittering fantasy of the Thirties for me that leaves the … Continue reading →

(I hate this holiday the most, especially now. But once, in simpler times, crowds gathered for the true meaning of Independence Day: marijuana). The Fourth of July is always a great excuse to party unabashedly, and in Washington, D.C., this … Continue reading →

Now a world apart is an hour away. Pass the hulking aircraft carriers in the Bremerton shipyard, enter the dick-boy-danger-driving vortex of Belfair, and turn right by the Safeway to Hood Canal. First is the the menagerie. Baby goats are … Continue reading →

How do you break up with a place? How about Seattle? I woke up one day and everything I loved in our city-home had been demolished. The place that raised me for half my life had basically packed my bags … Continue reading →

(This photo essay about the closing of Robertson’s 5&10 surfaced in the recent cleaning out of my parents’ house in Arlington, VA. Edited for some reveries about 1970’s candy.) Red, white and blue plastic fringe rustles in the wind. As … Continue reading →