Behind the Sign

January 26, 2022

Tales From the Magic Skagit: Angel of Mercy — The Story of Harriet Rowley

I’m a sucker for exploring contemporary links, living and otherwise, between present and past. For me, these are portals to worlds that still resonate with us if we take the time to discover their origin — and so we offer you this one on the history of Rowley General Hospital and the amazing woman, fondly known as “Mother Rowley,” who founded what was Mount Vernon’s first hospital.

January 20, 2022

Tales from the Magic Skagit: A “Simple Conversation” with Jay Bowen (Part 2)

This is the second and final installment of our series, A "Simple Conversation" With Jay Bowen: Art, Death, and Resurrection. In this episode we learn more about Jay's artistic career and a life changing (nearly life ending) incident that distilled his sense of mission as an artist and a human being.

January 18, 2022

Tales From the Magic Skagit: “You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows”

You can't walk through Hillcrest Park in Mount Vernon without noticing the kinetic metal fish sculpture at its north end. Here's the story behind it.

January 16, 2022

Tales From the Magic Skagit: A “Simple Conversation” with Jay Bowen

This is the first in a two part series based on an interview with Skagit Valley artist and member of the Upper Skagit Tribe, Jay Bowen. In Part One ("Origin Story") we'll learn about Jay’s understanding of his tribal past and the glimpses it offers into the “pre-contact” world of our Skagit Valley history, and how that past shaped Jay’s childhood growing up in a culture very different from the one of his ancestors. We’ll follow Jay’s decision at a very young age to become an artist, and we’ll leave him in Santa Fe at a place he describes as “heaven.”

January 4, 2022

People, Places, Things: The Year in Stories

In looking back at the stories we told in 2021, it seemed to me that “People, Places, Things” was a crackerjack of a theme. Although it might at first glance seem like a straightforward organizational approach, the reality is that those three categories are often very much intertwined. But fools rush in, as they say…so pour yourself another cup of joe, add the last of the egg nog to it, and take a little trip down memory lane with me.

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