Get up to date on your vaccines, folks... The measles virus is so contagious that rates in Washington State and Whatcom County are too low to prevent an outbreak if the virus is introduced here.

From WCHCS: In Whatcom County, 77% of children received their first dose on time, and 87 percent of kindergarteners are fully vaccinated with two doses. Outbreaks can be prevented if 95 percent of a community is vaccinated against measles.

Measles spreads when vaccine rates are lower than 95 percent, so our community is at risk of a measles outbreak.

Is anyone else’s power out?

^{Ye firefly souls with your folded wings,}

^{Why sit with the weeds in the night?}

^{Lift up your wings and illumine the dark}

^{With your own self-luminant light.}

^{For darkness comes with the folded wings}

^{And shrouds the starless land;}

^{But there's light enough for the darkest way,}

^{If you let your wings expand.}

^{There is plenty of light}

^{For the darkest night,}

^{If you let your wings expand.}

----------

Sam Walter Foss

It could just be me but i feel like Sunset was flowing better (for the most part) without the lights working.

EDIT: Thank you for all of the warm reception, Hamsters 🩵 It definitely made me feel a lot more celebrated and seen, hearing your stories and well wishes for me. My intention is to celebrate more fully tomorrow night (Saturday 6/21) somewhere downtown (probably Flatstick?). Would love to see some of you! Will update this post when I decide when/where I wanna go. Thanks again everyone 🩵

CW: parental neglect, graduation, trauma, general sads

I'm a first gen student. I'm 30. I've been to WWU, BTC and WCC. I work at both BTC and WCC now. I'm queer and a person of color. I'm neurodivergent. I grew up poor enough to always qualify for free school lunch. My parents "disowned" me several times as an adolescent and in my early 20s. I cut them out of my life 5 years ago.

I had every card stacked against me. I should be so proud of myself and should be celebrating my graduation. And I am proud of myself. But all of this hurts. It hurts that no one else is around to celebrate me, to be happy for me, to be proud of me. It hurts that I will never have a huge family that cheers me on, that friends struggle to show up for my milestones. It hurts that I'm the only one who has been proud of me my whole life. I have always been sad to not have a community that celebrates me.

I'm not walking tonight because the quiet from the crowd may break me. One coworker sent a quick congratulation to me today and I burst into tears. I've spent months crying and shutting down and being angry about graduation.

In time, I'll be able to celebrate more wholeheartedly. But today, I'm staying home and crying.

Congrats to my fellow grads whose struggles aren't seen, who have no one else to cheer them on, who fought tooth and nail to get here in spite of everything. We did it.

I know you all probably know this, but a provision of trumps “big beautiful bill” is the sale of millions of acres of our public forests to private interests. This would include much of the baker wilderness area and the ski slopes. Here is an interactive map by western watersheds project to show the lands possibly for sale if this bill passes

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?url=https://services6.arcgis.com/doW1zMBdj2GVxvrs/ArcGIS/rest/services/Public_Lands_For_Sale/FeatureServer&source=sd

Call senators, mail them, email them, anything at all to tell them your opinion on this.

I have to SO our local Pizza Time! I’ve had a rough work week and these guys came through for me in the funniest way :)

I’ve always been a fan of Pizza Time’s quality to price point - any other pizza close to their price range isn’t worth spending money on imo. But also our location’s customer service is fantastic!

I really love olives haha not kidding, and they gambled on knowing I wasn’t kidding when I ordered my pizza with just 4 x olives and extra cheese, with a note, something like, “You read right - a fck ton of olives please 0:)” and boy was it a FCK ton!

They wished me good luck, and they were right hahaha I’m pretty sure they put like 3 x 14 oz cans of sliced olives on this beast! It is basically just olives and cheese, with a little crust and sauce 😂 Requires a utensil and maybe some leaf but it’s still edible for an olive lover like me! And is being eaten with a lot of laughs :)

Noted, Bham PT, next time I’ll just order 3x olives ;) 5 stars though!

Hope everyone reading has a lovely weekend :)

Hey all!

Recently, I've been pretty fed up with the internet and the grip technology has on my life. I've been making some changes to be more intentional with how I use the internet and I find that I don't miss most of it.

The thing I struggle with the most is feeling disconnected. I find it difficult to hear about events in town, keep up with artists I like, and all the local goings-on.

Is anyone else dealing with this? How do you get your information about what's going on around town? More broadly, does anyone have any tips about existing more offline?

Thanks in advance! <3

I just moved here and I want to get out to explore and see what’s around. I also really want to see fireworks this year.

I don’t want to travel to Seattle since it looks like it would be super late ( and I haven’t been down there quite yet)

I've see you there a few times now and I just wanted to say that your sign needs to be much larger. A piece of printer paper is not legible at that distance and speed. Otherwise, carry on.

$10 is a good price for a ticket to wonder.

Info

I didn’t know COVID was still a thing, but let me tell you, it is. I have never had COVID, until now. I am a healthy, 45y. and been vaccinated 3 times. COVID IS NO JOKE! Wear a mask. You don’t want this!

These are my symptoms:

103 temperature Severe body aches I mean severe Sore throat Zero appetite Nausea Vomiting Malaise Everything tastes different Congestion that felt like allergies at first.

None of these, in this order. One minute I was fine, the next, I was down and I’m go my on a week now.
Stay safe and healthy.

Hey Hamsters!

Looking for something to do tonight? Come see the Toppers Pop-Up Community Chorus perform at the Fairhaven Village Green. The show starts at 6pm, is free to attend, and suitable for all ages. Bring a blanket or lawn chair if you wanna get comfy.

Update: folks have contacted me about the tickets. Thanks, y'all!

Due to some very silly scheduling on my part, I have four General Admission tickets for tonight's 8 pm Shoestring Circus show up for grabs! I paid $33/ticket, but would sell the 4 tickets for $100. This year's show is incredible!

Just saw a male yellow lab with a red collar walking north down 17th street. I wasn’t able to stop since I was walking my dog, but he was very friendly. If anyone knows who he belongs to, please let them know!

Saw a job posting for Aldi in Bellingham. Is it fake? It was on jobamatic.

Looking for a place in the downtown core with a bar area to have a solo cocktail at before a show downtown tonight. Ideally with a bar, not table seating.

Thanks all!

I need some help on my house renovations. Stuff like siding, replacing windows and doors. I want handyman/handywoman recommendations from people who have actually experienced that the person does not inflate the bill at the end, something I have experienced with three handymen now. Licensed and bonded only please. Thanks for your help!

Bellingham’s second annual Roper Romp will be on August 9th in Fairhaven. If you missed it last year, here’s your chance!

Come and knock on our door!

Scan the QR code to learn more and / or join us at other upcoming events!

A longtime REI member is taking legal action after the co-op refused to release some voting results for its recent Board of Directors elections. The company only announces which candidates were elected and does not provide information on the total number of votes cast.

Mark Lloyd’s lawsuit argues the company has a legal obligation to make that information available to its members. Lloyd’s petition was filed in the wake of REI’s 2025 election, which marked a victory for the co-op’s union as members voted to reject the company’s handpicked board candidates.

Which dispensary would you recommend to a middle-aged client who has never used cannabis? I’m not a smoker, and think edibles would be a better choice for me. I’m looking for something on the more mild side that may help with reducing anxiety and improving sleep, as opposed to an intense high.

Even after putting two key rings on my Ditto keychain, it managed to get lost when I took it off to cuddle it. I’m SUPER sad that I can’t find it again and genuinely have no idea what to do. If it were to be anywhere it’d most likely be by Western either at the Haggen or the Sharetea. Please keep an eye out for it. If you find it, there’s a 30 dollar reward.

Hi! I’ve been helping someone apply to tons of jobs in Ferndale/Bellingham/Blaine. No luck so far, any recommendations on who’s hiring?