Home Engineered Prosthetics
Story by Patrick Downing
Photo courtesy of Ivan Owen
 
Unbearable pain shot up Richard Van As’ arm into his neck. It felt like an electrical current surging through his upper body. In a matter of seconds, the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. He looked at his hand. Two of his fingers lay on the saw table.
Van As says his brain blocked out most of his experience. He does remember the resistance of the saw against his fingers and how it eventually lost power and shut down; it was …

Late night workers reveal the strangest things they’ve witnessed in downtown Bellingham.

I know what you’re thinking: Who cares about dirt anyway?

It’s all around us, finding its way onto our shoes, into our homes and under our fingernails. But we didn’t make this issue to highlight dirt’s prevalence. It’s dirt’s ability to play a unique part in so many people’s lives that makes it special. …

Story by Sarah Kane

Females, let’s face it: Beauty hurts. Aside from haircuts, most female maintenance inflicts pain. The most painful of them all has drastically increased in popularity in the last decade: the Brazilian bikini wax. …

Story by Samantha Oberholzer

The magenta-spined book stands out from the other black and white books on the narrow shelf. The title doesn’t seem too out of the ordinary when compared to the plethora of sexual awareness books surrounding it. “My Secret Garden” by Nancy Friday seems to fit in with the other books titled “Power Fantasy” and “The Edge of the Bed: How Dirty Pictures Changed My Life.” A dizzying combination of indigo and aqua blues wave around the front and back covers that hold 307 pages of steamy and erotic (or obscene, depending on your taste) fantasies.

Story by Alana Linderoth

Fan-shaped palm fronds as wide as a 50-inch flat screens, tree ferns and thick tropical vines shade the soggy ground of Bellingham from the sticky, subtropical climate. Small mammals, wading birds and giant dinosaur-like birds known as diatryma roam the soft muddy environment. The North Cascade Mountains do not exist, and a subtropical fluvial river system dominates the landscape. …

Story by Lindsey Otta

Two potatoes, 1 cup of celery, 1 cup of carrots, 1/3 cup of chopped red onions and a pinch of basil slowly cook for 30 minutes in a quart of water. The warm smell of the simmering vegetables sluggishly dances around the kitchen.

Final step: Drain vegetables and drink the warm, watery broth for dinner. …

AMID BUDGET CUTS, WASHINGTON STATE FAILS TO PROVIDE CITIZENS WITH ADEQUATE ACCESS TO STATE SPENDING

Story by Kayley Richards

Senator Patty Murray has a Twitter feed. Governor Christine Gregoire has an official Facebook page, on which she shares political links, videos and upcoming events (as well as her affinities for chocolate mousse and Grey’s Anatomy). The Washington State Legislature website has an online bill tracking system, and the Washington Public Disclosure Commission website has a searchable online database so voters can track contributions to political campaigns. The Washington state government is certainly no stranger to modern technology, but if you think you can get all the dirt on government spending in a single click, you’re out of luck. …

Story by Elysia Nazareth

Photo illustration by Jordan Stead

Some occupations require employers to dig up dirt in the most literal sense: with bare hands, shovels hacking up raw earth. And then there’s private investigator Joe Kelly, who digs up a different kind of dirt entirely. …

THE ART OF HAGGLING AND BARTERING FINDS LIFE AT THE FLEA MARKET

Story by Celeste Erickson

Photos by Carey Rose

It’s a far cry from the average mall. It’s a place where a frugal shopper looking for a dirt-cheap deal can search for hidden treasures and negotiate the price of any item. A section for art made of plants, a library of books and movies, even a room devoted to arcade games occupuy the large space called O’Donnell’s Bellingham Flea Market. …