Community Roots

Meet our Community Roots oral history cohort and project contributors.

“In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Three months later, Nelson Mandela was freed from South Africa, signaling the fall of apartheid. Everything is changing around the world–standing up against tyranny or bringing down totalitarianism–but then Bush starts a war later that year. So in the 90s, getting together opposing Bush in the war and creating sort of an activist community. There was a lot going on in Olympia. I think there was just a lot going on in general everywhere.”

Artist-activist and one of the founding members of the Liberation Cafe in the ‘90s

“One thing I think that happens in society is we have a very limited historical memory. In the United States there's been a lot of oppression, but there's always been resistance. To me I think of education a lot, not just formal, but informal. And again, this idea of trying to do education, not in a top down way, but more where you respect the people and you try to build on their experience and have them understand it more deeply. But I think that’s so important that people have some knowledge of what people have done, so we can learn from mistakes, but also strengthen them. Nothing is ever exactly the same, but I think historical memory is really important.”

Member of the Faculty at The Evergreen State College

One of the founding members of the Liberation Cafe in the ‘90s

"I felt like zines were going to be a dying medium because of the internet. And this was in like, ‘97. And so I wanted to collect zines because I felt like they weren't going to be around much longer and people were going to be making webpages instead of making zines. I wanted a place where the community could come and read zines from all over. The collection was taking up a lot of space and I was like I would rather have everybody share this than then it just be like boxes in my living room, which is how I ended up starting the zine library at the Liberation Cafe."

Former Evergreen student in the '90s

Founder of the Olympia Zine Library at the Liberation Cafe

The Liberation Cafe was an activist space that formed in 1996 as a place for people to work, collaborate, host events, and engage with community. See the full PDF archival of materials that were preserved and scanned by Liberation Cafe co-founder Pat Tassoni. Thank you, Pat, for sharing these materials with us! 

“It was so child-oriented. It was also a place that I went in thinking, 'Okay, we're going to teach the kids something.' I learned quickly at this age, it's not a matter of teaching them; it's a matter of letting them play, and as they play, they are learning.”

Former worker and assistant director at Driftwood in the ‘70s

“My daughter recently told me that one of the biggest experiences of her life was that she got to help volunteer at the daycare center. I think that's probably not allowed at this point, but it was nice for me to be able to share with my children the daycare center.”

Driftwood’s first Director in 1971

“One day, I heard, 'Ugh, here come the kids from the childcare center..." And it became my mission to turn that around to: 'Hey, here come the kids from the childcare center!' It took us a long time to do that, years to do that, but we did. It was great.”

Retired Director at The Children's Center at The Evergreen State College

“I remember that we would walk to the main campus sometimes. But we tended to, of course, try to walk on the curb. I remember walking on that and trying to march: 'March! 2…3…4…' I mean, for some reason that was just like, endlessly interesting to do! Like we felt like we were really accomplishing something [laughs].”

Former child attendee of Driftwood in the '70s

“One of the pieces that was so challenging for me as a person of faith: ‘how can I reconcile the fact that I am giving just bits and pieces of assistance to people who are living in unheated tents in the state of Washington while I spend time with them?’ And then I get in my car and I go home to a warm house. Or to members of faith communities who were good enough to host but still kept their boundary on what was their property and their building and forbade the homeless inside other than designated times. And that troubles me. It will always trouble me as a person of faith.”

Member of the Olympia Unitarian Universalist congregation in 2007‍

‍Engaged in advocacy for sheltering people who otherwise would be unhoused

“Each year our city council was passing ordinance after ordinance banning certain aspects of people's existence, like camping in cars and RVs, where you can sit on the sidewalk and what times, and trying to ban panhandling and other things like that. We would protest against these things and lose every time. I think that eventually it just sort of culminated. They say, drastic times call for drastic measures.”

Former Evergreen student in 2007

Engaged in advocacy for sheltering people who otherwise would be unhoused

“This is our living room. The city of Olympia is our living room. We wanted to ask the city of Olympia: 'If you take our place to sit, could you at least help us find a place to sit?'"

Camp Quixote residents and organizers, 2007

We need your help producing a new interactive exhibit, event series and podcast featuring three historic community organizing efforts in Olympia, Washington!

Apply to be an interviewer for our 2023 cohort to help gather and share stories for the project! Community Roots is a community-based oral history project that features local artists, innovators, and change-makers.

Community Roots evolved from oral histories shared from The Third Thirty project. The project celebrates our community's rich traditions of creative expression and activism.