If you've never heard of Buy Nothing before, it's like a FREE gifting site but more wholesome. They focus on the people, not the stuff. There is gifting and receiving, but the focus is on getting to know your neighbors and a sense of community. Castle Rock needs someone interested in growing their group and filling their hearts with all the wonderful things that come from Buy Nothing.

If you are interested in what this project is all about:

https://buynothingproject.org/about/

And if you are interested in training to be an admin for Castle Rock please check out:

https://buynothingproject.org/start-a-group/

I have so many friends I know from my hometown Castle Rock that would love this group, but don't have the time to get it up and running themselves. If you have the time to start it, and cultivate it, it does eventually bloom all on its own!

If you aren't living in Castle Rock anymore but you like the idea of this project and want to find your group:

https://buynothingproject.org/find-a-group/

Hello, the wife and I are going to be moving to Washington in the near future and would like to know some pros and cons of Castle Rock. I've got family there but would also like to know other people's experiences. Thanks for reading.

Hi everyone,

My name is Joey. I'm a linguistics graduate student from the University of Georgia, and I'm interested in the way people in the West talk. A lot of people say the Pacific Northwest has no accent, and I'm interested in what that means exactly. Others say there is an accent, and I'm curious to find out more about it.

My dissertation is on the speech of Cowlitz county, and I'm currently in the area (for about a month) trying to collect as many recordings of people as I can for this research. I'd really appreciate some volunteers for some help.

There are two main kind of recordings I'm collecting, and you can do one or both of them. The first is literally where you and I get together and chat for an hour. I'll have you clip a microphone to your shirt, and we can just shoot the breeze for a while and talk about whatever you want (you'll get $10 if you do this). The other is more controlled: I have a list of words and a couple paragraphs for you to read out loud. This won't take as much time though, so no monetary compensation (sorry…). We can meet and do the recording at LCC or somewhere quiet in Castle Rock you might be aware of.

I'd like to get people that have spent most of their lives here. My goal is to get at least 50 people and I only have about half that (and they're mostly older people). If you or someone you know is a native of Cowlitz county, and if you're interested at all in doing this, please message me. I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.