The Bainbridge Review in a publication quoted local author David Guterson (from Harpers Magazine July 1996):
In a universe that is infinite and incomprehensible – in a world that is increasingly beyond all control – islands offer definition. They are every bit a fool’s paradise and at the same time an antidote to reality…
Bainbridge is a society of prisoners who have chosen exile together. It is also a place whose limiting waters inspire the illusion of finite order – a place, in short for the best in humanity. An island is, like Earth itself, a small promise in an endless sea.
Sometimes life on Bainbridge feels like a prison. Sometimes it seems homogenous and isolated. I wonder why we chose this exile.
Yet after living in Silicon Valley, the island appealed to me with its automatic definition of community: the shape of the shore. It is a small town, separated from city by sea, the ocean promising order and tranquility, security for families. A fool’s paradise for purchase in simple pieces: choose your lot.
On summer days with the sunlight shining on the Sound, the snowy peaks of mountains and the white triangles of sails, the shade of cedar forests and the roar of ocean waves, low tide treasures and playgrounds aplenty, this island seems a very pleasant prison. Living on Bainbridge is our chosen lot. Our chosen exile.
