“Scratch the dirt off of a Galiano Islander,” I was told on my first visit to Galiano, “and you’ll find a PhD.” With so many full-time, part-time, and retired academics it’s no wonder that Galiano Island is so full of opinions. Known throughout the region for its intense politics, Galiano has been the battleground of many legal and social conflicts between developers and conservationists over the last decade–though neither development nor conservation ever seemed to be black or white realities here. Galiano is equally pulled left and right by the ferries, at it lies precisely halfway between Vancouver and Vancouver Island.