“The Nipple Line,” by Portland’s Vix Gutierrez
“You don’t always have to travel to explore.”
That’s just one of the realizations Portland-based writer Vix Gutierrez experiences while her boyfriend is away on a vacation to New Orleans. In a sharp essay now online at Cascadia Magazine, Gutierrez offers details of the writing life in Portland and the crises that inevitably come with entering your thirties. It’s a humorous, sharp piece that offers visions of mortality in a CPR class, the difficulties of being caught between Latinx and white culture, and the wisdom of bartenders:
“Portland is a pretty white woman who is naked but just wants to talk politics.”
Read the full essay here.
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Clear-cut logging of northern BC’s inland rainforest
If you haven’t yet read it, set aside time to read Daniel Mesec’s feature at Cascadia Magazine that details the tragic destruction of the little-known rainforest in north-central British Columbia. Just 9 percent of these forests–home to thousand-year-old cedars and 2,400 unique species–are protected. “A primary forest is one that has never been industrialized in the past. They’re important to conserve because they’re irreplaceable,” says Michelle Connolly, executive director of Conservation North, a local organization fighting to protect the inland rainforest.
Read the full feature and watch the short video here.
Oregon governor convenes special session on death penalty
Oregon governor Kate Brown called a special session of the legislature to address an unexpected consequence of legislation putting limits on the death penalty, Willamette Week reports. Her administration and prosecutors are concerned that the new legislation could apply retroactively to past murder cases. This came after top lawyers in the Oregon Dept of Justice determined several weeks ago that the law did in fact affect past cases.
Nalaxone now available to everyone in WA
Washington state’s top health official signed an order that allows anyone in Washington to obtain the overdose prevention medication Nalaxone at pharmacies in Washington without a prescription, the Seattle Times reports.The article notes that that fentanyl-related deaths in the state have doubled since 2017.
Puyallup Tribe demonstrations against Tacoma gas plant continue
Crosscut’s Manola Secaira looks at ongoing protests by the Puyallup Tribe against a new liquefied natural gas plant in Tacoma, which has nearly cleared the approval process and could undergo construction soon. The plant is being built on traditional Puyallup land.
Seattle’s white students get more recess than black students
An analysis by KUOW finds that white students in Seattle public schools get more recess than black students–51 percent of black children in the system get only the minimum of 30 minutes, the report found. This comes as a group of doctors in the state have begun writing prescriptions for time outside in nature to treat an array of disorders, from depression to ADHD.
Vancouver developers “artwashing” expensive projects
As the debate over high housing costs pricing artists out of Vancouver continues, Melody Ma at The Tyee looks at the practice of developers supporting mural festivals and other tame art projects to put a positive spin on luxury condos and “renovictions” that displace artists and middle income residents.
Poetry by Seattle’s Quenton Baker
The American Academy of Poet’s “Poem a Day” highlights Seattle’s Quenton Baker today with “[we are]” a brief, intense invocation that alludes to the Middle Passage that brought slaves to North America:
“we are
prayer in the long boat
a rhizomatic scream
surrounded by the dark dagger
of the ocean.”
Read (and listen to) the full poem here.
That’s today’s rather belated edition of Cascadia Daily, your round-up of arts, culture, news, and environmental reporting from across the Cascadia bioregion. If you like what you find here and at Cascadia Magazine, please help us out by becoming a recurring sponsor. A regular monthly donation of $5 or $10 on your credit card can make big a difference. –Andrew Engelson
Photo credit: Vancouver mural by Christine Rondeau via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0.