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New poetry online at Cascadia Magazine by Samuel Green
Former Washington state poet laureate Samuel Green, who lives on Waldron Island in the San Juan Islands, has two new poems online at Cascadia Magazine, “Falcon Watching: Disney Point,” and “Elk.” Each poem offers amazed observations of wildlife living at the margins of human existence.
“. . . but there it was, a peregrine,
having just caught a pigeon
guillemot in flight,
which was spectacular
enough, but then it drew
a series of loops in the air,
the way a calligrapher
might fall into a flourish
at the end-stroke of a letter. . . ”
Read the full poem online here.
And if you appreciate great writing like this, please consider making a contribution at our donate page. We can’t publish work like this at Cascadia Magazine without the generous support of our readers. And if you’re one of those supporting readers already, thank you!
Cascadia Magazine original: All the Elements at Play
This weekend, if you’re looking for a light read, check out Portland writer Jason Arias’s humorous essay online at Cascadia Magazine: “All the Elements at Play.” He insists it’s an absolutely true story of an incident at a game park safari on the Oregon coast–a morality tale that features a chimpanzee named George, Arias’ two sons, Pokemon, and karmic redemption.
Get Outside! Rooster Rock State Park
If you’re in the Portland area and want to get out for a hike this weekend, check out Craig Romano’s latest column at Cascadia Magazine on Rooster Rock State Park in the Columbia River Gorge. It’s an easy ramble through groves of moss-draped maples and alders, it’s got fantastic views of the gorge, and it also happens to have two of Oregon’s only officially sanctioned nude beaches. (Probably best to wait until summer for that one!) Read the full feature here.
Helping black residents stay in Seattle despite gentrification
Josh Cohen, writing for Crosscut, reports on a coalition that’s coming together in Seattle to help longtime black residents of the city’s Central District find ways to afford rising housing costs and taxes. Meanwhile, the Everygrey has a great piece on the policies that made the Central District the center of Seattle’s black community. And the Seattle Times found that many properties in the city still have racist covenants in the deeds–and here’s how you can find out and fix it if yours does.
Construction on BC gas pipeline ceases in conflict with First Nations
CTV reports that CoastLink has halted construction of a gas pipeline in northern BC after workers reportedly destroyed traplines set by the Unist’ot’en Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. The Tyee asks why protests by First Nations and Indigenous people are met with a militarized response, and the Narwhal reports that BC Hydro is in court trying to prevent documents from going public related to the Site C dam (which is opposed by several First Nations).
Will the legislature fix Oregon’s languishing public schools?
OPB looks at a new report that confirms the dire situation in Oregon’s public schools, including some of the lowest graduation rates in the nation. The price tag will be high (some estimate $3 billion) and funding sources may need a more stable source than income taxes. Meanwhile, governor Kate Brown is looking at ways to push campaign finance reform in this session.
Jellyfish washing up on Oregon coast in big numbers
The Daily Astorian reports that dead jellyfish are showing up dead on the Oregon coast in big numbers, but biologists aren’t certain why. In other environmental news, Eugene Weekly notes that although much of Oregon’s threatened Elliott State Forest is now public, it still may be logged. And the Seattle Times reports that the US Navy facilities in western Puget Sound have recently dumped the equivalent of 50 dump truck loads of toxic materials into the Salish Sea.
A sprawling exhibit on First Nations rights and activism at UBC
Dorothy Woodend at The Tyee has a detailed review of what sounds like a fascinating, sprawling multimedia art exhibit at the University of British Columbia by a variety of Indigenous artists. Hexsa’a̱m: To Be Here Always looks at various ways First Nations in BC have had to fight for to abundant salmon runs, old growth forests, and access to clean water. The exhibit runs through April 7, 2019 — more details here.
Multimedia art & poetry by Portland’s Dao Strom
If you visit one link in this newsletter this week, make it Dao Strom’s amazing piece “Traveller’s Ode” at Poetry Northwest. The Portland-based poet, musician, photographer and multimedia artist has created a work of poetry about the Vietnamese refugee diaspora along with a gorgeous video of music and spoken word set inside a decommissioned cooling tower. It’s haunting and mesmerizing, and the accompanying verse is extremely powerful in light of recent tragic stories of immigrants seeking asylum in the US:
“we were
told
we’d have
to go &
had better
learn
to
travel
light”
Read the poem and watch the video online here.
That’s today’s collection of news and arts from across the Cascadia bioregion. Have a great weekend! –Andrew Engelson
Photo credits: screenshot of Dao Strom’s Traveler’s Ode via Vimeo