SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE NEWSLETTER
March For Our Lives protests across Cascadia
Over the weekend, hundreds of thousands took to the streets across the US to speak up for stronger gun regulations. Student-led movements took place in Seattle and Portland, Eugene, Astoria, and Richland, WA among many others. Thousands turned out at the Idaho Capitol in Boise to call for gun regulations in a state not known for its liberalism on the issue. An editorial at the South Seattle Emerald asks a previously taboo question: is it time to repeal the Second Amendment?
Court denies First Nation’s bid to stop BC fish farm transfer
According to CBC, a federal court rejected the ‘Namgis First Nation’s bid to stop the transfer of young Atlantic salmon to open-net pens operated by Marine Harvest on the north end of Vancouver Island. The court found the transfer could pose a disease risk to native salmon, but ruled ‘Namgis had made their case too soon to the proposed transfer.
Closing of Russian consulate in Seattle sparks confusion
Part of the Trump adminstration’s response to the Russian poison attack on a former spy in the UK was to close the Russian consulate in Seattle. Crosscut reports this is causing confusion among the thousands of Russian citizens in Cascadia who rely upon it, and inspiring concern that the US consulate in Vladivostok will be closed in retaliation.
Land trusts shift focus toward cities
High Country News reports on how environmental land trusts like Seattle-based Forterra are shifting some of their focus to cities, in an effort to curb sprawl, encourage building of affordable housing, and promote quality of life for people in marginalized communities.
New film adapts Portland author Willy Vlautin’s novel
Author and musician Willy Vlautin’s novel Lean on Pete, about a working class kid from Portland who befriends a neglected racehorse, is now a film from British director Andrew Haigh. Portland Monthly reports on the making of the film, shot on location in Portland and eastern Oregon.
An excerpt from Chelsea Johnson’s Stray City
Literary Hub has an excerpt from Chelsea Johnson’s Stray City, a poignant and funny account of life in gay & lesbian Portland in the 90s. The scene evokes coming out to conservative Catholic parents: “All my stockpiling of good behavior had been for nothing; my currency was no good with them, counterfeit from the start. They still wanted the other Andrea, the one I had made up for and with them.”
That’s today’s news, arts, and culture from across Cascadia. –Andrew Engelson
Photo credits: Portland March for Our Lives protest by Wikimedia Commons user Another Believer CC BY-SA 4.0