Cascadia Daily, Mar. 6, 2018

Cascadia Magazine original: poetry by Montreux Rotholtz

This week, Cascadia Magazine publishes the work of Seattle-based poet Montreux Rotholtz, who’s the author of the chapbook Unmark (Burnside Review Press, 2017). Her work pays precise attention the sounds and look of language. You can read two of her poems, “Cosmos,” and “Prism” online at our website.

“sweeping the porch
I felt it the rye and salt
dry-roasted
wallop of honey wind”

You’ll also find artwork by Joseph Pentheroudakis, who lives on Herron Island in South Puget Sound and has a fascination with the complex interaction of lines he nestles inside his drawings. Head over to Cascadia Magazine and have a look.

And please consider making a donation to Cascadia Magazine today. We’re a reader-supported publication dedicated to publishing quality writing from across the Pacific Northwest.

Women go public with Sherman Alexie harassment accusations

Over the past two weeks, Twitter has been percolating with something that had been kept quiet in the North American literary world for a long time: acclaimed novelist Sherman Alexie, who lives in Seattle and is of Coeur d’Alene, Spokane, and Colville descent, has a long history of sexually harassing and pressuring women, including Indigenous writers. NPR has the story, and KUOW follows up with Elissa Washuta, a writer with roots in Seattle and a member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe who had several uncomfortable encounters with Alexie. Paul Constant, at the Seattle Review of Books, reflects on the difficult but necessary realization that a writer he knew and admired was also someone who caused a lot of pain. Graham Lee Brewer reflects on what Native American literature can look like beyond Sherman Alexie.
It can’t be denied that even as he hurt women and injured a lot of careers, Alexie is an immensely skilled writer; the story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” is just one example. But that success came at the expense of people like Elissa Washuta, another talented writer, who confronted her experience of rape in the memoir My Body is a Book of Rules. You can read an interview with her here. And on Twitter, Washuta recommends a list of Native American writers to read who aren’t Sherman Alexie.

Washington becomes first state to protect net neutrality

WA Governor Jay Inslee signed a law that requires internet providers to observe net neutrality in the state. The Trump administration FCC will likely challenge the measure in court. In other legislative news, Oregon governor Kate Brown signed a law that prevents individuals convicted of domestic abuse or subject to restraining orders from owning guns.

Drug overdose deaths a “disaster” says BC coroner

Travis Lupick at The Georgia Straight notes that, according to a revised report from the BC coroner’s office, death rates from drug overdose (especially due to fentanyl) in British Columbia last year topped “homicides, suicides, and motor-vehicle accidents combined.”

A tsunami of trash on Cascadia’s shores

Hakai magazine reports on a new study that finds that in the aftermath of the 2011 Japanese tsunami, the quantity of trash washing up on the west coast of North America and Hawaii increased 11 times over.

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art turns five

City Arts reports on the fifth anniversary of the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, the only museum of contemporary art on the west side of Puget Sound, including the Olympic peninsula. The rapidly growing museum offers interdisciplinary programming and a diverse array of visual art form local and international artists.

How Frank Ocean became a Portland poet’s muse

At Portland Monthly, Rose City poet Shayla Lawson admits to a healthy obsession with singer Frank Ocean (her latest collection is entitled I Think I’m Ready to See Frank Ocean). “That was Frank Ocean to me: honest and brave, both humbled and terrified by the fact we’re still here. That we still have love. That we still need desperately hard to protect it.”

That’s all the news and arts from the Pacific Northwest today. –Andrew Engelson

Photo credit: Sherman Alexie by Arizona State University Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0