Cascadia Daily, March 12, 2019

How Seattle faced the early days of the AIDS epidemic

The Seattle Times’ Pacific Northwest Magazine has a great feature about the coalition of gay activists, public health workers, and dedicated volunteers who confronted the AIDS crisis in the early 1990s, when nearly one person a day was dying in the city. Inspired by a new AIDS Memorial Pathway at the Capitol Hill light rail station, the story looks at how organizations such as the Northwest AIDS Coalition, ACT-UP, Chicken Soup Brigade, and Bailey-Boushay house overcame fears in the community to provide care and services to those dying of the disease and to advocate for more funding.

Since the arrival of powerful drugs in 1996, HIV has moved from a death sentence to a manageable chronic illness. And now, new research at Seattle’s Fred Hutch center is showing promising steps toward a cure for HIV. In a feature at Cascadia Magazine, Niki Stojnic talks to researchers and HIV-positive advocates about what a pathway to a cure might look like. Read more here.

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Poetry by John Sibley Williams at Cascadia Magazine

Portland-based poet John Sibley Williams has two understated, powerful poems now online at Cascadia Magazine: “Appaloosa,” and “”A Jar to Keep the Earth In.”

” . . . These train tracks
that divide our neighborhoods into
already and not-yet given up on”

Take a moment to read them both here.

Tons of WA buildings could collapse in mega quake

Northwest News Network notes that a new report finds that 4,500 unreinforced masonry buildings (URM) in Washington state are in danger of collapse in a major earthquake. Portland’s plan to label its dangerous URM buildings or require owners to make upgrades has been put on hold because of concerns the rules target black-owned businesses unfairly.

Seattle supervised injection site on hold

According to KUOW, plans to create a supervised safe injection site in Seattle have been halted because of legal concerns and costs. Seattle and King County had been working on a mobile supervised injection site but are concerned about lawsuits from the federal government. A feature published last year at Cascadia Magazine looked at the evidence that sites in Vancouver prevent overdoses and save lives.

Oregon looks at paying postage on mail-in ballots

Oregon governor Kate Brown supports tax dollars being used to pay the postage on mail-in ballots, which has been shown to increase voter turnout. Opponents quibble about the $2.9 million price tag if everyone returned their ballot. Washington state decided to pay postage on ballots in 2018.

Mine company wants to pollute more radioactive material in cleanup

The company that owns the Midnite uranium mine on the Spokane Indian Reservation has asked the federal government to allow it to pollute more radioactive materials in its cleanup efforts. For more on the legacy of nuclear power and uranium mines in Washington state, check out Dan Hawkins’s photos and Kathleen Flenniken’s poems published last year at Cascadia Magazine.

How BC can overcome anti-vaccine sentiment

The Vancouver Sun talks with public health researchers at UBC about the best strategies to convince parents to vaccinate their children, now that a measles outbreak in Vancouver BC has hit 17 cases. In related news, the Seattle Times profiles Republican Washington state rep Paul Harris, who is defying many constituents in his district in Clark county by pushing to elimination philosophical exemptions for vaccination.

Saving a historic backcountry ski cabin at Mount Hood

OPB has a great report on efforts to preserve and maintain “Tilly Jane,” a big, drafty backcountry ski cabin built in the 1930s. An example of rustic “Cascadian” architecture, the lodge is now being managed by a group of avid ski volunteers.

“One More Monarch,” poetry by Martha Silano

Here at Cascadia Daily, we’re big fans of Martha Silano’s poetry (Cascadia Mag published “In the Little Wenatchee Drainage” a few months ago). Over at Seattle Review of Books, she’s this month’s poet-in-residence and today’s offering is “One More Monarch,” which juxtaposes death alongside details of the natural world:
“The thing about drowning, it would be peaceful,
though I’d mess it up with panic, the will to see
one more monarch feeding on a milkweed pod.”
Read the complete poem here.

And so there you have today’s mix of poetry, news, and environmental reporting from all across this vast bioregion known as Cascadia. Here’s to seeing one more monarch feeding. –Andrew Engelson

Photo credit: damage from 2001 Nisqually Earthquake in Seattle by Kevin Galvin, FEMA (public domain)