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I just finished another great trip to Vancouver, meeting with journalists, writers, and photographers and looking at how Cascadia Magazine can improve our coverage of British Columbia. I love Vancouver (as I love Seattle and Portland) and each trip helps me get a better sense for this diverse, vibrant, and absolutely gorgeous city. (Okay, so a record spring heat wave helped a little, too!)

Part of our mission at Cascadia Magazine and Cascadia Daily is to capture the spirit of this place, this bioregion stretching from northern California to southeast Alaska. And each time I visit I feel I start to understand Vancovuer a bit more, how it differs from Seattle, and in what ways it’s similar. We share a magnificent natural setting, we have a bustling economy, and yes, we’ve got problems: high housing costs, homelessness, a surging addiction crisis, and threats from climate change– just to name several.

But there’s an excitement too, and I’m optimistic about great writing in this region.

I travel around Cascadia more and more, and whenever possible I try to take the train. I’m a big fan of the Amtrak Cascades line that spans from Eugene to Vancouver BC. Does it have its weaknesses? You bet. Stops to let freight trains pass. Aging trains, and spotty wi-fi. The weird border crossing theater. Some day maybe we’ll have high-speed rail connecting our region. But for now we have a pokey little train that makes me supremely happy each time I ride it.

The views are extraordinary, especially the route along the Salish Sea between Mount Vernon and Vancouver. You can sit back and relax and have a beer. Or do some work. Or read a book. And um, that view. I could stare at it the entire trip.

Really, why would you drive?

Two poems by John Sibley Williams

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.

FBI criminal investigation into Boeing 737 approval

After the Seattle Times broke a story earlier in the week about problems with FAA and Boeing approval of flight systems for the troubled 737 MAX, the Times now reports that the Seattle office of the FBI is involved in a criminal investigation regarding approval of the jet’s flight readiness. After two crashes in the past few months, the company is under intense scrutiny and all of the 376 planes now in service are grounded.

More federal money for housing in BC, but what about renters?

The Canadian government today announced an ambitious $1.25 billion housing program, which is intended to make it easier first-time home buyers, but Paul Willcocks at The Tyee asks: why not use the money to help renters, when Vancouver single family homes are astronomically expensive? The Vancouver Sun makes the same point, noting that the plan’s baseline of $480,000 can’t really buy you anything in most of British Columbia.

The doctor behind Oregon’s anti-vaxx movement

 Willamette Week has a detailed (and terrifying) profile of Dr. Paul Thomas, a pediatrician in Beaverton, Oregon who’s become a leader in the anti-vaccine movement. A bestselling author, he’s raised doubts (not backed by scientce) about connections between vaccines and autism, and has inspired many parents to skip vaccinations. Meanwhile, The Globe & Mail reports that British Columbia will purchase extra measles vaccines in an attempt to improve vaccination rates after 19 cases broke out in BC.

Democracy, ecology and reconciliation on Haida Gwaii

Nine years after Hadai Gwaii was renamed, CBC looks at how transfer of power and land rights (including logging) are changing life for the island’s First Nations people. Meanwhile a new book explores lessons of contemporary democracy on Haida Gwaii, and how such institutions as the Old Massett Village Council are offering a post-colonial approach to consensus & democracy. And yes, Hadaii Gwaii is a jewel of biodiversity, but it’s also powered by diesel.

Oregon Shakespeare appoints Garrett artistic director

Oregon Arts Watch reports that the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland (one of the world’s premier theater festivals) has appointed is sixth artistic director, Nataki Garrett. Coming from Denver, Garrett will be one of the most prominent African Americans leading a North American theater program, with a budget of over $44 million. Listen to an interview with Garrett and her vision for the festival here.

Remembering Patrick Lane

British Columbia poet Patrick Lane, who died of a heart attack recently, was an institution in BC and Canadian poetry, as this obituary at BC BookLook makes clear. He never strayed far from his working class roots, and this profile at Quill & Quire talks about how poetry saved his life on his path to sobriety. Luanne Armstrong, writing for The Tyee pays homage to Lane and other poets who’ve passed away recently. Read three recent poems by Lane at his personal website here. That’s today’s assortment of news, arts & culture from across the Cascadia bioregion. Enjoy this all this brilliant spring weather! And our apologies for a rather egregious typo in yesterday’s newsletter. If you didn’t see it, well we aren’t going to draw attention to it out, but just so you know: we’re excited that Cascadia Magazine passed a big milestone last week! ?  –Andrew Engelson