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A poem about Vancouver’s most famous crow
Online at Cascadia Magazine, you’ll find Fiona Tinwei Lam’s poem “Ode to a Crow,” a lovely tribute to East Vancouver’s most famous crow: Canuck.
Canuck has been the subject of international news attention after all sorts of antics, including nabbing evidence from a crime scene, attacking cyclists, stealing car keys, and riding the SkyTrain.
Canuck even has his own Facebook page, which is lovingly kept up by his biggest fan, photographer Shawn Bergman, who allowed Cascadia Magazine to use a of photo of Canuck to accompany Fiona’s poem:
“The world’s your game.
Sleekly assured, you size us up with a darting glance.
A few hops, then off
to join those black streams ribboning the sky,
wings like satin fans against the dusk.
Read the full poem here.
A real story ignored in “Seattle is Dying” video
You really should take a moment to read David Kroman’s amazing feature at Crosscut, in which he interviews Robert Champagne, who was briefly pictured in that awful KOMO News video “Seattle is Dying” demonizing homeless people. Kroman finds that Champagne isn’t homeless, and struggles with both addiction and chronic pain issues. It’s a truly empathetic, fantastic article. Meanwhile, the Seattle Times looks at how teens in juvenile detention often end up homeless, and how case workers are trying to break that cycle. And Seattle has extended permits for three tiny house camps in the city as it considers long term plans.
Oregon considers juvenile justice reform
OPB reports on a raft of bills in the Oregon legislature that would reduce sentences and offer more alternatives to incarceration for under-age offenders. “If their brains are not developed, how can they be held accountable for the rest of their lives?” says the Oregon Department of Corrections director. And Seattle Weekly finds that King County is still using solitary confinement on youth offenders despite the fact the council council forbid the practice more than a year ago.
Will this year’s hard winter hurt French fries?
Anna King, reporting for NW News Network, looks at how this year’s harsh winter is hurting potato crops in eastern Oregon and Washington, possibly pushing up prices for French fries and other potato products.
The fight over the Salish Sea’s last herring fishery
Ian Gill, writing for The Tyee, has a detailed report on the clash between environmentalists trying to save declining herring in the Salish Sea, and a small fishing fleet based on Hornby Island, British Columbia that’s backed the Canadian federal government’s Department of Fisheries. The Narwhal also reports on the conflict and how declines in herring are affecting the full food chain including chinook salmon and orcas.
Second Orcas Island LIt Festival approaches
Seattle Magazine profiles the Second Orcas Island Lit Festival, which takes place in Washington’s San Juan Islands April 5-7. Zyzzyva magazine has a profile of how the festival came to be, and notes that this year’s lineup includes Nicola Griffith, Mat Johnson, and Terese Marie Mailhot. Find out more here.
“Lingua Franca,” poetry by Dujie Tahat
Crab Creek Review has a poem online from its new issue by Seattle poet Dujie Tahat. “Lingua Franca” looks at how English bends, breaks, and grows in an immigrant’s experience:
“For certain things, it’s taken me years
to get the words just right
much less rhyme them.”
Read the full poem here.
Correction: yesterday’s link to Samantha Wohlfeil’s great feature at The Inlander on how child weddings are still legal in Idaho was sadly the incorrect one. Find the disturbing but well-reported article at this link.
That’s today’s curated collection of news & arts from across the Cascadia bioregion, written from lovely Portland, Oregon as I get ready for tomorrow’s Northwest Micropress Fair. If you’re in town for AWP or just in Portland, stop by the ACE Hotel between 10 am – 6 pm Saturday March 30 at 403 SW 10th Ave. and say hi! –Andrew Engelson
Photo credit: spawning herring off Vancouver Island by marneejill via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0