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UpZones podcast: what’s the culture of Seattle & Cascadia?
Cascadia Underground, a media center in Seattle focused on issues facing the Pacific Northweest, has a great weekly podcast called UpZones. Host Ian Martinez is a terrific interviewer and a good conversationalist, and I recently had the pleasure of being a guest on his show.
It was an opportunity to talk about Seattle’s rapid growth, what’s happening in arts and culture in Cascadia, why I founded Cascadia Magazine (and this newsletter, Cascadia Daily) and, most importantly: why the heck do Vancouver BC baseball fans root for the Toronto Blue Jays instead of the Seattle Mariners!?
It’s a fun conversation — head over to the UpZones website and have a listen.
–Andrew Engelson
Teenager owes $36 million for Oregon wildfire
OPB reports that a judge in Oregon has ruled that the teenager who started last year’s massive Eagle Creek Fire in the Columbia George will owe various government agencies, including the US Forest Service, $36 million for damages. The youth’s attorney says the fine is excessive and unconstitutional. Considering 100 years of Forest Service fire suppression that caused many Oregon forests to become tinder boxes, perhaps one reckless teen isn’t the only problem. Climate change has doubled risk of fire across the West, and Washington’s King County is suing oil companies for a variety of climate change impacts.
Seattle bike lane costs soar to $12 million per mile
The Seattle Times reports on how costs have climbed to $12 million per mile in the effort to build new bike lanes in Seattle, and that a measure to substantially increase their number will probably only build half of the lanes promised. Meanwhile, Vancouver has built a huge network of bike lanes and more than 10 percent of commutes are now by bicycle.
Mountain biker fatally attacked by cougar near Seattle
NWPB reports that two mountain bikers were attacked, one fatally, by a cougar near Mount Si in the Cascade foothills near Seattle. It’s only the second time in 94 years someone has been killed by a cougar in Washington state. The Seattle Time reported several years ago that bear and cougar attacks are rare in the state and that domestic dogs and bees account for more deaths in the woods. “A healthy population of predators indicates a healthy ecosystem,” wrote Shannon Huffman Polson (whose father was killed by a grizzly in Alaska) for High Country News in 2012.
Puyallup Tribe welcomes first salmon — which arrive by truck
John Ryan, writing for KUOW, reports on how Washington’s Puyallup Tribe traditionally welcome the first returning salmon of the season — although these salmon complete their migration by truck because of faulty fish ladders at the Mud Mountain dam on the Puyallup River. In other salmon news, The Tyee reports on how sea lice are plaguing salmon farms in British Columbia, while Hakai Magazine reports on a new study that discovered a disease in chinook salmon is caused by a virus commonly found in Atlantic salmon pens.
An “accidental cartoonist” on display at Seattle’s Wing Luke museum
Hallie Golden, at Crosscut, interviews Vishavjit Singh, the public speaker and cartoonist whose work highlights racism against Sikh communities in North America. His work is on display at Seattle’s Wing Luke museum. Seattle Globalist also has a feature on Singh, who’s known for dressing up in a Captain America costume and traditional turban: “It was this bizarre day because suddenly in this uniform, people saw me with different eyes.”
Kim Stafford appointed Oregon’s ninth poet laureate
Last week, Oregon Cultural Trust announced that Kim Stafford had been appointed Oregon’s ninth poet laureate. Stafford has written a dozen books of poetry and prose (100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do is his most recent) and you can read two of his recent poems at Terrain.org:
“Could you bring me a smudge of camas blue,
and the whisper whistle of that one pine
at the edge of the meadow at dusk, when day gives a lost, last breath?”
He’s the second Stafford to hold the post. Kim’s father William Stafford was Oregon poet laureate from 1974 to 1989.
That’s today’s news, arts, and culture from across Cascadia. Enjoy the remainder of your Victoria Day holiday! ?? –Andrew Engelson
Photo credit: Cougar by Wikimedia Commons user Malcolm, CC BY-SA 2.0