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Three Abortions in Oregon
Oregon has some of the strongest laws on the books in support of abortion, but as Portland-based writer Sophia Shalmiyev notes in an original essay, “Three Abortions in Oregon,” now online at Cascadia Magazine, the state still has a long way to go to make abortion legal, paid for, and free from shame.
“I had three abortions in Oregon, Shalmiyev writes. “Safe and necessary abortions. It is not a crime, not here. It is not a badge. It is not a secret. It’s a moment I shared with a man where we ultimately made a mistake.”
Visceral, angry, and meticulously argued, Shalmiyev’s essay is honest about the feelings she had going through these three procedures but never concedes ground that men must take more responsibility for making abortion free and readily available. “Why is there no mandate requiring the care of our bodies, as well as mental health services, during and after an abortion, to be billed to the man?”
Read this important piece on normalizing abortion and fighting patriarchy here.
Born in Leningrad, Shalmiyev emigrated to the US in 1990, and she’s the author of the debut memoir, Mother Winter. She’s also a visual artist, and created the artwork accompanying her essay.
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Join us in Seattle, Friday the 13th for Words & Ideas!
This will be a fascinating evening with writers published in Cascadia Magazine! Join us at 7 pm Friday, Sept 13 at the Rendezvous Jewelbox Theater in Seattle. More info here.
Seattle’s troubled streetcar future + other transit news
The Seattle Times notes that Seattle has cancelled a contract with a streetcar manufacturer, but the over-budget expansion of the line through the city’s First Hill neighborhood is still on track. Meanwhile, Greyhound announced it’s closing its terminal in Portland’s Chinatown, moving to a simpler curbside location nearby. And at Crosscut, Katie Wilson rides a pokey Amtrak train east from Seattle and dreams of a high-speed real network across the west.
Vast majority in BC want to stop setting clocks back and forth
The Vancouver Sun reports the results of a British Columbia government poll finding that 93 percent of BC residents want to switch to permanent Daylight Savings Time and end the practice of setting clocks backward and forward each spring and fall. Washington and Oregon have passed bills aimed at ending the practice, but US Congressional approval is required.
Hospitals in WA sue state over committed mental health patients
Though the Washington legislature passed substantial new funding for mental health this year, hospitals are suing the state for forcing them to take patients committed for mental health disorders, because of overcrowding at state mental health facilities, KNKX reports. The state’s two psychiatric hospitals are full and in disrepair.
The Blob returns to Cascadia’s coast
OPB reports that scientists are warning that a spike in Pacific Ocean temperatures off the coast from Alaska to California known as “The Blob” has returned. In 2014-15, water temperatures rose 7 degrees Fahrenheit, causing algae blooms, marine life die-offs, and declines in whale populations. Temperatures have already climbed 5 degrees above normal.
The black WWII smokejumpers who made history in Oregon
Tom Banse at Northwest News Network looks at a fascinating chapter in Cascadia history: the all-black World War 2 paratroop unit the “Triple Nickles” (555th Parachute Infantry Battalion). The unit had two important and fascinating missions in the Northwest: parachuting in to battle forest wildfires and a secret mission: seeking out and destroying Japanese incendiary balloons intended to start forest fires. There’s a fascinating gallery of photos from the 555 at Eastern Washington University’s digital photo archive.
Poetry by Seattle’s Shin Yu Pai
At Seattle Review of Books, you can read Seattle poet Shin Yu Pai’s “Chiang-Kai Shek Boneyard,” a critical look at war monuments and what they represent.
“
I focus instead on the 20-year-old
cadets saluting the ruler who never
commanded them, sweating in the heat
of mid-day…” Read the full poem here.
For more of Shin Yu’s poetry, read “Ensō,” online at Cascadia Magazine. Shin Yu Pai will be reading as part of Cascadia Magazine‘s Evening of Words & Ideas at 7 pm, Friday Sept. 13 at Seattle’s Rendezvous Jewelbox Theater (more here).
Thanks for reading Cascadia Daily, your guide to news, arts, poetry, and great writing from across the Pacific Northwest. Have a great evening and see you tomorrow! –Andrew Engelson
Photo credit: member of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion courtesy of Eastern WA University Archives