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A Cascadia poetry retreat
It was a gathering of poets from across the bioregion, and it grew out of a Cumberland poetry retreat and the Cascadia Poetry Festival. Paul Nelson, creator of the Seattle Poetics Lab and author of Elegy for Tahlequah’s Calf, recently published at Cascadia Magazine, reflected that the retreat “was about how we get deeper into this sense of place, and how can that be reflected in our work, and how can we hunker down and be here, and be more deeply, and have a poetry aesthetic that reflects that deeper connection than somebody just passing through.” Among the poets reading was longtime BC poet George Stanley, who was recently interviewed at Cascadia Magazine.
The retreat was organized by poets Adelia MacWilliam and Danika Dinsmore, and the writing exercises and discussions ranged from finding an impersonal voice to the collaboration between science and poetry. The intimate setting helped set up a series of two fantastic public readings. Adelia says the poets were inspired to give some of their best readings because they “felt so connected to the other participants, a closeness forged by spending time with each other at this level of inquiry.”
The program also included a talk by conservation ecologist Dominick Della Salla, which emphasized the importance of poetry and the arts in communicating the severity of climate change, as well as using the language of wildfire ecology to further enrich poetry and vice versa. “If poets can incorporate these luminous details from science,” notes Paul, ” but in a way that makes an emotional connection with reader, that’s how we’re going to get change. And now is when non-human nature needs advocates more than ever.”
–Andrew Engelson
Now online at Cascadia Magazine: Saving Peace River Valley
Learn about the grassroots efforts by First Nations, farmers, and local residents of British Columbia’s Peace River Valley to fight the Site C dam that’s turning their lives upside down and threatening the ecology of a remote valley in northeast BC. Fantastic reporting at Cascadia Magazine by Vancouver-based journalist Alison Bate. Read the full article here.
US-Canada agreement would limit wild salmon harvest
OPB reports on negotiations taking place between US and Canadian officials to create a 10-year plan to improve wild salmon runs across Cascadia — including reductions in the harvest of chinook salmon, a major food source for endangered orcas. In related news, Washington fish and wildlife officials closed much of the Columbia River to chinook fishing after counts of fall returns showed levels 29 percent below normal.
Inside the repeal of Seattle’s tax to fund homeless services
The Seattle Times, using a public records request, obtained and published texts between Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan and various city council members and power brokers that reveal the the thinking behind repeal of a “head tax” on large businesses that would have funded affordable housing and services for the homeless. In other housing news, Patrick Condon at the Tyee offers ideas on how changes to Vancouver’s zoning rules could benefit middle-income people rather than developers.
Fire tornadoes in British Columbia!
A video that went viral on social media shows wildfire fighters in British Columbia losing their fire hose to a crazy fire tornado. You really have to watch it to believe it. Meanwhile, after a record fire season, BC premier John Horgan is calling for a major review of wildfire policy and will likely call for a lot more prescribed burning.
Vancouver harm-reduction site faces closure
After police raided a Vancouver dispensary of cannabis designed to help drug users get off opioids, the activist-created harm reduction site in the Downtown eastside is threatened with closure. To read more about how harm reduction sites save lives, read this feature online at Cascadia Magazine.
Oregon coastal waters now regularly low on oxygen
OPB reports that cycles of low oxygen levels in the Pacific off the coast of Oregon are happening with increasing frequency, The hypoxia is caused by increasing global temperatures and can cause major kill-offs of crabs and shellfish.
Celebrating the Seattle Storm’s championship
The South Seattle Emerald has a photo gallery from the welcoming parade for the Seattle Storm, who captured their third WNBA championship last week. Star player Breanna Stewart wrote an amazing essay last year for The Players’ Tribune about her experience of sexual assault. Oh, the the champs probably won’t be invited to the White House, but even if they were, Sue Bird says they’ll probably say no thanks.
“Sister Moon,” fiction by Nicole Calande
Over at Catapult, you can read Portland-based writer Nicole Calande’s slightly surreal short story “Sister Moon:”
“Maria felt that everything had slowed down and she could finally breathe again. Until the night the moon disappeared.”
That’s all for today from the world headquarter of Cascadia Daily and Cascadia Magazine here in Seattle. Have a great evening. –Andrew Engelson