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Connecting the Cascadia Economy
In the interest of better linking the economies of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, a group of business and political leaders founded the Cascadia Innovation Corridor in 2016, an organization dedicated to building closer ties of transportation, technology, and economy in the Pacific Northwest.
The organization has pushed for the creation of a regional high-speed rail corridor, has forged closer cooperation between regional tech companies and health research organizations, and worked to unite a region that, with a GDP of nearly a trillion dollars, would be in the world’s top 15 economies if it were its own nation.
This year, the Cascadia Innovation Corridor annual conference takes place in Seattle October 2-3, and Cascadia Daily will be there reporting on the latest developments in this effort to unite the region beyond borders.
Three Abortions in Oregon
Portland writer Sophia Shalmiyev’s essay “Three Abortions in Oregon” online at Cascadia Magazine is an angry, unapologetic defense of the abortions she’s had, and a call to action to make reproductive health care paid for, accessible, and free from shame. “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 the full essay online here.
Justin Trudeau in hot water over Vancouver blackface pics
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing increasing criticism after it was revealed he’d dressed in blackface and a turban at parties while he was a teacher at an elite private school in Vancouver in 2001, TIME magazine reports. The Vancouver Sun has more on the controversy and reaction from Jagmeet Singh, his opponent from the NDP, who is Sikh. Ritika Goel at The Tyee has a great essay on the structural issues of racism that the incident should highlight (disproprtionate policing, income inequality, politics and media full of white male voices, etc.). Oh, and be sure to read Rob Lewis’s poem “Trudeau,” which offers a rather unflattering portrait of the man, at Cascadia Magazine.
Gun storage measure aims to get on Oregon ballot
OPB reports on a campaign to put the strongest gun-storage measure in the US on the Oregon ballot in November 2020. The law would require all firearms in homes to be locked up and makes gun owners liable if guns accidentally discharge and injure or kill someone. The campaign needs 112,000 signatures by July 2020 to get on the ballot.
Will churches save Seattle’s tiny villages?
One solution the city of Seattle is relying heavily on to address its crisis of un-sheltered residents are tiny home villages–but because of regulations, this sites must be temporary. In response the city is looking to partner with churches to run the sites, which are exempted, while council member Kshama Sawant is looking to pass legislation exempting the sites. In related news, the Vancouver city council unanimously passed legislation allowing low-cost modular housing in all areas of the city.
How opioids invaded Alaskan Indigenous communities
Joshua Hunt, whose ancestry is Tlingit, has an amazing personal essay up at The New Republic detailing the damage the prescription painkiller Oxycontin has wreaked on his family, including a grandmother and cousin. Throughout southeast Alaska, a generation of Indigenous people have been hit by addiction to Oxy (and when it became too expensive on the black market, heroin). “It will take years to rebuild the good relationships that have been destroyed by the greed of these pharmaceutical companies,” he writes.
Poetry by Seattle’s Shin Yu Pai
At the Seattle Review of Books, read “in the garden of Danny Woo,” another poem from Shin Yu Pai as she serves as SROB’s poet in residence this month. It’s a paean to the area around Seattle’s Hing Hay Park, transformed from a sketchy urban space to something much more livable today:
“…how he leased the land
beneath our feet to feed
the elders, create
a thriving ecosystem where
there had only been neglect…”
Read the full poem here. You can also read Shi Yu Pai’s poem “Ensō” online at Cascadia Magazine.
Thanks for reading Cascadia Daily’s mix of arts, culture, poetry, environmental reporting and news. If you like this newsletter, consider recommending it to a friend with this link. Thanks! –Andrew Engelson
Photo credits: tiny village by Seattle city council member Sally Bagshaw CC BY-SA 2.0