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Poetry month comes to a close
April is National Poetry Month, and it’s been great to see so many events celebrating the world of verse all over Cascadia. One of my favorites is the “Poem in Your Pocket” promotion led by Washington state poet laureate Claudia Castro Luna (you can go to Washington Humanties’ website and print one out for yourself!).
Cascadia Magazine is dedicated to publishing poetry from across the Pacific Northwest. In case you missed it, do take a few moments out of your day to to read Ellen Welcker’s lovely poem published last week, “The Abysssopelagic.“
Portland mayor’s budget would boost police, homeless services
According to the Portland Mecury, Portland mayor Ted Wheeler’s proposed budget includes adding 58 police officers and a 10 percent increase in homeless services to a total of $31 million. Meanwhile, in Seattle, Crosscut reports that despite a $65 million budget for homeless services (up from $40 million in 2014), projects are stretched thin. At the Walrus, read a long, harrowing feature about the working poor moving to Vancouver for jobs and struggling to find housing.
Rare sponges destroyed by BC Atlantic salmon farm
The Tyee reports that the group Wild First has discovered that a rare colony of glass sponges was smothered by waste materials from a pen salmon farm in BC’s Broughton Archipelgo. CBC reports on how Wild First is calling for an end to Atlantic salmon farms in British Columbia waters by 2025. Hakai magazine reports on how First Nations in Haida Gwaii are bringing traditional foods such as salmon, native berries, and mushrooms into local hospitals.
Amazon to add new center in Vancouver
It’s no HQ2, but CBC reports that Seattle-based retail giant Amazon plans to open a new tech center in Vancouver, bringing 3,000 new jobs to British Columbia. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports on how Amazon is making noises about preventing traffic sprawl and runaway housing prices wherever it chooses to situate its second headquarters. Good luck with that!
Grappling over who’ll pay for Portland harbor toxic cleanup
OPB has the story of how more than a dozen entities tasked with cleaning up Portland harbor’s toxic Superfund site will haggle over who will pay the $1 billion price tag. The site was designated in 2000, but it’s only now that plans are falling into place to clean up 10 miles highly toxic shoreline on the Willamette River.
Seattle artist Ellen Forney’s new graphic book on bipolar disorder
City Arts has a great interview with longtime Seattle artist and graphic novelist Ellen Forney, who’s got a new book about her experience with bipolar disorder, Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice from My Bipolar Life. “For me it’s really connected with what makes my brain work the way it does. All these things are interrelated. Is bipolar a gift? It’s just part of who I am, so I can’t really separate that from who I am.”
New book on the fight to stop Site C dam in BC’s Peace River valley
BC BookLook has a review of Breaching the Peace, a detailed chronicle of people in British Columbia’s Peace River Valley fighting the proposed Site C dam. It’s the story of First Nations activists and other local residents planting yellow stakes, talking to the media, and creating a campaign to save the valley from being submerged under floodwaters.
That’s today’s news, arts, and culture from all across the upper left hand corner of the continent. –Andrew Engelson
Photo credit: Ellen Forney’s artwork in Seattle light rail station a Andrew Engelson