Cascadia Daily, Jan. 26, 2018

Get Outside! with a new column at Cascadia Magazine

The launch of Cascadia Magazine continues this week with a new twice-monthly hiking column by hiking expert Craig Romano.  Craig is an award-winning writer and guidebook who knows the best places to get out and explore. As author of 20 books including many in the immensely popular Day Hiking series from Mountaineers Books, he’s the regional authority on hikes for all four seasons, from the Columbia River Gorge to the North Cascades to the Selkirks.

In today’s column, Craig recommends one of my all-time favorites: Ebey’s Landing on Whidbey Island in Washington. It’s a five-mile loop open year-round that takes you through pioneer history and stunning views of the Salish Sea from some of the highest coastal bluffs in the state.

Put on some rain gear this weekend and check it out!


Washington legislature moves toward abolishing death penalty

A bi-partisan bill to replace Washington state’s death penalty with life without parole moved out of committee in the state senate, increasing chances of passage. Governor Inslee placed a moratorium on executions in 2014. King county prosecuting attorney Dan Satterberg, a Republican, wrote in the Seattle Times urging an end to the death penalty: “Our death penalty process is too slow, too uncertain, too costly and ultimately, by any measure, it cannot be said to work…”

Six ways British Columbia can reduce climate impact

Karen Tam Wu, a climate activist, writes for the Georgia Straight about six actions BC can take to reduce climate impacts, including increasing the province’s carbon tax, encouraging energy-efficient buildings, and adding more green energy infrastructure (including charging stations). The Tyee reported that even with a carbon tax, BC isn’t meeting its climate goals

Republican candidate for WA governor to Trump: don’t drill our coast

Bill Bryant, the 2016 GOP candidate for Washington governor writes about Trump’s proposed lifting of an oil drilling ban on the Washington coast for Crosscut. He doesn’t mince words in his opposition: “I was pissed off,” he writes, when he heard drilling would be allowed in the Coastal Marine Sanctuary, a place protected with bi-partisan support. He goes on to describe the activists such as Supreme Court justice William O. Douglas who fought to protect Washington’s wild coast.

Portland bids goodbye to Portlandia

As the eighth and final season of Portlandia airs, the residents of Rose City reflect on the ways Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein changed Portland’s image, for good and  bad. The show firmly equated Portland with hipster culture and the search for well-treated chickens, #PutABirdOnIt, and artisanal everything. Not to mention a 50 percent boost in tourism…

New documentary on an Iraqi refugee in the Rose City

Set amid the the disturbing trend of increasing white nationalism in Portland, filmmaker Paul Kachris-Newman has created a new short film, Unstated, about Buthaina al Zubaidi, an Iraqi refugee with four children trying to find her place. Willamette Week reports on the making of the film and the challenges facing Muslim refugees across Cascadia. In related news, Cascadia Magazine reported on two women in the WA attorney general’s office working to reverse Trump’s Muslim travel ban and other immigration orders.

A Seattle writer and Portland author discuss realism & fantasy

At Powell’s books, Seattle author Anca Szilágyi (Daughters of the Air) and Portland’s Susan DeFreitas (Hot Season) discuss mixing realism and fairy tales in fiction rooted in political oppression, whether it’s the aftermath of Argentina’s Dirty War (Szilágyi) or activists fighting for the environment (DeFreitas). “…sometimes you have to cut off a finger to use it as a key to get out of a locked room. ”


That’s todays news and highbrow culture stuff beneath the cloudy skies of Cascadia. Enjoy your weekend! –Andrew Engelson


Photo credits: Ebey’s Landing by Craig Romano


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