Cascadia Daily, Oct. 9, 2018

by Andrew Engelson

A week of literary & brainy events in Cascadia

We’re a bookish lot here in Cascadia, and the next two weeks feature several literary and  brainy events across the Pacific Northwest.

On Thursday evening, Oct. 11, Seattle serves up another edition of Lit Crawl, a free, multi-venue event that will have you hoofing around the city’s Capitol Hill district to hear readings of fiction, poetry, and plenty of other good stuff. It can be hard to choose what combinations to try between the four different reading times (from 6 pm to 9:45) so the good folks at Seattle Review have chosen three suggested itineraries that range from “Tried and True” Seattle authors to “No Platform for White Men,” if you’re looking to listen to women and writers of color. Or plan your own itinerary here.

The UpZones podcast, a Seattle-based series of interviews with change-makers in a constantly changing city, will kicking off a new season that same night, Thursday, Oct. 11 at 7-8:30 pm. Host Ian Martinez will be talking with muralist Ryan “Henry” Ward and Randy Engstrom, director of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture — at Horizon Books on Capitol Hill. More info and RSVP here.

Next week, between Monday October 15 and Sunday October 21, the Vancouver Writers Festival  brings a host of authors to Granville Island and across the city. This year’s headliners include Patrick deWitt, Deborah Levy, Rachel Kushner, Gary Shteyngart, Sisonke Msimang, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Kenneth Oppel, Jodi Picoult, and Katherena Vermette. Check out the full schedule here.

Now online at Cascadia Magazine
“This Was the River,” poetry by John Pass

British Columbia poet John Pass, whose work has appeared in 19 books and chapbooks, and who was awarded the Governor General’s Award for poetry in 2006, has a poem online at Cascadia Magazine, “This Was the River,” an introspective meditation set on the banks of the Fraser River at Lillooet. The poem is accompanied by several of John’s photos. Read it online now here.

Washington considers more limits on guns

According to the Seattle Times, Washington voters will weigh in on initiative 1639 in November — a series of gun control measures that would make it one of the more restrictive states in the US, by requiring gun safety courses before and waiting periods after purchase, raising age limits for semiautomatic gun purchases and enhancing background checks.

Ignoring First Nations in moving forward on Site C

Alex Neve, director of Amnesty International Canada, writing for the Globe and Mail, asserts that British Columbia’s NDP government isn’t seriously paying attention to First Nations concerns with the Site C dam project in northern BC. To learn more about First Nations opposition to this controversial hydropower project, read Alison Bate’s feature “Fighting for Peace Valley” at Cascadia Magazine.

State & provincial governments push for Cascadia high-speed rail

As the Cascadia Innovation Corridor annual conference gets underway in Vancouver today, the governments of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia are getting ready to announce new steps toward creating a high-speed rail corridor between Portland and Vancouver, BC, according to an article in the Oregonian. For more on the effort to create a high-speed rail corridor across Cascadia, check out Cascadia Rail.

Service sector employees struggle with housing in Whistler

The Vancouver Sun reports that service-sector employees, including wait staff and house cleaners, are struggling to find affordable housing near Whistler, British Columbia’s most famous ski resort town — with many reduced to living in their vehicles.

Forest fire: a necessary part of Oregon’s ecosystem

OPB has a fantastic, in-depth report on why wildfires are an integral part of forest ecology in Oregon. The piece includes interviews with fire ecology expert Paul Hessberg as well as a look at how the Karuk Tribe in southern Oregon is working to reintroduce fire to the landscape with prescribed burns. For more on how climate change and fire suppression have altered forest ecology in Oregon’s Blue Mountains, read Paul Lask’s feature “Coring the Forest” at Cascadia Magazine.

“Where are you From?” an essay by David Chariandy

Writing for the Tyee, Vancouver author David Chariandy explores the loaded question “where are you from?” in an essay about being a person of color in Canada, including the time he was asked to meet with a speech therapist to rid himself of his accent, which he acquired growing up in a household of immigrants from Trinidad. Chariandy will be reading at the Vancouver Writers Fest next week.

A prayer to Cathy McMorris Rodgers from poet Kate Lebo

Over at Poetry Northwest, I highly recommend reading Spokane poet Kate Lebo’s poem “A Prayer to Cathy McMorris Rodgers for the Right Reasons to Wed” addressed to the Republican congressional representative in her district. It’s a subtle indictment of the United States’ crazy health care system (and much more):
“Cathy, since your people won the House
the affordable option for health insurance
was to marry this man with benefits…”
Read the full poem here. Or better yet, buy Kate’s new chapbook from Entre Rios Books here.

That’s today’s abundant cornucopia of news, arts, and culture from across the Cascadia bioregion. Have a lovely evening! –Andrew Engelson