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Mourning the loss of an old-growth forest
In May of this year, the Oregon State University Forestry Department “accidentally” cut down 16 acres of old-growth trees, including some that date back to 1599, during the time of Shakespeare.
The Spring Creek Project and the Friends of OSU Old Growth are holding a memorial ceremony to allow member of the community to grieve for the loss of these trees on Sunday, Oct. 20 at 3 pm. Among those participating will be Oregon Poet Laureate Kim Stafford and essayist Kathleen Dean Moore, who will read a meditation she wrote for the forest. The event will feature music, a benediction, and cider and doughnuts afterward.
The memorial takes place at the Willamette Park Rotary Shelter in Corvalis. More info here.
For more on clear-cut logging of old growth happening now in BC’s inland rainforest, read this feature at Cascadia Magazine.
31 Days, 31 Writers at Casadia Magazine:
Claudia Castro Luna
Washington State Poet Claudia Castro Luna is a fabulous poet, a bold spokesperson for immigrant rights, and a wonderfully kind person. She served as Seattle’s Civic Poet from 2015-2017 and is the author of the Pushcart-nominated collection Killing Marías which was shortlisted for a 2018 Washington Book Award. Some of her recent projects include Washington Poetic Routes, an interactive map of poetry and place across Washington state.
One of the first poems we published at Cascadia Magazine was Claudia’s “Lyric for a Day Like Today:”
“we speak the city and it becomes
a creation assured by words”
Claudia will lead a workshop, “Writing Silence” during the Writing Cascadia Workshops at Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum on Sunday Nov. 17. Sign up now for this amazing opportunity to improve your writing with Claudia.
We’re grateful to be able to publish great work like this. If you appreciate the fiction, poetry, and essays from around the Pacific Northwest you find online at Cascadia Magazine, please help us meet our $20,000 goal during our Fall Fund Drive so we can continue to publish beyond 2019. Find out more at our donate page. Thank you.
Clear cuts on Vancouver Island likely violated rules
The Narwhal has an exclusive investigation that find that clearcuts of old-growth timber in the Nahmint Valley of Vancouver Island were likely illegal. The 300-acre clearcut stirred outrage last year after centuries-old cedars and Douglas-fir, some of them 12 feet in diameter, were cut in defiance of Ministry of Forestry rules. In related news, Cascadia Magazine documented clear-cut logging of old growth in BC’s inland rainforest.
Seattle’s suburbs are increasingly wealthy
As Seattle continues to gentrify and boom, Gene Balk at the Seattle Times reports that the eastside Seattle suburb of Samamish now has the highest median income of any city in the US, at $183,000. In related news, The Stranger reports on the upcoming Seattle city council race between socialist Kshama Sawant, who wants to raise taxes on the rich, and Egan Orion, who’s is backed by an Amazon-funded political action committee.
Solitary confinement constantly used at Tacoma immigration jail
Esmy Jimenez reports for KUOW on the persistent use of solitary confinement–which can have lifelong serious effects–at the Tacoma immigration detention center. She finds that on average the 200-some people confined to solitary were held and average of 51 days– and one detainee was held in solitary for 781 days, over two years. The center is in the midst of protests and was subject to an attack by antifacscist activist Willem Van Spronsen in July.
Photos of starving BC grizzlies draw attention to poor salmon returns
Photos of emaciated grizzlies on Knight Inlet British Columbia, which generated a buzz on social media last week, are drawing attention to abysmal salmon returns this year, which scientists suspect may be what is causing the bears to starve. The Mamalilikula First Nation, which has tried to draw attention to starving bears on its lands for years, brought 500 salmon of its own to feed the bears. Chief councilor Richard Sumner is quoted at CBC saying “”The lack of salmon is not a natural thing.”
Remembering poet, editor & activist Jim Wong-Chu
The Georgia Straight reports on a new exhibit opening in Vancouver Oct 10 that highlights the work of Jim Wong-Chu, a poet, editor and activist who edited several influential anthologies of Asian Canadian literature, and who was one of the founders of what is now Ricepaper, an online literary magazine. There’s a very good video accompanying the piece, and the exhibit, Jim Wong-Chu: Iconic | Asian | Canadian, runs through Nov. 15 at UBC’s Irving K. Barber Listening Centre.
“Why We Cry When We’re Angry,” by Marissa Korbel
At Guernica, read Portland-based writer Marissa Korbel’s fantastic essay “Why We Cry When We’re Angry,” about the precise language of women’s tears: “Things that have made me cry in rage: waiting for late people; traffic; mansplaining; cleaning my room; getting my period; kissing a boy that I didn’t want to kiss because I didn’t know how to get out of it; broken mirrors; spilled breastmilk; my mother’s derision; my partner’s stubbornness; lines in supermarkets; the NICU nurse who threatened to keep my daughter; my broken foot; parenting; the 2016 election; my father; my best friend kissing my ex-boyfriend; hunger.” Really, take a moment and read it. Here.
That’s today amalgam of news, arts, culture, and other stuff from across the Cascadia bioregion. We literally can’t continue to publish without your support during our Fall Fund Drive. We need to pay our writers, photographers, and staff to make this happen, and you can support that work at our donate page. Thanks. –Andrew Engelson
Photo credits: 420-year-old tree by Doug Pollock, Friends of OSU Old Growth via Facebook,