CRREADER.COM • Vol. XVII, No. 185 • January 15, 2021 • COMPLIMENTARY Helping you discover and enjoy the good life in the Columbia River region at home and on the road
LAST CALL! HAIKUFEST 2021
MID-WINTER ARMCHAIR GARDENING WARM UP FROM THE INSIDE OUT WITH BOURBON
People+ Place ANDREW WE I LER WITH RICK NELSON IN CATHLAMET
Eagle Eagle Eyes Journalism back to the future page 17
page 26
COLUMBIA RIVER
dining guide
COLUMBIA RIVER READER COLLECTORS CLUB
LEWIS AND CLARK REVOLUTIONIZED
• COMPLIMENTARY 176 • March 15 – April 15, 2020 CRREADER.COM • Vol. XVI, No. road River region at home and on the the good life in the Columbia
Helping you discover and enjoy
What really — truly — happened during those final wind-blown, rain-soaked thirty days of the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s trek to the Pacific? Southwest Washington author and explorer Rex Ziak revolutionized historical scholarship by providing the answers: day by day and week by week. We’re delighted to offer In Full View, and Rex’s other two books, one with an extraordinary fold-out map, as our inaugural offerings from CRR Collectors Club.
MOSS IN YOUR LAWN? What to do page 15
ONE RIVER, MANY VOICES WASHINGTON’S POET LAUREATE COMES TO WAHKIAKUM COUNTY page 14
People+Place
Cutting Edge The art of the woodcut
page 19
page 28
COLUMBIA RIVER
dining guide
ESCAPE TO BARCELONA • “FEATURED
IN FULL VIEW Rex Ziak
$29.95
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A true and accurate account of Lewis and Clark’s arrival at the Pacific Ocean, and their search for a winter camp along the lower Columbia River.
We’ll send your recipient a printed gift notification card. THE TIDEWATER REACH
Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures By Robert Michael Pyle and Judy VanderMaten. Boxed Signature Edition, Color and BW $50 / Trade paperback $25 “It’s a different way of seeing.” A one-of-a-kind Field Guide to the lower Columbia, in poems and pictures. Now available from Columbia River Reader Press in two editions.
The
EYEWITNESS TO ASTORIA Gabriel Franchére
$21.95
Tidewater Reach Field Guide to the
Lower Columbia River
The newly edited and annotated by Rex Ziak version of Franchére’s 1820 journal, Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in the Years 1811, 1812, 1813 and 1814, or The First American Settlement on the Pacific.
in
Poems and Pictures
Field Guide to the
Lower Columbia River in
Poems and Pictures
Robert Michael Pyle Judy VanderMaten
Robert Michael Pyle Judy VanderMaten
DISPATCHES FROM THE DISCOVERY TRAIL
DOWN AND UP Rex Ziak $18.95 A unique fold-out guide mapping dayby-day Lewis and Clark’s journey from the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean and back.
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A Layman’s Lewis & Clark By Michael O. Perry Boxed Signature Edition, Color and BW $50 / Trade paperback $25 Compiled from the popular CRR series, with new notes and commentary, this book adds a gifted amateur historian’s insights, quirks and observations to the lore and legacy of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. ORDER NOW for pre-Christmas delivery.
DEBBY NEELY
A LAYMAN’S LEWIS & CLARK
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d o n ’t k n o w a b o u t y o u , b u t this first week back from the holidays — always a slog — felt like we had our two feet knee deep in mud. Add together all the pandemic news, the political news, the constant re-running of dopey Christmas movies, worrying about wearing a mask, and your head spins, your ears ring, you hold onto the hand rails a bit tighter.
Sue’s Views
So, here are a few hints for maintaining our balance, our perspective, our positive attitude, as illustrated by this month’s edition of the Reader. First, look to nature. Bob Pyle reminds us that the ultimate cure for what ails you can be as simple as a walk, a deep breath, and a focused look at the bounty of the natural world. Second, compose haiku. Our annual HaikuFest deadline looms (Jan. 31; see page 11). These are meditative verses, not limericks, and follow nicely from suggestion number one (see above). Third, visualize your garden. Alice Slusher reviews a whole host of ways you can “armchair garden” through these next months and emerge fully prepared to plant, tend … and enjoy.
Publisher/Editor: Susan P. Piper Columnists and contributors: Tracy Beard Hal Calbom Alice Dietz Joseph Govednik Sue Lane Rena Langille Jim LeMonds Gary Meyers Michael Perry Ned Piper Perry Piper Robert Michael Pyle Alan Rose Alice Slusher Greg Smith Debra Tweedy Dick Uthmann Jaimee Walls Production/Graphics Manager: Perry E. Piper Editorial/Proofreading Assistants: Merrilee Bauman, Michael Perry, Marilyn Perry, Tiffany Dickinson Advertising Manager: Ned Piper, 360-749-2632 Columbia River Reader, llc 1333 14th Ave Longview, WA 98632 P.O. Box 1643 • Rainier, OR 97048 Office Hours: M-W-F • 11–3* *Other times by chance or appointment Website: www.CRReader.com E-mail: publisher@crreader.com Phone: 360-749-1021
Maintaining our balance
Fifth, drink bourbon. Tracy Beard entices us with this time-honored way to stay warm and disregard any concern over why one’s wits seem to be failing (see above, ad infinitum).
Congratulations are also due John Brickey, Community Development Director with the City of Longview, retiring Jan. 31 after 30 years. Dedicated to serving the collective interests of all of us living and doing business in our beloved Longview, John became known and respected for being diplomatic, fair, personable, smart, and empathetic. CRR’s office is located on the path John takes from City Hall to Downtown, and I will miss seeing him go by on his walk-abouts, sometimes stopping by
Submission guidelines: page 31. General Ad info: page 17
Ned Piper 360-749-2632.
CRREADER.COM Visit our website for the current issue and archive of past issues from 2013.
to say hello and share tidbits of good news about the City. Plan to stop by January 21 (see above). Happy New Year, everyone! And thank you for reading the Reader.
Sue Piper
In this Issue
Andrew Weiler (left) and Rick Nelson at the Wahkiakum County Eagle, Cathlamet, Wash.
Columbia River Reader is published monthly, with 15,000 copies distributed in the Lower Columbia region. Entire contents copyrighted by Columbia River Reader. No reproduction of any kind allowed without express written permission of the publisher. Opinions expressed herein, whether in editorial content or paid ad space, belong to the writers and advertisers, are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Reader.
You’re invited to stop by and thank John for his work as Longview’s Community Development Director, and wish him well in his retirement!
Columbia River Reader . . . helping you discover and enjoy the good life in the Columbia River region at home and on the road.
ON THE COVER
Cover Design by
CRR will host a sociallydistanced, drop-in event on Thursday, Jan. 21, 3 – 5:30pm 1333 14th Ave., Longview
On a more serious note, you’ll benefit intellectually and attitudinally from Hal Calbom’s conversation with our book reviewer, Alan Rose, featuring his own wonderful new book, As If Death Summoned. It’s revelatory, cathartic, and inspiring, all in one package. Congratulations, Alan!
Fourth, play music. Either via Alexa or stereo or headphones, or better yet with your own instrument, as in “Love at First Toot,” chronicled in our “Me and My Piano” feature (page 27).
Photo by Hal Calbom.
JOHN BRICKEY RETIREMENT MEET & GREET
2
CRR Collectors Club
4
Letters to the Editor
5
Civilized Living: Miss Manners
7
Dispatch from the Discovery Trail ~ Clark’s Life Afterward
8-9
Downtown Longview Ready for 2021
11
HaikuFest 2021
11
Biz Buzz
13
New Book: As If Death Summoned, by Alan Rose
14
Wining & Dining with Tracy Beard: Move Over, Whiskey
15
Museum Magic: Monticello Convention & Historic Walnut Tree
16
Quips & Quotes
17-21 People + Place ~ Return of the Native: Andrew Weiler 22
My Slant: The Pandemic Kitchen
23
Northwest Gardening ~ Armchair Gardening
25
The Natural World ~ The Element of Surprise
26
Lower Columbia Dining Guide
27
Me & My Piano
28
Besides CRR, What Are You Reading?
29
Cover to Cover ~ Book Review / Bestsellers List
30
Lower Columbia Informer
30-31 Outings & Events Non-Calendar 32
Astronomy / The Sky Report / A Space Walk You Can Take
33
Where Do You Read the Reader?
42
The Spectator: On the Home Front
42
Plugged In to Cowlitz PUD Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 3
Local roots November’s CRR another fine edition. I’m so proud of my classmate (R.A. Long 1963) Mike Perry and his dogged determination to uncover vast information about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Congratulations, Mike! Perry Piper’s article, “Remembering My Grandparents,” about his maternal grandparents June and George Perry, triggered fond memories of his paternal great-grandparents — Dr. Ed and Ruth Gebert. They lived just a few doors down from my maternal grandparents — E.J. and Amy Craig — on the 1200 block of 22nd Avenue in Longview. Dr. Gebert was pastor of the Longview Community Church from its beginning in the mid-1920s until his retirement in 1958. Both Geberts were warm and friendly. My mother, Burdette Craig McClelland (a tomboy during childhood), was a playmate of the Geberts’ youngest son, Kirk, later a champion basketball player at WSU.
Letters to the Editor
Perry’s father, Ned Piper, often visited his grandparents and played with his buddy on the same street, Lee Quarnstrom. Though they were some five years older than me, they were always nice, unlike some of the other “big kids” in the neighborhood.
Value-add Thanks for your passion with the CRR, its truly a gift you give that adds value to our community. Full of local interest, activities, and culture. There would be a void here without all your work in the CRR. Thank you!
The Reader in the morning Enjoying a late Saturday breakfast with a cup of coffee and the Columbia River Reader. Your publication has been all over the world ... but I’m guessing the best place is with me at the breakfast table.
Ned’s mother, Jane Gebert Piper and her husband Emary Piper, were classmates (1933) of my father, John M. McClelland, Jr. Jane was one of my favorite Sunday school teachers, and Emary was an outstanding teacher, coach and later vice-principal at RAL. Both lovable people. Ned and I sang in the church’s youth choir during the late 1950s.
Joseph Govednik, Director, Cowlitz County Historical Museum Kelso, Wash.
Dian Dillard St. Helens, Ore.
Thankfully, little has changed on that stretch of Longview’s Old West Side, and I often go there to call up happy memories. Having read Perry’s article, and knowing the Piper-Gebert clan well, I am qualified to say that Perry comes from good stock. John M. McClelland Longview, Wash.
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Happy New Year!
Therin lies the rub (off) (not) Maybe it’s only my imagination, but it certainly seems like the soy ink you use does not leave my hands and fingertips caked with soot. This makes it even more fun to read your newsprint. If only everyone used soy ink! So thank you! It’s a nice “extra” and I appreciate it. Wishing all of you a fun-filled, delightful holiday season. Sharon Ashford Longview, Wash. Editor’s note: Yes, CRR is, indeed, printed with soy ink, which is environmentally more friendly than petroleum-based ink, but not specifically known as less prone to rubbing off on fingers. Perhaps it is Eagle Web Press’s care and expertise in printing that makes the difference.
Call before you go ! Use your umbrella for the here & now; Use your Will or Trust for the Hereafter. “I make house calls” THE LAW OFFICE OF
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Reminders
Glass containers can still be recycled by bringing them DIRECTLY to Waste Control Recycling
Experience the Best. Experience Cascade Title.
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Civilized Living What, if anything, can be done? Miss Manners fears that you cannot force someone to be a guest of honor. But you can, privately, remind her that hers are not the only feelings to be considered. You can say that you know how unassuming she is, By Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin but that you and your sisters and the grandchildren would enjoy the celebration, and you know it would DEAR MISS MANNERS: I would say my parents mean a lot to your father. “don’t get along,” but that makes it sound mutual. For If she still refuses, you will have to as long as my sisters and I can remember, our mother find alternatives that do not require has constantly nitpicked our father for things that her consent, such as calling with have to us seemed petty, unwarranted, and not always chatty good wishes on the day, and within his control. sending flowers. She has even put us in the middle by childishly refusing to go to some of our events if Dad was also going. We DEAR MISS MANNERS: My think she is just not a happy person and has taken it husband and I were thrilled when out on our father all these years. I became pregnant — in particular, Our father is, of course, not perfect, and we know there because the baby would be my parents’ are things in a marriage that only the marital partners first grandchild, something that see. However, it has always seemed to us that our father they’ve been looking quite forward to. tries to make our mother happy. He has also never I’m generally a very shy person, but as spoken an unkind word about her in our presence, and a consequence of their excitement, I has always insisted that we treat her with respect, no made an effort to celebrate each step matter what she says or does. of my pregnancy with my family, including sharing sonograms, pictures Somehow, Mom and Dad are approaching their 50th and daily developments. anniversary and are still together. My sisters and I think we should have a special (albeit low-key) However, after my baby shower, and dinner in a private room at a nice, but not supermuch to my surprise, my brother’s fancy, restaurant to recognize the occasion. We think wife suddenly revealed that she, too, it is the least we can do, because 50 years of marriage was expecting, and that her baby was -- even if the marriage has been troubled -- is still an scheduled to be delivered just days accomplishment. before mine. Why she’d concealed her pregnancy for so long, or how My mother, of course, bristles at any acknowledgment she’d been able to do so, have brought of the occasion. My father realizes they don’t have a up countless questions, none of which perfect marriage, but seems to want to recognize the have been answered. anniversary. In other words, we can’t make them both happy. What is the proper thing to do in this situation? My parents are ecstatic over the news, if not a bit overwhelmed. While I GENTLE READER: From your description, your am happy for my sister-in-law and mother’s reaction to the proposed celebration is brother, I feel ridiculous that they let unpleasant and unsympathetic — but, given her past cont page 10 behavior, unsurprising.
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Mon- Fri: 8:30–5:00 Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 5
FROM THE PET DEPT.
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Happy New Year! You can see I’m not a St. Bernard, but hoping my owner will plan a bourbon tasting party for two, after reading Tracy’s story.
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Lewis & Clark
Clark’s Life Afterwords
M
eriwether Lewis and William Clark had been co-leaders of the Corps of Discovery. Both men are usually referred to as Captains, but in fact only Lewis held that rank. After Lewis invited Clark to join the Expedition as co-commander in 1803, the Army refused to promote Clark so he was officially only a Lieutenant during the journey. In 2001, President Bill Clinton signed a posthumous Captain’s commission for William Clark.
visit, but that seems unlikely. While Clark may have expressed an interest in Julia, it appears Colonel Hancock refused to let Clark court Julia at that time. He may have acknowledged Clark’s interest by telling Clark that if he could establish himself financially, he would look favorably on his request. Perhaps one of Clark’s incentives for joining Lewis on the Expedition was for the opportunity to secure fame and fortune so that he might win Julia for his wife.
About the time Lewis asked Clark to join the Expedition in 1803, Clark visited Congressman George Hancock in Virginia. Clark, who was 33 years old, was quite taken by two girls he saw riding horses on the estate. One girl, Judith “Julia” Hancock, was just 12, while the other girl (her cousin, Harriet Radford) was 14.
Clark was clearly thinking about Julia in May 1805 when he named a river for her in Montana. While Clark made no mention about it in his own journal, Lewis wrote, “Cap C who assended this R. much higher than I did has thought proper to call it Judieths River.” Lewis’s writing and then crossing out the words “thought proper to” suggests he initially had doubts about the propriety of naming the river after Clark’s future wife, but Lewis soon followed suit by naming the Marias River after his cousin.
Some people think Clark asked permission to marry Julia during the Michael Perry enjoys local history and travel. His popular 33-installment Lewis & Clark series appeared in CRR’s early years and began its second “encore” appearance in April 2018. It has been expanded and published as a book: Dispatches from the Discovery Trail: A Layman’s Lewis & Clark.
Lewis & Clark Encore We are pleased to present
Installment #31 of Michael Perry’s popular 33-month series which began with CRR’s April 15, 2004 inaugural issue. “Dispatch from the Discovery Trail” helped define and shape Columbia River Reader in its early years during the Bicentennial Commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Each installment covered their travels during the corresponding month 200 years prior. We are repeating the series for the enjoyment of both longtime and more recent readers.
Upon returning from the Pacific Ocean in 1806, Lewis and Clark traveled to Washington, D.C., to see President Jefferson. Clark went to Virginia to visit Julia Hancock in January 1807. Did he ask permission to marry her at that time? Nobody knows, but Clark wrote to his brother on January 22 indicating he would soon be married. He began a serious courtship and, by March 1807, Clark wrote to Lewis saying he was engaged. A year later, in January 1808, 37-year old Clark married 16-year old Julia. They would have five children before Julia died 12 years later. St. Louis became their home, and their first son (Meriwether Lewis Clark) was born in January 1809. In August 1806, on the Corps’ return trip from the Pacific Coast, Clark offered to take Sacajawea and Toussaint Charbonneau’s year and a half old son, Pomp, to St. Louis to be raised as Clark’s own son. They agreed, but wanted to wait a year. By the time they brought Pomp to St. Louis in
This $1 gold coin was produced for the Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition held in Portland, Oregon, in 1905. There were 10,025 coins produced with 1904 dates and 10,041 coins produced with 1905 dates. Meriwether Lewis is represented on the front and William Clark on the back. The proceeds from the sale of these coins financed the bronze memorial of Sacajawea erected in Portland’s Washington Park.
the two-volume book was published in 1814, there was no mention of Biddle anywhere. Instead, the title page proclaimed the book was “Prepared for the press by Paul Allen, Esquire.” Perhaps Biddle wanted complete anonymity; it is inconceivable that Allen would have taken credit for the book unless Biddle wanted it that way.
William Clark (1770 –1838), by Charles Willson Peale
1810, Clark was married and had his own son — with another on the way. Rather than adopting 6-year old Pomp, Clark placed him in a private boarding school. After Meriwether Lewis’s apparent suicide in 1809, Clark took over the task of getting a book published about the Corps of Discovery. Even though that project had been given to Lewis, he had not written a single line of text in the three years following their journey. In 1810, Clark arranged for George Shannon, one of the members of the Corps, to go to Philadelphia to help Nicholas Biddle, a lawyer, prepare the narrative of the Expedition. Shannon helped fill in missing details and helped Biddle bring everything together. Clark also assisted by answering questions Biddle raised and thus the book contained additional information not found in the daily journals. By the time Biddle finished the book in 1813, his legal business was consuming all his time so he hired Paul Allen to finish the project. Incredibly, when
Biddle had been promised half of all the profits from the 2,000 books produced, but he refused any payment – not even the $500 he had given Allen out of his own pocket. Biddle wanted Clark to receive all the profits, but it appears all Clark received was the copyright and the right to publish a second edition. Amazingly, two years after the book was published, Clark still had been unable to obtain a copy for himself! The book did not sell very well; it had been eight years since the Expedition was completed. As you might expect, original copies are very rare today and command extraordinary prices (a near perfect copy sold for $35,000 in 1967). Reprints are available at the Fort Clatsop bookstore and the book is highly recommended since it provides a fuller story than the actual journals. After the Corps of Discovery returned to St. Louis in 1806, Clark’s slave, York, asked for his freedom. York was about the same age as Clark, and had been his lifelong slave-companion. York had faithfully performed his share of the work required during the Expedition, and Indians had been impressed with his black skin and great strength. His presence undoubtedly enhanced the prestige of the white strangers as the Corps visited isolated Indian tribes. York believed he had earned his freedom, but Clark disagreed. cont. page 10
Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 7
Enjoy Downtown Longview! Explore, shop, dine and relax... support local businesses ... your friends, neighbors, and community!
EXPLORE Longview Outdoor Gallery Unique sculptures along the sidewalks of Downtown Longview, both sides of Commerce Ave. See Podcast info, page 9
SHOP LOCAL!
Traditional Toys, Games & Books 1339 Commerce #112 IN THE MERK • 360-425-5042
WINTER HOURS BY APPOINTMENT via Facebook or call 206-861-9377
JANUARY 23
From your friends at Commerce Corner Collectibles:
Come see our unique treasures! We’ve expanded!!
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BOOK BOUTIQUE Gift Books Lewis & Clark, Astoria, Columbia River ...
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owntown Longview is alive and well! An abundance of shops have managed to stay open during the crazy past year of the pandemic. If you have not taken the opportunity to explore our Downtown, now is the time. It will take the support of all in our community for Downtown’s success to continue.
1413 Commerce Ave. Longview 360-575-9804 M-F: 9:30–5:30 • Sat 10 - 5
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“There are restaurants Downtown with some good, creative dishes. We want to see Downtown succeed!,” Austin Rowley, The Creekside Café
If you are looking for something unique, you can find it at one of the downtown shops, whether it be clothing, jewelry, furniture, accessories or décor for your home, a special toy or gift for a family member or friend, or pet. I made the decision to shop local for at least the majority of my Christmas gifts, and was able to find something for everyone on my list! Although the restaurants have been allowed to do “take out only” for the last six months, fortunately they have survived, and with two new ones bravely opening. Grab a bite or a brew at the several establishments that have set up tents for outside service. With the patio heaters, and your own “lap robe” you bring along, the experience is actually quite cozy. If you are just wanting a cup of coffee or tea and a place to relax and enjoy it, stop by the Merk.
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Downtown forward to
1267 Commerce Avenue Tues – Fri 10–5:30 Saturday 10 – 4
Another wonderful part of the Downtown scene is the artwork available to view along the sidewalks as well as at the Broadway Gallery, made up of 30 local artists, and looking forward to being able to restart their ‘1st Thursday’ after-hours events in the near future. There is a move afloat to raise money for the purchase of an exciting installation at the Longview Public Library of Dale
Downtown Longview
Longview looks great New Year
DOWNTOWN FUELING STATIONS
podcast audio tour showcases art sprinkled Downtown. A available on six platforms, incl Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Each episode matches specific sculptures, with artist and piece details. Viewers need not walk any one way, like a standard audio tour, but may go in any order, and whenever, they wish.
Subject to COVID restirctions
Chihuly’s magnificent glass sculptures. View renderings of what is proposed, get information about the project, make a donation, and enter a drawing at Teague’s Interiors. With support from everyone in the region, Downtown Longview will survive and thrive. Shop local and remember to join the fun on Small Business Saturday on January 23rd. You can smile and wave at old friends and new, wish everyone a Happy New Year...and you could even win a prize!
Longview Outdoor Gallery’s
“Everybody’s starting to understand how important it is to shop local.” Tyler Elam, Elam’s Furniture
1335 14th Avenue 18 rotating craft brews, pub fare. M-W 12 Noon–9pm, Th–Sat 12 Noon– 11pm. Sun 12 Noon–8pm. 360-442-8234.
Creekside Café 1323 Commerce Ave. Soups, Salads, Burgers, Wraps. Pick-up and Delivery. 11am–7pm. 360-425-7296.
CHIHULY ART IN LONGVIEW? See P+P spot, page 20.
Eclipse Café
“We’re so proud to feature more than 30 local artists and love sharing their art with so many art fans in our community!” Janet MacGregor, Broadway Gallery
“We have a lot to offer — it’s not the same stuff you’ll find at the big box stores”
“Treasures can be found around every corner!” Wendy Kosloski, Teague’s
Pam Hayes-Kong Hopscotch Toys
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TAKE A LOOK Renderings of the
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proposed Chihuly art installation are on display at Teague’s, 1309 Hudson, Longview.
Sue Lane is CRR’s Downtown Longview Ad Rep. Reach her at 360-261-0658
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Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 9
Lewis & Clark
from page 7
Once the Corps disbanded, York returned to his old life as a slave. He asked Clark to sell him to someone in Louisville so he could be closer to his wife, but Clark refused. York was very unhappy and from that point on Clark treated him harshly. About 10 years later, Clark finally granted York his freedom and set him up with a freight-hauling business in Kentucky. Rumors are York failed in that business and died of cholera by 1832. In 1820, Clark’s wife became ill and went to her father’s estate in Virginia where she died in June, leaving Clark to raise their five children between the ages of two and eleven. A year after Julia had died, their 7-year old daughter died. A month later, grief stricken William Clark married Harriet Radford, Julia’s cousin (this was the 14-year old girl Clark had seen riding a horse with Julia in 1803). Harriet had three children from a previous marriage, and she had two more after marrying Clark. Clark was appointed chief Indian agent and brigadier general of the militia for the Louisiana Territory in 1807. He participated in the War of 1812, and was appointed governor of the Missouri Territory in 1813. Surprisingly, Clark was defeated in the election for governor of the state of Missouri in 1820. Clark served as superintendent of Indian affairs from 1822 to 1838. His second wife died in 1831; Clark was 68 when he died in 1838. He had outlived two wives and three of his seven children. William Clark will long be remembered as one of America’s great heroes. •••
Miss Manners
from page 5
me amplify my pregnancy for so long while making no mention of their own. Is it too much to press them for an explanation, if not an apology? GENTLE READER: For what exactly would your brother and sister-in-law be apologizing? That you felt ridiculous, Miss Manners u n de rstan d s , b u t to d em an d an explanation for not wanting to update their relatives 270+ times in a year is unfair. In fact, this couple should be commended for their discretion and in granting you the spotlight, even if it was in the name of gratifying grandparental excitement. (And are you certain that their being overwhelmed is not at the prospect of now being doubly inundated with baby stimuli?) There is a current and prevailing thought that public advertising of personal events should not be shamed. The same courtesy should be granted for those who wish to keep it private. DEAR MISS MANNERS: Although I am not an artist of any kind, several of my friends and acquaintances are locally known professionals, and others are hobbyists who turn out beautiful work. I am occasionally invited to their openings, and I am never sure what to say to the artist on her big night. Since I’m not knowledgeable, I can’t make comments like, “The brushstrokes on that camellia are out of this world,” at least not convincingly. Ideas? Or should I stick to generalities? Also, I was struck by how much one person’s paintings reminded me of the works of a group of world-renowned Canadian painters. Would it be OK to say something like, “Your take on the rocks and cliffs reminds me so very much of Tom Thompson,” or is that insulting? GENTLE READER: It is not hard to please artists — or any other creative people — with compliments. Any
10 / Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021
enthusiastic generality will do. And while you are not there as an art critic, Miss Manners has a kind remark even if you really hate the work: “You must be so proud.” As for comparisons, she suggests asking whether the other artist might have been an influence, which is slightly more respectable than suggesting that there might be some poor imitating going on. ••• Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.
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HaikuFest 2021 the affected families for their pain and suffering. We know too well the dark side; we are living it.
Biz Buzz What’s Happening Around the River Biz Buzz notes news in local business and professional circles. As space allows, we will include news of innovations, improvements, new ventures and significant employee milestones of interest to readers. Please email publisher@crreader.com to share the local buzz.
Rob and Janin Elam have expanded their furniture business with a new location in Centralia, the former Rose’s Furniture, at 1530 South Gold Street, near the site of the former Yard Birds complex. The new Elam’s Furniture store carries similar product lines to those at the Longview store, with the same hours: Monday through Saturday, 10–5. The phone number is 360-807-1211. Andy and Kelli Busack are about to open a second Antidote Taphouse, dubbed Antidote Taphouse – SoCo in South Cowlitz County at 1350 Atlantic Avenue, Woodland, Wash. The spinoff of the couple’s popular Downtown Longview “good vibe watering hole” will open Feb. 1. Congratulations and judos for expanding despite the pandemic!
MEDICAL MATTERS
By Jim LeMonds
McLeod Performs Rare Ankle Procedure
without any assistive device and has no pain. Imaging shows that the current implant is stable.”
Jake McLeod, DPM, of Longview Orthopedic Associates is the first area surgeon to perform a Dr. Jake McLeod revision total ankle replacement, in a procedure at St. John Medical Center in mid-2020.
Dr. McLeod hopes to begin total ankle replacements at Pacific Surgical Center. It would mark the first time this procedure has been done in an outpatient setting in the local area.
The patient had end-stage ankle arthritis that was causing pain and severely limiting his range of motion. All conservative options had been exhausted, which meant that surgery was necessary. Dr. McLeod performed a primary ankle replacement for the patient in September 2019. The surgery went well, with no apparent complications. However, at the first post-op appointment, Dr. McLeod noticed the implant had failed on the tibia side. “Because of this, the implant formed a cavity in the leg bone,” McLeod said, “so we moved forward with the revision ankle replacement.” He removed the initial implant and replaced it with a stemmed implant that allows for restoration of the bone loss. “These technologies have only recently become available,” he said. “Typically, when an ankle replacement fails, it then has to be converted to an ankle fusion. This eliminates the pain, but it also eliminates the joint’s motion, which is what we were trying to preserve in this case.” “The patient is doing great,” McLeod said. “He is walking
Dr. McLeod treats sprains, fractures, and other foot pain due to bunions, flat feet, and arthritis. He specializes in reconstructive foot and ankle surgery, total ankle replacements, and ankle arthroscopy and is double board certified in foot surgery and reconstructive ankle surgery by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery. ••• Former R.A. Long High School English teacher Jim LeMonds is a writer, editor, and marketer who rides his mountain bike whenever he can. He lives in Castle Rock, Wash. and has two published book: South of Seattle and Deadfall.
223 NE 1st Street, Kalama 9–8 M-Sat, 10–7 Sun • 360-673-2200
By Gary Meyers
Glimmer amidst gloom
T
he clock is winding down on HaikuFest 2021, with the deadline for entries midnight, January 31. Each entrant may submit up to five haiku in traditional format of three lines of five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables each. There are no fees. Email entries to haikucenter@aol.com. Traditional mail is also acceptable, provided they are postmarked by the deadline. Send to me at 3045 Ala Napuaa Pl #1406, Honolulu, HI 96818. Throughout most of 2021, Covid-19 was the elephant in the room (Godzilla might be a more apt characterization). But we thought if we let this scourge dominate every aspect of our lives, it would be the winner. And that wasn’t gonna happen on our watch! HaikuFest does not involve group gatherings; therefore, social distancing is not an issue. Masks are not required for the same reason, unless you are one who enjoys wearing them around the house or office to feel the tickle and itch, the sweat collecting on your cheeks, the condensation on your glasses that impairs your vision and causes you to stumble off steps and run into doors. Obviously, we cannot undo the agony and heartache that surround the virus and we extend our deepest sympathy to
But our objective in deciding to proceed with this year’s HaikuFest was to divert attention, if only briefly, from the constant media barrage of depressing statistics and dire predictions. We hope our readers can share uplifting personal experiences and observations during the shutdown that might provide a bit of glimmer amidst the gloom. From the haiku already received, it’s obvious that our poets got it. The grim reaper is not in charge! I close with some haiku examples to inspire our CRR poets. The first one was crafted from a Peanuts cartoon I noticed recently on Facebook (compliments to the spirit of Charles Schultz.) New classical piece Played with middle finger Name: “2020.” A scrawled “For Sale” sign On suburb lockdown home lawn “Husband free — children cheap!” Covid-19 curse makes clothes shrink in the closet is there Fed relief? From 2020:
Ethereal breath Misty fog rises from earth The planet exhales ~ Margaret Caron, Toutle, Wash. Gray fingers touch down Gently sweeping the landscape It begins to rain. ~Valerie Spadt, Silver Lake, Wash. HaikuFest founder and chief judge, Gary Meyers grew up in Longview and now lives in Honolulu. He often visits his brother, Ron Meyers, in Ethel, Wash., and ventures into CRR territory.
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technique • theory • performance Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 11
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12 / Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021
Literary Life
Local author re-lives ‘the other pandemic’ in powerful new book By Hal Calbom
I
t’s convenient to suggest that Alan E. Rose’s new remembering of the AIDS crisis is a precursor or basis for comparison with today’s global pandemic. But it’s much more than that. As If Death Summoned is compelling narrative storytelling and the culmination of forty years on the front lines of the crisis for the Southwest Washington-based author.
There were moments of enormous “grace and nobility and courage.”
~ Alan Rose
(Full disclosure: Alan Rose is CRR’s book reviewer, host of WordFest and KLTV’s “Book Chat,”and a prominent figure in Northwest literary life.) Rose comfortably balances the roles of participant and memoirist. “This is a collection of stories, many of them untold,” he told me in a recent interview. “My narrator is a composite of so many of the storytellers I’ve known over the years, lots of whom are no longer with us. And, yes, some of them are my own.” Rose insists that As If Death Summoned is a novel, but to me it’s more than that — a weaving together of personal recollection and reflection, painful life and death struggles, and even ventures into mythology and magical realism. This unlikely mixture of narrative styles seems an entirely appropriate way to deal with the complex — and terribly misunderstood and misinterpreted — crisis that was, and is, the AIDS epidemic. Such a difficult subject this is, so fraught with paradox, complication, pathos and politics — the incessant interplay of political theater and private pain. Yet Rose manages to inject a full measure of honesty and irony, finding a surprising fund of dark humor in the actions, reactions, and inactions of our politicians, our social service agencies, and even the sufferers and their families themselves. “This is the coming out a lot of gay men never planned for,” said Rose. “Returning home from San Francisco and Boston and Austin to the home town in Iowa, ‘Guess what, Mom, I’m gay. And by the way, I’m dying.’” As If Death Summoned is set in 1995, in Portland, Oregon. At that time more than 300,000 Americans had already died of AIDS. From 1993 to 1999 Rose worked as prevention program manager at Cascade AIDS Project in Portland, before coming to Longview as director of community services at the Lower Columbia Community Action Program. He retired in 2015 to write full time. Rose told interviewer Vikki Carter, “All my books begin as therapeutic exercises. It’s how I work out ideas and feelings and memories. By turning them into stories. It took me twenty years to process that experience before I could finally write the book.”
Coming into the Heartland She came into my office, an older woman looking rather stern, I thought. We’d only just started, when she said abruptly, “I heard you worked with the AIDS people.” The AIDS people. It was the way she said it, like the Sand people, or the Pod people.
Alan Rose
In an Author’s Note prefacing the book and in subsequent interviews, Rose contrasts and compares the AIDS and Covid-19 epidemics. Some of these comparisons are positive, some not. “A crisis, whether personal or national or global, is a cauldron. From it can come catharsis, renewal, even transformation.” But there are also significant differences between the two epidemics. “This time it is not happening to ‘Those People,’ but to all of us. This time our government swung into quick(er) action, it’s delay measured in months, not years.” One of the book’s profound ironies is the price the gay community had to pay to raise awareness of its very existence. The epidemic accelerated the “coming out” process for many gay men, either infected themselves or witnessing the decimation of their communities and friendships. Today’s public consciousness of gay issues — including general social and legal acceptance of same-sex marriage — was without doubt quickened by the harsh realities of AIDS and the very visible stories of its victims and survivors. That’s why Rose, and many reviewers, consider As If Death Summoned a story of uplift and consciousness raising, not a “downer,” as the author had feared. “On a personal level, I wanted to recognize that profound grief and loss can erode a life, but when a person faces and finds a way through it, grief can also rebuild and renew life. That a new and deeper soul can emerge from the crucible of loss.”
“Yes, I have” I said. “For a number of years. I braced myself to get an earful of what she thought of “those people.” Her gaze dropped, her voice falling to a whisper. “My son has AIDS.” I got up and closed the door, came back and sat down. “Would you like to talk about it?” And as she told me about the family secret and the family shame and the family silence, and spoke of her own terrible isolation, I realized that I had come into the Heartland. ~ Alan Rose As If Death Summoned evokes the ultimate paradox — expressed by combat survivors, medical ER doctors, most of us as we exit the funeral of a friend or loved one — that nothing confirms and sweetens life and living like the direct confrontation with death and dying. That bittersweet sentiment permeates this book, and offers us, besides a dramatic chronicle of suffering and loss, hopefulness and humor and health, too. ••• Hal Calbom writes CRR’s monthly People+Place feature and is CRRPress editor. Vikki J.Carter produces the podcast series, “Authors of the Pacific Northwest.” For more information about this book or where to purchase it, visit alan-rose.com. Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 13
FOOD • AND • LIBATIONS
Trendy Bourbon
Move over,’ordinary’ whiskey!
T
Story & photos by Tracy Beard
he holidays are over, but are you finished celebrating? What should you drink? Wines and cocktails are often affiliated with certain seasons. The hot summer months seem like the perfect time for a fruity drink or a chilled glass of rosé, and the cold winter months call for something warm, a Spanish coffee or a hot toddy. But if you are looking for something to warm you from the inside out, try a cocktail with bourbon. The History of whiskey in the US During the United States’ early history, most people imbibing in spirits drank rum, but things changed near the end of the 1700s. The Revolutionary War interrupted the rum trade, and Scottish and Irish immigrants arrived with whiskey. Individuals inhabiting the eastern territories began producing whiskey with rye because that particular crop grew better in the local climate. People that settled further west in places like Kentucky planted corn that they used to produce bourbon whiskey. The whiskey industry has had numerous ups and downs over the years. Small uprisings occurred when the US Congress levied liquor taxes to help pay off the Revolutionary War debts. These uprisings were known as the Whiskey Rebellion. In the 1920s Prohibition took its toll on American whiskey production when bootleggers imported lighter Canadian whiskies and blended whiskeys. During the thirteen-year “dry spell,” tastes shifted to an appreciation of the milder blended whiskies. Later when the US joined in World War II, distilleries were required to produce industrial alcohol. The whiskey stock declined, and rum once again rose to the top of the preferred list because it was easier to access. In the 1980s Scotch whiskey became popular, and the US began producing whiskey “en masse.” American whiskey producers are now creating excellent bourbons and adding flavors to their whiskey. Today’s bartenders and mixologists have turned cocktail creation into an art form. Bourbon and rye have replaced whiskey in many
traditional drinks. Unique flavor profiles inspire cocktail makers to invent new and exciting libations that pair exceptionally well with America’s exciting new food scene. What is the difference? Whiskey is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash, malted barley, rye or wheat. The alcohol is typically aged in white oak casks. The mash must be distilled at 160 proof or less and cannot be more than 125 proof when put into the new charred oak barrels. Distilled beer is also used to produce whiskey. Various grains are used to make different types of whiskey. •Bourbon whiskey contains a minimum of 51% corn and is aged in new charred oak barrels. It must be bottled at 80 proof. Bourbons tend to be sweeter than the other whiskeys and exhibit a caramel color. •Rye whiskey must contain at least 51% rye grain and typically exhibits bitter notes and a spicier taste. •Scotch and Irish whiskey are predominantly made from barley. Bourbon profiles Bourbon comes in a variety of styles. Some bourbons are very harsh and must be served on ice or with a mixer or water. Others are fantastic served straight up or “neat.” Angel’s Envy bourbon is smooth and velvety with vanilla and spice notes. Woodford Reserve, my current favorite, is made in small batches with Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and contains more than 200 flavor notes, including sweet aromatics, spice, fruit and floral. BSB® (brown sugar bourbon) is incredible served with dessert. It is smooth and features strong notes of cinnamon and brown sugar. It warms you from the inside out as it goes down. Vancouver, Wash. resident Tracy Beard writes about luxury and adventure travel, traditional and trendy fine dining and libations for regional, national and international magazines. She is the “Out & About” columnist, now in her sixth year contributing to CRR.
14 / Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021
RECIPES Manhattan
The classic Manhattan typically used whiskey, but many bartenders and mixologists today are using bourbon. Mix (stir, never shake) 2 parts bourbon, 1 part sweet vermouth and a splash or two of bitters. Whiskey Sour Combine 2 ounces bourbon, ¾ ounce fresh lemon juice and ¾ ounce simple syrup in an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Add one egg white. (optional); shake for 20 seconds and strain the liquid into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice or into a margarita glass. Garnish with an orange wheel, cherry, or decorative drops Angostura bitters. To make Simple Syrup: Heat 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan ‘til sugar dissolves. Cool. Cover and refrigerate, keeps about a month. Tracy’s Old Fashioned Put 2 ounces of Woodford Reserve bourbon, or your favorite bourbon, with 2 teaspoons of simple syrup and 3 shakes of Angostura bitters in an old-fashioned glass. Use a vegetable peeler and peel off a large piece of zest from a fresh orange. Rub the slice of orange along the rim of the glass. Stir the ingredients. Place one large ice cube in the glass with the orange zest and one or two Bordeaux maraschino cherries. Pairing Food with Bourbon The same concept of complementing and contrasting wine with food applies to pairing bourbon and food. When you complement the two, the flavors meld; when you contrast them, you bring out new tastes in the food or bourbon to create a different unanticipated flavor. Bourbons with sweet aromatics would complement sweet desserts and contrast with salty or spicy foods like cheese or fried chicken. Burgers and ribs pair fabulously with bourbon. One of my favorite pairings is bourbon and candied bacon. Try making breakfast for dinner one night. You probably should not begin the day with a glass of bourbon. For the bourbon, make any of the above cocktails or pour an ounce of BSB® in a glass. Cook up some of my spicy candied bacon and serve it with a poached egg on buttered toast. The strength of the bourbon cuts right through the ooey-gooey egg, the bacon’s caramelized sugar complements the drink and the salt and spice make a perfect contrast to the libation.
Tracy’s Candied Bacon 1 pound thick-cut bacon ½ cup light brown sugar 1 teaspoon garlic powder ¼ teaspoon chipotle chili powder Mix the three spices in a bowl and pour onto a plate. Dredge both sides of the bacon in the spice mix and lay on a metal rack on top of a cookie sheet covered with foil. Bake at 400º (preheated) for 25-35 minutes, or until crispy. •••
Local Culture
MUSEUM MAGIC
Monticello Convention Walnut Tree & Historical Site ...go see! by Joseph Govednik Cowlitz County Historical Museum Director • Courtesy photos
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Washington. The signers of the petition include some of the region’s most prominent early settlers, including Seth Catlin, Nathaniel Ostrander, and Simon Plamondon.
capital of Oregon City. They wanted to partition the territory, with Oregon to the south, and a new “Columbia Territory” north of the river. After a previous attempt in 1851, 44 petitioners gathered at the town of Monticello (modern day Longview) on November 25, 1852 to attempt a second plea for partition.
he Columbia River Reader distribution area straddles the Columbia River, which presently divides the states of Oregon and Washington. Back in the 1840s and early 1850s, present day Oregon, Washington, and Idaho were part of the Oregon Territory, which also included partial lands of contemporary Montana and Wyoming. As settlement by Americans continued in Oregon Territory north of the Columbia River the residents there felt underrepresented in the territorial
Other prominent signers included some of Seattle’s founding fathers including Arthur A. Denny and William Nathaniel Bell (for which Belltown is named). This historic event created Above: The historic marker and walnut tree; below, the a partition leading the way view form this site across the Cowlitz River. for Oregon’s statehood in 1859, and three decades later, Washington’s admission to the Union. The site where this impactful event occurred is marked by a black walnut tree planted by Arthur Burbank, which has endured such cataclysmic events as the flood of 1867 and the Columbus Day Storm of 1962.
The petition reached Washington D.C., in 1853, shortly after Congress passed a bill creating the new territory. Congress changed the name to “Washington,” in honor the Father of our Country, George
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Today, the tree still stands and may be viewed off Tenant Way in Longview, as a monument to this significant moment in both of our state histories.
Call an ad rep: Ad Manager: Ned Piper, 360-749-2632: All areas. Sue Lane 360-261-0658 Downtown Longview Ron Baldwin 503-791-7985: Wahkiakum, Pacific, Clatsop
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The Dalles
To: Walla Walla Kennewick, WA Lewiston, ID
Map suggests only approximate positions and relative distances. Consult a real map for more precise details. We are not cartographers.
Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 15
Columbia River Reade extends heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of
Preston (Rick) Worth 1949–2020
people+ place 2021 P+P Sponsor Partners
Preston’s industriousness, generosity, integrity, community spirit and zest for life enriched the world.
THANK YOU to these community leaders for supporting excellent journalism while spotlighting worthy organizations and programs.
We will miss you, Preston. Rest in Peace.
The Evans Kelly Family • Columbia Ford • Country Financial Weatherguard, Inc. • Paul W. Thompson • Clatskanie PUD Fibre Federal Credit Union • Cathlamet Realty West All-Out Sewer & Drain Services
• EXCAVATION • SITE PREPARATION • UTILITIES Proud sponsor of People+Place
Some of the Columbia’s brightest stars never appear on stage…
PARTNERS INVITED
They are Friends of the Columbia Theatre and without them, the show would not go on.
February is FRIENDS OF THE COLUMBIA THEATRE Month! Your support helps ensure that the Theatre continues to bring us world-class entertainment, that its education and outreach programs are possible, that Longview’s historic landmark is preserved and restored.
We have NEW SIDEWALK BOXES and inside racks available and invite additional distribution outlets. If you manage a high-traffic, commercial location, feel an affinity with CRR and wish to partner with us by hosting a CRR box to provide your customers free copies every month ... call Ned Piper: 360-749-2632.
Arts organizations have been hit hard by the COVID pandemic. Even in a normal year, ticket sales cover less than half of CTPA’s costs. Please consider becoming a Friend of the Theatre with a gift.
Q
Selected by Debra Tweedy
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. ~ Barack Obama, 44th President of the U.S., 1961Fools multiply when wise men are silent. ~ Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa, 1918-2013 Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. ~ Mark Twain, American writer and humorist, 1835-1910 To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. ~ Thomas Paine, American revolutionary, 1737-1809
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So many things are possible just as long as you don’t know they’re impossible. ~ Norton Juster, from “The Phantom Tollbooth,” American writer, 1929Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live. ~ Jacqueline Winspear, English writer, 1955-
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Do you embrace change, or fight change? Where is the opportunity?
Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered a thousand years ago. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and statesman, 1749-1832 I don’t want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did. ~ Henry James, American author, 18431916 Quiet people have the loudest minds. ~ Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author, 1942-2018 You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose. ~ Indira Gandhi, Indian politician and Prime Minister, 1917-1984
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” ~ Fred Rogers, American television host of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, 1928-2003 16 / Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021
Longview native Debra Tweedy has lived on four continents. She and her husband decided to return to her hometown and bought a house facing Lake Sacajawea.“We came back because of the Lake and the Longview Public Library,” she says.
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Production Notes
Global Villages Shrinking small towns talk a lot about what used to be and what’s been lost. It’s not just the loss of jobs or businesses that bothers people. It’s often the loss of their young people who’ve grown up, left, and are unlikely to return. Jobs and industries change, training and educational requirements shift, the image of the “good life” shimmers, entices, evolves. The urban centers are shiny and new, the rural villages stranded in time. The futurist Marshall McLuhan famously claimed that our media-mad, infinitely connected world would devolve back into a more intimate, mutually dependent set of communities which he called a “Global Village.” The idealization of a village — usually romanticized — surfaces periodically. A certain former first lady and presidential candidate suggested “it takes a village” to build a civil society. But villages have their downsides, too. They’re tribal. They can be mean-spirited and gossipy — everyone into everyone else’s business. And, often, they’re insular and defensive — us against the world, Or, more precisely, us against the tribe across the river, the other guys. But that’s changing. Villages today are being liberated of their insularity by the very factors McLuhan foreshadowed. Thanks to the Internet, the smart phone and more television than one could possibly desire, village people have just as much access and communications power as those in the forty-story urban high-rises. Haven’t you noticed? Amazon and Fed Ex trucks are running riot in Skamokawa, Castle Rock, and Rainier, not just Portland and Seattle. Connectivity is erasing the geographical — and psychological — boundaries between urban and village life. It’s ironing out inequalities and cleaning out cobwebs. And many of those villages, with their quaint shops, available parking, and a neighbor meandering down every street, seem suddenly to promise the best of best worlds. •••
people+ place Return of the Native: Andrew Weiler Some months ago The Wahkiakum County Eagle, the Cathlamet-based weekly newspaper, reclaimed one of its own by hiring Andrew Weiler and dubbing him Product Manager. Andrew is potential poster child for the “brain drain” that empties our communities of our talented and energetic young people: promising prodigy but not a great hometown fit, leaving after high school, making stops in California and Chicago, working on a world-class documentary film, “Hoop Dreams,” settling comfortably into the intellectual ferment of Berkeley, California, prepping a run to high tech success. And a million miles — culturally, psychologically, economically — from home. Instead, he’s plopped in front of multiple computer monitors in the funky Eagle offices, convinced there is plenty of work to be done right here at home.
AW: I never knew how to apply myself and make a living here. When I was in high school I just loved the community and knew so many people. My family has been here for five or six generations. I’ve always wanted to come back, somehow. HC: What kept you away? AW: I love the Pacific Northwest. I feel that connection is part of my identity. I’m comfortable when I’m
here. But I was in love with media, too, and it was hard to figure out how to apply that in Cathlamet. HC: Were you the high school film nerd?
Andrew Weiler
NICE TO MEET YOU Andrew Weiler resides
Cathlamet, Wash. occupation
AW: I was the school videographer Product Manager / Reporter from seventh grade through my from senior year of high school. Parents Cathlamet would hire me to go film their kids known for Media entrepreneurship at basketball games. I got hired by reading the Finnish Festival to document Communities of Journalism their whole festival back in the midby David Nord 2000s. After high for fun school I went Golfing and beer drinking to film school recommends at UC Santa Home-cooked meals, Sinatra, Cruz, worked the Pacific Northwest, and being goal-oriented in documentary films in Chicago for a couple of years, and entered a Masters program at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. HC: Still in media? AW: Yes, kind of an electronic - journalism hybrid. My Master’s is in Media, Entrepreneurship and Innovation. But I’ve migrated away from the “independent filmmaker” sensibility and more toward journalism. HC: Why? AW: I think journalism is so much more accessible, or it can be: covering more people, representing bigger issues, more engaged day to day. And I’m really interested in who’s under-represented, and that can be people, or causes, or it can be small communities like Cathlamet. HC: What are you doing for the Eagle? cont page 17 Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 17
People +
“ Let’s not just have a pulse on our community; le
from page 18
AW: My title is Product Manager. I’m actually still doing similar work for a media company down in the Bay Area, which runs a non-profit startup called Cityside, kind of a 21st century “local newspaper” but of course entirely electronic. But the jobs are similar — mainly research and development. Trying to find out what consumers of content really want, what the role of the traditional news organization can be. Rick’s completely open to input, feedback, and responses from the community.
I’m impressed by all the things Rick and Andrew are NOT doing. They are NOT turning the venerable paper into a jazzed-up website. They are NOT seeking astronomical subscription rate increases to stay afloat. They are NOT giving away ad space at fire sale rates. What they ARE doing is methodically taking the pulse of their community. Here’s how they announced Andrew’s new position: His core focus is to advance civic engagement and strengthen community identity through innovative journalistic methods. He believes that a human-centric approach to business and audience development is how independent newsrooms can sustainably provide desirable, viable and feasible offerings. HC: What’s the basis for your evaluations, your method?
AW: I’m learning every day, still very engaged with Cityside, which is the community non-profit news group I work with in Berkeley. But I also rely on my experience at Northwestern. It’s really one of the nation’s most progressive journalism schools. The curriculum is case study-based and real-world focused. And finally, I spent four years working in the private sector, with an entrepreneurial, firstclass documentary film company. HC: You guys made “Hoop Dreams,” one of the most successful docs ever? AW: We did. But I also began to wonder — despite the audiences and the credibility of great documentary work — if journalism didn’t still offer the best way to inform, reflect and lead. HC: It’s not like print journalism is flourishing. There are a lot of giants teetering out there, not just small shops struggling to survive. AW: Oh yeah. We’ve looked at huge legacy companies like the Chicago Tribune, and their attempts to innovate. But often that’s like trying to teach an old dog new tricks. Ultimately their business model and their leadership is really not that prone to change.
HC: How so, specifically? AW: Most obviously their heavy reliance on advertising. And I admit those are longstanding, interdependent relationships. But the Trib is getting killed by more nimble competitors with a better mix of revenue and funding sources. HC: Example? AW: Well, Block Club Chicago. Began as a non-profit start-up, using donations and grants to garner revenue in addition to advertising. HC: So just to be clear here, you’re talking about a model that is still advertiser-friendly? Just not completely reliant on it? AW: Exactly. The advertisers are critical members of the community. Super critical. They’re the conduit for information and consumer trends. They drive economic vitality. If anything, I think this diversified funding model strengthens advertisers because it broadens their own networks, exposure, and credibility. HC: How about editorial integrity? Aren’t these “news” outlets funded by foundations and donors subject to their whims, too? Their own partisanship? cont page 18
People+ Place re-visits a community newspaper.
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lorifying God through sports means being a great teammate, hard worker, and consistently lifting others up when things might not be going well for them. When I’m on the field or track, I remind myself how big a role God plays when it comes to succeeding. If you put God first over everything, no matter how you play, you will succeed. Giving God all the glory and honor after winning a game is so important to me because He deserves it all.
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et’s have a pulse on our business. ”
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Eye of the Eagle: Rick Nelson
I
By Hal Calbom
f the storefront offices of the Wahkiakum County Eagle have a decidedly homey feel — they are, to put it politely, “lived in,” — blame it on the publisher. He grew up there. “My father was publisher of this paper,” said Rick Nelson, clearing off sheaves of old issues and some
Nelson’s son, Rick, who’s nearing retirement age himself. “The old papers are still entertaining,” said Nelson. “If you look at an old edition, there will be little tiny stories all over the front page and inside pages about who did what, who visited whom, who had a birthday, who sprained their ankle.” Early editors did include stories about Washington D.C. or the doings of presidents, but according to Nelson, these were, “Mostly filler. People then were interested in the same things they’re interested in now — the local people, the local government, the local news.”
other flotsam and jetsam of the printing business to find us a place to sit down. “He bought it in 1966. And I graduated from high school right here in Cathlamet, in 1969.”
Newspapering is in the family’s blood. An early masthead lists Bob and Lois Nelson as Co-publishers, with Mary Spitzer as Advertising Assistant and a certain Rick Nelson — who by my math would have been 15 or 16 at the time — as “Printer’s Devil.” (The Oxford Dictionary traces that term to the late 1700’s — the young apprentices doing all the very nastiest work in the very nasty industry of printing — horsing trays of heavy lead type, cranking behemoth presses, muscling crushing rolls of paper, caked in black ink).
The Eagle was founded in Skamokawa in the 1890s by Samuel Grant Williams, and eventually moved to Cathlamet, the county seat. A weekly, it remains an indispensable source of news, information, and community under the leadership of Bob and Lois
Rick Nelson doesn’t see the newspaper’s role much differently than did his dad and mom. He says that community rivalries are less prominent — they were always fierce, and in more than sports — but that the paper still aspires to do the same two things, “Be the means of communication
Please join me in supporting the Art Renaissance Team in bringing to the Longview Public Library a permanent Collection of works by world-famous glass artist Dale Chihuly
between what goes on in our government, our local government, and the public. And help nurture the identity of the county. Community events, community development, community good works.” People still buzz in and out of the Eagle offices, picking up copy jobs, dropping off ads, simply trading information. It’s a physical hub on Cathlamet’s main drag, as well as a communications crossroads. “The fastest growing age group in our county is retired people. Many, many people are commuters, who like to live here but maybe work someplace else. And we all think that small communities like ours are going to survive by being fun places to be. And that’s what local people need to focus on — making it fun.” With their historic courthouse and Julia Butler Hansen home, the working waterfront and picturesque, flowerbedecked old homes, and Puget Island just across the bridge, Cathlamet and Wahkiakum County do seem like desirable places to be. And much of that sense of esprit, belonging, community, and contact with the rest of the world, emanates from Rick Nelson’s — and his family’s — living legacy. •••
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People + Place people solve those problems? And this is where the news source — acting as a communications hub, connecting people — can be really valuable. HC: And a good use for the online component? The computer connection? AW: Exactly. You don’t need to typeset your community calendar every day. It’s a fluid, dynamic source of information, and essential service. And a final thing I’m intrigued by is the role of compiler and curator or custodian. Newspapers can be stockpiles of information and of experience, and of history. Who gathers and preserves, and advocates if necessary? And I’m not sure newspapers are equipped right now to extend their editorial function this far, but it’s certainly something that can increase their value to their communities. And to each of us. HC: Isn’t this a case where computer power, and storage can really be part of the solution? I notice things like online obituary services proliferating? And lots of papers beginning to advertise their archives?
AW: Potentially, yes. But most every not-for-profit funder or foundation already has plenty of ways to get the word out and influence people. Newsletters, funding campaigns. They have plenty of influence already. But my point is people still want their newspapers to be newspapers. The masthead of our web-based news site, Berkeleyside, says “Nonprofit news, Free for all, Funded by readers.” Not a brochure, not an annual report, not a public relations job.
AW: Yes by all means. People still want the day to day, week to week coverage. But the ability to provide archiving and access — be it to public records, or trivia, or entertainment, or community notices — helps embed the paper in the information marketplace.
Following up on this point, I looked up Block Club Chicago, which states its mission and orientation thus: “A digital-first news organization delivering reliable, non-partisan and essential coverage to Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods.” Figuring that Rick Nelson’s credo might be reasonably close to this, I asked Andrew where he was headed with his research. How might his lessons learned play out at 77 Main Street, Cathlamet, Washington?
Hal Calbom is editor of The Tidewater Reach, Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures,
recently published by Columbia River Reader Press, and the new Dispatches from the Discovery Trail, by Michael O. Perry, now available from CRRPress. Reach Hal at hal@ halcalbom.com
AW: Of course we don’t have enough information yet. But I have at least a couple of things I’m looking for, or hoping we might evaluate. First is opportunities for “engagement journalism.” It’s listening, questioning, interacting more. HC: The “you are here” approach? AW: Yeah, relentlessly focused on the subject, not the author’s point of view. The second opportunity might be called “solutions journalism.” This especially applies at the neighborhood level. What are the everyday issues and problems? And how can we help
HC: I like to go look up movie reviews I didn’t read when they first came out, but might interest me once I’ve watched the flick. AW: Sure. And recipes, op ed columns. All those things that have been transitory can also be accumulated. And that’s just one of the extensions newspapers are trying out — online stores, branded merchandise, crossword puzzle compilations, you name it. HC: Examples of news groups doing this? AW: Well, The New York Times is looking at everything and playing multiple roles with its readers and its communities. And The Wall Street Journal’s not far behind. HC: Pretty handsome company for the Wahkiakum County Eagle... AW: Large or small, we’re all in the same business.
Editor’s Note: Interviews are edited for length and condensed for clarity.
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My Slant: The Pandemic Kitchen
Rice Cooker Hot Chocolate, and Waffle Iron Omelets Necessity is the mother of invention By Rena Langille
O
ur wonderful new stovetop quit working. We couldn’t get a repairman for two weeks, and after he recommended repair, the parts won’t be here for another two weeks. It’s the pandemic. Everyone is short staffed, and short on materials. The stovetop is under warranty, but it is not like the car — we can’t get a loaner — so we make do. One of the things that hampers us is that I cannot eat precooked, prepared food, or take-out food because I am particularly sensitive to salt. A mere pinch can send my blood pressure soaring. This usually is not a problem, as I have rarely used those kinds of foods. I like cooking, and I like making things from scratch. But now, I was faced with a dilemma. Making several things at one time was easy with the stovetop, but it was out of service. I have discovered we have options. We have a countertop oven/toaster combination, a big oven, a 50-year -old electric skillet, a rice cooker, and a waffle iron that I got at the Goodwill 15 years ago. The waffle iron is just like the one I used when the kids were little, about 40 years ago, that I gave to the Goodwill because we weren’t using it. Then one day I wanted one, so I went back to Goodwill and found one just like the one I gave them. Maybe it was the same one. The rice cooker has only two settings: “Cook” and “Warm.” It is made just for cooking rice, although it does have a little insert for steaming vegetables. We do not have, and will not get, a microwave. There is no room for one anywhere in or near the kitchen. Our portable appliances are conveniently stored in cabinets.
oven. The electric skillet cooks most everything else, like green beans with mushrooms, a nice chicken curry I made last night, and other vegetables. But the big surprise has been the rice cooker and the waffle iron! I actually was able to cook dried beans in the rice cooker. They came out fine. I use stock when I cook beans, and I do not soak them overnight. I add the tomatoes and herbs when I start them on their way, so it went well, but I had to keep a close eye on the liquid. After they were done, it was easy to warm them up in the rice cooker, along with some rice and chunks of red pepper I added to them at the same time. The really big surprise, though, is rice cooker hot chocolate. When I make hot chocolate I use two kinds of semi sweet chocolate. One is Ibara. Individual sections of chocolate come in little hexagons wrapped in paper, which I pound into bits with my hammer, and the other is unsweetened discs of Guittard, that I leave whole. The pieces go into a pot with a small amount of water over medium heat. I carefully stir the chocolate until it is dissolved into a nice, moist paste, and then add the correct amount of soy milk (I am dairy averse also), and stir it all together. In the rice cooker, stirring is not necessary. The chocolate melts in the non-stick cooker bowl, and we just wait until it all foams
up with the milk, perfectly dissolved. It was delicious. We will continue to make rice cooker hot chocolate. It is much simpler than the old method. I emailed a friend about the challenge of cooking without a stove top, and she wrote back to tell me that a waffle iron is handy for a number of things too, so I looked up some recipes. On Sunday nights we usually have a kind of flat omelet for dinner with a side of no-salt buttered toast. I rose to the challenge. I minced some shallots, a half-inch of a nice, fat leek, some red bell pepper, a few mushrooms that were drying out in the crisper, and grated in some zucchini. I tossed it all
with basil, oregano, and some crushed black pepper. I whipped up four eggs and folded it into the vegetables while the waffle iron was heating. When the iron was hot, I started the toast and poured the egg mix into the waffle maker, closed the lid and crossed my fingers. Three and a half minutes later, we had a delightfully fluffy omelet, neatly indented with little squares and nice, hot buttered toast. This all goes to prove that yes, emergency is the mother of invention, and you can sometimes teach an old dog new tricks. •••
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It has been a bit of a trial, but things are working out. The countertop oven cooks smaller cuts of meat, meat loaf, potatoes, and toasts bread. Bigger things, of course, go into the big Rena Langille is a faithful reader and an occasional contributor to CRR. She lives in Seattle with her husband, Pat Trotter, who grew up in Longview.
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Northwest Gardening
For the Armchair Gardener
Mid-winter: The perfect time to dream, envision and plan for the upcoming growing season By Alice Slusher
W
inter has us in its icy grip for a couple more months. While there are a few tasks that can be done outside in January and February, I would rather be an armchair gardener in the dead of winter. Curling up with a gardening book and nice hot cup of tea during our long, often wet, gloomy weather can bring a lot of enjoyment to us hibernating gardeners. I polled my fellow Master Gardeners about their favorite books, and hope you’ll find some ideas for reading material here. Get in touch with the library or one of our local booksellers to order them. Gardening in the Pacific Northwest Gardening in the Pacific Northwest by Hall and Hall. “Great for gardeners who have relocated from another part of the country and have no idea how to garden here.” Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades” by Steve Solomon. “Discusses growing techniques, seed varieties, and has a great section on soil and nutrients. Steve is the founder of Territorial Seeds, which is also my go-to seed source.” Maritime Northwest Garden Guide by Seattle Tilth Alliance. “This has become our garden bible! It covers everything, and includes a gardening calendar. We take it out to the garden and use it as a constant reference!”
Starting and growing a garden
The New Seed-Starters Handbook by Nancy Bubel. “This is a great resource for everything relating to growing your own plants from seed. My favorite part is the “Encyclopedia of Plants to Grow from Seed” chapter in the back of the book.” Postage Stamp Garden Book: How to Grow All the Food You Can Eat in Very Little Space by Duane Newcomb. “Published in 1975 — an oldie but goodie. You can still find it out there. One of the first books about raised bed gardening. A great place to start if you haven’t gardened before.” Home Grown Pantry by Barbara Pleasant. “Tells how to grow vegetables, fruits and herbs. The best part is that the book goes into detail on how to preserve your harvest and also offers some recipes.” OSU/WSU Extension Opportunities Learn to Safely Preserve Foods Online with Preserve @ Home - 6 week course Jan.14. 503.397.3462. Register: blogs.oregonstate.edu
WSU Extension Online Workshops
Call 360-577-3014 Ext.3, for connection info. Jan 13, 6pm • Pruning Fruit Trees Jan 19, 12 Noon •Writing a Will Jan 20, 6pm •Caring for Fruit Trees Jan 26, Noon • Make Your Own Paper Jan 27, 6pm • Greenhouse Info Home Gardeners Feb 2, Noon • February Garden Tasks Feb 3, 6pm • Mason Bees Feb 9, Noon • Planning to Plant
Plant Partners by Jessica Walliser. “This is a book about science-based companion planting—none of the silly and useless folklore suggestions we’ve seen. You’ll discover ways to use companion planting to improve your soil, control weeds, and help with pest and disease control. Highly recommended!” The Ortho Home Gardener’s Problem Solver, by Editorial Staff of Ortho Books. “If you only have one garden problem reference, this would be the one to have. For each entry, it describes the pest or disease problem, how it develops, and the solution. Great reference.” Flowers and landscaping plants The Sunset Western Garden Book by Editors of Sunset Books. “Really useful because it is written specifically for our area. Not only does it describe the plant, it tells you how to grow it. Beautiful pictures. I like this one even though I can find similar information on the web. Sometimes I just like to hold a book rather than look at a screen!” The Cut Flower Garden by Erin Benzakein. “Stunning and inspiring photographs of flowers. The author, a Pacific Northwest native, explains how to plant and grow flowers and create arrangements with them. My favorite idea is the sunflower cutting garden.” Encyclopedia of Northwest Native Plants for Gardens and Landscapes by Filbert, Robson, and Richter. “If you want sustainable plants that you don’t have to baby, native plants are the way to go. The photographer/author, Alice Richter, is a retired Cowlitz County Master Gardener.” The American Horticultural Society A – Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants by Christopher Brickell and Judith D. Zuk. “I use this as a constant reference for what a specific plant needs and the preferred habitat of the plant. I never plant anything without looking at this prior to planting or buying.”
Pruning American Horticultural Society: Pruning and Training by Christopher Brickell and David Joyce. “This is one of my favorites on how to prune and train. It’s a good, basic resource for pruning a variety of trees, shrubs and climbing plants. Each plant entry includes descriptions, how to prune, and pictures to help with the explanation.” Cass Turnbull’s Guide to Pruning by Cass Turnbull. “I love this book — it starts with the basics and assumes you have never pruned before. When you’re finished with it, you’ll have the confidence to go out with your bypass pruners and conquer your trees and shrubs.” Grow a Little Fruit Tree by Ann Ralph. “For the first time, I am growing productive fruit trees that are easy to harvest and care for because they are pruned to keep them smaller. If you only have a small space for a tree, or are replacing a large tree that has become old or unmanageable, get this book!” There you have it—I hope you snuggle up with a couple of these books—consider it an investment in your future gardening success! ••• Kalama resident Alice Slusher volunteers with WSU Extension Service Plant & Insect Clinic. Call 360-577-3014, ext. 8, or send question via cowlitzmastergardener@gmail.com. Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 23
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24 / Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021
The Natural World
The Element of Surprise
By Dr. Robert Michael Pyle
Restoring a sense of wonderment
T
he sweaty satisfaction of activism has a dark flip-side. Its name is burnout. Which of us, worn down by too much devotion to an enterprise that needs us, has not known the distress and guilt that bailing brings? Yet I believe nothing freshens the wrinkled will like immersion in the natural world. This is especially so for conservationists, who way too often forget what they are working for, what it looks and smells like. And nothing restores the wonderment like sheer stupefaction: the shockingly novel sensation that awaits every watcher who goes forth to indulge in the blessed ordinary, then rediscovers that it seldom is. This antidote is free to anyone willing to attend the infinitely generous offerings of happenstance. Take, for example, bats. Naturalists know bats, though commonly reviled, to be valuable and fascinating animals. We go to see their phenomenal fly-
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outs, in black-cloud millions, from places like Bracken Cave in the Texas Hill Country or Austin’s Congress Street Bridge. But a single bat where you least expect it can be just as stunning. After Christmas snow and a month that brought a yard of rain, an early January day came bright and balmy. Snowdrops swelled near to bursting in the dooryard; the long catkins of hazel and the first skunk cabbage, by their golds, signaled the halting but sure start of spring. Indoor work had gone stale, and we couldn’t resist a walk. As Thea and I climbed a grade above Gray’s River, looking down valley, we spotted what appeared to be a bird, then, we thought, a big red moth. But it didn’t fly like a song sparrow, and we were months away from the cherry-and-mahogany ceanothus silk moths, which, in any case, don’t fly by day. Well, neither do bats, which should have migrated or been hibernating by now. Big and little brown bats appear in our bedroom many a summer night, and hunt insects over the yard; but in January? Then I recalled that one year before I’d seen a bat working this very same stretch of road, just after sunset, as a barn owl and a tree frog called on the hillside. Our subject fluttered back and forth past our faces — ears and face readily visible. Against the blue sky of the east, its wing-strokes showed all above its back, like those of a shorteared owl. Then, backlit by the dropping sun while hawking midges at the meadow end of its hundred-yard circuit, its thin membranes that do for wings flashed bright red. Darting back again, under maples, alders, and spruce, it looked for all the world like a big brown butterfly. That perception took me back to the Colorado River, when I was following the migration of monarch butterflies two years before. Gary Nabhan had alerted me to monarchs moving through the Grand Canyon earlier that fall. When he first saw them coursing above his raft, he’d taken them for bats abroad in the daylight. I chuckled at that until I stood on Navajo Bridge, looked far down into the canyon, and beheld the desired monarchs milling in the late sunshine. Surprise: they were bats.
Robert Michael Pyle is a naturalist and writer who has resided along Gray’s River in Wahkiakum County for many years. His 24 books include the Northwest classics Wintergreen, Sky Time in Gray’s River, and Where Bigfoot Walks (which inspired the feature film based on Pyle’s life, ‘The Dark Divide’ now available on video-on-demand streaming services). His newest book titles are The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures (with Judy VanderMaten, published by CRRPress, see page 2) and Nature Matrix: New and Selected Essays. Photo by David Lee Myers This is the 29th in a series of selected essays to appear in Columbia River Reader. These were originally published in Orion Afield or Orion Magazine in the author’s column, “The Tangled Bank” and, subsequently, in the book of the same name published by Oregon State University Press in 2012.
Our Willapa winter bat flickered in the sun, veered, and motored past again, its warm brown dance reminding me of another false call. Following the Orion Society’s Forgotten Language Tour in Texas last autumn, I canoed with local conservationists working to save a wild bayou near the mouth of the Trinity River above Galveston Bay. We’d slowly paddled among alleys of fluted cypress buttresses and their gnomic knees, dodged under great golden orbweaving spiders on their ten-foot webs, spooked little blue herons and roseate spoonbills. Then, in a narrow, leafy channel, a powerful brown bat appeared down bayou. We stared as it zigzagged across the black water; but something wasn’t right, and when it alighted on a hardwood bough, I yipped, “It’s a black witch!” “A what?” came back four voices. It was indeed the huge moth, beautifully striated with black and turquoise, a southern species that sometimes emigrates north. I had only seen Erebus odora once before, 20 years ago, flapping its way through the hot canyons of downtown Denver. Surprise! It keeps the world fresh, no matter where you find it — the percussion in the ceiling that announces the presence of woodrats; the vole in the cellar, deep in deer mouse territory; the salamander in the sump-pump pool. The surprise that keeps life lively can be as great as rising this morning to behold 24 Roosevelt elk leaping a fence beside the covered bridge, until the youngest calf discovers the open gate. Or as small as an optimistic bat, spinning through the January sun. ••• This essay was written in Spring 1999. Bob adds that his latest bat surprise came in his own living room. He was boarding up a broken window when he heard a scritch-scratching from beneath the plywood. Taking it back down, and then the cardboard baffle he’d backed it with, he found a little brown bat nestled in between the layers — very nearly entombed, but thanks to its tiny struggles, found and freed, and as happy as a gnat to fly out into the autumn air. Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 25
COLUMBIA RIVER
Clatskanie, Ore. Fultano’s Pizza 770 E. Columbia River Hwy Family style with unique pizza offerings, hot grill items & more! Take-out and Home Delivery. Visit Fultanos.com for streamlined menu. 503-728-2922
dining guide
Kelso, Wash. Hop N Grape
El Ranchero Kelso
Ixtapa Fine Mexican Restaurant 640 E. Columbia River Hwy Fine Mexican cuisine. Daily specials. The best margarita in town. Daily drink specials. Drive-by Pickup. M-Th 11am–9:30pm; Fri & Sat 11am–11:30pm; Sun 11am–9pm. 503-728-3344
Rainier. Ore. Alston Pub & Grub
25196 Alston Rd., Rainier 503-556-4213 11 beers on tap, cocktails. Open daily 11am. 503-556-9753 • Status unknown Conestoga Pub Cornerstone Café 102 East “A” Street Microbrews, wines & spirits Prime rib Friday & Sat. Open M-F 6am–8pm; Sat-Sun 7am–8pm. 503-556-8772 • Take-out only
1626 West Side Hwy Family Mexican restaurant. Full menu. Daily specials. Liquor, beer & wine. Mention this listing for $5 off purchase of $30 or more. Open Mon–Sat 11am–9pm. 360423-3704. Take-out from Drive-up window
Longview, Wash.
1335 14th Avenue 18 rotating craft brews, pub fare. M-W 12 Noon–9pm, Th–Sat 12 Noon– 11pm. Sun 12 Noon–8pm. Local music. Follow us on Untappd. See ad, page 10.
The Carriage Restaurant & Lounge
The Carriage Restaurant & Lounge 1334 12th Ave. Open from 6am to close. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Full bar, banquet room available for groups, parties, family reunions, etc. in lounge, open 6am. Three happy hours daily (8–10am, 12–2pm, 5–7pm). Group meeting room, free use with $150 food/drink purchases.
924 15th Ave., Longview Tues–Thurs 11am–7pm; Fri & Sat 11am–8pm. BBQ meat slow-cooked on site. Pulled pork, chicken brisket, ribs, turkey, salmon. World-famous mac & cheese. 360-577-1541. Take-out only. Call for hours.
115-117 East 1st Street Burgers, halibut, prime rib, full bar. 503-556-9935 • Call for status
Goble Tavern
70255 Columbia River Hwy. (Milepost 31, Hwy. 30) Food, beer & wine + full bar, Live entertainment. 2–10pm M-T-W; 11am–10pm Th-F-Sat 503-556-4090 • Call for status
117 East 1st Street, Rainier 503-556-4213 Take-out & Delivery
Vault Books & Brew 20 Cowlitz Street West, Castle Rock Coffee and specialty drinks, quick eats & sweet treats. See ad, page 29.
Grant’s at the Monticello Hotel on Longview’s historic Civic
Circle. Casual upscale dining. Seafood, steaks, pasta, burgers. Happy Hour specials 3pm. M-Th 11-9, Fri-Sat 11-10. Closed temporarily, until further notice.
Jay’s Jukebox Burgers, 1232 Commerce Ave.. 1950s Soda shop. Take-out. Open Tues–Sun, 11–7. Phone 360-261-7879
The Original Pietrio’s Pizzeria
614 Commerce Ave., Longview. 18 varieties of pizza, prepared salads. Beer & wine. Open 11am every day. Inside seating by reservation only. 360-353-3512. Take-out, some local delivery.
215 N. Hendrickson Dr., Port of Kalama. A Northwest pub and unique bars serving breakfast, lunch & dinner daily. Info & reservations at mcmenamins. com. Bars hours vary; see website for details. Pub open M-Th 7am – midnight; Fri-Sun 7am– 1am. 360- 673-9210. Covered outdoor seating. Curbside takeout.
St. Helens, Ore.
Sunshine Pizza & Catering 2124 Columbia Blvd. Hot pizza, cool salad bar. Beer & wine. Curbside pickup and delivery.503-397-3211 See ad, page 28.
Scappoose, Ore.
0-442-8234. Creekside Café 1323 Commerce Ave. Soups, Salads, Burgers, Wraps. Pick-up and Delivery. 11am–7pm. 360-425-7296. www.creeksidecafe.restaurant
Porky’s Public House 561 Industrial Way, Longview Slow-roasted prime rib Fri & Sat, flat iron steaks, 1/3-lb burgers, fish & chips. 33 draft beers. Full bar. Family-friendly, weekly jazz and acoustic dinner hour sets on Weds. 360-636-1616.
Eclipse Café
Luigi’s Pizza
Parker’s Restaurant & Brewery 1300 Mt. St. Helens Way. I-5 Exit 49. Lunch, Dinner. Burgers, hand-cut steak; seafood and pasta. Restaurant opens 11am, Lounge 12 Noon. Closed Monday. 360-967-2333. Call for status/options.
Kalama, Wash.
360-425-8545.
Evergreen Pub & Café
Castle Rock, Wash.
In the Merk (1339 Commerce Ave., #113) 360-431-5552. Mon-Fri 8am–4pm. Specialty coffees, teas, bubble teas and pastries....drinks with a smile. Takeout and delivery.
Roland Wines
1106 Florida St., Longview. Authentic Italian wood-fired pizza, wine, and beer. Casual ambience. 5–9pm Wed-Fri, Sat. 11–3. See ad, page 30. Call for status.
Pizza, spaghetti, burgers, beer & wine.
Fultano’s Pizza 51511 SE 2nd. Family style with unique pizza offerings, hot grill items & more! “Best pizza around!” Sun–Th 11am–9pm; Fri-Sat 11am– 10pm. Full bar service ‘til 10pm Fri & Sat. Deliveries in Scappoose. 503-5435100.
Ixtapa Fine Mexican Restaurant
33452 Havlik Rd. Fine Mexican cuisine. Daily specials. The best margarita in town. Daily drink specials. M-Th 11am– 9:30pm; Fri & Sat 11am–11:30pm; Sun 11am–9pm. Curbside pickup and home delivery. 503-543-3017
Warren, Ore. Restaurant operators: To advertise in Columbia River Dining Guide, call 360-749-2632
Freddy’s Just for the Halibut. Cod, halibut & tuna fish and chips, oysters & clams, award-winning clam chowder. Prime rib every Thurs. Sunday Brunch 9am–1pm. Beer and wine. M-Sat 10am– 8pm, Sunday 11am–8pm. Drive-thru, take-out. Outdoor seating. 1110 Commerce 360-414-3288. See ad, page 9.
26 / Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021
Teri’s, 3225 Ocean Beach Hwy, Longview. Lunch and dinner. Burgers, steak, seafood, pasta, specials, fresh NW cuisine. Happy Hour. Full bar. 360-577-0717. Free delivery 12–4pm. Covered outdoor seating. Curbside pickup.
Warren Country Inn 56575 Columbia River Hwy. Fine family dining. Breakfast, lunch & dinner. Full bar. Call for hours.503-410-5479. Check Facebook for updates.
ME AND MY
COLUMBIA RIVER DINING GUIDE During Covid-19 restrictions, restaurants’ operations may fluctuate. Expect mask requirements and indoor/ outdoor, seating / occupancy limits in accordance with State guidelines. Call first if in doubt. Please support local restaurants — they are vital in the economic and social life of our community!
Old Publishers never die... They just stop working on their issues.
PIANO* *or other instrument
Love at First Toot
By Dick Uthmann
A Man and his Clarinet(s)
I
t was love at first sight, or toot. When I first picked up that old metal clarinet my fingers went to the right spots almost automatically, and as I learned to refine the squeaks and squawks into real music, I knew this what I really wanted.
That old clarinet was soon changed for a better wooden one, and the music got better and even more fun. Since that beginning, clarinet(s) have been with me on travels through most of the United States, to Canada, even overseas to Vietnam, Figi, Tonga, and China. After teaching music in public and private schools and university for 52 years, I find I love playing even more. The various sizes of clarinets are fascinating, from the little E- flat to the huge contrabass clarinet, each has its own character and use, whether in symphony, band, chamber music, oompah band, or solo work. I love them all and play every chance I get. ••• Longview resident Dick Uthmann with his current clarinet collection.
“Me & My Piano” Reader Submissions INVITED!
Market swings making you uneasy? Let’s talk. Nick Lemiere CFP®
Share your unique story of you and your relationship with a musical instrument in 500 words or less and mail to CRR, 1333 14th Ave., Longview, WA 98632, or email to publisher@crreader. com. Note “Me and My Piano” in the subject line and if possible attach/include a current mugshot and/or a photo of you with your instrument, then or now. Don’t worry about perfect spelling or syntax. If your story is chosen, we will provide editing services and will contact you for additional details or embellishments as needed.
Member SIPC
Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 27
Help Read 5,000 Books! F
rom January 1st to 31st, Longview Public Library will participate in Beanstack’s Fourth Annual Winter Reading Challenge, “Books Like Us,” sponsored by Simon and Schuster, challenging patrons of all ages to read at least five books during the month towards a community goal of 5,000
books and keep track of their reading on our Beanstack site at longviewlibrary. beanstack.org.
BESIDES COLUMBIA RIVER READER...
What are you reading? Monthly feature coordinated by Alan Rose
Finish the challenge and win your choice of a small stuffed bear or a beanie embroidered with the library logo. All finishers will also be entered to win one of six personalized book boxes. The Library will be joining thousands of libraries and schools across the nation aiming to reach community reading goals, with the opportunity to win a virtual author visit or collection of books from the “Books Like Us” collection. Post about your participating in winter reading on social media using the hashtags #WinterRead2021 and #BooksLikeUs. Together, we can all win. More information about library services can be found at longviewlibrary. org or by calling 360.442.5300. •••
HOT PIZZA FRESH COOL
SALAD BAR THE BEST AROUND!
From Villain to Hero By Jaimee Walls “Ben told stories; Hazel became them.” Have you ever read a book that speaks to both your reader-self and your writer-self so much you want to recommend it to everyone? The Darkest Part of the Forest is that book for me. I was hooked from the first paragraph: “Down a path worn into the woods, past a stream and a hollowed-out log full of pill bugs and termites, was a glass coffin. It rested right on the ground, and in it slept a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives.” In this modern fairytale, Hazel and her brother Ben live in Fairfold. The small town exists beside (and in some ways, within) the Faerie Folk realm. Life there has always revolved around the horned boy and his legend. When he is broken
free of his coffin, an unsettled fear ignites the town, and Hazel and her brother are determined to help save him. I love the modern setting of this fairytale, where cell phones and magical swords meet. The author spins fairytale tropes with sexism and sexual preference in surprisingly realistic ways. Childhood nightmares and dreams are confronted. This enchanting story is ripe with grand battles, power manipulations, royal rescues, and some romance. (Mostly the teenage figuring it out as you go along kind, full of embarrassments and miscommunications.) It’s a book about going from villain to hero and one of my favorite books of all time, a young adult novel, but a good one for all writers to read. •••
Jaimee Walls of Vancouver writes a blog, “Jaimee’s Journal,” a reflective look at life and writing through the narrative of personal growth. She has been published in The Sun Magazine’s “Reader’s Write” section, and is currently writing a coming-of-age novel.
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Healing in a time-honored and holistic way Acupuncture & Chinese Herbal Medicine Most Insurances Accepted
Amy L. Schwartz, L.Ac, LMP 208 Church Street Kelso, WA
28 / Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021
360.751.0411
ATTENTION, READERS Read a good book lately? To be mini-interviewed by CRR Book Reviewer Alan Rose for a future “What Are You Reading?” spotlight, please contact him at alan@alan-rose. com or the publisher/editor at publisher@crreader.com.
WordFest resumes on Zoom!
2nd Tuesdays, 7–8pm. No need for a Zoom account, but register at www. alan-rose.com to receive invitation link via email.
Cover to Cover
Top 10 Bestsellers PAPERBACK FICTION
PAPERBACK NON-FICTION
1. Circe Madeline Miller, Back Bay, $16.99 2. The Overstory Richard Powers, Norton, $18.95 3. Interior Chinatown Charles Yu, Vintage, $16 4. Home Body Rupi Kaur, Andrews McMeel, $16.99 5. The Queen’s Gambit Walter Tevis, Vintage, $16.95 6. Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart, Grove Press, $17 7. The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller, Ecco, $16.99 8. The House in the Cerulean Sea TJ Klune, Tor, $18.99 9. The Water Dancer Ta-Nehisi Coates, One World, $18 10. The Fifth Season N.K. Jemisin, Orbit, $16.99
1. How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy Jenny Odell, Melville House, $17.99 2. Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $18 3. The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, Penguin, $19 4. Horizon Barry Lopez, Vintage, $17 5. All About Love Bell Hooks, Morrow, $15.99 6. The Warmth of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson, Vintage, $17.95 7. The Fire Next Time James Baldwin, Vintage, $13.95 8. The Spy and the Traitor Ben Macintyre, Crown, $18 9. rough house: a memoir Tina Ontiveros, Oregon State University Press, $18.95 10. One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder Brian Doyle, Back Bay, $17.99
BOOK REVIEW By Alan Rose The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers By Eric Weiner Avid Reader Press
J
$28
anuary is the perfect month to take stock of one’s life: to look back over the past year (…or maybe not) and to look ahead to the new year just beginning. Winter’s dark silences set the right meteorological mood for such pause and reflection. A helpful book to assist in this reflective process is Eric Weiner’s The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers.
Alan Rose’s new novel, As If Death Summoned, was released in December. You can sign up for his monthly WordFest newsletter at www. alan-rose.com
HARDCOVER FICTION
HARDCOVER NON-FICTION
1. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox 1. The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett, Riverhead Books, and the Horse Charlie Mackesy, HarperOne, $27 $22.99 2. Ready Player Two 2. Caste Ernest Cline, Ballantine, Isabel Wilkerson, Random House, $28.99 $32 3. The Searcher 3. A Promised Land Tana French, Viking, $27 Barack Obama, Crown, $45 4. Mexican Gothic Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey, 4. Untamed Glennon Doyle, The Dial Press, $27 5. The Midnight Library $28 5. Mediocre Matt Haig, Viking, $26 Ijeoma Oluo, Seal Press, $28 6. Anxious People Fredrik Backman, Atria, $28 6. What It’s Like to Be a Bird David Allen Sibley, Knopf, $35 7. The Invisible Life of 7. Wintering Addie LaRue Katherine May, Riverhead Books, V.E. Schwab, Tor, $26.99 $24 8. A Children’s Bible Lydia Millet, Norton, $25.95 8. Breath James Nestor, Riverhead Books, $28 9. Perestroika in Paris Jane Smiley, Knopf, $26.95 9. Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed 10. Hamnet Editions, $35 Maggie O’Farrell, Knopf, 10. Greenlights $26.95 Matthew McConaughey, Crown, $30
Brought to you by Book Sense and Pacific Northwest Booksellers Assn, for week ending Jan. 3, 2021, based on reporting from the independent bookstores of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. For the Book Sense store nearest you, visit www.booksense.com MASS MARKET
EARLY & MIDDLE GRADE READERS
1. Dune Frank Herbert, Ace, $10.99 2. Dune Messiah Frank Herbert, Ace, $9.99 3. The Way of Kings Brandon Sanderson, Tor, $9.99 4. The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin, Ace, $9.99 5. The Name of the Wind Patrick Rothfuss, DAW, $9.99 6. 1984 George Orwell, Signet, $9.99 7. And Then There Were None Agatha Christie, Morrow, $8.99 8. Foundation Isaac Asimov, Spectra, $7.99 9. Still Life Louise Penny, St. Martin’s, $7.99, 10. Neuromancer William Gibson, Ace, $8.99
1. Cat Kid Comic Club Dav Pilkey, Graphix, $12.99 2. The Ickabog J. K. Rowling, Scholastic, $26.99 3. A Whale of the Wild Rosanne Parry, Lindsay Moore (Illus.), Greenwillow Books, $17.99 4. A Wolf Called Wander Rosanne Parry, Monica Armino (Illus.), Greenwillow Books, $16.99 5. Class Act Jerry Craft, Quill Tree Books, $12.99 6. Skunk and Badger Amy Timberlake, Jon Klassen (Illus.), Algonquin Young Readers, $18.95 7. Twins Varian Johnson, Shannon Wright (Illus.), Graphix, $12.99 8. El Deafo Cece Bell, Amulet, $12.99 9. Drama Raina Telgemeier, Graphix, $10.99 10. Guts Raina Telgemeier, Graphix, $12.99
You are due for your 93 million-mile check-up This is a far cry from the dry, stuffy philosophy tomes one was assigned to read in college. With humor and self-embarrassing candor, Weiner, a former NPR correspondent and author (The Geography of Bliss,) takes a very pragmatic approach to philosophy, contemplating less the eternal verities than the practical day to day drudgeries and delights of living. As he notes about the philosophers he selected, “It was not the meaning of life that interested them but leading meaningful lives.” This practical focus is reflected in his chapter titles: How to Get Out of Bed like Marcus Aurelius (Hint: The Roman philosopher-emperor was not a morning person, yet “Every dawn is a rebirth.”); How to Wonder like Socrates—he who warned against living an unexamined life. How to Walk like Rousseau (“Walking is a sanctuary in motion,” “portable serenity”); How to See like Thoreau (“That’s the thing about lives of quiet desperation. They’re only quiet on the outside.”); How to Fight like Gandhi (“All violence represents a failure of imagination.”); How to Die like Montaigne (“the philosopher I most
We think we want information and knowledge. We do not. We want wisdom. There’s a difference. Information is a jumble of facts, knowledge a more organized jumble. Wisdom untangles the facts, makes sense of them, and crucially, suggests how best to use them. As the British musician Miles Kington said: “Knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” ~ from The Socrates Express
This is not an answer book, full of old bromides and Dr. Phil-type advice, but a guide book to help us engage in “ruthless self-interrogation, questioning not only what we know but who we are, in hopes of eliciting a radical shift in perspective.” And perhaps thereby, transformation. One of my nephews recently reminded me that the earth travels 92,955,807 miles in its yearly orbit around the sun. Consider this your 93 million-mile check-up.. •••
want to have a beer with.”); as well as other philosophers on how to cope, how to listen, be kind, appreciate the small things, how to grow old. He confesses that “a sense of urgency propels my pen. It is the urgency of someone who does not want to die having not lived.” What he is seeking is life wisdom. Wisdom that “transcends space and time, and is never obsolete.” What was true 2000 years ago—about how to live the good life—is as true today.
Drink Good Coffee, Read Good Books Located in the historic Castle Rock Bank Building 20 Cowlitz Street West
Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 29
the Lower Columbia
Informer by Perry Piper
Perry is busy counting his Bitcoins and will return next issue.
Perry Piper keeps his “electric thumbs” on the pulse of emerging technologies. He is CRR’s IT manager and graphic designer. He is also available to assist with computer and technology needs. See ad, page 25.
PLAN YOUR VISIT! Admission is free at AMERICA’S NATIONAL PARKS on these days Jan 18 — Martin Luther King, Jr. Day April 17 — National Park Week kicks off Aug 4 — 1st anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act Aug 25 — 105 years since the inception of the National Park Service Sept 25 — National Public Lands Day Nov 11 — Veterans Day
FORT CLATSOP ‘In Their Footsteps’
End of the Stone Age: George Ramsay L
ewis and Clark National Historical Park, Fort Clatsop, announces the next virtual “In Their Footsteps” guest speaker series event. Aaron Webster will present “End of the Stone Age: George Ramsay” on https:// w w w. y o u t u b e . c o m / u s e r / Lewisandclarknhp at 1:00 pm, Sunday, January 17. Cape Disappointment State Park Ranger Aaron Webster has worked at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center for 18 years. He has a passion for using storytelling to illuminate the lesser-known history of our region. His presentation tells the story of George Ramsay, a Native American who lived near the mouth of the Columbia River during the time of Lewis and Clark. Ramsay may have been the son of a European sailor in the late 1700s, and by some accounts lived long enough to meet the Wilkes Expedition in 1841. His story illustrates the idea that the fur trade era was terrible and tragic when viewed from the perspective of the local tribes. This monthly Sunday online event is made possible by the Lewis & Clark National Park Association (LCNPA), the park’s non-profit partner. Since
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30 / Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021
1963, the LCNPA has supported education, interpretation, research, and community involvement. Purchases at the LCNPA’s Fort Clatsop Bookstore support programs such as “In Their Footsteps.” For more LCNPA information, visit https:// fortclatsopbookstore.com. For more information, call (503) 8612471, check out www.nps.gov/lewi, or lewisandclarknps on Instagram, or Lewis and Clark National Historical Park on Facebook.
Outings & Events See ad, page 12
BROADWAY GALLERY 1418 Commerce Avenue , Longview, Wash • Tues-Sat 11–4 Social Distancing will be observed, Gallery Members will wear masks & cleaning procedures followed according to state mandates. We will require our customers to wear masks. Keep updated on our website. See new work on our FaceBook and Instagram Page: the-broadway-gallery.com , Broadway Gallery on Facebook, and broadway_gallery_longview on Instagram.
We have Artisan Masks $7
Submission Guidelines Letters to the Editor (up to 200 words) relevant to the publication’s purpose — helping readers discover and enjoy the good life in the Columbia River region, at home and on the road — are welcome. Longer pieces, or excerpts thereof, in response to previously-published articles, may be printed at the discretion of the publisher and subject to editing and space limitations. Items sent to CRR will be considered for publication unless the writer specifies otherwise. Writer’s name and phone number must be included; anonymous submissions will not be considered. Political Endorsements CRR is a monthly publication serving readers in several towns, three counties, two states and beyond and does not publish Letters to the Editor that are endorsements or criticisms of political candidates or controversial issues. (Paid ad space is available.) Unsolicited submissions may be considered, provided they are consistent with the publication’s purpose. Advance contact with the editor is recommended. Information of general interest submitted by readers may be used as background or incorporated in future articles. Outings & Events calendar (free listing): Events must be open to the public. Non-profit organizations and the arts, entertainment, educational and recreational opportunities and community cultural events will receive listing priority. Fundraisers must be sanctioned/sponsored by the benefiting non-profit organization. Businesses and organizations wishing to promote their particular products or services are invited to purchase advertising..
Featured artists:
January: Gallery member Laurie Michaels, wildlife pastels and landscape photography; Guest artists Donata Vantrongren, assemblage with retro dolls. February: Gallery member Scott McRae, acrylic paintings - new work! and new Gallery member Walt Geil, wood carving and walking Sticks.
Performing & Fine Arts, Music Art, Theatre, Literary Recreation, Outdoors Gardening, History, Pets, Self-Help During COVID-19 closures and as we re-open please submit info (deadlines, below left), and watch these pages for Outings & Events details!
Jan. 12-23:
Studio Clearance Sale First Thursdays and classes are canceled until further notice, due to Pandemic.
Voted one of top 3 Galleries in SW Washington! Free Gift wrapping plus Layaway!
CRR’s sidewalk box formerly located in front of the St. Helens Post Office has been re-located to the nearby St. Helens Market Fresh (Red Apple). Never miss an issue!
HOW TO PUBLICIZE YOUR NON-PROFIT EVENT IN CRR
Send your non-commercial community event basic info (name of event, beneficiary, sponsor, date & time, location, brief description and contact info) to publisher@crreader.com Or mail or hand-deliver (in person or via mail slot) to: Columbia River Reader 1333-14th Ave Longview, WA 98632 Submission Deadlines Events occurring: Feb. 15 – March 20: by Jan. 25 for Feb 15 issue. Mar. 15 – April 20: by Feb. 25 for March 15 issue
Calendar submissions are considered for inclusion, subject to lead time, general relevance to readers, and space limitations. See Submission Guidelines, at left.
Where to find the new Reader
It’s delivered all around the River by the 15th of each month. Here’s the list of handy, regularlyrefilled sidewalk box and rack locations where you can pick up a copy any time of day and even in your bathrobe ... WESTPORT LONGVIEW Wauna mill U.S. Bank parking lot Post Office Bob’s (rack, main check-out) RAINIER In front of 1232 Commerce Ave Post Office In front of 1323 Commerce Ave Cornerstone YMCA Rainier Hardware Fred Meyer (rack, service desk area) (rack, entry) Teri’s Earth ‘n’ Sun (on Hwy 30) Grocery Outlet El Tapatio (entry rack) Fibre Fed’l CU - Commerce Ave Grocery Outlet Monticello Hotel (front entrance) DEER ISLAND Kaiser Permanente Deer Island Store St. John Medical Center (rack, Park Lake Café) COLUMBIA CITY - Post Office LCC Student Center WARREN Indie Way Diner Warren Country Inn Columbia River Reader Office ST HELENS 1333 14th Ave. Chamber of Commerce KELSO Sunshine Pizza Heritage Bank St. Helens Market Fresh Visitors’ Center / Kelso-Longview Olde Town (Wild Currant) Chamber of Commerce Safeway KALAMA SCAPPOOSE Fibre Fed’l CU Post Office To find the 24/7 Kalama Shopping Center Road Runner pick-up point corner of First & Fir Fultano’s nearest you, McMenamin’s Harbor Lodge Ace Hardware visit crreader.com and click “Find the WOODLAND WARRENTON, OR Magazine” tab. Visitors’ Center Fred Meyer CASTLE ROCK Lacie Rha’s Cafe (32 Cowlitz W.) CATHLAMET Cathlamet Pharmacy Parker’s Restaurant (box, entry) Tsuga Gallery Visitors’ Center Cathlamet Realty West 890 Huntington Ave. N. Puget Island Ferry Landing Exit 49, west side of I-5 RYDERWOOD Café porch CLATSKANIE Post Office Chevron / Mini-Mart Fultano’s Pizza
SKAMOKAWA Skamokawa General Store NASELLE Appelo Archives & Café Johnson’s One-Stop Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 31
Astronomy
Where does By Greg Smith astronomy come from? M
odern astronomy begins during the time period of 1470 – 1645 with four famous men, Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo. Brahe, Kepler and Galileo were contemporaries. Brahe and Kepler worked together as teacher and assistant. Brahe was a Danish astronomer who mapped the northern sky meticulously with very accurate machines sometime before the invention of the telescope. How he did this in Denmark, with its weather, I have no idea. It took him most of his life and financial support of the Danish king. Kepler actually worked with him for some time and gained the records Brahe had created on all his mapping of the stars. Kepler was a mathematician. He took all this data on the position of the stars and the movement of the planets. It was his calculations that showed that the sun and stars could not be orbiting the Earth. Kepler had to create astrological horoscopes for his king in Prague. He and Galileo were contemporaries, too, and they shared their ideas with each other. Galileo with his telescope was a step in the direction that showed that not all celestial bodies orbited the Earth. His viewing and drawings of Jupiter’s moons proved that. Before these four, Copernicus had developed a theory of a sun-centered solar system and universe. The first known sun-centered theory of the solar system was developed some 1800 years before, by Aristarchus of Samos, an ancient Greek astronomer. His work and theories were lost for a long period of time and so had to be reinvented by Copernicus.
That is not where astronomy started. The plotting of stars and knowledge of the planets started thousands of years before. The Greeks had star maps of the brightest stars, as did the Mesopotamians. The magi that came to Bethlehem were early astronomers, but we would call them astrologers today. They used the stars to predict the future and outcomes of events for their kings. The use of astrology for personal advice is a rather modern use of astrology. The ancients used the stars and the constellations and their positions and relationships to each other to make the predictions. But even then, the constellations were part of the storytelling of civilizations history and folklore. We know from Greek folklore many of the constellations we recognize now. But other civilizations had other stories and mythologies that went with these constellations. They even had different constellations as they connected the dots in the sky in another manner. Every civilization made use of the stars in different ways. The Polynesians used them for mapping across the ocean and had their stories to go with them. They had the southern hemisphere’s stars to use, which the northern civilizations did not. It was not until Magellan sailed the southern hemisphere that the north learned about them. The Inca of Peru had the best vantage point as they were near the equator and had made use of both the northern and southern skies. By the 1920s we realized that the Milky Way was only one of billions of galaxies that made up the universe. Before then, the Milky Way was the universe. What we now know as our universe is less than 100 years old.
SKY REPORT
Looking UP Jan 15 – FEB 15
Evening Sky Mars is the brightest planet to be seen in the night sky at this time. Jupiter and Saturn have gone below the horizon after their ‘great conjunction’ of December. Mars is high in the southwestern sky. If you are a determined planet hunter you may find the blueish green planet Uranus nearby to Mars. It’s within binocular view, but a telescope will bring out the color better. Morning Sky Venus is low on the horizon in the east as it makes it way into the glare of the sun. Feb 7th is probably the last time to see it for a while as it is being washed out by the rising sun. Night Sky Spectacle: Beehive Cluster in Cancer (M44) Located in the center of the constellation of Cancer, a “Y” shaped constellation between Gemini and Leo. Cancer is a dim constellation, as it has no bright stars. It is located in the eastern to southeastern sky. It is well above the horizon by 9pm in January and 8pm by February. This is the closest star cluster to Earth at about 610 light years away. It appears as a faint nebulous glow in Longview resident Greg Smith is past president of Friends of Galileo. Meet him and other club members at monthly meetings in Longview. For more info about FOG, visit friendsofgalileo. com.
the center of the “Y” to the eyes in a fairly dark sky, but with binoculars it is quite clear that this is a widespread group of stars. The stars tend to come together in the middle. This is where the brightest stars will be found. The whole group is made up of about 1000 stars all gravitationally bound together. In September of 2012 two planets, which orbit separate stars, were discovered around sun-like stars. These were the first planets found orbiting stars in a star cluster. Later work in 2016 found that one of those stars had a second planet orbiting. Imagine what a night sky would look like in a star cluster! Another great sight is the “Winter Hexagon,” made of six stars in five constellations. The five constellations are: Orion (Rigel), Canis Major (Procyon), Gemini (Pollux and Castor), Auriga (Capella), and Taurus (Aldebaran). All are quite bright, and the star Betelgeuse in Orion is basically in the center of the Hexagon. End of twilight - when the stars start to come out. Jan 15 5:27pm Jan 31 5:48pm Feb 15 6:10pm Moon Phases: New Jan 12 1st Quarter Jan 20 Full Jan 28 3rd Quarter Feb 4 New Feb 11 •••
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Bigfoot reads?! Sighted deep in the
Northwest woods, photo submitted by Gavin Mills, Castle Rock, Wash.
Sunset cruise in Mexico In Loreta, BCS, Mexico in October, left to right: Randy Sweet, of Kalama, Wash., J.T. and Cindy Overstreet, Kelso, Wash;, and Sheli Sweet, Kalama, Wash.
Still fact-checking his new book~!
Mike and Marilyn Perry, of Kelso, Wash., north of Cannon Beach on Tillamook Head. Haystack Rock is the large rock beyond the group of four rocks off Chapman Point - those rocks are about where Capt. Clark and his party of 12 men plus Sacajawea went in January of 1806 to purchase 300 pounds of whale blubber from the Tillamook Indians. Mike’s book, “Dispatches from the Discovery Trail,” was just published. See page 2 and 35.
Anne of Green Gables
Shana Boling (age 15), Kalama Wa resident, at the Anne of Green Gables house, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 33
T
the spectator
PLUGGED IN TO
by ned piper On the home front and New Year wishes
Energy Efficiency in Your Home
he Coronavirus most certainly has a dark side that has affected the health and economic fortunes of many in our region. A few good things occurred in our household that helped to soften its effects. When the restaurants shuttered, Sue rejuvenated her love of cooking. Sure, some nights we still had frozen corn dogs or pot pies, but mostly we enjoyed fresh, tasty meals. All three of us increased our book reading dramatically. I discovered that if I read my book during the commercials in the news channel I was watching, I could finish reading a novel in two or three days. Perry reads more books in a month than I do. That’s because he has an app on his phone that reads e-books aloud at record speeds. To me it sounds like chipmunks chattering, but somehow, he understands all the words and seems to enjoy and prefer this method over conventional reading. In addition to poring over The Daily News in the mornings and the Wall Street Journal on weekends, Sue always has a book or two going, often the book Alan Rose writes about in his monthly book review in the Reader, sometimes a past favorite. I noticed she is currently reading Delights by J. B. Priestley and re-reading The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S.Lewis, a longtime favorite which — like so many books ostensibly written for children — Sue says actually contains nuggets of amusement, wisdom and truth for adults. Speaking of Alan Rose. I have the good fortune of being in a writers’ group with him. Every other week, the five members of our “Write Club” share a chapter from the novel we are working, or the short story, or the play, and we meet (nowadays) on Zoom and critique each other’s manuscripts. Alan and I have been teamed up in a writers’ group for probably 15 years. I have had the privilege of working with him on all three of his incredible novels. If you read his recently published book, As If Death
Summoned, you will discover what an accomplished, creative writer he is. See Hal Calbom’s story, page 13. Shifting gears: Tracy Beard’s interesting column on page 14 prompts me to mention a unique holiday gift that Perry gave Sue and me, an Advent Calendar in the form of a large, tree-shaped box with 28 little compartments, each containing a small bottle of high-end whiskey distilled in different countries around the world. Each evening leading up to Christmas, Perry poured a thimbleful of whiskey for each of us. We would then sniff and sip it and try to detect the “notes” or the undertones. Fragrances or flavors like caramel, smoky, vanilla, citrus, peat, etc. We rarely, if ever, got it right — at least according to the accompanying descriptions, which Perry would withhold until we had tried to articulate what we tasted — but it was fun trying. The three of us fortunately remain in good health. We use our masks when away from the house, wash our hands, socially distance when appropriate and are anxiously awaiting a shot in the arm when the vaccine is available. Our wish for all the Reader’s readers, friends, advertisers, and contributors: Good health and a prosperous 2021!
COWLITZ PUD
By Alice Dietz
U
tility bills always increase in the winter as we start heating our homes and being inside more. But as many folks are now working from home and kids may be participating in remote learning from home, you may see an unwelcome increase in your winter bills. Here are some tips to help keep your bills manageable this winter.
•Use your microwave in place of your oven when possible.
•Unplug electronic devices when you are not using them. If they are fully charged, unplug the chargers. If they are plugged in and you can see a light on your device, it is using electricity.
•Turn off “heated dry” on your dishwasher and “air dry” instead.
•Set the temperature back 5 degrees on your heating system when you leave the house for two hours or more and when you go to bed at night. •Make sure the weatherstripping around your doors is in good condition. Replacing weatherstripping is inexpensive and can improve your comfort. •Upgrade your lights to LED bulbs. •Clean or replace all filters in your home. This includes furnace filters, cleaning the filters in your ductless heat pump, and vacuuming out the filter slot in your dryer. All your appliances will work more efficiently with clean filters.
•Refrigerators and freezers operate most efficiently when full, so keep your refrigerator and freezer as full as possible (using water bottles if nothing else). But be careful about overfilling them as this will reduce airflow and cause the appliance to work harder.
•Set your refrigerator temperature to the manufacturer’s recommendation to avoid excessive cooling and wasting energy. Not sure what temperature you’re actually cooling to? Call the PUD for a free refrigerator temperature card. •Dress for the weather. When you’re at home, dress in warm clothing in the winter and cooler clothing in the summer to stay comfortable without making your furnace and air conditioning work harder. For more Energy Efficiency Tips visit: https://www.cowlitzpud.org/efficiency/ ••• Alice Dietz is Communications/Public Relations Manager at Cowlitz PUD. Reach her at adietz@cowlitzpud.org, or 360-501-9146.
••• Longview native Ned Piper assists with CRR and still finds time to read, write, walk the neighborhood and putz in the yard.
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“Perfect Gifts!” Dispatches from the Discovery Trail
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A Layman’s Lewis & Clark
In this engaging new book author Michael Perry takes a fresh look at the Lewis and Clark Expedition from the layman’s point of view. Compiled from the popular Columbia River Reader series, with new notes and commentary, Dispatches adds to the Expedition lore the insights and observations of a gifted amateur historian.
RRY M I C H A E L O. P E
dispatches from the
Michael O. Perry is a retired environmental technician, avid collector, conservator, and student of Pacific Northwest history.
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• Vault Books & Brew, Castle Rock • Mt. St. Helens Gift Shop, Castle Rock, Exit 49 • Tsuga Gallery, Cathlamet • Wahkiakum Eagle, Cathlamet • Redmen Hall, Skamokawa • Skamokawa Store, Skamokawa • Apello Archives, Naselle • Time Enough Books, Ilwaco • RiverSea Gallery, Astoria • Columbia River Maritime Museum Store, Astoria • Beach Books, Seaside
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Both titles available in • Boxed Signature Edition Color / BW $50 • Trade Paperback in BW $25 Purchase at 1333 14th AVE, LONGVIEW, WA 98632 or locations listed above Online: CRREADER.COM/CRRPRESS Columbia River Reader / January 15, 2021 / 35
36 / Columbia River Reader / January October15, 15,2021 2020