Seattle Stencils

Seattle's intellectualism manifested in street art.

(Queen Anne Ave. between Aloha and Highland)

Cascadian Drinking Song

Blue Moon Tavern in Seattle, courtsey of Wikipedia.

Here's a short Drinking Song I came up with while bored at work the other day. There's no real tune for it yet. If anyone has any ideas, suggestions, or additions let me know.

From the Emerald City to Bridgetown down South
An Ode to Cascadia I sing from my mouth.

With it's mountains so mighty and its trees oh so tall,
We drink to Cascadia 'cause it's got it all.

Cheers! to Cascadia with all of it's green,
Where the women like it dirty and the waters are clean.

Cheers! to Cascadia let the rain fall outside,
We'll dance in the puddles while the foreigners hide.

We've got breweries a plenty, the best pot around,
and Autumn brings magical fruit from the ground.

In winter the snow piles high on the peaks,
and long summer nights let us stay out and drink!

Cheers! to Cascadia with all of it's green,
Where the women like it dirty and the waters are clean.

Cheers! to Cascadia let the rain fall outside,
We'll dance in the puddles while the foreigners hide.

We pour,
One for the Salmon who's homes all got dammed,
by greedy capitalists here in this land.

But now we have wisdom, we've learned from the past,
We must work with nature to make this land last.

Cheers! to Cascadia with all of it's green,
Where the women like it dirty and the waters are clean.

Cheers! to Cascadia let the rain fall outside,
We'll dance in the puddles while the foreigners hide.

Cascadian Eco-Beer

So at work today, enjoying the old Seattle Weekly, I came across Aimee Curl's article on eco-friendliness in the coffee industry. Although there weren't too many surprises (guess what, Starbucks doesn't recycle, aaah!) it's always interesting to see product comparisons with respect to greenness. Originally I thought I would just post a more generally Cascadian version of Curl's article, but then I got to thinking...

Coffee isn't the Cascadian, or even Seattle icon that so many claim it to be. Starbuck's may have started here but its popularity has little to do with coffee and much more to do with service and marketing. This is exactly why they went global and have been just as popular everywhere else. They had an effective business model that they perfected in Seattle and that's about it. Sure we like our caffiene fix everyday but were not a bunch of coffee connoisseurs who can determine the country of origin with just one whiff. In fact, if that were the case, I would expect that Starbucks would have done worse around here because people would realize that Starbucks' Grande Mocha is nothing more than the Big Mac of java.

But Beer. Now that's something that Cascadians truly take seriously. It's common knowledge that microbreweries prosper here like shrooms in a cow patty. In fact, the top five states with the most craft breweries are as follows:

1. California 200+
2. Colorado 101
3. Oregon 91
4. Washington 87
5. Michigan 69
(From Reelbeer.com)

And this is good beer too. As I mentioned in a previous post British Columbia dominated the show at the Canadian Brewing Awards. Likewise, California, Washington, and Oregon are first, third, and fifth respectively in most medals won from the American Brewer's World Beer Cup. Even in international competitions Cascadians show their talent. In the 2005 International Brewing Industry Awards the only winners from the entire North American continent all came out of Cascadia (Bridgeport Brewing, Oregon; Rogue's Brewing, Oregon; Sierra Nevada, Northern Cali; and Pacific Western, BC)

So, with inspiration from Aimee Curl and an added PNW twist, I give you the greenest beers in Cascadia!

If there was an award for greenest brew practices (which there sure as hell should be!) it would most certainly go to Anderson Valley Brewing Company. Based in Boonville, Ca, at the heart of the Emerald Triangle, this brewery is so eco-friendly I don't even know where to begin! Let's see, the company really took off in 1999 when they built their new, three-story, state-of-the-art brewhouse . They situated the building so that only one tree had to be removed, and they planted two more in its stead. The new facility boast a fully solar-powered brewing process as well as a three-pond effluent waste water treatment system. This means that water used to brew the beer is also used for heating and chilling beer, cleaning the facilities, and eventually irrigating all 30 acres of the company's property. The brewery also utilizes and supports its local community. All water used by the brewery is taken from wells on their property. The hops are all certified organic and grown in the Pacific Northwest. In addition, after using the grains for brewing they clean it, then donate it to local livestock owners. They estimate that they give away approximately 2000 tons of nutrient grains a year. These efforts have gotten them numerous awards from California's Waste Reduction Awards Program. In fact, AVBC is so environmentally conscious that they recently acquired four shire horses which they use to haul beer to local stores and pubs in the area (fed with the spent brew grains of course!).




Down in Oregon Country the Full Sail Brewing Company, based in Hood River, has gained recognition for its social responsibility. In 1999 after 12 years of brewing and 47 workers the company became an independent, employee-owned company, dividing the company between all workers. Under this ideology the company has been able to implement a number of innovative practices that have helped them reduce their environmental impact. For example, the company runs 4 10-hour work days which saves 20% on water and power consumption. 85% of hops and 95% of barley used in Full Sail Ales are grown in the Northwest and through various minor fixes they have reduced their water consumption to only 3.45 gallons of water for every gallon of beer (the industry average is between 6 and 8).



While nothing to date can compete with Anderson Valley, Olympia, Washington's Fish Brewing Company has been giving back to the environment since 2002. As their name suggests they try to promote the protection and rehabilitation of salmon habitat's throughout Cascadia. Their three main beers, amber, Pale, and IPA are all certified Organic. Their signature beer the Wild Salmon Pale Ale uses hops from a Yakima, Washington farm which was the first farm to producecomercially organic hops in the United States. A portion of the proceeds from this beer also goes towards salmon restoration and watershed protection. I also must mention the fact that all six-packs of Fish beer contain the proclamation, Brewed in the Republic ofCascadia. You gotta love that!



Of course, lets not leave BC out of this! Crannog's Ales has the dubious title of Canada's only certified organic farm brewery. Crannog's is similar to Anderson Valley, but on a smaller scale. They brew on a 10-acre farm which feeds and sustains the brewers as well as contributes to the brewing process. They also use water from their own wells and reuse grains for livestock feed. They claim to have created a harmonized, zero-waste system. While the brewery pledges to only deliver beer within driving range of the brewery this makes it difficult to secure outside of British Columbia. Nonetheless they deserve credit for standing behind their beliefs.



Juneau's Alaskan Brewing Company is also a committed green brewery. It is their goal to have a zero-net impact on the environment. To this end, in 1998 they were the first craft brewer in the country to install a carbon dioxide recovery system, which captures and reuses the greenhouse gas naturally produced in the fermentation process. Of course, they acknowledge that working in the harsh Alaskan environment they cannot be quite as eco-friendly as other places. Thus, they have pledged a portion of their proceeds to promote the health of the Pacific Ocean via their coastal CODE (Clean Oceans Depend on Everyone) Organization. The company has also recieved numerous awards for its outstanding health and saftey practices among its employees, thereby promoting healthy environments externally as well as internally.

While these five microbreweries have shown tremedous leadership in environmentally friendly beer making, their are many Cascadian craft breweries working to make their companies greener. Check out a full list of Activist Brewing Companies here.

References:

http://www.coffee.net/library/eco-conscious-green-beer.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1594/is_1_13/ai_82352630

Cascadian Myspace

Thats right, Cascadia has joined the rest of the 13-25 year olds and gotten itself a myspace page. The offical page name is the Cascadian Independence Project (CIP) and was put up by Brandon Letsinger in 2005 as a way to promote his political movement. There was a wonderful article about the CIP in a 2006 edition of the Eugene Weekly, I highly recommend you check it out. The offical CIP site is www.cascadianow.org. (Editor's Note: The site is currently down and under repair) If you are a current a myspace user I suggest you befriend this group ASAP!

Billionaires make Crappy Vids too

You just gotta love local multi-billionaires who makes goofy ameteurish (aside from the ridiculous amount of celeb cameos) videos like these.

For Paul

By Tom Paulson
Seattle P-I
May 20, 2005

Listen for the creaky voice, the strong "s" and the "low-back merger."

Most language experts believe the Pacific Northwest has no distinctive voice, no particular style or dialect. But some local linguists think that's wrong -- or at least a long-standing academic prejudice that deserves a good challenge.

Jennifer Ingle, a 27-year-old Ballard native and student of language at the University of Washington, is one of them.

"Language is part of our identity," said Ingle. Just as the Scandinavian heritage of Ballard distinguishes it from the rest of Seattle, she said, the evolution of language in the Northwest has progressed to the point where it can be distinguished from the rest of the country.

The question for the experts now appears to be whether our version of the English language has evolved enough to be considered a separate dialect.

"Linguists have generally assumed that the West is one dialect region," said Alicia Beckford Wassink, a UW professor of linguistics and mentor to Ingle.

"That may have been the case in the 1800s, when the West was being settled and there was a mixing of dialects among all the immigrants," said Wassink. But there's plenty of evidence now, she said, to suggest this region could have its own distinctive dialect.

Northwest speak.

Ingle decided a year ago to study her own neighborhood for evidence of local dialect. To some extent, she said, growing up in Ballard contributed to her interest in language.

"I used to hear people in my neighborhood speaking Norwegian," said Ingle, noting that despite her family's Scottish heritage, one of her favorite foodstuffs is lefse -- a Nordic flatbread made from potatoes.

But Ingle's study of language in Ballard was not aimed at identifying any of the neighborhood's Nordic influences. Participants were not asked to say, "Yah, sure, ya betcha." Rather, Ballard was selected as representative of the region because it is one of the oldest communities in the state, with a well-established population of native speakers.

"All the participants were born in Seattle and grew up in Ballard," said Ingle. She focused just on variation in vowel sounds because that is what most determines the different pronunciations in spoken American English.

Still, it should be noted that when Ingle presented her findings this week, it happened to be on the same day Ballard was celebrating Norwegian Constitution Day, May 17. Her study of Northwest speech in Ballard was presented in Vancouver, B.C., at the annual meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.

Among the findings: Many locals, especially women, speak in what experts call "creaky voice"; we've done away with a particular vowel used by Easterners; we really like to emphasize the "s" in words; we're not Californian and we're not Canadian.

Other determinants of dialect include differences in vocabulary and grammar, added Wassink, which are also being looked at in other linguistic studies at the UW.

"The Northwest is especially interesting because we have had almost nothing but immigration," Wassink said. "And there hasn't been as much racial or ethnic segregation as in the East. For a linguist, it's a very interesting place."

So, why do so many women talk creaky here? What's that mean anyway?

"Bill Clinton is a good example of creaky," said Ingle. Clinton's folksy speech, in which his voice sounds both scratchy and relaxed, is the opposite of "breathy" voicing, she said.

In the Northwest, Ingle's study indicates creaky voicing is popular -- especially among women. Breathy voicing, which in extreme form sounds like Marilyn Monroe's birthday song for JFK, is not big in the Northwest.

Wassink said the local popularity of creaky voicing could be how we compensate for another feature of our speech style. We've stopped using one vowel. Linguists work with 15 vowel sounds to describe spoken American English and we only use 14 of them.

Say "caught" and "cot" out loud. If you're a true Northwest speaker, the words will sound identical. Linguists call this the "low-back merger" because we've merged these two vowel sounds. On much of the East Coast, these same words will sound different. "Creaking is a way of making those distinctions that are being lost," Wassink said. Just as Bostonians tend to compensate in their speech for removing the "r" from many words, she said, we might speak creaky to compensate for refusing to use both vowels.

Another piece of evidence has to do with how Californians do something known as "fronting the vowel," Ingle said. This is considered standard to Western dialect and occurs when a speaker pronounces "rude" as "ri-ood" or "move" as "mi-oove."

"It's pretty funny sounding, actually," said Ingle, perhaps betraying a slight Northwest bias against all things Californian.

Full Article at the PIMC

God's Country

Mt. Baker is famous for three things. The largest snow accumulation ever recorded, The Legendary Banked Slalom, and the idolized Craig Kelly. Snowboarders outnumber skiiers on the mountain by at least 5 to 1 and I have a sneaking suspicion that the grooming machine is simply for show. Needless to say, Baker is a hot bed for snowboarding culture. In fact, Mt. Baker is to snowboarding culture, what ancient Greece is to Western culture. Craig Kelly and the rest of the MBHC founded a philosophy of sport and nature as one, a community that fostered the love of much more than capital gain (FYI: Baker's nearest town, Glacier, has the lowest per capita income in Washington State). That is not to say that Baker culture was an extension of the peace/love hippie era. In many respects it's a reaction to that as well. It is a much more fuck you kind of mentality that thrives on free spirit, but mocks the politically correct kind. Nonetheless while the ever popular Xtreme era continues to turn snowboarding into a show of ridiculous stunts and expensive gear, Baker retains the essence of what is and what will always be snowboarding; it is not about money, or style, or even skill, but rather the feeling of gliding over deep, pure, untouched snow.

When I was a child, growing up in Bellingham, Mt. Baker was simply where we went every Saturday between December and March. I didn't realize its place in the snowboarding world, I just went up, hung out with friends, loaded up on free breadsticks (oh man, those were the days...) and played king of the mountain with the girls before riding down 542 blasting Bohemian Rhapsody. Since moving to Seattle I only get up to Baker a couple times a year. But I have that distant perspective now. The understanding of how incredibly unique the Baker scene really is. Granted I don't ride many other ski areas very often (who the hell would when you got Baker?!?) but when you're waiting in line for Chair 7 to open its clear that the original community and spirit are alive and kickin'.

Going to Mt. Baker after a heavy snowfall is like a throwback to the days of the Gold Rush. With a report of "8 new inches with 12 new inches in the last 24 hours" most people simply leave everything (work, school, family, bong tokes) to get up here. Eyeing the crowd's gear, one finds a mish mash of hand-me-downs and dumpster finds. Mostly old, jackets that are too small, gloves with holes, boards that are delaminating. Just like the Alaskan miners, the typical rider has long unkempt hair and a full, thick beard. Anything for added warmth (and a confirmation that sex and love are far from the mind's focus). The gold in this wilderness is the white powder falling from the skies (an addiction much stronger for Baker Bums than the other type of white powder) and once the lift opens it's a mad rush to find every pocket of this white gold.

In a typical search for powder (aka: freshies, pow-pow, deep shit, good stuff) no one holds their opinions to themselves. Sitting at the top one can hear fierce debate over which routes will yield the most benefits:

"Let's hit up Gabl's."

"No way man! Gabl's will be all tracked out! Let's skirt Gunner's Ridge and drop in from there."

"Perhaps we should hike out Blueberry."

"Naw, that's too much work, lets just head over to the Pea Garden."

If you ride anything under the lift you are sure to hear calls of admiration as well as ridicule. Anyone considering a drop can count on yells of encouragement and the yells and claps are only louder if you biff the landing and tumble head over heals (sometimes called a yardsale).

Within the first few hours of the day most of the best stuff has been mined by the boards and the soggy, smelly community heads back to the lodge to smoke a few cigarettes and swap stories. They are generally a bit exaggerated. Some individuals boast about five feet of fresh snow where there was actually two. Others brag about their secret reserve that they intend to ride in the afternoon, but probably doesn't exists. Some older veterans tell stories of old to wide-eyed youngsters as they both share a few pieces of beef jerky and a 40 of OE.

On a Relativist's globe Mt. Baker's simplicity is truly refreshing. There are no fights over religion because all revere the gods of the weather. Nobody debates the methods of wealth distribution because each new storm cloud brings a fresh blanket of opportunity. While difference may exist, the community is united through the love and pleasure of their place and that perhaps is something we can all learn from.

Art Eco

This painting of Sockeye Salmon was done by Cascadian artist, Julie Thompson. Her works are done on naturally-molted peacock wingfeathers. If that's not sustainable, I don't know what is!

The Scorecard 2007

Surfing (or, more relatable to Cascadians, snowboarding) the web recently, I came across what might be called the Holy Grail of Cascadian affairs. The Sightline Institue, "is a not-for-profit research and communication center" working to, "bring about sustainability--a healthy, lasting prosperity grounded in place". And that place is Cascadia. The Institute manages two Cascadia-specific news blogs, The Daily Score and Tidepool (neither as good as mine of course), and also does specific research projects on Cascadian related issues, such as the impacts of highway-widening, relevant to Puget Sound's Roads and Transit and B.C.s Gateway Program. But the true goal (and treasure) of the Sightline Institute is their regional research on Cascadia that is comparable to other areas of the world. While I (and many of you I hope) feel Cascadian at heart, the fact remains that Cascadia is (as yet?) only cultural, not political. Therefore acquiring statistics and data specific to the region requires combining state, provincial, national, municipal, and other sets of figures; a monumental and time consuming task to say the least. Well, until I came across the Sightline Institute that is. I mean, just check out maps like this, or this! Perhaps you aren't quite as excited as myself about these random colorful pictures of Cascadia, but having been seriously researching Cascadia for the last couple of months, The Sightline Institute is bringing Cascadia into a whole new realm of genuine reality. I can guarantee that many future posts will use research and information from this premier Cascadian institution.


So, now that I am done raving about this glorious find, I can move on to the actual post, which is a summary of Sightline's recent publication, Cascadia Scorecard 2007: Seven Key Trends Shaping the Northwest.

"The Cascadia Scorecard, a project started in 2004 by the Sightline Institute, measures long-term progress in the Pacific Northwest. An index of seven trends shaping the future of the region, it is a simple but surprisingly far-reaching gauge. The scorecards indicators - health, economy, population, energy, sprawl, wildlife, and pollution - provide status reports for Cascadia and, by highlighting successful communities, offer a practical vision for a better Northwest."

If you want to read the full 68-page report, click here. Or, just trust that I did and read the following handy-dandy recap.


1. Health

Certainly one of Cascadia's strong points. Life expectancy is at 79.5 years, which would rank 12th if Cascadia were an independent nation. The Sightline Institute's model goal is 81.3 years, Japan's 2001 life expectancy, and thus, even at the currently slow pace, this goal is reachable within 11 years. Of course, it is important to note that gains in health have been uneven. British Columbia, "remains far and away the healthiest jurisdiction". The metropolitan areas of BC's South are some of the healthiest places on earth, while the healthiest places of Oregon and Washington aren't even standouts in the US. The healthcare system in BC as well as the compact communities of metro Vancouver both factor into its success. In 2007 Washington state increased access to preventitive health care which could help boost scores in the future.

2. Economy

The economy is a bit difficult to deduce. On the up-side Gross Regional Product grew by 72% from 1990 - 2005, while total personal income grew by 56% in the same period (inflation-adjusted). Yet, it looks as though medium and low-income households have seen almost no actual change in that 15 year period, British Columbia actually showing a slight decline. Other economic measrements, such as economic security and unemployment, have seen many ups and downs in recent years and there seems to be no set direction towards progress. The Sightline Institute concludes that without more regional research by policymakers, "Cascadia is flying blind" as far as its economy, tending to rely on national progress for improvements.

3. Population

The population growth of Cascadia has remained fairly constant over the past two decades with a birth rate of about 1.8. The target here is 1.7 (that of many Scadanavian countries) but unfortunately progress is going slow. The tendency is that more rural areas have higher rates (closer to 2) while metropolitan areas have lower rates (closer to 1). Thus, The east side of the Cascades (aside from Spokane) tends to be the area where the most improvement can be done. The most important issue is minimizing the amount of unwanted pregnancies. We are on the right track since recently both Montana and Oregon joined Washington and California in allowing for more equal treatment of prescription contraceptives. Another way to lower unwanted pregnancies is through economy as data shows that as income decreases, birth rates increase.

4. Energy

By far the worst-performing area on the scorecard. The Sightline found that Cascadia is region, "every bit as profligate with energy as it was three decades ago". Of course, not all the news is bad. Gasoline consumption has been falling consistently for the past seven years. Sadly, to offset this, electricity has seen a sudden jump in recent years. Sightline looks to Germany as a model for Cascadia where energy consumption is half and total standard of living is higher. Some measures that we can take to achieve this is carbon-based taxes, better city planning and public transportation, and probably the biggest, better awareness and concern for energy use.

5. Sprawl

While traditionally sprawl has been a bane of Cascadian communities, Sightline found that the compacted living arragements are making a resurgence in the area. In fact, the model for Cascadia overall is the metro area around Vancouver, BC. Although far from perfect, Vancouver has done a fine job with infill, protecting open space, and building close-knit communities where walking and public transportation are easy and efficient. In recent years Oregon has also been a leader in this area. Hoping to protect their traditional farmlands they have carefully channeled groth into urban areas. This is not to say that everything is on the right track. In 2004 Oregon's Measure 37 was a big set back for sprawl, allowing developers to gain compensation for developed lands. But, as a whole Cascadia seems to be slowly heading in the right direction, with speed picking up consistently.

6. Wildlife

Modest gains in wildlife numbers have been shown in recent years, mainly from Wolf populations in Idaho and Chinook salmon runs. Of course, even on the present course it would take 69 years to meet the Sightline's target goals, which themselves are only a fraction of historic population sizes. One huge target needs to be improving the waters of Puget Sound and the Columbia River, both areas full of toxic chemicals from idustrial endeavors. As well, creating protected wilderness areas for animals, such as wolves, to roam can be crucial. Wolves, who have rebounded from near extinction, play an unprecedented role in the ecological system of Cascadia. Allowing them the space and freedom to roam will help control and balance many other parts of the ecosystem within the region. Smart and managed building (such as dams and urban sprawl) will also play a large factor in the health of our future wildlife.

7. Pollution

Contamination in Cascadian bodies is high, just like much of the rest of the United States and even the world. Since data testing on this subject is still in its infancy, finding any solid trend is difficult. Luckily, governmental and popular awareness is increasing but the effects of our past mistakes are probably going to haunt us for years to come. Dealing with toxic waste sites, such as the Duwamish River, and making sure that future construction pays close attention to the environmental effects will be paramount over the next few decades.

Conclusion

There are four important lessons to take away from this publication. First, energy consumption is "stuck in high gear" and drastic actions need to be taken to decrease this. Second, British Columbia performs on average far better than the rest of Cascadia. BC's health care system is foundational to health, fertility, and even economic stability. As well, a comprehensive transportation plan, which has far fewer roads and highways than the Norhtwest States, stems sprawl, protect environment, lowers pollution, and increase health. Cascadians should be championing their own successes and looking internally to British Columbia instead of to the rest of the United States for future leadership. Third, while human inhabitants of Cascadia are doing fairly well, other most other creatures in the environment are barely holding on. We need to look critically at where we are building and growing and how we can maintain a wildlife that is abundant and healthy. As one of the last colonized places on earth, Cascadia's wildlife should be more intact than most elsewhere. It should be a regional goal to make this happen. Fourth, and finally, there is reason for optimism. While not all areas are showing significant improvement, few are showing rapid decline either. Awareness and understanding of the issues that plague our region at least give us the knowledge to do something about it.

The Uptight Seattlite

If anyone has not read the Seattle Weekly column, Ask An Uptight Seattlite, you're pretty much missing out on happiness. Every week he answers reader questions with smart, hilarious answers. This week was particularly full of hilarity, and so I could not help but post it, enjoy.

When my friend from D.C. visited in the summer, I was telling him about my participation in the "100-mile diet." That's where, for the good of the environment, you eat only things grown within a hundred miles of Seattle. Not only did he decline to join me, he thought the whole thing was laughable. In fact, he thought our city was full of hilarity. How we march earnestly around Green Lake clutching bottles of water. The way we always dress like we're going camping. The way we get so comically worked up about transportation issues. Now he's coming to visit for Christmas, and I'm worried that he'll think we're laughable in a whole new way: the way we suck all the fun out of the holidays with our superserious "sensitivity." What can I do to show him that we know how to have a good time?

Take this Stick From My Ass

Dear Stick From My Ass,

Is it really so restrictive and dreary to live here? If you really think so, you should take a holiday of an entirely different kind. You know how Amish young people are allowed, for a set period of time, to drink, smoke, and otherwise break the rules of their community? Well, you, too, should take your own little rumspringa from Seattle ways. Show your friend you can "loosen up" with the best of them. Stop recycling. Drink macrobrews and watch NASCAR. Drive everywhere. Don't wave when someone lets you change lanes. Kill spiders in your house rather than trapping and freeing them in a silently improvised ceremony of karmic self-blessing. Do all your holiday shopping at Wal-Mart and have them double-bag everything. Go to Sea-Tac and innocently ask where the Christmas tree is. Say, "There is no Christmas tree? Why ever not?" Walk around with a cell phone pressed to your ear at all times, even if no one's on the line, and say things like, "Yeah, that's one sales forecast I'd like to see, let me tell you what, you crazy bastard! You still in for tonight, you miserable cocksucker? Shooters at Hooters, my friend, shooters at Hooters!" Do this at every farmers market in town. Put down your phone only long enough to tell the Vietnamese farmer that his organic tomatoes are lumpy and not as red as the ones at Safeway. Ask Grease Monkey for all their used oil and pour it into the gutter in front of your house while glaring defiantly at your neighbors. Rent a Hummer and tailgate Vespas. Lean on the horn as you call out, "Get a car, Fancy Man!" Finally, go downtown and, in your loudest, heartiest voice, wish every stranger you see a merry Christmas. If you find that that kind of thing makes you feel good, I suggest you take yourself to Houston for a permanent rumspringa.

The Program

So I don't talk about music much but I had to throw this in there. Blue Scholars, a Seattle based hiphop duo, has recently gotten national recognition for their new album release, Bayani. If you've heard them you will know that they are not only incredibly talented but dedicated to promoting a Northwest style and a Northwest sound. And they are certainly succeeding (check out this song or this video)! Well, in an effort to bring about even more recognition for a NW sound Blue Scholars are hosting The Program. This 5-day set of shows has an all-NW lineup with artists from Vancouver down to Portland. It's events like these, building a cultural identity through regional art, which is really going to establish Cascadia in the hearts and minds of its citizens! Get your tickets soon!

Cascadian Communities: The Gulf Islands

Welcome to another addition of Cascadian Communities. This time we head up into Maple Leaf Country to explore the abstract land pattern that makes up the Gulf Islands.

If any of you are scratching your heads, wondering what gulf these islands are in, don't fret, the name is a misnomer. It is a relic of the days when the unexplored Strait of Georgia was believed to be a gulf. With thirteen major islands and about 450 smaller ones, these wooded oases are essentially the Canadian half of the San Juans (see map below). Yet, their slightly different geography and proximity to Vancouver Island actually give them a unique ecology compared to the surrounding landscape. The area receives an average of only 30 inches of rain per year, far less than the Pacific and inland coasts. This has made the Gulf Islands one of the last refuges of the Garry Oak ecosystem, which supports around 350 different plant and animal species. Only about 5% of Garry Oak ecosystems are still in their natural setting and the Gulf Islands' late introduction to modernity means that much of that fraction dots the Islands' landscape.

Of coures, this does not mean that the islands have remained unpopulated. In fact, Coast Salish Natives had a host of settlements throughout the islands and many of them remain today. In the 1930's, as transportation methods improved, British Columbia began promoting the area as a regional tourist destination. The peace, serenity, and lack of infrastructure on the islands attracted many nature lovers who desired unobstructed exploration. In the 1960's the islands became a hot spot for American draft dodgers looking to hide out from the authorities. More recently, many wealthy celebrities have found the Islands' tranquil landscape the ideal place for large vacation homes.

All of this has added up to an increase in foreign species and pollution which was not realized until recent years. The unregulated development of the islands means that much of the endangered areas are in private lands and difficult to protect. In 1999, in an effort to stem the rising problems, the BC government, along with a number of NGO's, established the Garry Oak Ecosystem Recovery Team, which works to promote conservation both on public and private lands alike. Similarly, in 2003 the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve was established, setting aside 35 square acres across 15 islands as a sanctuary. The goal is to eventually turn the reserve into a full on National Park but land disputes between private holders, First Nations peoples, and the state remain to be negotiated.

The hodge-podge mix of First Nations peoples, draft-dodging hippies, and urban weary nature lovers, has made the Islands famous for their alternative lifestyle. No where is this more prevalent than on Salt Spring Island. Salt Spring is home to over 10,000 of the Islands' 25,000 residents with its capital in the small town of Ganges. here, every Saturday, over 150 vendors gather in Centennial Park to sell everything from home-grown berries to hand-crafted benches. In its early days the market was a place for individuals strewn about the islands to swap books, or borrow cooking supplies without having to return to the mainland. But over the years, the market has grown in popularity, bringing in hundreds if not thousands of tourists every weekend. True to the Gulf Island style though, a rule was implaced in 1992 that allowed only Salt Spring residents to sell goods, and the vendors must, "make it, bake it, or grow it" to recieve a permit. In addition, the residents developed their own currency, called the Salt Spring Dollar which is accepted on-par with the Canadian dollar on the island. Many of the other islands cling to this simpler lifestyle as well. Many of the islands still lack electricity and the Galiano Island community of 1,100 residents has managed to survive on only 28 inches of yearly rainfall for all of their water needs.


Links:
[Wikipedia] Gulf Islands
[Canadian Geographic] Come to the Islands
[Gulf Islands Guide]
[Canada Parks] Gulf Islands National Park Reserve

Did You Know...

...the Port of Vancouver is the #1 exporter of foreign goods in North America.

...Over 750,000 cups of tea are served annually at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC.

...Tacoma was rated the Most Stressful City in America.

...Point Roberts, Washington is a United States exclave; it can only be reached by land through Canada.

..."Old Man of the Lake" is a large piece of driftwood that has been bobbing upright in Crater Lake for more than a century.

...Portland's Forest Park is the largest urban forest in the United States.

...The world's tallest tree is The Mendocino Tree near Ukiah, CA standing at 367.5 ft tall.

...Oregon City, OR is the oldest incorporated city west of the Rockies.

...Over 25% of Bainbridge Island, WA residents take a ferry boat to work, the highest percent in the US.

...Fan Tan Alley in Victoria, BC's Chinatown is the narrowest street in North America.

... Mt. Baker in Washington holds the seasonal snowfall world record at 1,140 inches.

...The totem pole standing in Seattle's Pioneer Square was stolen from a Tlingit Village in Southeast Alaska in 1899.

Cascadian Flags

The flag. This emblematic piece of cloth has been used for centuries across the globe as a means of identity and unity. Looking at a flag, one can find out what a group of people value and cherish within themselves. The contemporary Cascadia movement is still in its infancy, and thus, it is full of different meanings to different people. Just like the early days of the American Revolution, Cascadians have developed a host of flags in their attempts to represent themselves. Here I have collected all of the flags that I could find online and described their symbolism according to the designers.


Commonly called "The Doug" (for Douglas Fir) this is probably the most prominent flag of Cascadia. (They are featured on the Cascadian Wikipedia site). According to the creator, the blue represents the "unpolluted sky" and the plentiful water of Cascadia, the white represents the clouds and snow, and the green represents our natural vegetation. The conifer tree stands, "in defiance of storm, fire, and Man." This is the only Cascadian flag that you can currently order; smALL Flags in Oregon will do them by request. Some people are also working to try and get it produced in Hemp. Keep up on that and other info about this flag here.

This flag was developed for the Republic of Cascadia site. Similar to The Doug, the blue and white stripes represent water and snow, while the green is for the vegetation. The red in this flag is for, "the volcanism and tectonic forces that burn beneath us". The setting sun symbolizes our place at the Western edge of North America and the fir cone is for, "rebirth, renewal, and our natural forest resources". (I'm not sure but I would guess that this one was influenced at least a bit by the flag of British Columbia.)

This flag is for the Kingdom of Cascadia, designed by Andrew Rogers. Here we see the same green for vegetation and white for the snow-capped mountains. The seven stars (similar of coure to the "Betsy Ross" and the EU) stand for the Commonwealths, which Rogers identifies as: Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and The Yukon (yes I realize thats only six, dont ask me). Rogers has also developed some Cascadian governmental and military flags that you can check out here.

This flag, called the "Eight Stars" was designed by Nick Pharris. The two green triangles (the same green as the Washington State flag and representing forests and hope) stand for the mountains, as well as the US and Canada, which Cascadia bridges. The blue and white stripes, from the BC flag, represent water (loyalty) and glaciers (peace). Unlike the flag above this sun is actually rising above the mountains and represents the "rising regional consciousness". The eight stars represent the distinct Cascadian areas: Alaska, the Yukon, BC, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Western Montana, and Northern California. The gold color is used to represent prosperity as well as the croplands and deserts of the interior. More info here. (While this one has lots of meaning, I have to say its a bit too similar to the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.)

This flag was designed by the people over at the Cascadian National Party. The top blue represents freedom, while the bottom blue represents our water. The white wavy stripe is for hope and the green wavy stripe is for the environment and our resources. The two gold stars are for Oregon and Washington (pretty limited Cascadia view here).

This design was found by Rick Wyatt and is reportedly designed by David McCloskey, the founder of the Cascadia Institute and a well known name in Cascadian movements. Unfortunately the Cascadia Institute website has been taken down and I could not find any information about its symbolism.

And last but certainly not least is this flag. Although a bit amateurish, this flag holds a special place in my heart because a few friends and I designed this and painted it on the wall of small shack in Arembepe, Brazil. We didn't come up with any official symbolism but the mountain obviously represents the Cascade range, the geographical feature at the heart of Cascadia. The wavy lines were picked because of their prominence in many other Cascadian flags. The blue is for the sky and water, while the green is the lush vegetation between them. The grey was chosen for the mountain because we felt that it is the true color of the area.

Please feel free to post likes/dislikes, ideas, or concepts about these or any future Cascadian flags. If you happen to know of another flag email me a picture and an explanation of its symbols.

A Clear Cut Press

Picture by Michael Brophy

Here's a straight up recommendation for all of you Cascadian loyalists like me. As an avid reader I have historically been disappointed with the recognition of Northwest literature. There are the New York writers (so depressing), California writers (too much for the screen), and the infamous Southern writers (racists!), but what about us Cascadians? Are we too satisfied dancing around in puddles and hiking up into the alpine to take out our pencils and jot down our thoughts? The answer is an emphatic no. And nobody says this better than The Clear Cut Press.

This independently run publishing company, based in Portland works to promote the beautiful words that flow from the minds of Cascadians (like me!). The company was formed in the early years of the new century by Matthew Stadler, founder of Nest magazine and a former contributor to The Stranger, and Richard Jensen, former executive of Sub Pop Records (Nirvana's label), and co-founder of Up Records. According to Jensen Clear Cut emerged through "conversations about economy and poetry" and as they say, because "traditional publishers may have lost sight of who reads and why".

Perhaps from Jensen's indy recording experience, the company works in true "punk rock" custom. All profits are split fifty-fifty between author and publisher. In addition, Clear Cut does not secure prohibitive rights in the 'text'. There company was not created to exploit writers and readers alike, but rather simply to bring a fresh batch of literature to a much watered-down industry.

The first subscription set from Clear Cut came out in 2005 and included short stories, essays, photographs, novels, and poetry from a host of Northwest Writers. I admittedly have not read the entire body of this work but I have put my hand in the jar, and the cookies are delicious! Here is a brief review of just some of the works from this collection.

The premier book in the series is entitled, A Clear Cut Future. The work is a conglomeration of short stories and essays that, "map the territory of interest to Clear Cut Press". Each work starts with a set of photographs that compliment the writings to follow. As a whole, this book embodies a beautiful perspective of the Northwest world.

One novel, Shoot the Buffalo, by Matt Briggs, is a must for the generation who grew up with flower parents. The story is told from the perspective of a military private remembering his childhood in the lumber town turned hippie farm of the Snoqualmie foothills. Well written and full of anecdotes of an "alternative" childhood the story highlights the breakdown of the "peace and love" ideals when confronted with practical, real world problems.

Core Sample: Portland Art Now, traces the history and accomplishment that was a set of two dozen art exhibitions dotting the Portland landscape in 2003. The book is full of many great color photos, sprinkled with a few essays that explain this monumental phenomenon.

But my favorite work in the entire series is most certainly, Occasional Work and Seven Walks from the Office for Soft Architecture, by Lisa Robertson. Robertson, a creative writer/poet has developed a distinctly new perspective on urban studies. She walks the streets of Vancouver and surrounding British Columbia thinking very critically about how and why we build the way we build, and how that effects our lives, physically as well as mentally. I will end this blatant promotion for Clear Cut, at the risk of being incredibly long-winded, with the entirety of Soft Architecture: A Manifesto. Enjoy, and check out Clear Cut Press on the web for more info.

The Office of Soft Architecture came into being as I watched the city of Vancouver dissolve in the fluid called money. Buildings disappeared into newness. I tried to recall spaces, and what I remembered was surfaces. Here and there money had tarried. The result seemed emotional. I wanted to document this process. I began to research the history of surfaces. I included my own desires in the research. In this way, I became multiple. I became money.



The worn cotton sheets of our little beds had the blurred texture of silk crepe and when we lay against them in the evening we'd rub, rhythmically, one foot against the soothing folds of fabric, waiting for sleep. That way we slowly wore through the thinning cloth. Our feet would get tangled in the fretted gap.

We walked through the soft arcade. We became an architect.

The knitted cap on the wrinkled skull of the mewling kid is the first boundary. At the other tip the bootie dribbles. There are curious histories of shrouds. That is not all. Memory's architecture is neither palatial nor theatrical but soft.

Of course it's all myth. Beginning at grand rooms rankled in small stone Natufian couples co-mingled in kisses, the perspex galleries of pendant Babylonian dollies, the long halls of Egyptian cats that are sirens or dynasties, we amble towards the disappearance of godliness in cloth. Europe's lusty godlets start bending. Carved cloth connotes the wild swirls of the Christly sexual parts. Sprigged calico greets the renaissance of Venus. Prudery flows animate, clinging, vivid - we think it absorbs virility from naked Antiquity herself. Strolling from Byzantium we observe her teasing retreat. The mischievious and the sexy gods get dressed as patrons and courtesans and popes, crinolined in Fragonard's stiff satins, diminished to tiny petticoated players in painted enamel frolics. Finally invisible they loll in the latent conventions of canvas, or in the draperies and objets of the room themselves, such as the Frick's crushed mohair swags, the personified tapestry walls, the little petit-pointed chairs personified, the chamberpot, the silken floor personified.

We arrive at our long century. We note that the holy modernism of the white room is draped and lined in its newness by labile counter-structures of moving silk, fur, leather, onyx, velvet. The modernist inventors of the moot science of psychoanalysis raise its cold visage from the deep upholsteries and ruched cushions of the speaking invalid's couch. A contemporary describes the late Maria Callas's vibrato as "a worn velvet that has lost the evenness of its texture." As for us, we wear avant-thrift. We sit in spider-like chairs. But Soft Architecture expires invisibly as the mass rhetorics of structural permanence transmit: Who can say when the astonishing complicities of the woven decay into rote? The bare ruin of Bauhaus and the long autopsy of concepts serve as emblems of Soft Architecture's demise.

Yet our city is persistently soft. We see it like a raw encampment at the edge of the rocks, a camp for a navy vying to return to a place that has disappeared. So the camp is a permanent transience, the buildings or shelters like tents - tents of steel, chipboard, stucco, glass, cement, paper, and various claddings - tents rising and falling in the glittering rhythm which is null rhythm, which is the flux of modern careers. At the center of the tent encampment, the density of the temporary in a tantrum of action; on peripheries over silent grass of playing fields the fizzy mauveness of seed-fring hovering. Our favorite on-ramp curving sveltely round to the cement bridge, left side overhung with a small-leafed tree that sprays the roof of our car with its particular vibrato shade. Curved velveteen of asphalt as we merge with the bridge-traffic, the inlet, the filmic afternoon. The city is a florescence of surface.

Under the pavement, pavement. Hoaxes, failures, porches, archeological strata spread out on a continuous thin plane; softness and speed, echoes, spores, tropes, fonts; not identity but incident and the accumulation of air miles; unmarked solitude absorbing time, bloating to become an environment, indexical euphorias, the unraveling of laughter; a brief history of escalators; memory manifest, brindled, loosening; a crumpling of automative glass; the pornographic, the wrapped; Helevetica's black dust: All doctrine is foreign to us. The problem of the shape of choice is mainly retrospective. That wild nostalgia leans into the sheer volubility of incompetence. The nostalgia musters symbols with no relation to necessity - civic sequins, apertures that record and tend the fickleness of social gifts. Containing only supple space, nostalgia feeds our imagination's strategic ineptitude. Forget the journals, conferences, salons, textbooks, and media of dissemination. We say thought's object is not knowledge but living. We do not like it elsewhere.

The truly utopian act is to manifest current conditions and dialects. Practice description. Description is mystical. It is afterlife because it is life's reflection or reverse. Place is accident posing as politics. And vice versa. Therefore it's tragic and big.

We recommenders of present action have learned to say "perhaps" our bodies produce space; "perhaps" our words make a bunting canopy; "perhaps" the hand-struck, palpable wall is an anti-discipline; "perhaps" by term "everyday life" we also mean potential. We allude sympathetically to the lyrical tone of clothing and furniture since they clearly reveal to the eye, mind, and judgement the real shapes of peopled sentiment. Cravats gushing from collars, we agree with the Soft Architect Lilly Reich that "clothes may also have metaphysical effects by means of their inherent regularity, their coolness and reserve, the coquettish cheerfulness and liveliness, their playful grace, their sound simplicity and their dignity." From the vast urbanity of our counter-discipline we applaud the mercurial Miss Reich, who said, "One of my hearts is in building."

Soft Architecture will reverse the wrongheaded story of structural deepness. That institution is all doors but no entrances. The work of the SA paradoxically recompiles the metaphysics of surface, performing a horizontal research which greets shreds of fiber, pigment flakes, the bleaching of light, proofs of lint, ink, spore, liquid and pixilation, the strange, frail, leaky cloths and sketchings and gestures which we are. The work of the SA, simultaneously strong and weak, makes new descriptions on the warp of former events. By descriptions, we mean moistly critical dreams, morphological thefts, authentic registers of pleasant customs, accidents posing as intentions. SA makes up face-practices.

What if there is no "space," only a permanent slow-motion mystic takeover, an implausibly careening awning? Nothing is utopian. Everything wants to be. Soft Architects face the reaching middle.

Utterly Irrelevant News.

The Spice Girls decided to once again take up the sing and dance routine with their first tour in nearly 10 years. And who was the lucky recipient of the first show? Good old Vancouver BC. Lucky dogs.

Cascadian Communities: The Emerald Triangle

I would like to make this a typical addition here on Cascadia Rising. It's a chance for you, as well as me, to learn about all of the quirky and interesting regions within Cascadia. After all, the greatest part about this pseudo-nation is that it is in fact, made up of so many unique communities. Some people live on the open coast, pounded by the massive storms from the mighty Pacific, while others are surrounded by the lush rolling yellows of wheat fields. Still others live in a disconnected world of islands, where traveling is a constant challenge. The myriad outlooks give everyone a different perspective, and yet, we all share a fundamental mentality; we all love, live, and are a part of, the land and nature which surrounds us. We do not try and find ourselves in anachronistic philosophies and historical misgivings. Rather, we depend on our environment to mould and shape our identities. That, I believe, is the true spirit that gives Cascadia its solidarity.

That being said let's head South to Northern California and the Emerald Triangle...

The Emerald Triangle is made up of the three Californian counties of Mendicino, Trinity, and Humboldt. Tucked away between the Pacific Coast and the Redwood Forest, this quaint piece of land is a world unto itself. The two major highways connecting the area are narrow, winding, and underfunded, and I-5 barely breaches the eastern border of the Triangle.

The total land area is 10,260 sq. miles with a population of only 225,835. Most of this population is spread out in the woody hills that make up the area. The largest city, Eureka is only 26,128 and the second largest, Ukiah, is only 15,497.

All of these factors make the Emerald Triangle extremely conducive to one thing, growing marijuana. Every year billions and billions of dollars worth of marijuana are grown on the hills of the region making it the runaway leader of pot cultiviation in the US. But it makes sense. The area's varied geography and climate make it difficult to grow much else, while pot seems to flourish in the high hillside soil.

Although it is technically illegal, the dismal amount of government officers in the area make it impossible for any type of local action. In 1983 the government started the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) and has since been working, unsucessfully to try and eradicate the "problem". In 2005 CAMP managed to destroy 1.1 million plants but this $4 billion project did nothing to stop the supply and prices even went down significantly over the year. Even many conservatives agree that CAMP is simply, "an exercise in futility".

But that is not to say that people don't care, it just that the solution has been coming from the wrong direction. In the 1960's and 70's many people had small farms run by the alternative flower children of the day. But as prices have skyrocketed many people have gotten into the business stictly for the money. That means that more environmentally damaging practices are being used, like pesticide use and extensive deforestation. Many people believe that legalization could help stem environmental degradation by setting up laws and regulations, much like other businesses. Not to mention that the area stands to gain around $250 million worth of taxes a year from the industry; for the most economically iimpoverished area in California, this could be a lifesaver.

Many of the small towns in Northern California, such as Eureka, were founded in the mid-1800's and were mainly set up to exploit the vast timber and fish resources. Since then those industries have drastically declined leaving very little work for income. Perhaps legalization could help bring a much needed boost to the economy while regulation could protect the already endangered Redwoods. But who knows, the War on Drugs, despite its evident losses, shows little sign of slow-down.



Sources:
[USA Today]
[Wikipedia]
[3am Politics]

Across the Cascades...

Guess who's back? It's not shady.

The Blue Scholars put out a sweet new video for Joe Metro.

The beautiful game will finally hit the big leagues in the emerald city.

B.C. Brews swamp competition in Canadian Brewing Awards.

Is peaceful B.C. really a facist state? Oh sorry, province.

Portland continues to deal with some serious issues.

Capitalism isn't always bad for the environment.

Tent City a strain on Spokane.

Cascadia may be bike friendly, but its no Europe.

Very badass, classic Cascadian poster.

If you find this random, click here.
If you find that random, click here.

For more Cascadian designs, click here.

Seattle, a Vancouver Perspective

"The amazing thing about Seattle and Vancouver is how different we are, considering our near-identical climates and bioregions, similar hybrid ethnicities and parallel histories. Look at a satellite photo of Puget Sound to Howe Sound, and it’s clear that there is now a border-straddling megalopolis from Lions Bay to Tacoma: seven million people in one virtual city, with the insufferable anomaly of an international border down the middle. With two heads but one conjoined body, Vancouver and Seattle are Siamese twins. Yet we are fused not at the head, but at the back—forever looking in different directions. We may share the same flesh, but our outlooks are, in many ways, starkly different." - From the Seattle Series

The April 2007 edition of Vancouver Magazine had a special series examining Seattle. You can learn a lot from an outsider's perspective, so check it out.

The Seattle Series

• 36 Hours in Seattle: Where to eat, shop, sightsee, and take five.

• Bed Check: A look into 3 different hotels

• Culture Crawl: Vancouver's selected music, books, and independent coffee.

• The New Seattle: What Vancouver can learn from its Pacific Sister

• A Tale of Two Cities: A Column Comparison

Thanks to [Rain City Guide] for the find.