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Wednesday, June 13, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Wednesday, June 13, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
The people behind The Nugget...
Katy Yoder has always
been a writer. Now The
Nugget freelancer is commit-
ted to making writing her life
and career.
“That’s always been my
outlet and my love,” she
recalled. “And it started with
my mom introducing me to all
these great books.”
Yoder recalls that her
mother, Mimi Graves of
Sisters, would hold out books
as milestones on the road to
growing up. At a certain point,
she would tell Katy that she
was ready for a certain story.
“She made books so excit-
ing,” Katy said.
For years she kept jour-
nals and wrote poetry — and
found a way to keep her hand
in the trade through free-
lance feature writing for The
Nugget, which started about
a decade ago. Feature writing
is a congenial form of jour-
nalism for Yoder. She recalls
studying journalism in college
and being put off by a hard-
bitten ethos that getting the
story was not just the most
important thing, but really the
only thing that mattered. An
empathetic soul, she couldn’t
see herself shoving a notepad
or a microphone in someone’s
face in the midst of a crisis or
tragedy.
“Getting the story is more
important than (people’s)
feelings,” she said. “I knew I
couldn’t do that.”
Feature writing offers a
different path.
“I love being able to intro-
duce an interesting person to
more people,” she said. “And
I like telling positive stories. I
really love highlighting inter-
esting people and people who
have used their lives to do
good.” (See her most recent
story on page 3.)
Katy Yoder
Yoder said.
Over the past couple
of years, Yoder has taken
up a different challenge.
Diagnosed with breast can-
cer while she was working
as the development director
for Sisters Folk Festival, she
started writing a column about
her medical struggle — and
the accompanying emotional
fallout, both good and bad.
“I started writing the col-
umns
because Nugget editor
I love being able
Jim Cornelius asked me to
to introduce an do that,” she said. “I would
never have thought to do that,
interesting person to because I’ve always told other
people’s stories, never my
more people. And I like own.”
Writing the column caused
telling positive stories. Yoder to delve into areas she’d
opened up to before and
— Katy Yoder never
explore dark topics — such as
facing mortality.
“It gives me an opportunity
“The reason I asked Katy
to ask questions I wouldn’t to write those columns is that
ordinarily ask,” she said. “I’m I knew she had the courage to
nosy — but I’m not comfort- be honest, real and authentic
able being nosy without a — and that she has the chops
reason.”
to communicate what it means
So Yoder ended up in the to go through a life-changing
field she studied after all.
confrontation with death
“It’s funny, because I and dying,” Cornelius said.
ended up doing journalism — “That kind of writing has a
but I’m doing the kind of jour- big impact on people because
nalism that feels right to me,” everyone is touched by cancer.
she said.
They’ve either faced it them-
The words come easily. selves or had loved ones taken
The interviews are often so by it. This is one of those situ-
enjoyable and absorbing that ations where delving deep into
the stories “write themselves,” the personal communicates
HIKE: Badlands offers
nearly all-season
hiking opportunities
Continued from page 7
back to the Castle Trail junc-
tion, where we had origi-
nally entered into Flatiron
Rock’s inner sanctum. From
there, we simply retraced our
steps to the Ancient Juniper
Trail junction, which we
ignored this time, to return
on the main Flatiron Trail
for the shorter return to the
trailhead.
This hike is best under-
taken during the early and
late shoulder seasons but can
also be an option on cool,
cloudy, or wet days when
the mountains are not very
inviting. Regardless, always
bring plenty of water because
this is desert country. I’ve
tried to give detailed trail
directions because it’s easy
to become disoriented out
here where all the country
looks the same. Also, carry
a map; maps of the Badlands
trail system are available on
the BLM website and other
sites.
To reach the Flatiron
Rock Trailhead, simply take
Highway 20 for about 16
miles east of Bend. The trail-
head is on the left and is well
marked by a BLM sign.
Showing kids the ropes...
PHOTO PROVIDED
Katy Yoderg freelance writer.
the universal — and I
knew Katy could do that.”
Yoder found that facing
a potentially terminal illness
broke down psychological
barriers, and her writing deep-
ened and became more urgent.
She has also been tapped to
teach classes on death and
dying.
“It opened up the teacher
side of me, I guess, just
because of the life experience
I’ve had,” she said.
Facing mortality and
pushing the boundaries of
her writing has led Yoder
to devote herself to being a
full-time writer. She is grate-
ful to her husband, Gary, for
his full support of that ambi-
tion. She is currently working
on a memoir. And she will
continue to tell the stories of
Sisters folks in the pages of
The Nugget.
“I’m really excited to be a
full-time writer,” she said. “To
be what I’ve always wanted to
be.”
Now you can help The Nugget
continue its journalistic mission
The Nugget
Firefighters to train near Sisters
The Central Oregon Fire
Management Service will
host its annual Guard School
training this week, where
57 men and women will
begin their initial training to
become wildland firefight-
ers. At the end of the week-
long event, students will be
qualified as entry-level fire-
fighters, and will join more
than 300 other federal and
state wildland firefighters
working in Central Oregon
this summer.
“This type of intense
training provides the essen-
tial foundation for becoming
an effective, well-informed,
and safe firefighter,” said
Nate LeFevre, Acting Fire
Staff for the Central Oregon
Fire Management Service,
the combined Forest Service
and BLM fire and
fuels organi-
zation in
Central
Oregon.
This
year,
attend-
ees are
coming from
a variety of agen-
cies, including
the Forest Service,
the BLM, the
Oregon Department
of Forestry, the Bend
Fire Department, the U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service, the
Oregon Military Department
and the Oregon National
Guard.
RAY’S
FOOD PLACE
Thank you for supporting us!
Three easy ways to support community journalism:
(limit 4 packages)
Make a fi nancial contribution
to keep professional community
journalism thriving in Sisters...
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442 E. Main Ave. (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri), call
us at 541-549-9941, or drop a check in the mail.
Tomas Garcilazog charro and rodeo specialty actg visited Sisters
Elementary School last weekg where he thrilled the children with
demonstrations of his mastery with a lariat. Garcilazo is a renowned
horsemang master of the ropeg and an ambassador of Mexican Charro
tradition.
BI-MART
Save over 28%!
Coleman Canyon
8-person Tents
are now $99.97
(regularly $139.97)
Phone ______________ Email ___________________________________________
And check out
more discounts
now on outdoor
equipment!
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some of the field exercises
will be taught at the Biak
Training Center east of
This type of intense
training provides the
essential foundation for
becoming an effectiveg
well-informedg and
safe firefighter.
— Nate LeFevre
Redmond, and the live-fire
exercise will occur on Forest
Service lands near Black
Pine Springs along Forest
Road 16, about six miles
southwest of Sisters. The
practice fire will be a low-
intensity maintenance burn in
an area that was previously
treated.
QUALITY PRE-OWNED RVS
BIG SAVINGS COMPARED
TO NEW-MODEL RETAIL!
See our complete inventory at www.larrysrv.com
Motorcoaches • Travel Trailers • Fifth Wheels
Truck Campers • Toy-Haulers Arriving Daily
this week’s
Nugget inserts!
Readers like you can join our loyal
advertisers in bringing The Nugget
to Sisters — for free — every week!
Name __________________________________________________________________
During the week of train-
ing, the new firefighters
will go through a rigorous
schedule of classroom and
field exercises designed to
teach a variety of subjects
including fire suppression
techniques, fire behavior,
fire ecology, maps/naviga-
tion skills, radio communica-
tions and risk management.
The firefighters will also
learn how to operate engines,
pumps and other mechanized
equipment.
On Thursday, June 14, the
firefighters will go through
a live-fire exercise designed
to provide hands-on experi-
ence in line building tech-
niques, setting hose lays,
and applying mop-up stan-
dards. Specialists will ignite
a small prescribed burn in
order to give the new recruits
an opportunity to apply their
new knowledge on an actual
fireline.
Classroom work and
DON’T MISS
Heat up the grill!
The Fantastic
Friday One-day
Deal on June 15
is St. Louis Style
Pork Spare Ribs
at $2.69 per lb.
• Complete the form below and mail today
• Call 541-549-9941 and pay by credit card
• Go to NuggetNews.com to contribute online
17
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