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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 2019)
2 Wednesday, February 13, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Dangerous books By Jim Cornelius Editor in Chief Letters to the Editor… The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer9s name, address and phone number. Let- ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday. To the Editor: I appreciated reading Randall McCall9s let- ter in last week9s Nugget, which opposed the views I expressed in my letter published the prior week. In my letter, I stated several con- cerns about the Tollgate-to-Sisters High School trail9s resurfacing along the portion that tra- verses Tollgate property. A couple days earlier, I had a lengthy and mutually respectful conversation with a fellow Tollgate resident about the issue. She explained in depth the reasons why she supported the entire trail9s resurfacing (many of which were the same as points Mr. McCall made). Hearing her rationale led me to reconsider and moderate my position. I now appreciate more fully how the entire trail9s resurfacing would benefit Tollgate and Sisters residents, and I would fully support it if two of my previously stated concerns were addressed and allayed. I would want the Sisters Trails Alliance to issue binding assurances that they would not attempt to use the resurfaced trail as a Trojan Horse to revive their proposal for a Sisters-to-Black Butte Ranch asphalt path, as they have previously stated they might do. Also, I would want to know that use of the Tollgate portion of the trail by the broader pub- lic would not lead to the loss of Tollgate9s asso- ciated easement rights. These concerns are legitimate, as are the views expressed by people who support the resurfacing of the entire Tollgate-to-Sisters High School trail. Let9s have a discussion and make the outcome a win-win for all involved. Michael Cooper s s s To the Editor My wife and I recently returned from beau- tiful Methow Valley, WA for a few days of Nordic skiing. While scoping out a rendezvous point along the community trail, signs directed us to a rest area. The rest area turned out to be a delightfully appointed self-service warming room complete with snacks and hot beverages. The room was attached to a private residence. A See LETTERS on page 15 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Rain/Snow Rain/Snow PM Light Snow Snow Showers Snow Showers Mostly Sunny 38/29 35/26 37/26 36/21 33/16 34/23 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com Postmaster: Send address changes to The Nugget Newspaper, P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759. Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon. Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Easterling Graphic Design: Jess Draper Community Marketing Partners: Vicki Curlett & Patti Jo Beal Classifieds & Circulation: Lisa May Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Owner: J. Louis Mullen The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $45; six months (or less), $25. First-class postage: one year, $85; six months, $55. Published Weekly. ©2019 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition- ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper9s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts. When I was in sixth grade, I brought Hunter S. Thompson9s <Hell9s Angels= to <free reading day= at school. It did not go well. My teacher thought it was an inappropriate book for a 12-year-old (which it was) and she called my mom. My mother, who suffered a lifetime of inappropriate reading choices from both of her sons, agreed that a gonzo plunge into late-960s Bay Area motorcycle mayhem was an unfortunate choice of school day reading materials 4 but she insisted that I be left alone to read it. Wise choice on every level. Making it forbidden fruit would have only made Hunter S. Thompson more alluring (if that were pos- sible) and my mother was constitutionally opposed to shutting off free inquiry or creativity. We did, however, have some very interesting conver- sations about what I9d read. Recent letters to the edi- tor have highlighted what a hot-button issue a book can be, even in an age when peo- ple9s reading habits are fall- ing away under the seductive power of streaming video. There9s been a lively debate in Sisters and elsewhere as to whether <George,= by Alex Gino 4 which tells the story of a transgender child 4 belongs on the book list for Battle of the Books. I know what my mother would think. The urge to silence voices that make us uncomfortable or that we simply dislike is not the province of one political bent or another. It9s an authoritarian impulse that manifests itself across the ideological spectrum. A social-media lynch mob killed a book last month. A young woman named Amélie Wen Zhao fulfilled her lifelong dream of becom- ing a published author (with a $500,000 three-book con- tract) with the scheduled publication of her YA fan- tasy novel <Blood Heir.= Then a horde of social- media vampires descended to rip her apart. The book9s diverse cast 4 which you9d think might be a plus 4 was savaged as cultural appropriation. Dealing with slavery? How dare she? <How is nobody men- tioning the anti-blackness and blatant bigotry in this book?= one reader wrote on Goodreads. <This book is about slavery, a false oppression narrative that equates having legitimately dangerous magical powers that kill people with being an oppressed minority, like a person of color. This whole story is absolutely repulsive.= As the New York Times reports, Zhao noted that she wrote from her <immediate cultural perspective= and to address the <epidemic of indentured and human traf- ficking prevalent in many industries across Asia, including in my own home country. The narrative and history of slavery in the U.S. is not something I can, would or intended to write, but I recognize that I am not writing in merely my own cultural context.= Zhao abased herself in the face of the mob. <I am so sorry for the pain this has caused,= she wrote. With her publisher 9s acquiescence, she pulled the book. This is the death of art. Soon, creators will fear to step out their door at night and will sit in front of their screen, paralyzed in terror of typing a word that will destroy their career or stran- gle it in its crib. Writers work hard to get it right. Accuracy is obvi- ously a paramount goal for a work of non-fiction, and it is that wonderful <reckless verisimilitude= that makes great fiction sing. There9s a vast difference between getting it right in terms of accuracy and making a fic- tional world <real,= and get- ting it right in conformity to an artificial and constantly shifting standard driven by the cultural/political agen- das and personal pathologies of self-appointed arbiters of moral correctness or social justice. One hones craft; the other destroys art. Killing books is an act of the weak and the fearful. Be strong and brave. Read books. Lots of them. Talk about them with your fam- ily and friends. If a book upsets you, or fills you with joy, think about why. And if your kid wants to read some Hunter S. Thompson, I9m sure we can find a copy of <Hell9s Angels= somewhere& Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.