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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2019)
2 Wednesday, May 15, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Safe Space 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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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 must express my disagreement with the contention that rifle bullets pose a fire threat to our community (letter to the editor May 1). Wild fires may be started by: power lines, muf- flers, cigarettes, camp fires, lightning, arsonists and <controlled burns.= However, I have been shooting for over 50 years and aside from the type of ammuni- tion used on military reservations I have never known of a fire started by a bullet. But anything that could be hung around the necks of shooters or gun owners can only be a win for our progressive friends. Larry Benson s s s To the Editor: I wish to express my thoughts about the 2,000 noble, beautiful trees that made the west- to-east drive into Sisters a scenic delight, and the hundreds of years that these trees needed to obtain their majesty. I would like to explore a definition of pro- fessionals: Professionals always consider all outcomes, and ramifications of their decisions. If killing 2,000 ponderosas is not in your job description, then you ought to do the research to know what you are doing. Ignorance about product and effect is not an excuse. Incompetence is not, either. Seeing these trees lying down in big rows is heart sickening. Let9s hire professionals and avoid this tragedy in the future. Tom Egan s s s To the Editor: We are writing to share our support for Jeff Smith for the Sisters School Board, Position 3. Jeff Smith embraces the educational values of the Sisters School District. He has worked hard to build the trust of the community and listens to what the community values educa- tionally. He believes that smaller classes are good for children, both in terms of improving academic skills and maintaining the social- emotional wellness of our children. See LETTERS on page 15 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Showers Showers Cloudy PM Light Rain Showers AM Showers 60/46 60/41 55/36 62/39 56/36 56/37 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. I9m a big believer in <safe spaces.= I will stipulate that my definition is non-stan- dard. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a safe space thus: <a place (as on a college campus) intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations.= I may be tilting at a windmill here, but that9s wrong. At least it should be wrong. A while back, I was invited to talk story at Paulina Springs Books around my collection of frontier biographies, <Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.= The book is intended mostly to be a set of ripping yarns about men living lives of hardship and adventure from the 18th through early 20th centu- ries. But you can9t walk down the trail of frontier history without encounter- ing the giant boulder of race, and that9s what we addressed in what turned into a lively 4 and some- times fraught 4 discussion. Afterwards, a woman approached me to have her book signed and said, <I9ve been working on becom- ing more comfortable with being uncomfortable. This helped with that.= That was a big win. That9s what a safe space should be: a place where you can learn to handle <bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversa- tions.= Where you can learn to be comfortable feeling uncomfortable. Because no matter how hard we might try to purge the scary stuff, or to flee from it, it remains. In fact, the things that scare us become monsters that feed upon fear and avoid- ance and grow ever more strong and threatening. Safety comes from cre- ating a culture that values dissent instead of trying to eliminate it, and acknowl- edges that there is a differ- ence between vigorously arguing your corner and being a jerk and a bully. A safe space is a place where you may be called upon to support your case with evi- dence 4 and where you can learn that this is not the same thing as being <attacked.= And it9s a place where you can decide that you9ve changed your mind or mod- ified your position without finding your identity melt- ing like that cake left out in the rain. It is gratifying to see some such safe spaces cropping up around town. Sisters Community Church has been hosting discus- sions of weighty films and talks with authors and other creative types. The new owner of Paulina Springs Books is all about creat- ing a <safe space= for real dialogue. I met with some folks recently who are looking to create a <First Amendment= event to edu- cate folks in town on the origins, nature and practical application of said amend- ment. Commendable. This is critical, for safe spaces are where we train; where we can fall and fail without dire consequences. A band works out in its rehearsal space so that it can push and make mistakes and sound terrible 4 and be ready to soar on stage. Mistakes and failures in the dojo (if properly corrected) can save a martial artist some pain on the street. Hit the wrong chord; sing off-key. Walk right into a spinning back fist with no real damage (because you wore your mouthpiece). Say the wrong thing, or the right thing clumsily. That9s the kind of failure you want to have happen in your <safe space= 4 on the training grounds. Of course that sort of thing is frustrat- ing, embarrassing, humili- ating even. That9s why you remember it vividly and why you (hopefully) learn your lesson. If you9re training with the right people, they9ve all experienced that sense of frustration, embarrassment and humiliation, too, and they9re never going to hold it over you. In fact, you9re probably going to share a good laugh over it 4 and try again. There are a lot of folks like that here in Sisters, cre- ating authentic safe spaces. Hats off to 9em. Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and are not necessarily shared by the The Nugget Newspaper.