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Wednesday, May 15, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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
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s
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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
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The Nugget Newspaper,
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Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius
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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.