Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 2019)
8 Wednesday, June 19, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Drownings Museum event will celebrate desert writing highlight water safety concerns An 18-year-old man who was airlifted to the hospital after being pulled from the waters of Lake Phalarope at Black Butte Ranch earlier this month did not survive. A c c o r d i n g t o B l a c k Butte Ranch Police reports, the young man, an intern employee from India named Tarun Verma, declined a life vest when checking out a pedal board for an excursion on the lake on June 2. Three witnesses saw a com- motion associated with the young man being in distress in the water and responded to the scene on their own water- craft. When the witnesses reached him, Varun was sub- merged under the water. They pulled him onto the shore unconscious and began CPR immediately. Black Butte Fire medics also responded to treat Verma, and he was airlifted to the hospital from the ball fields at BBR. BBR police reported that they received word on June 4 that the young man had died. Marine patrol personnel were still looking on Monday for a 29-year-old Bend man, Michael Mead, missing and presumed drowned at Wickiup Reservoir. Mead and a friend and a dog were in a canoe that overturned at 2 a.m., dumping them into the water. The other man and the dog were able to swim to shore but Mead did not make it. Searchers were also seek- ing a man who jumped from the top deck of a pontoon boat See DROWNINGS on page 13 The High Desert Museum will play host to an annual celebration of writing on des- ert landscapes on Wednesday, June 26. Winner of the annual Waterston Desert Writing Prize Nathaniel Brodie will accept his award and read from his prize-winning work <Borderlands= during an eve- ning reception and awards ceremony at the High Desert Museum starting at 6:30 p.m. <Borderlands= is an essay to be included in a literary nonfiction travelogue that will explore the tensions between rigid man-made borders and ever-changing borders in the natural transition zones of the biologically and culturally diverse landscapes known as the Sky Islands or Madrean Archipelago. <Borderlands= will weave together the stories of the Apache Wars, the current migrant crises, rewilding schemes, the Rosemonte Copper Mine, and the threat- ened freedom of movement of endangered species such as jaguar, ocelot, and Sonoran pronghorn. <I was born and raised in Southern California, a very arid place,= said Brodie. <I9ve been attracted to desert places and traveled around the world to desert places. I lived in Arizona and worked in the Grand Canyon for a decade. I love their stark, severe beauty. Everything has thorns, spikes but also luxurious blooms. Water is miraculous in the desert. There aren9t many des- ert writing prizes out there. It was a natural fit for me,= he said from his Portland home. Brodie9s family moved last year to Portland from Reno, Nevada. His wife got a tenured-track job at Portland State University in Eco- Hydrology. She grew up in Major General Breakfast Burrito and his Trusty Hot Sauce Lieutenants Reporting for Hunger-Stoppin’ Duty! 541.549.2699 | 403 E. Hood Ave. Serving Breakfast & Lunch 7 days a week, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Seattle and loves being back in the Pacific Northwest. <When we drive back over to Central Oregon9s high desert and the firs transition into sagebrush, we both love it. She likes the big loom- ing trees and I like the open spaces,= he said. Receiving the award is a great honor for Brodie. <We writers sometimes aren9t rec- ognized for the work we do that is not a published book. The vast majority of my writ- ing career is toiling away. I9m lucky enough to have one book published.= The evening also features A Desert Conversation 4 a group discussion explor- ing desert ecology and the intersections with human culture, moderated by Ellen Waterston. The 2019 Desert Conversation guest panelists are Oregon Poet Laureate Kim Stafford, noted Western historian and author Patty Limerick and desert writer Bruce Berger. Nonfiction writer and poet Bruce Berger is best known for a series of books explor- ing the intersections of nature and culture, usually in des- ert settings. His newest title, <A Desert Harvest: New and Selected Essays,= will be released in March 2019. In a review of Desert Harvest, the Denver Post said, <Berger takes his place with Annie Dillard and Barry Lopez.= Limerick is the Faculty Director and Chair of the Board of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado, where she is also a Professor of History. In 1985 she pub- lished <Desert Passages,= followed in 1987 by her best- known work, <The Legacy of Conquest,= an overview and reinterpretation of Western American history that has stirred up a great deal of both academic and public debate. In 2012 she published <A Ditch in Time: The City, the West, and Water,= a history of water in Denver. Limerick has dedicated her career to bridg- ing the gap between academ- ics and the general public and to demonstrating the benefits of applying historical per- spective to contemporary dilemmas and conflicts. Stafford was appointed Oregon9s ninth Poet Laureate in May 2018. He is the found- ing director of The Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis & Clark College. Stafford was born and grew up in Oregon. He is the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose and has edited many others. H i s b o o k , < H a v i n g Everything Right: Essays of Place,= won a citation for excellence from the Western States Book Awards in 1986. Stafford9s most recent book, <100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do,= is an account of his brother9s death by suicide, and the struggle of a fam- ily to understand, and to live beyond that event. The event is free; res- ervations are requested at the website www.waterston desertwritingprize.org. The evening events are preceded by writing work- shops starting at 5:30 p.m. Register at the link above. Those interested in writing fiction are invited to sign up for critically-acclaimed nov- elist James Anderson9s work- shop, in which he will discuss and work with attendees on developing and maintaining a unique and strong sense of place in fiction. Anderson is the author of two criti- cally acclaimed novels, <The Never-Open Desert Diner= and <Lullaby Road,= praised by The New York Times Book Review and Washington Post Book World, among others, for their lyricism and haunt- ing evocation of the desert. If poetry is more your style, join Oregon Poet Laureate Kim Stafford, author of a dozen books of poetry and prose, for an afternoon of writing and inspiration. Those who want to explore their own biography of place may enroll in poet and writer Ellen Waterston9s workshop, where she will lead writers in an exploration of their own unique biogra- phies of place in poetry and prose. Attendees will also have an opportunity to purchase the fifth anniversary com- memorative Prize anthology titled <Deserts: The First Five Years of the Waterston Desert Writing Prize.= For more information, visit the Waterston Desert Writing Prize website or call 541-480-3933.