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Thursday, April 15, 2021
GO! magazine — A&E in Northeast Oregon
S ummerville author releases book of poems
■ Ettinger’s new collection, combining poetry and history, will be featured at April 21 reading
By Lisa Britton
Go! Magazine
A
melia Diaz Ettinger
grew up in Puerto
Rico, but she knew
nothing about the bombings.
It took someone warning
her to “check the fl ag” before
she understood the situation.
A red fl ag, she learned, was an
alert for bombs.
The reality was this: Since
1941, the U.S. Navy had used
the Puerto Rican island of
Culebra for target practice.
Ettinger, who now lives in
Summerville, recently pub-
lished a chapbook — a small
book of thematic poems —
titled “Fossils on a Red Flag.”
The poems tell the story of
Culebra during the three decades it
served as a target.
“It’s based on fi rsthand experi-
ence, although I came in at the tail
end,” she said.
Ettinger will be featured at the
Art Center East Writing Project
virtual gathering on Wednesday,
April 21.
The free literary event is live
via Zoom at 7 p.m. To register for
access, go to artcentereast.org/
calendar.
Copies of her book can be found
at JaxDog Cafe and Books in La
Grande, Art Center East, direct
from the publisher at www.fi nish-
inglinepress.com, and on Amazon.
E
ttinger came into the
situation on Culebra in
1970 as an undergradu-
ate student when she took a job
conducting a bird survey every
weekend.
It was on her fi rst excursion that
she met the woman who warned
her about the fl ag.
“She was a real activist, involved
in the politics of the island,” she
said.
Ettinger learned that the small
island had been used as target
The bombing ended in 1975,
fueled in part by the Endangered
Species Act of 1970.
“This female turtle made her
nest right dead center on the tar-
get,” Ettinger said. “They couldn’t
bomb. That turtle is the heroine
— she stopped the bombing.”
According to the publisher, the
poems in Ettinger’s chapbook
“weave the thread of song though
destruction and exploitation of
the small island, as well as the
triumph of the people of Cul-
ebra.”
“Basically my book is an
education,” Ettinger said. “It’s
so important to have stories like
Art Center East/Contributed Photo
this out there.”
Amelia Diaz Ettinger
Ettinger came to the United
States in 1974 to earn a master’s
practice for decades, resulting in
degree in science from Washington
forced relocation of citizens and
State University.
damage to the habitat and the
She ended up in Eastern Or-
coral reefs that support the fi shing
egon because her husband was a
industry.
psychology professor at Eastern
“They’d very frequently miss
the target and were destroying the Oregon University.
She taught at La Grande High
most amazing coral reefs in the
School — fi rst Spanish, then sci-
world,” she said. “Without coral,
ence — until she retired in 2013.
you don’t have fi sh.”
Be safe, wear masks,
stay distanced: we will
get through this.
Thank you. Mae
Also by Amelia
Diaz Ettinger
Since then she has been focusing
on on her writing.
“I’ve written poetry all my life,”
she said.
Previous to “Fossils on a Red
Flag,” Ettinger published “Learn-
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