vernonia’s
voice community
june
2008
15
Name This Space
By Erika Paleck
What is art? One definition courtesy of my Mac’s
dictionary is: “The expression or application of hu-
man creative skill and imagination…producing works
to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power;
the various branches thereof; study of processes and
products of human creativity and social life.” An-
other way to put it might be, “I don’t know anything
about art, but I know what I like.” Maybe both are
saying the same fundamental thing. Someone did
something that may or may not be practical, but it was
not easily predictable, so we were moved by it either
intellectually or emotionally or both.
Who is an artist? Is Dr. Phyllis Gilmore of our own
Providence Medical Clinic an artist? Is there an art to
practicing medicine? There must be. Take my husband
who is eight years older than I, stands six foot five and
two hundred and thirty pounds, and shares the condition
of high cholesterol with me. She doesn’t pull one bottle
off the shelf and tell us both to take the same medicine.
And even someone who could be my twin might not
have the same success with a med that works well for
me, so she has to try again and tailor her work to every
patient, their body, their personality, their lifestyle. If
that isn’t a practical application of “…creative skill…”,
I don’t know what is. It certainly has emotional impact
if she makes a mistake or adds to someone’s quality of
life through her work. But is it art?
How about Eileen Williams, Vernonia’s own ani-
mal communicator? You’ve seen her ads: “I get the ani-
mal’s answers to your questions. Results guaranteed…”
Is this an art, this being able to reach out through what
used to be called the ether? To mentally communicate
with Fluffy, Trigger, or Fido, and translate it back into
everyday English? Or is this another kind of art, the
art of being able to detach oneself from the everyday
assumptions of a material world, to slough off the ego
as you would a topcoat on a sunny day, and let yourself
take flight to a point few of us have ever seen where all
the cats and dogs and horses hang out when they are
not in their bodies just to have a little chat? It’s easy
to scoff, and to some degree we should be skeptical,
but those of us who have shared lives a long time with
pets and livestock know there is more to our animal
friends than just eating, pooping, and procreating. If
Eileen can really put a coherent face on the informa-
tion she gleans on these little jaunts around the ethe-
real plane, does that make her an artist? It certainly
meets the definition again of a, “…creative skill…” It
surely must have a powerful emotional impact, or we
wouldn’t want to know what our friends are thinking.
(“Why is that darn Mikey always chewing up my shoes
when I go out of town?!) But is it art?
What is the difference between what Eileen does
and, say, our Diane Coughlin when she sits down and
paints a still life from a floral arrangement? You might
even remember this painting if you attended the May 2nd
First Friday Art Show at the Cabin in the Woods (aka,
The Scout Cabin). “Ah-ha!” you might think. “A floral
arrangement! Now that’s something real and recogniz-
able, not some crazy unrealistic woo-woo thing.” But
how real is real? Surely you can look at Diane’s paint-
ing, an acrylic on canvass in an expressionist style and
say to yourself, “I’m no dummy, that’s a floral arrange-
ment if I ever saw one.” But it’s not. You cannot reach
over and pull out a flower from the vase and flick off the
water droplets. Yet Diane sat down, divorced her mind
and ego from the material world, and created something
we would all commonly call art, making her an artist.
What has she done that is substantially different from
what Phyllis Gilmore or Eileen Williams have done?
The difference is mostly that we have all agreed to
call Diane’s painting art. There is a culturally recog-
nized pattern that allows us to regard certain activities
as Arts, capital A, and something with paints on canvass,
especially if the subject is recognizable, is considered
art, small a.
If you are someone who considers yourself an art-
ist, or someone who produces”…works to be appreciat-
ed…” on some level, please contact me, Erika Paleck, at:
epaleck@gmail.com or (503)704-5970 because Hands
On Art is looking for you. With a little exercise in the
art of cooperation, we should be able to put together a
nice exhibit of local artists of many different persuasions
for the Friendship Jamboree and maybe the Salmon Fes-
tival, as well. But we can’t do it if we don’t know who
you are. Is what you do art? You be the judge. And if
you write or are involved in music, we are looking for
you, too. Don’t be shy. And, we are still looking for help
to NAME THIS SPACE! Remember, there’s a $10.00
gift certificate to Powell’s in it for you. So far, some op-
tions are, “Phorrest Phreaks”, “Phorrest Phenomena”,
“Arcadian Arts”, “In the Woods of Vernowhere”, and
“Trillium Arts”. At least let us know if anything strikes
your fancy. Personally, I’m beginning to think “Name-
less Space” is looking good, too.
In the movie Shadowlands, a student of C.S.Lewis
quotes his father: “We read to know that we are not
alone.” To me, art is one of the best ways we know we
are not alone.
As for Eileen Williams, bend your mind outside of
accepted patterns if necessary to examine her art. While
she might not display her art graphically, she will be put-
ting on a talk as part of the June 6 First Friday at the
Grange at 7:30, before the Open Mic night. Your animal
friends might really appreciate it, even that darn Mikey.
Columbia County Rider - Getting Us Where We Need to Go
By Scott Laird
Henry Heimuller is passionate about public trans-
portation in Columbia County, and he is working hard
to improve and expand the services that are available
for Columbia County residents.
Heimuller is the Transit Coordinator for the county
and the manager for the Columbia County Rider, provid-
er of public transportation in this rural region. Heimuller
has his hands full, balancing increased demand, limited
funding, and a rural population base that is not used to
utilizing public transportation on a regular basis.
“People in Columbia County have this notion that
our service is only for senior citizens,” said Heimuller.
“And that is absolutely not true. Our services are avail-
able for anyone to use.”
With increases in fuel costs, increases in parking
fees downtown and more traffic on local highways, more
commuters are looking for alternative options. Columbia
County Rider has tried to meet these needs by increas-
ing the number of buses and trips each day to Portland.
They have also added routes to help students get to local
community college classes and added connections to Tri
Met transportation routes. “We have added nine new
buses in the last two years, and we are selling a lot more
monthly passes,” said Heimuller. “Every time we put a
new bus on the road, we fill it up.”
Besides commuter routes, Columbia County Rid-
er continues to offer their Dial-a Ride service in local
communities. Residents can schedule local rides to
appointments, to go shopping or to visit friends. Lo-
cal rides cost one dollar each way. Columbia County
Rider also has seen an increase in medical appointment
transports. “With our aging population, we have seen
a tremendous increase in transports to dialysis centers
in Portland,” said Heimuller. “Those trips can really
tie up our drivers. We are hoping that a new dialysis
center in St. Helens will relieve the length and time of
those transports.”
Internally Columbia County Rider is adding a cen-
tralized radio and dispatch system that will allow driv-
ers in the outlying communities of Clatskanie, Rainier
and Vernonia to help cover for each other, improving
and enhancing the service abilities of the program.
They will also be opening two Park and Ride locations
on Highway 30 in Clatskanie and Rainier, making it
easier for commut-
ers to access the ser-
vice. “I can now say
we have uninterrupted
county wide service,”
said Heimuller. The
new radio system will
also allow communi-
cation with emergency
response and dispatch
services, making Co-
lumbia County Rider
buses available to as-
sist in the event of
natural disasters or
evacuations. “We have
never had that in this
county before,” said
Heimuller.
Columbia
County
Rider has also worked to create partnerships with other
area transportation systems, especially to the west in
Clatsop County. “We have created connections to the
coast through Westport and to Kelso, Washington. We
started this as a pilot program, and it has been so suc-
cessful that it has already been extended.” Heimuller
suggested these expanded services as opportunities
for senior citizens and others to take day trips or visit
friends and family. “A person could get on our ser-
vice in Vernonia and connect all the way through to
Tillamook if they wanted.” Links to schedules for
other systems are available at Columbia County Rid-
ers new and improved website, www.columbiacountyr-
ider.com. “Riders who want to be informed can get all
kinds of information there.”
Recently Columbia County Rider reintroduced a
program for seniors called the “5 Area Lunch”. Drivers
have volunteered their time to transport locals to monthly
lunch gatherings held in one of the five community Se-
nior Centers. “This was a program we have been happy
to help bring back to life, and give our seniors something
special to look forward to,” explained Heimuller.
Columbia County Rider continues to look for ways
to meet the many challenges of providing public trans-
portation for rural communities. “We are really trying
to create a visual identity in our communities, a brand
recognition,” said Heimuller. Ideas for the future? “We
would like to secure more funding and provide more
opportunities to get students to actual college cam-
puses. We would like to offer student bus passes. We
might look at more assistance to help senior citizens
learn to use, get comfortable with and make connec-
tions within the public transportation systems. And we
would like to provide commuter options to our smaller
outlying communities, give them opportunities to get
to the metro area using our services.”
So remember, Columbia County Rider is your
transportation service, and it’s not just for senior citi-
zens but for everyone.
For more information or to schedule a ride go
to: wwwcolumbiacountyrider.com or you can call
them at 888-462-6526.