S f i S y SS& ffff
t>y Alison Pride
T k u is lu i aayunc v k ' i been vu w leiiac
bo> I'm iaiin< as a city I n l k i
Fine J u i
daady TtoinA* lot asliaq I waat yu« to
L m x this k c i u t ii I can adjust to liviac m
Puitlaad . then any,) or saielv caa
T V jood k t 3 is ’his I finally bare a fob
tad I bare lecoveied b v sense ol haauii Up
in nov I'v e been blissfallY a a a v a ir that ’he
t e n ereia in intimately entwined, bat this is
| u l one of tbe lessons I'v e bad forced oa me
since tnoriac
Poitland Eoi a ftiih te n ia t
few weeks I bad no sense of hnmor at all even
Dave B a iiy and my do< left me auamased
A fie i atiiTinc »• Poitland and allowing myself
two weeks Ui he sick and then to unpack
boxes, I decided to jo foitb from tbe safety of
my bowse and get a job sumewbeie in my
nei{hboihtM»d I liked tbe idea of walking ot
biking hi w oik Tluable was. nobody was
biting anywhere I wanked to work So 1 twined
to a mote tiadituiaal method of fob banting
E rety Sunday and Wednesday I searched tbe
Help Wanted ads with a frantic devotion
bordering on nbsessma 1 even stalled eyeing
tbe ads foi banks, bi prove to yon just bow
desperate I'd become (and I mean no offense to
those who woik in banks
last not my cap of
tea, yon know)
Desperation is generally not a good position
from v h x h to operate 1 emphatically wanted
oat of tbe restaurant business (and I mean no
offense hi m y fnimei bosses 1 may still need
you as tefeiences) I decided I wauled some
kind of office work, anything at a ll, just to try
something new
So I did what any reasonable person with a
sbitaking checking accounl would've done and
wrent downhiwn hi tbe (U n ) Employment
O ffice, populated by people at least as
despetatr as I was, and hied for benefits I
tbonght I would buy myself some time A tw i
standing m the requisite lines and filling out
tbe requisite totm s. 1 was even mote resolved
to find a job ASAP keally, though, I have
nevei met such helptal and eomteous people as
those woiking at the Employment Office Eot
instance, they still know how hi have a good
laogh and don't mind 3 ban ng it Dunng my
orientation, one woman relayed a veiy
humeioas story about bow tbe main computet
one day up and decided to take a vac twin (this,
of course, raises a veiy interesting
question wbeie do computers go on vaction?)
and in two hours, 12,000 culls from all over
tbe state of Oiegon were kist (where was aevei
explained, although some timid soul did ask)
Nevei feat, they were eventually retrieved
(w bea, I presume, tbe computet decided hi quit
messing around) But this was not at all
reassuring hi those of os, like myself at tbe
tune who were sadly Technologically
P u a d ran raged
Aftei my little adventure at the Employment
O ffice, and with my fust check foi >66 stashed
in the bank ( I nevei should have taken those
four months off last year), I went broking for a
fob as a receptionist
But it's difficult (ha ha, so nice hi have a
sense of humoi again) to get a fob in an office,
if you w a it hi do anything more challenging
than use the copy machine when you haze no
computet skills and are a technophobe So I
did what any reasonable person wuald've done
and honoured >200 to take a class in
W otdPeilect 5 I Eot five mornings, fust like
a regular w oik week, I had a respectable
excuse to get out of bed in the mornings, dress
m reasonably presentable clothes (taxing my
wardiobe to tbe oatei lim its), and stare latently
at a computet screen foi foui boats I actually
saipnsed myself by eufoyiug it At tbe ead of
the week, I possessed tbe computer proficiency
of any six year old with a PC (and if yoa don't
know what this stands fo i, you really are
hopelessly hopeless) This is not a reflection
ou tbe course ot my instructor (o i my high
school typing teachei), but it takes a lot longer
to climb tbe mountain when you start at sea
level (pan intended I'm sure) than it does if
yon get plunked down at tbe base camp So,
reinforced by my newly acquired com pater
skills and sure that anyone could immediately
spot wkat a valuable addition I'd make bi any
office, I set out to find a fob
Many covet letteis and resumes latet, and
after a humiliating visit to a temporary agency
(aftei my typing test, they asked me if I'd ever
considered a little light indastiial assembly line
w o ik ), I was lavotably re thia king restaurants
And like a small mnacle (just when I needed
one), a testaaiant I liked advertised for a
wwitpeison and, being no fo o l, I decided to
apply lot something I actually knew how to
do
So once again I foined tbe tanks of tbe
gainfully employed I don't know when I ' l l
get to use my W otdPeilect expeitue (I don't
know any six year olds), except to play aroaad
aftei boars at Kuiko's (it really is fun, they’ re
open 2d hours), but I'm not going to lose sleep
over it
And fin ally, should you ever find yourself
in Poitland and foi without a fob. I'd like to
share with you the fob bunting ups I found
most helpful
I ) If all all possible, look for a fob while
you have a fob The difference is all attitude,
the good versus the desperate Before I had a
fob, I e i t u ioued myself prosUate
igmiaumiuasly at the feet ol vhoevei would
finally hue m e. blubbeung my eternal gratitude
and loyalty Aftei I had a fo>. I went on two
mote tnteiviews fust for kicks The
trans to i ma tv n was remaikabke I had the
powei to decide I wasa't lateiested aad walk
away (and that was salve indeed for the old,
bartered ego) 1 was much more relaxed and
aitiralatr dating the iiteivtew s Nut once did
the embanassing whine ol panic eatei mv
voice
2 ) Wealixe y o n are not alone This should
seem obvious to all bat the totally aniaitiated.
especially wbea voa show up lot a fob and
there are alteady 20 othei eaget people in the
loom applying foi the same fob (and yoa
recogaue a least hall of them) One good
fuend told me it took him six mouths to fiad a
fob aad that he mailed oat hand reds of
resumes I thiak he was ttyiag to be turlptal
The point is. yoa have to understand that there
ate a lot of people oat of w oik tight now
There's no shame in it it's fast,
aafoitanatelyt, sometimes the way it is 11 you
need a support group, there is a handy,
inexpensive one that meets daily at the
Employment Office
3) Use absolutely eveiy available resouice
Not fast tke papet Shamelessly use your
filends 1 did . and as a result 1 may actually
have an oppoitunity to wnte foi my suppet I
don't w a it to say anything more about it tight
now because I still believe |inxes (bat thanks.
Uncle Mike)
One more thing If you ever come to
Poitland and yua want a good place to eat
breakfast ot la m b , come visit me at the
Cadillac Cale on Noitheast Bioadway I think
Oon f he anqtq that qou rannot
make otherx ax quit nosh them to
be. betrtuxe qou rannot make
qourxelf ax qou U'lxh to he
Thomox a Keinptx
nt s* .
•
K IE V
241-0101
TURNAROUND
hedt out Io lowetl low tide, and the most »killed clam digger*
can even dig up clamt in a foot or two of water, spotting the
telltale sign a, they Hand knee deep in turf Beyond that,
though, the bed» are safe from human*
We continue down the path and tun, south, toward little
Beach, where the \eahcoxie and Secanicum rivers debouch
1 1 1 O fW K lw iy « 3 • ‘¿••».tMi O A 9 7 1 3 B
into the mother Pacific, providing a handy boundary between
PT hmw ( 5 0 3 1 7 3 0 3 2 1 1
tawdrv Seaside and pristine Gearhart I ittle Beach, by virtue
.»I being some hundred, of yard* from the nrarett habitation,
it generall, a misty, calm and exceedingly beautiful spot, a
charming miniature of Oregon esluarte*. rich with tea and
bird life, changing constantly and yet always the tame
We reach the hard packed sand of the intertidal zone at
U'e ore delighted to melt rime
last, and Amo* set* up at teacher, to pat» hit witdom of clam
digging on to me Ihe Iao of clam digging, according to
Hit k Rubin to our pages this
H,nhi Rex. it simple I ace the tea. he tell* me. tpol a dimple
month. Ifoen though the
in the »and. encircle it with Ihe hutinett end of your white
plástic lube with handle*, the to called clam gun. slant your
storq ran in the IP.IP. ten
weapon slightly seaward, and puth Ihe clam, qn hearing you
atnive jerk, hack down a foot or to into the »and. hut your
gears ago. »t still holds true.I
gun it quick, and goes down two feet Ihe clam, being unable
to move tideway* once it hat found it* lifelong home, it
hostage to the gunner s attack
t X XMOS i« worried. a» wr shake
I hit i t the clam t I ao (a word impossible to pin down hut
our creaking old bone» out ot bed in
generally meaning the wav or path): to move up and down
hit one room beach cabin He bat
promited that we will harvest great bagt of hut never tideways, to strain food, reproduce, grow large,
perhaps he caught, and finally to expire Ihe clam digger's
tucculenl razor clamt. although it'» a
lao. on ihe other hand, i t shimmering black beach reflecting
terrible year (or clamt. He hat made ihit
tunrtte approaching from the east in colors of ceri»e and
dangerout boa,l on account of hating a
magenta, and hordes of other clam digger* scurrying up and
resident guru of clam digging a couple of
CAHMOH BEACH
down the beach, punching holes by gun or shovel in the sand
houtet up the itreet from hit cabin \ it w i it
bOOK CO m EAHY
at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, just now at a minus I Xfoot
a great one for gurus be bat one to leach
F O k « 634
tide.
him bow to make art. and be uted to have
132 No'»h Hem togli
We walk ihe beach in search of dimples Ihe clam retreat»,
another for log cabin building and trout
Connor
4 )6 1)01
when frightened, and that it its undoing, for ihit retreat
Tubing However, bn clam digging guru wat
create* the liny, inverted nipple in the sand Should the clam
not at home latt night, and. peering
he a brave one and not frighten easily enough, the hunter
worriedly through a garage window. Arnot
stamps hit petulant fool in mock rage against the hard-
discovers that tbe m i n i car it still not there
packed wet sand then even the bravest clam will certainly
(hit morning Amos mutt himself plav guru.
I don t beitene m c ollet live quilt,
burrow, and leave it* trace, and forthwith he captured. That
I am sanguine Ihe morning it cloudlet*,
lao it shared by clam and clatn digger alike
indeed, it it
and I have nu expectation of catching any
bot I do belieoe tn t oiler tiue
where their universe* inlrrtect. to the detriment of the clam
clamt in the first place My real concern it
rexponxibilitq. Htidreq Hepburn
Clam digging was one of the outdoor activities my father
that my editor want» tore point to my »licet
learned dunng h it 70 year* in I begun. Clam digging and
of Oregon lift Xiere good timet are not
smelt fishing and dnvmg out to Multnomah I-allt It lakes a
enough My editor hat teamed that the
while to learn the pleasures of ihe country, and he wasn't the
ecology of Oregon it under attack by force»
outdoor type
in and out of nature He want* my tlorte* to
Lucky the Oregonian whose ancestors arrived early in the
tell of these attack*, and galvanize the
Promised lan d ! Lucky, hut not necettanly thereby happy.
citizenry to repel them
Ihere have been many waves of ancestors Lirst. perhaps, the
Amo* and I gulp scalding coffee, and
Salith speaking I illamook Indians Some lime later, the
throw our weapon*
clam gun» of the
Chmookan speaking Indians Ihe L latsop-Chinook probably
latest PCX pipe detign and cut up plastic
displaced Salish speaker* from the mouth of the Columbia,
bleach bottle* — into the car. We bundle up
and used to winter over not far from where Amos and I now
in unnecessarily warm clothe* against the
search for dimples In the autumn of the year, the Clatsop
dawn, and head north aero** Tillamook
would pull hack from their fishing villages along ihe southern
Head toward Liearhart Ihe tky is breaking
mouth of the Columbia to Neahcosie village, where they
saffron and chartreute behind the tcraggiy
,pent the winter in singing, dancing, reciting myths, and
Coat! Range
other sacred activities, a two month long art festival.
We park betide the road that front*
those early Oregonians have long since disappeared, their
Gearhart, a narrow, gravel non
ancestral beds despoiled by newcomers who pounded objects
thoroughfare lined with the weathered-
more deadly than clam gun* Ih e y were harvested by
»hingle house* of old money, and walk
smallpox, measles, syphilis or malaria, brought into paradise
toward the beach aero»» the grassy dune*.
by
the " Z 7 . a t the Chinooks first called them,
Thi* new area of dune* ha* appeared since
meaning 3 hose who float ashore." Indeed, it was a few miles
South letty wat built, up at the mouth of the
north on this very beach that the first of the ffobonrupt,
Columbia River from the ttandpoint of
appeared: two bear-like creatures riding a whale with trees
Gearhart landowner*, it it one of the
growing from its hack, who dismounted to beg water and
problem* that afflict our «late
cook what sounds like popcorn, and were forthwith enslaved
The razor clam is a curious beast. Like
but later freed Thus did I uropean* enter the I ao of the
juvenile* of many another ipeciet. young
Chinooks, a foreshadowing of what was to come — though
razor dam * enjoy a period of resile**
the warning did no good.
wandering, then sink to the bottom and
never move again Ih e bed, in which the
First Amos, then I, hag one razor clam and toon another —
razor clam* perform thi* fall from grace
ihe serene u»e render others is
small ones, to he sure, hut no lest tasty for that U e pop them
extend from depth* of 74 feet up almost to
into the cut open clorox hotties we have slung from our hells,
dry sand from the moment it sink* to the
reollq tbe rent u»e poq for our
and continue the search with optimistic vigor. Lp and down
bottom, the clam it at ntk to the dam
room on earth.
llhlfred brenfell digger, hut only those in the intertidal zone
K»
)i>
are likely to find their way into a human
stomach. Mankind may decimate the clam
B O O K S A N O ESP R E S S O BAR
R
urrtA un m i sinwMtüp