Image provided by: Upper Left Edge; Cannon Beach, OR
About The upper left edge. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1994)
L'Hí i JfcVJS Co* I >xi €<•<»» > moments to reflect on the mysteries of our being or our humongous human work. This remains the case for us Christians, and I intuit it’s still true for you Jews Modem America has relegated holiness to just a few days, split the Spirit from the moil that controls our year I've chosen to break with modem convention and send you this holiday business prayer, an urgpnt request for your activism in shaping things to come. C Zb 4 GX5 This w inter solstice I am far from my native Appalachia, visiting my wife Jennifer’s family on the rugged coast of Oregon where the hills zigzag down into the w ate r in Cannon Beach. Here is a salty jewel in the crown of the rural Northwest, a hearty gpod spot to scribble this letter. The Oregpn shore has retained much of its unmolested beauty Its beaches are scattered with hugp rock monoliths, awesome ancient geomorphs jutting skyward from the foam that rolls onto the flat expanse of sand. One of these shapes, nicknamed Haystack Rock, is ranked among the largest coastal monoliths m North America. As big as a mountain, the presence of this landform infuses the senses of the local life. At its base thrive starfish, mussels, and anemones; and Its peak houses gulls, cormorants, and even a few puffins. Jennifer says. The rock resonates Cod given space with solitary grandeur, mirroring the aspiring souls wno make this place home. The raw beauty hero broods a respectful community of artists, writers, and merchants; it is the foundation for a seasonal tide of discerning visitors. Unlike other travel destinations, Cannon Beach has preserved much of its indigenous charm. This is part of the reason why I'm writing you, now. and here in particular. I figure that if anyone, ray rustic King of creation, you will know why I dote upon this rural spot of earth. The place’s elemental grace is reflected by its human economy. Because much that is sold in Cannon Beach is also produced in this region, there is a very high quality of gpods and services, Heightened community aw areness resides among many of the town's merchants, and neighbors take care to treat neighbors to their most masterful works I've found in my travels that local owners are usually the best stewards of local resources, and this is afnrmed by my experience of life in Cannon Beach. One of the best words I have found to describe this sensation Is a spiritual one I’ve adapted from your tradition. SbatinaA My American Heritage Dictionary defines Sheklnah as 'a visible manifestation of the divine presence as described in Jewish theology'. I think of it as beatific energy that radiates from something when it is in harmony with God. The pulse of this energy is strong when I'm walking hand-in hand with Jennifer on the beach at night when the electric white surf and star freckled sky frame the massive black shape of Haystack And there are hints of this habitation amidst the town's flow of trade. I testify. In some ways this place reminds me of an Appalachian tounst town called Gatlinburg tw enty years ago when it was still a quaint hamlet cradled in the Smokies. Back then, the town complimented Its lush native environs with an active exchangB of the arts and crafts of resident villagers. Like most places today, alas, Gatlinburg has been plundered by prefabricated consumer feedlots selling mostly imported schlock The heartworms of business, federal chains have sucked and squeezed the spark from local commerce and left mostly packaging This is undeniably evident in the downtown architecture Boxy development has obscured the sights and sounds of the singing streams and verdant misty slopes that were woven with the marketplace, features that once made family visits to Gatlinburg so memorable Cheesy traps like Gatlinburg sacrifice their human heritage along with the natural glory which emanates from the Most High Absentee investors have built up the place beyond capacity, supplanting Spirit with Mammon. The marred landscape of my memories offers me nothing but grief when I witness the vapid virtual realities of the present They scrape the scab of desolation against my soul Cannon Beach could avert the course of development chosen by towns like Gatlinburg Governed by fidelity to native resources, locals here could create a wholly different definition of progress The town is on the right track when it refuses to grant building permits to national chains within the town limits. The roadsides have yet to fall victim to the contractual images of Madison Avenue, have yet to become just another test marketing location for the red and yellow of McDonald's and the red and white of KFC. Here people dream in their own colors rather than the industrial strength pigments of mass consumption. Yet the forces of commercial evil are working hard here. Kach y e a r I return to find few er patches of native life amidst the absentee owned vacation homes, sterile and vacan t that are enveloping the landscape. Already, local trade is being displaced by imported retail I cannot bear to see it happen here, cannot accept the desolation of this glorious unhewn house of God's creation. Non violent fierce Jesus, I pray here now, help us cast out the money gruboing robber barons <?\3 i The Presbyterian in me says my solstice arrival here was pre-destined During these longest nights, my free will turns inward to assess the tasks that will be necessary to shape a spiritual destiny in the new year. This solstice offers an occasion to reaffirm the convictions that grow forth from S pirit to ask that these convictions flourish into the next season Last week we attended an anniversary performance of A Cfinstmas Cbrol at the local community theatre While watching scenes of the crotchety Scroqgp hum bugging his way through the village market place, I was struck by his poetic resemblance to today's m erchant Modern business people have become Uncle Scroogps who by pass local resources in the pursuit of digits. Blind to the real value of life, he huggprmuggprs his chief patrons within the lobbiedbowels of global commerce. If D ickens w a r e alive today he'd do well to cast Scroqge as an executive of a multi national corporation, perhaps an appointed proponent of some officially acronymed leviathan like NAFTA or GATT. Displacing local trade with globalized mercantilism, the modern Scrooge feeds upon consumer lust prompted by mass advertising. A fair title for nis modern-day screenplay might be su p p ly ana Etanana or tPe Ltiinnad 'Once the whole world market is harmonized with our interests’, prophesies Uncle Scrooge as he w n n £ his meQpred, acquisitioned hands, 'o u r pockets will runneth over. We'll bleach the green meat and sell it under hot red lights; w rap cheap foreign resources in slick packages that say Fashioned In- America; dispose of durability and invest in waste management stocks. Oh the profits that will be m ine the sound of metal jingling the bright profits shining like the sun!* Uncle Scroqge will sell anything to appease his appetite for speedy gain He barters his birthright for untempered want, sells off GREAT JAVINGJ! 25 - 5 0 % o f f most items Patagonia jackets and fleecewear Woolrich shirts, sweaters and coats Rusty surfwear Teva and Merrell sandals and more! America s genuine culture and replaces it with syndicated homogeneity. Cheapness deposes quality as his gaugB for human advancem ent packaging is valued above content And most of us abandon our best ways of living to embrace these bargain basement standards of existence, This is certainly true for my generational peers, us electronic tots born after 1960 who were weaned on a blitzkrieg of beta waved mediations. We were the first slackers to slide through the plastic tubes of McQonaldLand. the first to wolf down a Happy Meal Many of the jobs created by today's commerce have been filled by us We drive from our homes in town or country to work along the highways, to serve the bypass economy which ultimately passes us by. Savvy to these modern business working?, we must be the ones to restore the old beyond modern ways. Help us, Jesus, I beseech you. The need for this restoration is most dramatically illustrated by today's system for producing and selling food. Over the past year I've heard increasing news of contaminated chain store m eat milk, and other basic foodstuffs. This comes as no surprise, because 1 know the average comestible consumed in the U S. now travels 1400 miles from production to palate When truckers have more interaction with food than farmers, how can we expect anything but bland farrago to reach our gullets? Today’s stores don't specialize tn food They sell gas. Lord, 1 feel like a lone voice crying m the wilderness, just another 'w h in e r in the eyes of those status quo elders who foresake divine love amidst the lust for revenue. When discussing my moral concern for native ecology, I've heard the same seniors who taught me in Sunday school use the instant freeze dried reasoning of 'th ere will always be trade-offs'. Again and again, this twisted logic has been hawked by the powerful economic interests who control society. Fbr most of the year, people fashion this false lcgic into the crux of human thinking; then, on select occasions, we don our gay Sunday apparel, sacrifice a few tax deductable tokens in exchange for institutional victuals, and toast a public sacrament of piety fit for film. Believing we can truck away accountability for our greed wrought actions, we hump it all on your shoulders; then wassail in that comfy 'Kodak moment' of moneyed prosperity Deliver us from this fake grace ex's i <ro In my family. Spirit is understood mostly within the context of the Judeo- Christian tradition. Karlier this evening we ate dinner with a friend who is a local cantor As I explored with him the Jewish n te of Hanukkah. I was impressed with its interwoven themes of resourcefulness, illumination, and miraculous destiny. We must return to these themes in today's time of dwindling resources, when we are broken from the bounty of the land. Fbr another week I will rechargB myself away from the wilted dispirited notions of modern commercialism, in community with family and fnends here in Cannon Beach. As I savor the local flavors of salmon jerky and marionberry cobbler. I'm learning that here, as in Appalachia, the joys of bioregion reflect a native gpnius of life. Call this the Sheklnah, the Holy Spirit, or by some other name - I call it here, with passion, to guide the business dealing? of our everyday lives I know It is truly you who I call for assistance. Please lift these words upwards into the light of heaven, so God will replace the cruel hump of Mammon with wonders like Haystack Rock. Then surely the Shekmah will descend upon our workdays, and jnake each one holy once more. A tu tU H t The Cannon Ik »rt» I im A Compan) A Thr Cannon B rxh Chambtr t l ( wntTwrc* ‘• / T i c PERFECT Cannon Beach Gift Bits & Pieces A BOOK OF KJFAO BY 239 I 'annen ‘Reach Outdoor Wear Wemfocf^ • Cannon ‘Reach • 436-2R32 Open 10-5 daify im un mt btttro m R axbaaa G xay lu.k'S TX A TH ) BY N e x t ( 9 ) C annon B kath Ax r a n • r All proceed« »re jiven to the Canni<i Reach Children'» Cent« eStill only $10 •r— * .