- ‘■Tfa- Dear Uncle Mike, I’m a happily m arried woman seriously considering divorce. Two years ago, I m arried a wonderful man. It was the second marriage for both of us and we went into it with the idea it would be our last. My husband has a daughter from his first marriage. She was sixteen when her father and I got together and she’s now twenty-one. The two of us would probably never be the best of friends, but our relationship was basically a good one. She moved away to go to school ju st before her father and I got married. The past two years have been everything I’d hoped for. I love my husband very much and we are happier together than I ever imagined I could be with anyone. The problem is his daughter. The relationship she was in fell apart (I can understand why) and she moved back hom e three m onths ago “to get back on her feet” and our life has gone to hell. She has a good job as a waitress in a nice restaurant and makes good money. She has never contributed a penny to the household. Money was never mentioned when she moved in because she was pretty badly shaken up. Although it wasn’t what I wanted, I understood she needed som e help and I was perfectly willing to give it. I’m not willing to be a sucker and th a t’s what I’m feeling like. I’m beginning to see a side of my husband I’m not comfortable with at all. He makes excuses for her behavior - she rarely lifts a finger, stays out late and brings dates home to “kick back” in her room. She m akes a point of being nice to me but I overheard her telling someone on th e phone th a t “Dad’s really cool and his wife is okay but she gets on my nerves." I told my husband about it and he dismissed it as normal behavior between step daughters and step moms. I don’t think living under someone’s roof and eating their food and cutting them behind their back is normal. I think she’s turned into a conniving little m anipulator who’s got her father wrapped around her finger. She can be very charming. My husband and I have begun arguing about her and it’s beginning to have a negative effect on our relationship. He says she’ll move out eventually. I can’t see why she would. I w ould appreciate your thoughts and any suggestions you have for resolving this before I leave h er the house and her father. JoAnne Paul Torian December 8 - January 5 ArtSpace Gallery in Bay City C annon B each In Coaster Theater Courtyard (Established 1977 Paul Torian has lived in the Nehalem Valley for about 15 years. He lives close to the Acey Line thin and has been up there to observe what's been happening. He's very concerned about forest issues and those issues have been a focus of his art (assemblages, sculpture, paintings and drawings) almost forever. Paul is also a Viet Nam vet who is skeptical about the motives underlying the current conflict...and of course the Gulf War. Torian s work has consistently explored the tension between industrial society and its impact on the natural world. Images combine familiar evocations of nature, especially massive tree trunks, counterpoised with equally fam iliar images of industry gears, tools, industrial machinery. Paintings and drawings from the last year have a lighter quality, incorporating translucent color which creates its own tension—an emotional lightness that belies the intensity o f the drawn images beneath the paint. Featuring Northwest, California & Imported W ines Collector W ines Through Current Vintages Featuring Over 1000 Wines W ine Racks, Glasses, & W ine Related Items Wine Tasting Every Saturday Afternoon 1-5 PM Different W ines From Around the World Each W eek _ Besides drawings and paintings, this show w ill present for the first time examples of Torian’s "gas pump" series— antique gas pumps burnished, painted and supplemented with images that evoke the connection between oil consumption and current events. Torian has been working on the pump series since 1991 and the Gulf War. Open 11AM-5PM - Closed Tuesdays 436-1100 124 N. Hemlock, P.O. Box 995 Cannon Beach, OR 97110 Opening Reception Saturday, Dec. 8, 3 - 6 pm ArtSpace Gallery Hwy 101 and 5th St., Bay City, Oregon Gallery hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12 to 8 pm, and Sundays 11 to 4 pm. ArtSpace includes not only the gallery, but a café serving great food. Reservations are recommended for 77 Dear JoAnne, The situation you describe is what family counselors call a dog th a t won’t hunt. While it’s hard to get a clear take on reality from your perspective alone, I’d say the young woman needs to find her own place; if only to escape very probable violence at your hands. Uncle Mike has been accused in the past of defending the failings of young women m ore rigorously th an he defends the failings of young men. Being a man, Uncle Mike merely finds the ill behavior of young m en less interesting and charming. Familiarity can and does breed contem pt. Which brings us back to the young wom an squatting unpleasantly in your life. If she is able, as it sounds th at she is, to afford even a fourth floor walk-up with a bath down the hall, she needs to pack her stuffed anim als and get to stepping. Even am ong parents and children, there are rules of hospitality. She is, by your description, laughing in the face of them . Since she is behaving, not like family, but like a privileged guest, she needs to be let know her privileges have nearly expired. You m ention no children of your own. W hatever is, is right. While you’re having second thoughts about your husband for standing by his daughter in an unsettled tim e of her life, you m ight thank w hatever powers you believe in for being m arried to a m an who will. There are m any character flaws greater than this; lack of patience and com passion being two of them . dinner and can be made by calling 503/377-2782. Bay City is located five miles north of Tillamook. Presents: The Annual Docents Show ttw W 6 -io« C r o i s s a n t s t e r n hite I b ts s tm S o u ? I SRU0R1E5 uiu > im & The Cannon Beach Arts Association is a non-profit m ultidisciplinary arts organization run almost entirely by volunteers. During the m onth of December the work of m any volunteers, them selves artists, will be showcased in the Cannon Beach Gallery. Included are m any local favorites. hemukk MlBTOWN CANNON BEACH December 8th - December 31st, 2001 Opening reception Saturday, Dec. 8th, from 6-8pm visca-server. com ****** Dear Uncle Mike, A m onth ago I m et a guy at a dance club and wound up going hom e with him. It was the first one night stand I’ve ever done. It seem ed okay at th e tim e but he keeps calling me and wanting to hang out. He’s nice but I’m not interested and he won’t give up. He lives a hundred m iles away and last week he drove down and showed up where I w o rk I feel like I’m being stalked. W hat do I do? I don’t w ant to be mean but I’ve tried everything else. Nicole W eb H osting @ $957Y éar Dear Nicole, Uncle Mike will begin with the assum ption the young m an is not a sociopath. Surprising you at work does not, by itself, qualify as stalking. It does qualify as unacceptably annoying behavior. Uncle Mike would first recom mend not confusing being honest with being mean. If you haven’t told the poor mope you’re not interested in furthering, o r even continuing, the relationship, you really should. Being honest isn’t being mean, it’s being honest. In any case, when he calls, you m ust be “ju st heading out the door.” If he shows up, you m ust “be busy” or “already have a date with a friend.” Cooling his ardor isn’t being mean; it’s being kind. He’s obviously deeply sm itten with you and the only way he’s going to wake from his impossible dream is tty being sm itten by someone else. Giving him th at opportunity is an act of com passion. U7 "Back to Black...D raw n to Painting... A Form ula on P ast and R ecen t E vents" a showing of work by Oregon coast artist Cannon Beach Gallery 1064 S. Hemlock Cannon Beach, OR (503) 436-0744 Open Thursday - M onday 9:30am - 4pm We are proud to be hosting the A V A G a lle ry presents: upperleftedge.com A showing of Outsider Art Passionate Outsider domain. Featuring: info: Roger McKay, Michael De Waide Jerry Harley, Roger Hayes Diane Pile, John Holstein, Paul Evalt And Representatives of Seattle’s Garde Rail Gallery http:ffvisca-server.comfhosting fengf ****** lou@visca. com ****** Running through December AVA Gallery 108 10th Street, Astoria we 7 c 7 /wcMwe iL L A M o o k H ead ES o o k ' s NEW U SE D B O O K 5 -J P E C IA L ORDERS 150 A ve .U, S e a s id e ' 77W7 77667 77?«* 977V5 SOARING CRANE GALLERY Ground floor Inn at Cape Khvanda 1-877-397-8444 Pacific City We must make our world honest before we can honestly say to our children that honesty Is the best policy. —George Bernard Shaw /ft (yfteje (77 76-tv 67t>,./7M 37¿73-6 6 7 7 w w w .n w b y n w g a lle r y .c o m 77777 /5 0 3 /S 7 3 -6679 “My favorite spot to wander is Northwest By Northwest Gallery with it’s extensive collection of exquisite works by regional artists.” J im P a a r 4 When you are In a hole, stop digging. — Denis Healey i/P(V(?ierreDGe DecenseR 200) K in o w c u u a r r ic e C annon K a cm H ox • Northwest Travel, July/August 1999 3 8 2 , O R 9 7 1 IO F H O N I SO 3 • 4 3 6 * 2 3 5« Pacific Northwest Contemporary Fine Art & Fine Craft Celebrating 14* Year in Cannon Beach PO. Box 1021 • 239 North Hemlock • 503-4364)741