OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015
Essential memories of a Chinook friend
will be preserved by seashells
C
ertain objects are loaded
with power. Nobody really
understands why. But only a
pedantically rational fool would
deny that they do.
Certain seashells are among
my “objects of power” and
thinking of them this morning
makes me a little teary.
Important
items
are
married in
our minds
with
the
people who
gave them
to us, or
the places
Matt
or
events
Winters
where we
acquired them. Mainly, this
force dies when we do —
once death robs it of context, a
parent’s beloved memento can
be transformed into garbage or
a trinket sold on eBay for $5.
Other times, some essential
aspect of recollection seems to
cling to a humble object, as if a
strong emotion has soaked into
its molecular structure. There is
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that has survived several garage
cleanings because I know it
symbolized something for my
mom. I have little idea what
— possibly it once contained
a gift from my father. Though
intrinsically worthless, it glows
with a faint tracery of memory
that preserves it from the
Dumpster, for now.
Seashells: Worthless husks
of calcium carbonate, the
exoskeletons of mollusks.
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I picked up during an idle
circumnavigation of faraway
Gili Trawangan island a lifetime
ago. I paid $15 for a polished
abalone shell when my daughter
was a baby and we were on a
cheap vacation in Mexico. My
red-haired Aunt Lucille bought
me an exotic South Seas shell
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what I wouldn’t give for one
of her laughing hugs, a force
shield to keep sadness at bay.
(I bet there’s a child in your
family who would love one
right this moment, though they
may pretend otherwise.)
Palomar College
DAMIAN MULINIX — EO Media Group
Newly elected Chinook Tribal Chairman Ray Gardner told of how his people used Chinook Cove, locat-
ed to the west of Fort Columbia on the Long Beach (Wash.) Peninsula, as a place to beach their canoes
during rough weather for literally thousands of years. The tribe continues to use the little hideaway for
their annual salmon ceremony each June.
over the noisy play of children
outside his home of massive
cedar planks. But even this
echo from long ago rests on
far-earlier foundations —
life after life after life, all
celebrated and suffered on this
same glorious river bank.
Objects from these nearly
forgotten lives — may 80 or
100 centuries’ worth — are
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Wood and shell items exposed
to our weather melt away
like snow. Masterpieces of
Columbia estuary civilization
may crisscross the ground
deep beneath our ignorant
feet, surviving only as
ghostly shapes formed by
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blow away before our eyes if
brought into the light of day.
Arrogant white traders are
said to have unloaded tons
of cheap blue beads upon
the Chinooks and Clatsops,
though nary a one was found
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Middle Village. I will always
cherish the ones Ray gave me
on that lovely blessing day, but
am at the same time amused
to think of how the Chinook
chief giving beads to white
men turns a historical cliché
on its head. (People wonder
about the fascination with blue
beads, but they were a time-
honored English charm against
respiratory ailments, which
in Comcomly’s time were
decimating our Chinookan
blessing of Middle Village. It
was a patented early-spring
afternoon on the North Shore,
sun eventually transitioning
into almost icy sleet not long
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Columbia River day, strong
and varied.
The Chinook Indian Nation
chairman, along with honored
elder Charles Funk, built a
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village site, the sacred smoke
carried to the four corners of
the wind and earth, healing
a peace so long disturbed by
sour discord, construction
and disturbance in a place
still inhabited by the dreams
and bones of ancestors.
Words were spoken, eloquent
words, but they are woven
into that moment in time and
I won’t dilute their strength by
repeating them here.
This was, an archaeologist
believes, one of the homes
of Chief Comcomly, the only
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modern-day locals can name.
That knowledge evokes a
t was June 12, 2011, a vision of a morning 200
little past 1 p.m. when Ray years past, traders from many
Gardner gave dentalia shells nations offering gold and guns
and beads to the handful of us for sea otter and beaver pelts,
so lucky to be invited to the vying for the chief’s attention
I
This is the daughter of Ameri-
can Horse of the Oglala Sioux.
Her dress is covered with den-
talia shells as a sign of wealth.
She is also wearing a necklace
of larger longitudinally perforat-
ed cylindrical beads, most likely
made of conch shell or bone.
Dentalia like these are still ob-
jects of power in traditional Na-
tive American culture.
Submitted Photo
Comcomly’s tomb; engraving after Alfred Thomas Agate.
All this is an illustration
neighbors. Perhaps wise
of
the torn reality of life after
Comcomly noticed they didn’t
work and wouldn’t take them.) a loved one has died — a
transition so fundamental
y friend Ray Gardner and wrenching that even
died this week. In olden something so basic as our
times, his relatives would have names must change to
tied dentalia to his body. They encompass the loss.
would have placed him in his
As with all too many of my
good canoe, Itsxut, the Black friends, it had been far too
Bear, and raised it up into the long since I sat and shared
trees, painted and with two stories and salmon with Ray.
holes made in its stern.
In the years still ahead, I will
“The people go down to sometimes take his dentalia
the beach and wash and comb from the box where I keep
themselves. They cut their hair small and vivid memories.
— men, women, and children. His smile will appear in my
After they have cut their hair, mind’s eye. We will speak of
they take other names. Women, times gone by and generations
men, and children change their to come, and of one afternoon
names. Then the dentalia of bathed in sacred smoke.
the deceased are distributed,”
—MSW
Matt Winters is editor and pub-
according to the old funeral
SUDFWLFHV UHFRUGHG LQ lisher of the Chinook Observer
and Coast River Business Journal.
by Columbia University He lives in Ilwaco, Wash., with his
ethnologist Franz Boas.
wife and daughter.
M
Open forum
Preserve Merwyn
I
n The Daily Astorian’s editorial
of Jan. 27, “At what cost?” the
writer first chided preservationists
categorically and then asked sever-
al questions. An important question
was omitted: Is it necessary to raze
the Merwyn in order to expand the
library? No.
The Merwyn structure offers
interesting spaces, a handsome
facade, a solid foundation, and
“good bones.” A visionary ar-
chitect would welcome the chal-
lenge to incorporate the facade
and existing ground floor (and
perhaps basement) into a de-
sign for the larger library. What
would be the wisdom in sacri-
ficing this historic structure in
order to incur the expense of
starting with a new, deep hole in
the ground?
There are also solutions for li-
brary expansion that need not have
any involvement with the small
piece of land on which the Merwyn
sits. There are smart design options
that incorporate the Merwyn, and
others that leave it alone.
What does preserve the Mer-
wyn mean? To this preservation-
ist, it means to rehab and retain
the visible exterior in largely the
original configuration, and to save
and adapt the interior volumes and
materials in a manner that provides
for the building’s effective use at a
business-worthy cost.
Who would raise the money?
The very group of preservationists
that the editorial disparages has
participated with dedication and
persistence in many of the worthy
projects cited. Reinvigorating the
Merwyn could be a public/private
development if the library chose to
expand into the main levels, with
productive live/work deployment
of the upper floors, or a private
development with functions syner-
gistic with both the City Hall and
library.
With or without the library’s
direct participation, the city’s role
in resurrecting the Merwyn is crit-
ical. If a mixed-use or related use
receives encouragement from the
city, this writer is one preserva-
tionist who would be excited to
invest in such an opportunity. But
first the Merwyn must be allowed
to remain standing.
How does the drive to preserve
the Merwyn rank with the drive
to reclaim the Astoria Armory
and the Performing Arts Center?
The Merwyn must overcome two
barriers to success. One, the vi-
sion and money must come from
a private investor, and two, the
city must be convinced not to de-
T HE
D AILY A STORIAN
Founded in 1873
stroy the existing structure. By
contrast, the Armory and PAC are
not in physical jeopardy.
And finally, we preservationists
are encouraged that the new city
council members are listening to
constituents and asking questions.
It is our hope that the new council
may choose to consider options that
promote both the library expansion
and redesign, and the saving of the
historic Merwyn. Together we can
do both.
TED K. OSBORN
Astoria
Resign now
T
oday, I am deeply ashamed to
be an Oregonian. After Gov.
Kitzhaber’s press conference on
his fiancée, there are so many
questions and too few answers.
And he dares joke at a time like
this? For instance, The Oregonian
has said, “Documents show that
Hayes was more than just an ‘ad-
viser’ to Kitzhaber. She directed
other governor’s staff, attended
staff meetings, and had the authori-
ty to instruct agency officials to do
tasks for her initiatives. Kitzhaber
and his staff have said repeatedly
that they consider her a public offi-
cial under Oregon’s laws. Howev-
er, Kitzhaber has never explained
his thought process in allowing her
to be paid to promote essentially
the same agenda that she was pur-
suing while a member of his of-
fice.” (“Cylvia Hayes scandal: Top
questions John Kitzhaber hasn’t
answered,” Jan. 30)
I have no respect for this gover-
nor or his office. He should imme-
diately resign.
RONALD WALL
Astoria
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