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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 18, 2015)
GRAB BAG book shelf • glimpse • wildlife • pop culture • words • q&a • food • fun Nap Fort They agreed because, well, they relished the idea of two hours at the beach during the middle of the school day and eating free Subway sandwiches courtesy of their teacher. On the bus to Fort Stevens Sate Park, I struck up a conversation with Rooper, the 20-year veteran driver. “I’ve taken kids everywhere,” he said, “but never to build driftwood forts.” He said it with a smile. He was one of us. I promised him a sandwich. As we neared the park, I started outlining the trip’s itinerary when a student raised his hand and said, “Mr. Love, can we just go to the beach and see what happens and build what we want?” I waited 1.5 seconds before answering. “Yes.” There should nev- er be an agenda when building a driftwood fort. That’s the whole point. Nothing like a kid wearing his baseball cap sideways who has never built a fort to remind the Master. By they way, 13 out of the 15 students on the trip had never built one and they all live 15 miles from the ocean. We hit the beach, and all unfolded as it should. Two diff erent teams built two totally diff erent forts: One was for a nap, the other for a party. At one point, I was building the roof of the nap fort when a stu- dent asked, “What happens when you’re building one of these and it collapses?” “It never does,” I said. I turned to another student who was weav- ing a beaver stick into the roof and asked, “And why is that?” “Because we worked together to leverage all the diff erent shapes in the wood to make the fort sturdy,” he said. “Yes,” I said. He then climbed inside the fort, closed his eyes, and started taking a nap. It looked pretty restful in there. I had only one stipulation: the students in my English Credit Recovery class at Astoria High School had to address me as Mas- ter Fort Shredder for the duration of our fi eld trip to build drift- wood forts. Matt Love is the author/editor of 13 books about Oregon. They are available at coastal bookstores and through www.nestuccaspitpress.com Photo by Matt Love Contributor Matt Love built a nap fort in Fort Stevens State Park with his Astoria High School English Credit Recovery class. A G LIMPSE I NSIDE An occasional feature by MATT LOVE NW >{rNԥ@ natural predators, the South- ern Resident orca population that navigates the waters off Washington state and British Columbia were nonetheless added to the U.S. Endangered Species list in 2005, due to dwindling food supplies, pollution and other factors noun 1. Orcinus orca: a black- and-white, toothed sea mammal of the oceanic dolphin family and the only surviving member of the genus Orcinus. Commonly re- ferred to as the “killer whale,” they have also been called “blackfi sh” and “grampus” at various times. Found in every ocean, adult males can grow up to 30 feet long and weigh upwards of 4 tons. Though considered an apex predator, feasting on fi sh and other sea mammals with no known Origin: Around 1865. New Latin by way of Latin. The ancient Romans fi rst recorded orca in C.E. 16, meaning a kind of whale, and possibly arising from the Greek ȡȣȟ which referred to a type of pick-ax used for digging as well as a great fi sh. Negative conno- tation has long followed the blackfi sh as orca shares the same root as Orcus, the Latin word for “Hell,” from which ogre is also speculated to rise from. Enters English as orc in the late 16th century also referring to a large whale word nerd By RYAN HUME Orca and French as orque, which had been used to describe a sea monster. By 1841, the ge- neric term “killer whale” had been introduced and would become the go-to name for English-speaking scientists for more than the next hundred years. It has only been since the 1960s that term orca has reemerged as the preferred nomenclature due in part to diminish the negativity associated with “killer,” but also because the species is more closely related to the dolphin than to other whales. “The ‘killer’ whale — a numerous species in North Atlantic waters, as well as in the Pacifi c — is a far more dangerous animal than any shark, if interfered with by man. It is a true whale, and therefore a mammal and not a fi sh. Sharks are stu- pid creatures, but the ‘killer’ is extremely intelligent and cunning. It will not eat a man (so far as known), but, if pursued, it will turn upon a boat and smash it to E V E N T S : Su m m ertim e Rosé Ju ne 20th , 1-4pm W in es for Su m m er BBQ Ju ne 27th , 1-4pm Su m m ertim e Fa vorites Ju ly 3, 1-4pm O regon P in ot N oir #3 Ju ly 11th , 1-4pm V oted #1 W IN E SH O P T ext “the cellar” to 24587 1004 M a rin e D rive, for a virtual Astoria , O regon tour of the shop 503. 325.6600 Reader’s C h oice CO 2 Refills Tu esd a y-Sa tu rd a y 10a m - 5:30pm w w w .thecella ron 10th.com pieces in less than no time.” —Rena Bache, “Sea Monsters Far Dead- lier Than Sharks,” The Sunday Oregonian, Aug. 27, 1916, Magazine Section, P. 2 “After ‘Free Willy’s’ worldwide success (it cost $19 million to make the movie, which has grossed $153 million so far), the real-life plight of Keiko the orca hooked public interest as well. “‘Free Willy’ was completed while screenwriter Keith Walker was playing Dad in Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Goonies’ — fi lmed in Astoria in 1985.” —Paul Duchene, “Fate binds ‘Willy’ and Oregon,” The Oregonian, Wednesday, July 19, 1995, P. E03 “A fake orca brought in to scare sea lions from the port in Astoria, Oregon instead fl ipped over, fi lled with water, nearly sank and didn’t do a thing to rid the town of the animals, which locals say are basically the worst visitors ever.” —Ed Mazza, “Sea lions are so not afraid of the fake orca sent to scare them off ,” The Huffi ngton Post, Monday, June 8, 2015, http://www.huffi ngtonpost. com/2015/06/08/fake-orca-fail-sea-li- ons_n_7532692.html O rg a n ica lly g ro w n flo w ers Ed ib les • Ca n n a -b u tter Co o kin g Oils • Tin ctu res Concentra tes: Sha tter, Cru m ble W a x, H on eycom b P re-filled oil cartridges & pens now available O ur bra nds include: O rgon e • PO P N a tu ra ls • L u n chbox M AD F a rm s • Gold en X TRX • Ba k ed by Coco • a n d others Profession a l, courteous, frien dly service N ow pre-order on lin e! (cu rren t pa tien ts): thefa rm a cy420.co m 2911 M a rin e D rive • Asto ria 503.325.3276 June 18, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 27
