OPINION
4A
Founded in 1873
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
Central School block is
a strategic opportunity
A
Important for the City Council
to build consensus
t a time when the demand for housing is high in Astoria, the
opportunity to develop an entire city block is especially timely.
In Astoria, if you stand in
the same place long enough, a
certain turn of events will come
around again. In the late 1980s,
the Astoria School District
razed Central School, originally
called Lewis and Clark School.
Some 16 years later, a private
developer proposed to put that
full city block into housing.
Not surprisingly at that time,
adjacent property owners —
who had become used to open
space — were anxious, and they
raised concerns. The economic
downturn curtailed the project.
Now a new developer pro-
poses housing on the Central
School block. And he does so at
a time when Astoria’s housing
vacancy rate is approaching or
effectively at zero.
Edward Stratton reported in
last Tuesday’s edition that the
site’s neighbors are in the pro-
cess of consolidating their con-
cerns. It is equally important
that city planners and the City
Council develop a consensus on
what can happen with a site of
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It is easy to get hung up on
rules and miss the big picture.
That is why the concept of per-
formance zoning appeared in
the 1970s. The idea was to de-
velop a desired outcome and
then modify the rules to achieve
that goal.
This is an opportunity for
more housing, as well as an op-
portunity for innovation.
Timber merger will
cement arrogance
S
Combined company will be nation’s
largest private landowner
tudying
a
map
of
Weyerhaeuser and Plum
Creek’s timberland ownership is
like trying to read tea leaves in
an effort to discern the future of
forest communities. Across large
swaths of rural America, the pro-
posed merger of these huge land-
owners will have very tangible
consequences.
Post-merger, the combined
company will be the nation’s larg-
est private landowner.
Weyco’s Doyle Simons will be
president and CEO, while Plum
Creek’s Rick Holley, who is near-
ing retirement, will continue in
a leadership position as non-ex-
ecutive chairman, according to
Barron’s magazine.
“The deal is a testament to
Weyerhaeuser’s transformation
under Simons in the past two
years and his drive to unlock val-
ue,” Barron’s gushes. If regula-
tors OK the deal, “Plum Creek’s
expertise in real estate and opti-
mizing land values” will be ben-
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analysts expect the combined
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million annually in what are eu-
phemistically called “hard syner-
gies” — cost savings in the form
of layoffs and other cuts in oper-
ating expenses.
From a purely capitalistic
standpoint, shareholders will see
more money squeezed from the
company’s more than 13 million
acres. This will include incre-
mental gains for all who carry
a sliver of Weyco-Plum Creek
stock in their retirement portfo-
lios. Employees who survive the
merger will likely be more secure
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its global competitiveness.
For local communities, the pro-
cess of “unlocking value” prom-
ises to continue Weyerhaeuser’s
march away from paying any-
thing more than lip service to cor-
porate citizenship. In northwest
Montana, where Plum Creek has
large holdings, this sparks con-
cerns about having to pay for rec-
reational land access — a policy
much beloved by Weyco.
This is a long way from the
Weyco’s postwar advertising
as “the tree-growing compa-
ny.” Weyco’s switch to the real
estate investment trust form of
organization minimizes federal
tax payments while increasingly
turning forests into fungible as-
sets, easily sold or converted to
other purposes. With the popula-
tion expected to rapidly increase
west of the Cascades this century,
Weyco will doubtless maximize
SUR¿WVE\FRQYHUWLQJVRPHODQGV
LQWKH&ROXPELD3DFL¿FUHJLRQWR
housing. There are communities
in which this will be welcome
— a growing population needs
more housing. Such transforma-
tive land-use changes should be
decided upon by local citizens
DQGDJHQFLHVEXWWKH\ZLOO¿QGLW
GLI¿FXOWWRFRQWHVWSURSRVDOVE\D
corporate behemoth.
(For a historical perspective
on these timber companies, see
George Ochenski’s column in
The Missoulian: tinyurl.com/nsr-
97wr.)
Weyerhaeuser is already so big
it effectively doesn’t care what
anybody thinks. The long history
of concentrating land ownership
in fewer hands strongly suggests
that such arrogance will be fur-
ther cemented by this marriage
between two giants of America’s
corporate “landed gentry.” There
will a relentless focus on the bot-
tom line, forest access will be re-
stricted, workers will be squeezed
and state legislatures will comply
with what Weyco wants.
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015
Trump, meet a Syrian
refugee named Heba
me, pointing down at the
far simpler for the Islamic
tight jeans she was wear-
6WDWH WR LQ¿OWUDWH WKH 86
ing as we spoke, “my head
by dispatching European
passport holders (like those
ESBOS, Greece — Ben would come off.” She of-
fered
a
hollow
laugh.
who carried out the Paris
Carson has compared Syrian
I spoke to her after she
attacks) on tourist visas, or
refugees to rabid dogs. Donald left her mother and sib-
just use supporters who are
Trump says that he would send lings behind in Syria (her
already U.S. citizens.
The anti-refugee legis-
father died years ago of
them back.
lation
that overwhelming-
QDWXUDO
FDXVHV
DQG
ÀHG
Who are these Syrian refugee
ly passed the U.S. House
with a handful of relatives
Nicholas
monsters who terrify U.S. politicians? on a perilous journey to
of Representatives would
Kristof
Meet Heba, a frightened, desper- Turkey, then on a danger-
effectively end the intake
ate 20-year-old woman who dreams ously overcrowded boat to this Greek even of Christians and Yazidis who
of being an artist and has just made island. I took Heba and her relatives have been particularly targeted by the
a perilous escape from territory con- to a dinner of pizza — Western food extremists.
trolled by the Islamic State in north- is banned by the Islamic State — and
In person, Syrian refugees are less
ern Syria.
as we walked to the pizzeria she made scary than scared. Heba wouldn’t al-
She was detained
a game of pointing low me to use her last name or publish
two months ago with
all the pass- her photo for fear of getting her fam-
Ben Carson out
her sister by Islam-
ers-by who would ily in trouble, and she cannot contact
ic State enforcers
decapitated by her mother for the same reason. (I’m
and Donald be
because her sister’s
the Islamic State for not mentioning the town she lived in
baby girl had too Trump, Heba
improper dress, con- EHFDXVHVKH¶VWHUUL¿HGWKDWWKH,VODPLF
short a skirt — even
sorting with the op- State might try to identify and punish
is neither a posite sex or sundry her family for her escape and for her
though the baby was
candor to a Western journalist.)
just 3 months old.
other offenses.
rabid dog
Really, Ben Carson, you want to
“That was crazy,”
“It’s a million
Heba said, shaking nor a crazed
percent difference,” compare this freedom-loving woman
her head. “This was
she exulted of life in to a rabid dog?
an infant!”
terrorist but the West. “Once you Donald Trump, when you said of
Heba says she
leave that area, you Syrian refugees, “If I win, they’re
and her sister ar- a desperate
feel so good. Your going back,” do you really intend to
gued that infant girls
whole body relaxes.” deport Heba back to the Islamic State
young
should have a little
Americans are WREHÀRJJHGRUGHFDSLWDWHG"
Heba is fed up with violence and
leeway in showing
u
n
derstandably
woman
skin, and eventually
afraid of terrorism extremism — but now in the West
the family was let off
after the Paris at- she encounters a new kind of political
whose life
with a warning.
tacks, and that fear is extremism that targets refugees like
is on the
But Heba, strong-
channeled at Syrian KHU7KHVH6\ULDQUHIXJHHV¿QGWKHP-
willed and self-con-
refugees. So pander- selves accused of potentially being
line.
¿GHQW SHUKDSV KDG
ing politicians por- WKHWHUURULVWVWKH\ÀHH
“We have no connection to terror-
been too outspoken
tray the refugees as
or too sarcastic, and the police then menaces whom the vetting process is LVP´VKHWROGPHP\VWL¿HGWKDWDQ\-
cast a critical eye on her clothing. unable to screen out, and Americans one could fear her. “We’re running
She was covering even her hands and by nearly 2 to 1 oppose President away from all that.”
Heba showed me her abaya, which
face, but the authorities complained Barack Obama’s plan to admit 10,000
she keeps in her backpack. She says
that her abaya cloak wasn’t loose Syrians over a year.
enough to turn her into a black puff
In fact, despite the impressions left she never wants to wear it again, so I
that concealed her form. The police by U.S. politicians and by the Islam- asked why she doesn’t discard it.
“I’m scared,” she admitted. “If
detained her for hours until her fami- ic State, Syrians are in general more
O\EDLOHGKHURXWE\SD\LQJD¿QH educated and middle class than many they send us back, I will need it.”
Ben Carson and Donald Trump,
Heba was lucky, for other women other people in the region, and the
KDYHEHHQÀRJJHGIRUYLRODWLQJFORWK- women more empowered. Heba’s as- Heba is neither a rabid dog nor a
ing rules. Her sister saw a woman pirations to be an artist aren’t unusual. crazed terrorist but a desperate young
stoned to death after being accused of
Security concerns are legitimate, woman whose life is on the line. Let’s
adultery.
but the refugee screening is a rigor- drop the fearmongering and let Heba
“If I were wearing this,” Heba told ous two-year process. It would be cast away that abaya forever.
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF
New York Times News Service
L
Tales of the super survivors
By DAVID BROOKS
New York Times News Service
T
he age of terror is an age of
shocks. Individuals, fami-
lies and whole societies get torn
apart by unexpected stabbings,
shootings and bombings.
It’s horrible,
of course, but
over the past
few years the
¿QGLQJVRIDFD-
demic research
into the effects
of these trau-
mas have shift-
David
ed in a more
Brooks
positive direc-
tion. Human
beings are more resilient than we’d
earlier thought. Many people bounce
back from hard knocks and ex-
perience surges of post-traumatic
growth.
,Q WKH ¿UVW SODFH SRVWWUDXPDWLF
stress disorder rates are lower than
many of us imagine. According to a
study by the Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention, only about 13
SHUFHQWRIWKH¿UVWUHVSRQGHUVRQ
had symptoms that would qualify as a
stress disorder. Only about 13 percent
of the people who saw the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks in person experienced
PTSD in the next six months. The best
general rule for all of society seems to
be that at least 75 percent of the peo-
ple who experience a life-threatening
or violent event emerge without a
stress disorder.
Even many of those who are un-
lucky enough to fall victim to the
horrific pain of PTSD are able to
recover and rebuild better lives.
These are people you sometimes
meet who have experienced the
worst in life but still radiate love
and joy. They get to live a second
life and correct the mistakes they
made before the earthquake shook
everything loose.
As Philip A. Fisher, a Universi-
ty of Oregon psychology professor,
noted in an email, the big back-
ground factor that nurtures resilience
is unconditional love. The people
who survive and rebound from trau-
ma frequently had an early caregiver
The people
who survive
and rebound
from trauma
frequently
had an early
caregiver
who pumped
unshakable
love into
them, and that
built a rock of
inner security
they could
stand on for
the rest of
their lives.
who pumped unshakable love into
them, and that built a rock of inner
security they could stand on for the
rest of their lives.
There are some foreground fac-
tors, too, traits super survivors tend to
have that enable them to come back
stronger then ever. These people are
often deluded in good ways about
their own abilities, but completely
realistic about their situations. That
is to say, they have positive illusions
about their own talents, and an op-
timist’s faith in their own abilities
to control the future. But they have
no illusions about the world around
them. They accept what they have
lost quickly. They see problems
clearly. They work hard. Work is the
reliable cure for sorrow.
Recovering from trauma is main-
ly an exercise in storytelling. As
Richard Tedeschi, a psychology
professor at the University of North
Carolina at Charlotte, has pointed
out, trauma is a shock that ruptures
the central story that you thought
was your life. The recurring patterns
that make up life are disrupted. The
sense of safety is lost. Having faced
death, people in these circumstances
are forced to confront the elemental
questions of life.
But some people are able to write
a new story. As Tedeschi writes,
post-traumatic growth comes not
from the event but from the struggle
afterward to write a new story that
imagines a life better than before.
Researchers have found that people
who thrive after a shock are able to
tell clear, forward-looking stories
about themselves, while those who
don’t thrive get stuck ruminating
darkly about the past.
Book 1 is life before the event.
Book 2 is the event that shattered the
old story. But Book 3 is reintegra-
tion, a reframing new story that in-
corporates what happened and then
points to a more virtuous and mean-
ingful life than the one before.
These are intensely moral nar-
ratives that describe a life of higher
purpose. Viktor Frankl survived the
Holocaust and concluded that those
who could best survive the camps
were those who could satisfy their
hunger for lives of meaning. Even if
they were suffering, they could di-
rect their attention toward those they
loved and those they would serve in
their future lives.
Frankl, who went on to become a
professor of neurology and psychia-
try, cited Nietzsche’s dictum that he
who has a why to live for can endure
almost any how. The stories super
survivors tell have two big themes:
optimism and altruism.
It’s interesting that this age of
terrorism calls forth certain practical
skills — the ability to tell stories, the
DELOLW\ WR SKLORVRSKL]H DQG GH¿QH D
meaning to your life. Just as indi-
viduals need moral stories if they
are going to recover, so probably do
nations. France will most likely need
a parable to make sense of what hap-
pened, just as the United States still
has competing parables about the
meaning of 9/11.
This is why foreign policies that
pursue amoral realpolitik are always
impractical. If a country can’t dis-
cern a moral purpose in its foreign
policy, it will lack resilience. It will
lack the capacity to bounce back
from an attack. It will lack a satisfy-
ing narrative and lose the ability to
thrive in terror’s wake.
The good news is there is no rea-
son to be pessimistic during the war
on terrorism. Individuals and societ-
ies are tough and resilient, and usu-
ally emerge from attacks better than
before.