Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 2016)
2 // COASTWEEKEND.COM ‘The Grid’ author Gretchen Bakke How did Lewis, Clark Fort Clatsop? to speak at Clatsop college library pick Author to examine ASTORIA — The Library at Clatsop Community Col- lege will host a reading and discussion by author and former Astorian Gretchen Bakke at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 21. Beer, wine and light snacks will be available. In her new book, “The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future,” Bakke unveils the many facets of America’s electrical grid. An engineering triumph of the 20th century, this omni- present but seldom-noticed apparatus is turning out to be a poor fit for the pres- ent. As power plants and transmission lines continue to age, the number of pow- er outages is increasing, and during these blackouts T he Frank lin A partm ents SUBMITTED PHOTO Former Astorian Gretchen Bakke will speak about her new book “The Grid” on Mon- day, Nov. 21 at Clatsop Com- munity College. money is lost and nation- al security is at risk. But fixing the grid is the least of our problems. “We don’t actually have a good way yet to store electricity, not on a large scale,” Bakke said in a recent interview on NPR’s “Fresh Air.” “We have SUBMITTED PHOTO “The Grid” by Gretchen Bakke. our little batteries in our telephones, for example. And so we think that we have electricity storage. But in fact, for the grid, we don’t.” According to Bakke, we produce far more energy than we can use and far more than the grid can carry. “That’s where we see the grid as this bottleneck between what we’ve got right now and our vision of a renewable-powered future,” she said. “It’s the grid that is the weakest link.” Bakke was born in Portland, grew up in As- toria, and currently lives in Montreal. She holds a Ph.D. from the Universi- ty of Chicago in cultural anthropology and has done research on several failing nations, including the Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia and Cuba. She is a former fellow in Wesleyan University’s Science in Society Program and currently an assistant professor of anthropology at McGill University. Copies of the “The Grid” may be purchased at the CCC bookstore or at the event. For more infor- mation, contact the Clat- sop Community College Library at 503-338-2462 or email at libcirc@clatsopcc. edu S EARCHING FOR I NNER P EACE ? Come meet with us... S UNDAYS 10:30 AM Providing Elegance & Efficiency to D ow ntow n Astoria for O ver 100 Years 1432 Franklin Avenue Easom Property Management, Inc. 503-325-5678 G OD F IRST Astoria Church of Christ 692 12 TH S TREET (T OP OF 12 TH AND G RAND ) A STORIA , OR 97103 B IBLE -B ASED 503.325.7398 WWW .C HURCH O F C HRIST A STORIA . COM WWW . FACEBOOK . COM /A STORIA C HURCHOF C HRIST dramatic story of expedition’s search for a winter camp ASTORIA —Lewis and Clark’s arrival at Fort Clat- sop contains one of the last remaining mysteries of their entire expedition. The events are so confusing that Lewis and Clark authors, from Bernard DeVoto to Stephen Ambrose, skipped over this history in their writings. What we know for sure is this: On Nov. 27, 1805 the Corps of Discovery paddled around the tip of Tongue Point and become stranded there. Ten days later, on Dec. 7, they arrived at the site of Fort Clatsop. These mysterious days will be the topic of the next In Their Footsteps free speaker series event at Lew- is and Clark National His- torical Park’s Fort Clatsop. At 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 20, local author and researcher Rex Ziak will present “‘No account of Capt. Lewis ... I fear Some accident has tak- en place’: The Untold (and Unknown) Dramatic Story of Lewis and Clark’s Search for a Winter Campsite Near the Pacific.” What happened during those 10 days? Why such a long delay at Tongue Point? What was William Clark do- ing all that time, and where did Capt. Lewis go? Did Clark think that Lew- is had been ambushed by In- dians or drowned? And is it true that Lewis had given up on camping near the ocean and was preparing to build a winter camp somewhere near the Cascades? Is it also true that the ex- istence of Fort Clatsop can be attributed not to Lewis or Clark, but instead to the SUBMITTED PHOTO Rex Ziak will speak about Dis- mal Nitch at the next In Their Footsteps lecture on Nov. 20. extraordinary efforts of just one individual? These questions and many more will be explored as this program retrac- es, day by day, this lit- tle-known local Lewis and Clark history. Ziak, who spent a decade in study, revealed these details in 2002 when his book “In Full View” was published. His writing is used today as a source of in- formation by other scholars, including Gary Moulton, who relied on it during a recent project. Three of Ziak’s books including “In Full View” are available from the Lewis & Clark National Park Associ- ation bookstore in the Fort Clatsop visitor center. There will be a book signing at the bookstore following his presentation. This monthly Sunday forum is sponsored by the Lewis & Clark National Park Association and the park. The program will be held in the Netul River Room of Fort Clatsop’s visitor center and is free of charge. For more information, call the park at 503-861- 2471 or check out www.nps. gov/lewi or Lewis and Clark National Historical Park on Facebook.
