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Connect
to
the
Columbia
Native elders, writers to lead story-driven discussion in Astoria
By JON BRODERICK
Some of us sometimes fi nd
ourselves standing alone for
a moment at Clatsop Spit on
the Columbia River shore or
atop the Astoria Column on
Coxcomb Hill, surveying the
estuaries, the tides, the dunes,
forests and mountains from
Cape Disappointment to, on
a clear day, Mount St. Helens
and think to ourselves, “If this
land could talk.”
Well, it sort of can.
The Confl uence Story
Gathering affords a rare op-
portunity to listen to it in the
voices of its indigenous peo-
ple. The gathering takes place
from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday,
Feb. 18 at the Liberty Theatre
in Astoria.
Part of the ongoing
Confl uence Project, the Story
Gathering is a story-driven
discussion, in a welcoming
public forum, with a panel
of native elders and leaders
“designed,” says its executive
director Colin Fogarty, “to
elevate indigenous voices
in our understanding of the
Columbia River system.”
In collaboration with
Northwest tribes, commu-
nities and celebrated artist/
architect Maya Lin, and with
the support of the Oregon
Community Foundation,
says Fogarty, “Confl uence
connects people to place
through art and education.
Most people know us through
a series of six art landscape
installations along the Colum-
bia River system.”
This weekend’s Confl u-
ence Story Gathering follows
the inaugural Story Gathering
held last November at the Ta-
mastslikt Cultural Institute on
the Umatilla Indian Reserva-
tion in Pendleton. Two others
are planned, in Portland and
The Dalles, this spring.
The Story Gatherings
feature video excerpts from
interviews with tribal elders
and leaders. “We wanted to
take these interviews to the
people. These are important
stories that we should hear
and that we should listen to
as a community,” Fogarty
explains.
“This is fun and a long
time coming,” said Umatilla
elder Leah Connor at the fi rst
Story Gathering in November.
There attendees heard
from folks like Johnny
Jackson, Cascade Klikitat,
who grew up fi shing at Celilo
Falls. “That’s when the fi sh
were strong. Not like today.
We used to call them torpe-
does, us kids. The Falls made
them strong.”
The Confl uence Story
Gatherings includes panelists
from different places along
the river so the audience will
have a sense of a people con-
nected by the river. “Bands
were not nation states,”
explained Roberta Connor of
the Umatilla people. “People
were related up and down the
river. By virtue of taboo rules,
we couldn’t marry close,
we had to marry outside our
bands, so (people of different
tribes) were related for thou-
sands of years up and down
the river.”
Tribal nations, she ex-
plained, were a creation of a
U.S. Government that wanted
to make treaties with families
from around the Columbia,
though these people al-
ready enjoyed longstanding
reciprocal arrangements to
share space and resources.
“People had the whole river
for thousands of years and
they had their places that their
families belonged. Not having
those places is painful to think
about.”
Her mother, Umatilla elder
Leah Connor, remembered
a story her grandmother told
of violence that her village
experienced near Celilo when
her grandmother was 14.
“The militia came and threw
all their food in the river.
Her mother and father were
killed.” Connor’s grand-
mother escaped up the river
by canoe. “We have to keep
telling these stories like the
one my grandmother told.
People need to know that
someone canoed up the Co-
lumbia River a long way, at
the age of 14, so that we could
be alive … Our ancestors did
great, diffi cult things so that
we could be here. That’s the
focus. Not the violence, but
the sacrifi ce.”
Stories like these are part
of the family histories of
many native people. Some
remember the “long walks”
when, rounded up village by
village, people were herded to
reservation land.
Among those participating
in Astoria will be Tony John-
son, chairman of the Chinook
tribe, who is perpetually
engaged in the tribe’s struggle
to gain offi cial recognition
from the federal government,
a complicated story about
local people that isn’t widely
known.
Joining him will be
visual artist and Oregon Poet
Laureate Elizabeth Woody, of
Yakama Nation and Navajo
Nation descent and a member
of the Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs.
David Lewis, descended
from Santiam Kalapuya,
Chinook, Molalla, Takelma
and Yoncalla Kalapuya people
PHOTO BY DAMIAN MULINIX
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Chinook Tribal Chairman Tony Johnson is pictured at an annu-
al First Salmon Ceremony. Johnson will speak at the Confl u-
ence Story Gathering Feb. 18 in Astoria.
Guest speaker Oregon Poet
Laureate Elizabeth Woody is
an enrolled member of the
Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs and is of Yakama
Nation and Navajo Nation
descent. She has published
three books of poetry, writes
short fi ction and essays, and
is a visual artist.
and a member of the Confed-
erated Tribes of Grand Ronde,
will be there, too. Lewis, who
has a Ph.D. in anthropology,
is an expert on tribal histories
of Oregon.
“Anyone interested in
enriching their knowledge
about life along the Columbia
would enjoy joining us,” says
Courtney Yilk, Confl uence
Project Program Manager.
Admission is free. The Story
Gathering is a remarkable op-
portunity, Yilk says, “Where
else can you talk to people of
this background?”
Where else can you listen
to the land speak?
The Confl uence Project is
supported by the Oregon
Community Foundation.
Partners for the Astoria Story
Gathering include Oregon Hu-
manities, the Oregon Historical
Society, the Columbia River
Maritime Museum, the Liberty
Theatre, the Astoria Column
and KMUN.
CONFLUENCE
STORY
GATHERING
PHOTO BY NW DOCUMENTARY
Roberta Conner, left, and her
mother, Leah Conner, are
members of the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation. They spoke at
the fi rst Story Gathering in No-
vember on the Umatilla Indi-
an Reservation in Pendleton.
2 to 4 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 18
Liberty Theatre
1203 Commercial St.,
Astoria
360-693-0123
Free
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Astoria Confl uence Story Gathering will feature guest
speaker and anthropologist David Lewis, right, who is an en-
rolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.