MARCH 2, 2017 // 19
BOOK MONGER // WILDLIFE // POP CULTURE // WORDS // Q&A // FOOD // FUN
BOOKMONGER
Essay anthology doesn’t go far enough
By BARBARA
LLOYD McMICHAEL
Bainbridge Island
writer/editor Marcia Aldrich
shows how contemporary
essays build on the energy
and ideas of one another
in the new anthology,
“Waveform.” Aldrich, who
also is an English professor
at Michigan State University,
curated this collection to
focus on the diversity of
essay structures in the 21st
century. This is a showcase
of experimentation —
writers creating essays using
lists, collage, photographs,
graphic elements and letters;
tinkering with style and tone
and voice.
And although she
includes only essays that
have been written by female
practitioners of the form,
Aldrich asserts that she
isn’t focusing on women
essayists for thematic pur-
poses. Instead, she’s trying
to correct an imbalance of
exposure that prevails even
in the 21st century: the
work of female writers still
doesn’t get published as
frequently as that of their
male counterparts.
“Waveform” already is
being hailed by academics
as a great new resource for
use in the college class-
room, but there’s grist here
for the general reader, too.
Aldrich collected essays
from around the country,
but we’ll begin by looking
at the contributions from
Pacific Northwest writers.
Portland author Cher-
yl Strayed’s piece, “Tiny
Beautiful Things,” kicks
things off with one of
her “Dear Sugar” advice
columns, in which she
“Waveform:
Twenty-First-Century
Essays by Women”
edited by Marcia
Aldrich
University of
Georgia Press, 256 pp.,
$29.95
counsels a 22-year-old
from her 40-something self
in the future.
“Your life will be a great
and continuous unfold-
ing,” she promises, in the
midst of reciting a litany
of foolish and sometimes
dangerous missteps taken
along the way.
“The useless days will
add up to something,” she
croons.
Bellingham author Bren-
da Miller picks up a similar
lament in “We Regret to
Inform You,” crafting a se-
ries of rejection letters that
trace the trajectory of life’s
disappointment.
She begins the essay
with a rejection letter to
an enthusiastic young
artist whose picture of a
tree is deemed unworthy
of display in her grade
school class. Then Miller
moves on to a letter that
extinguishes the hopes of a
tenth grader who dreamed
of being the girlfriend of
the star of the basketball
team; and then to a letter
to the thespian wannabe
whose dreams of a future
in theater are dashed by the
college drama department.
Thirteen letters across
37 years describe the
power of “no” in shap-
ing a life. As bleak as it
sounds, Miller’s piece will
inspire snickers of recog-
nition, too. We’ve all had
to bounce back from those
smarmy rejections at one
time or another.
On the other hand,
Chelsea Biondolillo is the
rejector, not the rejectee, in
her essay, “Toward a Par-
tial Definition of Home.”
“We left Portland to-
gether, in love;” she writes,
“we left New Orleans
together too, but troubled.
When it came time to leave
Santa Fe, we each left on
our own.”
This essay is a patch-
work of places and inci-
dents — the frayed edges
are intentional.
While there’s much to
admire in “Waveform,” its
emphasis on the personal
essay ignores the impact-
ful and mold-breaking
pieces women are writing
on politics, sports, inter-
national relations — let’s
hope for an expanded
edition soon.
The Bookmonger is Barbara
Lloyd McMichael, who writes
this weekly column focusing
on the books, authors and
publishers of the Pacifi c
Northwest. Contact her at
bkmonger@nwlink.com
NW
word
nerd
By RYAN HUME
Elsie
[ɛl•si]
noun
1. an unincorporated
community in Clatsop
County. Located on the
mountainous terrain of
the Northern Oregon
Coast Range, Elsie sits
near where the junction
of U.S. Highway 26 and
Oregon Route 103 crosses
the Nehalem River as well
as the confluence of West
and East Humbug Creeks.
Elsie is probably best
known to travelers of U.S.
Highway 26 for being the
home of the restaurant
and logging museum
Camp 18, Sunset Coffee,
Baker’s General Store and
the Elderberry Inn
Origin:
Elsie is named in
honor of Elsie Foster,
a relative of George
Gragg, who was the
first postmaster, having
established the Elsie Post
Office in 1892. The post
office closed in 1943.
Gragg apparently wanted
to originally name the
community Clover, but
the name was rejected
and he settled on honor-
ing his niece instead.
Elsie is a British dimin-
utive variant of the name
Elizabeth, which arrives
from the Greek version
of the Hebrew name,
אֱ ל ִ י שֶ ׁ ב ַ ע , or Elisheva, which
roughly translates to
“oath of God.”
“Elsie, like so much on the Or-
egon Coast, is endangered. Lying
on the edge of urban sprawl from
Portland and gaining favor with
PHOTO BY KATHERINE LACAZE
The annual Camp 18 Logger’s Memorial Dedication and Log-
ging Exhibition features an array of competitive events for
students, from spur climbing, to double bucking, sawing and
axe-throwing.
FILE PHOTO
A paean to local timber, Camp 18’s exterior features carvings of
wildlife and people.
—R.J. Marx, “More than a pass-
through, Elsie is at crossroads,” Seaside
Signal, Aug. 7, 2015, P. 4A
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Elderberry Inn, along
with Baker’s General Store,
are the hub of Elsie.
those priced out of Cannon Beach,
the green hills of Elsie may soon
be more than a pass-through and
secret sanctuary.”
“Expect to see lots of cool
wood carvings throughout the
Camp 18 facilities. The eye-catch-
ing marvel is a definite place to
stop while driving Highway 26 in
the Pacific Northwest. If you are
visiting local communities like
Seaside, Astoria, Cannon Beach,
Nehalem, Wheeler or Portland,
it’s a short and beautiful drive to
Elsie!”
—Camp 18 Restaurant website,
camp18restaurant.com