VIEWPOINTS Saturday, September 9, 2017 East Oregonian Page 5A Confronting pain everywhere M y husband is in pain, but the waiting room at the pain clinic is crowded. No one has been called back to see the doctor for some time, and as the clock ticks on, more people enter. The server’s down. We’ll all have to wait until they can retrieve patients’ records, their scans and MRIs, X-rays. People brace against their pain or retreat into the space that holds them when they can’t quite hold themselves. Today there’s an athletic young man immobilized after an accident, a woman whose eyes look frantic with love for the man in a reclined wheelchair, sheepskin pads strapped to the arm and leg rests to protect his skin. At least I’ve brought a book, the one that came in today’s mail: Layli Long Soldier’s new poetry collection “Whereas.” It’s nothing short of amazing, the way she questions and explores and confronts language. I will be a long time truly understanding everything she’s doing in this book. But when I reach the section for which her book is titled, I think I’ve found my footing. “Whereas” is Long Soldier’s response to the Congressional Resolution of Apology to Native Americans, a document signed on December 19, 2009, by President Obama. No Native representatives were invited to receive the declaration, which was read aloud only five months later by Senator Sam Brownback to a gathering of five tribal leaders, then folded into the unrelated 2010 Defense Appropriations Act. It’s not much of an apology. No mention of genocide. Just “conflict.” “Numerous armed conflicts in which, unfortunately, both took innocent lives.” Both sides. Many sides. Language with which we have become all too familiar. I turn the page. Here’s a poem about Long Soldier’s daughter, whose friends carry her into the kitchen bleeding from a fall on rough asphalt just as Long Soldier has come to this line in the apology: “The arrival of Europeans in North America opened a new chapter in the history of Native Peoples.” The little girl is quivering a nervous laugh for her friends, but Long Soldier tells her, “Stop, my girl. If you’re hurting, cry.” And she does. “In our home,” Long Soldier reminds her child as she washes and bandages the wounds, “in our family we are ourselves, real feelings. Be true.” “Yet I’m serious,” she adds in the next line, “when I say I laugh reading the phrase, ‘opened a new chapter.’ I can’t help my body.” “I shake,” she continues. “The realization that it took this phrase to show. My So what do I see when I look in the mirror? daughter’s quiver isn’t new — / but a deep practice very old she’s watching me.” I close the book. How can we “be true?” Racism is nothing new in America, but recently — since the deaths of Trayvon Martin and so many others, since the events at Standing Rock, since the repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, since the chants of “blood and soil” and “Jews will not replace us” from swastika and torch-bearing marchers — we’ve all been asked to look straight on at the pain of the racism so deeply embedded in our culture. So what do I see when I look in the mirror? I see a person who was taught from early childhood that racism is wrong, but who was also taught by everything in my school, on my family’s television, even in the Sears catalog we welcomed with such joy as back-to-school time neared, that “white” was the default human being. Others were to be treated with courtesy, like company. Many white Americans are beginning to realize that seeing white as the default human being is indeed “deep practice, very old.” Like Layli Long Soldier, we are trying to face the sources of our country’s pain. And like the people waiting in this clinic — where the server’s back at last — we hope for some relief. What can we do? We can listen to each other’s stories, learn to understand each other. That’s why the First Draft Writers’ Series invites Northwest writers of as many Preparing ourselves for wildfire By DAVID POWELL Eastern Oregon Climate Change Coalition W Era of Megafires September 20, 6:30 p.m. estern forests are destined to burn. Vert Auditorium, Pendleton Before Euro-American emigrants Free, but please register at arrived, Blue Mountain forests burned www.eom2017pdt.eventbrite.com every five to 20 years when lightning or Native Americans ignited fires. up to the treetops, where it races from one tree These fires moved swiftly across the to another. forest floor, conserving the large trees while After thinning, prescribed fire is used in consuming needles, twigs, downed wood, spring or fall when it is safe to do so. Prescribed and small seedlings. After settlement, we fire reduces fine fuels (needles, twigs, downed began putting fires out. We did this job quite wood) for 10 years or more, providing a safer well for decades, and forests are now choked environment for both the forest and firefighters. with woody debris and a Modeling forecasts 2 or flammable layer of small 3 times more wildfire in trees. the future than now, so we Now, fires burn hotter, could choose to let some faster and get bigger than fires burn as a “managed ever before. Since 2000, wildfire” strategy. about 100 million acres of Often used for large forest and range in the West tracts of public land, have burned. As a result, managed wildfire is Oregon and other western seldom practical for small, states set new records for private-land parcels. It is a their largest forest fire reasonable approach when (Oregon’s record is the — Paul Hessburg, weather and fuel conditions 2002 Biscuit Fire, which U.S. Forest Service ecologist are ideal, particularly for totaled about half a million wilderness and roadless acres). Large burns like the areas where wildfires can be Biscuit Fire are called megafires. “herded” away from human developments. Paul Hessburg, a research ecologist with the Any use of prescribed fire or managed U.S. Forest Service in Wenatchee, Washington, wildfire inevitably raises concerns about will visit Pendleton on Sept. 20 to present a smoke. Smoke is a big issue, especially for multimedia program called “Era of Megafires.” those with asthma or respiratory difficulties. Hessburg explains that the program addresses During this past summer, Pendleton and most how we got here, what’s at stake, and what each of the interior Northwest dealt with many days of us can do. of smoky conditions caused by wildfires in Hessburg has been publishing scientific British Columbia and Montana. work in leading journals for more than 30 When compared to this summer’s wildfire years. Recently, after large fires ravaged smoke from western Canada, prescribed fire favorite forests near his home in central smoke is short-lived and affects limited areas. Washington, he felt a need to take his findings In August 2016, the Weigh Station Fire burned directly to the public. The Carlton Complex near Interstate 84 between Pendleton and La megafire burned 256,000 acres in 2014 (largest Grande. It closed the interstate for a time and fire in Washington history), and the Sleepy threatened many structures. And a year earlier Hollow Fire a year later consumed 30 homes in in August 2015, the Canyon Creek Fire near his hometown of Wenatchee. John Day destroyed 43 homes and nearly 100 “It is heart wrenching when you know other structures, while burning 110,000 acres people who lost their homes in these fires,” of land. 300 people were evacuated because of Hessburg said. “Especially when you know the this megafire. loss is avoidable.” During the presentation, Hessburg describes Hessburg also notes that “modeling indicates how Blue Mountain residents can use FireWise we can expect a doubling or tripling of annual concepts (firewise.org) to prepare their cabins, area burned by mid-century.” This estimate homes, and properties for an event like the is supported by a just-completed national Weigh Station or Canyon Creek fire. The Era climate assessment — it found that average of Megafires program uses compelling videos temperatures in the United States have risen prepared by a documentary film company to dramatically since 1980, and recent decades cover these and many other topics. Hessburg have been the warmest of the past 1,500 years. skillfully weaves the multimedia elements Fire seasons clearly reflect recent temperature together, crafting both a cautionary tale and a changes, as they now stretch 4 to 8 weeks call to action. longer than just 50 years ago. Yes, western forests are destined to burn. What will be, they say, will be. But this is We can’t prevent summer thunderstorms and not true when it comes to fire risk. lightning-caused fires. But we can learn to live “We have tools that can reverse the trend,” with wildfires in a better way. As the Era of said Hessburg. Thinning, prescribed fire, Megafires program rightly notes, the choice is and managed wildfire are effective tools for ours. mitigating fire risk. ■ Thinning mimics historical processes David C. Powell is vice chair of the by removing the small trees that fire would Eastern Oregon Climate Change Coalition, a have killed. It reduces “ladder fuel” — small co-sponsor of the “Era of Megafires” showing understory trees that carry fire from the ground in Pendleton. “It is heart wrenching when you know people who lost their homes in these fires.” B ette H usted FROM HERE TO ANYWHERE styles and backgrounds as we can. The next reading is on October 19 at 7 p.m. at Pendleton Center for the Arts. It’s free. I hope you’ll come. ■ Bette Husted is a writer and a student of T’ai Chi and the natural world. She lives in Pendleton. The best is yet to come for the Pendleton Class of ‘58 I n early August, my wife One of my classmates only Ginny and I made our way to half-jokingly had suggested buying the old high school as a Pendleton for what was billed retirement home for the Class of as the last ever class reunion. ’58. The process went quickly My parents had moved from and the building passed back Portland to Pendleton in time into McClintock hands. for me to the join the ninth After the auction, we grade class at the old junior high followed a rainbow — not school, then located in what Kent is now the now the Pendleton Hughes hoping for a pot of gold. Instead, library and city hall. Maybe we each found a single, large, Comment because we moved enough in delicious pancake at the Main Portland or maybe because Street’s Rainbow Café. Main the high school years are so important, Street had memories of its own. In the Pendleton seems like home to me. 1950s, Saturday nights were often spent Living as I do “dragging Main” inside the Washington before heading for a Beltway (still hamburger. often described as The heart of the ten square miles reunion revolved surrounded by around the Red Lion reality), Pendleton and a hospitality reminds me that suite. For those who there is an America had grown up in that is not obsessed Pendleton, there were with the complexities scrapbooks that took of congressional them back as far back procedure or as the first grade. speculation on There were many the presidential shared memories, candidates in 2020. talk of children and When back in grandchildren, and the Pendleton, I always pleasure of being back take a memory tour. We started with my in Pendleton. home on N.W. Third and then followed The first night a large group had my paper route starting near Main Street dinner at the Hamley Steakhouse. and ending after crossing the Lee Street No one can say you cannot eat well Bridge. The trailer park was still there. in Pendleton. We also enjoyed great Next, we headed for Washington sandwiches at the Hamley Café and Elementary, where I practiced football at the Great Pacific Wine and Coffee and ran in track meets. On past visits to Company. On Friday night the class had Pendleton, I made sure to run a ritual half a delicious dinner at the Sundown Grill mile. But the track had been replaced by and Bar-B-Q. Over dinner we talked a new, considerably larger school. We about having a future gathering, even drove on to the Pendleton Woolen Mills if not a full reunion. At the Sundown it to admire the latest designs. became clear that the sun was not ready Then we went up the hill to visit the to set on the Class of ’58. old high school, now known as the John The formal reunion closed with the Murray building. It was open so we class dinner at the Red Lion. Our master could wander a bit through much of the of ceremonies asked the class how they building. It was new territory for Ginny. felt about this “last reunion.” For me there were memories of classes, Did the class see it as the “end of the teachers, sometimes a noon dance and road” a “victory lap,” or as “the best is the physical fitness tests encouraged by yet to come?” Finally he called on the class to vote. President Eisenhower. Showing typical Buckaroo optimism, We had heard that the John Murray the class overwhelmingly voted for “ the building was due to be auctioned on the best is yet to come.” following day, August 10. Taped to the The sheriff may have auctioned off main door was a notice informing us that the auction would be held the next day at the old high school, but the Class of ’58 is not yet ready for the auction block. 10 a.m. at the sheriff’s office. The next ■ morning, we decided to go. Kent Hughes is a public policy We arrived at the sheriff’s building fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in with time to spare. Almost everyone Washington, D.C. He is a 1958 graduate there was with the McClintock group, of Pendleton High School. the senior creditor. We met and talked He will write dispatches from with Pat McClintock explaining that we Washington for Eastern Oregon readers, were not bidding on the building but were in town for a class reunion. which will appear in this space. Pendleton reminds me there is an America that is not obsessed with the complexities of congressional procedure.