VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, June 19, 2021
East Oregonian
A5
A look at our nation’s existential situation
BETTE
HUSTED
FROM HERE TO ANY WHERE
ERWIN
ROBERTS
Paying it
forward
comes in
many guises
S
omeone — it wasn’t me, I swear
— introduced our granddaugh-
ter to the pleasures of vanilla bean
frappuccino, so here we were, waiting
in a line of cars at Starbucks. When we
reached the window, we learned that
the woman in the car ahead of us had
already paid for our treat. I’m not much
of a coffee drinker, so this was my first
experience of what’s become a not-un-
common practice at Starbucks and
McDonalds.
Paying it forward, people call it now.
But “casting your bread upon the waters”
has been around for a long time. And
indigenous cultures, among others, have
always known “the gift must always
move.”
It feels good when it happens, even
in small ways. Like the copy of a book
I had bought 20 years ago — Molly
Gloss’s “Wild Life” — that arrived in my
mailbox this week. I’d passed it on to a
friend — but which one? When we share
books, they tend to disappear. But here it
was. This bread returning to me felt even
more special because I’d been re-reading
that book in a re-issued copy, savoring it
even more now that I’ve tried my hand at
writing a novel myself.
A small thing, yes. Like a free drink
at Starbucks. But small gifts can feel
large, and this one did.
Then it happened again. I had thought
of what seemed a perfect gift for my
friend Caroline, who is retiring from
teaching literature and writing at Port-
land Community College. A book, of
course: “Literary Chickens,” a collection
of Beth Moon’s amazing photos of heri-
tage-breed chickens paired with quota-
tions from literary classics — ideal for
Caroline, who loves both chickens and
literature.
I wanted to give her the book when
our poetry group met in person for the
first time in months, so everyone could
see it. Caroline’s mother Ursula had long
ago christened us the “poultry” group,
a joke about the way people pronounced
“poetry” in her days at Radcliffe. So
we’ve been “the poults” for years.
Several members of our group actually
keep chickens, too — and we all know
and appreciate their ways.
So I ordered the book — and when
it became clear that it wasn’t going to
arrive in time, my friend Elizabeth, who
had introduced me to this treasure in the
first place, gave me her copy. I could pass
it on to Caroline and replace hers when
the new copy arrived. Her act of gener-
osity made not just two but seven people
happy.
Of course, we are all familiar with
larger, more obvious examples of paying
it forward, of giving without expecta-
tion of in-kind reward. Teaching comes
to mind. Parenting. Volunteering at the
warming station. Getting vaccinated to
protect others as well as yourself. And,
of course, writing.
All writers hope their book finds a
publisher, and it’s true that some make a
lot of money. But as Cheryl Strayed told
the editor of the book “Scratch: Writers,
Money, and the Art of Making a Living,”
“There’s no other job in the world where
you get your master’s degree in that field
and you’re like, ‘Well, I might make zero
or I might make $5 million!’”
The writers who share their work at
the First Draft Writers’ Series hope we
will buy their books, but that isn’t why
they come. They know their words need
to be not just written but read — and if
they’re lucky, heard. Listen closely as
they’re reading, watch their faces, let the
words flow into you, and you’ll feel it
too: the circle of story.
Many successful writers have jobs,
or supportive partners, to help pay the
bills so they can write. “Being a writer is
great because you always have home-
work and then you die” is a Twitter joke,
but it’s true. Artists don’t retire. Their
gifts have to keep moving.
I’m happy to live in a community that
supports the First Draft Writers’ Series,
a community of folks who pay it forward
both at Starbucks and at Pendleton
Center for the Arts. We’ve kept the series
going on Zoom, and we’ll to be able to
meet in person soon.
Meanwhile, I think I’ll buy someone a
cup of coffee. Better yet, a book.
———
Bette Husted is a writer and a student
of T’ai Chi and the natural world. She lives
in Pendleton.
OTHER VIEWS
I
am a political dichotomy.
Red side, I’m the third generation
living on a ranch deep in the coast
range with timber and cattle. I chose this
life .
Blue side, I’m an electrical engineer
who believes in science first and fore-
most, and my dedication to science is “a
good life.”
President Donald Trump success-
fully weaponized the enormous grow-
ing-for-decades gap between our liberal,
diverse urban citizens and our conserva-
tive, white rural citizens. Social science
research attributes this gap to differing
“moral foundations” with liberals being
motivated simply by “fairness ... justice”
and a do no harm philosophy. Whereas
conservatism is more complicated. It’s
“embraced to reduce fear, anxiety, uncer-
tainty, change … and to justify order and
inequality.” Conservatism also requires
“in-group loyalty, respect for author-
ity and purity which leads to self-righ-
teousness and contempt.” Additionally,
conservatives are “repulsed by liberal
ideology” (example: change for “social
justice”).
When Trump chose not to bridge
this gap but, instead, to exploit it for his
personal gain, he failed both as a pres-
ident and as a decent, ethical human
being. Therefore, we now have a vast and
unfortunate divisive situation of cause
and effect.
The cause: Trump supporters used
Facebook, Twitter, Fox News then
switched to Parler, MeWe, Gab, BitChute,
Telegram, CloutHub (and others) plus
Newsmax-TV and OANN-TV to spread
many lies to many millions already
filled with many understandable fears
and anger stemming from the rapid (one
generation) massive social and economic
changes they believed were threatening
their futures.
These millions were essentially white:
the evangelicals (some said Trump was
“sent by God to save their way of life”),
white supremacists and neo-Nazis, white
militias, white Q-wackos, white stop-the-
stealers, plus all the other angry white
“Trumpers.”
The Jan. 6 insurrection riot clearly
“IT TOOK
AMERICA
CENTURIES TO
ACHIEVE GLOBAL
LEADERSHIP. IT
TOOK TRUMP
FOUR YEARS
TO SEVERELY
DAMAGE IT.”
exemplified this. And we continue to see
the spreading of more egregious, absurd
and very dangerous lies, especially
“the big lie” (with zero proof) … elec-
tion fraud, plus more conspiracies, more
science-denying, more voter suppression,
and more CPAC+Q, etc.
The effect: The “new” Republican
party — the GOPQ — is displaying
alarming enabling and/or dysfunc-
tional behavior that is severely restrict-
ing their contribution(s) to competent
reality-based governance. For instance,
some Qwackos believe Oprah Winfrey
was wearing an ankle monitor during her
royal interview, “proving” she had been
arrested for child sex trafficking.
Originally it was believed we would
eventually “reunite” our country. But,
with the many fear-based or simply delu-
sional beliefs found in Trumpers, is it
possible (or even desirable) to “reunite”
with millions of citizens who do not
believe facts are important?
Also, when addressing problems
requiring national and/or global solutions
(climate change, pollution, COVID-19,
racism, etc.) Trumpers seem to hear only
“blah blah blah socialism,” then right-
wing trolls and fear-mongers whip them
into a panicked frenzy (I have witnessed
this).
Trumpers respond: “Just because
we don’t agree with you doesn’t make
us lunatics.” “It’s challenging to have
respectful conversations with people
who don’t respect us back.” “Different
perspectives are a good thing.”
During normal times, of course these
statements would be understandable.
However, during today’s abnormal times,
the Republican Party must understand
that having meaningful productive
conversations with a perspective that
believes facts are not important is funda-
mentally impossible. How is it possible
to connect intelligently with people who
grossly ignore facts?
It took America centuries to achieve
global leadership. It took Trump four
years to severely damage it. The GOPQ
has welcomed fact/reality deniers with
open arms. Therefore, it is complicit in
this damage.
Please. Fix. This. Then please return
to reality-based governing. Thank you.
Prebuttal: Not supporting danger-
ous lies or misinformation is neither
censorship nor cancel culture. It’s simply
supporting reality.
———
Erwin Roberts is an electrical engineer
and lives on a ranch near Corvallis.
Keep children writing by sending them notes
SCOTT
SMITH
EDUCATION CORNER
I
t’s hard to believe school is out for the
summer or soon will be. There was
no in-person schooling all year in
some places, and others had all different
modes of learning happening.
No question as far as education goes,
this was one atypical year worldwide,
and here we are back to summer vaca-
tion and that age-old question, “How
do I keep my child/children engaged in
academics?”
Writing is the highest form of
language processing we have in commu-
nication, making it one of the most chal-
lenging skills for some students, and is
why children often resist it. Writing is
a learned skill, not a natural skill like
eating. Therefore, it requires more brain
power and work.
The question becomes how do we
keep children writing over the summer or
other times when they are not in school?
One thought might be through letter/note
writing during the summer. They can
write one or two notes each day. They
can write to family and friends or even
members of your household. The objec-
tive is to have them write.
Having children write cards to others
no matter what age forces them to use
multiple cognitive skills they will need in
their adult life. Because it’s hard, you can
expect some possible resistance because
they have to recall information, tran-
scribe that information into words, and
then write it. Taking the time to tell you
who they are writing to and what they are
writing about first scaffolds the skills to
assist them in writing to the person.
Their card/note should be at least three
“WRITING IS THE
HIGHEST FORM
OF LANGUAGE
PROCESSING WE HAVE
IN COMMUNICATION,
MAKING IT ONE OF THE
MOST CHALLENGING
SKILLS FOR SOME
STUDENTS, AND IS
WHY CHILDREN OFTEN
RESIST IT.”
to five sentences. With real young chil-
dren, you can have them draw a picture
and then tell you about their image,
while you write it out for them, but older
students need to write their own. Also,
having them tell you and writing it out for
them can be beneficial for younger chil-
dren. They can read it back and, better
yet, copy it to their card or paper.
Over this past year, with the pandemic,
most everyone has felt disconnected at
some point or on some level. It has been
an emotional time for everyone, from
kids to the elderly. Steven Petrow states
in his column that handwritten notes and
cards have a more significant impact,
not only for the person receiving but also
for the person writing the message. This
creates a multi-purpose use of this time to
have your children write notes to others
over the summer.
Reading is not left out in this process
either. Once written, have them read it
back and edit as needed or as you wish.
Don’t stress over mistakes because, as
they continue writing cards, their writing
will improve, and friends and grandpar-
ents will love cards in any condition.
Hand-written notes are the best if
possible. There is research showing that
handwriting is linked to higher brain
function. Younger children’s manuscript
is excellent. Cursive penmanship can
help struggling students’ brains process
to connect the letters and focus attention.
Hopefully, they will also receive notes
from people they have written to, which
will engage their reading and comprehen-
sion skills when those notes come.
This type of passive learning will have
a more educational impact on your chil-
dren than trying to have them read and
write as if they were in school every day.
———
Dr. Scott Smith is a 40+-year Umatilla
County educator and serves on the Decod-
ing Dyslexia-OR board as their parent/
teacher liaison.
Recycling bill poses unnecessary expense for newspapers
LAURIE HIEB
BRIGITTE SCHMIDT GWYN
OTHER VIEWS
N
ewspapers and magazines go
to every corner of this state.
Notwithstanding increased
digital access, paper publications are
delivered to tens of thousands of homes
that lack broadband internet and homes
where readers simply are more comfort-
able with the familiar format of paper or
want to save magazines on travel, food,
world events or hobbies.
Oregon’s newspapers and maga-
zines care deeply about environmental
responsibility. Newsprint and magazine
stock paper come from certified forests,
are fully compostable and biodegrade
in a manner of months. Newsprint is
so safe that it can be used as vegetable
garden mulch. Inks are linseed oil-based
and nontoxic, and adhesives are water
soluble.
A well-intentioned but misguided
piece of legislation in the Oregon
Senate, Bill 582, would create an exten-
sive Extended Producer Responsibil-
ity system for municipal solid waste.
The bill recognizes that magazines and
newspapers are different from other
materials by allowing fees to be paid
through advertising, but the fees simply
should not apply to nontoxic, biodegrad-
able materials — again, newspapers and
magazines biodegrade within months.
News is vital to American civic life,
and legislation causing financial hard-
ship to newspapers and magazines
will erode citizen access to factual and
trusted news and information. News-
“NEWSPAPERS ARE
THE SOLE SOURCE
OF LOCAL NEWS FOR
MANY COMMUNITIES
THROUGHOUT THE
STATE.”
papers are the sole source of local news
for many communities throughout the
state. Coverage of town meetings, food
pantry locations, classified ads and busi-
ness news are the lifeblood of commu-
nity newspapers. Yet this legislation
discriminates against news and informa-
tion published on paper, as opposed to
information that is circulated in digital
formats.
EPR systems in other jurisdictions
have failed to increase recycling rates
for paper, which already are much
higher than other products. In British
Columbia, recycling rates are trend-
ing downward while producer fees have
increased markedly. This is not tenable
in Oregon, when economic conditions
related to the pandemic have caused
significant reduction in advertising reve-
nues for magazines and newspapers.
To offset marked increases in cost, the
legislation could force publications to
eliminate home delivery to rural areas,
exacerbating the digital divide, and cut
journalism jobs.
A recent study by Broadbandnow
ranks Oregon 34th among states based
on broadband deployment, speeds and
access to low-priced plans. Those with-
out broadband depend on paper.
We strongly urge the Oregon Legis-
lature to consider the impact of this
legislation on magazines and newspa-
pers. There are more appropriate ways
to reclaim post-consumer waste without
disadvantaging the state’s vital news and
information sources.
———
Brigitte Schmidt Gwyn is president and
chief executive officer of MPA — The Asso-
ciation of Magazine Media, and Laurie
Hieb is executive director of the Oregon
Newspaper Publishers Association.