10A • May 19, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Student group spreads the love
By Katherine Lacaze
For EO Media Group
Seaside High School’s
Breaking the Silence group
is preparing to douse Seaside
with messages of positivity
when they take to the streets
for a Happiness Sprinkling on
May 24.
They will be marching with
dozens of their fellow students
and teachers, as well as any
community members who care
to join. By carrying signs with
positive messages, wearing
yellow, handing out paper stars
to passers-by along the way
and playing uplifting music,
they hope to spread joy and
kindness in the community.
Shirley Yates, the faculty ad-
viser for the Seaside group, said
the students want “a climate
change, where people are all
treated equal and with honor.”
The idea for the Happiness
Sprinkling was borrowed from
the Anacortes Center for Hap-
piness, which put on a similar
demonstration in Anacortes,
Wash., in May 2012. Since
then, the Happiness Sprinkling
Project has spread, first nation-
wide and now worldwide.
Breaking the silence
After a public incident of
bullying at the high school
earlier this year, a few stu-
dents were moved to estab-
lish a group that would take a
stand against not only bully-
ing but all forms of violence,
prejudice and abuse, and also
provide a positive voice in the
school and larger community.
“You can’t control the way
you are,” said junior Celeste
Kerr, who initiated the move-
ment along with Jasmine
Hewitt, Faythe Koontz and
Lev Grossman
Karl Marlantes
James Owen
Get Lit on literature
KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR EO MEDIA GROUP
Seaside High School members, who call themselves Silence Breakers, are organizing a Sea-
side version of a Happiness Sprinkling starting at 2 p.m. May 24.
Brittany Case. “We shouldn’t
be ridiculed in a school that’s
supposed to be safe. If it is
a safe, healthy environment,
it’s not going to include that
kind of stuff in our lives.”
Student Aaron Kiser de-
scribed how too often at
school, one will be looking at
other individuals and see that
“something is happening or
someone is crying.”
“It’s always easy to be quiet
and not say a word,” he said.
“You’re just passing by or
you’re busy.”
Yet, he added, while at
first it may seem difficult to
approach those people, talk to
them and ask what’s going on,
doing so can make a signifi-
cant difference.
“Just asking someone if
they’re OK can save a life,”
agreed fellow student Kodie
Stark.
Hence, Breaking the Si-
lence was deemed a fitting
description and title for what
the students hope to accom-
plish by uniting with one an-
other. Bullying has affected
each of the members in one
way or another. Some are the
victims of bullying, some for-
mer perpetrators, and others
were witnesses. A few had
taken each role at one point
or another. They have seen
the negative ramifications of
bullying, including self-harm
and suicide, and want to make
a difference.
“In order for a change to
happen, everyone has to do
something about it,” group
member Autumn Benthien
said. “That’s kind of what
we’re doing. We’re trying to
make that change and get ev-
eryone to not only see what
they’re doing, but also help
people with their struggles.”
When a tragedy occurs as
a result of bullying, people of-
ten are shaken up and willing
to change, but “that’s not how
it should be,” Kiser said, add-
ing people should be kind to
one another “every single day
without something like that
happening.”
“It should never have to
come to that,” he said.
Fellow student Lola Pas-
er-Johnson echoed that senti-
ment.
“It’s sad to think that some-
one has to take their life in or-
der for people to see that it’s
a big thing, that someone has
to kill themselves in order for
people to realize, ‘Wow, bully-
ing is a big deal,’” she said.
On May 24 at 2 p.m. the
students will leave the school
starting from the entrance fac-
ing Holladay Drive and march
downtown. The Silence Break-
ers are inviting community
members and students from
other schools to participate in
the Happiness Sprinkling and
march with them. They re-
quest that all participants wear
yellow. For more information,
contact Yates at 503-738-5586.
Students step up for Laundry Love
High-schoolers
volunteer for
local program
By Katherine Lacaze
For EO Media Group
What can a handful of
coins, some laundry detergent
and friendly service do for a
person? Two Seaside High
School students have spent
months learning the answer to
this question by volunteering
for the local Laundry Love
program.
“It’s a small way to make a
big difference,” senior Marys-
ol Alcantar said.
Alcantar and fellow senior
Channene Prendergast are
doing their Pacifica Projects
with Laundry Love, a nation-
wide charity that has been
administered at the local lev-
el by nonprofit At the Water’s
Gate for about four years. It is
held from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
the second Saturday of each
month at The Laundromat off
U.S. Highway 101.
The students’ involvement
began in October 2016, when
they helped sort clothes and
set up for the annual Winter
Clothing Giveaway at the No-
vember Laundry Love. Since
Molly Gloss
KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR EO MEDIA GROUP
Seniors Marysol Alcanta
and Channene Prendergast.
then, Alcantar has attended
and assisted with each Laun-
dry Love event, an ongoing
experience that has made an
impact on her.
“To me, this was new,” she
said. “I had never really vol-
unteered in any way, and I like
it a lot. I feel like I’ll probably
keep going still, even after we
graduate.”
Her desire to continue
helping with the program is
fueled by the response of the
people who are served, about
20 to 25 per month. Many of
them are regulars who come
each time.
“They’re just as excited to
get their clothes cleaned as
they were the month before,”
she said. “It’s nice to see how
they react toward the help they
get.”
In addition to providing
funds for each individual or
family to do two loads of laun-
dry, the program also offers
free hygienic products — in-
cluding socks, soap, deodorant
and toothpaste — and coffee
and snacks or a small meal. As
many of the people who attend
the Laundry Love events are
homeless or underprivileged,
and don’t have the opportunity
to readily purchase those items,
“we definitely want to look out
for them,” Prendergast said.
The program is funded by do-
nations to At the Water’s Gate
from the local community, as
well as donors across Oregon
and Washington.
Prendergast, who usually
works on weekends, mostly
is aiding the program from
behind the scenes. She assists
Shirley Yates – who runs At
the Water’s Gate with her hus-
band, Carl — at the office.
Some of her responsibilities
include organizing supplies,
updating records, shopping
for hygienic items, contacting
news outlets, advertising the
monthly events and other ad-
ministrative work.
Diving in deeper
As with any Pacifica Proj-
ect — a requirement for grad-
uation at Seaside High School
— the students must tie in their
volunteer work to the topics of
their senior papers.
Alcantar’s senior paper is
focused on school bullying. At
first, she said, she wasn’t sure
how the two would relate, but
while gathering information,
she learned how students can
be bullied for their clothing or
appearance. This connection
was made more pronounced
as some of the Laundry Love
attendees bring their school-
aged children. Alcantar dis-
covered that “for them to
struggle not to be able to have
clothes or wash them as often,
they could get bullied at school
for it,” she said.
Prendergast’s paper ex-
plored the idea of gender
equality in the workforce.
During her time assisting
with Laundry Love, she came
to find most of the other vol-
unteers also were women. A
question she addressed in her
paper was whether socially
reinforced stereotypes about
compassion or nurturing be-
ing feminine qualities played a
role in that outcome.
“I discovered it’s mostly
society that stereotypes gen-
ders into thinking they have
to do things,” she said, adding
these stereotypes then often
perpetuate themselves.
Sixth annual
event
celebrates
fiction
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Author Molly Gloss says
that much of her writing is
inspired by what does not
exist.
In her case, the story she
seeks to tell is one of pioneer
women of the American
West, a genre best known
for cowboys, gun fights and
the eternal romance of rid-
ing off into the sunset.
“I have had a lifetime
passion of reading Western
fiction,” Gloss said. “But
what I couldn’t find was the
great Western novel with a
woman at the center of it.”
The fourth-generation
Oregonian will be sharing
her experience about those
stories and how she arrived
at them with four other best-
selling authors at the sixth
annual Get Lit on the Beach,
May 19 through 21 in Can-
non Beach.
Organized by the Tolova-
na Arts Colony, Get Lit will
include a series of presen-
tations and networking op-
portunities from Lev Gross-
man, Karl Marlantes, James
Owen and, the ‘Master of
Ceremonies,’ Terry Brooks
— authors whose genres
cover history, Western, fan-
tasy and speculative fiction,
Tolovana Arts Colony Chair
Watt Childress said.
“People will have the
opportunity to have a close
relationship with these au-
thors. It’s different than go-
ing to just a book signing,”
Childress said. “You also
have an opportunity to get
those folks personally.”
Taking the plunge
This will be Gloss’ first
time at Get Lit. She is best
known for her novels “The
Jump-Off Creek,” “The
Dazzle of Day,” “Wild
Life,” “The Hearts of Hors-
es” and “Falling From Hors-
es.” Her work has earned
several awards, including an
Oregon Book Award and a
Pacific Northwest Booksell-
ers Award.
Gloss always knew
she wanted to be a writer,
but didn’t take the serious
plunge until she was in her
30s, after her son was born.
“Writing became the one
place I could just be Molly
instead of a mother and a
wife,” Gloss said.
A lot of Gloss’ inspira-
tion comes from digging into
the past, whether that means
reading memoirs of people
in the West during the First
World War, manuals on how
to break horses from that era,
or even living on a ranch in
Idaho by herself to fully un-
derstand the lifestyle.
The old Western cowboy
trope is often considered a
relic of a bygone era. But
Gloss said it is a theme that
is becoming more and more
culturally relevant.
“The American cowboy
hero has a lot of good qual-
ities: He’s self-reliant and
brave,” Gloss said. “But
he also has a dark side, one
fascinated with violence and
guns, gangs and deadbeat
fathers. The mythology of
the West continues to shape
American culture.”
It’s a culture, she said,
that is still shaping the Unit-
ed States’ current political
climate, even the president
himself.
“(President
Donald
Trump) is not really trying
to be a cowboy hero, but his
role can be demonstrated as
the swaggering sheriff who
runs the town,” she said.
In Gloss’ work, tough-
ness and resiliency is not
gendered, and the romance
of open fields unfettered by
fences is an all but univer-
sal love. By sharing more
narratives about the women
behind the scenes — wom-
en breaking in horses and
keeping the lives of pioneers
afloat — she said she hopes
to nudge the narrative in a
different direction.
Truth in fiction
Widening that narrative is
particularly significant in a
time that some call a “post-
truth era,” dominated by
the discussion of alternative
facts and fake news, Gloss
said.
“Fiction is where we can
point to the truth,” she said.
“Fiction is more significant
than it ever has been. It’s
where you get your sourc-
es of empathy, where you
discover you have more in
common with a character
than you realize. It’s not
about the facts then, it’s
about how people live their
lives, and discovering truth
within that.”
Full pass tickets are $85;
the Friday evening recep-
tion is $30; and the Saturday
night dinner and keynote
speaker presentation is $70.
Tickets may still be available
on-site or at www.getlitat-
thebeach.com.
OF PLACES YOU CAN PICK UP A
COMPLIMENTARY COPY OF THE
LOTS G
CANNON BEACH
AZETTE
CANNON BEACH
Cannon Beach Bakery
Cannon Beach Book Company
Cannon Beach Beach Store
Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce
Cannon Beach City Hall
Cannon Beach Conference Center
Cannon Beach Family Market
Cannon Beach Historical Center
Cannon Beach Hotel
Cannon Beach Liquor Store
Cannon Beach Property Management
Cannon Beach RV Resort
Cannon Beach Vacation Rentals
Cascade Sotheby’s Realty
Duane Johnson Real Estate
Ecola Creek Lodge
EVOO
Hallmark Inns & Resorts
Inn at Cannon Beach
Inn at Haystack Rock
Mariner Market
Martin Hospitality
Mo’s Restaurant
Picnic Basket
Pig ‘N Pancake
Purple Moon/Morris’ Fireside Restaurant
RE/MAX Coastal Advantage
Sea Ranch RV Park
Sea Sprite at Haystack RockSea Sprite on the Estuary
Surfcrest Market
Sweet Basil’s Cafe & The Wine Bar
The Land’s End Motel
The Ocean Lodge
The Stephanie Inn
The Waves Motel
Tolovana Inn
US Bank/La Luna Loca
Windermere Stellar Real Estate
SEASIDE
Providence Seaside Hospital
Rite Aid
Safeway
Seaside Outlet Center
Seaside Signal/Cannon Beach Gazette Office
GEARHART
Windermere Stellar Real Estate
4,000 COPIES DISTRIBUTED EACH MONTH