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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 2018)
4A • August 10, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com Views from the Rock EVE MARX There’s nothing like a walk on Cannon Beach, in any weather. FILE PHOTO Author Brian Doyle and local fantasy novelist Terry Brooks at the 2014 Get Lit at the Beach. At the evening’s dinner, Watt Childress recalled Terry Brooks called “Mink River” “one of the best books I’ve ever read.” A timeless author, discovered too late I like to think “better late than never” when it comes to discovering an author. Brian Doyle died at 60 in May 2017, only months after he won an Oregon Book Award for his novel “Martin Marten.” Doyle was a former New Yorker, the son of a newspaperman and a teacher who made his mark in this state and dedicated himself largely to its wonders on the coast and elsewhere. A former editor of the University of Portland’s Portland Magazine, Doyle was nominated for the Oregon Book Award nine times and finally won in 2016 for his young adult novel “Martin Marten.” As deeply as his characters correlate their lives with his fiction debut, “Mink River,” Doyle affiliated himself with the Oregon Coast, espe- cially the North Coast, promoting and sharing his work at Get Lit at the Beach, the city’s signature literary gathering. Doyle was an advocate for young people, providing workshops for students in Cannon Beach, Seaside and Astoria. Watt Childress of Jupiter’s Books called Doyle a “masterful, lyrical writer, with a heart the size of Mount Hood.” In a 2014 reading, Doyle “relayed stories like prayers,” Childress said. At the same event, Cannon Beach’s internationally renowned novelist Terry Brooks called Doyle “one of the best writers he’s ever read.” This week, Childress compared Doyle to the singer/songwriter Van Morrison. “Somehow I think of them in tandem. When you mention the lyricism. There’s just so much feeling packed in there. Damn! The good folks just don’t live long enough.” ‘Just sit down and play’ I chose “Mink River” out of all Doyle’s books, essays and poetry after randomly pulling it off the library shelf. I was so enthralled I bought a hardbound, used edition for myself, coincidentally signed by the author “To David.” (David, wherever you are, shame on you for parting with this auto- graphed edition!) “Mink River” takes you on an inner trail, a serpent’s tail that pulls at the con- nections in your mind, paints a multilay- ered canvas and provides raw material for a fellow writer’s toolkit, which is never full enough. Ottesa Moshfegh, a young writer profiled in The New Yorker in July, wrote: “Writing to me, is more musical than I think it is literary a lot of the time — the way that a voice can sound and the way that it leads the reader in a sort of virtual reality, a journey through its own consciousness.” Doyle could have easily said the same. “Don’t think when you write,” Doyle said at Get Lit. “Your head is probably Brian Doyle CANNON SHOTS R.J. MARX your worst enemy. Just sit down and play. And listen to what needs to be said.” Writing, he said, is “taking an idea out for a walk.” In “Mink River,” Doyle doesn’t walk, he runs. The setting is the fictional Oregon Coast town of Neawanaka, a hybrid name like Ursula K. Le Guin’s fictional “Seaview,” another tribute to our shores. “I have visited the coast very often,” Doyle said in a 2011 interview with the Gazette’s Erin Bernard. “Central and north, and wanted very much to sing and celebrate the hard brave sweet wet wild life there; one of the most delicious comments I have had was from a reader on the coast who said this book is true to life here; that to me was a great honor. I so wanted it to be true fiction, you know?” For this reader, what strikes me most is the book’s mournful prose. Deep, drenching sadness that im- merses us in not only the rich outdoor lives of coastal Oregonians in the fictional city of Neawanaka, but leads us into an epidermal layer of pain, sadness and loss. What more can we ask from a writer than to say he has changed the way we look at the world around us? Doyle reaches more to William Butler Yeats and Dylan Thomas than American authors like John Updike or John Cheever, exquisite interior monologuists both. Perhaps it is the Irish brogue that permeates the characters of the O’Donnell clan, an unforgettable lin- eage descended from the unforgettable Red Hugh, “a master curser who starts cursing before he even gets out of bed.” Red Hugh can still get a “good burst” going, Doyle writes, “although he can’t sustain an hour’s worth of snarling invective like he could in the old days.” Doyle’s fabulous crow, Moses, a full-blown, walking, talking, flying character, possesses the gift of speech, which he puts to good use in aiding and abetting the life and well-being of the residents of Neawanaka. Moses makes “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” look like a pipsqueak. Even the bears and creatures of the forest are given full throat. Witness the bear and her two cubs as they “trundle in rugged parade order, fascinated by bees and berries.” Doyle’s legacy Doyle is as plaintive as the ouzels he portrays — festive singing water birds — among the crawdads and water striders. His narration blurs the line be- SIGNET CLASSICS “Mink River,” by Brian Doyle, subject of an upcoming Cannon Beach Reads discussion. tween human and animal conscious- ness to the point where nature itself is communicating, reminding us of the chirping, mewing and mooing around us — the language of animals. The sentences are long, lingering, reciting lists but never listing, with a cascade of revelations ending with a punch line to the gut. Childress guided me to another work by Doyle, “Spirited Men: Story, Soul and Substance.” The 2004 collection is notable for its profile of Van Morrison (which will send you scrambling to YouTube for live clips of the great and soulful rocker); contemplations of the alto saxophonist Paul Desmond; and an exploration of the clerical themes of 20th-century novelist Graham Greene. Doyle, like Greene, was a master of many genres, a literary omnivore, capable of dissecting a wolverine; ap- preciating and one-upping a quick wit or appraising a pinot noir. Such writers are all too rare in any decade. Reading his tales of death, loneliness, love and natural magic, I am grateful for the legacy of work he left behind. “People ask for him,” Childress said. “But not enough. Maybe his name has not risen to the point where people are requesting him as much as he deserves. He’s the kind of person that’s going to be here and stick around, and people are going to come back again and again to read and enjoy.” “Mink River” will be the featured work of Cannon Beach Reads, a pro- gram from the Cannon Beach Library on Sept. 19. The best of both worlds L ast week, shortly after we returned from a brief trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, we drove to our favorite beach access in Tolovana Park to walk along the strand. The walk wasn’t planned. I was carrying my handbag, something I ordinarily don’t like to do on a beach walk. The original idea was to grab a coffee at Sea Level and maybe hit Fresh Foods before going home to laundry and tidying up the garden. It’s shocking how you can be gone just a few days and come home to a ton of weeds. Perhaps it was the wish to postpone weeding and laundry folding that prompted my suggestion we walk to Haystack Rock. It had been hot in Santa Fe. They were experiencing a heat wave. While I anticipated it to be warm, I thought we might be able do a bit more exploring on foot beyond the historic plaza, but it was too hot to walk. In the morn- VIEW FROM ing we hoofed THE PORCH it a few blocks EVE MARX to Iconik Coffee Roasters on Gal- isteo Street (they have two other locations, one on Guadalupe and another on Lena Street) before wandering in and out of shops. In the afternoons we made our way to La Casa Sena for a Marble Brewery beer (that’s an Albuquerque brewer) and split a BLTA sandwich — red chile honey bacon, green leaf lettuce, tomato, avocado and chile aioli on a toasted buttermilk sourdough bun. Then it was back to the hotel pool to chill out until dinner. One afternoon we hit Ten Thousand Waves, a beautiful and serene Japanese spa, where we lounged in our private hot tub replete with sauna and plunge pool, but my original intention to hike a bit or ride a horse was out of the question given the 90-degree temps. It was cool in Cannon Beach, cool enough for a jacket. The shoreline was enveloped in thick fog. Walking north, towards Haystack Rock, we passed a few people; some rode balloon tire bikes; some pushed their old or tiny dogs in canine strollers; a 70-something couple were holding hands. I could not help but notice I was the only person barefoot. (I carried my Minnetonka moccasins in my hand.) I’m a person who likes to feel the sand on her soles and between her toes. To me, that’s what the beach is for. The Rock was surprisingly unpeopled. Perhaps it was the early hour. I posted a picture on Facebook and a Gearhart friend asked if it was Photoshopped. It was not. We stood beside it for a few minutes, thinking our private thoughts. The roar of the surf discouraged conversation. Turning back toward Tolovana Park, the fog was so thick you couldn’t see five feet in front of you. I liked that. I enjoyed Santa Fe and really appreciated the food see- ing how the North Coast is a little short on New Mexican. At a divine little place in Santa Fe on Hickox Street, Mr. Sax had a flat iron steak with grilled green chiles, pico de gallo, guacamole and fresh whole pintos. I had a soft shell crab sandwich minus the bun with a salad of mixed greens, roasted beets, peaches, and chevre. In a perfect world, I could dine in Santa Fe, followed up by a dusk stroll on Cannon Beach, splashing my feet in sea water as chilly as that spa’s plunge pool. PUBLIC MEETINGS MONDAY, Aug. 13 Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protec- tion District, 6 p.m., 188 Sunset, Cannon Beach. TUESDAY, Aug. 14 Cannon Beach City Council, 5:30 p.m., work session, City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. THURSDAY, Aug. 16 Parks and Community Services Committee, 9 a.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. Cannon Beach Design Review Board Meeting, 6 p.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. TUESDAY, Aug. 21 Cannon Beach Public Works Committee, 9 a.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. THURSDAY, Aug. 23 Cannon Beach Planning Com- mission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. TUESDAY, Sept. 4 Cannon Beach City Council, 5:30 p.m., City Hall, 163 E. Gower St. Better options needed when considering city’s parking woes I n the more than 10 years that I have lived in Cannon Beach, it seems to me that the primary focus of our local government has been to improve the lot of our local merchants. They have advertised and helped to build (through the Chamber of Commerce and others) a variety of activities and festivals that draw tourists from all over the world. We, the folks who live in Cannon Beach, are now paying a pretty heavy price for their success. Publisher Kari Borgen Editor R.J. Marx Circulation Manager Jeremy Feldman Production Manager John D. Bruijn MAKING WAVES JOHN HUISMANN During weekends and even some weekdays, it is very difficult to get around this town because of the traffic. Folks park all around our homes and sometimes even in our driveways. The parked cars have Advertising Sales Holly Larkins Classified Sales Danielle Fisher Staff writer Brenna Visser Contributing writers Rebecca Herren Katherine Lacaze Eve Marx Nancy McCarthy become so thick in midtown that it would be almost impossible to get a fire truck down some streets. Is this really the way that we want to live here in Cannon Beach? I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t. So, what is the solution? It’s pret- ty obvious. We need to have a place to park cars for those who are day visitors. Along with that, we need to strictly enforce all parking laws and have a fleet of vans or small buses to provide transportation around town. CANNON BEACH GAZETTE The Cannon Beach Gazette is published every other week by EO Media Group. 1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside, Oregon 97138 503-738-5561 • Fax 503-738- 9285 www.cannonbeachgazette. com • email: editor@cannonbeachgazette.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Annually: $40.50 in county, $58.00 in and out of county. Postage Paid at: Cannon Beach, OR 97110 I realize that this is a radical suggestion. It ranks right up there with constructing a bypass for U.S. Highway 101. Does anyone remem- ber? Highway 101 used to go right through our little town. Since the bypass was constructed, life has got- ten much better here. Seaside missed a great opportunity to do the same a few years back. It was a totally different idea to have traffic be able to bypass our little town. I’m sure that at the time POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cannon Beach Gazette, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Copyright 2018 © Cannon Beach Gazette. Nothing can be reprinted or copied without consent of the owners. there was plenty of concern on the part of the merchants. The net result for all of us was a much more livable town. Cannon Beach has certainly become more popular since then. We have the responsibility of sharing our great natural beauty with the rest of the world. What we do not have to do is make this place unpleasant for the people who live here. Unfortunately, this has already happened. The question now is what are we going to do about it? THE NATIONAL AWARD-WINNING
