A7 • Friday, February 8, 2019 | Cannon Beach Gazette | CannonBeachGazette.com
Fisherpoets on stage, and writers share North Coast fi ction
F
ebruary may be the short-
est month, but the Cannon
Beach Library has planned
a full complement of free public
events, beginning with Ellen Not-
bohm’s appearance in the North-
west Authors Series.
Author of internationally popu-
lar books about autism, Notbohm
received Forward Book of the Year
Awards in psychology and in par-
enting for “Ten Things Every Child
with Autism Wishes You Knew.”
She also has published numerous
articles on historical, genealogical
and community topics.
This Portland author will read
from and discuss “The River by
Starlight,” her fi rst novel, at 2 p.m.,
Saturday, Feb. 9, in the library, 131
N. Hemlock St.
Set in early 20th-century Mon-
tana, “The River by Starlight” fi nds
Annie Rushton, having left her
ex-husband and child in Iowa and
homesteading with her brother fol-
lowing her episodes of postpar-
tum depression. Annie encoun-
ters Adam Fielding. They buy out
Annie’s brother and form a busi-
ness and romantic partnership.
Efforts to have a child prompt
further depression. Still, Annie
AT THE LIBRARY
JOSEPH BERNT
Cannon Beach Library
Ellen Notbohm reads at the Cannon
Beach Library on Feb. 9.
loves Adam. They persist, facing
diffi culties.
For this historical novel, Not-
bohm researched her characters
as if she were writing a nonfi ction
book. Interviewed by “Rose City
Reader,” she described years trav-
eling to the actual Montana home-
stead, visiting Edmonton and driv-
ing North Dakota backroads.
Her extensive research into his-
torical materials and locations, as
well as her innate talent, resulted
in her debut novel receiving the
2018 Independent Publisher Book
Award for Best Regional Fiction,
West-Mountain.
Fisherpoets Jon Broderick of
Cannon Beach, David Densmore
and Rob Seitz of Astoria and Geno
Leech of Chinook lured 66 North
Coasters to the library last month
on a cold, damp Thursday night
for “Northwest Authors: An Eve-
ning with the Fisherpoets in Can-
non Beach.” They perform next
with a school of other fi sherpo-
ets gathering in various Astoria
venues, Friday through Sunday,
Feb. 22-24. Check “The FisherPo-
ets Gathering” website for details.
Trust me. Catch several of their
presentations.
Josh Saranpaa, executive direc-
tor of the Wildlife Center of the
North Coast, will present “Lifecy-
cle and Rehabilitation of the Com-
mon Murre” at the Friends of Hay-
stack Rock meeting in the library,
at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 13.
The center in Astoria, the only
wild-care hospital on the central
and north Oregon Coast, special-
izes in seabird rehabilitation and
provides medical care for native
wild birds and mammals. Return-
ing healthy creatures to appropriate
habitats is a primary goal.
Cannon Beach Reads members,
led by Sandi Lundy, will discuss
Kenneth Grahame’s “The Wind in
the Willows” Wednesday, Feb. 20.
This children’s classic, based on
bedtime stories Grahame wrote for
his son, assigns woodland critters
human characteristics, not always
attractive.
Cannon Beach Reads meets
monthly at 7 p.m. on every third
Wednesday. New members are
always welcomed and share con-
versation, coffee and bakery items.
On Friday, March 1, North-
west Authors is sponsoring a new
event, Writers Read Celebration,
in the library at 7 p.m. Local writ-
ers were invited to submit poems,
essays, personal stories or fi ction
that refl ects their reaction to living
on the North Coast.
Forty-nine submissions have
arrived. So, a group of writers,
writing teachers, readers and bib-
liophiles spent last week read-
ing and ranking submissions. Last
Monday they decided who will
read their submission at Writers
Read Celebration.
In addition to writers who sub-
mitted entries, the public—espe-
cially residents, visitors and writers
from the North Coast—are encour-
aged to enjoy this free event and
share refreshments.
Library members, volunteers
and board members want to thank
everyone who responded to this
year’s annual appeal letter. As of
Jan. 28, 362 members and support-
ers renewed their library cards or
donated to the library.
Donations responding to the
appeal letter constitute a third of
the library’s annual budget. Volun-
teers, who together donate thou-
sands of hours to staffi ng, main-
taining and servicing the library,
send a big thank you to every-
one who responded this year. The
library, and our community, bene-
fi ts greatly from so many thought-
ful and generous supporters.
Making the incomprehensible comprehensible Portraits of women
military veterans
By BOB DIETSCHE
Cannon Beach Gazette
It has been decades but
its a good bet that his former
students still think of him
once in a while. It would be
hard not to.
Kester Svensen was the
head of the University of
Oregon English Depart-
ment, one of the two most
knowledgeable people on
the subject of John Milton,
the host of a TV show called
“The Poet’s Eye,” and the
author of “Milton and Sci-
ence,” a thoroughly incom-
prehensible book.
There should have been
a sign on the door over his
classroom reading: “High
Scholarship Inside: Enter
at Your Own Risk.” Kes-
ter had a penetrating stare. I
called it “the ray.”
I felt it the fi rst day of
class when he announced,
“There are two kinds of stu-
dents who sit in the back
row — the very very good
and the very very bad.” I
was sitting in the back row.
It was all lecture. In roll-
ing cadences of crisp, pre-
cise prose, Svensen proved
beyond a reasonable doubt
why Paradise Lost is the
greatest epic poem in the
Teacher Kester
Svensen announced,
“There are two kinds
of students who sit
in the back row —
the very very good
and the very very
bad.”
I was sitting in
the back row.
English language. I still
remember the day he told us
about the “fortunate fall” of
Adam and Eve. I sat there
in total silence, spellbound,
waiting for his next revela-
tion, afraid I might cough.
His grading system went
like this: an A in almost any
other class on campus would
get you a C from Kester.
If you got an A from him,
it was something to write
home about — literally. He
liked to show off by reciting
Shakespeare’s sonnets. He
had memorized all of them.
Once when he missed a line,
he stopped, smiled slightly,
and said: ”You are witness-
ing the disintegration of a
brilliant intellect.”
He got a standing ova-
tion on the last day of class.
He never even acknowl-
edged it. With one last con-
descending look at us, he
marched down the aisle, out
the door, and the applause
played on.
Bob Dietsche is a Manza-
nita resident. He the author
of “Jumptown, the His-
tory of Portland Jazz” and
“Tatum’s Town, the Early
Years of Toledo Jazz.”
Cannon Beach Gazette
The Seaside branch of
the American Associa-
tion of University Women
is bringing the Oregon
Department of Veter-
ans Affairs exhibit, “I Am
Not Invisible” to Seaside’s
Public Library on Feb. 13.
The exhibit features 20
portraits of Oregon women
military veterans. These
portraits will be displayed in
the library from Feb. 13-16,
when Elizabeth Estabrooks,
women’s veterans affairs
coordinator, will speak at 10
a.m. in the community room
at the library. Her presenta-
tion will be to create aware-
ness of Oregon women vet-
erans, their service to our
country and the challenges
they face. Women veterans
continue to face signifi cant
barriers and challenges in
accessing necessary health
care and other services,
while experiencing a lack
of recognition unlike their
male counterparts.
There are more than
28,000 women veterans in
Oregon — a number that
has risen steadily over the
past three decades — rep-
resenting almost one-10th
of Oregon’s veteran popu-
lation. By spotlighting the
many faces of this diverse
and important segment of
the Oregon veteran com-
munity, I Am Not Invisible
aims to increase awareness
and dialogue about women
veterans .
503.436.5556
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