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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 2019)
A4 • Friday, January 4, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com SignalViewpoints A NORTH COAST SURVIVAL GUIDE SEEN FROM SEASIDE R.J. MARX Watch your footing and be ready for anything S easide’s Neal Maine stopped in the Signal office with some words of warn- ing. The naturalist, wildlife photographer and former sci- ence teacher at Seaside High School slipped an 8X10 photo from a plain brown envelope. One of a series, the photo shows visitors on a dune near Little Beach scrambling on an uneven sand shelf to keep from sliding and dropping into the icy water below. “Somebody’s going to get hurt,” Maine said. My wife and I hiked the Gearhart dunes near Lit- tle Beach on New Year’s Day. With Terrible Tilly in the long view, footing became more uncertain. Heavy rains from the days before had shifted the river’s flow, undermining the dunes like a sculptor chiseling the chin of a statue. Thanks to Maine and the region’s many stewards of the land, I have learned to watch my step, to give wildlife wide berth and to keep my dog on a leash — far from the nesting western snowy plover. I’ve learned to avoid high tides, rip tides and sneaker waves and to listen for the rustle of the elk herd. I know to watch for crevasses, cracks, slippery footing and fi nd toe-holds and grips on moun- tains carved by nature and poked by treasure hunters. And to be ready when the Big One hits. Personal lessons My wisdom is nothing as weighty as all this. But I have gleaned a few hard-earned per- sonal lessons during four years on the coast. • The food bank won’t take your fresh-baked cookies. • Don’t even think about exceeding the speed limit in Gearhart. • Those white “T”s painted on the roadway in downtown Sea- side designate parking spaces. Park inside them. • When anyone asks you: “How’s your day going so far?” don’t overthink it. • Be kind to your library books. • Those gas pumps on the west side of Highway 101 near the high school aren’t for you. • Gearhart has the best doggie cleanup bags. They’re available in front of the post offi ce and at Neal Maine/For Seaside Signal These visitors are in treacherous territory near Gearhart’s Little Beach. PORTLAND TO SEASIDE IN ONE HOUR — NOT Oregon State Police report- ed on Wednesday, Dec. 26, at 5:50 p.m., the driver of an Audi A8 stopped for doing 100 mph on Highway 26 near Milepost 28 westbound from the rest area. Condi- tions at the time were pour- ing rain and heavy holiday traffic. The driver was cited for reckless driving, driving with a suspended or revoked license and speeding. R.J. Marx Brenna Visser/EO Media Group Signs in Seaside warn beachgoers of the potential danger posed by sharks. beach entrances. • There is a “secret” tennis court in Gearhart. • Don’t drop your doggie cleanup bag in someone else’s garbage can. • Buy an American Legion poppy. • The Red Cross installs free smoke alarms. • Always wear a helmet at construction sites. • Do feed the seals — at the Seaside Aquarium. • Ken’s Market has every- thing you need. • If they don’t, try Trucke’s. • Wherever you shop, bring your own bag(s.) • Don’t sit on the visitors’ side during Gulls games. • Give surreys plenty of room. • Let the other guy go fi rst. • Don’t let anybody tell you “it’s an hour to Portland.” • Dallas, Albany, Detroit and St. Paul are cities in … Oregon. • Learn how to pronounce “Yachats.” • If you don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes. • Yes, there are sharks on the North Coast. • If an eagle eyes your beloved pet, bring your pet inside. • And remember, it’s “easy to Seaside.” Heavy rains and shifting waters have undermined parts of Gearhart’s dunes. Troy Podoll/For Seaside Signal A deceased young steller sea lion in Seaside’s Cove. Don’t get too close to stranded marine animals. Education is an escape from poverty VIEW FROM THE PORCH EVE MARX E ight Sunday nights in a row late this fall, I became obsessed with the HBO series, “My Brilliant Friend.” Based on a quartet of con- nected novels by Italian author Elena Ferrante. The television series is a co-production between HBO and the Italian network RAI. “My Brilliant Friend” is shot in Italy in native Neapolitan dia- lect and stars Italian actors; there are English subtitles. The series is a faithful rendering of Ferrante’s four novels originally published in Italian in 2012 and 2015. The story begins in the 1950s in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. Two very bright elementary aged school- girls, Raffaela (called Lila) and Elena (called Lenu) rely on each PUBLISHER EDITOR Kari Borgen R.J. Marx Courtesy HBO HBO’s “My Brilliant Friend,” based on a book by Elena Ferrante. other above of anyone or any- thing else. As they enter puberty and become women, their paths — Lila marrying at 16; Elena con- tinuing her education — diverge and converge. Naples, Italy, is rather warm; even in December, during the day, it rarely falls below 60 degrees. Summers are hot and humid. There’s a lot of time spent on various Italian beaches. Here CIRCULATION MANAGER PRODUCTION MANAGER Jeremy Feldman John D. Bruijn ADVERTISING SALES SYSTEMS MANAGER April Olsen Carl Earl CLASSIFIED SALES Danielle Fisher on the north Oregon coast, win- ter is full on, which means it’s raining, if not raining sideways. Not ideal beach weather, at least not in my opinion. One of my book group friends looking for me over the holidays said she expected me to be home, reading our next assigned book, “Wuther- ing Heights.” I said I’m skipping the book. I watched the movie. With apologies to Bronte, the STAFF WRITER Brenna Visser CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Skyler Archibald Katherine Lacaze Eve Marx Esther Moberg Joshua Heineman next few weeks, my reading time is devoted to Ferrante. Imagine my pleasure brows- ing the rows of books in the Sea- side Public Library and fi nding not one but all four of Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels. I am reading them out of order. I read “Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay” which is Volume 3, fi rst. As I write this, I’m working my way through “The Story of a New Name” Vol- ume 2; hopefully by the time I return it to the library somebody will have returned Volume 1, “My Brilliant Friend.” The last book of the series is called “The Story of the Lost Child.” Ferrante is an exquisite liter- ary voice. Her themes of wom- en’s friendships and how women’s lives are shaped by their social milieu as well the themes of sex- ual and intellectual jealousy and competition are timely; she also addresses social and domestic vio- lence and class confl ict as well as the role of literature and the social responsibility of journalism during times of social upheaval and polit- ical protest. By the time the characters are true adults in the third and fi nal novels, it’s the 1970s. Lila and Lenu confront changing con- ditions of women in the work- place, student protests, and Italy’s famous factory strikes, and the start of a period known as “The Years of Lead” marked by left wing and right wing incidents of political terrorism. There’s a lot to discuss about these novels. I think I should rec- ommend them to my book group. “My Brilliant Friend” returns for Season 2 on HBO, but no release date has been set. HBO is tentatively saying fall 2019. Meanwhile, as the rain lashes down, when dinner is over and the dishes have been washed, I’m div- ing into bed to read for a couple of hours without interruption. Catch Season 1 of “My Bril- liant Friend” on HBO On Demand; or check the books out at the Seaside Public Library. Seaside Signal Letter policy Subscriptions The Seaside Signal is published every other week by EO Media Group, 1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside, OR 97138. 503-738-5561 seasidesignal.com Copyright 2018 © Seaside Signal. Nothing can be reprinted or copied without consent of the owners. The Seaside Signal welcomes letters to the editor. The deadline is noon Monday prior to publication. Letters must be 400 words or less and must be signed by the author and include a phone number for verifi cation. We also request that submissions be limited to one letter per month. Send to 1555 N. Roosevelt Drive, Seaside, OR 97138, drop them off at 1555 N. Roosevelt Drive or fax to 503-738-9285, or email rmarx@seasidesignal.com Annually: $40.50 in county • $58.00 in and out of county • e-Edition: only $30.00 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Seaside Signal, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103. Postage Paid at Seaside, OR, 97138 and at additional mailing offi ces. Copyright 2017 © by the Seaside Signal. No portion of this newspaper may be reproduced without written permission. All rights reserved.