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.