Writing the Northwest
Archives
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Guest Post: Celebrating Ursula K. Le Guin’s Real and Imaginative Connections to a Place Called Portland
Read more: Guest Post: Celebrating Ursula K. Le Guin’s Real and Imaginative Connections to a Place Called Portlandby David Naimon, co-author of Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing [Editor’s note: The following is Naimon’s foreword to a new collection of writings by Portland writers called Dispatches from Anarres: Tales in Tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin, edited by Susan DeFreitas and published by Portland-based Forest Avenue…
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Rudyard Kipling Writes About NW Salmon…and Chinese Cannery Workers
Read more: Rudyard Kipling Writes About NW Salmon…and Chinese Cannery WorkersWarning: Quotes in this article contain racist descriptions of early Chinese residents of the NW. On the lookout for any kind of writing about the Pacific Northwest, especially early writing by writers from elsewhere, I was delighted to see Oregonian reporter Douglas Perry’s January 6 article, “How Rudyard Kipling’s salmon-hunting…
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Guest Post: The Myth of the “Other World” in Oregon-Set Films
Read more: Guest Post: The Myth of the “Other World” in Oregon-Set Filmsby Michael Schepps Despite Oregon’s geographic proximity to Hollywood, films shot in the state are a rarity. Rarer still are films actually set in Oregon, films that embrace it as a place unto itself. The singularity of the setting and its place in the American psyche may help account for…
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A Small NW Museum’s Presentation of a Japanese American’s Life and Art Raises the Question of What Might Have Been…
Read more: A Small NW Museum’s Presentation of a Japanese American’s Life and Art Raises the Question of What Might Have Been…Sometimes you find the most interesting and informative visions of an area like the Pacific Northwest in out-of the-way places. After reading an article in the Seattle Times, my wife and I traveled out to Edmonds, WA, the other day to view the works of Kenjiro Nomura, an amazing and…
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What Happens to Our Knowledge of a Place–Past or Present–When Daily Newspapers Face No Real Competition in Reporting the “News”?
Read more: What Happens to Our Knowledge of a Place–Past or Present–When Daily Newspapers Face No Real Competition in Reporting the “News”?A few days ago, Portland’s Willamette Week brought momentary life to the local journalism scene by critiquing a new venture launched by its older, larger, and richer rival, The Oregonian. The critique, by reporter Aaron Mesh, is mild as critiques go, especially when judged by the rousing wars Northwest newspapers…
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2022 Donald J. Sterling, Jr., Senior Research Fellowship in Pacific Northwest History
Read more: 2022 Donald J. Sterling, Jr., Senior Research Fellowship in Pacific Northwest HistoryI learned this week that I’ve been awarded the 2022 Donald J. Sterling, Jr., Senior Research Fellowship in Pacific Northwest History…which means, I guess, that my position as the curator of this website is a bit more legitimate now. The Oregon Historical Society gives out two Sterling fellowships each year,…
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Guest Post: “Oregon, My Oregon” Exhibit at Portland’s Central Library Gives Expansive View of How Writers, Artists, and Others Have Depicted the State Throughout Its History
Read more: Guest Post: “Oregon, My Oregon” Exhibit at Portland’s Central Library Gives Expansive View of How Writers, Artists, and Others Have Depicted the State Throughout Its Historyby Jim Carmin (John Wilson Special Collections Librarian, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR, jimc@multcolib.org) When, in October, I was asked, at the last minute, to install an exhibition at the Central Library, my eyes closed and my mind raced as I wondered how I’d approach this new challenge. Then, when…
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Where and What Do We Mean When We Say “the Pacific Northwest”?
Read more: Where and What Do We Mean When We Say “the Pacific Northwest”?Before we talk too much about writing the Northwest, we should attempt to define where and what the Northwest is. One of the few writers who has tried to write comprehensively about the region, historian Carlos Arnaldo Schwantes, who taught for many years at the University of Idaho, has written:…
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Two Excellent Websites Offering Brief Writings on People, Places, and Events in Pacific Northwest History
Read more: Two Excellent Websites Offering Brief Writings on People, Places, and Events in Pacific Northwest HistorySometimes you don’t want to have to dig through a big history book to learn more about a particular person or event you’ve heard about somewhere. Fortunately, there are excellent websites that offer vast collections of useful and often intriguing writings about all aspects of history in both Washington and…
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