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Spring 2011 : Fail
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Oregon Humanities: Spring 2011
Happy Anniversary, Astoria
The coastal city mines its two-hundred-year history
John Jacob Astor—the millionaire fur trader and real estate tycoon—never visited Astoria, the once rough and wild frontier town named for him. Known today mostly as the setting for The Goonies, Astoria was the first U.S. settlement west of the Rocky Mountains, established as a trading outpost.
The city is celebrating its bicentennial this year, beginning in May with tall ships, a possible appearance by President Obama, and a cultural fair to honor the different peoples important in Astoria’s history: British, Scottish, Chinese, Scandinavian, and Hispanic. In August there will be a bicentennial mall aboard the Portland Spirit and a visit from John Jacob Astor VIII, a member of Britain’s House of Lords who attended the 150th celebration of Astoria (at age fourteen), as well as from the burgermeister, or mayor, of Walldorf, Germany, Astoria’s sister city.
In September 1810, Astor’s party left New York City on board the Tonquin and established a colony at the mouth of the Columbia River in April and May 1811. “If not for the founding of Astoria, all of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho would be Canada today,” says McAndrew Burns, director of the Clatsop County Historical Society. “We beat the British by about three weeks. The very shape of our country is what we’re celebrating.”
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Oregon Humanities magazine examines topics of broad public interest from a variety of perspectives and approaches. Recent issues of this publication have focused on stuff, nostalgia, and civility. Through good and thoughtful writing, Oregon Humanities magazine enriches our understanding of important subjects and stimulates conversation and reflection among readers, their friends, families, colleagues, and neighbors.
Contributors
Amanda Waldroupe
Amanda Waldroupe is a freelance journalist living in Portland. Whenever she fails, she buckles down and tries, tries again.
Debra Gwartney
Debra Gwartney is the author of the 2009 memoir Live Through This, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Oregon Book Award, and the PNBA award. She is currently working on a memoir about growing up in the West and the heritage of Narcissa Whitman, a project for which she received a research grant from the American Antiquarian Society. Debra lives on the McKenzie River with her husband, Barry Lopez, and is on the nonfiction faculty at Pacific University.
John Holloran
John Holloran lives in Portland and teaches at Oregon Episcopal School, where he is the chair of the history department. His last essay for Oregon Humanities was “Under a Spell” (Summer 2009).
Kim Stafford
Kim Stafford is the founding director of the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis & Clark College and author of a dozen books of poetry and prose, including The Muses Among Us: Elegant Listening and Other Pleasures of the Writer’s Craft. This essay is a section from his book-in-progress, 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do.
Kristy Athens
Kristy Athens’ nonfiction and short fiction have been published in a number of magazines, newspapers, and literary journals, most recently High Desert Journal, Eclectic Flash, Diverse Voices Quarterly, and Five Fishes Journal.
Matthew Stadler
Matthew Stadler is a writer and editor in Portland. He writes about cities and urbanism for journals including Volume, Netherlands Architecture Bulletin, Domus, and Camerawork. His book about urbanism, Deventer, is forthcoming from 010 Uitgevrij, in Rotterdam. In 2009 he cofounded Publication Studio (http://www.publicationstudio.biz) in Portland.
Sarah Gilbert
Sarah Gilbert is writing a book about mothers looking for emotional healing in food. In February, she decided to begin homeschooling her eldest son.
Susan Meyers
After growing up selling corndogs and cotton candy at carnivals up and down the West Coast, Susan Meyers extended her gypsy lifestyle by spending several years in Latin American before coming home to the Pacific Northwest. Her work has recently appeared in CALYX, Dogwood, Terra Incognita, and The Minnesota Review, and it has been the recipient of several awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship. She teaches writing at Oregon State University.
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