From the Archives • December 1999

Continued from page 2...

The World Trade Organization must stop meeting behind closed doors; it must welcome input from the people its resolutions will effect. We have been allowing the corporations to make our laws for too long. The Supreme Court ruled that money is speech, so those with the most money get the most speech -- in Congress, for example. But one vote is still one vote, and we all get one, at least here. And even if we don't believe it, we the people are still in charge, even where there is no ballot; consumers can boycott, workers can strike, people can protest, and in today's world we will all know about it.

When some power junkie in Congress acts like an idiot we find out pretty quick these days. When some greed-head multi-national tries a fast one, everyone knows. We just don't do much about it, usually. We might bitch about it at the grocery store or the local tavern, some of us might send an email or a letter to the editor, or even a congress person, but we are busy, we have lives, so pretty soon something else comes up and we are off on a new crusade.

That is why I've been so delighted to hear about people from all over the planet coming to my old stomping grounds in Seattle, to stand up for the environment, and workers' and human rights. Oh, I expect there to be some crazy true believers on both sides, agent provocateurs, and other idiots parading around the streets causing trouble for the people they are supposed to be supporting by their foolish and thoughtless behavior. But I was delighted to hear of a 'dirty trick', created by the folks challenging the WTO's policies. It seems they created a 'wrapper' that they slipped over a few thousand of the Seattle Post Intelligencer's daily offering, bearing headlines that told of Boeing's plans to move to Indonesia, written by one Joe Hill, and other bogus reports written by the likes of Emma Goldman. The folks responsible simply paid fifty cents, opened a paper box, wrapped their 'wrapper' around the real Paper, and left them for folks to read. Illegal? Yes. Effective? They not only got a lot of laughs from folks who got the joke, but they got coverage in the very paper tbey parodied. In fact, some folks at the "P.1." were impressed with the quality of the work. The parody masthead left off the 'r' so the paper was called "The Seattle Post Intelligence."

So, Wendy, don't he afraid of the 'bogey men.' It is our fear and ignorance that give them what little power they have. They, like us, are simply human beings stumbling along as best we can in a world we don't really understand. The best thing we can do is try to help each other understand what little we each have learned separately. And laugh at those foolish enough to think of us as frightened fools.

Much as we would rather not, we pretty much have to, in the next few years, work out some basic, simple rules for corporate responsibility globally. It is essential to our well-being as a planet. It will not be simple, it will not be quick, but doing the right thing never is.

It seems obvious that a strong economy demands a healthy environment, and a free people. So, if the world economy is to prosper, it is incumbent on the people to see that the environment and the people also prosper; thus the trip to Seattle.

(What I love about almost all really strange goings-on is that inevitably there is something silly and telling about them in the words that are used to describe them; for example C.R.E.E.P. {the Committee to RE-Elect the President during Watergate} and WPPs, pronounced Whoops {Washington Public Power System's huge nuclear power financial fiasco}. Is it just me, or does the fact that Seattle is called the Emerald City, and the World Trade Organization is pretty close to The Wizard of Oz, indicate silliness on a global scale?

Mo' Stuff

The possibilities are endless -- some stupid, some scary. One that is scary is that this might be the last Upper Left Edge. Originally, when we started the paper, we promised to publish for five years, and made a good faith effort to stop at that time. We were harrassed, flattered, and shamed into continuing on, but we actually only promised to publish until the year 2000, because we had no idea if we would be able to publish after that date. This is the 103rd issue or the Upper Left Edge -- eight years and seven months.

We have only twice barely missed our deadline. We have fluctuated between twenty-plus pages at our biggest to a single four-page broadsheet. We have printed work by children in grade school and by retired people. We have made some folks laugh and made some folks mad. We have printed work by folks who are famous, folks who will be famous, and by folks you will never hear from again. We have had the ongoing support of many of our advertisers from the beginning, and had folks pull their ads never to return. Some advertisers pay for a whole year at a time in the winter when we really need the support; some advertisers just ignore our bills and we stop sending them. In anticipation of this day, we have taken only one yearly payment this year, and if we fail to continue we will do our best to refund their money, because it was never about the money.

If the Edge does not continue, I must say how proud I am of everyone who has been involved over the years; together we created a truly unique thing in this world. In our small way, we have carried on the traditions of a free press, we have informed and entertained our community and encouraged them to let their voices be heard, their art be seen, and their ideas be shared. This is a good thing.

A while back, we received a letter that chided us about becoming a 'literary rag' with no guts for the good fight. We giggled, and did confess to having a love of words and books, as is obvious to our constant readers, and so with no apologies, we would like to recommend some reading...
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Chinook Eyes

Rick Rubin was in town recently, reading from his book, "Naked Against the Rain, The People of the Lower Columbia River, 1770-1830," Far Shore Press, $29.95 (and worth it).

Don Berry, the auther of "Trask," "Moontrap," and "A Majority of Scoundrels," wrote: "Rick, there are a lot of things a writer can try to do with a book. He can try to make it funny. He can try to make it profound. He can try to make it entertaining, or even successful. But a writer cannot try to write a book that endures. A book that endures is an extraordinary event that lies well beyond our voluntary intentions and skills. "Naked Against the Rain" will endure."

Your beloved editor agrees. I have read many books about Native Americans, and by Native Americans, but Rick's book about the Chinook is one of maybe five books that made me see through different eyes. Throughout the book, which is the tragic story of an intelligent, talented and unique group of human beings' eventual destruction, Rubin turns your eyes into Chinook eyes. He almost always uses the terms 'bahsten' or 'clothmen' when referring to the Americans and Europeans, so you start to think of them as 'them' and the chinook as 'us.'

He skillfully introduces you to Chinook Jargon, the language they created as the Merchant Princes of the Columbia to facilitate the trading empire they dominated. He brings alive the myths and history of these unusual, and, he suggests, anarchist people. (In Oregon? I'm shocked!)

He suggest that the Chinook were not only a 'tribe' as we define the term, but families with more in common with the Medicis than the Hopis. They kept and traded slaves, gambled constantly, were vain and fastidious in some things, apathetic and slothful in others. They were misogynists, but women often guided their fantastic war canoes into battle. The research done is excellent, the illustrations profound, and the writing, oh, the writing, wit and irony, the subtle poetry of history flow across the pages as he tells the tragic story.

This is not an unbiased criticism of Mr. Rubin's work. Your beloved Rev. has been aware of this old owl for quite a while, and enjoys his company. He was 'my ride' into Portland the day after his reading. We talked about the book, and the business; when we got to his house, where he has lived almost since the Chinook left, there was a pile of books in his living room. A familiar sight in an author's home. I bought some for Jupiter's, and I'm sure they are available at a bookstore near you, but if you want one from the source, give Rick a call, or send him a letter with a check (for $29.95) enclosed, & tell him the Rev. Coyote sent ya.

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