I was born in Astoria and raised in the lower Columbia region with such a strong Finnish identity that I have no perspective on Finnish social values or politics – no perspective except if it’s Finnish, it must be good. [Read More]
About Victoria Stoppiello
Some kind of crazy heroism
Logging and commercial fishing are neck and neck in a race for most dangerous occupation in America. During some years, as many as 118 loggers die on the job, a death rate nearly 30 times that of a typical workplace, with most of them killed by falling trees. Read More
Cool, clear water
We can live without petroleum, but we can’t live, literally, without water. Water is becoming a politically charged issue. In a complex water deal in the Columbia River gorge, Oregon might swap half the spring water supplying a fish hatchery to the town of Cascade Locks in exchange for city well water. Then the city could sell the spring water to Nestle to bottle.
Every bit (and byte) counts
My own habits have shifted over the years to less and less instead of more and more contraptions accompanying me on an outdoors “adventure.” I put that in quotes because part of the adventure for me is living with quiet, and living with the dark.
Skype the wedding?
This piece was originally published in The Chinook Observer during October 2011.
One of my nieces was getting married. Yes, we got a “save the date” postcard with the young couple’s photo on it, but no, there was no formal invitation with details. We had to go to a website. At a family get together beforehand, however, it turned out that none of us had taken the time to go to the site to get directions to the farm near Mt. Angel where the wedding would be held—and “us” included the bride’s mother and older sister. And, Google maps (as usual) was pretty vague when providing directions to a rural location.