The Cascadia Monthly - July edition of our Newsletter Released

<< June Edition | July Edition

In this July edition of the Cascadian Monthly:

• The Cascadia Review: A New Voice for the Bioregion - by Dana Guthrie
• Cascadia: Is There Hope? - by elona trogub
• Schadenfreude and Legends: The Zombie Sonics and the Cascadia Cup - by Nate Jenson
• Cascadians Converge, Caravan, Celebrate Bioregionalism and Interdependence - by Michael Hodges
• This month in Cascadian History - by Alex DeVeito
• Cascadia! The Month in Pictures
• Featured News from Around the Bioregion: Largest TIFO Banner in MLS history raised in Portland/Seattle Cascadia Cup Match | Cascadia EarthFirst! Locks Down, Climbs Flagpoles in State Capitol | 2nd Cascadian Bioregionalism Un-Conference held in Eugene, OR, 2012 | Cascadia Rainbow Celebration
• Cascadia in the Media: July 4th - BBC: The Day in Images | Cascadia Rising! Article in Portland Monthly | Cascadia Cup TIFO makes the Rounds | The Citizen's Guide to Seattle Beer: The Republic of Cascadia | Cascadia Gets an Honorary Mention - 10 Movements to Secede from the United States
• Cascadia Now! Group Updates: O' Cascadia! New Student Documentary on Youtube | Cascadia Now! Poster, Sticker and Agitprop Campaign | New Cascadia Flags are in! | Cascadia Now! Spokane, Portland, PCC and PSU Chapters
• Food and Drink: Blackberry Season Swiftly Approaching & Recipes for Jelly and Pancake Syrup - by Vickie Phelps | New Cascadian Beer Hits the Shelf | A Cascadian Drinking Song - Lyrics by Josh Mahar

[gview file="http://cascadianow.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Cascadian072012.pdf"]

Anyone should feel free to download, print and distribute as they see fit.

The Cascadia Monthly newsletter is a free monthly newsletter. We have a completely open submission policy and welcome any and all articles related to Cascadia and the Pacific Northwest, though we ask that they not be politically affiliated. Articles that violate our mission statement will also likely not be included.

Submit related Cascadia content, pictures, articles, events or contributions to our editor Adam Munson at

desolatesorrows@gmail.com

Previous Editions:

• June Edition
• May Edition
• April Edition

CascadiaNow advocates shift in culture, not secession

The Cascadia movement wants to unite the Pacific Northwest from Northern California to Alaska. Ideas on unification vary from separatist factions to those seeking a broad cultural identity. by Alicia Halberg May 24th 2012 Original Article can be found at: http://blogs.seattletimes.com/uwelectioneye/2012/05/24/cascadianow_culture_not_secession/

SEATTLE — “Organic Secession: Cascadian Dark Ale,” reads a label on one of Portland’s Hopworks Urban Brewing Company’s popular brews. It’s also a logo on a shirt worn by University of Washington senior Robert Foxcurran, head of the UW chapter of Cascadia Now!

Cascadia is the proposed name for an independent state composed of Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. Some maps include portions of California, Idaho and Alberta.

You might have seen the Cascadian flag flying somewhere around the region; most likely at a Major League Soccer match in the Northwest. The blue, white and green striped flag sports a large Douglas Fir tree in the middle, which has garnered it the nickname, “the Doug.” Just last week fans unveiled a 60′ Doug flag at the Seattle Sounders v. Vancouver Whitecaps game. The Portland Timbers have used the symbol in many displays, and every year the three teams compete for the “Cascadia cup.”

This is one map of the proposed Cascadian territory, others include more parts of Canada and the U.S. (Photo courtesy cascadianow.org)

Despite having an alternative flag and online chatter of independence, the University of Washington group says Cascadia isn’t about secession for them. Not right now at least.

Members of the group define it as a “cultural bioregional cooperative dealing with the connected ecological, environmental, economic and cultural ties that are prevalent throughout the Pacific Northwest.”

“Currently we have a system where politics creates culture,” said UW graduate student Mike Hodges. “We’d like to invert that relationship and shift to a system where culture will inform politics.”

The group says there are other factions of the movement vying for a referendum vote on secession in the immediate future, but Brandon Letsinger, the director of theSeattle chapter of Cascadia Now! says he doesn’t know of any people seeking independence in a radical or violent way.

“Folks from here, Spokane, Bend, Eugene and Portland see the way things are going in the U.S. and see it having the potential to collapse at some point,” Letsinger said. “If there’s a big disaster like an earthquake, I don’t think people feel comfortable relying on FEMA — we need to prepare ourselves and become more self-reliant.”

The current Cascadia Now! group connected through the popular website Reddit, which has helped to catalyze action for a number of political issues in the past year. The first Cascadia Now! website started in 2006, and members say there have been numerous iterations of a similar idea in the past.

“There are historical references dating back to Thomas Jefferson suggesting a Pacific Northwest state when he heard of Astoria forming on the coast of the Oregon Territory,” Foxcurran said.

The group’s communications director, Adam Munson, said that he sees Cascadia as a new way to frame political issues.

Portland Timbers fans displayed a large "Doug" flag at a match last year against Seattle. (Photo courtesy pdxpipeline.org)

“The two-party system is broken,” Munson said. “Locally or regionally, we think that more than 90% of people agree on things. It’s just that national politics tends to focus on small, wedge issues.”

The group’s popularity has expanded in the last few months, with chapters springing up at the UW, in Spokane, Bellingham, and even a high school chapter in Oregon. The Seattle group had an information table at the recent May Day rallies downtown, the UW chapter placed fliers around the area and has tabled at a few events.

Despite being inherently political, the group has not put a fine point on the political issues that estrange them from the rest of the country.

“We cannot release a platform prematurely,” Munson said. “We want to raise awareness and get more people involved. This way, we can get a better spectrum of what people want in order to make a better Cascadia.”

“Most people think of us as left-wing extremists,” said Foxcurran. “But when most people hear about our actual goals, they say, ‘Oh, this makes sense!’”

Foxcurran said the group averages 5-10 members per meeting. There were four people on the night I visited. From left to right: Brandon Letsinger, Adam Munson, Rob Foxcurran and Mike Hodges. (Photo by Alicia Halberg/UW Election Eye)

The group says they haven’t received any negative responses, yet. But legally speaking, talk of secession and independence could lead down a slippery slope to charges of treason, if the members ever organized to actually fight for secession. However, even separatist factions of the movement advocate for a referendum process, similar to the kind used in Quebec, instead of violence.

The UW group meets Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. in the upstairs portion of Cafe Allegro. They’re planning a Seattle-area barbecue on June 30 and a regional meetup at the Peace Arch Park on the Canadian border on July 1, Canada’s Independence Day.

The group joked about draping the Portland Timbers’ and Vancouver Whitecaps’ 60-foot “Doug” flags over the Peace Arch on the border. If they choose to do so, we’ll see if the United States and Canada accept it as a mere cultural symbol and not as an act of treason.

Portland and Seattle potlucks confirmed for this weekend! A Cascadia Party and Caravan to the Peace Arch!

A Cascadia gathering in every city June 29th and 30th, and our first 2012 regional convergence on the Peace Arch on July 1st. Details for the weekend have been confirmed:

Friday Portland Potluck, June 29th: Foster Eco-Village beginning at 5pm 4709 SE 64th Ave, Portland, OR 97206 Everyone is welcome and can RSVP via Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/events/344041932336285/  

Saturday Seattle Barbeque, June 30th: Golden Gardens Beach beginning at 2pm 8498 Seaview Place Northwest, Seattle, WA Everyone is welcome and can RSVP via Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/events/356209281113637/ 

Finally, on Sunday we will be converging with people from around British Columbia, Washington and Oregon at the Peace Arch State/Provincial Park for a one day gathering and celebration starting 2pm and going all day. RSVP here: http://www.facebook.com/events/394256853949269/

Even if you don't think you can make it, help us broadcast this event far and wide!

Music, food, speak outs, T-shirt, bandana, patch and flag making! Many other events (maybe a game of ‘Capture the Doug’?). We’ll also have a series of collaborative art projects that everyone will be encouraged to help us create as we travel.

The Peace Arch remains the last place in the Northwest where citizens of any country can come together without any identity papers and affirm their love of place, not as merely Canadian or US, but as Cascadian.

July 1st is Canada Day, July 4th US Independence Day, and so we have chosen this weekend and the symbolically important Peace Arch to celebrate the things that make the Pacific Northwest unique. An inter-dependence that transcends national and state boundaries and unites us together.

We look forward to seeing everyone there!

New Cascadia flags are in! Order online for $23.50

The Doug flag is the symbol of Cascadia and a new batch of Cascadia Flags have arrived. Those interested should send $23.50 to cascadianmycelium@gmail.com using either Paypal or Wepay.

Umqua-Cascadia-Flag

The flags are 5'x3' nylon and will be shipped out as soon as possible, except for between the dates of June 19th to 25th. A portion goes to supporting Cascadia Chapters.

Designed in 1994 by Portland native and professor Alexander Baretich, it can increasingly be found in cities throughout the Pacific Northwest and is becoming a common sight at soccer games, occupy protests and of course, on locally made microbrews (among our favorite, the Secession IPA or Cascadian Dark Ale).

The blue of the flag represents the moisture rich sky above and Pacific ocean along with the Salish Sea, lakes and other inland waters. Our home is of continuous cascading waters flowing from our sky and mountains back to the Pacific. For Cascadia is a land of falling water from the Pacific to the western slopes of the Rockies and Cascades where water cycles as vapor and then rain and snow to run through creek and river back to the Pacific. The white represents snow and clouds and the green to represent the evergreen forests and fields of the Pacific Northwest. The lone standing Douglas Fir symbolizes endurance, defiance and resilience, named for explorer David Douglas, the first written account of the bioregion as a land of cascading waters and from where our primary mountain range takes its name. All these symbols of color and icon come together to symbolize what being Cascadian is all about.

O'Cascadia! A new student documentary featuring Seattle Cascadia Now! members

Our Cascadia Now! student coordinator from Seattle University has released a great 5 minute documentary that provides a nice introduction for the Cascadia movement.

A short educational film by Kelton Sears about the Cascadian movement, its origins, its ideas, and its presence today. The video features three interviews with members of the Seattle Cascadia Now! chapter from their May 19th meeting.

If you would like to get involved with the Seattle chapter, they meet bieekly on every second Saturday and you can find more information on our calendar page here: http://www.cascadianow.org/ai1ec_event/seattle-cascadianow-meetup/?instance_id=2638

or directly from their website at: seattlecascadiaproject.org

The Cascadia Monthly – June Edition of our Newsletter Released

In this June edition of the Cascadian Monthly:

• Becoming Cascadian - By Nate Jenson
• Cascadian Caravan and Party to the Peace Arch, July 1st Weekend
• Cascadia Now! to partner at Portland Institute of Contempary Art (PICA) 2012 Symposium
• A Cascadian Whistle and Epistle, in Remembrance of Ernest Callenbach - by Brandon Letsinger, Geov Parrish, Ernest Callenbach
• Quaff Review #23: Secession Cascadian Dark Ale - by Andrew Barton
• The Tallest Sugar Pine, Umpqua Falls and Skookum Pond: Two Days in Umpqua National Forest - by John Williams
• Mega-Region Development and Governance: Divergent rationales and political actors at work in Cascadia’s high-speed rail corridor vision - by Wesley Regan and edited by Michael Hodges
• Cascadia in Pictures: May
• Wood Innovation and Design Centre at Forefront of Heavy Timber Construction - by Nicholas Sills
• Cascadian Peter Baum Finalist for the Tewaaraton Award
• This Month in Cascadian History: May - by Alex DeVeiteo

Featured Updates from around Cascadia: 

• Portland Timbers and Cascadia Feature Prominently in Adidas Commercial
• Cascadian Rainbow Gathering
• Cascadia EarthFirst! Rendezvous
• A Big F***ing Party, Cascadia Soccer Day - July 14th
• Chapter Updates

[gview file="http://cascadianow.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Cascadian062012.pdf" height="600" width="100%" save="1"]

Anyone should feel free to download, print and distribute as they see fit.

The Cascadia Monthly newsletter is a free monthly newsletter. We have a completely open submission policy and welcome any and all articles related to Cascadia and the Pacific Northwest, though we ask that they not be politically affiliated. Articles that violate our mission statement will also likely not be included.

Submit related Cascadia content, pictures, articles, events or contributions to our editor Adam Munson at

desolatesorrows@gmail.com

Previous Editions:

• May Edition
• April Edition