Frozen pipes, mockingbirds, and the secrets basements hold

Hello Fishtrap friends,

Frozen pipes are a fact of life in Wallowa County. I’ve experienced a few, including on my wedding night (“w-w-way back in ‘83), when the mercury jest plumb fell through the bottom of the thermometer (38 below, if you just want the facts). So we were all pretty proud of ourselves here at Fishtrap when we remembered to keep the faucets dripping during the cold snap we had a few weeks ago.

Then it "warmed" up, and we rested easy and went on with our lives. Until Rich, one day last week just before Christmas, went down into the basement and found, oh, a few inches of water on the floor. He shifted boxes of books to higher ground while I bailed with two buckets, all the while chewing on the question, “Where’s the leak?” No sign of frozen pipes anywhere in the house. But it turned out that we had, ahem, forgotten to have the city shut off the water to the lawn sprinkler system, and an outdoor valve box was gushing water underground and up into the basement.

The city turned off the water within seconds of our call, and Nick, Janis, Rich and I bailed and swept and vacuumed the afternoon away. We swabbed out the dark and musty coal room, now hosting just a lonely oil tank. I peeked into the root cellar, with an old freezer that the house must have been built around, and shelves of cans and bottles of dust-blackened mysteries. I took on the unenviable task of cleaning out this dungeon, when, poking out of a cardboard box, I saw some corked and foil-wrapped bottles. Ah yes, we’d forgotten about those.

We finished our gruesome task, Rich happily confirmed that the biggest damage had occurred in a box containing nothing but styrofoam peanuts, and we retired to the kitchen, where, thanks to one of Fishtrap’s many benefactors, we popped a cork and toasted our good work with a bottle of champagne.

Which is a roundabout way of saying, “Thank you!” to all who have contributed and will continue to contribute to keep Fishtrap, um, afloat.

Fishtrap’s fifth BIG READ, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, officially starts on January 12, 2010 with a Kick-Off event at the Odd Fellows Hall at 7 pm. This year we focus on Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird. Events will continue weekly through January and February, culminating in a Southern foods potluck at the Hurricane Creek Grange on Sunday, February 28. Copies of the book are available at all public libraries in Wallowa County and, of course, the Bookloft in Enterprise.

For the full calendar of Big Read events, go to www.fishtrap.org/tbr_calendar.shtml.
For an annotated list of recommended books, go to www.fishtrap.org/booklist.shtml
For an annotated list of recommended films, go to www.fishtrap.org/tbrfilms.shtml

Downloadable PDFs of each web page will be available by Wednesday, December 31.

To Kill a Mockingbird, which won Harper Lee a Pulitzer prize, depicts the story of a white lawyer, Atticus Finch, who is appointed by the court in a small Southern town to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a white woman. The story, told from the viewpoint of Finch’s young daughter, Scout, also involves a mysterious and reclusive man, Boo Radley, who both intrigues and scares Scout and her young companions.

The Kick-Off event on January 12 will feature Charles Shields, whose book, Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, is the first biography ever written about Harper Lee. His book, a New York Times bestseller, “will not disappoint those who loved the novel and the feisty, independent, fiercely loyal Scout,” says Garrison Keillor.

The Kick-Off, which is free and open to the public, will also offer sign-ups for book discussion groups, a review of the full calendar of events, and a free book raffle sponsored by the Non-Violent Communication group. Refreshments will be served.

The popular Monday Night at the Movies series will start on January 11, the night before the Kick-Off, with 7 pm screenings of Capote at Mutiny Brewing in Joseph, the Fishtrap house in Enterprise, and the Public Library in Wallowa. Other films will include Blood in the Face, Ghosts of Mississippi, Prom Night in Mississippi, the documentary Not in Our Town, and, of course, the 1962 film version of To Kill a Mockingbird, with Gregory Peck and Robert Duvall, which will screen at the OK Theater.

Other speakers will include historian David Schmitz, lawyer Steven Goldberg, former police chief Wayne Inman, and author Mark Mathabane. Residents of Wallowa and Union counties will lead several discussions, and singer/songwriter Reggie Garrett will perform American Roots music. There will be guest newspaper editorials, panel discussions led by Wallowa County residents, live performances of To Kill a Mockingbird by Mid-Valley Theatre, Southern cuisine cooking classes offered by Lynne Sampson, and stories for children on KWVR at 7 pm on Sundays. There will also be a writing contest for school students.

I'll write more about the details of each event soon. In the meantime, save January 11 and January 12 on your calendars!

There’s lots more going on at Fishtrap, but I’ll mention just two items:

Order anthologies from Summer Fishtrap 2009 at www.fishtrap.org/store.shtml.
Check Summer Fishtrap Fellowship submission guidelines at www.fishtrap.org/fellows.shtml.

A new year is coming, and it’s going to be a good one. Because down in the root cellar, there are a few more bottles of champagne.

Cheers,

Rick Bombaci
Executive Director, Fishtrap

Holidays and great consolations

Hello friends of Fishtrap,

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. This year, as I sometimes do, I’ll be helping a slew of other volunteers put on a community Christmas meal – even if the weather hasn’t exactly felt like Christmas.

I was walking down an Enterprise street on gray concrete spattered with ice and black pools of water and chunks of gravel. A shroud of frozen fog muffled my breath. As I walked by the Range Rider, where, as a young Forest Service employee, I drank thin beer and breathed second-hand smoke in the days before micro-brews and smoking bans, I noticed in the window a small handwritten sign: “The great consolation in life is to say what one thinks. – Voltaire.” Proof, perhaps, of the insidious influence of Fishtrap in this remote corner of Oregon.

A friend and Fishtrap advisor, perhaps a student of Voltaire, told me what he thought about my recent fundraising letter: “It could use more BITE.” The readers, he said, need to know how expensive Fishtrap is to run and why now is an important time to give.

I’m afraid he’s right. Our donations so far this fall are the lowest they’ve ever been since we started sending out fundraising letters. In fact, they are running at about one HALF of what they were last year, both in number of donors and in dollars given. Last fall, we received $16,000 in donations. This fall, knowing that money would be tight for folks, we set the more modest goal of $12,000. But we’ve only received $7,000 to date.

Just how expensive IS Fishtrap to run? Summer Fishtrap costs nearly $90,000. The Big Read is a $25,000 series of events. Winter Fishtrap, at $35,000, has seen its food and lodging costs rise by 50% over the past few years. What these three programs have in common with nearly all of Fishtrap’s fifteen programs is that the registration fees we charge, if any, do not cover their full cost. Only with grants and donations from people like you can we continue to operate.

At a recent advisory board meeting, the director of another writer’s program, who was sitting in as a guest, expressed amazement that, with the equivalent of 2 1/2 employees, Fishtrap is able to do all it does. Yes, the staff work hard, and our board members and volunteers work hard. Help us keep helping people, to say what they think, and say it well.

If you have not donated to Fishtrap this fall, you still have time to make a tax-deductible contribution before year-end. You can give on-line with a credit card by going to www.fishtrap.org/donate.shtml. Or drop a check in the mail to Fishtrap, POB 38, Enterprise, OR 97828. And if you live in Oregon, remember that you can match your gift to Fishtrap with a gift to the Oregon Cultural Trust that doesn’t cost you a penny, because it’s a tax credit. Go to http://www.culturaltrust.org/ for more info.

Thank you, and I hope that you enjoy the holidays.

Sincerely,

Rick Bombaci, Executive Director
Fishtrap, Inc.

Potluck frenzy and fish tags

Hello Friends of Fishtrap,

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. I drove home from my brother’s, across scabland, prairie, and pines darkened by the early demise of the sun. There was snow over Tollgate, and I was thankful for my studded tires. I was thankful, too, for the moon, lightly veiled behind silver fishscale clouds, guiding me home to Wallowa County and holiday season, a.k.a. “Potluck Frenzy.”

To survive Potluck Frenzy, you have to learn to pick, choose, and recycle. And if you’re anywhere near us physically, two events you ought to choose are Fishtrap’s annual Pretty Good (Recycled) Book Sale, on Saturday, December 5, here at Fishtrap’s Coffin House starting at 8 am, and Anne and Jim Shelly’s clay art sale, which starts at noon (and benefits Fishtrap) on Saturday, December 12. Followed, of course, by a community potluck at 4:30. See more of their lovely work and get directions at http://www.fireworksclayart.com/.

Silver fish scales. We fervently hope that fish – of several colors, described below – will be in your future. Even if you’re NOT anywhere near us physically, please join us in spirit on the following voyage, which we recently shared with those on our (physical) mailing list:

*****

A couple of years ago, author Jon Turk came to Fishtrap and read from his book, In the Wake of the Jomon, in which he argues that Kennewick Man’s ancestors may very well have sailed from Siberia to North America, at least in part just because they wanted to see what was around the corner. Exploring.

This past year and a half has been exploratory for Fishtrap, as well. We’re in waters known to be treacherous for any organization – that period of time when a long-time, totally devoted, and charismatic (yes, you are, Rich) founding director has let go the helm, and the crew – staff, board, volunteers, faculty, participants, funders – all feel the vessel yaw and pitch, and, sometimes, wallow. But lately there’s been less tangling of oars, and we’ve been glancing at each other with little smiles as we pull. We’re still making headway, visiting new ports, and we’ve picked up some exotic, exciting fruit along the way.

For the first time, we offered a Summer Fishtrap workshop called “Outpost,” located at Billy Meadows in the outback of Wallowa County, where, under the guidance of Kim Stafford, participants tented, wrote with pencil, pen, and paper (!), traded stories around a campfire, and engaged a bit more intensely with the natural environment. In conjunction with Outpost, Charles Goodrich served as our first Werner Writer-in-Residence, spending the rest of July mostly in solitude, chasing the Muse in the quiet at Billy Meadows and writing about the natural world in Wallowa County.

Pramila Jayapal and Laura Pritchett provided writing prompts to participants in our first “Writing on the River” event, a mix of writing and rafting on the Snake River in Hells Canyon, with just enough whitewater to make it fun.

For the second time, we offered a Summer Fishtrap workshop for children, taught by Kirsten Rian. We’re pleased to include their work in the 2009 Fishtrap Anthology (which will be available soon). In 2010, we’ll add a workshop for teens. Also for the second year, we’ve got several writers enrolled in a year-long workshop, this time with John Daniel, in memoir.

The Eastern Oregon Writers in Residence project, which was launched in 2007, is entering its fourth year. Fishtrap has worked with local arts and culture activists in Fossil, Condon, Chiloquin, and the many scattered communities of Harney County to bring Peter Sears, Jon Rombach, Ellie Belew, Cheryl Hatch, Geronimo Tagatac, Laura Gamache, Carlos Reyes, and Angela Allen into their schools. I’ve enjoyed sailing on high desert winds to visit those communities, and to welcome a new partner, High Desert Journal, to help move the program forward. The whole project has been one big learning experience.

Then there was Fishstock in The Dalles, where Marv and Rindy Ross, Craig Lesley, Steve Einhorn and Kate Power, Molly Gloss, and a host of other Fishtrap friends helped put on a great evening of words and music as a fundraiser for us. That was a new port of call for us, but we found the locals friendly, and plan to return.

Exploring. We’re doing it, and hope that you will join us. Try a week at the Imnaha Writers’ Retreat, where Patricia Keith just said, “That was the best, most productive week of scriptwriting I’ve ever had!” If you don’t live in Wallowa County, hop on the Fishtrap Bus and come out to Winter Fishtrap this February to join Ursula Le Guin, Molly Gloss, and Tony Vogt. If you do live in Wallowa County, dive into The Big Read (this year it will be To Kill A Mockingbird). If it’s been ten years since you came to Summer Fishtrap, mark it on your calendar: July 11-18, 2010.

Of course, we do want and need you to contribute. Donations from folks like you make up nearly 15% of our budget, and without your help, our oars will get tangled again. To make it a little more fun, we will be awarding to everyone who donates to Fishtrap a “fish tag” based on your annual giving level. (Don’t worry, we won’t clip your dorsal fin.) After much, and I mean much, spirited discussion, we have settled on the following annual donor levels.

Sockeye Salmon, $5000 and above
Steelhead, $2500-$4999
Chinook Salmon, $1000-$2499
Coho Salmon, $500-$999
Kokanee Salmon, $250-$499
Rainbow Trout, $100-$249
Dolly Varden, up to $99

If anadromous fish like salmon and steelhead can find their way to Wallowa County, so can you. Come explore with us.

Cordially yours,

Rick Bombaci
Executive Director

Aviatrixes, Fellows, 100,000 books, party 'til the wolves howl

Hello Fishtrap Friends,

I’m just back from a lengthy road trip. My thanks to those of you who put me up – or put up with me – on my travels around the state. Among other things, I enjoyed listening to and meeting writers at the Nature of Words in Bend. A group of students from Fishtrap’s Eastern Oregon Writers in Residence program in Chiloquin came up to eat pizza, listen to some readings, enjoy some time with Sherman Alexie, spontaneously read Matthew Dickman’s poetry out loud to one another, and go to a bookstore, where we helped them pick out some good stuff. Incidentally, there is a used bookstore in Chiloquin with 100,000 volumes, according to the proprietor, who showed me every one. I believe him.

Winter Fishtrap opened for registration on Monday, and is already about half full. So don’t delay if you’re thinking of joining Tony Vogt, Molly Gloss, and Ursula Le Guin for readings and discussion about “Learning from Women.” I think they’re going to tie me to the mast and take the wax out of my ears for this one. Go to www.fishtrap.org/winter.shtml to register.

We are now accepting Fellowship submissions for Summer Fishtrap. A Fellowship provides you with a free workshop, participation in the Gathering, a special spot during open mike readings, food and lodging, and a modest travel stipend. It’s a very fair, blind judging process. And it’s FREE. So send us a sample of your best writing! Deadline for submissions is February 1, 2010. Go to www.fishtrap.org/fellows.shtml for full details.

Fishtrap’s annual Pretty Good Book Sale will be happening on Saturday, December 5, from 8 am to 3 pm. Here’s your chance to pick up good literature at bargain basement prices.

If you’re looking for a new book, consider Outpost: Voices from the Meadow, with writing and photography by participants in last summer’s Outpost workshop, which occurred during Summer Fishtrap. You can view and buy it online at http://www.blurb.com/books/909290. Thanks to workshop participant Don Witten for this labor of love, and to all who contributed.

Anne and Jim Shelly of Fireworks Pottery are graciously offering a holiday sale of their very fine clay art as a holiday fundraiser for Fishtrap. And, in the finest Wallowa County tradition, the sale will segue into a community potluck, starting at 4:30. Mark it on your calendar: Saturday, December 12th, “from noon til the wolves howl,” says Anne. See more of their lovely work at http://www.fireworksclayart.com/. Yes, but where are they in REAL space? Go 1.3 miles past the Grange Hall up Hurricane Creek Road, and they’re just past two old log miner’s cabins. Turn right at the light.

FISHTRAP FRIENDS

If you’re anywhere close to Enterprise, you really need to come listen to Heidi Muller and Dan Maher, who are embarking on their Good Road 20th Anniversary Tour to celebrate the years that Dan has used Heidi’s song “Good Road” as his theme song for the Inland Folk radio show. Join Heidi and Dan at the Fishtrap House on Monday, November 23, at 7 pm for a mere $10 donation. Expect a round-robin sharing of solos, duets and stories. Bob Webb will join them for other concerts in December. For the entire tour schedule, visit http://www.heidimuller.com/.

That's it until after Thanksgiving! Remember to give thanks!

Cheers,

Rick Bombaci, Executive Director

Stirring up pots with Fishtrap alchemy

Hello Fishtrap Friends,

A long one this week, because I’ll be on the road for a while. But there’s good stuff here, even all the way at the bottom, so read on!

Molto bene! An SRO crowd jammed Lear’s restaurant in Enterprise for an Italian dinner fundraiser for Fishtrap College, which brings college-level composition and literature courses to adults and high school students in Wallowa County. Over 70 people enjoyed spaghetti con insalata e pane, e un po’ di vino rosso. The only rough spot in the evening was my singing – or singeing – of “That’s Amore.” Dino has nothing to worry about. But I did sing – hey, everybody sang – with feeling. Thanks to Steve and Kathy Lear, all you volunteers, and everyone who came to enjoy the evening.

I’m heading off to the Nature of Words in Bend for a few days, then will be rendezvousing with Laura Gamache and about 30 students from Chiloquin High School. Laura is one of several talented and dedicated writers and teachers who have participated in Fishtrap’s Eastern Oregon Writers in Residence (EOWIR) program, now three years old. This is Laura’s second year at Chiloquin, which is located about 20 miles north of Klamath Falls. Like Ellie Belew (http://www.elliebelew.com/), the feisty Washington writer who inaugurated the Fishtrap residency there in 2007, Laura will spend 9 weeks teaching in the school, offering workshops to adults, arranging for public readings and other events, and just generally stirring up the literary pot. In future emails, I’ll share a little about other locations where the EOWIR program is happening.

The Imnaha Writers’ Retreat is over for this year. Think of joining us next April or October down in the canyon country. It’s a fine place to spend a week or more getting a lot of writing done.

Winter Fishtrap brochures have gone out. Our presenters will be Ursula Le Guin, Molly Gloss, and Tony Vogt, on the theme of “Learning from Women,” February 19-21, 2010. See www.fishtrap.org/winter.shtml for more details. Registration opens November 17. Go to www.fishtrap.org/scholarships.shtml, for scholarship information and to download a PDF with complete instructions. WE MUST HAVE SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS IN HAND BY NOVEMBER 15.

A final shameless plug for a slide show I’ll be giving about an 800 mile hike I took through the Canadian Rockies last year. Wednesday, November 11, at the Mazamas, 527 SE 43rd, Portland, 7 pm. Free. “Where is the line between determination and madness?”

ANNOUNCEMENTS from FISHTRAP FRIENDS

Sometimes Fishtrap uses Stage One, located in downtown Enterprise, for events that are too big for our own Coffin House. Now Stage One needs help. Join local musicians Janis Carper, Rodd Ambroson, and Carolyn Lochert for an evening of refreshments, good company, and great music on Thursday, November 5, at 7 pm. Admission to this fundraiser is by $10 donation.

Heidi Muller and Dan Maher are embarking on their Good Road 20th Anniversary Tour to celebrate the years that Dan has used Heidi’s song “Good Road” as his theme song for the Inland Folk radio show. Join Heidi and Dan at the Fishtrap House on Monday, November 23, at 7 pm for a mere $10 donation. Expect a round-robin sharing of solos, duets and stories. Bob Webb will join them for other concerts in December. For the entire tour schedule, visit http://www.heidimuller.com/.

John Laursen kept a packed house enthralled last week with stunning photos and great stories from Wild Beauty: Photographs of the Columbia River Gorge 1867-1957. His tour continues:

Mon 11/16, Lakeview Library; Tues 11/17, Burns Library; Wed 11/18, Prineville Library; Thurs 11/19, Madras Library; Fri 11/20, Sisters, at the Paulina Springs Bookstore; Sat 11/21, Arlington Library and The Dalles Library; Wed 12/2, Hermiston Library; Thurs 12/3, Condon Library; Fri 12/4, Fossil, at the Methodist Fireside Room; and Sat 12/5, Moro Library.

Sheesh. Makes me tired.

Former Fishtrap Fellows send their greetings:

Eric Shaffer wrote to say, “I was one of the five fellows in Summer 2006, and my week there in the mountains working with Luis Urrea and the rest of the Fishtrap crew and attendees was one of the best experiences of my writing life.” Eric has just published his first novel, Burn & Learn, or Memoirs of the Cenozoic Era by Leaping Dog Press. And his fifth book of poetry, Lâahaina Noon, received an "Award of Excellence" in the Ka Palapala Po'okela Book Awards in Hawaii.

And Beverly Akerman, our one and only Canadian Fellow ever, sent kind words that I have to share: “Fishtrap has the most heart of any writing group I've had the pleasure to know. It has an ‘of, by, and for the people’ ambience that is unforgettable,” she wrote. “A piece I started because of a prompt by Luis Urrea–‘what the hands know’–just won first prize in Gemini Magazine's Flash Fiction Contest (http://www.gemini-magazine.com/)... I doubt I would have had the same experience anywhere else–the constellation of ages, ethnic backgrounds, the ex-marine seated next to the conscientious objector ... That’s alchemy, and it’s what Fishtrap does so well. ... All this to say thank you, once again, for what Fishtrap has and will continue to give me.”

Generous words from a 2008 Fishtrap Fellow. See some of Beverly’s writing at http://www.blueprintreview.de/22insight.htm and http://www.antigonishreview.com/bi-155-fall-08/155-fiction-prize2-beverly-akerman.html.

Write on!

Ricardo Bombacci