Daily Digest:Celebrate Cascadia Day, farm activist sues ICE, & renaming offensive place names
May 18 is Cascadia Day ππ€π
May 18, the date that Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, has become the unofficial Cascadia Day β a time to celebrate the bioregion that stretches from northern California to southeast Alaska. In Seattle, on Saturday May 17 at 6 pm at the Georgetown Steam Plant, the Cascadia Bioregional Finance Conference is sponsoring a free poetry reading at 6 pm featuring Robert Lashley, Claudia Castro Luna, and Matt Trease among others. Should be fun!
You can also celebrate Cascadia by taking time this weekend read an essay at Cascadia Journal urging Washington and Oregon to take steps toward more independence from the US.
Farmworker activist files lawsuit against ICE
Cascadia Daily News reports that Alfredo 'Lelo' Juarez Zeferino, a prominent farmworker union organizer who was detained by US immigration authorities in March and remains in custody at the Tacoma detention center, is suing ICE for his release. The Stranger has more on Zeferino, a berry picker who has been an effective organizer and is outspoken against the Trump administration and fought for 2021 legislation granting overtime pay for Washington farmworkers.
Bill would rename offensive OR place names
Oregon Capital Chronicle reports on a bill in the Oregon legislature that sets out a process to rename rivers, mountains, and other natural features across the state that use names that are derogatory or offensive to Indigenous and other people. Not long ago for Cascadia Journal I wrote about the process for renaming places across Cascadia β with the goal of moving toward names with either an Indigenous connection or at least a local significance (as opposed to naming a mountain for an explorer's pal in London who never set foot in Cascadia).
First nation sues BC Hydro
The Narwhal has a great, detailed report on the qΜicΜΙyΜ (Katzie) First Nation's efforts to recover salmon in the sΓ‘nΙsaΚΕ stΓ‘ΚlΙw (Alouette River) about an hour outside Vancouver. Low snow pack, increasing demands for water from BC Hydro dams and climate change are all threatening the health of salmon runs. As a result, the qΜicΜΙyΜ have filed a lawsuit. One cool feature of the article: there are audio pronunciations for Indigenous words and names in the piece.
Now playing: Seattle International Film Festival π½οΈ
This week week the Seattle International Film Festival screens movies from all over the world. The Stranger has an opinionated guide to 100-plus movies. Cascade PBS looks at the festival, now in its 51st year, and how Trump's bonkers plan to place tariffs on foreign films could affect the festival in future.
Have a great weekend! --Andrew Engelson
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