Since my personal move to California during the pandemic, I’ve spent less time in the upper Columbia River region that formed and shaped my writing, but I have not stopped thinking and writing about it. Last year, Rocky Mountain Books released a new edition of The Geography of Memory, and next year they will provide […]
Columbia River
Swimming with the Salmon
I recently followed the Salmon Spirit to the upper Columbia River region, my literary homeland. The first time I felt that spirit’s power was in 2019, when I attended a tribal ceremony marking the release of several dozen ocean Chinook into Lake Roosevelt Reservoir. With the 500+ foot Grand Coulee Dam blocking their ancient pathway, […]
Salmon River Dreams
In June, I explored the Snake River system of central and southern Idaho for an upcoming book with Braided River Press. The 2024 book will also feature the beautiful photography of David Moskowitz, which you can see here. The Salmon and its cousin the Clearwater are tributaries to the great Snake, a waterway nearly as […]
Lighting a Flame
In April, 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that the Sinixt/Arrow Lakes tribe are Aboriginal People of Canada. It was the end of a long legal road travelled by this transboundary tribe, to reverse a 1956 Canadian government declaration that they were “extinct.” The word “extinct” descends through English from the Latin word extinctus, […]
The Submerged Canoe
The Sinixt, or Arrow Lakes Tribe, have been in the news lately. After a decade of legal battles over the right to hunt in the Canadian portion of their territory, their case will be heard at the Supreme Court of Canada. It’s hard to imagine why, in an era of cultural reconciliation for Indigenous people, […]