The Comet - November 2022

EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE

EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE

everything will be fine

editor: Ron Evans

contributors: Sarah Sims, Cory Calhoun, Natalie Dotzauer, Lindsay Breidenthal, Jamie Howell, Christopher F. Hart, JessicaDawn.Co, Anna Spencer, Dan McConnell, Lacey Grove

TYP3R The Muse - sculpture by Ron Evans

COMET HEADQUARTERS

Greetings,

Our third Writers Issue features writers, writings and writings about writers. It’s pretty meta. I do believe the fourth installment will be called Writers Have ISSUES. Not because I think writers have more issues than other people (hold the laughter in, Evans - hold it in) but because writers have a lot of unique ways to explore, deal with, and if we are lucky…. exploit their issues.

Let’s be honest, good writing often comes from a vulnerable state of oversharing. And like most kinds of art forms it takes a lot of guts to run something you wrote up the flagpole to see who salutes it. Or flips it off. But unlike other art forms, there is usually not as much left to the imagination when it comes to writing. I mean sure, you can get fairly abstract and flowery with some of the themes but even the subtext is still text. It’s all out there on the page. Nowhere to hide. Being a good writer not only takes the talent and skill and the practice, it takes bravery.

As a magazine publisher, half of my life is spent sending anxious reminders (pleas) to writers who are way past deadline - and yet, I still have an affinity for writers. Most of the time. It’s clear that many of them don’t even start working on their articles until they get my post-deadline reminder, but that terror is often the writer’s best friend (much to my blood pressure’s chagrin). That’s just how they work, it’s where the gold comes from. That “oh shit, it’s due today” feeling that many of us remember from high school is often still a regular part of the writer’s world. And it’s probably by design, even if they don’t admit it.

As a fan of reading local writings, I always like to imagine all the people out there in the valley who have been crafting poetry, short stories and even full novels but have never shared them with anyone. It can’t all be terrible. Don’t you wish you could read some of it? This is part of why open mics and writers groups are so important - for encouraging (luring?) these inhibited wordsmiths out into the harsh light of day.

I love seeing people releasing their writings to the world for the first time which is why I also love the concept of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and I was happy to interview three local writers who have had experience with it for this issue. I hope their tips will encourage you to try your hand at it, even if you have never written anything, ever. And then maybe, just maybe - you can run it up the flagpole and see who salutes it.

Or flips it off. It’s all part of the writer experience.

Happy Trails, Ron Evans

Editor of The Comet

CORY "DAMN YOU" CALHOUN'S

Puzz e Corner

CROSSWORDS & MORE MADE EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE COMET

THE LAST PUZZLE OF 2022'S "MEGA-META" EVENT!

The final puzzle in the Mega-Meta Contest is here! But first, a quick update: All along, the plan had been to feature BOTH the sixth puzzle in the contest AND the Mega-Meta hint in this November issue. Due to logisticalissues (and to hopefullymake this all slightlyless confusing),here's what happeninginstead: yes, the sixth and final puzzle is here (see instructionsbelow), BUT I'm saving the Mega-Meta hint for December's issue. So what does that mean for right now? It means you can, if you desire, go ahead and solve the puzzle below and enter to win the monthly prize. Then, next month, if you want to enter the Mega-Meta contest at long last, read the Mega-Meta hint that'll appear in December's issue--and follow thatissue's instructions to enter thatcontest! Clear as mud? Fantastic. And now...

On to 2022's last meta crossword! Never tried one before? For a chance to win this month's mystery prize, keep reading—and remember, it's OK to use Google if you need help! HOW TO ENTER: 1. Solve the crossword below. 2. Solve its meta puzzle (instructions at tinyurl.com/corymetas). 3. Email just the meta puzzle answer for the hint (don't send the solved grid!) to cscxwords@gmail.com by 12am PT, Nov. 24, 2022. (One submission per entrant, please.) We'll randomly pick a winner from the correct entries, and announce the winner and puzzle answers in the next issue. Good luck!

EXTRA PARTS INCLUDED "

ACROSS

1. "Don't ___!"

4. Chinese zodiac animal

9. Chess pieces 12. Flim-___ (bit of deception)

14. Sign between Virgo and Scorpio

15. Bravery, to a Brit 18. Jockey participating a longtime Middle-Eastern sport

20. Partof an earlymorningnoise complaint, say

50. Photo finish

Golfer's bagful

10. Chicago trains

11. High time?

13. Hired soldier, briefly

15. Penthouse feature

16. French article

17. Cabernet, e.g.

19. Fifth-century pope who was sainted

23. Least rainy

26. Gold-certified 2019 song by rappers Cordae and Anderson .Paak

27. It gets cleansed 29. Henpeck 30. Vinyl records, briefly

Except

B'way hit sign

German's "Good day"

Suffix with pepper

Super Bowl of 2007

1. Ravens'org.

2. Meatloafserving

3. Sutra

4. Kind of camera:Abbr.

5. Long of "Boyz N the Hood"

6. Rhyme scheme of "Mary Hada LittleLamb"'s1st verse

7. Race that's enemiesof the Skrulls in Captain Marvel

8. Salary

9. Keanu vehicle,with "The"

Mil. roadside danger

-Cat (winter vehicle)

Handling clumsily

"If ___ loved her, all that love is gone" (from A Midsummer Night's

Caroler's syllables

Location

ANACROSTICCHALLENGE

CLUES: ANSWERS: CouponSportingtype

55. Cousin of an ostrich 56. ___ Digital, VFX company that won Oscars for the Lord of the Rings films and is named for one of the world's largest

Instructions @ tinyurl.com/coryanacrostics

CLUES: ANSWERS:

8385022525173426443215116

Perimeterspot,maybePhrasemeaning"adeviouspartnerof"

Bummed

4125120141927742241832

628121592346

Pet-storesound - Long-timeBravorealityshow:Abbr.

QUOTE:

293647133493021044

Perimeter

453931374833351140

1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526

2728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152

insects

58. Pepsi, e.g.

59. "The Handmaid's Tale" streaming service 61. Secret message 62. Like framed prints

64. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Gehrig

66. Band booking

67. "Tee-___!"

68. Chinese "way"

PREVIOUSCROSSWORD'S SOLUTION

ALERT PERIL LIU

PIXIE ASADA ENV

PREOC C U PIED MSU

TAM HLN DAYQUIL PANICS URSA

AS T R O P H YSICISTS

SPEC STARZ

PADLOCK EMOBAND

AWAIT OLUO

HUM M E D A LONGWITH ISUP CREOLE

JETSOFF WTO NOD

ANI PRIZEINSIDE

BEN PANEL ITSON

STY STEEL ENTRY

PREVIOUSANAGRAMCHALLENGE'S SOLUTION

Themeofnewwords: Vehicles ABBOT -B = BOAT, RETAIN - E = TRAIN, VAIN - I = VAN, RACK - K = CAR. Leftoverletters B, E, I & K anagraminto BIKE

I CRAVE FEEDBACK! Thoughts? Suggestions? Lemme have it. CSCXWORDS@GMAIL.COM

FEATURING: @giezemon

Over the years at the Wenatchee Valley Museum, there have been some odd and strange things that have been donated to the collection. While currently there is a screening process and procedures in place for donating items, this wasn’t always the case. We occasionally find oddities lying around from years gone by with little or no explanations.

One beautiful example of this would be some of the treasures found in our taxidermy collection.

These guys were donated back when the museum first started and it is unknown how they came to look the way they do. It is very entertaining for staff and still in use for educational programs today as well.

Curated and written by Anna SpencerCollections Coordinator at Wenatchee Valley Museum And Cultural Center wenatcheevalleymuseum.org

DEREK SHEFFIELD ON POETRY

By Ron Evans

Derek Sheffield is the author of Not for Luck, selected by Mark Doty for the Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize, and Through the Second Skin, finalist for the Washington State Book Award. He is the poetry editor of Terrain.org and coeditor of Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy and Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, and Poetry (forthcoming in March of 2023). A professor of English at Wenatchee Valley College, Sheffield has been awarded the WVC Excellence in Teaching Award a record five times and has twice served as the commencement speaker by request of the students. In 2016, he was awarded the Linda Schultz Herzog Faculty Member of the Year Award by a vote of his fellow faculty.

I reached out to Sheffield for a chat about creating, understanding and teaching the often misunderstood (if not intimidating) craft of poetry.

One of the classes you teach at WVC is Introduction To Poetry. Talk a little about where you start with getting people interested in poetry - both in the class and in candid conversations.

I use contemporary poems to engage my students, poems by Ellen Bass, Ross Gay, Gary Soto, Danez Smith, Joy Harjo, Ada Limon, Jane Hirshfield, Ever Jones, Rhina Espaillat, A.E. Stallings, Tony Hoagland. As these poets, and others, engage with the complexities of our time in beautiful and accessible language, they make the best case for poetry.

Other tactics include reading local poets like Jack Johnson, Cynthia Neely, Holly Thorpe, Carly Feddersen, Gloria Roberson, Sue Sampson, Ellen Bruex, and Zach Eddy. Many of my students have expressed the wonder they feel reading about our region in the works of these poets. It surprises me that they are so surprised, stunned even, to learn that our home can be the subject of poetry. The land and people here shimmer with possibility, even the exotic, through the lenses these poets have made of language.

I also try to meet my students where they are. Just last week I asked them to bring in the lyrics of one of their favorite songs so we could read them together and find the poetry there by way of comparison with

the poems we’ve been reading.

It helps, too, to bring in visiting poets, in person and through the screen. We just hosted poet and editor James Crews a couple weeks ago. My students like hearing poets read their own work. They like hearing about the life that lies behind the language. Those are ways into the poem and by extension the Big House of Poetry.

In the end, whenever I teach poetry, I’m teaching far more. What I’m really teaching is living with art. I’m teaching how art, however you think of that term in any creative capacity, nourishes our interiority. I’m teaching how it widens and deepens our all-too-brief time here together.

For more on this and other matters of sound and sense, stop by the 2nd floor of Mish ee twie at WVC. Bring a poem with you so you can tack it to the Poetry Wall. If a title in the free lending Poetry Library catches your eye while you are there, please borrow it to give some of your attention to before you return it.

From what I have seen poetry can often be a confusing loved/hated subgenre of the written word, even among voracious readers. Why do you think this is the case - or have you even found that to be true?

There’s a marvelous poem called “Poetry” by Marianne Moore that begins “I too, dislike it.” Ha! And yes, I have read plenty of poems I don’t like. But it’s the same with everything in my life. I love, love, love music, but there are kinds of music and singers that make me wince.

Just as there are mathphobes, there are poetryphobes. By their postmodern, unreferential nature, some poems can leave readers cold, including this reader. Sometimes well-meaning teachers focus too much on a poem’s supposed secret meaning and when students keep failing to find that secret they start to believe that poetry is not for them. No one ever told them that it’s perfectly okay to like a poem and NOT know what it means according to some authority somewhere in the halls of academia. Think about how many songs you love but aren’t sure of their meaning. Reading a new poem is like meeting a person for the first time.

Talk about some of the collections/publications you have been involved with.

My three most recent collections include Not for Luck, a volume of my own poems whose subtitle could just as well be “on daughters and kinds of wildness,” and two special anthologies. I co-edited Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy with Elizabeth Dodd and Simmons Buntin, which was a book born out of the trauma of the 2016 presidential election. Instead of reaching for guns and grenades, almost 200 writers, artists, scientists, and political and community leaders came together to offer impassioned letters (essays, poems, art works) to their country in response to the issues that boiled to the surface between from 2016 to 2020. Many of these letters first appeared online in Terrain.org in our Letter to America series. Terrain.org, the journal for which I serve as the poetry editor, is the oldest place-based online publication in the world.

I’ve been working on Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry for over two years with co-editors CMarie Fuhrman and Elizabeth Bradfield. Mountaineers Books will release it on March 1st, 2023. It is a field guide for the heart. It is a groundbreaking book that combines Native and Western science to help readers find a new way of belonging to place, of being in the company of other plant and animal beings of our bioregion. Each of the 128 beings, or species, included is represented by a poem, original art work, and engaging bit of being-centered, wonder-inducing ecology.

When you sit down to write poetry, how much of that process is free form - just let it go where it goes - vs. a more structured method?

It’s all about process. In the initial stages of making a poem, anything goes. As you say, free form. Free flow, free verse, free bird. Very rarely a poem is finished in that early stage. In most cases, however, it will go through many drafts over weeks, months, years, before it is finished. During that time, to paraphrase Billy Collins, I am working with smaller and smaller screwdrivers.

I love the varying tools poets and writers will gravitate toward when putting words to “paper.” I’ve met some that will only use their antique typewriter, or a cheap Bic pen on yellow notebook paper. Many could care less - just use whatever is around. Do you have a pref-

erence on how you record your initial sparks of creativity?

I, too, love this about writers. Cormac McCarthy still types his novels using manual typewriters. As for me, I write the first two or three drafts in longhand. I like using long legal pads. The blank yellow paper isn’t as scary as the blank white. After about the third draft, I move onto my laptop. Recently, though, my poet and picker friend, Dennis Held, found me a Remington Travel Riter for ten bucks at a garage sale, so I’ve been thinking about trading in my laptop.

Talk about the editing process of poetry. It seems like this may be a whole different process from editing prose or essays.

Some of it is conscious. Check every verb. Use onomatopoeia whenever possible. Try on new line - and stanza breaks to feel how well they fit. Squint hard at that title. Most of it, however, is mysterious and is a matter of reading your own work after enough time has gone by that you can see and hear it the way you would a poem someone else has written.

Going back to my earlier question concerning turning people onto poetry - do you have a go-to poet or collection of poems you like to point people toward?

William Stafford and Mary Oliver really light my students and me up. I ask my students to choose a poem to memorize and recite in class. We read hundreds of poems over the quarter and many students consistently choose poems by Oliver and Stafford to tattoo to their consciousness.

Do you think starting with contemporary poets is a good idea for the uninitiated? Or are the classics and masters where you recommend someone begin their journey into poetry?

For sure. Contemporary poets get them through the door where they can then meet Gerard Manley Hopkins, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, George Herbert, William Butler Yeats, and others.

Do people ever tell you they just don’t get poetry? If so, how would you respond?

Oh, sure. All the time. I just tell them they haven’t been introduced properly. Allow

Are your courses more about writing than reading (understanding) poetry, or a mixture of both?

In literature courses where the focus is on reading poetry, we also write poems as a way to be more effective readers. In writing courses where the focus is on making poems, we read many poems to help us realize the possibilities that lie at the end of our own pens.

I’m sure many of your students go on to write their own poetry if only as a therapeutic tool - something that’s just for them. Do you find writing to be therapeutic?

Hell, yeah! There are soooo many rewards to making poems that are far more immediate and important than any kind of publication or recognition. In addition to the therapy (and who couldn’t use a little of that these days?), there is a tremendous amount of satisfaction that comes when you feel you finally have the poem right. Some of my favorite poets, some of the people I most admire, maintain a regular practice of making poems but they spend almost no energy in sharing them or trying to get them published.

Any events or new works coming up you’d like to plug?

Most immediately, in cooperation with a host of community and campus organizations and Central Washington University, we are hosting Taylor Brorby at the Music and Arts Center at Wenatchee Valley College on November 3rd from 1 PM to 2 PM. Taylor is a poet who will be giving a talk based on his memoir Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land, which was just released by Norton. It is beautiful and scary and wrenching. Taylor just might save a couple lives while he’s in town.

Down the road a bit, on April 20th, in a celebration of Earth Month and the publication of Cascadia Field Guide, we’ll be hosting Elizabeth Bradfield, CMarie Fuhrman, and Andrew Gottlieb. CMarie is a Native poet and essayist who is currently the Writer in Residence for the state of Idaho.

This isn’t a reading but it sure is an event. This spring quarter, Dr. Dan Stephens and I are offering the final iteration of our

learning community at Wenatchee Valley College (Dan is retiring after this year). Northwest Nature Writing blends the disciplines of writing and ecology in a special field-based exploration of place. Our classroom is the Shrub-Steppe, the Pine Forest, the Mountain, and the Riverbank. We learn about the different plant and animals of our region even as they become characters in our poems and stories. We have been offering this ten-credit course that combines Biology 127 with English 135 on and off since 2005, and it is the course more than any other that students remember as a transformative experience. Just recently two alumni, Jose Fuentes and Isabella Rodriguez, have been in touch to say as much and also to ask if we are still offering it as they wanted to recommend it to current students. So, I’m very happy to now say, thanks to administrative support, the answer is yes, yes we are. One. Last. Time. Prospective students can find more information about the learning community here: wvc.edu/academics/learningcommunities/index.html

Cascadia Field Guide will have a significant presence this April at Spokane’s amazing literary festival, Get Lit!, and also at the equally amazing LiTFUSE in Mighty Tieton in September. And Gallery One in Ellensburg during the month of April will exhibit some of the art and poetry from book. More events and information can be found here: dereksheffield.com/all-events/

TOUGH TIDDIES: BREAST CANCER PART II

random cancer diagnosis or a genetic predisposition for more cancer(s).

This is when I first realized that I would be making decisions that would change the entire trajectory of my life.

I can’t even decide what I want to eat for lunch on most days.

In the moment, the genetics test was a no-brainer. I find information is power, and I guess I hoped it would give me the power to make those difficult decisions for myself with confidence.

I got the results back in a week. It felt like a month. At least long enough to hit a bargaining stage. I mean, cancer already felt like this ticking time bomb that I could not get out of my boob fast enough - did I really want to know if I could have more lying dormant just waiting to be triggered? Did I really want to be the one to tell my brother that his daughter could have a predisposition to cancer? Did I really want to have a child in the future if I knew they could have to go through this too?

Is this how every test was going to be?

For better or worse, my results came back with no genetic mutations. In other words, I have no genetic link to breast cancer based on the genes that are known at this time. I thought this was unusual. How else do people get cancer? Yet it has been the norm among the majority of young adults that I’ve met with breast cancer.

It really could happen to literally anyone.

It was 3 years ago that I found out the 2cm mass in my right breast was cancer (or “rubber ducky” as we lovingly called it on the outside). The weeks that followed are now a faint blur of tests and appointments flying by at uncontrollable speeds while simultaneously dragging along at an unbearably slow pace.

According to my biopsy, my ER & PR positive and HER2 negative breast cancer was most common and very treatable. It had not spread to the lymph nodes in my armpit, so I was still in the very early stages. A lumpectomy followed by radiation was all I needed (and I was happy to keep chemo out of the conversations!).

If I weren’t a young 31-years-old, all of this would all be somewhat “common.” But being in the 4% of young adults that get diagnosed with cancer is not common.

NO ANSWERS HERE

I guess I thought the beginning of cancer treatment entailed sitting behind a large desk in a doctor’s office, getting an outline of my diagnosis and treatment, and being sent on my merry way to chemo. Because

TV is real life.

And it’s not just me. Everyone wanted answers. I imagine it’s like someone sharing that they are pregnant and immediately being expected to know the name of their baby and the birthing plan. Except that my bundle of joy was an assassin.

Even when I started to have answers, no one understood what they meant. I could have told people I had stage 8N cancer with the Omegatron Mutation and probably would have gotten the same reactions.

We all wanted answers - we just didn’t know what that looked like.

It didn’t help that my diagnosis continued to evolve while I was sprinting into treatment. So many appointments. Hurry up and wait.

IT’S ALL IN THE GENETICSUNTIL IT’S NOT

Apparently, there are dozens of gene mutations that are related to breast cancer. DOZENS. MULTIPLE dozens. While my family history had no indication that I had any of these gene mutations, there was one definitive way to find out if I was fighting a

TO BE OR NOT BOOBIE

On October 1, 2019, barely three weeks after getting the call with bad news, I was getting an MRI of my chest for a better picture of that little mass and to begin planning for my lumpectomy.

And my boob lit up like a Christmas tree. At least, that’s what I imagine a 5 x 3.6 x 4.6 cm mass with enough satellite lesions to get HBO looks like in an MRI. I also assume it’s what gave my other boob the gall to chime in with a new “problem spot” (that would have to be biopsied to diagnose).

When I was little, I used to wish for grapefruit-sized boobs. But my post-pubescent rack was nowhere near that size. I was really running out of salvageable breast tissue in this new boob-to-cancer ratio to reasonably consider a lumpectomy. The recommendation was a mastectomy.

I also had to decide what to do about this new problem spot in my left breast. Getting another biopsy made me want to cry. And if it was not cancerous, would I be forever worrying about it becoming cancerous? After discussing it with my sur-

geon, I requested a bilateral mastectomy with the full support of my husband.

I prefer symmetry anyways.

Sidebar: The movies never seem to talk about lumpectomies or mastectomies, so I didn’t know what any of this stuff meant until my surgeon gently navigated me through the process. Basically, when we thought the cancer was smaller, the surgeon was going to take out her very professional ice cream scoop and scoop out the mass. That’s a lumpectomy. However, the mass was actually a fully grown crab with legs in my right breast, so the recommendation was that we remove all of the tissue from that breast to ensure we get every leg. That’s a mastectomy. Adding in the left breast made it a bilateral mastectomy. What about the nipples?

This was the farthest question from my mind, but apparently, nipples can be salvaged in a mastectomy. However, doing so in my right breast, where it was dangerously close to my cancer, put me at risk of having the cancer come back via my nipple. On top of that, it was unlikely I would have any feeling in my nipples after the surgery.

I really had great nipples. But they would be useless - except to potentially give me cancer again. So, I decided not to spare my nipples.

October 1 was the day I decided to fully remove my breasts and nipples from my body. My end goal was a quality of life for 30 more years, and I felt this was the best way to do that. I was fully supported by my surgeon, my oncologist, and my husband. It was terrifying and empowering at the same time. I chose to take control of an uncontrollable situation with my middle fingers in the air.

THERE’S A HEART UNDER THOSE BOOBS

The world of breast cancer comes with a lot of surgery options. It was one thing to decide to take out my cancer’s breeding ground but another to live without breasts as a 31-year-old woman. I felt confident in all my decisions, but I knew at the end of it all that I would still want to feel like a woman in my own chest.

My surgeon empathized in a way that only someone with breasts could do and put a call in to a plastic surgeon in Seattle that specialized in breast cancer reconstruction. In the meantime, she spoke with my Oncologist, and they decided to put me on a drug that would block my estrogen receptors, fucking with my cancer’s food supply to buy me time to learn all my options.

Sidebar: The thing about ER & PR positive and HER2 negative breast cancer that makes it so great to treat is that we know it eats estrogen. I picture The Very Hungry Caterpillar eating its way through my estrogen-filled milk ducts as it gets fatter and fatter. However, if we can control the estrogen supply in my body, we can prevent the cancer from growing. This was critical, considering the cancer was fatter than we originally thought. And even though it’s been less than a month, everyone was working at rapid rates to get this cancer out of me in the most effective way possible while still trying to honor my own needs.

The estrogen receptor blocker was actually the first official treatment I received. I happily took the drug that made me a little woozy, in exchange for some time to learn about the incredible advancements in breast reconstruction.

I didn’t know this plastic surgeon very well, but he was patient in walking us through the different reconstruction options - and his work was beautiful. I had a lot of options, but I was a prime candidate for implants, and I could choose to have the bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction in the same surgery or delay reconstruction until after my bilateral mastectomy and treatment in Wenatchee.

As we drove over the pass to this appointment, I was convinced I wanted one surgery, and if that meant having both the mastectomy and reconstruction in one swoop then that was the option for me. But as we drove back home, I had a feeling in my gut that I just couldn’t ignore.

I told my husband I couldn’t reconcile what I was thinking with what I was feeling. I was sure I wanted one surgery, and while there were some risks involved with doing that before treatment, the surgeon was optimistic that it would go smoothly. It was the option I thought I wanted most. However, this plastic surgeon only did the reconstruction (not the bilateral mastectomy), so if I wanted to have one surgery, I would have to trade my surgeon in Wenatchee for a surgeon in Seattle that could do the surgery simultaneously with the plastic surgeon. People in Wenatchee will specifically seek Seattle doctors over Wenatchee doctors, so this wasn’t a terrible choice.

But it felt terrible to me. As far as I was concerned, I had the A-team of care teams. I loved my surgeon in Wenatchee - she was close to home, my only female doctor, my advocate, and worked closely with my whole team. I couldn’t imagine doing this without her.

My husband listened and kindly told me that it was okay to choose my gut. I would be in good hands either way, but I needed to feel comfortable. I had to give myself

permission to let my heart take the reins on this one.

So, I chose to have a bilateral mastectomy in Wenatchee. Shortly thereafter, I would go to the plastic surgeon in Seattle for reconstruction. My middle fingers were back in the air.

GOING PUBLIC

In preparation for my bilateral mastectomy, I read every credible cancer website for facts and a handful of blogs for recommendations. I had a notebook of all the information I gathered and tracked every question regularly. I had a list of items that would help with my tubes, limited range of motion, and overall comfort. We borrowed a large, comfortable medical bed from friends, and another friend set up a meal train with a donation collection. My husband and parents planned to take time off from work for the overnight surgery and recovery from home. I set up taking time off from work followed by remote work for when I was ready. I was ready for surgery.

Up until this point, though, the only people that knew about my cancer were my family, work, and some friends. I wanted to personally tell the people I was closest to, but it was becoming difficult as word was starting to spread.

I never wanted to go Facebook official. I always saw it as an attention platform. But I was losing control of this spread of information, and I wanted people to hear it from me before the rumors. There was also a very public meal train set up, and it was chugging ahead whether I was conducting it or not.

Over several days, I drafted, waited, redrafted, deleted, then re-wrote a Facebook post to announce to the world that I had breast cancer.

I wanted to tell people I had cancer, but I recalled the number of people that immediately reacted with sadness - sometimes literal tears. I knew that sadness more than I ever felt comfortable sharing. But I wanted to change the narrative. I wanted people to react with optimism and hope when they heard of my diagnosis. I wanted them to feel like they could ask me questions without fear. I wanted to praise the care team that made it possible for me to feel all those things.

If I had the audacity to change the narrative on cancer, I was going all the way. One thing I feared about going public was the advice/opinions that came with it. It made it difficult for me to feel empowered to make my own decision when everyone else was trying to climb into my head. I just kept telling myself, “They just care so much about you that they want to help - yet they don’t know how.” It helped me to ap-

preciate my loved ones while brushing off the advice and opinions that did not serve me.

So, I went to the heart of my own advice. If people just care so much and want to help (and how fucking lucky am I to have so many people care about me?!), then perhaps I could set them up for success by giving them constructive ways to help. I took the list of items I needed for surgery, along with my meal train/donation collector, and went public on Facebook.

I never wanted to go Facebook official - but I’m glad I did. The world chose to embrace my fight as its own, and I will never be able to thank my family, friends, and Wenatchee enough for that.

I’m not crying, you’re crying.

BOOB VOYAGE

That’s right, middle fingers to the air doesn’t mean I didn’t have tears streaming down my face. Preparing for surgery made me sad - I was losing a beautiful part of my body.

Hate them or love them, if you had three weeks left with your breasts, what would you do?

For starters, I asked someone I trusted to take beautiful photos of the girls. I still haven’t decided if I want to burn or frame the photos, but I know I have them for the day I do decide.

One day, working in an office of women, a coworker asked me if she could feel my mass. At this point, I had to drive to Seattle to find someone that hadn’t touched my mass - why not let it serve as a “study aid” for other women? I remembered how I felt the first time I felt it, wondering if it was normal or not, and wishing I had any frame of reference. So, I pulled aside the top of my shirt and invited a line. I like to think my breasts dedicated themselves to breast cancer education before they left me.

While waiting in an exam room, I saw a list of advice from cancer survivors on the wall. One of the quotes was to celebrate the small things every day, and it stuck with me.

Within a week of my surgery, I celebrated my breasts in every way I could. I threw a boob-voyage party at the RadarStation, dawning one of the last wire bras I’ve ever worn. My dear friends got me a boob cake and passed out rubber duckies, encouraging everyone to take a photo with their rubber ducky on the day of my surgery. It was a day of laughter, smiles, hope, and breast cancer education.

I also took my boobs to a concert and jumped up and down a lot. I almost flashed a random person. I really wanted to at least. My husband drove me around town the night before my surgery to cross this last item off my list. In the end, I just

couldn’t do it. I guess I wanted their last night to have some dignity.

TA TA TO THE TA TAS

Six weeks after being diagnosed with breast cancer, I was going in for surgery. They would remove the breast tissue from both sides along with 1-3 sentinel lymph nodes from both sides to confirm the cancer had in fact not spread to the lymph nodes. To do so, they would inject a bold blue dye into the edges of my areolas that would make its way to my lymph nodes, so the surgeon could easily find and remove the lymph nodes. It also turned my pee into gorgeous hues of blue.

Sidebar: We have hundreds of lymph nodes that act as a filtration system in our lymphatic system to help fight infection and disease. Once the cancer goes into the lymph nodes, it could be dumped and spread to other areas of the body. We were specifically looking at the lymph nodes around my armpit. Think of them like a pyramid, and the sentinel ones are the top 1-3.

It was an early morning that started in the spa-like breast imaging center. I knew what I was getting into this time. But as I waited, there was something I didn’t expect.

In the waiting room was another woman talking to a doctor from the breast imaging center. She was wanting more information on her recent biopsy, but the doctor had little information to offer except to recommend she wait and find out.

I left my parents and husband and went over to the crying woman, alone in a cold room. I hated being the kid invading her personal space and privacy, but I wanted her to know she was not alone. This woman was me just six weeks ago, but she was brave enough to come back and ask for more answers. I talked to her until she dried her tears, then I left and let her be. I don’t know what ever happened to this woman, but I think about her often.

On October 23, 2019, both of my breasts and 4 lymph nodes were removed from my body. After waking up from surgery, I cried.

But this was just the beginning of my fight.

Read Part III in December’s Comet.

Everyone’s cancer journey is different because every cancer, treatment, body, and circumstance is different. If you or someone you love is going through cancer, please do not take this as a roadmap to the cancer journey. If you have questions, talk to a doctor for medical advice. C

NANOWRIMO RETURNS

In July of 1999 in the San Francisco Bay area, freelance writer Chris Baty started what would come to be known as NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). The idea was born mostly of a need for support, encouragement and accountability all in the name of motivation for writing a 50,000 word novel within the month of November. 21 people took part in the first year, but it caught on in the Bay Area and soon started to spread. By 2000, Baty had added a website and a Yahoo Group forum for writers to gather and blow off steam, share tips, help with writer’s block and offer feedback. The NaNoWriMo website now has a built-in writing app for getting your daily word count, or you can paste from your favorite writing software. It also boasts a rather massive and enthusiastic communityready to help get you to your writing goals.

To date, almost half a million people have participated in the “contest” - that word is used loosely because beyond some swell virtual badges and a very satisfying “you did it!” screen, and - of course - your completed novel, there are no prizes at the end. And you are on your own honor with your daily word count so NaNoWriMo is really just another tool to help you stay on target, focused, and getting your damn daily word counts!

The Comet reached out to a few local writers (Loren Meloy, Frances Pauli and Larry Queen) that have done NaNoWriMo to get some tips, tricks, insights, and to see how the event helps keep them on their writing game.

How many years have you done NaNoWriMo?

LOREN MELOY: At least five years, some more successful than others.

FRANCES PAULI: I’ve done NaNoWriMo since 2007, and I’ve only missed one year in that time.

LARRY QUEEN: I participated in NaNoWriMo in 2015 - 50k words and again in 2020 over 80k words and am still editing as I find free time working 40 plus hours a week.

What kind of novel(s) did you work on?

LOREN MELOY: Mostly satirical sci-fi, in the vein of Douglas Adams.

FRANCES PAULI: I have written science fiction, fantasy, and romance as well as Furry novels with animal characters.

LARRY QUEEN: 2015 was my first official toe dipping into actually trying to write. That book is called “MADE.” It is an adventure horror book. The second has a working title of MechanicalEssence. It’s a pseudo Lit RPG (Role Playing Game) style book.

Did you use NaNoWriMo to kickstart a larger project or a start to finish novela?

LOREN MELOY: I used it mostly to see if I could write at all. Turns out I can, albeit inconsistently!

FRANCES PAULI: Most years I use NaNo to start (and finish) a new project. When my deadlines and writing schedule don’t align with November 1st, however, I have used the event to finish up a book that was already in progress.

LARRY QUEEN: Both were to start a new novel that could spring into at least a three book series.

What did you find most helpful about participating?

LOREN MELOY: For a year or two, we had a group that got together and that community was great. The structure of it, all the encouragement, prompts, and prizes. It’s all wonderful!

FRANCES PAULI: The accountability and group pressure is incredibly helpful in motivating both increased word count and the drive to finish a book.

LARRY QUEEN: I was surprised that the structure of the challenge itself spurred me on a lot more than I thought it would. And there are nuggets of wisdom in many YouTube videos and podcasts about the subject. There are too many to list.

Did you find it tough to stick to your daily word count?

LOREN MELOY: Extremely. 1500-2000 words are more than you think, especially if you want them to make any sense. This is why being a “planner” (instead of a “pantster,” flying by the seat of your pants) is best. Having an outline makes it easier to just be in a flow state and get the words out. I think my first year was the best. I had a steely determination to beat the counter.

FRANCES PAULI: Not anymore. I write daily all year round, and though the output during NaNoWriMo can be intense, it is not that much more than what I usually write per day. The real challenge for me is to make the time to write every day and to stick to the schedule without interruptions.

LARRY QUEEN: I was concerned at first that that would be an issue, however on the weekends or on days that I had time off I got extra words in and I finished 50k

words with a week and a half to spare in 2015. I kind of bathed in my success and as I was using the NaNoWriMo site to track my numbers it said I completed it and that I should sit on it for three months before coming back to it to edit. Keeping in mind I have to edit as I go - I did not get favorable grades in school, and utilizing punctuation correctly was a virtual impossibility. But with word processors now, that’s way less of an issue than it was in the past.

Were you always part of a group doing NaNoWriMo, or lone-wolfing it?

LOREN MELOY: I’ve been in groups and a lone-wolf. Both have their perks.

FRANCES PAULI: I have done both. The first year I participated with a friend, then I became a Municipal Liaison (regional coordinator) for the event and worked with groups of local writers for many years. Lately, I’ve gone back to participating in a more solitary fashion, primarily after 2020 when in-person write-ins became problematic.

LARRY QUEEN: My first time out I definitely lone-wolfed it, I needed to focus on my story and what I was doing. I still learned a lot from the process which helped my future attempts as well.

Have you utilize the NaNoWriMo community online at all?

LOREN MELOY: Moreso in recent years.

Frances Pauli: I have used the regional forums and structure during NaNoWriMo to help form a writing community. Not only has this been beneficial during the event, but I have discovered year-round

L O REN MELOY

F R ANCES PAULI

L A RRY QUEEN

writer’s groups that have spawned as a result of NaNoWriMo activities.

LARRY QUEEN: Very little. I updated my word count on the website and used someone’s suggestion for a topic to add into a chapter, which turned out interesting, but that was mostly it.

Do you have a dedicated space for writing?

LOREN MELOY: This is important. The first year, I had a desk in a corner and people knew to leave me be. That has not been true in recent years, and I either get cranky or accept the lower word count.

Frances Pauli: I do. I write in my home every day. During the event, I often wrote outside the home, however, at write-ins and other meetups.

LARRY QUEEN: At my computer desk, as I have ADHD and ADD I have a tendency to lose focus and need to get up and walk around when I get too excited when I am writing, so when a scene works out as I’m writing it I actually have to stop, get up and walk around to calm my brain down. And either silence is good or use some white noise to help focus. Once you get in the zone and the words are flying it becomes more difficult for things to distract me.

What do you have planned for your upcoming project?

LOREN MELOY: I don’t. This will be my first year as a “pantster” and I realize now that I’m contradicting my earlier response.

LARRY QUEEN: Finally finished my outline of where I wanted to go with my second book which still needs 10 chapters. But I have written out about 6 other book ideas that I want to get to, so I might choose one of those just to enjoy the 30 day challenge.

Any tips (or warnings) for anyone looking to try their hands at NaNoWriMo for the first time?

LOREN MELOY: Just do it. I know that’s very corporate Nike, but just do it. What’s the worst that can happen? Do you fail to meet the word count and feel an enormous sense of guilt over not committing to your own self-improvement? That’s not so bad.

Frances Pauli: Yes. In all the years I’ve done it, the participants who attend writeins and get involved with the other local writers are far and away more likely to be the ones that actually finish their 50K

goal in the month. Get out and mingle, meet your local writing community, and if you’re lucky, hang onto them well after November is over. Best of luck!

LARRY QUEEN: 1. Anyone can do this. The whole point is to keep writing which is why everyone will tell you to edit later and keep writing.

2. Possibly the most important advice: Your first draft will stink. You will go back over it later and say, that is total garbage. And it probably will be. It’s a natural part of the process. You need to get through the whole first draft and complete it. And then get into editing story elements and structure. Keep writing until the first draft is done.

3. Plot is the action of what’s happening and why. Story is the emotional interaction and journey of your characters. The best mix is 50/50 - characters with no baggage or opinions are just wooden puppets to push the plot. But nothing but someone’s personal feelings can make you feel like someone is talking circles around you with a conversation that is going nowhere.

4. Watch some online videos about preparing for NaNoWriMo, and tropes to avoid, if you plan on writing something someone else will want to read.

5. Preparing for NaNoWriMo - have an idea of what you want to write. A clear outline would have made a world of difference to me for the first time. But hey, it was my first time.

6. Whether you reach 50k words or not I encourage you to keep writing until your first draft is done. The structure of a 30 day challenge is great, but I would do anyone a great disservice if I did not say keep writing until the whole first draft is done. Get your words in for the 30 days, great. But keep going. Before putting it down to reflect and edit later.

7. You can do your own NaNoWriMo anytime you want to challenge yourself.

8. It is extremely helpful to have your idea, have your outline, character sheets, plot points - and as I learned from the NaNoWriMo’s organizers, people are far more likely to finish the NaNoWriMo challenge if they have a book cover design already to go while they are working on the challenge.

9. Get rid of the distractions! C

Embracing That Four Letter Word

By Ella Deville

Dear Sir,

My inhibitions no longer swirl, your dominant hands grasping my nape-created pleasure of pain embracing that four letter word.

My mind, body, and soul are no longer unreceptive to crossing a certain line; chaotic, quieted down by embracing that four letter word.

My essence no longer unheard or unseen bound, gagged, and blindfolded; pleasing you on bended knees, reincarnating of ownership recaged and rekeyed embracing that four letter word.

My skin can no longer be called my own, marked by your hands, a reminder of now pleasure by the pain embracing that four letter word.

My sexuality is no longer unhydrated, nourished by a tongue devouring my inner thighs embracing that four letter word.

My feral ways are no longer uncollared, unleashed, and uncaged, embracing that four letter word.

Your ownership is ecstasy, Kitten

P.S. I’ll be in my cage, until you take me out to play.

Untitled

By Jo Fine Bow

I regret not what I have been through for the lessons that you have given me have taught me well I regret not the love I gave

For I am grateful for the motherly tenderness you have shown me in my moments of sorrow it was you all along

Who I spied out of the corner of my eye as a child

You who played in the shadows with me when I felt alone

It was you who held my hand as I walked through the mountains and collected my tears as they fell from my cheeks it is you who pulled me from the earth and guided me as you once did for kore

I am fully alive in this season because of you your gentle whispers are some of my fondest memories

Those soft spoken words

You are within me

You are around me

Surely the hills have heard your howling call

As I did long ago

Beckoning for me to roam once more

Bellowing like a bull within the earth

I wish to be no less than what I am now

I wish to be as chthonic as you

Made of stars

And part of the sea

There is nothing cozier than a crisp autumn day, snuggled up on the couch with a blanket, a book and a hot cup of tea.

es, and nothing is quite as indulgent and extra than Marie-Antionette Earl Grey. A blend of classic Earl Grey black tea and Jasmine green tea, with a sprinkle of rose petals. It doesn’t get much more romantic than that!

Lacey Grove Owner/ Inner Grove Tea

Here are some great tea pairings to go with your favorite genre!

Suspense – This kind of intensity calls for a good green tea. The caffeine keeps you focused so that you don’t miss a thing, while the L-theanine helps keep you calm through all those heart racing moments! Try the Gyokuro from Shizuoka. In the family of Sencha tea, this variety is shaded for weeks before harvest to give it a greater depth of flavor.

Mystery – Complexity, puzzles, gathering clues. This pairs perfectly with the oolong family of teas. Tea masters pass their secrets from generation to generation, bringing together the perfect cup of tea that carries a complexity of flavors that hint at its origins. My pick would be the Wuyi Mountain Rock Oolong, plucked from old bushes whose roots reach deep into the soil, bringing you rich and mineral flavors alongside woody and fruity aromas. I’m enthralled by this oolong.

Drama – You probably just read something a little depressing. Go ahead and treat yourself to some Sleep Tea. The chamomile and mint comfort and sooth you, while the valerian and passion flowers help you to drift into a peaceful sleep. You will feel much better in the morning.

Romance – You like to indulge your sens-

Fantasy- Who doesn’t love to escape into an exciting and fanciful world of magic and adventure? Try White Winter Chai. It is a fanciful blend, with sweet spices that are sure to whisk you away to an exotic land of ice dragons and enchanted forests.

Science fiction – This genre holds a special place in my heart. Whether you are a space cowboy with an appreciation for the traditional arts, or living in a mega-efficient futuristic society, Matcha is where it’s at. This nutrient dense powder brings you to life, and there are so many ways to consume it, whether you pop it in the blender to make a tasty smoothy or take a moment to prepare it the traditional way with whisk and bowl.

Westerns – You might think cowboy coffee fits here, but even tea can have a bit of grit. This one has to be Gun Powder green tea. Robust, a little bitter, and being a green tea, you have the pep to buck hay bales, alongside the calm to sit broodily on your horse, gazing at the sunset you are about to ride off into.

Cosmic horror – Complexity, depth, maybe a little existential crisis. For you, I present my most precious tea, the 2002 Yunnan Autumnal Sheng Puerh. This tea offers you a confounding depth of flavor and the unique experience of tasting a tea that has waited 20 years to climb out of hiding and find you. Sure, this is our most expensive tea, but who knows what else is hiding in the abyss? What price would you pay for unfathomable knowledge?

ARTBEAT

FIRST FRIDAYS ARTS WALK MAP INCLUDED

NCW ARTS BOARD GROWING

NCW Arts has had a busy month! First and foremost, we want to announce the newest additions to our board of directors: Holly Thorpe and Marissa Collins. Both of these lovely people have the passion, experience, and skill to help move NCW Arts forward in key areas of governance and communications development. We are so glad to welcome them as we wrap up our first fiscal year of operations in December and implement our plans for year two!

Second, we are proud to announce that NCW Arts will play a key role in coordi-

nating volunteers and participants for the Central Washington region during the upcoming 2023 legislative session in Olympia in support of arts and cultural initiatives.

Inspire WA has been touring the state over the summer and early fall, holding Town Hall events to hear from all communities about what is most important for each region with regard to the arts and cultural programming. NCW Arts will partner directly with Inspire WA to ensure that our voices are heard and that we can maximize the upcoming opportunities to speak directly to our representatives in support of the legislation that will benefit all of us in North Central Washington.

If you are interested in becoming directly involved in these efforts, please reach out to us at arts@ncwarts.org. We want to hear from you!

FEATURED EVENT

STUDIO VISIT

BOULDER BEND GLASSWORKS, PESHASTIN

Wenatchee Festival of Trees is downtown

Wenatchee’s premier holiday experience and a fundraiser for the Numerica Performing Arts Center. Various trees and

wreaths will deck the halls of the Numerica PAC for the public to view and bid on throughout a week of events. For more events, visits NCWarts.org.

ON THE COVER: Patrick Kikut, Arrowhead - Lanna NM, oil on canvas Nov.4 opening reception, 5-7pm. Lecture by Patrick Kikut, 7pm in MAC Grove Recital Hall

Not your Hobbiton Gaffer, these hot shop artists share the lead. I had the pleasure last Saturday to roll up to Boulder Bend Glassworks in Peshastin to meet with Craig Sorensen and Jori Delvo. I donned safety glasses and leaned into the furnace as Jori guided me through the glass blowing process. Craig was gaffer, the lead glass tech on the job for the day, which meant that Jori

would break every 30 seconds or so to support Craig as he formed magical purple ornaments with precision. Craig and Jori specialize in decorative and sculptural art-glass handmade in murine mosaic and cane work. I simply love the process, method and giant furnaces that can melt glass at 2,110 Fahrenheit. You, too, can be mesmerized. Craig and Jori welcome the public into their studio during business hours daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m during hot shop sessions to watch the artisan team work their craft.

Call (509) 881-1320 for appointments or stop by Boulder Bend Glassworks in Peshastin, 8210 US Highway 2.

SEEKING... STAGE KIDS IS HIRING:

Stage Kids is currently seeking instructors to run performing arts classes and camps for youth. They are also in need of production staff for youth plays and musicals. Find out more at stagekidswa.org.

CHECK OUT THE FULL CALENDAR OF EVENTS AT NCWARTS.ORG

Megan Kappler

Natalie Dotzauer

MARKET SAVVY

BY LINDSAY BREIDENTHAL

We’re heading into the busiest time of year for most artisans. Seasoned, year-round professionals and annual crafters are all hard at work, preparing to entice and delight holiday crowds. If you have ever been a vendor you know how much work it is. I reached out to a few artists with different levels of experience - two ceramic artists, a jeweler, and a stained glass artist - to ask how they choose what shows to participate in, what are some challenges, and their thoughts on supporting artists directly.

Tacoma-based ceramicist and mixed media artist, Joseph Brooks, is a salty dog and continues to participate in a few of the same shows on a monthly and annual basis saying, “Some events are put on by friends or other artists I know or have met through others doing shows over the years. Some events have a long history, like Punk Rock Flea Market in Seattle.” Across the board, the best way to share information about upcoming shows is to maintain those contacts by reaching out to like-minded artists and organizers. When sizing up a new event, Joseph says

that, “…Another big factor for me is how an event presents itself on social media. When organizers start posting mostly about themselves and not the vendors this is a huge red flag for me.” It’s about all of the people who work together to put on a good event. Many factors are in the balance as an artist decides where to put their efforts.

Katelyn Mingo, owner of Gypsy Lotus Jewelry, considers what cities she wants to see among other important factors like the vendor’s fee and travel expenses. Joseph mentioned that he usually caps what he’ll pay for vending fees at around $150 per day which may seem like a lot for one who is just starting out or participating in a first time event.

Michael Caemmerer of Tall Tree Ceramics mentions that finding the right balance between sales and exposure is important. Just one year into the game, Caemmerer is enjoying success in the farmer’s market scene and finds the clientele to be very supportive of small businesses. Finding your people is key, and for most artists, connecting with community is a huge part of what you’re already doing.

Stained glass artist, Lady Luck, attracts a more niche clientele so she finds shows that suit her work, fit the vibe, and take place somewhere she actually wants to visit. Imagine seeking out the environment you would like to be a part of and letting it work for you. Beautiful!

These artists also mentioned challenges inherent in any small business, like determining how much work to make for a particular market or how the weather will influence crowds - persistent uncertainties for any vendor. Aside from the physical demands of hauling your tent, tables, chairs, and wares, Katelyn brought up the simple challenge of leaving your booth for a bathroom break or to get food - if a vendor is by themselves, they might go all day without the basics!

So whether you are interested in vending or love to attend shows, it’s a good time of year to keep an eye out for holiday markets, pop-ups and fundraisers. Reach out to other artists you admire when you’re curious about doing a show, and remember Joseph’s words, “If you want to vend, DO IT! When people tell you how to do it, you don’t have to take their

advice. That’s just what worked for them and their work.”

To my open-ended request for their thoughts on supporting artists directly, these vibrant souls and joy makers had the most heartfelt responses. Not only can you find one-of-a-kind items and bypass mass produced junk, Katelyn points out that, “You are … helping someone live their dream. You make a huge difference in their life and the life of their family.”

Lady Luck matches those sentiments, and raises them, adding that, “…when you support local artists you’re also supporting your own community.” So true in so many ways.

Thanks to contributing artists:

Michael Caemmerer @talltreeceramics

Katelyn Mingo

@gypsy_lotus_jewelry

Lady Luck

@lady.luckstudio

Joseph Brooks @josephbrooksart

Lady Luck

Tall Tree Ceramics

Gypsy Lotus

Joseph Brooks Art

SCAN FOR DIGITAL

INTERACTIVE FIRST FRIDAYS MAP!

FEATURED OPPORTUNITY OF THE MONTH

THE NEA BIG READ PROJECT

The NEA Big Read ProjectApplication deadline December 15

Gallery One and CWU Libraries seeks an artist or artist team experienced in illustration, typography, and/or printmaking to facilitate a community art project and develop an illustration to be used as a map in response to the themes of Ross Gay’s Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read Grant and associated programming. Info: gallery-one.org

SO MANY OPPORTUNITIES, SO LITTLE TIME!

FIND MORE AT NCWARTS.ORG

Online map courtesy of the Wenatchee Downtown Association wendowntown.org

First Fridays After Hours @ Class With a Glass! 7-10 pm NEW THIS MONTH! A special after party for First Fridays! The fun doesn’t have to end just because the shops are closing. Get together with artists and art lovers for drinks, conversation and fun. A special thanks to CLASS WITH A GLASS for hosting this inaugural event.

FIRST FRIDAYS ARTS MAP

1. MAC at Wenatchee Community College

“Uncertain Nature: The Sublime in the Contemporary Landscape”, 5-7 pm, Lecture by Patrick Kikut at 6 pm MAC Grove Recital Hall

2. Lemolo Cafe

Len Harm, paintings, open until 8 pm

3. Two Rivers

Marsha Rae Thornton, paintings; music by Amy Albright, 12-8 pm

4. Mela

Allison Lewis, 5-7pm

5. Pan’s Grotto “Art On The Edge”, a group art show

6. Collapse

“A Believable Universe”, Alessandra Piro and Diana Sanford - Opening reception 12-9 pm

7. WVMCC

The Zoo in You, traveling OMSI exhibit free admission, 4-7 pm

8. Pybus Art Alley Guy Miner, music by Darnell Scott

By DOUG and Kayla Nunn

There was a time when it looked like VHS (Video Home System) tapes would become another piece of dead media, an obsolete form of entertainment right next to the Betamax, VideoCD, Laser Disc, or CED. I do believe we are past that point now and collecting VHS tapes is making a comeback and has become yet another obsession for a lot of people. But it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows, there was a time when there was a rush to push the next form of media and VHS was being taken out fast by a new form of media. The DVD, released in 1996 - it would take only 7 years for DVD rentals to surpass VHS rentals and only another 5 years to completely replace the VHS as the superior form of media. But to understand the VHS story completely we have to go back to the beginning, to where it all started, in 1976, when the first home based VHS and VCR was released. The VHS and VCR were mainly introduced to record shows at home. Because of this, the VHS tape was made capable of recording up to and eventually over 2 hours on just one tape, making it finally possible to record full movies and sports programs. VHS was already gaining more attention than Beta-

max which was released only one year earlier. The Betamax had a similar tape design but with only one viewport around the left reel making it impossible to see where the tape actually was, it also had a shorter tape length and it was more expensive. With the release of the VHS this pushed Betamax, which was owned by Sony, to start upgrading their VCRs and increasing their Beta tape length - creating what is known as the Videotape Format War. The war was an intense and expensive battle lasting 12 years, involving multiple formats and two of the biggest companies ever - Sony and JVC. After only 4 years on the market the VHS took Betamax sales down to only 25%. The war ended in 1988 when Videofax magazine declared that Betamax had lost after Sony agreed to start adding VHS tapes to their VCR lineup. Sony at the time was mainly Betamax so this was huge. The last major movie released on Betamax was Mission Impossible in 1996 and the last major movie released on VHS was A History of Violence in 2005 almost 10 years after. To put it in perspective, the last Betamax unit sold was in 2002 yet the last VHS/DVD combo unit was sold in 2016, so yeah you could say the VHS won and Sony made a smart decision, probably helping them become the pioneer they are

now.

Technically VHS didn’t just beat Betamax, they beat out everything that came before like, 8mm film, not to mention 8mm film’s forgotten sibling, 9.5mm film, the CED (Capacitance Electronic Disc) and the short running yet still highly collectible Laserdiscs. Like VHS, the Laserdisc is still a fun piece of history and a great collectible item that can easily be displayed on any wall as a decoration. The laserdisc was released in 1978 and the last movie released in North America was Bringing Out The Dead in 2000, so a good 22 year lifespan.

Ok so we got all the numbers out of the way and we learned some history so I can close my Wikipidia tab and get to the good shit. Some people say VHS won only because of the amount of pornography available on the format, I wouldn’t know anything about that, its not like I’m a kid from the 90s… ok it definitely helped. In my opinion there are many other reasons VHS tapes won the war and are making a comeback. The sound and picture quality are amazing! OK not so much - maybe if you hooked up a HD VCR up to a nice CRT you might get a good picture but if you haven’t seen a VHS it’s definitely not comparable to anything today. But I’m not watching

them for the quality I’m watching them for the experience, to be transported back to the time the movie released…if you want 1980s quality watch an 80s movie. If you want something with with a bit more graphics watch the 2 tape extended cut widescreen edition of Lord of The Rings released in 2002. You don’t even have to watch them to really enjoy them either, the box art is amazing and they display great on any shelf. Or you can think outside the box and make a VHS lamp consisting of your favorite movies or cartoons or you can make a light up wall decoration of that orange Rugrats VHS. One of my favorite things about the VHS though is unlike most streaming movies these days that get multiple edits and or fixes after there release, the VHS tape is a physical media that has not been manipulated. They are the original movies as they were originally seen plus they’re fucking rad.

Doug and Kayla Nunn are owners and operators of The Time Capsule, a retro media hub that celebrates all things nostalgic and pop culture related.

Find them: @retromediaman |

23 Orondo Avenue, Wenatchee and at timecapsulecollectibles.com C

THE TRADITIONALISTS

EVERYTHING IS FINE ATTACHMENT THEORY

By Varuca Salty

Content Warning: unmet childhood needs, abuse, neglect

So I have been researching a new special interest lately.. Attachment theory. Please note that none of my special interests are ever things that actually feel good or are relaxing, no no, only the naval gazing, introspecting so hard I hurt myself kinds of interests for me, thanks. Attachment theory is interesting AF, but also, ouch my feelings. And as I was researching I learned another painful truth. Turns out there’s a difference between collecting knowledge and tools and ACTUALLY putting into practice said knowledge and tools. This is the worst news I’ve heard in a while. Well, that’s actually not true, there is a lot of terrible news much worse than this that I’ve heard lately, that was dramatic. But this was a little reality shaking because I am for sure a knowledge and tool collector..and not so much a knowledge and tool user. The dopamine I get just from understanding a concept is enough for me. “Wow! That makes so much sense!” *Moving on* I pack up my issues and put them back on the shelf and pretend like that is that. But that’s not actually how processing works. I have names for everything I’m experiencing, I have tools to hand out to all of my friends when they’re struggling, but as soon as I find myself in distress or discomfort, my access to that knowledge flies right out the window. I guess it’s like the plumber who always has a broken toilet at home. Cliches, etc.

Anyway, let’s talk about the different types of attachment styles because it turns out they’re pretty important in regards to how we move through the world and function in all of our relationships. There are a few types: secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant and fearful-avoidant.

Secure, well, that’s obvious. It’s when you have a healthy and safe connection within your relationships. An astounding 60% of the population has a secure attachment style which is way higher than I would have guessed. This means that these folks can emotionally connect with others easily as well as be independent and autonomous from others easily. They can work through their struggles with more ease because they have an innate feeling of worthiness and a general feeling of

safety. (Must be nice.) Secure attachment is formed when a child’s caregiver is present and emotionally available and meets the child’s physical and emotional needs consistently. These people have a healthy sense of self and know how to ask for what they need.

Anxious-preoccupied people grew up in homes with parents who were loving but inconsistent. Sometimes the parent is emotionally and physically available and attuned and other times the parent is unavailable and anxious themselves. This can be super confusing for a kid because they never know which parent they will be met with when they reach out; the nice and present parent or the overwhelmed reactive parent. Kids often learn to get louder and more amped up emotionally in order to get the attention of their caregiver and begin to fear that if they allow their nervous system to rest that their needs won’t get met. This obviously leads to anxiety in childhood and adulthood. This is usually seen as being preoccupied with other’s needs and emotions and ignoring their own needs since their needs were often neglected. It can lead to seeking regulation outside of oneself (with the help of others) because they never learned to selfregulate. This can show up in adulthood as codependency, jealousy in relationships and hyper-vigilant monitoring of one’s partners as a way to gain a sense of control over their surroundings. People with this attachment style are usually very aware of everyone’s emotions around them but struggle to name and feel their own.

Dismissive-avoidant attachment is when a child learns to survive on emotional breadcrumbs. It is usually caused by isolation and lack of touch and affection from their caregivers. These children grow up thinking that their needs are not important and typically continue to sustain on breadcrumbs even into adulthood. They tend to keep people at a distance, and give off the energy that they don’t need anything from anyone. This hyper-independence creates a sense of false confidence that is actually just masking their low self-esteem and worth. People with dismissive-avoidant attachments did not get their needs met while growing up so they learned to survive on very little. They want and even crave closeness but lack the emotional skills to receive closeness. They feel unsafe being truly vulnerable with people.

Fearful-avoidant people are hyper-acti-

vated and deactivated in their nervous system simultaneously (think full throttle on the gas and brake at the same time). This attachment style is highly associated with trauma. It’s most commonly caused by a child who sees their caregiver as frightening or dangerous. As humans, when we’re afraid we seek comfort from our attachment figures. But when our attachment figures are the danger, it puts the child in a paradox. It’s so incredibly confusing when a child wants comfort from the person causing them harm. These people often want love and closeness but also want independence and avoidance at the same time. These kiddos learn that they are not safe with the people who are supposed to be protecting them. Sadly, 2040% of the population have some degree of this type of attachment style. It can be caused by parents who are on an emotional rollercoaster, with drastic mood swings or unpredictable mental states, parents who have unreasonably high expectations and standards, parents who are physically/ emotionally/mentally abusive, etc. This often leaves kids stuck in a fight/flight/ freeze/fawn state, unable to get their emotional needs met. People who were raised with this type of dynamic often feel a sense of “damned if they do, damned if they don’t,” because no matter what they did, their caregivers weren’t able to meet their needs and often punished them regardless of their behavior. They grow into adults who feel unworthy of love and support and have a major fear of rejection which causes them to withdraw from relationships altogether. They crave closeness and intimacy but don’t know how to receive it. So fun, amirite?!? Ugh. I’m decidedly a fearful-avoidant gal myself, which falls on the insecure side of the spectrum. This attachment style is a combo of the anxious and dismissive types and it is absolutely exhausting, I can tell you that much. I only recently realized that I have been using back to back to back monogamous relationships to wield a false sense of security over my life. Having been single for the last few years, for the first time ever, I have lost all sense of my perceived control. And it is PAIN. Now that I’m single, I feel like my entire perception of reality is blown open. No other person defines me. I’m not coupled. I don’t have to be coupled to be worthy of existing. I can just be a single human. I never knew I could do that. Before I would have thought that I would

die alone. But don’t worry, I never gave myself any amount of time between boyfriends to even get close to looking at that feeling. During covid I broke up with my person. Even though we had both agreed previously to stay together at least through covid so we could have a cozy cuddle pod buddy. But I couldn’t do it and I blew up my life instead… as one does. You might say I handle stress really well. Without a partner to mimic security for me I had no sense of control or comfort over my existence. I had no distraction from loneliness. No person to care for, to distract me from myself. Now I have all the time and space a person could ask for and I have no sense of safety or security because I never learned to create it within myself. I never took the time to learn who I am or what I like. With infinite time, I sit around wondering what the hell my purpose even is. I went from complacent (and not necessarily happy but definitely less aware) to existential crisis in 0.2 seconds. My life as I knew it fell apart. Even after two years I haven’t quite gotten all the pieces picked back up and rebuilt. I still don’t really know who I am or what I like or what I want out of life. I think I want to feel less miserable for starters. That’d be neat.

But, not to worry there is a tiny sliver of good news; a little something called earned security! With effort and awareness and probably a lot of therapy, a person can earn their way into a secure attachment. We all have the capacity to learn to be loved and give love in a healthy and secure way. I’ll let you know if I ever figure out how. I think it has something to do with learning to love yourself or something.

So which type are you? Are you one of the lucky 60% who actually got proper care from your caregivers? Are you on the insecure side of things, working your ass off for some earned security? Wherever you fall on the attachment spectrum just know that you are loveable and worthy. You’re doing great. (Well, except for you. You need to get your shit together.)

Sources:

“Polysecure” by Jessica Fern

“Relationships Make More Sense Once You Know About Attachment Theory” by Jennifer Chesak, https://greatist.com/connect/attachment-theory

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022 AT 4 PM – 6 PM

ABBIGALE performing solo at Dark Moon Craft Beer

Dark Moon Craft Beer & Wine

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2022 AT 8 PM

Altered 90s @ Mission Ridge Pray for Snow Concert!

Wenatchee, WA.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2022 AT 6 PM

Bryan Bielanski Live @ Old Skool’s Old Skool’s

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2022 AT 6:30 PM

Crafting compelling characters in D&D Epoch

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2022 AT 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Joey Anderson @Rocky Pond

Rocky Pond Winery - Chelan Tasting Room

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2022 AT 7 PM

Not All There, The Subjunctives, Living with a Bear

Wally’s House of Booze

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022 AT 9 PM

Odyssey, Himiko Cloud, & Pastel Motel @ Wally’s!

Wally’s House of Booze

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2022 AT 3 PM – 6 PM

Dani Bacon at Alta Cellars

Alta Cellars

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2022 AT 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Wenatchee Memorial Park

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2019 AT 8 PM – 10 PM

Live Music Brown Tie Event

Bushel & Bee Taproom

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2022 AT 7 PM

Live Music w/ Wesley Brener

Colchuck’s

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2022 AT 3 PM – 6 PM

Bryson Evans at Alta Cellars

Alta Cellars

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2022 AT 7 PM – 10 PM

Adult Social at EPOCH

Epoch

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2022 AT 6 PM – 9 PM

O&W LIVE!!! Older & Wiser @ The Riverhouse Cigar Bar

NIGHT MARKET ON THE AVE

This December, Downtown Wenatchee will see the inaugural opening of Night Market On The Ave, featuring vendors selling art, jewelry, clothes and more. The festive market will also have live music, beer on tap from Hellbent Brewing and a variety of wines from Norwood Wine Bar. Norwood owner, Josh Thaut co-founded the event along with recent Portland transplant, Suzanna Walker.

The Comet reached out to Walker to get the details about this brand new shopping experience in town.

First off, tell us a little about yourself, you are one of the featured vendors in the market, after all.

My creative process started in Portland. I would wait for the bus and take in all the magic around me. I would purposely show up early so I had an excuse to go into the thrift store across the street, and I’d collect random vintage treasures. I would imagine the places they had been and I’d dream of all its possibilities.

When COVID happened, I decided to make the leap and move to Wenatchee. I didn’t have anything else to do, so I started focusing more on sewing and creating. Slowly people wanted to buy the stuff I was wearing, so I started selling it.

Talk about the initial idea for the night market - what it is and who is involved.

The initial idea of the Night Market happened the old fashion way, over dinner with friends. Josh, the owner of Norwood Wine Bar, and I share a love for music and art and have a similar dream of bringing more opportunities for artists and bringing more life to our already incredible community.

Josh has a mind for business and he has worked extremely hard to run his own small business on the Ave, so he was a perfect pairing for me. Together we hope to create a unique night in the community that people can look forward to year after year.

Describe the setup of the market. Will it all be out on the streets - sidewalks?

The Night Market on the Ave. will be on Dec 3rd. from 5:30 pm -9 pm. It’s a night

filled with art, custom clothing, live music, local food/drinks, mulled wine, seasonal beer, and more. The outside is all ages, and the inside is 21+.

It will be located inside Norwood Wine Bar and will cover the sidewalk from Firehouse Pet Shop to Feathered Salon and extend into the parking spots in that area. Norwood Wine Bar will, of course, be providing all of the wine and beer. We are working on a custom mulled wine to keep you warm and a fantastic seasonal beer from my favorite, Hellbent Brewery! Josh will also have cider and Huney June kombucha available as well.

Music was a must at this event and essential to Josh and I. We were lucky enough to book Welcome Strangers. Seth, Sean “Rib,” & Sergio are three of our favorite musicians in the area and always fill the room with positive energy, happiness, and, most importantly, great music. Dancing is highly encouraged!

As far as the artists and vendors that we curated, I couldn’t feel more grateful. Each person is an incredible talent who brings a unique and fresh prospect to their work. Lady Luck Studio makes bad ass handmade glass art. Stupid Stitch sews handmade and tie-dyed clothing with a focus on sustainability. Lost Highway Silver & Stone creates out of this world handmade natural stone creations for the wild spirit. Samantha Hardy is a talented local artist who has a passion for painting hurt women and turning that pain into something beautiful. Tim Andrews from Ole Soul Tattoo will be sharing his art & doing cool custom temporary tattoos, and also there will be art by Ron Evans! Come see what he brings, I gave him free range! Could be anything from painting to miming. And yes, my brand GardenVintage will also be there slinging upcycled creations.

We are planning to have a few of Josh’s Norwood neighbors on the Ave. joining in on the fun too. One will be Lacey (Grove) from Inner Grove Tea Company. She will be there with lovely ready-to-gift options from her shop and also plans to keep you warm with specialty hot tea!

Another great addition that we are excited about is La Pica Chica. She will be there selling her amazing Mexican candy with a twist. This is the perfect treat to add to your holiday gifts!

Samantha Hardy

We are aiming to add other food options and will make that announcement soon.

Is this a grassroots effort or is there support/funding behind it?

This is a grassroots effort! Josh and I are creating and funding everything ourselves. Josh was generous enough to offer up his bar and our creative dreams grew. Together we decided not only would this be a free event, but we would not charge the artist/ vendors we invited. We genuinely want this to be a night that supports the people in our community that inspire us. Because we are both small business owners and hosting an event can create a lot of costs, we will have a table at the market where you can buy specific items or donate to the event to help pay for some of the cost and to keep it going next year.

We hope everyone can come out and support these fantastic artists, shop local, and of course, have a little fun!

Instagram: @nightmarketontheave

@norwoodwinebar

@gardenvintageshop

Email: nightmarketonave@gmail.com

Artist Instagram: @lady.luckstudio

@stupid.stitch

@lost.highway.silver

@steelycold

@american_renegade @radarstationart

Vendors: @innergrove

@la_pica_chica

@taproom_by_hellbent

Lady Luck Studio

Welcome Strangers

Stupid Stitch

GardenVintage

La Pica Chica Ron Evans

Lost Highway Silver & Stone

SECOND PLACE WINNER OF THE COMET’S FLASH FICTION CONTEST

Home byLincoln Nere

Frosted ice cream covers the cave walls. Stalagmites of orange cream hang overhead delicately, their points sharp and threatening. The manacles around my wrists start to shimmer with a sheen of ice as I’m moved forward through the labyrinth of man-made halls.

“You don’t have to keep me shackled. I thought we were past this.”

The long red and pink cloak swirls behind our walking feet, kicking up the dusting of colorful sprinkles that litter the ground. The sword hanging off my back taps against the worn beef leather chest piece and I shiver again. It’s never been this cold in the Meatlands.

He chuckled a bit, “We’re too close now. I can’t risk you sneaking off.”

It’s been months since I left. I miss the sounds of the red river and the smells of charcoal on the wind. The pit in my stomach longing for home gives a pang, but I push it aside. Once we meet with the Sugar King and discuss terms of peace, I’m allowed to return.

Giant mounds of hard ice cream scoops sit against the walls. Chocolate chips protrude from the frosted mint like angry daggers. Cookie dough balls sit in the middle of the hall. I reactively kick one and it rolls across the uneven cavern floors, knocking into broken pieces of cone and disappears out of sight.

I’m slammed against the cavern wall and my vision goes black momentarily.

“You have a death wish, don’t you?” he snarled, his gummy face inches from my own, “The things living in these halls would kill you and I both before we even had a chance to draw weapons.” Chitters and clicks echo from a distance.

He backs away from me and I shake the frost off my shoulder. I lean my head side to side, wincing as an ache spread across the back of my skull. I didn’t respond as he pulled my shackles forward.

He lets out a sigh and mumbles, “I’m sorry… I just don’t want to die before we make it.”

I nod a bit, staring at my leathered jerky boots. They’re starting to grow stiff in the decreasing temperature. The large piece of turkey cloak that hangs from my shoulders has stopped swirling and is beginning to feel heavier with every step. There’s a sudden burst of warm air across my face, stinging my cheeks.

The mouth of the entrance is large, the edges jagged. There is a small pile of burning cake cone in the corner, and a handful of people sit around it. All of them are wrapped in silvery-white pieces of melted sugar, the warmth of the fire keeping it moldable.

The thrown in the middle of the room, void of anyone, is almost transparent. Riddled with bubbles that couldn’t escape when curing, the back of it is crafted from different shards of sharp sugar.

I whip my head over to my companion. My reflection on the metal armor plates stares at me and I almost don’t recognize myself.

The thin green strands of rosemary that fall from my head are matted around the

ears, tangled in dry blood from weeks of fighting on the road. My pink skin is stretched across my face, my jawline tight. I look older, stronger. My eyes linger on the butcher paper handle of my sword, T-bone, sticking up behind my head. Dark brown fingerprints lay splattered across the hilt.

The ice-cold manacles around my wrists fall to the ground.

“Don’t run, okay?” he whispers down to me. His partially melted face glows in the light of the distant fire.

I say nothing but hold his eye. His face is softer than before. The longer I look, the more I see. His eyes aren’t all black, there are speckles of brown in them. Creases crinkle upwards as if he’s spent years smiling and laughing. They look like my father’s eyes.

“Your wrists are turning blue.” he says, interrupting my train of thought.

“Yeah, well, we don’t really get snow down South.” I mumble, rubbing my wrists.

His lets out a deep chuckle, and I smile in return. He still hasn’t looked away from me, but I can’t bring myself to keep the contact. I break it, looking down at my blue wrists.

“I know that we didn’t meet on the best of terms... “ he begins, his voice gruff. I keep my eyes down. “But I just wanted to say... I’m really prou—”

His voice cuts off. I wait a second before looking up.

Gooey liquid starts spitting from his mouth and his shaking hands reach up to grasp the pointed arrow that sticks through his throat. His knees wobble and he falls to them.

I reach forward, his blood spilling all over my trembling hands.

“No—wait, just hold on.. It’s gonna be okay—we’re—we’re gonna fix you!” I whisper as he slides towards the ground.

Red tears stream down my face, as a charge of Meatlanders enter the mouth of the cave. Their weapons are drawn, and screams of battle erupt around us.

“STOP, PLEASE. JUST STOP!”

My cries are worthless as I hold his head in my lap, blood coating the front of his armor plates.

“Arthur..” his voice cracks.

“No. Don’t you dare die on me. You promised.” I choke the words out.

He reaches up, wiping a tear from my cheek. A trail of blood from his fingers leaves a streak across my skin. The sounds of battle end after some time, and I stare at my friend’s face. I didn’t even know his name. His blank eyes stare back up at me, lifeless. The brown speckles dulled.

“Lord Arthur. It’s finished. They didn’t stand a chance once we arrived, only a few scattered soldiers protected the King” a heavily armored soldier is standing over my shoulder. “When the rest hear that he’s dead, they’ll lay down their arms. The war has been won. You can come home now. ”

Home.

THE MAC GALLERY GETS POST-APOCALYPTIC

By Ron Evans

This First Friday the MAC Gallery gets a little post-apocalyptic with a group show called Uncertain Nature: The Sublime In The Contemporary Landscape. MAC director, Scott Bailey, uses the term post-apocalyptic a bit loosely when describing certain aspects of this exhibit.

“These are images or representations of actual places, things that people have seen today. But they have this kind of postapocalyptic feel in the present. These artists kind of stare unblinkingly at some of the more uncomfortable aspects of nature. But they are finding this odd beauty which is the sublime - on the knife’s edge between horror and beauty. As soon as you look at the pieces, you realize, whoa, I’m looking at something very disturbing. And then it’s hard to decide which side of the coin you’re on as you look at them.” Bailey says.

Participating artist, Edgar Smith agrees with this assessment.

“I think you hit upon that quite nicelyfinding the balance, visually. Drawing the viewer in with something compelling visually, but there’s more to it than just prettiness. And it’s hard to find that balance, because I like to explore elements of darkness but I don’t like pushing it into the macabre. So it really is about that compelling balance for this show.”

Bailey adds, “Also the balance carries

over into the contrast and the colors and the shapes of these worlds. These artists know how to construct an abstract formalist work, so the layers of imagery on top of that can be appreciated on multiple levels.”

Along with Smith, (a Wenatchee based artist showing paintings); Karen Rice (Missoula based artist showing mixed-media drawings); Patrick Kikut (University of Wyoming Professor showing paintings); and Marcy James (Missoula based artist showing photographs) make up the collective exhibiting works for Uncertain Nature. I sat down with Bailey and Smith to learn more about the origins of this group showing.

You have four artists for this show - have you curated everything at this point so that you know the exact pieces you will have?

Bailey and Smith look at each other and laugh.

Smith: No, we are gonna have a lot of work between all four of us, and we will just have to edit it down when we are setting up the show.

I’m curious how this show came together, but also how the MAC decides on all of the shows and exhibits to feature in the gallery.

Bailey: First of all, I want anything that we put in the gallery to be strong, compelling, in whatever form it is, whether it’s sculptures, or installations, or paintings, or

drawings. I want the shows to be contemporary, and by that I mean I want artists making art about their experience in this time. I don’t want paintings that look like they could have been done just as easily 100 years ago. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I appreciate art history, but that’s not what we’re doing. So, with that kind of broad experience - I’m open to all sorts of things. I’d like to show students’ work, especially alumni who have, you know, learned some things and then gone off and become professionals in their own right and have really strong bodies of work to show. Then we like to do three shows a year that I fund raise for to bring in something from outside of the area. I’m looking for quality, I’m looking for something unique - when I find something I like I will go out and ask them, would you be interested in showing? What would that look like? What would you need in order to make it happen? And that’s how it was for this when I had become interested in Edgar’s work. We started talking, Edgar made a proposal for this show and we brought it to the MAC Gallery.”

Talk a little bit about the funding for the projects and shows. How far out do you typically plan these exhibits?

Bailey: To be honest, we’re kind of year to year based on how much grant money we make, and what we can afford. I like to be more than a year out, but it tends to be six months, maybe nine months. And because of the nature of grants, you don’t know what you’re really going to be working with down the road so it makes it tough

to plan too far away.

Edgar, tell us a little about your recent artistic endeavors leading up to this show.

Smith: My most recent show was in Missoula this past summer. But prior to that, I took a hiatus a little bit from the art scene and raised our now six year old. I was kind of like the stay at home dad for a little while. I kept painting, but not as consistently. And I didn’t show it all that much. I teach online SPSCC in Olympia and I’ve shown at the colleges.

Do you find the breaks helpful?

Smith laughs.

Smith: No. Breaks are not good. I mean… I’m an avid cyclist. And now that I’m 57 if I take a week off, it’s not good. And it’s hard to get going again, that’s what I’m terrified of with taking breaks. But sometimes you have no choice.

What pulled you out of the break?

Smith: I guess it’s a question of what drives you. I’ve always been drawn to things that are sublime, going back to childhood. My parents were quite politically active and politically minded and subversive in lots of ways. I remember them stressing empathy. And I think you can extrapolate and empathize with somebody else’s pain. I think that’s kind of what drives me. Whether that’s painting something that’s psychologically sublime or a landscape

Edgar Smith - ATV Tracks and Anaconda Slagheap

Karen Rice - Transformer

that’s sublime - it all kind of comes from the same place. So that’s always the real reason I make art. And if you’re driven to make art you will make it, so it was just a matter of getting back some of the time to really do the work.

Bailey: So in your bio, Edgar, you shared some experiences of driving and staring out the window as landscapes passed. And where was it? Indiana?

Smith: I lived in Grand Rapids at the time and we would drive to Chicago once in a while. I’ve never seen anything like the industrial areas in South Chicago, especially in the 70s and early 80s. The smell and just the sight of it was so overwhelming - especially being eight or nine years old. And that had a huge impression on me, realizing how all this stuff is actually made and it’s really…terrible!

Bailey: Yeah I think you talked about a yellow glow in the sky and how the smell of the chemicals sorta burned your eyes. And yet, even there, you noticed that there was a type of beauty to it. The yellow sky was unhealthy and gross but the hue was sort of a beautiful thing to see. Even if it was being seen through the tears from the chemicals.

Smith: Yeah, and that’s on the extreme end of the sublime landscapes - the beauty of the landscape mixed with terror. It’s really kind of horrifying. But you can’t take your eyes off it.

Bailey: That clearly helped set the stage for the work that you would do all these years later, even now.

Smith: Yeah and you don’t often have such a line to draw to a direct influence or what led you down one path or another but that all certainly had an impact.

Bailey: And not in so much that these are the exact kinds of things you put in this show, but maybe that those early experiences influenced how you see everything around you.

Smith: Right, and what I’m doing now is responding to these landscapes, mostly industrial landscapes of rural Montana. I would just get out and walk around taking pictures, and that’s where my pieces for this show came from.

Bailey: Marcy James is also looking at that sort of idea - this violence to the landscapes, and all this stuff that gets left behind when the people have abandoned it.

Smith: Yeah, she’d lived in that region of Montana for years and had immersed herself in those rugged landscapes.

One thing I’m always curious about with artists is how much of the viewer’s experience you have in your head when you’re creating? Do you think about that at all?

Smith: I think about it all the time. And I know some artists that don’t, and they’re

maybe even a little proud of that, I don’t know. But, as an artist, I feel a responsibility to create something that makes people think. Something doesn’t feel right if I get too self-indulgent. I still do it here and there, but I always remember there will be a viewer, and I’m going to want to draw that viewer in.

Bailey: Then even after you decide, okay, it’s my responsibility to say something and you focus on, in this case, the extractive industries and the violence that’s been done on the land - then there’s the question of, well, how are you gonna say that? Make paintings that are so straightforward where you’re just saying mining is bad? People would either get it or not get it and move away. There’s nothing to really hold onto. So what you’re trying to do is create this sort of one-two punch. You sucker them in with some aesthetics, but as they come in and they get right up close and they realize what they’re looking at, they may recoil for a second, and then have to try to make sense of those contradictory experiences. This is either terrible and ugly, or beautiful. It’s harder to just walk away from.

Talk about what’s planned for the First Friday opening for the show?

Smith: Patrick will be giving a talk on some of the aspects and origins of the show, and likely some insights on some of the specific works from the show, so that will be a great pairing to the show.

At this point I had turned off my record-

er and the three of us were finishing our drinks and rambling a bit. Then Edgar casually mentioned his artwork is on the cover of the Pearl Jam single “Save You.” Of course I had to ask about that.

Smith: So Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam bassist) grew up in Montana and lives part time in Missoula. He’s an art lover and had purchased some of my works and in the early 2000s he approached me to commission a piece for some album artwork. He said I could do whatever I wanted. I asked for the music and I listened to it while I was conceiving the image. I really didn’t know how to handle this kind of thing - and even Jeff was like “well, I don’t know. Tell us what you want for it.” In the end I sold them the rights to the painting for the album and the actual painting itself. But it’s one you likely won’t be able to find.

I pulled out my iPad and found it immediately (it has its own WikiPedia page) which came as a seemingly delightful surprise to the artist.

Marcy James - Lost Inside, Continental Pit, Patrick Kikut - Arrowhead-Lanna NM

THE FUNNY PAGES COMICS AND NOVELTIES

Why did the farmer have to separate the chicken and the turkey? He sensed fowl play.

What key has legs and can’t open a door? A turkey.

What did the turkey say to the computer? Google, google.

In Japan, 75% of the male population does this on a regular basis:

A) Wears Eyeliner makeup

B) Give all their money to their wives and live off a monthly allowance

C) Sleep with anime themed sheets and or pillow cases

D) Get up at 3am to prepare a family breakfast

2) This actor was initially considered for the role of Edward Scissor Hands before Johnny Depp landed it... But the actor in question asked too many odd questions about the character, like “How does he go to the bathroom? How does he ever eat a meal?” Who didn’t make the cut, so to speak?

A) Leonardo DiCarprio

B) Brad Pitt

C) Sean Penn

D) Tom Cruise

3) Ladybugs... We all know and love them... Despite their name there are male ladybugs too... Though, they are perhaps not a very bright creature. Male ladybugs often will do this:

A) Fall asleep mid flight and plummet to their death

B) Will often try to fight the reflection of themselves in mirrors, glass and water

C) Will cover themselves with their own poop and play sick to try to get out doing their daily “chores”

D) Mate with a dead female ladybug and not realize something is wrong until hours in

4) Lastly, this little gem came across my desk the other day... And BOY is it a gem.

Many years ago... This notorious musician who famously would not pose in photographs for much of their career, was asked by their bodyguard, who was writing a book about self defense, to pose in photos for it. So to this day, you can find this 40 page self defense book with loads of this person posing in various fighting positions. Who was it?

A) Alanis Morrisette

B) Prince

C) Stevie Nicks

D) Eddie fucking Money

It finally feels like fall, goddamn it. About time. Here’s a list of which holiday side dish you are based on your sign.

Aries - Eggnog - (Technically not a side dish, but you’re an Aries and you break the rules) because you’re real hit or miss. Some people think you’re the ultimate. Other people gag at the very thought of you.

Taurus - Mashed potatoes - With butter AND cheese. Because you’ll be damned if you’re gonna cater to anyone’s allergies.

Gemini - Dino nuggets - Because your refusal to eat what’s been made for you has become a family tradition.

Cancer - Olives - And you wish they still fit on your fingers.

Leo - Mini pumpkin pies in fancy little glasses because you’re so extra. We get it, you’ve got your life together Susan. You can just afford to throw your money at extra glassware for tiny pies for single use. So cool.

Virgo - Cranberry sauce - Cheap, easy and loved by many. Just like you!

Libra - Green bean casserole - Delicious fresh and crispy, most troubling cooled to room temp and soggy. You’re SO dynamic.

Scorpio - Pecan pie - Sweet, spiced and a little nutty.

Sagittarius - The salad that your vegan cousin brings that has kale in it and they’re trying to convince you the whole time how delicious it is… but we all know that salad is going directly into the trash. Because you too are troubling and healthy in all the wrong ways.

Capricorn - You’re that one candied yam dish with marshmallows baked on top that someone always brings to family dinner but does anyone ever really eat it?

Aquarius - Tofurkey - ‘Nuff said.

Pisces - Gravy - Lumpy and questionable, like your taste in partners.

ANSWERS: 1-B) Give all their money to their wives and live off a monthly allowance. 2-D) Tom Cruise. 3-D) Mate with a dead female ladybug and not realize something is wrong until hours in. 4-C) Stevie Nicks.