Conscious Choice Seattle: Beauty and Beholding in the Northwest

January 2005

Beauty and Beholding in the Northwest

Evergreen Monthly contributor Beth Finke received this letter about her December Back Woods essay, “The whole Pacific Northwest is so beautif...” She and the letter writer were kind enough to share it for publication.

Dear Ms. Finke,

I’m not one to write notes to authors, but with this e-mail technology, it’s so darned easy! I happened upon your excellent article on the back page of the December Evergreen Monthly, visited your website and found a contact link.

I don’t have anything profound to share. I just wanted you to know that I admired your writing, and was very taken by your energetic approach to making life work without sight. I like the fact that you gallop right over a hypersensitivity to clumsy language, preferring to find the intent and the meaning. I suspect you put people at ease quickly when meeting them in person!

I started sailing on Lake Washington in little 8-foot “El Toro” racing dinghies with the Renton Sailing Club when I was probably about 8 or 10 years old. I have always loved it.

I imagine that in sailing without the distraction of sight you will be very aware of what the wind is doing.

I remember always being tuned to the winds as a child because of my love of sailing. In fact, all four of my brothers shared my habit of commenting that it would be a good time to be on the water upon feeling a puff of a breeze, no matter where we were.

I also was interested that you have posed for drawing groups, as I have participated in a Life Drawing group for almost 30 years here in the Skagit Valley.

So please do come back to the Northwest and do get yourself out in the San Juans for a sail. They are the best-smelling islands in the world!

Thanks for the fine article.

Don Smith, Senior designer, Small Planet Foods, Sedro-Woolley

Disappointed About Dr. Cat Decision

It is with great sadness that I have come to learn Cat Saunders will no longer have a column in Evergreen Monthly. I cannot understand why you would drop a column that has so much to offer, so much wisdom. Who is responsible for this rotten decision? Too bad. You’ve lost this reader.

Marilyn Fayre Milos, RN, Internet

A note from Bob Condor, editor: We have decided to change our regular columnist beginning with the February issue. The change was not made without considerable thought.

Our magazine is deeply grateful to Cat Saunders, not only for her columns from January through November 2004, but for the many articles she authored for The New Times (our predecessor) during earlier years. She indeed brought unique wisdom to our pages. We wish her great success and happiness in her future endeavors.

We look forward to introducing you to our new columnist next month. She is sure to attract her own loyal followers. I know, because I already am one.

Corrections and Clarifications

In the story on the Bhopal disaster in our December issue (”The Biggest Crime You’ve Never Heard Of”), in the copyediting process we incorrectly attributed a quote to Gary Cohen, the director of the Environmental Health Fund in Washington, which was actually made by Dow spokesman John Musser.

The sentence should have read: John Musser, a Dow spokesman, confirmed the existence of the 1982 study but asserted, “None of the issues [it] raised would have had an impact on the fatal gas leak and all of the issues had been addressed by the plant well before the December 1984 disaster.”

Also, in our Evvie Awards coverage (”Best by Northwest,” December), we listed incorrect addresses for winners Café Flora and Carmelita. Café Flora is at 2901 E. Madison St. and Carmelita is at 7314 Greenwood Ave. N. We also incorrectly identified the Center for Spiritual Living, another Evvies winner, and its website, which is www.cslseattle.org.

Evergreen Monthly sincerely regrets the errors.

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