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10B Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011
EDITORIAL
A N l)
OPINION
Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter
EDITORIAL
Celebrate the
hardworking
on Labor Day
President Obama said after Labor Day he
plans to unveil a flew jobs proposal. Cautious-
ly optimistic, we hope his plan will include
ways to generate new employment opportuni-
ties for the over 8 percent of Americans who
are out of work. It may include an extension
of unemployment benefits, which too many
people have unfortunately come to rely upon
to make it from month to month.
If anything could get worse, independent
sources are now saying that unemployment
numbers will stay high until 2014. Plumas
County's unemployment rate has been hover-
ing around 14 percent.
The reality comes down to two things: sim-
ple facts mixed with bureaucratic nightmares
-- an oxymoron of sorts. We know California
has put many restrictions on employers with-
in the state. Talk to small business owners in
town, especially those who run businesses
that operate machinery, and they will tell you
some of the environmental restrictions are
making it hard to keep their doors open.
Some owners will tell you taxes, worker's
compensation laws and insurance coverage
bites into the bottom line, impeding raises
and the ability to hire more people.
Yet, Plumas County is t'filed with talented
people who want to work and employers who
want to hire. We also have elected people to
local government who want to grow the econ-
omy of the county. We encourage them to do
all they can do to bring this about.
We don't want to take the Pollyanna ap-
proach to life and think we will wake up in a
few months to find a thriving city and county.
As a rural community based far from a met-
ropolitan center, it may take a few years to
see an economic upswing.
Meanwhile, we would like to encourage
everyone to have a fun and safe Labor Day
weekend. The holiday came into being to cele
brate the laborer: the man or woman who
works hard every day to provide Americans
with everyday, common needs such as roads,
garbage collection, working water and sewer
plants, groceries, housing and other creature
comforts that we take for granted.
On Monday, Sept. 5, gather with your
friends and family and enjoy the last official
day of summer (as Labor Day also has come
to be known), but also take the time to thank
the clerk at the local store when you pick up
those last grocery items.
A •
Feat00ng
, 00gp:p er
I go to plumasnewi:iom
Michael C• Taborski : ............ Publisher
Kri B. Taborski •..Legal Advertising Dept.
Delaine Fragnoli ... ..... Managing Editor
Alicia Knadler ........ Indian Valley Editor
M. Kate West ............. Chester Editor
Shannon Morrow .......... Sports Editor
Ingrid Burke ................ Copy Editor
Staff writers:
Michael Condon
Ruth Ellis
Will Farris
Barbara France
Mona Hill
Susan Cort Johnson
Diana Jorgenson
Dan McDonald
Pat Shillito
Brian Taylor
Kayleen Taylor
Trish Welsh Taylor
Sam Williams
Feather River
Bulletin
(530) 283-0800
Lassen County
Times
(530) 257-53211
Portola Reporter
(530) 832-4646
Westwood
PinePress
(530) 256-2277 •
Chester Progressive
(530) 258-3115
Indian Valley
Record
(530) 284-7800
Check
Our
[ PLUMASNEWS.COM
,l-)raising the new p00,et laureate
i "
•
MY TURN
SAM WILLIAMS
staff Writer
swilliams@lassennews.com
Boy, oh boy, I squirmed in my chair•
when I got an email a few days ago advis-
ing me that Philip Levine, one of my poetry
teachers at Fresno State University, had
been selected as America's poet laureate.
Levine started the creative writing de-
partment at Fresno State when he arrived
in the mid-1950s, and over the years, the
college has earned a reputation as one the
nation's best poetry schools. Dozens and
dozens of writers have emerged to publish
more than 200 volumes of poetry -- the
crowd's been dubbed "The Fresno Poets." I
call a handful of these writers my friends.
Levine has won major prizes for his
work -- something like 20 books of poetry
-- including the National Book Award, two
Guggenheim Foundation fellowships, a
Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Crit-
• ics Circle Award. He has been a visiting
professor or writer-in-residence at Prince-
ton, Brown, Vassar, Tufts, Columbia, New
York University and National University
of Australia.
I first studied creative writing at Fresno
City College withDeWayne Raft, one of the
first batch of the so-called Fresno Poets. A
quiet, personable man from Oklahoma,
Rail was insightful but kind in his criti-
cism of a young poet's work. Of a crummy,
cliche-ridden love poem he might tell the
writer, "Well, this is a poem your girl-
friend might enjoy," for example.
The stakes got much higher when I
transferred to Fresno State to finish my up-
per division education. I was taking day
Where in the World?
Cra,g and Pat Fox, of Blalrsden, visit the M,endenhaU Glacier}r) JUnelau, Alaska.
Next time you travel, share where you went by taking your local newspaper along
and including it in a photo• Then email the photo to smorrow@plumasnews.com.
Include your name, contact information and brief details about your photo. We may
publish it as space permits•
classes and Levine taught only at night, so
I studied with the other poets in the cre.
ative writing program-- the mystical
light-in-the-darkness, Eugene Zumwalt; the
intellectually tough-but-gentle C.G. FIan-
zlicek; and the lyrical, surrealistic and
imagistic master, Peter Everwine. They
were all great teachers, too, each with their
own focus.
I trembledwhen it came to getting into
grad school -- you couldn't just sign up,
they had to invite you in. We joked we
were being allowed to join "the master!s
club" and thought every door in outlives
would magically open wide once ,e made
the cut. Most of us received an invitation,
but one friend of ours took his own life at'-.
ter they rejected him. Stabbed himself in
the heart and then slit his own throat. I
still can't believe he took it so seriously.
When they let me in, I knew I'd have to
study with Levine. Luckily, I could write a
petty respectable poem by then.
I found Levine's presence strangely
frightening and completely disorienting.
He was so smart; you just couldn't sneak
anything past him. He'd cast his smirking
gaze on you from the front of the class and
then ask you a question you were supposed
to be smart enough to answer. Some stu-
dents couldn't take it, and they just wilted.
Levine didn't ask much of us-- except
that we submit at least eight or 10 "good
poems" to be discussed in class over the se-
mester. Bad poems got absolutely no re-
spect. Some bad poets actually wept in
class. When one bad poet stuck up for his
work, Levine simply agreed it was the
greatest poem ever written in the history
of the English language, and we immedi-
ately moved on.
'While Levine has justly earned his repu-
tation as the great poet of the working
class in the 20th century -- and a great po-
et he is -- I believe he's an even greater
teacher. I know in some circles someone's
bound to suggest I be burned at the stake
for that declaration.
Levine read our poems in class, and sev-
eral times my own words in his mouth
turned in new and unexpected directions.
He could peel back the layers of meaning
and evoke the implications of images and
symbols in my poems I hadn't even consid-
ered. And yet I agreed with him complete-
ly.
Yes, that's exactly what I:meani, I
thought, had I been insightful erQugh to
recognize What I was actually writing
about.
When he read our poems, they gained so
See Levine, page 12B
R.EMEMBER WHEN
KERI TABORSKI
Historian
75 YEARS AGO ...... 1936
Of the 18 national forests in California
the Plumas National Forest has the worst
fire record in the state of California this
year with a total of eight fires during the
past week alone. The total this year now
stands at 116 in the Plumas National
Forest. Of the 116 fires, 98 were started
by campers.
50 YEARS AGO ...... 1961
Advertisement-- Too hot to cook? .....
go out to eat!!!! -- special Friday fish fry
at the Copper Hood, Greenville: $2.00,
Keddie Resort Chuck Wagon buffet: $2.25,
Paxton Lodge prime rib special, all you
can eat: $3.00 or steaks, chicken, prawns:
$2.50, Plumas County's newest dining
room River Pines Resort in Blairsden
offering veal scallopini and fried
chicken: $2.50.
25 YEARS AGO ......... 1986
An early morning blaze burned a cabin
directly behind the Camp Prattville Store
and Care and damaged the care as flames
entered the attic of the historic West Lake
Almanor building.
10 YEARS AGO ............. 2010
The Plumas County unemployment rate
has hit a 20-year low, falling to 5.2 per cent.
Plumas County District Attorney James
Reichle will seek a fourth term and will
face contender Jeff Cunan in the March
primary election.
We must work togeth,00'r for change
m D;em Trait r RUebrl;Ca n '::;2:r teh; itk y ta 11 ahenihTsne:d;ur ::cnd t°71d°n
ii•i seem alike, they can stay in the larger, more metropol-
:: I am, however, going to give Schultz full itan areas and gather even bigger money at
marks for effort. I think if more folks out one function.
there shared their strategies we could each To that end his advice dealt specifically
be more encouraged about bringing about with accountability. He said that after can-
change, didates have been in office for a period of
MY TURN
M. KATE WEST
Chester Editor
chesternews@plumasnews.com
In the past two weeks I've heard several
suggestions about changing the face of poli-
tics that have made tremendous sense to me.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz made the
first suggestion and has since started a
movement to cut off funding to politicians
seeking re-election.
It was his opinion that lawmakers are on-
ly interested in re-election and who could ar-
gue with that? We have all witnessed the
lack of action on critical issues because it
seems like many congressional and state
lawmakers vote or stall votes based on the
desires of special interest groups.
I would also agree with his statement
"The lifeblood of re-election is fundraising."
Unfortunately, even if you keep your
money and I keep mine close to home I
don't see where we are going to have much
of an impact.
At last count Schultz had about 100 big
money contributors sign a pledge not to do-
nate. Despitehe economy, there is tremen-
dous wealth in America and those 100
'pledges are just a drop in the bucket.
Regrettably, many of those other dollars
are tied to partisan politics and belong to
those who will do anything to win on a
straight party ticket.
I also feel that the more people give seri-
ous consideration to change and then follow
up thoughts with action, the better the
chance we will all stand of gaining back
some of what we have lost these past years.
The second suggestion Iheard went
straight to the heart of accountability and
self-education.
During a meeting in Lake Almanor last
week, past Plumas County Supervisor Bill
Coates spoke to community members about
leadership.
He talked about promises made and hold-
ing our elected officials accountable.
When asked how we can do this he offered
advice that fits with the way journalists
write articles and law enforcement officers
write reports: Fundamentally, each written
piece should have the components of who,
what, when, where, why and how much.
The self-education part of his advice was
about each of us learning to question our
leaders.
He used the example of the United States
Forest Service saying it was going to reduce
catastrophic fires on national forests.
Sample questions under this type of sce-
nario would include: Who is going to do
this? When will they do it? What will be af-
fected? Where will this happen? How much
change will this make? What will it cost?
He also hit on the topic of money when he
talked about questioning leadership.
He said you see candidates in your area
time they should be invited back to your
community where you can follow up on the
campaign promises they made.
He suggests you use "their same words"
and question the who, what, when, where,
why and how much of campaign promises
made.
Based on the response of the elected offi-
cial, you, as a voter, can make up your mind
as to next steps.
Once again, just plain old common sense
that offers a strategy not beyond our every-
day reach.
Lastly, I've noticed something else hap-
pening recently that offers a glimmer of
hope for change: less partisanship in the
way people are responding to surveys and
blog posts.
Over the past three years party lines have
been drawn and criticisms have been nearly
hateful in the blaming of the other political
group.
What I am hearing and reading more is
when speaking or writing, fewer folks are
taking sides. They seem to be finding equal
fault in our system of governmen t .
I am probably most heartened by this
change and hope it grows across the
country.
America to me has always been the land
of opportunity and despite the desperate cir-
cumstances we face today, I find hope re.
newed by wise words and the empowerment
that comes from easily attained strategies.