The Yachats Gazette, Issue 34, June 1 2014

Link to .pdf file (printable)

Interview with Zeora Sage & Jeffery Shirley

The Yachats Gazette interviewed Zeora and Jeffery, part of a group putting on the Midsummer Masquerade Ball on June 21 in the Commons, a benefit for View of the Future, a local conservancy group. More information can be found on the website, www.yachatsmm.com.

TYG: What exactly is the Midsummer Masquerade Ball?
Zeora: The Midsummer Masquerade Ball is a fabulously fun, magical event that is a fundraiser for View of the Future [http://viewthefuture.org/], which is a local charity that’s helping to protect our coastal forests. It’s going to be a really fun-filled night for all ages.

Sandy Meir

TYG: I’ll go!
Zeora: Yay! We’re teaming with the Yachats Youth and Family Activities Program (YYFAP) for the first two hours, from five to seven. There will be kids’ activities and fun things all night, but they are going to be joining us from five to seven. In the main room, we have musicians coming from Portland, Eugene, and Washington, and a DJ [DJ Talisman and Luminara]. So we have a lot of wonderful entertainment coming, donating their time and talents because of this important cause.

TYG-Graphic Design: So where is it taking place?
Zeora: It’s taking place at the Commons, right here in Yachats!

Dean Schrock Flower Sculpture

TYG-GD: You said “the main room”—so are things going to be taking place in several rooms?
Zeora: Yes! The main room is the auditorium, which we’re going to transform for the evening into a fairy realm—you won’t recognize it! There’s going to be a 10-foot tall mushroom, and all kinds of wonderful surprises. There’s also going to be theatrical performances! We have a couple of very talented actors who are going to be playing two parts from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They’re going to be doing some little snippets, some modified snippets, some verbatim.

TYG: I’ve been reading some Shakespeare recently—I have a nice book that has Henry IV, Henry V, Richard III, Julius Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra, in story form.
Zeora: Do you like Shakespeare?
TYG: Yes!

Zeora: […] So we’ve got all kinds of fun entertainment, dancing, music… Food is going to be just finger foods by the Yachats Farm Store and Bread & Roses. […] I don’t know the exact menu, but they’ll be serving from seven to eleven.

Sarah Quayle Plourde

TYG: I’m pretty sure there are going to be fries. It’s the quintessential finger food.
TYG-GD: [laughing] Well, that’s true, but there’s no fryer in the Commons. I imagine bread and cheese will be there!
TYG: [still hopeful] Yeah… probably plain white bread, as well.
Zeora: I think it’ll be really fun. They’re trying to do fairy-themed food, so there’s going to be some fun things on the menu.

TYG: I’m guessing there will be a lot of food coloring involved.
Zeora: Oh, I don’t think so. Both the Farm Store and Bread & Roses are pretty natural, healthy places. […]

Jan Brown

TYG-GD: Is there a fixed cost for the whole event? How does that work?
Zeora: Tickets are available as of now from the Yachats Farm Store, or online. Adults are $10, from ages six to 16 $5, and under age 6, free. Wine and beer will be served, but is not the focus of the event and will be monitored and secure, with strict ID-ing and a designated area.

TYG: You’ll probably make a lot of money! […]
Zeora: Our goal is to raise some good funds—this is to protect our forests, the view you see out of this window [we were sitting at Ona Restaurant and Lounge]. This is in danger to be clear-cut! We want to raise awareness. We’re not expecting to raise enough to purchase the land through this event—it’s going to cost more than that. But if we can show, with the funds that we raise, that the community cares, then the people with the big money…

One of Senitilia McKinley's banners

TYG: … will be more likely to donate.
Zeora: Exactly. There are a lot of people from outside of Yachats that care about this community. Of course we’re reaching to the Yachats community, but we’re reaching far out, up and down the coast, inland to Eugene and Portland…
Jeffery: Anyone who’s ever been here!



TYG-GD: How are you reaching those folks who are not in the village?
Zeora: Internet, mostly. And we have fliers out for the event in Eugene, Portland, Corvallis and surrounding areas, and of course online.

TYG: How are you building that [mushroom]: plywood? Foam?
Jeffery: We made a mold, first, that’s cement and steel. It’s about eight feet wide and three and a half, four feet tall. For the cap.
Zeora: It weighs 500 pounds.
Jeffery: And then we covered that with papier mâché. When it was dry, we lifted the cap off and turned it over. Now I’m putting gills in it.

Krista Sappington, Raychel McCabe, and Heather Taylor

TYG: So the steel was in the mold?
Jeffery: Yes, and it had a one inch thick layer of concrete over it, to reinforce the metal and smooth it out.

TYG: So what’s going in the mold?
Jeffery: Papier mâché. Then when the papier mâché is dry, we’re coating it with polystyrene. […]

TYG-GD: It sounds like the mold is a huge construction, just for papier mâché!
Zeora: Eventually we’re going to turn the mold into a gazebo, too. Some day. Not for the event. […] But another nice thing about this is that we can make more mushrooms, if people see this and want one.
Jeffery: The advantage to doing it this way is that the finished mushroom can be carried in by two people. It’ll look huge, but the cap will probably only weigh about 100 pounds.

Qahira Lynn

TYG-GD: What is polystyrene?
Jeffery: It’s the kind of plastic that’s used for Styrofoam, but it’s not puffed up. So we spray it on, and it makes a hard coating.
Zeora: [The mushroom] is going to light up underneath—we’re going to have fun with this. [laughter]

TYG-GD: So who is paying for all this?
Jeffery: Mostly Zeora and I, but Ken Spencer at Newport Signs has volunteered the use of his shop, and he’s been helping a lot with the construction.

Maeona Urban

Zeora: His help has been huge. We’re putting in the money, but without the space to build it, and his assistance, we couldn’t have built it.
Jeffery: He did all the welding, too.

TYG-GD: What else?
Zeora: The art! Especially here at Ona where we can see all the pretty banners!


TYG-GD: What about the art auction?
Zeora: The art auction has already started. It’s one of the ways we’re raising funds and it’s nice, because it’s open to people who can’t come here for the event. They can be anywhere in the world because you can bid online [http://www.yachatsmm.com/art-auction/]! As soon as we get the banners in, we add them to the auction page on the website, and then people can bid online, and then it will go live at the event.

TYG: I have a question. What happens if you get someone from another country who is using a different currency?
Jeffery: They can pay through Paypal, and they’ll convert it.
Zeora: I don’t know if we’ll reach anybody from another country, but that would be fun!

Judy Richter Quilt

TYG-GD: How many banners are you anticipating?
Zeora: There are about 20 art pieces altogether. Some of them are banners…

TYG-GD: There’s a huge quilt out there [in the Ona entryway]!
Zeora: A quilt, yes. There’s going to be at least one sculpture, possibly a couple more. And the rest are the art banners. […]
Jeffery: The first sculpture is a giant flower made out of driftwood.



TYG-GD: So, can you tell us more about the actual events of the night?
Zeora: Well the door will open, and the first two hours of the night will be led by YYFAP, as I said. It will be much more family-oriented. The DJ is going to play some nice family-friendly music. […]

TYG: If the YYFAP kids are going to be involved, you might have to account for some unexpected things. […] I’m serious, you should leave a space clear for running around!
Zeora: There’s going to be a dance floor…

Martina Olsen

TYG: When will the dance start?
TYG-GD: Well, we only got to the first two hours—what will happen after that?
Zeora: Dancing, and live music, and more dancing. The theatrical performance will be woven in between the first live acts and the DJ music, so it will all flow together. So it will be one performance, into another performance, into dancing, story-telling… There will be the kids’ room—actually, two different kids’ rooms. While YYFAP is there, there will be the kids’ room right off the hall [where the preschool is], and then after YYFAP leaves, it will be around the corner.

Moe Snyder

TYG: I definitely want to be there at five, because in the preschool room, they have wooden trains.
Zeora: And there will be some fun surprises for the kids, too. […] We’ve got a book that is going to be read, around seven o’clock, called Come One, Come All To the Fairy Ball. It’s written by our friend Sarah Gayle Plourde [co-owner of Solaluna Gallery in Toledo, with her husband Wayne].
Jeffery: Also, Blue Dot Productions volunteered to make a trailer for View of the Future. [They’re] a video company that does all sorts of documentaries [http://www.bluedotproductions.com/].

Susan Conway

Zeora: A high end production company that’s here in Yachats. They’re going to be doing a trailer-length film to sum up what the goals are of View of the Future. They’ll also be doing the visuals for the big screen behind the stage that will help create our fairy realm, because they’ll be doing huge images for us of the forest and other nature visuals. […] All of the art banners, and the other art pieces that are being donated for the auction, will be decorating the room. […] The walls will have the art banners, and the ceiling will have a green parachute with branches and twinkle lights. […] Since the lighting isn’t going to be the best to see the art auction pieces, we’re going to have an art reception here at Ona [June 1, three to five pm]. Michelle’s going to do some appetizers.

TYG:  What day is this Midsummer Masquerade?
Zeora: It’s June 21, summer solstice!

TYG: I’m going!
Zeora: I hope so!

Terry Hovey

TYG-GD: It sounds amazing—I saw some of the costumes on the website! Are costumes required?
Zeora: No! I don’t want anybody not to come because they don’t want to wear a costume. You can just wear your normal clothes and just get a mask! […]

Ok, so let’s see: First two hours partnering with YYFAP, then DJ music, live music, theatrical bits, dancing… it goes until eleven pm.

TYG-GD: What kind of live music is there?
Zeora: Two different bands: A band from Eugene called Barefoot Leroy—they’re going to perform first—then a local group called Past Forward. They play dance music from the 20’s to 60’s. And then we’ve got a couple solo performers: a violinist called Jimmy Be Free; he does a lot of looping with his violin, so it’s very rhythmic and ethereal—just really fills the room. […] And then we have Alexa Wildish. She’s got a beautiful voice—celtic/folk blend. You can hear samples of all these musicians on the website.


At ten there will be the art auction, and a silent auction with donated items [such as] a vacation rental combined with a massage, little packages, some more art items, jewelry, a lot of healing services, gift baskets, some wine, that kind of thing.

And then… then we’re going outside! Towards the end, a little after ten, we’ll be going outside. There will be a fire dance theater—Kindled Spirit Fire Theater. And then a closing ceremony for solstice by Wake & Kinlen.
Jeffery:  I think that’s about it!

TYG: Thank you so much!
Jeffery: You’re welcome!
Zeora: Thank you, Allen!

Interview with KE Edmisten, Acupuncturist at Yachats Health Care

TYG: When did you join Jai Tomlin’s Clinic [Yachats Health Care]?
KE: Well, I’m Dr. KE Edmisten. I’m a naturopathic physician and licensed acupuncturist. Last Thursday, May 1st—May Day—was my first day down here at Yachats Health Care, and I am very grateful that Dr. Jai asked me to join!

TYG-Graphic Design: Do you work in her Newport office too?
KE: You know, we’re in the same building. I have a little office downstairs, and she’s upstairs, so we work in the same building.

TYG: So that works out perfectly! What is your background in medicine?   
KE: I have been practicing for 22 years, in Newport, and I went to naturopathic and acupuncture colleges in Portland, and started practicing on the coast in 1991.

TYG: When did you get the idea to start acupuncture?
KE: Well, I have been practicing acupuncture the whole time!

TYG-GD: What led you to study it?
KE: Gosh… A gift from God, a person might say. I actually read this very cool book called All Sickness is Homesickness [by Dr. Dianne M. Connelly]. It propelled me to start acupuncture school, in Portland.

TYG-GD: What did this book say that made you think you needed [acupuncture] added to your medical arsenal?
KE: I was just starting my medical journey at that time, so basically it kind of intertwined with the naturopathic! So I and a couple of my classmates were the only ones allowed to do naturopathic and acupuncture schools at the same time. It’s actually just too much, to tell you the honest truth. But the way the Chinese look at medicine is broad. It encompasses the mind, the body, and the spirit. Naturopathic medicine looks at that same approach toward health and disease, and it was a perfect match!

TYG-GD: Can you say a little more about naturopathic medicine? I don’t really know anything about it.
KE: Naturopathic medicine is basically practicing with the healing power of nature. So we use, let’s say, natural approaches: nutrition, hydration, herbal medicine, bark of trees, flowers… gifts from God.

TYG:  The kind of things people used before there were drugs.
KE: That’s right! And many of the drugs are from plants originally.

TYG: They’re probably even less concentrated in the drugs form, because they’re diluted with other things, multiple other things.
KE: Lots of other things, that’s right.

TYG: If you had, say, a willow bark injection, it’s probably a lot less concentrated than eating a willow bark with, say, a salad.
TYG-GD: [laughter]
KE: [laughter] Very true. Very true!

TYG: Can you please explain some of the traditional acupuncture terminology, such as qi [chi] and meridians?
KE: I will give it a try. Qi is a word that the Chinese use for vital energy. There’s really not an English word for that, besides “vital energy.”

TYG:  Or spirit? It’s kind of like the Roman word dignitas, in the sense that it has multiple meanings. Literally. In my ancient history course it was like: fame, clout, all those things, except it doesn’t really translate into any of them. It’s more like all of them wrapped into one. So really, the only way to put it is dignitas, and you just have to know what it means.
KE: You just sort of figure out what it means… and that’s sort of what qi is. Qi is your spirit, your energy, your stamina, your vitality… all of that. […]

TYG-GD: So naturopathic medicine has to do with […] redistributing qi so that it flows more naturally?
KE: Well, you know, since I’m a naturopathic physician and an acupuncturist, I just intertwine them together. So, yes, it’s all about balance. The Chinese are all about balance. Mind, body, and spirit. Naturopathic medicine is all about balance: mind, body, and spirit. So it’s really just the approach that I take. When someone comes in and has some sort of imbalances, what approach are we going to take? We’re going to first look at their nutrition, as much as we can; look at their hydration, look at their stress levels, look at their hormonal balance… You know, see what we can tweak in terms of helping their system help itself. We believe in the body’s innate healing wisdom. How can we tap into that in the best way possible?

TYG: I can understand that… […] For example, the body can fight off disease. It can fight off a cold.
KE: It can heal a cut. […] Especially when your system is strong enough to do that.

TYG-GD: Meridians?
KE: Meridians are invisible—yet, they can be tracked with modern vibrational assessment methods—lines, channels, that go on the outside and the inside of the body, where the acupuncture points are that are associated with various conditions.

TYG: I read a Wikipedia article that mentions that they can use laser light now, as well [for acupuncture].
KE: Light, yes. I use needles mostly, but you can even press on a point, like acupressure. It is very effective. […]

TYG: Do you practice the TCM (Traditional Chinese Method) or the modern way?
KE: I practice the TCM way. I learned the traditional Chinese medicine approach, and I still use that. They’ve been using that for thousands of years. I quite frankly don’t know what they mean by “modern way,” because we learn to practice medicine the way the Chinese practice it. […]

TYG-GD: Can you walk us through a case in which you would use acupuncture, and what you visualize at the onset, and how the case ends up?
KE: Let’s do it this way. This is how I practice medicine: I like to talk to my patients first—obviously, that would make sense—we want to find out their history, we want to find out what they’ve tried, we want to find out who they are, we want to try and understand what their life is like. The most common reason that I practice acupuncture is that people have pain. People have back pain. People have knee pain. People have pain. So traditionally, we use acupuncture to help treat pain. […] It works on all ages; it works for everyone. So, after we talk, and get some more background or foundation, let’s say, we usually go into another room, the acupuncture room. We have a nice table in there, and it’s nice and cozy and warm. Let’s say, for instance, that we have a sore knee. We do acupuncture on the whole body. The way Chinese look at pain is that it’s “stuck qi,” stuck energy. So we’re trying to move that qi and help it move smoothly. So even if a person has a sore knee, I might put some needles in the ankle, in the hand, in the head, maybe in the ears. […] If it’s their first time, if they’re a little nervous about needles, I might go a little lighter.

TYG: I’m nervous about needles.
KE: Most people are!

TYG: I don’t think I could take needles in my ears, my hands, and my head!
KE: You wouldn’t believe how thin they are. You can barely see them.

TYG: So do they not hurt very much?
KE: I would say that usually you can feel a little something.

TYG: I’m very sensitive to pain.
KE: Some people would experience it as pain, but some people would experience it more as warmth, or pressure, or vibration—it’s a very interesting experience. […] When people come to me, they don’t always know what they want, so I tell them: “We can do acupuncture, but I also do homeopathic injections; or maybe I’d send them to someone like Dr. Jai, for some chiropractic or some body work—things like that.

TYG-GD: Do you do diagnosis with the needles, or is it just a way of treatment? […] Is there any feedback, in terms of the needles, from the patient to you?
KE: [long pause] That is such an interesting question! We do some assessing with the pulse, and the tongue, and the history, obviously.

TYG-GD: What do you do with the tongue?
KE: Look at it. [laughter] You can tell if there’s a coat on it, what color it is, the size, the shape… all kinds of stuff goes on the tongue! And we feel three pulses on each hand instead of the regular pulse that doctors do. So that’s kind of how we assess. In modern-day healthcare, sometimes there’s no diagnosis. Sometimes a person is out of whack. Sometimes people want to know: “I have tendonitis. I have the flu, or something.” But the thing is: sometimes people are out of balance. We’re just helping the system get back into balance. Sometimes that’s a big job, and sometimes that’s a smaller job.

TYG: The flu, you can probably recognize that.
KE: Yes! You can recognize that. We have herbs, we have homeopathics, that just help people’s systems be able to fight things off easier.

TYG: How do you find that acupuncture most helps your customers?
KE: [in hushed tones] Acupuncture is so amazing. I love it so much. It helps with so many different things, from pain—like we were talking about—to sleep, to mood, to energy level, to immune system—helping people stay strong. There are some people who come to see me just on a regular basis to stay healthy. So we get people healthy, and we help them stay healthy.

TYG: What about acupressure?
KE: It definitely works well! I do not do it, because I do acupuncture. If somebody wanted me… For instance, you came in and said “Hey, I’ve got something going on. Which acupuncture points would you use, and please don’t use needles.” Then of course I would just show you and we would just press on an acupuncture point.

TYG: The nice thing about doing it with pressure is that if you know the exact point, you can do it yourself.
KE: Exactly. […]

TYG: Last question: Do you have any family in Yachats?
KE: I don’t! But love makes a family, so… I know people here, and I do come down here for different events, but I don’t have any actual family members here.

TYG-GD: Where are you from originally?
KE: Originally, I’m from Oklahoma. […] I moved to Oregon in 1981, from Kansas. I went to KU (Go Jayhawks!), moved out here, did other stuff for a while, then started naturopathic school.

TYG-GD: How did you come out to the Coast?
KE: I know some people who grew up in Toledo. And so there’s no naturopathic physician out here, or acupuncturist (well, at the time), and so it sounded like a perfect spot. No one moves to the coast to get rich quick. But I love it here. The people are wonderful, the scenery is wonderful, the climate is extraordinary [it was raining buckets at the time]…

TYG: How has business been going? […]
KE: Oh, thank you for mentioning it—we’re going to have an Open House here, sort of “KE Edmisten is joining the practice” sort of thing. It’s going to be Friday, June 13th, from 5 pm to 7 pm, at Yachats Health Care. We’re hoping that even though people came before [to the Grand Opening], they might feel comfortable to come again.

TYG: Let’s hope it goes OK, because it’s Friday the 13th!
KE: I know! Our lucky day! […] It’s also the full moon, so it’s very auspicious!

The Yachats Gazette, January 31, 2013

The Publisher spends two hours on most school days with the wonderful folks over at YYFAP (Yachats Youth & Family Program, pronounced /y-fap/), and thought it would be a service to the community to share stories from some of the administrators and volunteers who work with this organization. 

Interview with Alice Beck, 

YYFAP Director

TYG: How did you come to Yachats?
Alice: I came here because I followed my husband. 15 whole months before I got this job, Kevin, my husband, got a job as the parks manager for the Carl Washburne Parks Unit, to help restore the lighthouse, because before he did that, he restored the Astoria Column. Every other weekend we went back and forth, and I started looking for a job. And after 15 months, this wonderful job came up. And I was so excited, because if you had asked me, two years before I came here, what would be my dream job, I would have said, “a camp director.” And this is about as close as you can get to that.

TYG: What did you do before you came to work at YYFAP?
Alice: I was the coordinator for the Commission on Children and Families in Clatsop County, in Astoria. And that was a big job that was different from this one, in that I did all kinds of things related to kids and families. I helped non-profits like this do things like strategic planning. […] And we did things like alcohol and drug prevention […] mostly focused on keeping kids from using alcohol and tobacco and things like that, and getting them involved in other healthy activities.

TYG: How much does it cost to go to YYFAP?
Alice: Well, it costs the program about $180 a month for every youth that comes to YYFAP. Whether they’re in the preschool or in the after-school program, it’s pretty close to the same. So that’s the average. But people pay what they can afford. So we have some minimum costs…

TYG (Ed. Ass’t.): Where does the rest of the money come from, if not everybody pays full cost?
Alice: It comes from a variety of different places. People donate money, and we’re really grateful for all of the donors in the community that help. And then we write grants to foundations, who have money that they give out for specific things, like the activities that we have here. And the City of Yachats gives us money as well.

TYG: How do you see YYFAP changing or growing in the next few years?
Alice: Well, that’s a good question. Some of things we’ve been working on since I got here are expanding our Families Together program, with the Yachats Community Presbyterian Church, where we have dinner once a month, and we read stories and work on early literacy. Getting little people, in particular, excited about reading. I’d also like to see us doing more activities for teens, and families.

TYG: It would be good if we had some more adults here.
Alice: Like volunteers, you mean?

TYG: Yeah, like Graham.
Alice: One of the things I’d like to do is to get more young people like Graham involved.

TYG: How did YYFAP start? That’s something that I’ve been wanting to know for a long time.
Alice: Well, what I know, or I’ve been told, is that YYFAP started about 16 years ago, I think. There were people in the community who wanted a place where kids could come together and learn and play. Some of the kids were home-schooled, like you, and they wanted a place where they could be with other kids, and socialize, and have group activities.

TYG: It’s definitely changed since then.
Alice: Yes, right now you’re one of just a couple of kids we have that are home-schooled.

TYG: Yeah, I don’t think there are any other kids.
Alice: There are some others in preschool that may plan on home-schooling. But yes, down here in the Rec Plus program, I think you are the only one who’s home-schooled.

TYG: What do you like to do when you’re not working at YYFAP?
Alice: Well, I like to hang out on the beach. I like to look for agates -- do you do that?

TYG: Yeah, I remember one time I found like 200 agates on one trip.
Alice: I like to read, and I love to garden, although I don’t get to garden very much on the park property, because it doesn’t belong to me, but at my home in Astoria I still get to garden a little bit. And we’re going to do some more gardening this year, right? I’d like us to do more gardening [at YYFAP].

TYG (Ed. Ass’t.): You still have a home in Astoria?
Alice: I do still have a home in Astoria.

TYG: Wow! You only go there on vacation, or something?
Alice: Well, it IS like a vacation home now! I live in a little cabin, what most people would vacation in, right? And I go to my house to vacation, or sometimes on the weekends.

TYG: What was your college degree?
Alice: It was Interpersonal, Family, and Community Relations.

TYG: Holy cow!
Alice: And I designed it myself!

TYG (Ed. Ass’t.): Where did you go to college?
Alice: At Western Washington University, in Bellingham, Washington. Would you like to design your own degree someday?

TYG: Probably not. Unless it would be in specifically designing and building trains.
Alice: Well, if I hadn’t done this, do you know what my other choice was? A landscape architect.

TYG: Cool! I’d love to do that someday.
Alice: I would have designed gardens, which is like designing trains, only different. ‘Cause I like flowers.

TYG (Ed. Ass’t.): Not as much steam.
Alice: No, not as much steam.

Interview with Beverly Trute, Volunteer

TYG: How did you come to Yachats?
Beverly: Well, a very long time ago, almost 15 years, I came here for a vacation just to get away for a couple of days, and I drove in to Yachats and I fell completely in love. I left a card with Valeria, at Toad Hall, and said “If you hear anything about a place to live, let me know!” and within a couple of days I got a letter from someone who owned a house, and he said “Would you like to move in? It’s for rent, or sale.” And I was there six weeks later, lock, stock, and barrel.

TYG: Cool!
Beverly: Yeah, definitely cool. That was almost 15 years ago.

TYG: Why and when did you start working for YYFAP?
Beverly: I started last summer, when I signed on with the Foster Grandparents Program. The Foster Grandparents Program is funded by Senior Corps, and that’s federal. And I volunteered with them, and was placed with YYFAP each year and I just love it. It’s the best [placement].

TYG: I see! Has YYFAP had any personal influence on you?
Beverly: Oh yes! Oh yes. I keep learning. I did a lot of things probably not the right way when I first got here, and I see that now. It’s a constant experience where I have to be very upbeat and positive no matter what I feel.

TYG: I think I know what you mean about both points there!
Beverly: I love coming here every day and being with you and the other kids. I love working with Alice and Pam, I love working with Graham… this is such a wonderful experience! I get to come here every day and play.

TYG: Cool! What role do you play in the YYFAP personnel hierarchy—pardon the expression!
Beverly: [laughter] I sweep the floors. We’re just going to talk lower-archy!

TYG: I mean, how do you serve in comparison to Graham?
Beverly: Graham is paid-for staff. I’m not. My services to YYFAP are provided at no cost.

TYG: I see! Thank you so much!

Interview with Graham Shields, Program Assistant

TYG: How did you come to Yachats?
Graham: Well, my Mom and my brother and I moved here three years ago because my Mom, and Leon Sterner, met while juggling at the Da Vinci Days in Corvallis! And they just got married last April. So I’ve been here for three years now, and [it’s] been a real nice place to live.

TYG: That’s great! Why and when did you start working for YYFAP?
Graham: I volunteered here at YYFAP during the summer two years ago, mostly because I really like running around and playing with all the kids here. Then I started working here last summer in June and I’ve been working here ever since. It’s been a great experience for me.

TYG: What happened on your trip to Argentina?
Graham: Ooh, that’s a good question. Well, I learned how to speak Spanish; I tried all sorts of different new foods; I learned how to play “Truco,” which is an Argentinian card game, very fun to play. There’s a lot I can tell you—it would take me about two hours to tell you everything that I learned and did! [laughter] I also went on two trips: one to Patagonia, and one to the North of Argentina. Those were beautiful places to visit.

TYG: Man, you must have had a good time!
Graham: I had a wonderful time. It was probably the best decision I could make for last year, for me.

TYG: Did your trip to Argentina change you at all, make you see the world differently?
Graham: Yes, I think it did. It was really nice to see what they thought of the United States, and it was really nice to learn their culture, like tango; and eat all their foods. I think that I have a better view on how the world should communicate—all the countries with each other.

TYG: I see! What do you like best about YYFAP?
Graham: Hmm. Well, you would be one of the better parts… [laughter] I like all of you guys being here, because I can actually really learn a lot from you kids. I also like that it’s fairly free on what you get to do. You guys can basically do anything you want, and I get to follow you and help you, and make sure that everything’s going OK. And that feels really good to me.

TYG: Thank you so much!
Graham: You’re welcome!

Interview with Pam Luderitz, YYFAP Administrative Assistant

TYG: So, how did you come to Yachats?
Pam: Well, my husband and I wanted to retire on the Oregon Coast, and we found this town, and we loved it, and so we decided to move out here when he retired.

TYG: I see. What did you like best about Yachats?
Pam: I liked the people, I liked the community, I liked [raucous children noise in background] the quiet here [laughter]. And of course we liked the area, the ocean—I need to have an ocean around me.

TYG: Where did you live before now? 
Pam: We lived in the Monterey Bay area in California; up in the mountains above the Monterey Bay.

TYG: That must have been a scenic spot!
Pam: It was! It was very pretty, but there got to be wayyyy too many people.

TYG: Right—simply for the fact that it is so pretty! […] What is your role in YYFAP? 
Pam:  I’m Administrative Assistant to Alice. I help with whatever needs to be done. I do paperwork, help with Helping Hands, make sure there are snacks and things when you guys come, interact with all of you guys when you come in from school. It’s fun!

TYG: Are you a volunteer, or a paid […] employee of YYFAP, and therefore the City [of Yachats]?
Pam: I’m paid. But I also volunteer with Helping Hands, and some of the things  that I do on the Board of Directors, so those are not paid positions, so when I go up to meetings my paid day ends, and I start my volunteer day!

TYG: That must be weird! 
Pam: It is, but it works. […]

TYG: What was your job before YYFAP? 
Pam: Before YYFAP? Well, when we came up here I worked at a physical therapy office in Newport, but I also had a job before that when I was up here and when I was in California: I worked with race cars.

TYG: Cooooooooool! Oh, that must have been awesome! Were you a driver, or just in the pit crew—or were you an instructor? 
Pam: No, I worked for factory teams: for Nissan, and Jaguar, and Mazda. I did their scoring, and did some of their strategy, and worked right in the pits alongside all of the rest of the team. We went to Le Mans and several of the other places—races all over the country and in Canada.

TYG: Cool! That must have been an awesome job! Tell me more!
Pam: It was a lot of fun! I did that for quite a few years and then I got a call from NASCAR [National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing], and they asked me if I would like to work for them, so I said “yes” and worked for NASCAR for about nine or ten years, and I retired from them—the travel got to be too much. For 10 years, I was flying three times a month across country and back, and working, and I’d have about 1 day a week at home.

TYG: Aïe aïe aïe! I’m guessing the flights were covered? 
Pam: Yes, all my expenses were covered.

TYG: I’m guessing you’d have to be a millionaire [if they weren’t]! 
Pam: Yes, you would. […] But they were very good. They paid from the time you’d leave home to the time you’d get to the track, and then they’d pay your hours there. I did different things there: I worked in the tower with the race director, and I worked at the start/finish line, and I worked in the pits.

TYG: Did you ever fix cars then?
Pam: No, I didn’t fix cars.

TYG: What did you do then?
Pam: Well, I mainly kept track of where every car was. I called who was in what position…

TYG: Oh, so you were an announcer while you were in the pit!
Pam: No, I kept track of where the cars were for the teams and for the announcers. So when I was in the tower, if there was a yellow flag, I would do the buttons for the yellow flag and I would tell the race director where every car was when the yellow came out […].

TYG: What do some of the different flags mean? 
Pam: Well, the different flags mean different things. The yellow flag means caution—that there’s either an accident or there’s something else; and when a yellow flag comes you can’t pass anybody. […] The minute I hit that button I would have to know where every car was on the track, so in case somebody passed, I would have to go back and tell them who needed to be in what position. Now they’re getting some computers that will help that; but when I first started, it was all pencil and paper. […] And it’s pretty fast, because on the Bristol track …

TYG: Is Bristol in England? 
Pam: No, Bristol is back east, in Tennessee. […] But at Bristol, you have 43 cars on the racetrack, and it’s a quarter-mile track, so each lap takes about 15 or 16 seconds, so you’re keeping track of 43 cars for every 16 seconds.

TYG: So laps don’t really matter? 
Pam: Yeah, you’ve got to be sure for every lap. What I would do before we got the computers, is I’d have a piece of paper. And when they started, I would write down every car and the number it went by at start/finish, when it crossed the line.

TYG: And that was from memory? You didn’t do that time after time, that would be crazy! 
Pam: No, I did! And the next time the leader came by, I went to the next piece of paper and did that [one], for that lap. So this piece of paper was for lap 1, this piece of paper was for lap 2…

TYG: You must have had really fast writing skills!
Pam: You write very fast and you learn the cars too, a lot of the times, so you know which car is coming.

TYG: I’m thinking you could pre-prepare a data sheet based on who was going to be in the race. 
Pam: Yeah, you do the qualifying [race] so you have a list of who’s there. Then, the first lap they come by at speed, that sheet doesn’t mean anything because everybody has passed everybody else and they’re all in a group, so you have to pick out who’s in which position and write them in the order that they go by. The next lap, you do the same thing. And […] if the leader goes in the pits, you would have a new leader coming by, so you have to know at least the top five or six cars in your head so you know who comes by, he’s the new leader. The hardest time was at races like Le Mans, in France, because it’s a 24-hour race. So they’re out there for 24 hours…

TYG: You didn’t actually stay there all that time? How did you keep your eyes open? 
Pam: Adrenaline! [laughter]

TYG: How long are those laps? 
Pam: Those are long laps, like five miles or something. [So you have to keep track every] couple minutes.

TYG: Were there ever any races that were no laps, just a straight line, start to finish?
Pam: No, every one of them was laps. Different times, different miles. Most of the NASCAR [races] were 300 or 500 miles. Then sports cars are a 12-hour race. One year I did three 24-hour races. I’d never do that again. [wry chuckle]

TYG: Not in a row, right?
Pam: No! But a month apart. […] So I did a 24-hour race, and the next weekend I would be back to do a regular one, a 300 or 500 mile.

TYG: What does a red flag mean? Or is there a red flag?
Pam: There is a red flag. It means “immediate danger: stop” –you stop on the track. You stop where you are. In NASCAR usually they put out a yellow flag, and there’s a pace car that comes out. And sometimes if there’s too much on the track, too much clean-up, they’ll put a red flag out, and the pace car will stop with all the other cars behind it, and they’ll clean up the track.

TYG: And green flag means go?
Pam: Green flag means GO!

TYG: And the checkered flag means finish.
Pam: It means finish, right! And then there’s a blue flag with a yellow stripe diagonally across it, and that means there are faster cars approaching you, and to use your mirrors because you’re about to be overtaken by faster cars. And there’s a flag with yellow and red stripes all the way down it, and that’s mainly used in road racing, with sports cars, and that means there’s oil or some slippery substance on the track.

TYG: Ah! 
Pam: We had one guy, a German driver, Hans Stuck, who drove for BMW. He got pulled in one time because he didn’t have brake lights going into turn one—you know, every car has to have brake lights—so he got pulled over going into turn one, and he came in and he said “I never use my brakes in turn one!” [chuckles]

TYG-Editorial Assistant: Braking is overrated. […] Can I ask how you got into this profession?
Pam: My husband volunteered at Laguna Seca Raceway in California. I got bored so I got a stop-watch, and then I went up to do their timing, and started with club racing, and met people from the professionals.  When I was teaching, I’d travel on the weekends in summer with them. Then they asked me if I would go full-time, and it was kind of … did I want to teach, or did I want to travel all over the country or the world on somebody else’s dollar!

TYG: Personally, I think that sounds like a good life. 
Pam: It was fun! I met a lot of very nice people.

TYG: Although I’d probably want to be a driver.
Pam: Well, I did take a driver’s school in an Indy type car at Laguna Seca, which was a lot of fun. […] Problem is, it costs a lot of money for the cars. Most of these, like a Le Mans type car, with research and everything that they do, you’re probably talking a million and a half dollars [for your own car]. There are a lot of private racers. […] But a lot of times [if you race for a company] you have to bring your own sponsorship so you have to pay to do that. Some of the top drivers, most of them have a salary. But they have to have endorsements to help the salary. It’s a lot of money to run those cars! One set of tires is about $600—and depending on the length of the race, they probably use ten to twelve sets of tires per race. And that’s the race—that’s not qualifying, and practice. There are more tires for that.

TYG-Editorial Assistant: What kind of teaching were you doing before this?
Pam: I taught in a high school; I taught science, and swimming, and tennis.

TYG: Wow, thank you! That was a great interview! 

The Yachats Gazette, May 28 2012, 10th Issue

New York Artists Include Yachats in their social sculpture

The Yachats Gazette spoke with Emily Puthoff (right) and Elena Sniezek (center), two artists visiting Yachats from Kingston, NY. In their Wayfinding Series, they are “having conversations with people across the country about their ideas of progress.” They had just interviewed our publisher for their project.

TYG: I would like to ask you the same question you asked me: What is your idea of progress?

Elena: Oh, man, you turned it right around on us! My idea of progress is when we start, as the Unites States and maybe the world, to start looking at our social structures and really making movement in our communities to live in a more sustainable way—for the environment and for each other... and I think we’re at a point where we’re realizing that the structures aren’t supporting us anymore—the government and religion and our education system—and we need to start making shifts and changes to them, to make them work for everyone.

TYG: When do you think this should happen by?

Elena: I think it’s starting to happen now where people are waking up, but I don’t really see the changes happening right now. So I think people are making moves in their communities, a little bit, to shift things, and making decisions for themselves and their communities.... I do think it needs to start there, and spread out from a small level to a national level, to a global level. I think it can start happening now.

Emily: I think it should start immediately.

TYG: When should it finish by?

Elena: I don’t know that it ever really finishes, because life keeps happening and things keep changing and so I think that it’s always a process. But I think that if we start putting humanity first, and not buying into a corporate model of living, that’s what we need to do first, and then... it’s always going to continue to be a process of rearranging things, and hopefully there’ll be progress throughout that process, and things will continue to get better.

Emily: I think for me, what would bring about progress is this notion of people taking a minute to engage with one another, rather than being totally disengaged through Facebook or the internet or whatever... sort of like what we’re doing right now, where we sit down and a

conversation comes out of that... and that moment of presence and being here, and acknowledgement, I think that’s a very small step towards bettering our culture and our society... and for me that’s progress. So it doesn’t have to be this grand thing—I think these small local actions of just knowing that we’re all here, in the same place on this planet, and what is our experience, and talking about it, I think that could elicit change.

TYG: What is this project that you guys are doing?

Elena: We are traveling across the country, starting now, and we’re interviewing people about their ideas of progress... a diversity of people from all different ethnic backgrounds, economic backgrounds... so we’re asking them about if they think that progress is possible, how they think that progress can happen, and what can be done now. We’re open to hearing what people have to say, and to recording it and posting it on our blog. Right now the project is really organic, where it can take other forms, in terms of a sound piece, or it could go in a community center gallery, but we’re not sure what the end form is going to be.

TYG: Would you say a little about yourselves?

Elena: I’m an artist; I make sculptures and paintings and social sculpture, and this falls under that category of social sculpture. I also teach art in the elementary school in Kingston, New York.

Emily: I’m an artist, sculptor, and I’m also an educator, I teach at the State University of New York at New Paltz. We live in upstate New York. I’m really excited and curious to see where this experiment goes.

Candy-Making at Topper’s

The Yachats Gazette got a lesson in candy making from Gary Church at Topper’s Ice Cream and Candy. Some excerpts follow.

TYG: How exactly do you make peanut butter cups? I’ve never quite understood that.

Gary: Well, I don’t know how Reese’s makes theirs, but I’ll show you how I make mine…. The way you make the filling is with a food processor—peanut butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla, and salt.

TYG: What I find really cool is that the whole thing [the chocolate tempering machine] rotates, and that the chocolate itself actually rotates.

Gary: Yep, it’s just stirring it… if it isn’t kept close to the proper temperature… the lowest I’ve worked with is 86, and when it gets into the low 80s the chocolate starts to seize up, and then you’re done.

TYG: Celsius?

Gary: No, Fahrenheit.

TYG: Fahrenheit! That’s not very warm at all!

 Gary: No, just warm! But if it gets too hot, after it’s been tempered, which would be somewhere around mid to upper 90s, then it’ll get out of temper, and when it cools, you’ll have all sorts of white streaks and white dots, and it’ll look like it’s ten years old, when it was just made.  It’ll taste just the same, but it’ll look awful. And it won’t be as crisp, either.

TYG: How did you make these [pecan turtles]?

 Gary: You can do these with any nuts—these are pecans, these are almonds, these are cashews…. You put a layer of nuts, flat as you can, one layer, and then a dollop of melted caramel, the right amount, and it spreads out. Then, after it’s cooled down, you ladle on the chocolate, and let it cool all the way.

TYG: How did you get into this business?

 Gary: The short story is that I wanted to continue living in Yachats, because I like Yachats and where I live up the river, and I wanted to work for myself, and I like candy and I like ice cream, and I knew the woman who owned this business, and she was interested in selling it, and so I talked to her about it, and we both agreed that I should buy it!

TYG: How did you learn to make chocolate?

Gary: I learned to make chocolate by watching other people make chocolate, by reading about making chocolate, and by practicing making chocolate… which is not the easiest way to learn to make chocolate. You learn a lot of ways NOT to do it. It’s not that hard when you know how to do it, but when you basically know how to do it, you keep running into mistakes. And no one will just tell you the answer to solve your problem. I had trouble with some of my chocolates at first, and now I know that the problem was temperature related. The chocolates weren’t cooled fast enough, so they would have those white streaks, called “chocolate bloom,” which is the fats in chocolate coming to the top. So that’s why chocolate is usually put on a stone or marble slab, to cool it quickly. The marble draws the heat out really quickly. I can do the same thing without marble, on the ice cream freezers. The metal draws the heat out, and the chocolates come out looking (hopefully) professional—they have a nice shine to them, and when you break them they snap, which is what chocolate should do.

Real Estate Changes

The Yachats Gazette spoke with DJ Novgrod, regarding changes in the local real estate business.

TYG: Is Coldwell Banker moving?

DJ: Our broker at Coldwell Banker passed away and we have closed the Coldwell Banker office in Yachats. I was with Coldwell Banker for 20 years. The three of us agents that were with Coldwell Banker have moved across the street and affiliated with Emerald Coast Realty.

TYG: How has it been going so far with the new business?

DJ: So far so good. Emerald Coast is probably the largest independent company on the coast. They have five branches—Yachats, Waldport, Seal Rock, Newport, and Depoe Bay. So we have a lot of agents, and we have, I think, about 320 listings in the company.

TYG: What is a listing?

DJ: A listing is when somebody wants to sell their house, or a piece of land, or their business. I write up the information about the square footage, the year it was built, the owner’s name, the taxes, the assessed value, that kind of thing.

4^th of july duck race

The Yachats Gazette spoke with Jo Crooks regarding the upcoming Duck Race to benefit the Yachats Youth and Family Activities Program (YYFAP).

TYG: When is the duck race?

Jo: The duck race is at 2:30 on the fourth of July. But the activities will start at 2:00, down by the river. You can get duck race tickets at Raindogs, Chuck’s Video in Waldport, the Chamber of Commerce, and at YYFAP right now. Starting in June we’ll be selling them at the farmer’s market also.

TYG: So what kind of courses will you have for the ducks?

Jo: Well, Jason is working on a new course this year, so I’m not sure exactly what it looks like, but he promises that it will be more exciting than in past years.

TYG: What was the last year’s?
Jo: Last year’s was pretty short, so we’re working on making it better.

TYG: What exactly is a duck race?

Jo: We dump 1500 rubber ducks into a chute in the Yachats River, and then they funnel in, and we pick out the first 25 or so for prizes. All of our prizes are donated—everything from bicycles and kites and different activities down in Florence to restaurant gift certificates, and I just picked up a necklace from one of the women at the farmer’s market. There are some people down at ten mile who give us a package that includes massage, and soap, and all kinds of stuff…. In the past two years we’ve sold out, all 1500 tickets.

TYG: I just don’t see how—there aren’t even 1500 people in Yachats!

Jo: Yeah, but we sell them five dollars a piece, or three for ten dollars, and lots of people buy three. And we sell to a lot of tourists on the fourth of July. I’ve actually sold 120 ducks to people in Minnesota so far. I have sold ducks to people literally all over the world. I’ve had people from Canada, and people from Holland buy ducks. They’re mostly doing it just to support the Youth Program.

TYG: But they still get the prizes if they win, right?

Jo: They do! Except we’ve always said that if somebody from far away wins the bike, then we probably won’t ship that, but otherwise we’ll mail their packages to them.

TYG: How did you come to be involved in this?

Jo: There was a woman, who has passed away, who got me involved with the Youth Program. When I was doing fundraising for the clinic, it was just fun to do fundraising and put on these events. When they closed I had to find somebody else to give my energy to, and it turned out to be the Youth Program.

Candle-Making at Turtle Island

Our publisher interviews himself regarding his candle-making lesson at Turtle Island Candle Company.

TYG: What was the experience like?

Allen: Well, I must say, making candles was surprisingly fast. I also almost burned myself when a couple of drops of 160-degree wax got onto me, but just a couple of drops. My teacher, Bonnie Jean, was excellent. She said I was a natural.

TYG: How long did it take?

Allen: Well, how long did it take. Hmm. Well, it took maybe 45 minutes to an hour. Just dipping the candle into the different colors probably took only about 15 minutes. The drying took longer.

TYG: What was the inside of the room like?

Allen: It was hot! Hot, hot, hot! And there were many different chambers, many different kinds of things in the room, including in a wooden chest, all the vats of waxes, which I used greatly to make my two candles.

TYG: Who gave the class and where was the classroom?

Allen: As I said before, Bonnie Jean gave the class. She runs Turtle Island Candle Company as well as Turtle Island Tattoo. The classroom was in the candle shop.

TYG: What did you make?

Allen: Well, I made two candles. One was a “mushroom” candle, and the other was a beautiful candle, the kind you can see in her shop, the kind with beautiful peeling back to reveal the inner colors of the candle.

TYG: What ingredients did you use?

Allen: Oh, that’s pretty simple. Just about four or five colors of wax, acrylic, knives, and the candle core for dipping.

TYG: Thank you so much for your time, Publisher.