Matt's Column Archive
September 2010
Balance
It’s seems like only moments ago I was writing a column on the early summer and late spring months that give us locals a last chance at significant peace, quiet and contemplation before the much needed influx of tourists, day-trippers and wind dancers. And then all of a sudden summer has blown by and the clouds have begun to roll in every morning. There’s already a cool fall chill to the air, and we’ve not yet reached September.
It was in that column just a few months ago that I wrote about taking the time to learn something new or to do something all over again that you haven’t done in a while. I myself chose kiteboarding and fly fishing this summer. My fiancé and I took to kite surfing like a fish to water, and fly fishing is so perfectly the opposite in terms of the sustained rush and the adrenaline fix (though a fish on that fly will get the blood flowing) that I found myself in perfect balance this summer. I made headway with both, and I can’t wait to pick up where I left off with kiteboarding as the spring and early summer…
Read moreAugust 2010
The Context of Our Lives
One of the great perks of my job is finding my way into situations that I would normally never experience. In an effort to keep things original, interesting and fresh for the readers of Columbia Gorge Magazine, I’m constantly reading everything I can get my eyes on and taking notes. You never know when a story will emerge or when you’ll stumble upon the perfect interview subject. Just a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to conduct an interview that has had me thinking—a lot—ever since. It’s rare, when you read all day everyday, write in your spare time and take great pride in knowing what’s going on in your community and beyond, that you stumble upon something you’ve overlooked or forgotten about.
A few Wednesday’s ago I had a chance to enter into a world that—because of my age and my life experience—I had never entered. I volunteered with the Gorge Heroes Club in their efforts to assemble, pack and ship care packages to soldiers from the Columbia Gorge that are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan…
Read moreJuly 2010
Simple and Honest Hospitality
Just a week ago I had the chance to venture a little over half-way across the country to a family wedding in Southeastern Ohio. I wish I could say that the red-eye flights don’t bother me, or that I never complain about the opportunity to see my family and some old friends, but alas, it simply isn’t true—or at least not the whole truth. I was bitter. I was tired. And to make matters worse, Ohio in June is a sweltering, humid, down-right muggy environment. As my fiancé and I exited the small jet into the Port of Columbus International Airport a deep, dank stench of heavy moisture on old carpet greeted us.
I was nearly sleepless after flying out of PDX at 11 p.m. the previous night because of connecting flights and the fact that I stand at about 6 feet 4 inches—the typical airline seat hits me right about mid-shoulder blade and my head bobs around every few seconds waking me up. My knees were sore from pressing into the seat in front of me and my eyes were bloodshot—a true red-eye…
Read moreJune 2010
The Blessed Life, The Written Word
I grew up in a small town in Northeast Ohio. I’ve come to love the Columbia Gorge and to call it my home, but I can’t consider myself a native. I’m not exactly old yet, but my memories of my youth are limited to a few shining moments, some showing more brightly than others. After the announcement in late May that Hood River County would be closing three libraries, thoughts of the early days of my life began to come back to me.
I was raised by two loving and ever-attentive parents who knew that in order to maintain sanity and foster their relationship for decades, they’d need a date night. Friday nights were a time for them to leave the day-to-day parenting troubles for awhile and to just be together, alone, away from everything. Luckily, my grandmother lived just around the corner…
Read moreMay 2010
Doing it All Again, For the First Time
It’s beginning to look a lot like summer. It didn’t happen overnight this time. The winter, though mild, had its claws in deep, and while spring is finally blooming all around the Columbia Gorge, the Cascade Mountain passes are still getting more than their fair share of snow. For a few long weeks, it seemed as though spring might not make it, and then all at once, the fruit trees bloomed just in time for the annual Blossom Festival, and the green shoots of this year’s leaves are starting to dot the branches of our deciduous neighbors. For some, it couldn’t have happened a second too soon, and for others, there’s an apprehension that comes with spring and summer in this area.
Our local business owners need that influx of spring, summer and early fall tourism more than usual this year…
Read moreApril 2010
How Good We’ve Got It
I had the pleasure—and at times the pain—of taking a trip down through California and across the desert to Scottsdale, Arizona, just a week ago. It had been a few years since my last great excursion and I was nearly giddy with anticipation of the open road. My fiancé and I packed the car in the waning evening hours as we prepared to drive through the night. We did so quietly, our minds already drifting toward that moment when the sun would come up over the southern California hills and engulf us in its spring glow. Route 5 was not the preferred choice, but we had a family wedding to attend and we couldn’t waste the hours along the coastline this time.
I truly embrace the environment that I’m blessed to live in, but there are times when the mind and the spirit need the respite that a long trip away from home can provide…
Read moreMarch 2010
The Beat By Which We Paced Ourselves
The weather report the night before was bleak to say the least. Clouds rolling in overnight and a morning filled with rain. We didn’t care. It was the last weekend in February and neither of us had been on a decent hike since Mount Hood had torn me up in late July. The winter had taken its toll on both of us, though neither one of us knew the extent until we were halfway along the trail the next day.
We woke early and packed quietly while the coffee brewed in the corner of the kitchen. Rain jackets, extra liner layers to keep the moisture off our skin, hats and back-up hats, sunglasses (we were still hopeful), gloves, two granola bars and three liters of water. I made eggs and potatoes—a breakfast fit for a hike—while Ann packed odds and ends into her bag. The camera, a pocket tool and a small roll of Tums were coming with us…
Read moreFebruary 2010
The In Between
I awake some mornings thinking spring has already come. It’s the nature of the magazine business that keeps me constantly looking forward, and I have to remind myself to live in the moment. I often erase or delete the dates I just wrote when I realize I’m living a month or two ahead of myself. Here we are in February and we’re getting ready to print the Spring Issue. All the while I’m lining up the stories and photographs for the Summer Issue. From where I sit in the office, Mount Adams remains enveloped in winter clouds, the river is as still as can be and temps haven’t topped 50 in a few days, but my mind is on wildflowers, spring showers and the quickly building buzz of many residents returning home from their winter escapes while visitors show up for their summer adventures. While the sound of studded tires on cold, bare pavement still echoes around me, my thoughts already have me heading up Dog Mountain to take in this year’s new blanket of wild, colorful flora…
Read moreJanuary 2010
A Year for Ambition
Amid the snow and ice and endlessly threatening conditions of this late December, a new year rolled in. I love the idea of a new start or a fresh beginning as much as most, maybe even more than most. I find comfort and hope in the deeper meaning of New Year’s Day. There is a reason this holiday exists, and I believe it penetrates much further into the human spirit than we realize.
As a kid, I remember thinking about how cool it would be to stop time, or to go back and fix the mistakes of days past. As an adult I find that notion more suitable for prime-time television shows and dreaming children, but I do find the idea of a fresh start at the turn of a new year invigorating. It’s the adult version of that dream I’m sure so many kids have had and still have.
Read moreDecember 2009
Warm Hearts in Cold Weather
As I drove through Troutdale, the fog sat low over the highway obscuring all but the half-mile or so in front of me. It looked like snow for a moment—a sort of grainy, light snow just floating over the area. When I approached the bottom of the exit ramp on my way to the gas station a man carrying a sign came into view. He wore a stocking cap of black or navy-blue pulled down so that it almost covered his eyes. Underneath his hooded sweatshirt—he wore no coat—he had a zip-up collar that he’d pulled over most of his jaw. Around the bottom of the cardboard sign his hands barely poked out of the sleeves of his sweatshirt. He wore no gloves. His jeans were tattered, and just looking at him as he shivered in the 40-degree morning brought a chill to my body. I am not the hyper-sensitive type. I do what I can to help those that haven’t had the good fortune I have, but it’s not easy for anybody right now…
Read moreNovember 2009
Quiet Contemplation
There is an odd calm that falls over much of the Columbia Gorge in these early winter months. Later in the season we’ll all forget the hustle and bustle that summer brings, but for now the contrast in seasons is clear. The river has calmed, kites and sails have been stored for a few months, the fishing boats are seldom seen. There are probably two ways to take this change: we could pine for the busy and dry summer months, or we can enjoy the quiet streets, trails and parks. To some extent, I find great comfort in the change of seasons, and winter is no exception to that rule. We are lucky to have a little bit of everything both indoors and out. Why squander the next few months waiting for a summer that will surely sail by too fast…
Read moreOctober 2009
A Season for the Senses
After a summer that seemed to sputter at the start and finish with a fury of sun and heat, the fall has arrived all at once. Pear and heirloom apple seasons are in full swing. Grapes are being plucked from the vine and bottled up for winter, and pumpkins are approaching their full size. The jet stream held cooler temperatures and wetter weather north of the Pacific Northwest for a few extra days, which kept the Columbia Gorge warm and sunny for almost all of September. Then in just a day it all seems to have turned…
Read moreSeptember 2009
A Community of Artists
It seems we far too often see only the finished product. It’s something we don’t tend to consider frequently enough—the work that went into creating a finished painting, sculpture, photograph or story. How many hours does it take to complete a true work of art? How many times did a photographer return to the same place, battling the seemingly unending disappointments of poor weather, bad lighting or any other number of factors, and then one day it’s just there, right before them, waiting to be captured and shared? How many readers sit down to enjoy a magazine or a book and forget the number of drafts, revisions and rewrites that went into creating that story? The more I see of the process the more I appreciate the final product.
Read moreAugust 2009
The Local Flavor is Sustainability
matt werbach
It is hard to have missed the turn American food culture has taken in the last few years. Whether it’s the escalating gas prices of the last couple summers or the popularity of books like The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, many in the country have taken a more responsible role in what [...]
