Posted 10/3/16
Perspectives / Ampersand
A heartfelt Thank You
Forterra pays its contributors for their work. Editorial costs for this issue of Ampersand were generously covered by our friends at Cloud Ridge Publishing, who believe in our publication. We’re thankful.
Related Perspectives — Ampersand
Ampersand celebrates people and place in the Pacific Northwest. It explores the scientific and the quirky found in our natural and built environments. It highlights the art, ideas and stories that elevate our region.
Ampersand is dedicated to the curious and the creative, to the thinkers and the doers, and to all those who love this maddeningly beautiful place we call home.
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On the Edge of Extinction
Color is just coming back into the world with the morning twilight. Quietly, I set out from my camp in the Monashee Mountains of southeastern British Columbia. Crossing a small stream, I find tracks of an animal that had come down to the water. Perhaps having caught wind of my camp, the animal abruptly turned and went the other way. The trail is fresh and the huge, round tracks identify its maker: after years of searching, my first encounter with a mountain caribou is at hand.
Dueling Visions for a Green Space
A look at the passion surrounding the possibility of mountain biking in Cheasty Greenspace on Seattle’s Beacon Hill.
2016 Ampersand Live: Author & biologist Thor Hanson
Author & biologist Thor Hanson shares a story in rhyme about Beatrice Beaver
The Big Garden
Working lands and urban lands are keystone lands that give character to neighborhoods and shape our region, writes Gene Duvernoy
A Letter from Forterra
With this 6th issue of Ampersand, we have now collected 72 stories about the people and surrounding landscapes that make this the Pacific Northwest we love. Stories about what makes the place tick and stories about people working to make sure it never stops. I’ve set myself a job to connect the dots between some of the latest of these stories—those appearing in this edition. They’re my connections; you’ll have different ones, but no matter, together they sum to a vibrant resiliency for this place, which is what Forterra is about.
The People-Powered Coffee House
Luis and Leona Rodriguez met at Seattle’s Nathan Hale High School. Some 20-plus years later, the couple operates The Station, one of Seattle’s most popular independent coffee shops, in the heart of their longtime neighborhood of Beacon Hill. The baristas—African American, transgender—whip spicy Mexican mochas from behind the counter while Kendrick Lamar or old-school Big Daddy Kane plays on the speakers. Opened in 2010, The Station welcomes people of all backgrounds—the parent with a baby, the campaign organizer, the musician planning the annual Block Party.
From opera to chocolate, dance to mushrooms, Forterra’s Ampersand Live packs Town Hall
Forterra’s second Ampersand Live showcased a diverse group of storytellers joyfully celebrating what we love about the Pacific Northwest.