September 21, 2009

Steve Turner
Author, Activist, Founding Member Writers Union, Activist

When the ice dam gave way about 12,000 years ago, Adams County in Washington state experienced a “flood of biblical proportion,” according to Steve Turner, author of the recently published Amber Waves and Undertow: Peril, Hope and Downright Nonchalance in Dry Wheat Country. Standing in the field of one of its last remaining farms in 2009, a surge of water must be near impossible to imagine. In fact it was likely just as tough to imagine in 1957 when Turner worked as a wheat harvester during a summer break from college.  He shared the colorful history of the towns that make up this region at the September 21 installment of Pizza and Prose Art & Literature Series. After giving the audience a sense of the place he then introduced the people who have worked the land. The Savage family who traveled “the hard way: across the stormy Atlantic in the crowded, seasick-smelling steerage deck of a side-wheel packet steamer” had five of their seven children after settling in the North Pacific’s new town of Ritzville . The Plagers, immigrants from Germany , moved to the town of Paha where they would start a large family of six children.

 Each would experience the peak of prosperity and tragic hardships from illness and injuries during the mid-late 1800’s. Though many eventually moved on, their descendents continue to have a connection to the land they once tilled. 

 By the time Turner first arrived, the tides of “progress” were subtly making their way. Working on Bob Phillips’ ranch, the liberal young student would make a life-long connection to this somewhat conservative agricultural community. Going back in subsequent years as a journalist and  eventually to write his book he has the perfect perspective to shed light on the changes over time in small town rural America. He offers poetic insight into what has happened to this once sustainable way of life. He also offers hope as he conveys the lack of crime and sense of community that has survived even in this day and age.

The Smarts and Rambows are just two of the many families of today who are as dedicated to this place they call home as those Turner describes in his book as he walks the reader through the towns’ pioneer day cemeteries. He eloquently honors the graves that go back to the time of the Savages and Plagers. Farmers, artists, teachers, nurses, and community leaders, some a bit quirky, all connected to each other and the land. Turner is uniquely connected as well.

 Stay tuned for more from this prolific author who is currently working on a novel he hopes to publish in the next year.