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Articles by Tod Marshall
One River, A Thousand Voices by Claudia Castro Luna
Accordion-Folded Broadside | Chin Music Press | 2020 In One River, A Thousand Voices, Claudia Castro Luna, fresh from her two-year travels as Washington State Poet Laureate, offers us a journey through Columbia River country that is both an exploration of that life-giving watershed and a mythic journey through the flora and fauna, geologies and histories, the various literal and figurative rivers that emotionally and physically have compelled, compel, and will compel the lives of so many...
Metaline Falls' Cutter Theatre is a long-time point of community pride, but can the arts in rural Washington thrive in the digital age?
click to enlarge Tod Marshall photo Metaline Falls' Cutter Theatre. At 8 pm, the border crossing just north of Metaline Falls closes. While this change in hours might seem pragmatic — traffic is slow — the reduced hours have hurt attendance at the Cutter Theatre in Metaline Falls. Canadians used to attend performances; now, unless they commit to an overnight stay, they can't. In an isolated community with sparse resources, small obstacles like this stack up and become insurmountable.
Art and the 5th: Brown and McMorris Rodgers discuss art and humanities
And yes, it’s important that politicians talk about the economy: jobs matter. Access to health care and educational opportunities matter. Affordable groceries and support for the agricultural sector matter. National defense and international trade agreements matter. All of these issues are of consequence. People, though, are also interested in hearing candidates talk about other ways that life is meaningful, such as through music and dance, theater and painting.
Tod Marshall reflects on two years behind the wheel as Washington State Poet Laureate | Arts & Culture | The Pacific Northwest Inlander | News, Politics, Music, Calendar, Events in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and the Inland Northwest
In Metaline Falls, The Postman production team supposedly paid people off when dogs were run over during the movie's shooting. I love sharing poems here; in our state, about 17 percent of children have subsidized meals; in Pend Oreille County, that number is 43 percent, highest in the state. On one visit to Kettle Falls, I detoured because of a washout. I left home early and arrived with time to gawk at the mountains.
Spokane Life in Poetry: ‘Autumn Blessings for the Fox, 2017,’ by Tod Marshall
We interrupt the weekly American Life in Poetry column to bring readers something local. On Friday night at the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox, Washington poet laureate Tod Marshall read a new work he’d written to celebrate 10 years of the Fox restoration. Marshall, when he’s not crisscrossing the state in the name of poetry, is a professor at Gonzaga University.
Tod Marshall: Well-being depends upon connections, living in the moment
This summer smoke announced burning, told us that flames and destruction were near. Maybe we thought the fury would come in embers from the skies. Maybe we believed the haze was metaphor equal to the confusion and frustration that so many feel. Maybe we reasoned that it was literal, that the West was on fire: Glacier Park, the Pasayten Wilderness, the Bitterroots smoldering again, the arid plains west of Spokane – out by the small towns of Marshall and Cheney – all burning or about to ignite.
Let’s all take a knee to stand for justice and to pray for a return to decency
We cannot accept this president’s actions as normal. THIS past weekend, the president responded with profane rage to citizens peacefully exercising their speech rights to protest injustices. To neo-Nazi violence and murder, he responded with equivocations and excuses. This is not normal. The president has spoken in awful and objectifying terms about women, has — through words and actions — promoted a culture of misogyny and violence. We cannot accept this as normal.
Wordsmithing by Nature: Poets go deep into the outdoors
Watch for more poetry celebrating the outdoors by local poets this month in Thursday Outdoors. For thousands of years, poets have written about the outdoors. Sometimes, they praise scenery and wildness; sometimes, they compare humanity to nature. Poets from Hesiod and Homer to Basho and Chaucer have found inspiration in flowers and mountains, trees and rivers; in English language poetry, William Wordsworth’s writing about nature is important.
The Washington State Poet Laureate: What I Know
I have learned a few things during my travels around our state as Washington Poet Laureate—some practical, some poetical, some neither or both. I know that I-90 has five official rest areas between here and Seattle, that the Viking in Sprague has good milkshakes, and that the varied terrain, scenic vistas, and stunning contrasts in landscape between Spokane and Seattle have few rivals anywhere. I know that crop dusters always make me ooh and ah.
Ski and Surf | Snowlander | The Pacific Northwest Inlander | News, Politics, Music, Calendar, Events in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and the Inland Northwest
I've lived in places where if you have the perfect plan and ideal weather, you can manage a half-day skiing and a quick round of golf between breakfast and dinner. It wasn't until I visited North Idaho's Silver Mountain Resort, though, that I realized an ambitious soul could make turns through fresh powder all day, and find that surf's up a mere three-mile, 19-minute gondola ride away.
Bucket List | Snowlander | The Pacific Northwest Inlander | News, Politics, Music, Calendar, Events in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and the Inland Northwest
When you get to a certain stage of your life, there are certain things you want to accomplish during your short time here on Earth; creating a bucket list for yourself is one way to make you feel alive and fulfilled. Whether it's visiting Stonehenge, skydiving or just spending some quality time with a family on a dream vacation, you feel a sense of ease and happiness.
Climate Clarity | Snowlander | The Pacific Northwest Inlander | News, Politics, Music, Calendar, Events in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and the Inland Northwest
We're screwed. While thinking of what to say on stage to a theater full of skiers and outdoor adventure seekers the day after the most contentious election in modern American history, I couldn't resist that negative sentiment. My colleagues and I at Powder were on tour for a ski film celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the National Park Service. We hiked, slept, skied and reveled in the silent beauty in Glacier, Grand Teton, Olympic, Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks.
Honoring MLK’s vision and the power of words
On Sunday, we will read works by those who have championed social justice, who have spoken at moments in history when it might have been easier to be silent. ‘Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech’ IN “Easter 1916,” the Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote these following lines about the people who would become the martyrs of his country’s revolt against British rule: “I have met them at close of day / Coming with vivid faces / From counter or desk among gray / Eighteenth century houses.
Learning to Adapt | Snowlander | The Pacific Northwest Inlander | News, Politics, Music, Calendar, Events in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and the Inland Northwest
I fell to the ground clutching the back of my leg. There was a freakish void. My Achilles had snapped, and as I hobbled off the soccer field I thought of the Streak. I had cobbled together 34 consecutive monthly trips to ski, which I've chronicled in the Inlander over the past two years. Come hell or high water, I was getting out there each month to find a pitch steep enough to link 10 or more turns together. In the aftermath of the injury, it was clear. No one can ski with a ruptured Achilles.
Good for All Occasions | Snowlander | The Pacific Northwest Inlander | News, Politics, Music, Calendar, Events in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and the Inland Northwest
When the temperatures start to do some funky things, it takes the most seasoned professional to perfect the art of dressing for the current conditions. This comes after years of having too many layers, not enough layers, the wrong goggle lens or the wrong skis for the day's conditions. Sunny, clear and freezing cold, usually with a wind chill These are the days that easily confuse those newer to the sport of snow skiing.
Asked and Answered | Snowlander | The Pacific Northwest Inlander | News, Politics, Music, Calendar, Events in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and the Inland Northwest
Well, we prayed for winter and we sure got it. Multiple cold snaps and plenty of early season powder days. Area resorts saw full parking lots and busy lodges. The beautiful aspect of this time of year is the ski season has just started, with almost three more months of sliding on the slopes. January is Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month and area resorts are all offering lesson packages to fit all budgets, most of them including lift tickets, lessons and rentals for a deeply discounted price.
The Varied Carols of the Season | The Poetry Issue | The Pacific Northwest Inlander | News, Politics, Music, Calendar, Events in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and the Inland Northwest
In my travels throughout the state, I find myself repeating a line that the poet Ed Hirsch said when I had the good fortune to interview him. I asked Ed about all of the dividing lines in the world of poetry — page versus stage, academic versus non-academic, and so on. He said that he thought those distinctions were irrelevant, that partisanship was non-productive. "We need all of our poetries," Hirsch said, and I think that his comment bears repeating again and again.
Listening to the poetry in Yakima
Just after the election, I visited Yakima, and the skies were clear, and the hills offered a brown backdrop to blue sky, white clouds, and the last colorful leaves. A walk along the river (deer grazing on the far bank) allowed one to forget about the turbulent world for just a little while.During my visit, I met many talented writers, including at YVC where Mark Fuzie, a fine poet, had assigned my work to his students.
Tod Marshall: Arts education integral to learning
Over the past several months, I’ve been privileged to visit schools throughout our state: private, public, elementary and secondary schools, as well as community colleges and universities. Of course, this means that I’ve been driving a lot; during those hours on the road, I listen to poetry readings and podcasts and mumble poems to myself.
See the world a little differently through art
Time spent on the arts in classrooms is declining. One study found that a third of elementary students in our state get less than one hour of arts education per week. IN my first months as Washington state’s poet laureate, I’ve participated in many events and heard poems by published and unpublished poets. I’ve seen audiences of a few hundred and audiences of nine. I’ve witnessed joy and grief, as well as confusion and understanding on the faces of people around me.
Tod’s time: Marshall relishes next role as Washington’s poet laureate
The past few months have belonged to Tod Marshall. The poet and professor won the Washington Book Award for his third poetry collection, “Bugle.” He was named the Powers Chair for the Humanities at Gonzaga University. He won the Humanities Washington Award for his work with its Prime Time Family Reading Program. Even his beloved Kansas Jayhawks are sitting at No. 1 in the college basketball polls – at least they were until they lost this past week to West Virginia. But still. It was a good fall.
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