Cascadia Updates from around the Region and in the Press
Massive Portland TIFO
After tens of thousands of soccer fans filed into Jeld-Wen Field for the Cascadia Cup match between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers past the Cascadian Doug flying next to the US and Canadian flags, and as the national anthems came to a close, the Portland Timbers Army FC outdid themselves once again with a massive Cascadia Flag TIFO, involving thousands of fans waving the green, white and blue colors to form one massive, moving, waving, Cascadian Douglas Fir flag.
Check out a great YouTube showing the Timber Army TIFO vs the Vancouver WhiteCaps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzE2A3fETMY
“Welcome to Cascadia” by Miss Vancouver
CascadiaNow got a great mention in the Vancouver Metro blog in an article by Rebecca Bollwitt, who talked about the idea of Cascadia as a symbol of solidarity for those living in the Pacific Northwest. She also gave a great description of our organization, noting that there is a social movement to celebrate “the things that define our unique regional character” such as bio-diversity, geography, geology, history, culture, and more, that we are are “not a political movement because in many respects, we as Cascadians already form a nation,” in a direct quote from our website. “Not in the sense that we have a military, or rigidly defined borders that would be defended to the death. No, Cascadia is a nation in the sense it is a gathering of individuals and communities who reflect similar desires and needs, a unique cultural identity and most importantly, a common future.” She goes on to give a nice overview of the history, and the importance of soccer for helping build our regional character.
Read the full article here: http://www.miss604.com/2012/08/welcome-to-cascadia.html
Cascadia Speakup
On Saturday, August 18th Portland organizers put together a Cascadia Now! speakup and debate, welcoming all participants for a day of debate, talking, and of course, Cascadia. Later, the day turned into a potluck and party, as attendees enjoyed great beers, great bands, and of course a great bioregion.
Cascadia Now! PDX Site Live
Cascadia Now! PDX has a new Tumblr Blog at http://cascadia-pdx.tumblr.com/. Pictures, news & info; stay up to date, get involved! Raising bioregional awareness in portland, puddletown, pedaltown, stumptown, bridge city, rose city, or whatever you want to call this place. Those interested in being involved in organizing efforts are also encouraged to join their Portland Chapter Email Alert System: http://cascadia-pdx.tumblr.com/email . Some final notes, from their website:
“In conclusion, if we identify ourselves based on a sense of place in the world, connected to the life-sustaining system around us, it becomes our duty to implement necessary changes to increase and sustain the flourishing of non-human life around us. And when those changes are made, they will inherently increase the flourishing of human life. The policies and politics of this process are dense and should be discussed face to face, in living rooms, at community events, gatherings, convergences, conferences, and the halls of power, not on facebook. But our first step, as Cascadians aware of what lays ahead if we don’t step up, is to make sure everyone living in our bioregion understands that Cascadia is real, it exists, that they belong to it. That it will take all of us working together to make our bioregion the thriving community that it once was. The legends of streams so thick with salmon that you could walk across can again come true. Cascadia is home to the largest living things, we are a place of legends and our legends are not for sale at any price. Let us Free Cascadia and free ourselves to thrive again!”
Cascadia Flags Sellout
Seattle CascadiaNow members selling Doug flags before the match between Seattle Sounders and the Vancouver Whitecaps managed to sell out of flags in under 30 minutes, finishing off their batch of 100 flags. Those who did not have a chance to grab one, will hopefully be able to get one in the next Seattle at home match between the Portland Timber Army on October 7th.
New Cascadia Scarf Design
CascadiaNow is working to put out a new Cascadia-related soccer scarf. Designed by Abe Schmidt, the scarves will hopefully be available for purchase within the next month.
Portland Timbers, your army needs you! New Cascadia poster available
Designed by Gavinardo through the http://reddit.com/r/cascadia subreddit, a new Cascadia Timber Army themed poster is now available. Working as a graphic artist, the designer will also be working towards creating several CascadiaNow posters, each with a different theme, that will be used as a merchandise fundraiser, with some money donated towards a different charity in line with a given Pacific Northwestern theme.
