Where East Meets West

WAI T SBURG - Seattle-area residents who tuned into their local National Public Radio affiliate this week were introduced to none other than Waitsburg's Bret Moser, Jim German, Claire Johnston and Jack Millar.

Seattle- based KUOW focused on Waitsburg in a second segment about the so-called "Cascade Curtain," a physical, and some would say cultural and political, divide between the west and east sides of the Cascade Mountains.

In his show "Waitsburg: When East Meets West," reporter Dominic Black explores the impact of change, specifically west side residents moving to town, on this small rural community.

"When east meets west in Waitsburg, the Cascade Curtain seems strikingly immediate," Black starts his introduction. "In a town where 10-year residents are still considered newcomers, we explore the tension that arise as changes take root in a traditional community."

Black goes on to suggest that Waitsburg may "embody all the complexities of the supposed (east-west) divide." Describing it as "beautiful," he calls the town "perfectly preserved; the kind of small, rural American town you only ever see in films. A dog walks across the street on a sunny Saturday morning. The sign outside the bank squeaks in the breeze. People wave to each other a lot."

In the piece, which can be read and heard on the station's website: www.kuow.org, Black carefully negotiates several perspectives on change, visiting the jimgermanbar and the White Stallion to probe culinary dimensions, but also soliciting comments from the four Waitsburgers interviewed for the segment.

He quotes Johnston as saying that "as artists, we typically come into places that are cheap because we don't care about money, but we appreciate beautiful spaces," in reference to the two building she and German bought and turned into living quarters, studio, gallery and cocktail bar.

Moser observes that while it may be possible in Seattle to live anonymously one's whole life, "it's impossible to live anonymously here."

"People want to know you," Black observes as the narrator in the segment. "That's the way the community here has worked for generations, by people knowing each other's families and stories and pasts."

Without taking sides, Moser reflects the opinion of some Waitsburg residents that newcomers are "trying to Seattle-ize Waitsburg."

But Millar argues "anybody wants to move here and start a business, I say welcome them. These small towns are dying, and if someone wants to start a business here, that's wonderful."

He notes that when people move from the city to the country, "the first thing they do is start changing the country to suit themselves."

But there's obviously a limit to what they can change, Black narrates. They'll have to get used to the noise of a tractor early in the morning, or the use of pesticides - "irritants to city folks looking for the good life; everyday realities to a farmer like Jack."

"That's how it should be," Millar says. "If you're going to live in the country, you gotta be the country."

Black says that "going by the people I met, there are plenty of Waitsburg locals who like the changes and they're great for the town. They see the place coming back to life, as jack mentioned earlier."

Still, he observes some residents are uneasy with the shifts because it means a redefinition of the concept of " community." Newcomers may make business and charitable contributions to the community but not, say, join the Lions Club.

But as Moser points out, "Nothing is black and white. The difference between the Seattle-izers versus the locals; again, it's not black and white, it's not us and them. It's just a difference in mentality about what's best for Waitsburg."

Asked about the segment after reading the transcript, longtime Waitsburg resident Jeff Broom said the piece comes down to a simple human truth.

"When you touch the system, you change the system," he said.

The Waitsburg segment is the second in a four-part series Black has undertaken on the subject of the "Cascade Curtain."

It was aired in Seattle on Tuesday.