A few years ago Roger Jackson said I should gather stories about all the nicknames in LaPush.  Great idea, I thought–but I didn’t know when I might be able to do this.  Then at the school where I teach (Lane Community College in Eugene) my colleagues kept telling me I should take a sabbatical–they all had, over the years, but I never really wanted a break from teaching.  But then I realized this might be the opportunity to pursue Roger’s idea, and do the nicknames project!

So I wrote up a sabbatical proposal, and it was accepted, for this spring term.  I was planning to be up there, using a room in the old Coast Guard building that was my office when we first got the school started back in ’79-’80 as headquarters, and staying at Bonnie’s house.  I hoped to take school kids with me to do interviews with everyone in the community.   We looked forward to spring in LaPush.

But Louise has been sick, so we haven’t made it up there yet.  That’s why I’ve set up this blog–hoping to get started this way, with stories about names and places.

I sure hope folks will jump on board and start telling stories!

Thanks, and have fun!

Jeff Harrison

UPDATE, SUMMER 2014–We came up there this spring and I was able to do lots of interviews, and use one of the upstairs rooms in the old school building.  The “nicknames book” that Roger wanted is done!  You can see the whole thing in the Documents section, and I’ve sent several copies to LaPush for people to have.

I hope this project will remain alive and active, because I know there are still lots of nicknames we haven’t included yet!