In this thoughtful collection of essays, some of the region's most notable writers join fresh new literary voices in an exploration of life in the Northwest from rural to urban, coastal rainforest to sagebrush desert.One writer loses all her earthly belongings in her family's twice-yearly migration across an Alaskan bay. Another waits by a hospital bed in Idaho after a rodeo accident nearly breaks her father in half. A writer stands on a dune, waiting for the wind to erase his footprints, while another lovingly recounts the simple ritual that marks the end of an era at a mill in Central Oregon. Drawn from the pages of Oregon Quarterly, the University of Oregon's award-winning magazine, and the annual Oregon Quarterly Northwest Perspectives Essay Contest, these pieces stand alone as lyrical, engaging works of literature, and at the same time come together to form a portrait of the varied culture and landscape of the Pacific Northwest.Contributors include: Robin Cody John DanielBrian DoyleLeslie Leyland FieldsDebra GwartneyRobert Leo HeilmanLauren KesslerKim Stafford