Fishtrap Fireside – February 4

Rick Bombaci grew up in rural Connecticut (yes, there is such a place). After a brief stint living and working in Portland, Oregon when, for $125 a month, you could rent a nice apartment with hardwood floors and a view of Mt. St. Helens before it blew up, he moved to Wallowa County, where he’s been more or less stuck ever since. While here, Rick has worked in order, as a USFS wilderness ranger, a waiter, a bicycle mechanic, a high school teacher, a computer consultant, a grant writer, a non-profit consultant, an executive director, and a USFS wilderness ranger. That’s known as either completing the circle or spinning your wheels. He has one daughter that he knows of, and a number of obsessions, including long distance hiking and a grandson.

Kathleen (Kat) Johnson was born and raised in Colorado. After earning her B.S. in English she taught fourth grade for a time but quit to become a “stay at home” mom and follow her first husband as his career took them to New Jersey, California, Georgia and Massachusetts before choosing to make Oregon home. Kat has been a substitute teacher, library aide, scout leader, EMT, and companion to cats, dogs, ducks, goats and horses. In her 30s, she began a new career as a Registered Nurse starting in critical care but eventually specializing in geriatrics, geriatric psychiatry, and dementia care.

After more than 30 years, finding herself happily retired but not so happily widowed, she decided to begin a new chapter of her life by joining her daughter, Fishtrap Executive Director Shannon McNerney in Wallowa County. She is grateful for the kindness of the community and awestruck by the majesty of the landscape. She never tires of watching the deer and quail that visit her yard. Thanks to Fishtrap, she is rediscovering the joy of diving in and playing with words.

Katherine Marrone is a writer, activist, and editor of Fishtrap’s community zine, Circle of Seasons. Soon after the pandemic propelled her to move to rural Oregon, she began working at Safe Harbors— Wallowa County’s domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking services agency. There, she focuses on interpersonal violence prevention, education and response. Katherine’s poems and essays explore gender norms, human rights and empathy, the roots of violence, finding pockets of joy in the mundane, the meandering path of healing after trauma, and her obsession with the questions: How do we define love? And how can we learn to love better? Her work can be found in the sex and relationships advice column she created in college called “Pillow Talk”— in which she answered questions about consent and healthy relationships— and in the international feminist publication, Bitch Media, where she explored the state of sex education in the U.S. today and the connection between violence and gender roles. After freelancing for Bitch, Katherine volunteered at a juvenile detention center in Portland, OR, where she facilitated a writing workshop with youth. It was there that she realized the transformative power of space: the space to tell one’s story— and the space to trust that someone will listen.