Fishtrap Fireside – February 2

June Colony

June Colony wasn’t born out here in Eastern Oregon, she just knew it was home the first time she came out of the Minam and found the valley awaiting her arrival. She soon returned, having coaxed her 1968 VW Bus into bringing her, a few belongings, and a box of canned food (from her mother) up the steep roads and into Lostine. That was 50 years ago and it looks like she is here to stay.

John Gaterud

John Gaterud, of Wallowa, is a journalist who has worked as a reporter, editor, graphic designer, college teacher, and newspaper and book publisher in a career spanning nearly 50 years. Born in New Jersey, he worked part time during high school as a printer’s devil for his hometown weekly paper. He briefly attended forestry school at the University of Maine, but dropped out and traveled for several years. After earning a journalism degree from the University of Northern Colorado, in 1978, he moved to Oregon, where he served for a year and a half as editor of The Grant County Blue Mountain Eagle. He earned a master’s in journalism from the University of Oregon, in 1981, then began teaching at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he spent 25 years specializing in feature writing, editing, and graphic design. He is founding publisher of Willow Avenue Review, a literary quarterly; The Minnesota Times, a statewide newspaper; and Blueroad Press, a small award-winning book company he started with his daughter. Over the years, John has worked as a freelance writer and designer, and served as publishing faculty for Howling Bird Press, in the creative-writing MFA at Augsburg College, Minneapolis. He holds a doctorate in American studies and journalism from The Union Institute, Cincinnati, where he pursued creative non-fiction focused on American road stories. Current projects include editing a book manuscript for the Wallowa History Center, assembling a collection of his own work, and chasing ambitions (strictly amateur) in woodworking. Parents to two kids, he and his wife Cindi, had no idea they would return to Eastern Oregon four decades after leaving John Day, but here they landed: retired now and happy, they report, to be living, hiking, and skiing in the beautiful Wallowas. As for writing tips, John defers to a favorite teacher, who advised, “You don’t know what you think until you write it down.”