Ursula Le Guin Calls Oregonian Coverage of the Bundys "Inaccurate and Irresponsible"

"Ammon Bundy and his bullyboys aren't trying to free federal lands, but to hold them hostage."

By Lizzy Acker

Yesterday, The Oregonian published a letter to the editor from Portland author Ursula Le Guin that calls one of the daily's (many) headlines on a story about the Bundys and the Harney County standoff "inaccurate and irresponsible."

The headline, which appeared on the A1 page of The Oregonian on Sunday, reads: "Effort to free federal lands."

"Ammon Bundy and his bullyboys aren't trying to free federal lands, but to hold them hostage," writes Le Guin. "I can't go to the Malheur refuge now, though as a citizen of the United States, I own it and have the freedom of it."

Le Guin just came out with a new book of poetry, called Late in the Day, which is set in large part in the wild parts of Oregon.

"Instead of parroting the meaningless rants of a flock of Right-Winged Loonybirds infesting the refuge," Le Guin writes, "why doesn't The Oregonian talk to the people who live there?"

Read the rest of her letter here.

Willamette Week

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Lizzy Acker

Lizzy Acker

Lizzy Acker is Willamette Week's former web editor. Her first book, Monster Party, came out in 2010. She was born in Oregon, lived in San Francisco for almost eight years and then moved back to Oregon, just like everyone always knew she would.

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