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By LAURA LAFFRADO Special to The Times It might seem like just yesterday that an avowed Pacific Northwest- erner wrote: “I hate this many- headed thing called Civilization that is tearing away fromus West- erners the things we love!” And it would be easy to find peo- ple today who would unequivocally agree with this plaintive cry, who have glumly observed the vestiges of old Seattle torn down and re- placed by gleaming angular towers, who have witnessedMicrosoft, Starbucks and Amazon occupy Puget Sound like bristling corpo- rate military camps, who have been backed up in the traffic that chokes our roads, and who have seen the spectacular beauty of the North- west gradually transformed beyond recognition and rarely for the bet- ter. Though Higginson is little known today, over a century ago she was the most influential Northwest literary writer in the United States. Her depictions of mountains, for-ests and waters of the region intro-duced the then- unknown North-west to an enthusiastic audience. Higginson’s award-winning writ- ings were the first to prominently place the Northwest on the UNBRIDLED GROWTH glistening domes into the clouds.” Though Higginson is little known today, over a century ago she was the most influential Northwest literary writer in the United States. Her depictions of mountains, for- ests and waters of the region intro- duced the then-unknown North- west to an enthusiastic audience. Higginson’s award-winning writ- ings were the first to prominently place the Northwest on the literary map of the United States. Though Higginson is little known today, over a century ago she was the most influential Northwest literary writer in the United States. Her depictions of mountains, for-ests and waters of the region intro-duced the then- unknown North-west to an enthusiastic audience. Higginson’s award-winning writ- ings were the first to prominently place the Northwest on the literary map of the United States. So, when she wrote about alarm-ing changes in this region, readers took notice. It was then and is now hard to stop the moneymakers, near impossible to However up-to-date this heartfelt lament seems, it was written in an 1892 essay titled “The NewWest” by the Northwest’s own author Ella Rhoads Higginson, who later be- came the first poet laureate of Washington. When I was working onmy book “SelectedWritings of Ella Higginson: Inventing Pacific Northwest Literature,” I discovered this essay where Higginson writes of watching her beloved Northwest exploited by those she described as “money seekers who come here only for gain,” who were “blind to the grand and lonely beauty of our opal seas, our emerald forests, our silver ice streams” and “our high and lofty mountains that rear their glistening domes into the clouds.” Though Higginson is little known today, over a century ago she was the most influential Northwest literary writer in the United States. Her depictions of mountains, for-ests and waters of the region intro-duced the then- unknown North-west to an enthusiastic audience. Higginson’s award-winning writ- ings were the first to prominently OP I N I ON | Laments over drastic expansion in our beloved Northwest are nothing new OPINION The West’s rejection of aging Hugh Hewitt Syndicated columnist If there has been a time when actuarial improbability and theWest’s highest levels of authority, political and financial power as well as wealth have ever been so intermingled, I’munaware of it. President Donald Trump is 72. Two of his top potential rivals for the presidency, former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sand- ers, I-Vt., are 76 and 77, respectively. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will soon celebrate birthday No. 79, and Senate Majority Leader MitchMcConnell, R-Ky., recently turned 77. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is almost 86. Justice Stephen Breyer is 80. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are 70 and 68, respectively. Elsewhere, Pope Francis is 82. Franklin Graham is a “young” 66, and Archbishop of Canterbury JustinWelby a mere child of 63. Warren Buffett is 88. Bill Gates, at 63, is almost youthful in compar- ison. Septuagenarian finan- ciers are too numerous to list. Musicians who didn’t pass away young seem to play on and on and on. I attended terrific concerts by Judy Collins, 79, and Joan Baez, 78, in the past six months. On the cusp of 72, Sir Elton John soldmore pianos with his Christmas ad for John Lewis & Partners than any other keyboard pitchman in histo- ry. He’s also busy touring, as is Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton’s senior by half a de- cade. And don’t even get me started on Hollywood. You see the trend here. We surely ought to be able to agree to raise the Medicare retirement age from65 to 67? If not, at least we can stop with the idea of millen- nials at the gate. If they were, they’d just have to push a tiny little bit for the oldsters on the other side to go down in a pile. Individuals in free societies make their own choices so long as they are healthy and do not depend on the ap-proval of others to continue as they see fit. But when Benedict XVI saw fit to retire from the Holy See at age 85 (he is 91 now, and good health be with him) perhaps he was sending a message to all the aging Energizer bun-nies out there about a better way to prepare for the end of this life. What is really at work here is a rejection by many people inmany fields of the idea of aging. Now, their rejection of physiology doesn’t disprove physiology — “Father Time is undefeated,” LeBron James is fond of saying. It just un- derscores that more and more people are going to keep going until somebody’s “making arrangements.” Individuals in free societies make their own choices so long as they are healthy and do not depend on the ap- proval of others to continue as they see fit. But when Benedict XVI saw fit to retire from the Holy See at age 85 (he is 91 now, and good health be with him) perhaps he was sending a message to all the aging Energizer bun- nies out there about a better way to prepare for the end of this life. No one, after all, is really especially relevant beyond See > AGING, D4 know the arguments, and they were the same in the late 19th century as they are today. With her writer’s talent and her passionate love for the Northwest, Higginson saw more clearly than most what would be irrevocably lost. She was present at the begin-nings of such destruction, hating the newcomers who came to “tear down our forests, rip open our mountain sides, blow out our stumps with giant powder, [and] dam up our water ways.” With her writer’s talent and her passionate love for the Northwest, Higginson sawmore clearly than most what would be irrevocably lost. She was present at the begin- nings of such destruction, hating the newcomers who came to “tear down our forests, rip open our mountain sides, blow out our stumps with giant powder, [and] damup our water ways.” She could not have imagined the immense population of the region today and what would be needed to support suchmassive growth. But she rightly feared the changes to come. Higginson’s foes were recent arrivals, “sleek, sharp, prosperous Easterners,” whomoved to the See > GROWTH, D4 seattletimes.com/localnews | MAY12, 2019 | SUNDAY D DAVID HORSEY The madcap humor of Times cartoonist D2