On a misty morning in May in south-west Washington state, Laura Oltmann, a 41-year-old dietitian, had barely clocked in when an unfamiliar overhead announcement echoed through the hospital.
uncertain
announcement → clock → hospital
“We get overhead pages for different types of emergencies.
asserted
We → get → emergencies
But this one, we don’t get very often,” recalled Oltmann.
asserted
Oltmann → get → one
Doctors, nurses and staff began guessing what could have happened.
uncertain
what → guess → ?
As the speculation grew, so did the uncertainty.
asserted
uncertainty → grow → ?
Staff started calling one another.
asserted
Staff → start → one
The answer shook them all.
asserted
answer → shake → them
“Someone mentioned there had been an explosion at this plant, and that we were probably going to be getting some patients from there,” Oltmann said.
asserted
Oltmann → mention → patients
Forty miles south, in the port city of Longview, residents had awakened to a thunderous boom.
asserted
residents → awaken → boom
At approximately 7.18am, as workers changed shifts at a paper mill company, Nippon Dynawave Packaging, a tank of white liquor, a caustic chemical used in the paper-making process, imploded.
asserted
tank → change → process
Hours passed with no explanation of what had caused it or how it could have happened at all, and suspicion began to brew.
uncertain
suspicion → pass → it
With roughly a thousand people working at the mill, thousands more were waiting for a phone call.
asserted
thousands → work → call
Parents called children.
asserted
Parents → call → children
Wives called husbands.
asserted
Wives → call → husbands
Grandparents called grandchildren.
asserted
Grandparents → call → grandchildren
“For those that did not get that response,” said Jeff Wilson, a Republican state senator representing Longview, who also sits as the port commissioner, “all they got was silence.”
asserted
they → get → commissioner
In the end, 11 people were killed in one of Washington state’s deadliest industrial accidents in nearly a century.
asserted
people → kill → century
Nowhere was that impact felt more deeply than in Longview itself, a working-class city of about 38,000 people whose economy and identity have long been tied to the paper industry, shipping and logging.
asserted
economy → feel → industry
For generations, families have depended on the mills for their livelihoods.
asserted
families → depend → livelihoods
The disaster struck at something the city had long regarded as permanent: the mills where generations had gone to work, and helped many send their children to college or put down a down payment on a home.
asserted
many → strike → home
The implosion rippled through nearly every corner of a community affected by mill closures and economic change.
asserted
implosion → ripple → closures
Those concerns will likely have an impact at the ballot box.
asserted
concerns → have → box
As summer turned toward fall and the leaves along the Columbia River began to turn yellow, memorial services gave way to campaign rallies.
asserted
services → turn → rallies
The same communities that had gathered around grieving families were preparing for one of the country’s most closely watched House races in November.
asserted
that → gather → November
Nearly two months after the implosion, on 8 July, Wilson still spoke first about the workers, the funerals he had attended, the families and the co-workers who ran toward danger looking for one another.
asserted
who → speak → one
He recalled brothers Tyler and Brad Covington, 27 and 29; he said: “They went to work together.
asserted
They → recall → brothers
And then they died together.”
asserted
they → die → ?
Before entering politics, Wilson spent more than 23 years cleaning tanks at the Nippon Dynawave mill.
asserted
Wilson → enter → mill
In the aftermath of the tragedy, he worked routinely with Democratic congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s office as local, state and federal officials responded to the disaster, his role in Olympia intersecting with hers in Washington.
asserted
role → work → Washington
Though he declined to endorse her re-election, Wilson credited the Democratic congresswoman with being “present and accountable” and praised her for asking questions rather than “rubber-stamping anything”.
asserted
Wilson → decline → anything
For a community divided by many of the same political forces pulling at the rest of the country, the disaster briefly created a sense of togetherness, as the whole community grieved the deaths of many of their neighbor and family members.
asserted
community → divide → neighbor
“Natural disasters will tend to bring people together,” said Mark Alan Smith, a political science professor at the University of Washington who studies American politics and religion.
asserted
who → tend → politics
“It’s something people can unify around … across race and class and other divisions.”
asserted
people → ’ → race
On 4 August, Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican state senator John Braun advanced from a field of nine to face off for the district’s congressional seat in November.
asserted
Perez → advance → November
Braun finished first with about 39.7% of the vote to Gluesenkamp Perez’s 36.4%.
asserted
Braun → finish → %
Brent Hennrich, the progressive Democrat who argued that Gluesenkamp Perez no longer represented many of her party’s voters, took 16.7%.
asserted
Perez → argue → %
The results exposed the competing pressures facing Gluesenkamp Perez heading into the general election.
asserted
results → expose → election
Braun finished ahead of the incumbent, while Hennrich’s showing demonstrated the size of the progressive bloc she will have to contend with in November.
asserted
she → finish → November
Many of those voters remain angry over parts of her vote on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (Save) Act (which would require proof of citizenship to vote), ICE funding and a bill restricting how public schools address gender identity.
asserted
schools → remain → identity
When asked about those direct criticisms of the congresswoman – whom many on the left feel has drifted from the party – her campaign responded with a written statement to the Guardian that cast her independence as the reason south-west Washington should return her to office.
asserted
Washington → ask → office
…and 55 more, not listed.
The Aporia
