Bing Bingham is a writer, photographer and a former KLCC reporter and commentator. He has a new book called “Hugging a Dog” and he’ll be reading from it this coming Saturday at Black Bird Tea and Tales in Madras. He spoke with KLCC’s Rachael McDonald.
McDonald: Tell us about your book and the dogs and people in it.
Bingham: Well, it all started a long time ago, back when I was working with KLCC, which is some years back and I was also working freelance in the news business and I used to have to travel a lot in that business. And, sometimes you get tired of the white lines passing you and you'd swing into one of those small town restaurants where the locals gather and I'd sit at the long table and I would, rather than talking to people, I would just sit and listen and some of the stories that I particularly listened to were dog stories. And so I ask the person, would you mind if I use that? And that's, that's how it began.
McDonald: We should mention, Bing, that you are on the dry side. You're in Central Oregon. How does the sense of place, of where you are, connect with the writing that you're doing?
Bingham: The people are essentially the same. I mean, they have all the foibles and attributes. But there's just a lot more space between them. For example, in the tiny little community I live in northern central Oregon. I live on a remote ranch but the entire zip code, it has 50 people in it. And, that's not houses, that's people, you know. I think we, we average out to, in our zip code, I believe, it's a person per square mile. Well, that doesn't happen that often on the west side and I suppose it can happen, but it's, I've never run into it. And, that is the thing over here. We tend to have a lot more space between us than, pretty much anywhere else.
McDonald: In terms of these dog stories, can you share one of your favorites?
Bingham: You know, I don't know if I can say I've got a favorite, but I sure got one that I really appreciate. And that's the start of the story about Willie. And that's where, in a manner of speaking, I discovered how intense a relationship can be with a dog.
You know, she was a small dog, you know, to look at her. She was mostly black, had a couple of streaks of brown and white. She and I could practically, I mean, well, there was hardly ever even any need for commands. She was a stock dog and she worked on our ranch and I had her trained in, in voice, vocal commands, clicks, you know, things like that.
And I had her trained in hand signals, but we got so we were so in tune that we hardly even needed them. I would think it and she could get it done. And you know, that was our joke around the house here, that when I breathed out, she breathed in and when she breathed out, I breathed in. That’s one of my favorite stories of the whole bunch because it brings back some really fond memories of a really good dog that I learned a whole bunch from.
McDonald: Oh, she sounds amazing. We do want to mention that you'll be reading from your book this Saturday (Oct. 28) at Blackbird Tea and Tales in Madras. And how can people get your book if they're looking?
Bingham: It's really easy to get a hold of. The usual outlets have it. They are just in preorder. What I'm doing on Saturday is kind of a hometown appreciation with some advanced copies that I got from the printers.
Bing Bingham will read from “To Hug a Dog” on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 5:00pm at Bohemian Peddler's Blackbird Magical Tea and Tales at 151 SE 5th Street, Madras.
