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Wednesday, January 21, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
‘Wild’ author Strayed
wows overflow crowd
CORVALLIS (AP) —
Nearly 2,000 people thronged
an Oregon college audito-
rium for an appearance by
the author of “Wild,” hours
after a movie based on the
best-selling memoir about a
thousand-mile hike earned
two Oscar nominations.
Cheryl Strayed wrote the
book about her walk along
the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995
and described it Thursday
night to an overflow audience
at Oregon State University.
It was the largest crowd
at the university’s LaSells
Stewart Center for such an
event, college official Shelly
Signs said. Hundreds watched
on monitors in the lobby
and another auditorium, the
Corvallis Gazette-Times
reported.
Oscar nominations were
announced earlier in the
day: Reese Witherspoon was
named for her performance as
Strayed, and Laura Dern for
hers as Strayed’s mother.
“How could this even be
possible? It makes me want
to cry,” Strayed said. “It’s
astounding to me that one day
people playing me and my
mom would be nominated for
an Oscar.”
The book describes how
Strayed reacted to her moth-
er’s death from lung can-
cer, and how she walked her
way out of a dark time that
included adultery and heroin
use.
“When she died, I didn’t
know how to live,” Strayed
said. “In my sorrow I lost
my way. I got married; I did
a lot of things married peo-
ple shouldn’t do. Well, I did
a lot of things single peo-
ple shouldn’t do, except in
moderation.”
Looking for a way out of
her mental state, she hiked
the California and Oregon
segments of the trail that
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“Wild” author Cheryl strayed.
runs along the mountainous
spine of the West Coast from
Mexico to Canada.
The university audience
cheered and clapped for
Strayed’s stories and asked
questions about mother-
daughter relations, her
approach to writing and her
work as an advice columnist.
Strayed began writing
“Wild” in 2008.
As the book was being
prepared for publication, in
2012, Strayed sent a copy to
Witherspoon, who bought the
rights before it hit the shelves.
Six weeks after release, the
film has taken in $30 million.
Strayed had a small part,
as a pickup truck driver who
drops off Witherspoon at the
starting point of her hike.
And she had a line: “Good
luck.”
Editor’s note: “Wild” is
currently playing at Sisters
Movie House.
Marga d r a it y a s!
Tues
Early Childhood Matters to Sisters
By edie Jones
Sisters Early Childhood Resource Team
An article in the January
16 edition of The Bulletin
featured article headlines,
“How our kindergart-
ners compare.” It reported
assessments of six school
districts in Central Oregon.
The article reported
that Sisters’ kindergart-
ners scored higher than
any of the other districts in
“Letter Names” and “Letter
Sounds,” but only at the
state average in “Simple
Math.”
Why the disparity
between numbers and liter-
acy, and does that difference
matter?
It is important to keep in
mind that the kindergarten
assessment was designed to
create a “snapshot” of readi-
ness, and included skills the
children need as they start
their formal school experi-
ence. The information was
gathered by teachers ask-
ing the children appropri-
ate simple questions, and
observing social-emotional
behavior and self-regulation
skills. All of these develop-
mental areas are important
predictors of later reading
and math achievement and
are important components
of kindergarten readiness.
There has been much
emphasis in the news as to
the importance of early lit-
eracy skills. Hats-off to par-
ents who have picked up on
this and made it a point to
read to their preschoolers
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only have three. How many
do we need to buy?” when
shopping. Or: “You just put
two books on the shelf. How
many still need to be picked
up?” Introduce counting,
adding, and subtraction.
There are many games that
include numbers, which
include sequencing and sets
that are fun and give chil-
dren the type of skills that
will be assessed when enter-
ing kindergarten.
The more parents are
aware of the importance of
this type of informal teach-
ing, the better prepared their
children will be.
Parents who would
like to know more about
the Oregon Kindergarten
Assessment can find infor-
mation by visiting http://
bit.ly/1E6e4uy. Besides
comparisons of the school
districts, there is a parents’
guide that shows the kind of
questions their kids will be
asked, giving ideas a par-
ent can easily incorporate
into helping their soon-
to-be-kindergartner get
ready for a very exciting
adventure.
Celebr ating 40 Years in
Sisters!
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and introduce them to the
fun of reading. The libraries
have also done an excellent
job of making sure parents
are informed on how to read
and enjoy literacy activities
with their youngest chil-
dren. It is well known by
educators that if a child is
not reading by grade three
they most likely will have
difficulty as they progress
through the grades. In other
words, until grade three
children are learning to
read, from then on they are
reading to learn.
What then should we
think about being at the state
average in Simple Math?
This is probably an indicator
that parents have not had the
same kind of encouragement
to assist their young ones in
thinking about numbers.
There are many ways
to help 4- and 5-year-olds
incorporate simple math
into the natural order of
their day. Asking questions
such as, “How many ani-
mals are running?” while
observing three dogs in
the park, or, “We need five
oranges at home and we
Ben Crockett, D.D.S.
p 541-549-9486 f 541-549-9110
410 E. Cascade Ave. • P.O. Box 1027 • Sisters, Oregon 97759
Hours: Mon., 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Tues.-Wed., 8 a.m.-4 p.m.;
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