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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2016)
20 Wednesday, October 19, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon And they’re off! Author publishes short stories By Jim Cornelius News Editor PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK Sisters Christian Academy dodged raindrops in their annual fundraising jog-a-thon last week. SPRD to host adult prom party Sisters Park & Recreation District is throwing a party, according to Shannon Rackowski, the adult/senior programs coordinator. “We at SPRD are always looking to present new and fun experiences to the Sisters Community, and this is no exception,” said Rackowski. “Getting dressed up and going dancing is a blast, why not offer a night for adults to strut their stuff, better yet let’s make it a Prom and a Halloween Dance Party.” Guests are invited to don formal wear, or a fun and ghoulish costume. The party will be held at The Belfry, with DJ Chuck Boogie spinning music from the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s. There will be a dance and costume contest, limbo, group line-dancing, a no-host bar, treats and desserts. The party is set for Saturday, October 29, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 per person, or $25 for a couple at SPRD. For more information call 541-549-2091. Bob Collins concerns him- self with some thorny social issues — homelessness, men- tal health, aging, relation- ships. And he does it by writ- ing it out. “I just wanted to think that stuff through,” he told The Nugget. “And it comes out as short stories.” Those short stories are between covers in Collins’ new collection, “Sisters Crossing,” available at Paulina Springs Books and through the usual online retailers. “What mysteries lie hidden in a small town? Madness, murder and may- hem,” says the book’s back cover. “It is a rural myth that everyone is friendly, knows everyone else, knows everything that is going on. Not so in Sisters Crossing. Herein characters tell their secret tales straight at you, occasionally using journals, poetry and even cowboy songs…” The tales are thought- provoking and sometimes uncomfortable — reflect- ing the nature of the issues Collins is taking on. “I think what you want your readers to do is to get Looks like everyone is hanging out at Th e Cottonwood Café... Hair & Nails Come enjoy the new fall menu! Natural & Artifi cial Open Th urs-Tues 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Cocktails, Beer & Wine 541-549-6566 484 W. Washington Ave., Ste. B 403 E. Hood Ave. 541.549.2699 ★★ ELECT ★★ PHIL HENDERSON COUNTY COMMISSIONER PROUDLY NOMINATED BY THE REPUBLICAN AND INDEPENDENT PARTIES ENDORSED BY COMMISSIONER TONY DEBONE Looking For ward to Serving Sisters Country! www.electphilhenderson.com Paid for by Friends of Phil Henderson for Deschutes County Commissioner engaged beyond the storyline with some of the thoughts and feelings they might have that might be problematic to them,” Collins said. Collins’ relationship with “story” goes back a long way. He recalled being assigned a critical essay on the work of Joseph Conrad while he was at the University of California, Berkeley. “I realized I couldn’t do it,” he recalled. Instead, he wrote a short story of his own, using Conrad’s characters, as a way of engaging with the great Victorian-era writer’s work. He recalls submitting it “with a great deal of fear, because I thought I’d get flunked. I got an A.” That kind of experience is a surefire way to encour- age a wayward writer, and Collins continued to feel a passion for the written word even as he built a career as a neurologist. Some of his patients were housebound, and so he made house-calls. Seeing the inte- rior of people’s lives on dis- play was a spark to his imagi- nation. He saw stories there. PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS Bob Collins. Collins also taught a Literature & Medicine elec- tive course in medical school, which he said he “found very rewarding.” He believes doc- tors can learn to see with “a third eye” developed by engaging with the human experience through literature. Collins is co-founder of the Sisters Science Club and also a sculptor. He says that he plans to continue writing, though he’s not too focused on publication. For him, it’s always about the story.