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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (May 16, 2018)
18 Wednesday, May 16, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Desert writing prize announces 2018 winner PREHISTORIC: Event closes out Frontiers in Science series for year Continued from page 3 Patrick Mondaca is the 2018 winner of the fourth annual Waterston Desert Writing Prize. His submis- sion, “Adjustment Disorder,” was chosen by the judges for its quality of writing, unique perspective and meaningful contribution to the body of desert literature. Mondaca will be honored at a reception and reading at the High Desert Museum in Bend at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 27. The evening will also include “A Desert Conversation” with modera- tor Adam Davis, and panel- ists Charles Goodrich, Becca Lawton, Dr. Jay Stratton Noller and Richard Wilhelm. The event is free and open to the public, and reservations are required. Visit the High Desert Museum’s Events page to reserve. Mondaca will receive a $2,000 cash award and a four-week artist’s residency at PLAYA in Summer Lake. Mondaca’s project proposal is a memoir about the dis- covery of personal peace in a Sudanese desert landscape by a combat veteran. The memoir seeks to bring atten- tion to the concept of the “draw” or pull of the desert in the postwar lives of mili- tary veterans. The cash award will help to support Mondaca’s return to Morocco for work on the subject. Mondaca served in Baghdad, Iraq, with the U.S. Army and as a secu- rity advisor for a humani- tarian organization in South Darfur, Sudan. He earned an MS in Global Affairs from New York University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Currently he is a researcher, writer, and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Mondaca’s work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, USA Today, The Hill, and U.S. News & World Report, among others. Underscoring the quality of submissions, two appli- cants were named finalists: Kathryn Wilder, Dolores, Colorado, for “These Seasons of Disappointment: Cows in the Desert,” and Diana Woodcock, Midlothian, Virginia, for “The Gobi Desert and Its Muslim Inhabitants.” The finalists are invited to attend the June 27 reception to be honored and offer a brief reading. The prize judges reviewed nearly 70 submissions from writers across the United States as well as Armenia, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, India, Serbia and United Arab Emirates. The Waterston Desert Writing Prize was established to honor creative and liter- ary nonfiction that illustrates artistic excellence, sensitivity to place, and desert literacy, with the desert as subject and setting. Inspired by author and poet Ellen Waterston’s love of the high desert of Central Oregon, a region that has been her muse for more than 30 years, the Waterston Desert Writing Prize rec- ognizes the vital role des- erts play worldwide in the ecosystem and the human narrative. The prize is funded from an endowment managed by the Oregon Community Foundation, with the impe- tus for the creation of the endowment provided by actor Sam Waterston, after whom the prize is named. As the endowment for the prize grows, so will the annual prize amount. Tax-deductible donations to the Waterston Desert Writing Prize can be mailed to PO Box 640, Bend, Oregon 97709. Cultural History. The lecture, “Archaeology and Science at the Paisley Caves,” begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22. Employing a colorful PowerPoint presentation, Dr. Jenkins will explain the sci- entific processes and results of archaeological and paleo- genetic investigations at the Paisley Caves that illuminate the interaction of humans with Pleistocene plants and animals in Oregon’s high des- ert country centuries ago. Methods of radiocarbon dating unknown 80 years ago now allow archaeolo- gists to link items such sage cordage and grass threads, obsidian and bone tool frag- ments, wooden pegs, cut ani- mal bones, and evidence of fire hearths to fairly precise moments in time. Researchers also have identified and collected doz- ens of desiccated human feces — called coprolites or, more informally, poop — which turned out to contain human mitochondrial DNA identical to that of the peoples already known to have first emigrated from Asia to the Americas. 30 Years Experience Chamber Member Cutting-edge technology to get your carpet its cleanest! Baby & Pet Safe • Red Stain Removal • Chemical-free Cleaning >>>> TWICE A YEAR MAINTENANCE PLANS <<<< < F F O 5 R $2 O F D A 458-292-6842 Call or text Sisters Owned & Operated T H I S N O I T M E N 5 m of $8 Minimu FREE F REE ESTIMATES PHOTO COURTESY ODELLCROSS/HERITAGEDAILY.COM Dr. Jenkins on site at the Paisley Caves. Known in some circles as “Dr. Poop,” Dr. Jenkins spends every spare moment with his team of UO under- grads digging up artifacts at the Paisley Caves. The 14,000-year-old poop is the oldest evidence of humans in North America. A native Oregonian, Dr. Jenkins is an internationally respected expert in his field. He has taught and directed the UO’s annual Northern Great Basin archaeological field school in Central Oregon since 1989. His research focuses on the first coloniza- tion of the Americas, obsid- ian sourcing and hydration, prehistoric shell bead trade, and settlement-subsistence patterns of the Northern Great Basin. In addition to publica- tions in such prestigious jour- nals as Science and Nature, he has appeared in numer- ous television documentaries aired on the History Channel, National Geographic, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Canadian Broadcasting, the Archaeology Channel, Danish and Japanese TV. Social hour for this final lecture of the 2017-18 season begins at 6 p.m. with light fare, beer, and wine avail- able. The lecture begins at 7 p.m. Admission is $5; Science Club annual donors, teach- ers and students are admitted free. The Belfry is located at 302 E. Main Ave. Helen’s House 115 NW Greenwood, Redmond | 541-588-6119 Anna’s Home 192 E. Tall Fir Ct., Sisters | 541-549-1726 Pennington’s Place 182 E. Tall Fir Ct., Sisters | 541-549-1336 David & Leah Tolle | Owners/Operators Business Cell (541) 848-3194 “Enriching the lives of those we serve, one day at time”
