Iron worker refuses to horse around
Photo by Lon Psleftwn
Jonathan Nedbor (canter), ironworker, assists students in sizing a gate
hook, one ot the many tools they will learn to make during the three-day
blacksmith workshop in the EMU Craft Center
By STEVE DODGE
Ot the Emerald
Somehow the sun and a gentle breeze seemed
to tit into what local writer Denny Williams was talking
about on his tront porch on Kincaid St earlier this
week
Williams was talking about life, society — and
basketball, hardly synonymous terms even in
Eugene
"The |Ourney ot tile is as important as the desti
»tion, he said But society is rushing toward the
stination so last that the beauty ot the journey is
not being appreciated
That relates to basketball, says Williams, who is
finishing up a book he will call ' The Art of Basket
ball Williams feels that basketball is a metaphor
lor society Winning or success in society relates
to winning a basketball game, only says Williams, the
process of playing the game — the most important
part - has been distorted into justifying the end
instead of the means Anyone who doesn t win a
game is called a loser he says
Williams contends that violence in society is mir
rored by sports violence, self-perpetuating that form
of human behavior as a method of achieving a goal.
He believes television is to blame for what he calls an
ever-growing financial snowball supporting violence
and aggression "It's time for that snowball to stop,
he says. Thus the book
Although no one will ever be sure exactly what
Di Naismith had in mind when he nailed up those
poach buckets for the first basketball game, Williams
says 1891 rules de-emphasize intentional physical
contact Finesse, quickness, intelligence and intui
tion are the most important qualities in basketball and
in« it .noil orrording to Williams — not aggressive
While millions of American taxpayers fill out
last-minute 1040 forms and hustle down to the Post
Office to mail chunks of their paychecks to the Pen
tagon. some concerned Eugene residents will be
demonstrating against the yearly tithing
Members of Clergy and Laity Concerned's Task
Force on Peace, Jobs and Human Needs will spon
sor a giant "tug against war on the downtown mall at
noon. The tug against war will pit taxpayers against
the military-industrial complex The demonstration is
only one of the nationwide events occurring on Fed
eral Income Tax deadline day
“I think all taxpayers can agree that there has to
be a limit on government spending." said Jim Dwyer.
By LORI PETERSON
Ol the Emerald
They shoe horses don't they?
Iron worker Jonathan Nedbor
will simply "shoo them away
"A blacksmith is not a farrier
(horseshoer), he explains. Ned
bor attributes people s ignorance
on the subject to a television un
derstanding of horseshoeing.
Understandably defensive to
constant inquiries from horse
owners, Nedbor is one of a hand
ful who has taken a resurging in
terest in the almost extinct "black
art of iron making, and is cur
rently teaching a three-day black
smith workshop in the EMU Crafts
Center
According to Nedbor there s still
"token" blacksmithing Yet, he
adds, in the last 100 years it s
kind of faded out
Up until the 20th century, the
blacksmith and the farrier trades
were separate "For centuries the
iron maker has been the tool
maker and restorer, explains
Nedbor
Blacksmithing around the early
1800s was what Nedbor terms
part of a "survival ethic Not only
did they take on traditional horse
shoeing, but they also repaired
wagons, and toiled over other di
verse tasks Blacksmiths tended
to be general iron workers
' Farriers during this time were
veterinarians, he says They
even did the dentistry on horses
But, with the onset of the mdus
tnal revolution in 1860, the birth of
the hardware store was inevitable
Zen and the art of basketball
ness He cites pro players Kareem Abdul Jabbar and
David Thompson as examples, and likens them to
ballet dancers
A team which plays rough and dirty to win loses
in the long run, he says. Williams characterizes that
hype of play as "jungle ball", a carry ever from what
he calls gladiator sports, football and hockey
"Life doesn t need to be a jungle, he believes,
nordoesat least one sport "Let boxing be that way
Basketball is the perfect sport "to begin a sports
workshop showing the potential of the human body
and spirit, he says, because it involves ten people in
close proximity performing essentially primal move
ments
In fact through such chapters as The Nature of
Sport" and "Getting Ready to Play" he will go
through me basic basketball moves and relate them
to their pnmal roots and connection with life He links
a hook shot, for example, to slinging a vine over a
branch, a tip-in to knocking fruit from a tree, a re
bound to grabbing an oppossum from a branch, a
dunk to throwing a rock in a river He ties defense to
rounding up donkeys because it involves quickness,
finesse and ability Mostly though, the book will em
phasize the process of playing the game, not the end
result, according to Williams, a notion he borrowed
from Zen religion and philosopher Allen Watts.
Williams sees basketball players becoming re
garded as artists and aggressive sports as "di
nosaurs ", All it takes is one coach, one college
president or one pro basketball owner, he says, to
change the way basketball is played, and thus at
least a part of society Every journey of 1000 miles
begins with the first step, he says, quoting an old
proverb Now he's waiting for some publishers to
take theirs
Task force to tug against taxes
CALC spokesperson "Our group is pointing out that
while our taxes continually go up the quality ot the
average taxpayer s life is going down Government
spending must be turned around to meet human
needs rather than to stockpile military hardware and
expand the arms race."
Leafletting against the B-1 bomber will also in
clude copies of the so-called Transfer Resolution,
Dwyer said The rsolution will be introduced into
Congress by Rep. Parren Mitchell (D-Md.) The re
solution provides for specific cuts in military spending
while transferring those funas directly into human
needs programs.
People could select their tools
from several comparable styles
and weights. It was cheaper and
quicker than having it especially
made by a "smith.’
"Iron work was never cheap,"
contends Nedbor But he believes
the extinction of the blacksmith
was made easier by the surplus of
goods.
The emergence of the au
tomobile also tended to displace
the blacksmith Nedbor contends
he became a mechanic.
"Iron work had been just barely
kept alive in the trade, he says.
Now the trade centers around re
storation and similar reconstruc
tion of old houses, down to the
wood screws. It has also
branched off into forge work,
where chisels and tools are made
for construction companies
He believes a lot of energy has
been put into it from the university
level, ' but adds, "in academics,
function comes after design
Universities give a "limited view
point. according to Nedbor. "The
technology of yesterday simply
becomes the art of today."
Nedbor turned his back on
academics in New York City to
pursue his passion with jewelry
making He spent seven years in
the jewelry craft, and then at
tended a three-day blacksmith
workshop, much like the one he is
teaching here. For the last four
years he's been alternating bet
ween iron work and jewelry mak
ing.
Now, he travels, selling his
goods when he can and doing
what should be done with his
dying skill —teaching it to others
After the first day of the work
shop, the class has made gate
hooks. They ve also learned to
“strike while the iron is hot" and
know the differences between
mild steel and tool steel.
"Don't grab that, you don t know
how hot it is," he tells them. "Don't
put all the tools in one bucket
when you're done, you won't be
able to pick it up.
He calls himself a "beginner
after four years of ironworking. But
he fools people. Possibly be
cause, as he tells his students,
"90 per cent of blacksmithing is
common sense.'
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JSU presents
HOLOCAUST
MEMORIAL
Guest lecturer
Rabbi Jaiman Schachter,
professor of Religion, Temple University, Philadelphia
will be speaking on:
"Reflections On The Holocaust”
TODAY AT 12:30, EMU, room to be posted.
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343-2832
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