University prof gets
India Fulbright award
By JAS SAUND
Of the Emerald
Two years ago History Prof. Edwin Bingham
applied for a Fulbriqht grant to teach in Spain; he
didn’t get it. This year he wanted to teach in Taiwan
but was offered a one-year teaching assignment in
India instead, an offer he says he could not refuse.
The switch from Taiwan to India came as a
welcome surprise, because Bingham has been fas
cinated by India ever since he was a kid.
‘When I applied for the grant two years ago,
what I wanted to do was to get out of this country
where I have been living all my life and go to a country
with a culture strikingly different from my own,” he
said.
Bingham, 58, will teach American history to un
dergraduate and graduate students at the state Uni
versity of Mysore in southern India.
"I will be...using American literature, American
music, American drama and political theory to some
extent in order to give the Indian students a better
idea of what is happening to American society,”
Bingham said.
Bingham says that he does not know much
about the current political situation in India. “I have
tried to do some reading since I knew that I will be
going there, but mostly it has been in history rather
than in present political situation."
Bingham was a pacifist when World War II
began. “There were six of us, but in the end all of us
except one joined the U.S. Armed Forces,” Bingham
said.
A lone dissenter was sent to a conscientious
objector camp in Waldport, Oregon where he lost an
eye in a logging accident, according to Bingham.
“He went back to Los Angeles after the war was
over and got a job working for the city park depart
ment, he lost his job after it was discovered that he
had been a pacifist during the war,” Bingham said.
“After that I lost touch with him.”
Meanwhile Bingham served in the U.S. Air
Force intelligence as a private.
He wanted to be a writer when he was young,
but he felt that he didn’t have enough talent to make it
as a free-lancer. So he became a history student
instead and obtained a bachelor and a master of arts
degrees from Occidental College in Los Angeles and
a doctorate from the University of California at Los
Angeles. He has served on the University faculty
since 1949.
Growing up in southern California was a good
experience according to Bingham.
“Southern California in my day was open and it
was exciting; it was easy in spite of the depression.
My father managed to keep a job, not the same one
and then my mother went to work too; so I really did
not feel the impact of the depression," he said.
“Those were the days of beaches and dances.
Frank Sinatra was just beginning his singing career
when I was in high school; Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy
Dorsey, Cab Callaway -- all that wonderful period
when music was civilized, in my view,” he reflected.
Bingham thinks southern California is decaying.
“It is simply over-crowded, and it is money hungry
and money mad. In those days, there was a space for
young people to grow," he said. “If you have to go 40
miles to get elbow room at the beach, there is some
thing wrong,”
Bingham is the author of a book entitled
“Charles F. Lumis, Editor of the Southwest,” and
co-author of a book entitled “The Frontier Experi
ence: Readings in the Trans-Mississippi West.”
Photo by Mary M. Massia
Fulbright winner Edwin Bingham
Easter Seals album seeking volunteers
Around Christmas time, a
locally produced record album will
hit record stores around this area.
All the profits from its sales will be
used for Easter Seals projects in
Lane County.
The producers are hoping to
hold the purchase cost down to a
dollar and a penny, says project
coordinator John Sharkey of
Diamond Minds Productions.
“We re trying to do as much of
the work in Lane county as we
can,” he adds. "The main theme
of this album is trying to help each
other. We re hoping to make be
tween a penny and a dime on
each album for Easter Seals.”
Sharkey says the project needs
volunteers for every aspect of the
album’s production, from cover
artwork to printing. And it’s not too
late for local recording artists and
songwriters to submit tapes.
“We’re going to be paying royal
ties for these original tunes,” he
says. All music and artwork for the
record must be about some as
pect of Lane county, he stresses.
The project is based on similar
efforts started by Sharkey and
others in California. He says the
idea of recording a local album
has produced good results for
Easter Seals, and provided a
break for amateur and profes
sional musicians at the same time.
Artists are especially needed,
Sharkey says, and he hopes to
“piece out” calligraphy work for
the liner notes.
Persons submitting tapes are
encouraged to record at the high
est quality possible, as the original
recording may be used for the
soundtrack. “Every tape will be lis
tened to by at least three people,”
Sharkey adds.
Sharkey says the talent judges
will include radio program direc
tors from the major Eugene sta
tions.
Persons interested in contribut
ing their time and talents to some
DUFFY
Duffy s
Live Music Friday & Saturday
Ron Lloyd every Tues. & Wed
John Powell &
Tom Greenough
at Max's Tavern
13th & Alder
Ladies night
& Wine sale
every Thursday
phase of the album’s creation are
encouraged to contact Sharkey at
344-5530. All tapes, artwork and
photographs must be submitted
by August 31, to Sharkey at 3366
Donald St., Eugene.
CLASSES BEGIN
Sept 30 MCAT .8/15. 9/13
Oct. 7 DAT .8/10, 9/10
Oct. 14 SAT...8/15, 9/13
Oct. 21 GRE .8/14, 9/19
Oct. 28 GMAT 8/27, 9/26
Nov. 4 SAT 8/26, 9/22
Dec. 2 LSAT .10/7, 10/24
Dec. 2 SAT 10/30
Dec 9 ORE. 10/15, 11/14
Free Orientation
The Galleria.
600 S.W. 10th
Portland
222-5556
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