Wednesday
Harlan's book a real eye-opener
Instead of giving his “anti-advice, "columnist Harlan Cohen
gives the ODE his two-cents worth on his success. PAGE 10
REBECCA NEWELL: PULSE EDITOR, rnewell@gladstone.uoregon.edu
Faith and hard work
gets her everywhere
■A long week of competition
turns out to be an experience
in itself for University student
By Tonya Alanez
Oregon Daily Emerald
The week of Aug. 14 hit like a
whirlwind for Taryn Tarver
Thompson.
It was a week the University
graduate student had been antici
pating for slightly over three
months.
Once she arrived in Sevierville,
Tenn., as the Oregon representative
for the Mrs. USA International
competition, she found there was
very little time for sleep.
“They keep you on the loop;
there’s no way to get any rest,”
Tarver-Thompson said of the non
stop week of publicity outings,
training and rehearsals required for
the 68 contestants involved in the
Aug. 18-19 competition.
Aside from being a pageant con
testant, Tarver-Thompson is a 25
year-old married mother of three.
And as if her plate isn’t full
enough, she’s also in the midst of
completing her master’s degree in
journalism, while simultaneously
working as a full-time sales execu
tive and assistant to the chief oper
ating officer at Chambers Commu
nication Corporation.
Tarver-Thompson possesses mo
tivation and charisma, apparent in
a brief encounter or a working rela
tionship. Her former professor
Clyde Bentley witnessed this when
she was a student in his manage
ment class.
“She is a very talented person,”
Bentley said. “I have a lot of respect
for anyone who continues on with
their busy life and earns a degree. It
takes a lot of energy to do that and
she obviously has a lot of energy.”
Earning the title of Mrs. Eugene
International in November ad
vanced Tarver-Thompson into the
Mrs. Oregon International 2000
competition which she secured in
April. That title, in turn, secured
Tarver-Thompson a position at the
competition in Tennessee.
The platform of the Mrs. Oregon
International 2000 Pageant, “Rec
ognizing the virtues of family, pro
fessional and community involve
ment among married women,” fits
Tarver-Thompson like a glove.
“I believe in getting the message
out to everyone that being and re
maining married is a choice and
things aren’t always perfect,” Tarv
er-Thompson said. “There will al
ways be trials and tribulations. But
in the end it will be you and your
family that matters more than your
jobs or anything else.”
Tarver-Thompson credits her
husband Jason Thompson, who
accompanied het in Tennessee,
and her faith in Jesus Christ as her
sources of calming support. When
battling backstage nerves she finds
solace in hugging her husband
and singing praise and worship
songs.
“If I’m quiet something is wrong,
otherwise I’m constantly singing
praise and worship songs,” Tarver
Thompson said. “My husband’s
presence calms me. He’s not dra
matic, he’s th£ most mellow per
son I’ve ever met. He basically bal
ances me out. I get overly excited
and he’ll be under-excited, so to
gether we’ll be somewhere in the
middle.”
The pageant contestants spent the
week being primped and fitted,
learning a production number, sign
ing autographs on various mall trips,
visiting Dollyville and attending a
Courtesy Taryn Tarver-Thompson
Tarver-Thompson was Oregon’s representative in the Mrs. USA International contest.
performance by Louise Mandrell.
The pageant consisted of an
evening gown and sportswear com
petition and an individual inter
view session with the five judges.
Tarver-Thompson didn’t walk
away from the pageant with a new
title, but she did walk away with a
feeling of satisfaction.
“No potato, but I had a great and
wonderful time in Tennessee,” Tarv
er-Thompson said. “The week was
very hectic, but it was also very
good. I couldn’t and wouldn’t ex
change it for anything. ”
The title of Mrs. USA Interna
tional went to Tarver-Thompson’s
sorority sister and the only other
black contestant, Mrs. Georgia,
who is the first black woman to
ever win the competition.
Upon Tarver-Thompson’s Aug.
21 return to Oregon, “it’s back to
life and reality.’’
“All of my energy and enthusi
asm and my encouragement comes
from my faith in Jesus Christ,”
Tarver-Thompson said. “This is for
him and he has given me a plat
form to show his love.”
Uniquely Eugene
Photos by Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald
Eugene was the site this past weekend for two body-moving, joy-inducing activites. Aaron Spalding (left) plays the hoshos at the Zimbabwe Music Festival that took place on
campus. The annual S.LU.G. Queen contest, which crowned the Eugene Celebration’s unofficial representative, happened downtown. The Eugene Celebration is Sept. 15-17.
CS. Price
on film
at UOMA
■ The University of Oregon
Museum of Art hopes to
shed light on the Northwest
artist’s unnoted paintings
By Kristy Hessman
Oregon Daily Emerald
As part of MusEvenings!, the
free weekly program at the Uni
versity of Oregon Museum of Art,
a film will be shown highlighting
Northwest artist C.S. Price.
“The film was put together by
Kathleen Vitale, one of the muse
ums docents and volunteers,”
Kaci Manning from the UOMA
said.
The film, titled “C.S. Price:
Modernist Painter in Search of
Spirit” was inspired by the muse
um’s 1998 exhibition, “C.S. Price:
Landscape, Image and Spirit.”
“I had never heard of him
when the exhibit was here,” Vi
tale said. “As a docent I try to
learn something about each ex
hibit, and I was just stunned by
his work.”
Although the name was un
known, Price’s work moved Vi
tale.
“He had a feeling for animals,”
she said. “I have never been in
terested in pictures of horses and
cow, but he made them come
alive.
Price was a cowboy for the
first 30 years of his life and a
painter for the last 30 years.
“He lived very frugally without
a car or phone,” Vitale said. “He
was very focused on his work. I
think this says something to us
today. ”
Vitale, who had made videos
of previous museum exhibits,
did all of the filming when the
exhibit was in Eugene. She then
sought out Karl Durland who
wrote and performed the back
ground music for the film.
“I was looking for someone
who played the fiddle, because
C.S. Price played the fiddle,” Vi
tale said. “It was only two min
utes before I realized this guy
(Durland) was really talented.”
Vicki Ambrose also con
tributed to the him as a narrator,
as well as Roger Saydack who
was an adviser to the him.
“A lot of people don’t know
about Price’s work,” Vitale said.
“I want people to wonder why
we don’t hear of him.”
The 21-minute film will be
shown Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. at the
University Museum of Art. The
screening is being offered along
with the museum’s current exhi
bitions of Northwest art, “Her
itage of Pacihc Northwest Art:
The Virginia Haseltine Collec
tion,” and “Community Favorites
from the David McCosh Collec
tion.” Both are on display until
Sept. 3.
The museum is accessible to
people with disabilities and open
from noon to 8 p.m.
For more information contact
346-3027.