Johnston Lecture brings lauded
author Greene to University
Discussing the AIDS epidemic
in Africa, Melissa Fay Greene’s
speech challenged journalists'
stories to give faces to issues
By Moriah Balingit
Freelance Reporter
Award-winning author and journalist
Melissa Fay Greene delivered the annual
Johnston Lecture, titled "A Writer Bearing
Witness: AIDS Orphans in Africa," to stu
dents and community members in the
Knight Library Browsing Room Thursday.
The Johnston Lecture is part of the
Richard W. Johnston Memorial Project
to memorialize the 1936 School of Jour
nalism and Communication graduate
and co-founder of Sports Illustrated.
Professor Lauren Kessler, who heads
the Literary Nonfiction program at the
LJniversity, introduced Greene, saying,
"She cares, and through prodigious
work and artful narrative, we care."
Greene's work has brought her from a
mining disaster two-and-a-half miles
underground in Springhill, Nova Scotia,
Canada, for her book "Last Man Out:
The Story of the Springhill Mine Disas
ter," to an Ethiopian orphanage for a
landmark New York Times article about
children orphaned by AIDS. Her first
book, "Praying for Sheetrock," which
documents the triumph of a black com
munity in rural Georgia over racism,
was named one of the top 100 works of
American journalism in the 20th centu
ry by the New York University School of
Journalism.
Greene's speech focused around her
work in Ethiopia. She began by saying
there are 11 million AIDS orphans in Africa
and posed the question: "Who's going to
sign 11 million permission slips...our
readers, the public, don't care about mil
lions. They can't count that high."
Greene spoke about two orphanages in
the Ethiopian capital: the Layla House, a
house for healthy orphans, and Enat (an
Amharic word for mother), an orphanage
for HIV-positive children. She also shared
a number of anecdotes, collected through
interviews with actual orphans. Some
moved the audience to laughter on sever
al occasions, including when she per
plexed the Ethiopian orphans with
whoopee cushions; others brought a
solemn silence across the room.
"There is a terrible sameness to the sto
ries. They all head down the same path:
the mother's death, then the
father's.. .alone, bringing out the words of
the family's end, a child's eyes fill with
tears," she wrote in the New York Times
article.
Greene's visit to Ethiopia wasn't strict
ly business, however. The author was in
the process of adopting an Ethiopian or
phan, Helen. Helen arrived in the United
States in February 2002, and Greene, like
any other proud parent, couldn't resist
sharing stories about her six-year-old
adopted child.
Greene made a parallel between her
adoption of Helen and her work as a
journalist.
"Adoption says that the face of this one
smiling, curly-haired little boy stands for
the face of Africa's AIDS orphans.. .Jour
nalism has to play a similar role," she
said. "Narrative nonfiction stories ask the
world to remember that these children
are not just digits and numbers.. .but they
recall that each sick and famine-stricken
parent and each stranded child is a person
worthy of our time and respect."
Moriah Balingit is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.
Danielle Hickey Photo Editor
Melissa Fay Greene, author of "Last Man Out: The Story of the Springhill Mine
Disaster," spoke in the Knight Library Browsing Room Thursday afternoon.
LAWSUIT
continued from page 1
who lived two doors down from her
in Cloran Hall of Hamilton Complex,
helped care for Dieringer before she
went to the hospital.
"She was in a lot of pain," Penney
said. "Two of us stayed with her the
night before she was taken to the hos
pital to try and help her feel better."
Penney said that two international
[
students found Dieringer in the bath
room and called the Department of
Public Safety. She was then taken to
the hospital.
More than two years after
Dieringer's death, Hughes sued
PeaceHealth and Eugene Emergency
Physicians, PC. for $2.5 million in
non-economic damages, which in
cludes emotional damage to Hughes
and the physical suffering of
Dieringer. Hughes also sued for
$940,000 in economic damages, or
the loss of future earnings.
Hughes claimed that both defen
dants failed to suspect or diagnose
acute bacterial infection and thus
failed to start Dieringer on broad
spectrum antibiotic therapy in time
to stop the infection. Hughes also
accused the defendants of an im
proper diagnosis of mononucleosis
or dehydration.
The jury found PeaceHealth 100
percent negligent in "one or more of
the ways claimed," but Eugene Emer
gency Physicians did not share re
sponsibility in the death, according
to the jury verdict. Hughes was
awarded $ 1 million in non-econom
ic damages and $100,000 in eco
nomic damages.
Brian Terrett, director of public af
fairs for the PeaceHealth Oregon re
gion, said that a post-trial appeal has
been submitted to the judge.
Although PeaceHealth lost the law
suit, Terrett said the situation has
helped educate the public.
"We've tried to take advantage of
the educational opportunity," he said.
"We've discovered that the highest
group at risk (for meningococcal) is
college freshmen."
Contact the crime/health/safety
reporter at lisacatto@daiiyemerald.com.
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TOTAL STUDENT DISCRIMINATION GRIEVANCES FILED WITH THE OFFICE
OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
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HHMM
> 1*;.^ ~ - yi
, v«.
—
One claim of disability discrimination; three claims of race/ethnicity discrimination; one claim of conflict of interest
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STUDENT SEXUAL HARASSMENT GRIEVANCES FILED WITH THE OFFICE
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January 1- December 31, 2003
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* Number of claims does not correspond to totals column because some cases contain multiple claims.