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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 1996)
Feature The Clackamas Print Wednesday, October 16,1996 Karin Redston around the areas, trying to com Feature Editor municate in Spanish, and trying As part of her sabbatical last to cook the foods. Families would year, Ellen Wolfson, Career/ invite her in and went out of their Counseling Chairperson, decided way to help her. to learn Spanish by living in “I got to really meet the in Mexico and in Latin American digenous people in Oaxaca,” said countries. Wolfson. “Oaxaca is in southern “My two goals were to learn Mexico. It’s known all over the Spanish and to be a part of the world for its indigenous pueblos community,” said Wolfson. where each pueblo, which is kind Wolfson’s adventure started of a little community, has their- off in a place called Cuernavaca, own art where they do art to make Mexico. She spent approxi a living.” mately two months there before - Wolfson explained she had moving on to Oaxaca, Mexico. another goal for her trip: to take In each location she attended a her adopted daughter back to her language school. native country. “I was a student every day “I adopted a little girl from « for six hours and then had four Columbia 16 years ago and her • hours a night of homework,” said name is Maria,” said Wolfson. Wolfson. “My whole life was “We went back to Columbia for being a student and just concen the first time in 16 years. We went trating on one thing.” to Columbia to research her roots Part of the'adventure for and to see where she came from.” Wolfson was finding her way Wolfson learned a lot about as Sabbatical proves to be an enriching adventure Ellen Wolfson with Ecuadorian children in the Andes. her daughter by visiting her fos tional. ter parents in Columbia and de Wolfson then moved on to scribed the year as very emo Quito, Ecuador where she con tinued to study Spanish. There the Spanish school was one teacher to one student and much more intense. When she wasn’t studying, Wolfson was off hiking in the Andes meeting still more people and new villages. Wolfson said she remembers most fondly two grandmothers whom she called her mentors. Of all the people she misses most these two were most important. Wolfson is the International Club advisor and is also coordi nating with Carlotta Holley, De partmental Chair of International Studies, to arrange summer trips to Mexico for intensive language study. Students would be able to get credit and explore another country. Knowing Spanish is not necessary since students are go ing to Mexico to learn the lan- Photo by Kathleen Fallon guage. Although Wolfson misses Mexico and Latin America, she is glad to be back at school. Maria is also at Clackamas starting her first term. “I really miss that culture but I’ve lived here all my life,” said Wolfson. “It’s easy how familiar it becomes very quickly. It’s like riding a bicycle.” Wolfson feels that her sab batical experiences have given her a new awareness. “ It’s made me have an open heart to people from different cul tures,” said Wolfson. “I was like that before I left, but I’m even more sensitive to it now because I know what it’s like to get off a bus and not know where you are. “I think anytime you step out of your own community-where you live and what you’re used to- it’s a big lesson in life. There’s no other lesson to me that’s more valuable than that.” Club C®lend®r E//en Wb/fson with new friends from Oaxaca, Mexico. Photo by Mar,a Burbridge Event includes Clackamas’ Craig Lesley Authors’ Night features cultures, conflict Tracy Moore Staff Writer Clackamas Community Col lege will be holding its popular [‘Authors’ Night” on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. in the Gregory Forum. The focus of the evening will be “Conflicting Cultures in Fic- lion.” Three honored writers of fic tion will be featured at this event: uennifer Cornell, Diana Abu- Jaber, and Craig Lesley. Each of them will share their ideas and passages from their books. All of the books being featured have to do in one way or another with cultures at conflict. The first writer, Jennifer Cornell, is the author of “Depar tures,” a collection of stories cen tered in Belfast, Ireland. She was the winner of the prestigious 1994 Drue Heinz Literature Prize, and a finalist for the 1995 Oregon Book Award. Cornell, who is a native of Ireland, is completing a book on presentations of North Ireland in contemporary British television drama. She currently teaches creative writing at Oregon State University. The second writer, Diana Abu-Jaber, is the author of the novel, “Arabian Jazz,”a book that won the Oregon Book Award in 1994, and was a finalist for the national PEN/Hemingway First Novel Award. This book, which the Boston Glove called “a joy to read,” deals in part with the con flicts between Arab and Ameri can cultures. Abu-Jaber is among the nation’s first Arab-American novelists, and was featured on the July/August cover of Poets and Writers Magazine, a national publication. The third writer of the evening will be Clackamas’ own Craig Lesley. Lesley, who is an English instructor, has gained a national reputation for his descrip tive writing about the conflicts between Indian and white cultures in Eastern Oregon. He has been a finalist for the Oregon Book Award twice, and has won both the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award and the Western Writers Spur Award. Lesley’s latest novel, “The Sky Fisherman,” is a finalist for the 1996 Oregon Book Award and was a preliminary round nominee for the Pulitzer Prize. His previ ous two novels are “Winterkill” and “River Song”; he has also pub lished an anthology of Northwest Indian literature and a collection of stories. Authors’ Night is an event open to the public, and everyone is welcome. Admission is free; however, a donation of $2 to Friends of the Library will be ac cepted. SKI CLUB: The first meeting of the Ski Club is today at noon inP102. It is open to all Clacka mas snow enthusiasts. WOMEN’S SOCCER CLUB: All Welcome! Practices are Tuesday and Thursday from 5:45 to 6:15 p.m. If interested, contact Jason Manning at 630- 3581 or Amy Ware in the Stu dent Activities office. INTERNATIONAL CLUB: The first International Club meeting is Oct. 10 at 12:30 p.m. in room CC126. This is the time to make new friends and to have fun learning about other cultures. Everyone is welcome to join. If you have questions, call Ellen Wolfson, advisor, at ext. 2550. BAPTIST STUDENT MINIS TRIES: In BSM Christian Fel lowship they study how to handle life’s pressures without being stressed out. BSM meets Mondays from 12 to 12:50 p.m. in room P104, Tuesdays from 10 to 10:50 a.m. in Bl 14, Thurs days from 12:30 to 1:20 p.m. in Bl 12 and Fridays from 11 to 11:50 a.m. in B238. Monday Night Madness is a time to be together and grow in our walk with Christ. We meet every Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Barclay Village Apartments, #404. There is a men’s Bible study on Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. in Barclay Village Apartments #404. You do not have to be a member of BSM to come. If you have questions or need directions, call Carolyn at 650-8526 or 497-3491, or Jeff Kiernan at 637-3848. NATIVE AMERICAN STU DENTS’ CLUB COYOTE CIRCLE: The Coyote Circle is meeting Thursday, Oct. 17, at noon in B224. WE WANT YOUR BLOOD... T he ASG will hold its annual B lood D rive M onday , Nov. 4 FROM 9 A.M. TO 2 P.M. THE EVENT WILL RE IN THE G regory F orum . F or more information , contact B rinda F earn . V olunteer , donate and help someone in need .
