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 .