Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1997)
Poetry reading provides lesson in history CINDY HINES KURFMAN Copy Editor CINDY HINES KURFMAN/ Clackamas Print Agha Shahid All's presentation took many by surprise with his humorous ideas and remarks. His book of poetry, The Half-Inch Himalayas, is on sale in the bookstore for $11.95. Poet Agha Shahid Ali, a native of Kashmir, India, who now makes his home in Massachusetts, enter tained a crowd of more than 60 people in the Skylight Dining Room last Friday afternoon. Ali was accompanied by bass ist Glen Moore, who provided a "dialogue voice" to the poems, ac cording to English Instructor Diane Averill's introductory remarks. His poetry ranged from funny to heartbreaking. In "Has Anyone Heard from You Lately?" - a takeoff from the Bell ads -- he says, "Someone's left the bones off the hooks." In "Dacca Gauzes," he says, "In history we learned: the hands/of weavers were amputated,/ the looms of Bengal silenced,/ and the cotton shipped raw/ by the Brit ish to England." The poem cites the loss of the ability Foreigners to make Dacca gauzes can be as because of eccentric as British greed. Between they like poems, Ali and people entertained the crowd think it's with his hu cultural. mor. "Foreigners can be as ec Agha Shahid Ali centric as Reef they like and people think it's cultural," he said. He continued to poke fun at American stereotypes of East Indi ans by informing the crowd that he is JJ a Shiite Muslim so, of course, he was going to "blow up the college." He also referred to himself as a "starv ing Indian" since he had eaten very little that day. In a poem about angels, Ali used a "four-letter word" in order to show that some East Indians also say ob scenities. But then he pointed out that only he could say such things, be "po litically incorrect," since he is not white. "What a shame," he added. All showed a strong ego by ask ing the photographer to photo graph both sides of his face. The photographer obliged him, and the audience laughed. Although many of his poems had themes of death, Ali's poetry was full of beautiful imagery and his per- sonality kept the audience en tranced. Smithsonian Institute lectures on "Archives of American Gardens" Bechtol is very driven toward com pleting and fill ing the gaps in the Archive, the highlight of which is a collection of about 3,000 hand-colored glass lantern An assemblage of Clackamas Horticul slides and 30,000 35mm slides that were ture students, Garden Club of America donated by the GCA in 1992. Members and interested students and Bechtol explained the deficiency that community members were privileged to the HSD has been working to eliminate hear Nancy J. Bechtol, Chief of the Horti in the last two decades. culture Services Division (HSD) of the “In 1976 the Horticulture Services Di Smithsonian Institution lecture in the Gre vision had begun to document the gory Forum from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, ground and interior ‘scapes of the April 10. Smithsonian, as well as their plant collec Bechtol spoke on the Archives of tions, by taking 35mm slides. The very American Gardens, which is housed in the first Museum at the Smithsonian in Wash HSD, as well as on the history of the ington, D.C. was built in 1846. So what Smithsonian and the value of the Garden happened between 1846 and 1976?” division of the Smithsonian Institution, Club of America (GCA) and Clackamas’ asked Bechtol. “That’s a long time to encourages local gardeners to submit slides to horticulture program. not have anything documented.” its archives in Washington, D.C. Bechtel's two-hour presentation began Since 1976, the HSD has filled a lot of with an introduction in which she explained the holes and obtained a relatively complete pictoral history of American gardens. briefly the Archives and their mission. She For instance, the aforementioned slide collection has glass slides dating from the 1920’s and 35mm slides dating from Smithsonian Institute colonial times. There are still weak areas, such as the 1950’s. Lecture Bechtol was careful to stress that slides of normal The archives of everyday lawns and gardens were needed, not just the American large, lavish gardens of wealthy estates. For these rea Gardens is a sons Bechtol was excited to be in Oregon researching the massive 60,000 gardens here. photograph “It was really fresh and new to hear about a brand library that new garden in your area called the Oregon Garden and documents how they already have the foresight to think in terms of gardens in this establishing an archive,” said Bechtol. country, both Bechtol was also excited to be speaking here, to impress historical and upon the next generation of horticulture research and prac contemporary. tice the importance of acquiring additional slides to complete the Smithsonian’s collection—in essence recruiting new blood It is available to for her growing program. anyone from The slideshow itself was a truly gorgeous tour historians to of gardens across American history. The extremely landscapers, or wide variety was impressive and there were many even garden beautiful images. This brings out the usefulness of enthusiasts. the Archive. Due to the diversity of the collection, a researcher can use a computer database to search A computer for gardens by characteristics—for instance, all turn database is of the century gardens in the Italian style or all con used to group temporary gardens with archways and clinging and find vines—and come up with many documented images specific types to aid in his or her work. of gardens. There are as many other uses for the Archive as there are practical fields for horticulture. The archives “Certainly, one of the purposes is to document the include actual history of gardening and certainly in some cases to everyday lawns document the renovation of a particular garden,” explained Now, with the click of a mouse, not only can you find a position that interests and gardens, you, but you can fill out a pre-qualification form AND set up an interview... Bechtol. riot just the ATT ONLINE! Just visit our website at:http://www.ups.com and discover a She said the very fragile and temporary state of gardens large, lavish truckliOad/of embfcrvment opportunities ri^ht at your fingertips! UPS is proud makes this very important. gardens of to be an equal oiixi&rtunitv emptOver. Jg The full auditorium was testimony to the fact that the ■. jHR ’’•«■■I ■ ■ wealthy Smithsonian’s Horticulture Services Division is a vital estates. and promising opportunity for those studying the field here at Clackamas. It is ample proof to the skeptic that horticulture goes far beyond mere weed pulling or hedge trimming. JOELSHEMPERT Staff Writer then moved on to an extensive slideshow showcasing many impressive and varied entries from the Archives. She lectured on the details of the archiving process in addition to speaking on the pictured gardens themselves. Bechtol then, following a short break, launched into a “lightning tour” of the Smithsonian Institution itself, again with slides. The Archives of American Gardens is a massive 60,000-photograph library that documents gardens in this coun try both historical and contemporary. It is available to anyone from historians to landscapers, or even garden enthu siasts, for use in design reference, com parison and contrast, various types of research and aesthetic enjoyment. It is an invaluable resource for anyone in a related field. http://www.ups.com Volume XXX,, Issue 21 5
