Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 2001)
8_________ WedNEsdAy, D ecem B er ?, 2001 Feature TI je CI ac I< amas P rî \ Loren Ford's students psyched for life ________ DAISY BAIN________ A&E Editor How do you start your day with humor and learn a thing or two? Take a class from Loren Ford, that’s how! I recently sat through a PSY 101/Human Relations class taught by Ford and left feeling as if I had just gone to a comedy club; What makes this experi ence even funnier is that I actu ally learned something by just sit ting in one class. What I left feeling seemed to ring true with majority of his students. “I love it! He’s the best Top: Loren Ford gives a lecture about growing up. He uses examples of his sister and mother's wacky relationship. Above: from left to right, students Kyle Kraxberger, Traci Flitcraft and Jim Bodenhamer gather in groups to discuss their life traumas. Left: Students Brandon Masters and Rachel Tinney review chapters while laughing at Ford's unusual tactics. PHOTOS BY DAISY BAIN / Clackamas Print teacher I’ve ever had. His moti vation inspires me,” said Rachel Tinney, a human relations student. Brandon Masters heard about the class from the schedule cata log. “I got lucky,” said Masters. “I love the class. It has helped me in my life in how I deal with oth ers.” Ford lectures differently than most teachers I have come in con tact with in my two years here at Clackamas. He uses real-life ex periences to enforce what he teaches, with a comedic twist. The students participate by form ing groups and acting out situa tions that relate to the topic of the day. An example of Ford’s zany twists to communication would be his method of introduc ing yourselves to each other. He would split the class into groups and instead of shaking eachothers’ hands, he would have you shake your classmates ears. Masters’ favorite part of the class is the way he portrays his class lectures. “He uses real-life- examples. He makes it easy to apply to real life situations.” According to Ford, the class covers a lot of personal material and he tries to do whatever he can to make it comfortable for his students, but still be able to teach them the meaning of his material. “There is a method to my mad ness,” said Ford. “I like to keep things light.” Ford’s biggest goal of the class is to get the students to commu nicate and think critically about who they are and how they would like to get there. The class is an “advanced warning about real life experiences,” said Ford. Ford gets a lot of returning stu dents, not only from current stu dents but from past students wH come back for more because tha feel they are ready to take in a greater extent the informatid Ford offers. Before Ford started teachin he worked as a part time couns lor and worked at a half-wa house for family counseling. H started teaching 20 years ago. “I liked it better because I wJ going in to underground head work,” Ford said when aska why he decided to start teachinl Ford has been at Clackamas sind 1977, teaching primarily hums relations. In 1994, he publish« his own text book titled “Hums Relations, A Game Plan for Ini proving Personal Adjustment.” “I wrote the book because I wis there were some things peopl knew before they came ini counseling.” During his sabbatical last yea Ford attended grad school to sta teaching history. This is the fin term Ford has taught Oregon hi tory. He is trying to introduJ “psycho history,” or “putting hi tory on the couches,” as he pul it. The class is about looking | some of the psychological dl namics of what goes on in ri gards to shaping the historic events. When Ford decides he has ha his fair share of time Clackamas, he plans to becorn a park ranger or a tour guid somewhere in Oregon. “Where do old teachers d when they retire? They just a and teach in another place,” sai Ford. If you just can’t get enough J Ford in his classes, you can tJ to see him and Ed Mills, a socil science instructor, play in hi blue grass band. Just ask hi] for the where and the when! What would Xmas be without Clackamas' trees? ELISABETH MEYER Staff Writer For a growing number of Oregon’s businesses, the season of comfort and joy begins earlier each year. Expand ing the Christmas season, which com prises a staggering part of retail activ ity, benefits merchandisers immensely. But no amount of preparation for the annual frenzy rivals the sheer time commitment the following individuals make to December 25: Christmas tree fanners. Western Oregon’s temperate rainforest makes it a perfect cradle for the industry. In fact, Oregon tops the list of Christmas tree-producing states, growing 10 million of the35-40million trees sold in the United States annu ally, said Clackamas County Extension Agent Mike Bondi. A quarter of Oregon’s trees are grown in Clackamas County alone, 90 percent of which are shipped out of state. These numbers help us to understand why you can’t get to far from campus without seeing scores of tree plantations. Ina heavily agricultural state,Christ mas trees compete for what Bondi es timates is their tenth-place ranking in economic importance of Oregon crops. He said Christmas tree farming began mostly as a side business for many Clackamas County families when the sorted sizes cf trees—hot industry first picked up steam in the drinks, candy canes, and a pet late 1950s. And although Christmas ting zoo. trees are now important, Clackamas still He begins shipping his trees has more growers than any other wholesale in early November, county in Oregon. and usually isn’t done until late While tree farming isn’t simpleor re in the month. Then the U-cut laxing, as local grower Jim Ringle season begins. stresses, it is a favored method of “This is the first time in 17 supplementing a dayjob. years I’ve had Thanksgiving “You can’t (make money) raising a off,” Ringle said. He attributes couple of cows, or growing a couple the early finish to the timely ar acres of a grain crop, or hay,” said rival of wholesalers’ trucks, Bondi. While growing trees is much which have a reputation, he said, more complex than most people real of being less than prompt. ize, he says, “It is a whole lot better Timing is crucial to shipping, than most of the alternatives.” since the trees are perishable. / America’s Christmas tree industry They must be loaded within has been growing steadily since the days of being cut. 1920s, when trees became a household “What you have is a very per tradition. Michigan was the top grower ishable commodity, and it’s a till 1979, said Bondi. “Oregon eclipsed very labor-intensive one,” said all other states after that” Bondi. “Most everything is Modern tree farmers fill the done by hand.” growing gap between a holiday This makes labor, especially tradition and a less home-cen at harvest time, a huge issue. tered lifestyle, said grower Jim “Without the migrant Ringle of Ringle and Son Tree workforce,” Bondi said, “I Farm. People are simply too busy frankly don’t think this indus to go hunt for the perfect tree in ' try would survive.” the backwoods, making U-cuts Local farms ship to Guam, Ja the new holiday tradition. His U- pan and the Philippines, to name cut in Beavercreek features—be just a few countries. Within the sides several species and as United States, trees also have ELISABETH MEYER/ Clackamas Pi Left to right: Francisco, Ricardo and Carmen Ortiz bale Christmas trees at Misty Tree Farms in Estacada. miles to go before purchase. Estacada tree grower Jim Erwin’s trees are shipped not only to places where white Christmases are rare or nonexistent, but also where they are much whiter than the Willamette Valley. “We ship (them) to Hawaii, New York, Washington D C., Texas, Louisiana, Nevada, Kan sas, California...and let me think.. .Idaho,” he said. Why can’t states grow their own trees? Some can and still do. Pennsylvania and New York are well able to produce trees, said Bondi. But Oregon’s climate can produce a tree faster. “A tree that would take sevi years here would take nine in Pen sylvania,” Bondi said. “And ou would look better... we simp grow really good trees.” Add the Northwest-natn Noble fir to that equation and tl scales are tipped even farther Oregon’s favor. Nobles, whi( Bondi terms “the Cadillac ( Christmas trees,” have been ma keted back east for about twen years, but are still popular—ai expensive. Growers struggle to keep i with the demand. “We just can grow enough (of the Noble firs) said Ringle.
