Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2002)
4 ________ Feature WedNEScky, J anuary 16, 2002 ThE CI ac I camas P rint New term starts without Lesley DAISY BAIN A&E Editor MIKE POLLOCK / Clackamas Print Craig Lesley, Pulitzer nominee and English instructor, reminisces about his time at Clackamas Community College. Cra'ig Lesley, English instruc tor and award-winning novel ist, retired Oct. 1 after a 30-year tenure at Clackamas. The de partment will hold a retirement party for Lesley sometime this spring. “It’s been a great place to teach. I love the students. It’s been a wonderful teaching fac ulty,” said Lesley. Lesley started teaching be cause he liked to work with people. “I’ve always liked teach ing. I plan to teach on a part- time basis,” he said. He espe cially liked his remedial classes. “One of the best things about Clackamas is that you get to teach older students,” Lesley said. He also liked his night classes because the interest was brought to the class. “The older students make that true.” “I’m really proud of the writers that I’ve brought to the school,” said Lesley about the authors he has helped bring to Clackamas for Authors’ Night. Besides teaching, Lesley has hobbies such as spending time with his family, fishing, playing basketball with his daughters and working with Hispanic people by helping them write letters and fill out forms. Of course, he also likes to write. Lesley grew up in Eastern Or egon and went to high school in Walla Walla. This area of Oregon is where Lesley comes up with most of the material for his sto ries. So far Lesley has four books that have been published and have won awards. “Winterkill,” published in 1984, is about a ro deo rider and his son. It won the Best Novel award from the Pacifu Northwest Booksellers Associatior in 1985 and has had a lot of follow ing in colleges around the state. “The River Song,” published ii 1989, and “The Sky Fisherman,” pub lished in 1995, also have received th( Best Novel award. “Storm Riders,” published in 2000, is a novel set in Oregon City and ii based on Lesley’s experience rais ing a young'American Indian fostet child with a birth defect. Both “Storm Riders” and “The Sky Fisherman’ were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize Lesley says that his favorite par about writing these novels is thai people read them and like them. “That is where the real reward is. said Lesley. Lesley is currently working on a nonfiction book about Eastern Or egon and the disappearance of ths Old West. Chewing gum doesn’t bridge the gender gap Welcome back—I hope everyone enjoyed the break. If I remember cor rectly, you all ran off and didn’t let me finish my story. Consequently, I lost interest and took off down a totally unrelated path that I have to find some way to segue into, so let’s see how this works: anti-aircraft gunsights, ra diation subplot and blondes in uniform... oh yes, the dentist I’m to tally convinced that dental personnel, like women in general, are experts in subtleties. Add the fact that mine ¿ran intelligent woman, and I was way out of my league. One minute she’s dis cussing the office Xmas party with the occasional dental reference tossed in: . .blah, blah, buckle..or “.. .yada, yada, crown—by the way who’s your insurance through..then suddenly “root planing" slips out Those two words together paint a down while you all were enjoying really scary picture—involving Home shots on New Year’s Eve. Noteven Depot and a shop teacher missing sev a great white shark opens its mouth eral fingers in my case—but by this until the last possible second during time, who cares! This is a very clever an attack, and then it clams up as tactic whereby she uses her superior soon as business is handled. That’s oration skills to keep the patient under what mystifies men about a woman’s wraps. Jaws were never meant to be apart for that Marvin G. Baker long for any Guest Columnist reason. Ever. She knows I don’t have the strength to voice a potest by that point And ability (and desire) to talk through why the hell is she trying to keep up a everything. It has nothing to do with conversation with me when she’s got emotional predisposition, it’s just three fingers and a Makita cordless in physiologically unnatural to us. my mouth? This is the tangent I ran Many years ago, William Wrigley tried bridging the gap between moi and women with chewing gum, and it failed miserably. It was supposed to be a way for men to exercise and develop the stamina to hold their own in the oral give-and-take of relationships. It merely ended up stuck to shoes, un der desks or in children’s hair. This left behind a generation of bob-cut, TMJ-afflicted girls pissed at the insti tution. This is why science now strictly focuses on biting pressure. There’s no awe-inducing study of jaw-opening power on the horizon. We already know what the results would be. My baby sister could hold an alligator’s mouth shut, but there isn’t a man on this planet who can stem the tide that follows the phrase “Honey, we need to talk.” (Someday dental-school care provider drives aj T brand new BMW. OREGON CITY south Ridge Center r We Will Have It Ready!!! #503 655-9070 r 1630-J Beavercreek Rd. Located in South Ridge Center M-T11-9. Fri & Sat 11-10 * Sunday 11-8 TRANSFER DAY Standard Submarines @ $325 • Full Subs @ $4.75 ♦ Half Subs © $3.25 *1 #2 #3 »4 #5 *6 #7 Ham, Salami. & Pepperoni Ham & Salami Cotto Salami or Bologna Ham & Turkey All Cheese Turkey & Salami Pastrami FRËË Sub¡Í2FüllS<ibs I I I Buy any Two Subs at regular price- I Get a 3nd Sub of equal or less value I FREEI (Upto $5.00) I with coupon I I 1630-J Beavercreek Rd. * Oregon City I___________________ 503 655-9070 1 Coupon pe» visit ■ Not valid wth otter oMere n/27x}1 Clackamas Community College Thursday January 31, 2002 Gregory Forum 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. #8 Pepperoni #9 Ham £*2 #10 Salami #11 Turkey r*'rTTTriTiT #12 Pastrami, Swisa and Kraut #13 Pastrami A Salami n % I I 13 varieties to choose from SHmUH 163O-J Beavercreek Rd. * Oregon City 503 656-9070 I I I’ll tell you about the poor guy who in vented another marital aid known as duct tape.) Here’s a further example of the com munication gap: I think it’s probably easier for gay men to quit smoking than it is for straight men. That’s the only part of the joke I need to lay out for anothri guy. Our minds slide out of the gutter into the storm systein and we chuckle or groan. However, ¿heck with a female friend, either it’s stupid or they just don’t get it, then you have to explain it (more talking) and it’s no longer funny. It’s gross, which ruins the joke and invites shame, which results in that new living room set she’s had her eye on for the past few months. I don’t think it’s any I accident that my very married, fresh-from-1 •Concordia University • Portland State University •Ea stern Oregon University •Southern Oregon University Meet with College and •George Fox University University •Lewis & Clark College Representatives •Linfield College to Learn ■ Marylhurst University More About •Northwest Christian College •Oregon Institute of Technology Transferring to Their •Oregon State University ■ Pacific University Schools •Univerjityof Oregon •University of Phoenix ■University of Portland •Warner Pacific College •Western Baptist College •Western Oregon University ■Washington State University— Vancouver 1 Coupon per visit • Not valid with other otter* For more information, please see an Academic Advisor tn the Advising & Counseling office located in the Community Center.
