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May 11, 2005
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'ollege and high school
udents raise awareness
lout gay discrimination
p theater perforance,
tessom from Laramie ”
Karlin Johnson
feature Editor
I As a stand against social injustice,
Leral local college and high school
■dents have come together to pro
Ice a shortened version of the play,
|he Laramie Project,” which they
III be performing at Oregon City
th School this Friday, May 13.
I ‘The LaiamieProject”comes from
■true story of Matthew Sheppard, a
ly University of Wyoming student
Lt was tied to a fence and brutally
laten by two of his peers, later lead-
Lto his death. In 1998 the Tectonic
■eater Project went to Matthew’s
line town of Laramie, Wyoming,
Id conducted over 200 interviews
Mi the people living in the town,
le play is basically a compilation of
■actual interviews.
•‘After the last election I was
Igry at myself for not being more
Lived, and really disappointed
Ith the people of Oregon [for voting
Is on Measure 36],” said Danielle
Lott, the play’s director, “and I was
ling to find a way where I could
Ike a statement”
■Scott, a former librarian at
ladstone HS who has directed plays
Ire, brought her idea to one other
■son, and soon many came to her
Iking to be a part of the production.
Le cast includes four students from
Ire at Clackamas as well as students
Lin the University of Oregon, Lewis
Id Clark College and Gladstone
Igh School.
I “It just seemed like a social jus
te issue that I could get involved
Ith,” said Clackamas student Shad
lowney. “It’s something that I could
I; it’s one of the outlets that I could
■The extremely passionate group
Is decided to call themselves the
leak for H.O.P.E. theater proj-
lt, H.O.P.E. standing for Healing,
Ipeniiess, Peace and Equality.
I The original three-hour script was
Photos by Karlin Johnson Clackamas Print
ABOVE: At a recent rehearsal for “Lessons from Laramie,” a
play based on “The Laramie Project,” student actors rehearse
a scene about a medical update. RIGHT: Gladstone High
School student Misty Downey and Clackamas student Elise
Olsen rehearse a scene as two of Matthew Sheppard’s peers.
shortened to about an hour perfor
mance, so that it could be performed
in schools and other various ven
ues more conveniently. The group
also added personal testimonies and
a series of myths and facts about
homosexuals to the end of their per
formance, and decided to call then-
version of the play “Lessons from
Laramie.”
“[ find [that acting is] a good
medium to make a difference,” said
Gladstone student David Havens. “I
feel that there needs to be a difference
in the way social justice works, as in
the discrimination of people, whether
it be homosexuals or racially or ethni
cally or religious.”
The cast hopes that people will
come to see the production and leave
with changed hearts.
“I hope that people will see that
there’s a group of people that real
ly care strongly about an issue like
this,” said Gladstone student Misty
Downey.
Some cast members hope that
audience members will come into
this and change just as they did.
“I’m hoping that other people that
have the same views that I did, that
maybe were raised in church and
taught that God hates gays, are going
to'see that that’s not the case,” said
Olsen. “That’s a big thing for me, for
people that thought the same way that
I did—that they weren’t homopho
bic—to realize after they’ve seen this
that they are.”
For some the intent is much sim
pler.
“P think we are] just promoting
tolerance at worst and acceptance at
best,” said Shad Downey.
Since the script is based on inter
views with real people, the characters
range from conservative Christians, to
Matthew’s peers, to his family mem
bers, leaving the show very open for
audiences to relate to.
“I think that [Matthew’s story
is] really sad, but it’s something
that everyone can connect to,” said
Gladstone student Misty Downey.
“Some people may think that it’s
all about supporting gays and stuff,
but it’s about supporting people. It’s
something that can effect a lot of
people’s lives no matter what you
think.”
Members of the cast have also
been able to connect to the play,
including Clackamas student Elise
Olsen, who was able to relate to a
character in the play that evolves
by the end, becoming accepting of
homosexuals.
“When we read it for the first
time, I really connected to Jedediah
Shultz,” said Olsen. “That’s exactly
who I was, like his whole transforma
tion; that was exactly what I said to
Danielle, ‘I don’t hate gay people, I
just don’t agree with it,’—everything
that [the character] says. [Then how
he is] at the end of the play, that’s how
I feel now.”
Though the cast has not yet had
their first performance, they have
already experienced what they had
hoped to through the changes in
themselves.
“I think that we’ve already hit
some things that I’m pretty happy
about,” said Scott. “A lot of [cast
members’] views have changed on
this. After that I think that if one per
son changed their mind then we did
something good.”
The performance this Friday will
be at 7:30 pom. and admission is free.
Aside from this first performance,
the group is working on getting a
show booked at the University of
Oregon on May 21, and is also work
ing with Clackamas’ Rainbow Club
to get a show booked here on cam
pus.
“Things happen in your life when
you really need them,” said Scott. ‘1
have seen some really good sides of
people and seen people committed to
something where they don’t get any
thing. They aren’t getting paid; they
aren’t getting praise; they just think
it’s realty important, and so at the end
of the day when I’m finished with
‘Laramie’ [practice], I think human
ity is good—-and that’s realty a good
place for me to be.”
ove of nature the basis behind Instructor Bown’s teaching
Laura Cameron
The Clackamas Print
Max Porter Contributed photo
iology Instructor Jennifer Bown is a favorite among students,
Ping her incredible passion for biology to draw them in.
Anyone involved in the Science
department at Clackamas probably
knows Biology Instructor Jennifer
Bown. She is a favorite among her
students, and it’s easy to see why.
This Spring Break, those who
went on toe annual Death Valley
trip got to experience firsthand her
enthusiasm, her love of biology, her
great sense of humor, and her seem
ingly endless supply of energy—
when students dragged themselves
out of their tents at 5:30 in toe morn
ing, they were usually greeted by
Bown’s excited, “Come on, guys!
We’ve got lots to do today!”
Of course, Bown is prob
ably used to toe routine of Death
Valley by now; she has helped lead
Clackamas’ trip since 1994, and
led similar trips from Reno for four
years before that Her love of biol
ogy dates back much further than
that, however.
“My whole life I’ve loved ani
mals,” she explained. “Every vaca
tion as a child, we had to hit the
zoo or toe aquarium. It’s been a
passion.”
That passion is quite evident in
her teaching. It’s not very often that
one finds teachers who are so excit
ed by their own material, but those
who have had such teachers know just her students.
“Jen is really enthusiastic and
that they are often toe finest kind;
loves what she does,” observed
one gets swept up in their enthusi
Geology instructor and fellow Death
asm without really realizing it.
Down in Death Valley, Bown Valley leader Sarah Hoover. “She’s
great with working with students
was toe one scrambling up the hill
and helping them understand the
side to see toe rattlesnake, leading
subject. As a colleague, too, she’s
late-night scorpion hunts with UV
always there to point you in the right
lamps and telling stories of eating
chuckwallas and swimming with direction.”
Bown’s also more than just
pup fish. Back in toe classroom, she
a teacher; an avid skier, she also
fills her curriculum with real-world
enjoys windsurfing, rock climbing,
experiences and stories.
and bird watching—plus a little
“People need to be able to con
nect to toe material in their own gardening, when she can find the
way,” she said. “Of course, being time. She also loves to just sit and
talk, trading stories, gossip and bad
high-energy and motivated helps,
jokes. She has a very warm, open
too!”
It may surprise some to know personality, which adds a great deal
that Bown didn’t start out planning to toe connections between her and
her students.
to be a teacher.
“She is life-enriching; a friend
“Originally, I thought I’d be a
among teachers,” sard student
field biologist,” she said. “But then I
sort of fell into teaching in graduate Angela Martindale.
Indeed, whether she’s chasing
school, and I really enjoyed it.”
lizards, identifying birds, lectur
So what happened to doing field
ing on desert plants or just sitting
work?
around toe campfire and having a
“Oh, I still enjoy field work,
laugh, Jennifer Bown is a real and
and with field classes you get to
do both,” she said. “Now I think if unique treasure. She inspires both
students and staff, and brings life to
I’d been a field biologist, I’d have
gone crazy! I like people too much a subject that a friend once described
to spend a year in toe forest I’m a as “nothing but stuffed hunting tro
phies and too much Latin.”
people person.”
“She’s toe best teacher I’ve ever
This is also obvious to anyone
who knows Bown, and she’s made had,” student Francine Dodson stat
ed firmly. “Ever.”
an impression on more people than