Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2011)
o \rw-ultu re Continued tfom Page 1 i a king out the windowhf a fast-moving car, most will see fast v enery of goliath-like snowcapped mountains surround- j en less seas of what looks to be the same type of plant Ju me, it’s not). But in order to truly see Death Valley, u must step outside the box (or in this case, the car) fosee kaHks relatively young geological feature really has to offer. Nt you can try to remember to check it out the next time y head out that way, or you can experience this unbelievable, eathtaking land through a very unique course provided at ^ckai nas Community College. Go-log/professor Sarah Hoover and Department Chair of jence Jennifer Bown make a phenomenal team when they ¡e the students enrolled in BI-165 to Death Valley for nine ys during spring break. Hoover and Bown leave no rock unturned, no plant or ñnal unnamed and work hard all year to make every spring I to Death Valley one to remember. Every day is filled with fless streams of interesting information from the scientific Bes and biology of lizards, scorpions, plants and birds to ¡V rocks and the valley itself formed over millions of years. 'Students enrolled in the Natural History of Death Valley ss also learn about the different people that call the desert me, like the Shoshone tribe who are considered to be the st basket weavers in the world. Students also learn all about gol rush that stormed the land and sparked “boom towns” sproi.i up everywhere. They get to tour through ghost towns e Rhyolite which was built in 1905 as a mining town for I Frog Mountain where $3.1 million was pulled from the i. In the class you are required to have a field journal where you log all toe information as it comes, information such as elevation, temperature, species lists and location notes. At the end of every day students must write a reflection Wednesday, April 13, 2011 The Clackamas Print 5 that summarizes the dai ly events and reactions of the student The journal hardly seems like work though; aside from helping you out greatly with your final exam, the journal stands as an excellent reminder of the breathtaking experiences. “It’s what we call a living laboratory,” said Bown, who is known for her bird classes and Natural History of the Oregon Coast class. Six nights on the valley floor without any TV or radio may sound like a daunting task for some technology-addicted col lege students, but once you’re there it’s actually not half bad. The view wi 11 have you staring out into the openness for what would be hours if Hoover or Bown allowed it to happen. The night sky brings something more unbelievable than anything TV could provide: a window that reveals the far reaches of the universe through countless flickering stars and distant moving objects. So if you ’ re in need of an adventure, one that will stay with you for the rest of your life, Death Valley is where it’s at There are no words to appropriately describe anything that happens in the Natural History of Death Valley course. The words awe some, informative, creative and adventurous all seem to fall short in defining what the experience is 1 ike. Although the Death Valley lab only takes place during spring break, you can sti 11 walk around the giant Petri dish on Bown’s Malheur field trip from May 12-15, Students travel to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge and stay in the on-site dorms and visit the John Day Fossil Beds to learn about the geology of Eastern Oregon. Bown said that because she brings her bird class there will also be quite a bit of bird watching. The class is only one credit and is used as a science elec tive by most students, but again the experience is why people go. It’s one thing to learn about the geology and biology of a specific location from a book or class but a , complete other to actually see, feel, taste, hear and smell L. it right where it’s happening. For more i nformation on the Malheur trip or any others, talk to Bown (Pauling-124e) or Hoover (Pauling-124) during their office hours. There are still quite a few openings on the Malheur trip; don’t let the opportu- nity pass you by. John Shufelt Clackamas Print Hoover instructs her Natural History of Death Valley class that takes place over spring break. From left to right: Devon Kennedy, Mary Hosanna Hunt, I. Porter and instructor Hoover observe fault lines. +: Home brewers can now find freedom in new bill By Joshua Baird As & Culture Editor 's about time. I hate to mix politics with teurc, but in this case it is ton March 28 John Kitzhaber lifc lii • ;ood choice of his cur- ministration. J ne; i one year, the Oregon legislature has fixed one of st antagonistic rulings by the iLiqu Control Commission ty long time with Senate Bill fe bill allows home brewers t again compete at amateur I and winemaking contests je. 9 the debacle last summer Oregon State Fair, where the made it known that the com- 1 Hilly intended to block all contests being held statewide with a reinterpretation of a Prohibition-era law, many home brewers and brew supply shops began to express their discontent with the way that OLCC was handling the regulation. Many, myself included, felt that the only reason that the OLCC was so gung-ho about enforcing this law after so many years is that they were unable to (over) tax homemade alcohol as they do with beer, wine and liquor at the store. Much like a lame DVD, this new ruling comes with erne extra feature: no, it isn’t a preview for the movie you bought, but instead donating your beer to non-profits is allegedly now going to be considered tax deductible. I’m not really sure if it is worth it to even try and donate my sweet homebrewed ambrosia-esque beer. The sheer volume of beer that you would have to give away would cause you to lose money on the ingredients alone, unless the government is will ing to give a tax deduction to give your beer away of 10-20 times the cost of ingredients. In my opinion, there is nothing more sawed than a man’s (or wom an’s) right to share the fruits of his labors with his friends, family and co-workers if he so chooses. And thankfully, most home-brewers love to share the beer that they make with others. In the end, there is very little left to say about this decision beyond that it was the right choice for the artistic types in Oregon, those of us whose medium is not paints on canvas or pencil on paper, those of us who instead chose to carve out our place in the world with flavorful and intense (and in some cases highly potent) beer or wine. Or more simply put, it’s about time. Don’t forget to check out www. twenty-lplus.com for more exclusive content Disclaimer We at The Clackamas Print do not encourage drinking to excess or underage drinking of any kind. Remember to drink responsibly. Home brewers can now enjoy the sharing of their homemade beer thanks to a new bill passed on March 28.
