Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 2013)
PRINT: Arts & Culture Wednesday.Jan.30,2013 «¡J 5 College sweethearts — are they ready to go steady? Emily Rask Co-Arts & Culture Editor “Love is patient, love is kind,” but does marriage start in col lege? Marriage is a big thing for younger people nowadays; many young people between the ages of 18 and 25 are getting married for many different reasons although the average age of people who get married as of 2007 is about 27.5 for men and 25.6 for women, according to USA Today’s Sharon Jayson. Some get married because in a traditional sense, they have found the one they want to spend the rest of their lives with. Some get married because their signifi cant other is in the military and in order to share benefits, they must marry and others get mar ried due to pregnancy. Marriage used to happen between couples from their mid to late twenties, now that isn’t quite as common as it used to be. Ayla Karbonski, a freshman at Clackamas Community College, is not against marriage and believes that as long as couples are not 12 and they are over 18 then it’s fine. “As long as they’re ready and they love each other, then it’s okay,” Karbonski said. College is a time when young couples are opened up to what really happens in the real world and it tests their relationships, some make it through all the hard times, but some don’t. Marriage is a tough life step, but so is college. Some students can handle the stresses of college as well as,marriage at the same time, 'while others can’t. Getting married at a young age is now a common thing to do, but accord ing to the National Center for Health Statistics, about 60 percent of couples who marry between the ages of 20 and 25 are bound for divorce. Stephanie Schaefer, counselor at CCC, believes that a marriage during school is something to think very carefully about and have precaution towards because it can be very hard. “Adolescence lasts until your mid to late twen ties, which can certainly influence how good of a decision maker you are. Your brain hasn’t finished fully forming. Does that mean some people make poor choices in partners? Yes. Does that mean all people make poor choices in partners? Np.” Freshman Jamie Gibson feels as though a lot of people get married without knowing and too soon. Gibson got engaged on Christmas day of 2012, but she will not be getting married until throe years from now when she is graduated. For advice to couples who are thinking of getting married in col lege, Gibson said, “I would say, complete school before you do it. College is difficult and it’s already hard to work and go to school and see your significant other.” Schaefer also added, “It is something you should consider very carefully and it’s not for everyone.” Going to school as well as planning a wedding can be tough because of the additional stress. There are many reasons that more and more younger people are get ting married and it can be a very happy time in everyone’s lives, but it is something to” think care fully through and make sure it is the right decision for ones per sonal relationship. Jamie Gibson and her fiance, Jordan Leonetti, show o ff their silly side at the Original Taco House in Portland. Gibson thinks the right thing to do fo r young couples who are planning on getting married is to wait until they are done with school. Readings celeb rate W illiam Stafford’s poetry Denee’ Shelton The Clackamas Print Are you a poet who didn’t even know it? William Edgar Stafford (1914 - 1993) was from right here in the Northwest and in celebra tion of his birthday and his life, many libraries around Oregon aré hosting poetry readings. At these readings some people read his poems or poems that have been inspired by him and others tell stories of his life and how they have been influenced by Stafford. For the reading that hap pened at Clackamas Community College, many people contrib uted to the event including, but not limited to, three of our very own teachers: Sue Mach, Kate Gray and Trista Cornelius. Mach 3 read “An Introduction to Some Poems” and “Lit Instructor,” both of . which were by Stafford. Gray read “A Way of Writing” by Stafford and one of her very own poems. I A few years ago at one o f these readings, Stafford’s wife, current ly living in Lake Oswego, came in to Clackamas Community College and told a story of when -Stafford was a small child. He was in elemenf ary school — there was one little African American girl, who no one would play with in the schoolyard with him. Stafford went over and stood with this girl so she would have some one there with her. “That was just the type of guy he was, ” said Gray, poetry teacher at Clackamas Community College. “He’s always been the type of person to stand up, stand up for animals, stand up for trees. So every year we get to stand up with him on his birthday.” Stafford was a writer, twen tieth Laureate of Oregon and a conscientious objector of World War II. When asked what she admired most about him, Mach said, “The fact that he was a pacifist and how rare that is in this gun crazy climate that we live in. Just this afternoon I was in my office just kind of weeping and reading his poems and reflecting on how he’s all about nonviolent resistance and how much influence he has, even now, because he is the most famous poet Oregon has ever produced.” I “He’s someone who is not just a local thing, he’s someone who is nationally known. He rep resents so much in the Pacific Northwest.” Cornelius, one of the host il ■ ¡M Cornelius talked with a group o f attendees after the Stafford reading. A ll attendees either go to school at CCC or work fo r CCC and were catching up once the reading was over. esses of this celebration, made the same connection to Stafford as Mach by saying, “He was extremely humble even with being so extremely accomplished and extremely famous, he was still incredibly humble and down to Earth. He didn’t glorify him self, but instead was very modest. He encouraged everyday people to write, really all about the prac- ticd of writing, almost in a spiritu al kind of why. The daily practice of writing was just as important to him as any published work. He talked a lot about daily effort and how relevant it is.” Stafford’s first major collec tion of poetry, The Traveling Through The Dark, was pub lished when he was 48, a late start, some say. However, this didn’t hold him back in the slight est, the collection won him the 1963 National, Book Award for Poetry. Despite his late start, he fre quently contributed to magazines and anthologies. At the time of his death, he had published 57 volumes of poetry. Stafford wrote 22,000 poems in his entire lifetime, but unfortunately only about 3,000 of them ended up being published. Stafford’s writ ing style is similar to the way Robert Frost wrote. Stafford’s poems are charac teristically short and focus on the Earth, its elements and the things he saw around him. In 1970, Stafford was appoint ed Consultant of Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position now known as Poet Laureate, and five years later began to work solely with Oregon. In 1992, to honor his lifetime involvement and achievement in poetry, he was awarded the Western States Book Award. If you- missed this reading, don’t fret, the English department hosts many readings throughout the year and students are encour aged to take part in these read ings. The next one is on Feb. 14, which is not only Valentine’s Day, but also Oregon’s birthday, so poems can either be about love or about Oregon history. There will also be another read ing in April celebrating William Shakespeare’s birthday. The English department loves hear ing from students, so this is your chance to show your school spir it! If you are interested in partici pating, contact Trista Cornelius at 503-594-3266 or email her at tristac@clackamas.edu. An Oregon Message bs William 1‘dear Stattbid \\ hen we first moved here, pulled the trees in around us, curled our backs to the wind, no one had escr hit the moon - n o one Sow our trees die safer than the stars, and onlj other people’s neglect is our precious and ahidin • shell, pierced bs meteors, radar and the telepnouc I mm out snin: plate we shout religioush lor attmtion, in order to hioe onh silence or evasion will bmie d t lgerous notice the hovering hawk ol the st ite, oi the sudden quiet stare and fatal estimate of an alerted neighbor fhis message we smuggle out in its plain cuser, to be opened quictlv Friends users where— we are .disc* Ihose moon lockets have missed millions of secret plates' Be s s Bum this
