PRINT: Arts & Culture
Wednesday.Jan.30,2013
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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