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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 2012)
lumbia. That’s 1,100 miles. Alone. This was 1994, only a year after the PCT had offi cially been completed and long before it became a well-maintained jaunt for even the most casual of hikers. Her courage in the face of bears and unsa- vory strangers is admirable, but her repeated disregard for learning from her mistakes (not carrying enough water, fl im- sy footwear, a back-breakingly heavy pack) can make you want to yell at the page. Most of impressive of all, however, is her willingness to explore the wilderness of her own heart and mind. — Alex Notman k The Story Of PCUN and the Farmworker Movement In Oregon By Lynn Stephen. UO Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies, $9.95. This freshly revised book by Lynn Stephen, Ph.D., a UO anthro- pologist, broadens our understanding of im- migrants in Oregon. It relates the history of immigrant farmwork- ers in Oregon, mostly workers with family origins in Mexico, and their long struggle to achieve representa- tion in a union, PCUN, Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste — the Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United. Immigrant farmworkers became essential to Oregon agriculture in the 1940s with the U.S. government’s adoption of the Bracero Program, which invited Mexican laborers to replace U.S. workers who joined the military or industry in WWII. They were considered “heroes” for securing our food supply during the war. Since then, Mexican-American migratory and resident farmworkers have become commonplace in Oregon, harvesting our food and planting our trees, while suffering discrimination, unhealthy working conditions, marginalization and a complex legal status. They contribute to our economy and prosperity without receiving the basics of a living wage, health care or minimal labor rights. PCUN was founded in 1985 on the groundwork laid by Oregon immigrant workers, inspired by Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers, to address these injustices. Stephen describes PCUN as being “a crucial part of La- tino history in Oregon over the past three decades. From a small offi ce providing legal services for immigrant workers to being a national leader in defending the rights of farm- workers and immigrants, PCUN has become a role model for the positive integration of Latino immigrants in the U.S.” The book is based on collaboration between the UO and PCUN, with interviews, visits to the fi elds and the PCUN archives. It can be downloaded free online at the UO’s Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies website at wkly.ws/1ed and is now available in hardcopy at the UO Duck Store. — Stephanie Larsen Why Your Five-Year-Old Could Not Have Done That: Modern Art Explained By Susie Hoge. Prestel, $17.95. For a book titled Why Your Five-Year-Old Could Not Have Done That, author and art historian Susie Hoge, often has to tell a reader that, well, technically a child could have done that. Her part-guidebook, part- CliffsNotes for modern art features over 100 works from Henri Matisse to Louis Bourgeois to Ai Weiwei, and it breaks down each oeuvre OPEN DEC. 24TH, 25TH, 31ST & JAN. 1ST until 5pm • Bakery • Pasteries • Fruits • Vegetables • Fresh Meats • Taco Shop • Beer • Panaderia • Pasteleria • Frutas • Verduras • Carnes Frescas • Taqueria • Cerveza OPEN Till 9pm DAILY 628 Blair • Eugene 541 338-9086 • 541 743-0779 We Accept WIC & EBT Cards 5. 99 Bacon $ Omelette 4 Chicken Tacos and a Jarrito $ 16 5. 99 December 13, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com 4. 99 Torta $ Carnitas by technique, historic and artistic context and location. Take Franz Kline’s 1950 “Chief,” for example; to the “untrained” mind, the painting is a unwieldy mess of thick, black paint strokes with no eye toward representation, or even meaning, of any kind. Hoge explains that the tableau does “resemble something that a child might create,” but “a child could not compress the multitudes of subtle illusions, the suggestions of images, and the feel of determination and speed that Kline succeeds in bringing.” This reasoning feels a bit like a cop out, not because I disagree with Hoge or dislike modern art — quite the opposite — but because she alludes to these “subtle illusions” that distinguish a masterpiece from child’s play but never delves into them, never explains them, asking the reader just to trust that meaning lies within the layers of paint or clay or human fl uids (see Paul McCarthy’s “Class Fool”). That being said, this book is an incredibly digestible romp into the world of modern art, especially for those who would never dream of venturing into a gallery for fun, and boasts enough historical trivia about the artists, artwork and art movements to keep each spread interesting and teach you just enough so you can impress your friends. Did you know that before Jasper Johns ever made his iconic American fl ag collages, he decorated store windows at Tiffany’s in New York City? I, for one, did not. — Alex Notman Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety By Daniel Smith. Simon & Schuster, $25. An estimated 40 million people in the U.S. live with anxiety. I am one of them. So when Daniel Smith’s book came out this year, Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety, I was incredibly excited, and dare I say anxious, to see what a mainstream memoir would say about this silent epidemic. For people who struggle with anxiety, reassurance can become an addictive quest, and thus just to see Monkey Mind proudly displayed in every bookstore was the ultimate reassurance. My reactions to the book’s content, however, are mixed. Smith, a journalist who has written for The Atlantic and The
