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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, NOvEmbER 4, 2021
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
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Circulation manager
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WRITER’S NOTEBOOK
How do we come back from loss?
L
earning to handle a loss is as
important as how to appreciate a
victory. Even the best hitters strike
out many more times than they hit safely
in baseball.
Humiliation and losses have the
potential of defining the rest of our lives.
Do they leave a scar that festers? Or do
we respond with creativity?
David Brooks has
written about “what a
large role humiliation has
played in American his-
tory.” In The New York
Times in October, he
describes the physiolog-
ical trauma that comes
STEVE
from it. “The brutal fea-
FORRESTER
ture of humiliation is that
it gets inside you,” he
wrote.
If you are familiar with Jackie Rob-
inson’s story, you know he endured con-
stant abuse as a groundbreaking Black
player in Major League Baseball in the
late 1940s and 1950s. It was essential
to his mentor, Branch Rickey, that Rob-
inson not take that bait — that he not
respond to the haters. You also know that
Robinson died young, at the age of 53.
In the tellings of Robinson’s story that I
have heard, there is a presumption that
his years of being the object of racial
hatred in ballparks took a physical toll.
Resilience is the word, which these
days is applied to the capacity to come
back from childhoods of impediments.
Psychologists and educators are espe-
cially interested in men and women who
move beyond poverty and abuse to lives
of accomplishment.
Brooks describes it this way: “They
responded to humiliation with creative
action. Disdained at home, they turned
their faces to the future.”
As I have unearthed the life of Ore-
gon’s Richard Neuberger, discrimina-
tion and humiliation are unspoken ele-
Associated Press
A portrait of Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948.
A portrait of Richard Neuberger when he
was a student at the University of Oregon.
ments of the late U.S. senator. I have
found them in contemporaneous newspa-
per reports about the young man. It also
appears in his letters and in interviews I
did with his contemporaries.
At the University of Oregon, Neu-
berger disturbed the peace while editor of
the Oregon Daily Emerald. He addressed
the predicament of needy students at a
time when the Great Depression had cut
dormitory occupancy by half. He devel-
oped a financial plan, as well as an eating
plan, for students in need.
These initiatives were resented by fra-
ternity representatives in student govern-
ment. One mean-spirited initiative took
the shape of a resolution: “Be it resolved
we the individual students in the Univer-
sity of Oregon, wish to contribute to a
scholarship fund to aid Richard L. Neu-
berger to enroll in some distant East-
ern college or university at his earliest
convenience.” Tin cans were nailed up
around the UO campus, beckoning con-
tributions to “send Dickie” to another
school.
Neuberger responded graciously, say-
ing that these contributions should be
given to students who needed the finan-
cial support. But the virulent undertone
of this campus behavior was not lost on
Maurice Sellin, who wrote in The Jew-
ish Scribe that Neuberger had been “vil-
ified, attacked, castigated and anathema-
tized by bell, book and candle. If I may
be permitted to coin a word, he was also
antisemitized.”
The ultimate humiliation came when
law school dean Wayne Morse flunked
Neuberger in Morse’s criminal law
course. Morse then called Neuberger’s
parents to suggest that they were wast-
ing their money on law school. Neuberg-
er’s roommate, Steve Kahn, told me that
Neuberger was “despondent.” Neuberger
left the UO and never earned a degree.
Flunking out of college is dispiriting.
Neuberger responded with creativity, by
selling his first article to The New York
Times. He followed that with nine more
Times articles in the following year, as
well as two to The Nation magazine. His
phenomenal career as a magazine and
newspaper journalist was well off the
ground.
In examining a historical figure, we
tend to look for accomplishment — as
though success was an obvious outcome
in their life. But every professional writer
has his or her set of rejection letters. And
the most successful often bear scars.
One of Neuberger’s most profound
responses to setback was his 1959 Harp-
er’s article: “When I Learned I Had Can-
cer.” This revelation appeared in an era
when cancer was typically a dark secret,
spoken about in hushed tones. In his con-
fession, Neuberger did what first lady
Betty Ford would do decades later by
revealing her brush with breast cancer.
Aldous Huxley provided us with a
useful perspective on how we might han-
dle the darker sides of life: “Experience
is not what happens to a man; it is what a
man does with what happens to him.”
Steve Forrester, the former editor and
publisher of The Astorian, is the president
and CEO of EO media Group.
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GUEST COLUMN
Face masks and kids
A
face mask is a simple thing, yet
it’s one of the best tools we have
to help protect one another from
COVID-19.
That’s why public health experts say
almost everyone should wear a mask until
they’re fully vaccinated — including chil-
dren as young as 2 years old. Many areas
have mask mandates in addition to recom-
mendations. And children may need
to wear a mask at least part of the
time while they’re at school.
Tips for masking up
with your child about face masks and why
your family wears them: to avoid spreading
germs. Talk with them about how germs
can spread when people breathe, talk,
cough or sneeze. Wearing a mask keeps
the virus from reaching others and it can
stop germs from reaching you! Addition-
ally, contaminated hands are a way for the
virus to spread and masks stop people from
touching their mouths and faces,
adding another level of protection.
Right mask, right fit
You can buy a face covering for
Wearing a face mask can be chal-
your child. Or if you sew, you can
lenging for children. You can help
find DIY mask patterns online. A
them adjust with these suggestions:
pleated cloth mask with elastic ear
WHITNEY
● Make it fun. Put a face mask
loops usually works best for kids.
LATHAM
on a stuffed animal. Give your
Just make sure the mask you buy
child’s mask a cool decoration. Point
or make will fit your child’s smaller
out that many superheroes wear masks.
face and can be securely worn over your
● Practice together. Help your child
child’s nose and mouth. Adult face masks
get used to wearing the mask before you go
are too large for kids.
out.
Also, children often need to be reminded
● Show your child pictures of other
to:
kids wearing masks. This will help your
● Wash their hands before and after
child avoid feeling different or singled out.
wearing the mask.
● Talk about the importance of
● Avoid touching the mask while wear-
masks. Using age-appropriate words, talk
ing it.
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Masks can help deter the spread of the coronavirus.
● Remove the mask by taking it off from
behind rather than from the front.
When to talk to your child’s doctor
Some children have a developmental or
intellectual disability or a health condition
that may make it harder to wear a mask.
Ask your child’s doctor for advice.
Call your CMH clinic or visit colum-
biamemorial.org to request an appointment
or learn more information.
dr. Whitney Latham is the in-house pedi-
atrician at CmH-OHSu Health Pediatric
Clinic – Seaside.