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M c K inley B i ri Since I closed last w eek’s article with a ’page-image’ from Herman Melville’sclassic.“MobyDick” (“like a painted ship, upon a painted sea” ), I thought, why not draw again from the poetic prose he used to describe the pursuit o f ’The Great White W hale?’ Melville engraves a permanent place in the readers mind and in the history o f reading’-when he brings one’s ear to interact with his visual description o f the port city from which Captain Ahab launched his ill-fated adventure. Had this gifted writer so very early on developed a 'literary virtual real ity?’ “...thesaltylickandlapofthesea, at the foot ofevery cross-town street?” Can you not hear, see, and smel 1 the reality ofthis New England town. The word-artist has left an indelible im print on a receptive mind; a master craftsman has painted a word-picture that the reader may recall and enjoy forever. This is why there are those of uswhoindicttoday’seducation system for failure to equip so many children with adequate reading skills; intellectu ally starved. O f course, we have it on good au thority that 'H om er,’ the famed Greek bard was illiterate, though, as Alberta Manguel tells us in his “History o f Reading” (Viking, 1996), his admiring listeners transcribed poems like the “Illiad” onto parchment scrolls-24 in the particular case. They were distrib uted throughout all known lands. A “scroll” is an interesting device for conveying a written message; in the third grade we wrote horizontal mes sages on long strips o f paper, such that theycouldbewoundbetweentwosticks- gradualiy revealing the entire message by winding or unwinding the sticks. We, like the Greeks, called this “scrolling,” and interestingly, the tech nique o f retrieving stoned information in your computer is still called “scroll ing." O f course, that is a vertical pro cess as opposed to horizontal; but as z Manguel goes on to recite an infor mative and fascinating story o f the de velopment o f books as we know them. Clay tablets o f legal codes became "codexes" which could be hand-held. Papyrus was too brittle to be folded into booklets, but parchment orvellum (ani mal skins) could be cut or folded into all sorts o f shapes and sizes. O ur author provides us with much o f the history ot 'b o o k s’ in the ancient w o rld o f G re e c e , R o m e, an d M esoptamia (M iddle East-Iran, Iraq). The Egyptian developm ent centers around the fairly 'la te ' developm ents at the famous library at Alexandria. M anguel skirts the seminal contri butions o f the Africans and obvi ously, begins his story with the con ventional European treatment. Thus, you will not find commentary on the e a c h y e a r, o u r c o m m u n itie s n e e d s tr o n g e r p r o te c tio n s . W e n e e d to e x p a n d o u r r ig h t to k n o w a b o u t th e c h e m ic a l s th a t p la c e o u r h e a lth a n d o u r / Send your letters to the Editor to: Editor, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 L e t te r to E d ito r R e p r e s e n ta tiv e C h u c k C a r p e n te r S t a t e C a p ita l B u ild in g S a le m , O r e g o n 9 7 3 1 0 D e a r M r. C a r p e n te r , A s a c i tiz e n o f O r e g o n a n d a n u r s i n g m o t h e r , I am c o n c e r n e d a b o u t th e in c r e a s i n g n u m b e r o f to x ic c h e m ic a ls in O r e g o n ’ s e n v ir o n m e n t. M a n y o f th e s e c h e m ic a l s h a v e b e e n lin k e d w ith c a n c e r , b ir th d e f e c ts , a n d o th e r p r o b le m s , w h ile m o s t h a v e n o t e v e n b e e n f u lly te s te d fo r h e a lth e f f e c ts . T h e w e ll - p u b l ic iz e d d is a s tr o u s c o n se q u e n c e s o f p re g n a n t w o m e n w h o w e r e g iv e n d ie th - y l s t i l b e s t r o l ( D E S ) in th e 1 9 5 0 s a n d 1 9 6 0 s a re j u s t th e tip o f th e ic e b e r g . M r. C a r p e n te r , 1 am a b i o l o g i s t , n o t a famed “Rosetta Stone” __ i . as im o i I had a handheld Tpva« “ Rosetta Stone v whose par early 1979 Texas famed allel inscriptions in three languages Instrument calculator on which one perm itted m odem man to learn o f could horizontal ly scroll an almost infi the wonders and grandeur o f ancient nite number o f decimal places. 1 was Egypt: Hierogliphic, Demotic and never sure o f the accuracy. L u d d ite , n o r an a l a r m is t . 1 j u s t w a n t th e f a c ts a b o u t th e c h e m i c a ls I u s e . W h a t c h e m ic a l s a c c u m u la te in b o d y f a t? W h a t c h e m ic a l s w ill 1 p a s s to m y b a b y w h ile n u r s in g ? 1 h a v e a f a m i lie s a t ris k . 1 u r g e y o u to s u p p o r t s tr e n g t h e n in g O r e g o n 's to x ic s r e p o r tin g la w s so w e c a n f u lly tr a c k th e flo w o f c h e m ic a l s th r o u g h in d u s t r ia l f a c i l i t i e s in r ig h t to k n o w . C i tiz e n s c u r r e n tl y h a v e a c c e s s to l i m i t e d i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t s o m e to x ic c h e m ic a l s in o u r c o m m u n itie s , b u t O r e g o n ’s r ig h t to k n o w la w h a s b e c o m e o u t d a t e d . W ith 7 2 ,0 0 0 s y n th e tic c h e m ic a ls a l r e a d y in u s e a n d 1 0 0 0 m o re b e i n g a d d e d o u r s ta te . W e n e e d to s e t s tr o n g s t a t e w id e r e p o r tin g s ta n d a r d s w h ile r e s p e c ti n g th e r ig h t o t lo c a l c o m m u n itie s to o b ta in th e i n f o r m a tio n th e y n e e d . T h e s e s te p s w ill h e lp u s to r e d u c e c h e m ic a l u s e a n d p r e v e n t p o l lu tio n . G reek texts. But then again this book is not about the particular technical or cul tural contributions o f mankind over a long-time line o f'rec o rd e d ’ histoty. But, instead, is about the devices and techniques that various peoples and organizations used to record and pass on information about the world as they knew it; religious, secular, sci entific and philosophical. You will be inspired to read further, inspired to follow up the many little gems of knowledge that have been revealed. But 1 think that most impor tant o f all, you will be highly motivated to join the current drive to raise the reading levels of our school children. “Phonics" is 'where its at’ and where it has always been. They must not be deprived of the great gift of literacy. 1 k n o w p o l l u t e r s a n d b ig c h e m i c a l u s e r s w ill b e p r e s s u rin g you to o p p o se s tre n g th e n in g O re g o n s t o x i c s r e p o r t i n g la w s . P le a s e p u t y o u r s u p p o rt b e h in d in c r e a s i n g th e r i g h t s o f O r e g o n i a n s to i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t h a r m f u l s u b s t a n c e s in o u r c o m m u n itie s . F o r m o re in f o rm a tio n , p le a s e c o n t a c t m e f o r r e f e r e n c e s i n c l u d i n g O u r S to le n F u tu re by T h e o C o lb o rn , D ia n n e D u m a n o s k i a n d J o h n P e te r s o n M y e rs ( f o r e w a r d b y V ic e P r e s id e n t A1 G o r e ) . S in c e r e ly P e n n y O k a m o to Remembering Our Heroes by B ernice P owell J ack - son I ’m not sure if-.it was the way the Fourth of July hit me th is y e a r, as I r e -re a d Frederick D ouglass’ speech asking w hat Independence Day m eant to people who were not free. Or maybe it was ju st the fact that I have seen s e v e ra l s to r ie s abut those heroes and sheroes o f the civil rights movement and what is happening to them now. Or maybe i t ’s because I ’ve been reading several new books about the civil rights m ovem ent and so the names are fresh on my m ind. But w hatever the reason ,1 find that I want to salute them now -giving them th eir roses w hile they can s till sm ell them . So I ’m going to take tw o colum ns to rem em ber some o f our patriots, our w ar riors for ju stice. James Lawson One o f those who was so in s tr u m e n ta l in th e c iv il rights m ovem ent, but whose name is m ostly unknown is James Lawson. An Ohioan by b irth , L aw son w as an Oberlin College theology stu dent when he met Dr. M artin L uther King, Jr. It was a m e e tin g w h ic h p ro b a b ly changed both o f th eir lives. Lawson had decided as a child that there was a better way than violence. He re m em bers his m other’s ques tioning him upon his report o f having slapped a sm all w hite child who had called him a nigger. She asked him sim ply, “ W hat good did that do?“ he said that everything io his life seem ed to change at th a t m om ent and as his rights movement. In the early mother talked to him abut how years Dr. King him self stud much he was loved, by God ied under Lawson. A b ril and his fam ily and how unim liant but quiet man, Lawson portant name calling was in taught the students the basic the whole scheme of his life. prin cip les o f non-violence: He made a vow to h im self that they had the power of never, if possible, to hit any moral right on their side and one again. that power could bring down In the late 1940’s, as a co l the w alls o f segregation; that leg e s tu d e n t at B a ld w in - they must understand at the W allace C ollege o u tsid e of very core of their being that C leveland, L aw so n ’s w orld they were created by God and expanded and he became aware that there was no shame in of another world com posed of being black in white America; people o f color. He had a l that love would alw ays con ready become an activist, hav quer hate. ing staged several sit-ins as a Lawson then taught his stu teenager and w hile in college dents what to expect on the he joined the Fellow ship of picket lines and how to pro reconciliation, an ecum enical tect each other and themselves peace organization. His com from th e v io le n c e w hich m itm ent to peace deepened would surely come. He pre and in his senior year o f co l pared them to hear epithets lege, with the Korean War rag and threats, he tried to im ing, he refused to seek an m in m unized them against the an isterial deferral or co n scien ger and violence and to cen tio u s o b je c to r’s sta tu s and ter them on G od’s love. went to prison for refusing to Lawson him self led dozens, be drafted, he used his prison perhaps hundreds o f sit-ins term to re -re a d and stu d y and m arches during his days G andhi's w riting on n o n-vio with the m ovem ent. He en lence. dured many many beatings A year la te r Law son r e and yet his own com m itm ent turned to Baldwin W allace to to non-violence never waned. finish his degree and was sent It was Lawson who taught his by the M ethodist church to students by word and example India to work in a P resbyte about “the beloved comm u rian college. His time in India n ity ,” a phrase he often used deepened his com m itm ent to to mean the place where bar non-violence and the teachings riers betw een humans came o f G andhi and gave him a down and where people tried broader sense o f the world. to address so c ie ty ’s most d if When he read about Dr. King ficult problem s. and the M ontgom ery bus boy Today James Lawson serves cott, Lawson knew it was time as a U nited M ethodist pastor to return. in Los Angeles He is truly S hortly a fte r his a rriv a l, an unsung hero of the civil James Lawson met Dr. King rights m ovement and this na and began a ten year career o f teaching non-violence to stu tion owes him a great debt of gratitude. dents and others in the civil Just think; Your son is b rig h t, hea lth y a n d h e a d e d fo r college one day You love the direction your career has taken. You're doing a lot of the things you planned and even a few you didn't. 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