¡Etje Page 4 ■Portiani» (Obstruer July 9. 2014 CONNECTING IUO Senior Earns Scholarship conversations on small islands on Kelsy L. Alston, an upcoming senior at the Univer­ the stage, where they interact with sity of Oregon, was the first recipient of 40 $1,000 nizes. Elliot is wrestling with a secret energy but in isolation from each journalism scholarships awarded by the National News­ addiction to painkillers, and is tor­ other. The visual captures a dy­ paper Publishers Association Foundation scholarship mented by a brief missed connec­ namic that arguably exists in all at­ committee during the NNPA’s annual convention June tion during his time in Iraq that had tempts at connection. The blood 25-28 in Portland. tragic consequences. Odessa is five family of Elliot, Yaz, Odessa, and This is the fourth year in which the foundation has years clean, but her own pain over Ginny is an interesting contrast. awarded journalism scholarships to deserving students a tragic missed connection in Elliot’s How much does blood matter? throughout the nation. Students receiving the awards childhood jeopardizes her recov­ Physical space? Is it easier to con­ must be majoring in journalism, mass communications, ery, especially when Elliot refuses nect in the anonymity of a chatroom? muti-media or English and must have at least a 3.0 her grace that he needs himself. Does that matter? average in their major field. They are also chosen based Playwright Hudes, herself a mu­ The play wrestles fruitfully with on a recommendation from a school official and the sician, often finds musical inspira­ such questions. The characters — candidate must also write an essay on why they think tion for capturing the complicated addicts in all phases of recovery, they deserve the scholarship. rhythms of human interaction in her the educated, the poor, the griev­ Alston received a strong recommendation from Dr. plays. Here she takes jazz as her ing, the unforgiven— fail each other Karla Kennedy, scholarship journalism outreach coor­ inspiration— specifically the work in small ways, reel from the pain of dinator at the University of Oregon. Kennedy also of John Coltrane. His works, “A past failures, shut each other out, attended the awards banquet during the NNPA conven­ Love Supreme” and “Ascendance” judge too harshly. But also, some­ tion. feature a complex wall of sound that times, they come through for one The foundation has awarded a total of 116 journalism achieves a kind of transcendent dis­ another. It’s not didactic; there is no scholarships over the past three years with the help of sonance. It’s a fitting metaphor for moral to the story. Rather, the play generous sponsors. The support for the upcoming year attem pts at connection am ong is a call to connection, and a depic­ includes Ford, General Motors, Pepsico and Chrysler. people who are in pain; who are tion of just how messy and beautiful The chairperson of the NNPAF scholarship committee worlds apart in age, geography, or that can be. is Jackie Hampton, publisher of the Mississippi Link experience; who are broken. You can catch “Water by the newspaper in Jackson, Miss. Kelsy L. Alston Elliot’s cousin, Yaz, is a music S p o o n fu l” at the O regon p ro fe sso r w ho tea ch e s about Shakespeare Festival in Ashland Coltrane. Disappointed in her life from Septem ber to Novem ber. can do, there is now a coded and relationships, she struggles Among the other terrific options at racialization that targets minorities with Elliot to care for an ailing Ginny OSF this summer and fall are “The to this day, she says. and to make sense of her connec­ Cocoanuts” (a boisterous Marx nomically benefited the majority “We have been taught by media c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 3 tion to the family, in the face of Brothers’ musical that feels hilari­ white population by disenfranchis­ and other institutions that gang success that leaves her isolated in ously contemporary); “Two Gentle­ publicly whipped every six months ing black people. member means Black and Latino both the academic world and her men of Verona” (delightfully staged until they left, a penalty now more For example, Imarisha points to youth, just like we have been taught home community. with an all-female cast— what bliss commonly referred to as “lash the state’s largest city, Portland, that undocumented means Latino, The worlds and relationships in to watch women sample the rich laws.” calling it a “white playground.” and terrorist means Arab/Middle the play exist in a mixture of isolation array of roles typically denied them!), Imarisha says this law and oth­ “The excess resources that al­ Eastern. So while we were told laws and connection. Haikumom and her and “Richard III” (featuring a won­ ers dictated what black people low Portland to be such a ‘liberal like Measure 11 would lock up crimi­ diverse chatroom fam ily— a young derfully ruthless king with a biting could and could not do, and the livable c ity ’— as long as you are nals, we actually see that it has a Japanese adoptee seeking to find wit). punishment they could face was middle class and white— are avail­ racialized impact, and that people her birth parents; a middle-aged IRS Darleen Ortega is a judge on the purposely designed as a message able because Oregon never in­ who have com m itted the same agent who has left behind any hope Oregon Court of Appeals and the for African Americans to stay away tended to serve the needs of any­ crimes are treated markedly differ­ of reconnection with the family he first woman o f color to serve in that from the state. one but its white population,” she ently based on their race,” says failed, and an executive who mini­ capacity. She also serves on the Whether it be on-the-book laws says. “ [Because o f that] it is em ­ Imarisha. mizes his addiction— reach, in fits board o f directors o f the Oregon outlawing interracial marriage, real bedded in all of our institutions Despite this intentional target­ and starts, to connect deeply. All Shakespeare Festival. Her movie | estate covenants confining black that shape every one o f our lives, ing of blacks in the state, Imarisha have burned through relatio n ­ review column Opinionated Judge people to particular parts of town, and has been reinforced and reaf­ says the mere existence of black ships and long for a sense of be­ appears regularly in The or even de-facto segregation of firm ed for centuries.” communities is Oregon is solely longing. Portland Observer. You can find the state’s public schooling sys­ While it’s vital for Oregonians to because of the people’s determina­ This production cleverly places her movie blog at tem, Imarisha says every one of realize that there are no longer laws tion, creativity, resilience, commu­ the participants in these chatroom opinionatedjudge.blogspot.com. Oregon’s historic institutions eco­ overtly stating what black people nity-building, and resistance. continued from front A Hidden History Upholstery Cleaning • Sofa/Loveseat • Pet Stains • Flood Restorations R etirement L iving Smith Tower CARPÍT CLEANING & STUMER 5 0 515 Washington Street Vancouver, Washington 7 0 360.695.3474 2 Rooms + Hall Extra I rooms $10 ■ each with 'co u p o n . £ VF