November 15, 2017 The Skanner Page 7
Arts & Entertainment
Local Author Visits North Portland Library
Renee Watson teaches students and educators about power of writing
By Kirby McCurtis
For The Skanner News
W
riter
Renée
Watson spent
time at North
Portland
Li-
brary last week week
hosting two programs.
Watson is on a fall book
tour promoting her
latest novel for young
adults, Piecing Me To-
gether. On Nov. 7, the
Oregon Writing Project
sponsored a two-hour
writing workshop. The
room was packed with
participants,
primari-
ly educators, eager to
learn about teaching
writing and making time
for their own creative
works.
The next morning,
Watson returned to the
library with fellow writ-
ers Brendan Kiely and
Jason Reynolds for what
we hope is the first in a
regular series of author
visits for students, in col-
laboration with Jefferson
High School. This past
summer, I approached
Watson at a conference,
and we discussed the
lack of author events
for teens in the North
Portland area. Knowing
Watson is a Jefferson
High School alumna, I
asked her if there was a
way we could get groups
of students all reading
the same book to come
to the library to meet the
author of that book. She
was excited by the idea
and made it happen.
Half of the freshman
English classes at Jeffer-
son read “All American
Boys” by Kiely and Reyn-
olds. In this raw and hon-
est book, the two authors
present a story of police
brutality. Reynolds voic-
es Rashad, the innocent
Black victim of a police
Film
cont’d from pg 6
ulously managed to pre-
vail against the best in an
event he hadn’t trained
for.
“Chariots of Fire” was
a critically acclaimed
crowd-pleaser
which
landed a quartet of Acad-
emy Awards, including
Best Picture and Best
Original
Screenplay.
However, it took 36 years
for someone to mount
a sequel showing what
became of the Olympic
great in the wake of his
glory days.
Co-directed by Stephen
Shin and Michael Park-
er, “On Wings of Eagles”
stars BAFTA-nominee Jo-
seph Fiennes (for Shake-
speare in Love) as Eric
Liddell. At the point of
‘On Wings of Eagles’ picks up where ‘Chariots of Fire’ left off
departure, we learn that
the unassuming athlete
eschewed fame and for-
tune in favor of return-
ing to China, the country
of his birth, in 1925, to
follow his calling to do
missionary work.
He would settle down
in Asia and start a fami-
ly with the woman of his
dreams, Florence Mack-
enzie (Elizabeth Arends).
However, their marital
bliss would be irrevers-
ibly altered by the Japa-
nese invasion of China in
1937.
During the occupation,
the Liddells were afford-
ed a brief opportunity
to leave the country. The
beating; Kiely writes
Quinn, a horrified White
witness. The other half of
the freshman class read
This Side of Home, Ms.
Watson’s 2015 book about
two twin sisters growing
up in North Portland and
experiencing gentrifica-
tion of their neighbor-
hood. Watson’s nuanced
portrayal of changes to
the city and the impact it
is having on the sisters’
community is both mov-
ing and a necessary read
for anyone living in Port-
land right now.
During the event, the
authors read from the
dedicated minister de-
cided to not abandon his
flock, though he did send
his pregnant wife and
daughters, Patricia (Lau-
ra Justine Friis Lodahl)
and Heather (Asta Friis
Lodahl), to live with his
in-laws in Canada. Sad-
ly, he was subsequently
interned in a concen-
tration camp where he
would suffer terribly
before passing away in
1945, just months before
Japan’s surrender.
A bittersweet tribute to
a man of great faith who
always opted to follow
humbly in the footsteps
of his Lord and Savior Je-
sus Christ.
Very Good HHH
Rated
In English, Mandarin
and Japanese with sub-
titles
Running time: 96 min.
Brendan Kiely (left), poses with Renée Watson and Jason Reynolds at
a Nov. 7 event at the North Portland Library.
books and took questions
from students about
their writing processes,
inspirations, and how
they talk about what is
happening in the world.
Many of the students, ea-
ger to improve their own
writing, asked how to
See AUTHOR on page 8