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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 2018)
Page 12A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian POET: Teaches that people have two things — a vote and a voice Continued from 1A 20 public readings across the state. Thursday night’s was his 55th. Poets and BMCC instructors Shaindel Beers and Ki Russell said that outreach matters. “I think a lot of Amer- icans — not just college students — see poetry as some sort of complicated, abstract art that isn’t meant for them,” Beers said. “The more poets can visit rural places and give free work- shops and readings meant for everyone, the more we can do away with this view that poetry isn’t for everyone.” Beers said she and her students read Stafford’s work in anticipation of his visit. His poems are acces- sible, she said, and carry themes most folks can identify with. “There is a poem in his forthcoming collection that really sticks with me,” Beers said. “In the poem, the speaker of the poem (presumably Stafford him- self) has been let go from a job and is anxious about his life path, but he and his family enjoy eating water- melon on the porch and watching the moon. It’s a really peaceful, beautiful poem about appreciating the simple things in life.” Russell said state poets laureate need to be visi- ble, real individuals for stu- dents here. “It helps them envision themselves in the liter- ary world and feel valued as readers to have oppor- tunities to see such peo- ple read,” she explained. “I’ve had several students in my composition courses become curious about poetry simply because of seeing the posters for this event — they had no idea that there was a posi- tion such as Oregon poet laureate.” Many students also said they were surprised such a figure would visit them, Russell added, “so it has also been validation for some students that they matter as scholars as much as students elsewhere in the state.” Stafford gave a similar take. He said the number of people who come to read- ings and workshops in rural Oregon varies, but the peo- ple who come are import- ant. Wednesday he was at Columbia Gorge Commu- nity College, The Dalles, and a student showed her translation of one of his poems into her native lan- guage of Tagalong. He said the gesture moved him, and other students expressed how poetry helped them. “Very touching testimo- nies, really,” Stafford said, “about the power of poetry in restoring the spirit, clar- ifying the vocation, and recovering from the news cycle.” Stafford is big on recov- Saturday, November 17, 2018 I asked students to think of writing a poem as if they first “stocked the pantry” with ingredients, then cooked up a poem from what they had. That is, make a list of objects, sensations, impressions, and other elements of a scene or moment of experience ... then add these in some kind or report on your learning. By way of example, I sat in the south parking lot before the workshop to make an inventory of what was there: Blue Mountain CC Student, teacher, study ... Prison, razor wire, huddle of travel trailers, Round-Up grounds … Houses, hills, the highway, trucks streaming east and west … Sun, wind, sky … Then I set out to see how these ingredients might come together in a poem: The College above the Prison under the Sky From the college parking lot you can see the prison in its necklace of glittering razor wire, and beyond, a huddle of travel trailers for vagabonds, then the highway streaming trucks east and west, then the houses on their hills, and then the sky. Down there somewhere, gravity leads the river through the valley the river shaped. A smudge of green and gray, November trees. And on east, the Round-Up grounds for the drama of tumble or purse, bad luck or glory. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Oregon Poet Laureate Kim Stafford listens to introduc- tions for participants in a writing workshop on Friday at the Pendleton Center for the Arts. ery. His book, “The Flavor of Unity,” is an effort to bring the nation together after the 2016 presidential election. Thursday night he read “Practicing the Com- plex Yes” a short work about striving to find com- mon ground. And Friday morning at the arts cen- ter he conducted another poetry workshop, “Poems for a Better Nation.” He said he teaches we have two things — a vote and a voice. The first is numer- ical and finite. The other can carry and grow, and even guide the community. And poetry is a means for that to happen. “Poetry makes individu- als and communities over- come the reticence to tell true things,” he said. Take geese in flight, he said. The lead bird is no master of where the flock flies. The other birds are honking about the lake over there or the weather up ahead. They all contrib- ute to the direction of the flock. “I think,” he said, “that’s how communities thrive.” ——— Contact Phil Wright at pwright@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0833. I, too, ride the wild bronc of my life that leaps and shudders as I cling to my honor and my chance. Sometimes at night, feverish to learn, I doze over a book, while wind rattles the roof, and starlight prickles. Make me crow drifting far over the prison, beyond the road, past dusky houses and the hills, toward my share of sky. May my words be my strong wings. May my learning fly me beyond my fears, and headwinds lift me instead of casting down. I make no claim for the success of this poem, but I am interested in the process by which one might begin with an inventory of experience, and then see how elements from that experience might begin to become something like a poem. “No ideas but in things.” — Kim Stafford Oregon Poet Laureate Visit to Blue Mountain CC, 15 November 2018 The East Oregonian is interested in what our readers might produce following Stafford’s prompt. If you’re willing to give it a go, email your submis- sions with the subject line “Poem” to EO reporter Phil Wright at pwright@eastoregonian.com or bring it to our office in Pendleton or Hermiston. Depending on what we receive, we’ll publish the works. PAIN: Too much sitting or standing causes problems Continued from 1A of stretches for each type of work, designed to prevent injury. An associate from each department leads their team in stretches daily. Physical preparation is important when some employees are manually moving as many as 10,000 boxes per day. Burns said there are a variety of other ways Walmart seeks to keep its associates safe, including regular analysis of data. If the company can see a spike in shoulder injuries at a cer- tain time of year, they will look at what might be con- tributing to the problem and how to mitigate it. Another of Hermiston’s largest employers, Lamb Weston, also has safety pro- grams in place to protect employees. Tony Camp- bell, director of safety and health, said he has seen a lot of improvements to employee health and safety over his 17 years with the company. At their Richland plant, for example, Camp- bell said they’re now over a year without an OSHA-re- cordable injury. “We’ve really drastically reduced our incident rate,” he said. Lamb Weston has inter- nal focus groups and audits geared toward improving safety for each job, and like Walmart, has worked with ergonomics specialists to build a program of stretches, joint-strengthening exer- cises, posture-building movements and activities to increase stability while walking on wet surfaces. Not only do the exercises help with employee well- ness, but Campbell said it also gives team leaders an opportunity to spot if an employee seems extra tired or distracted. “That’s when they say, ‘Maybe today is not the day to have Tony up on a lad- der,’” he said. Lamb Weston has also increased automation for some of its more physically demanding jobs, and Camp- bell said they have devel- oped a workflow that rotates workers through multiple tasks throughout the day so they’re not repeating the same motion over and over for the whole shift. Addressing injuries From a chiropractor’s perspective, Scott said that jobs are hardest on the body when they involve being in the same position through- out the entire work day. The healthiest practice, he said, is for humans to have a good mixture of sit- ting, standing and lying down during a 24-hour period. Too much sitting or stand- ing or lifting can cause prob- lems ranging from sprains to herniated disks. Scott said he addresses the immedi- ate problem causing pain or limited movement, but also teaches the patients how to change their movement pat- terns at work. Manufacturing and ship- ping aren’t the only physi- cal jobs that causes injuries — Scott said he sees a lot of farmers. And working at a business like a tire shop can be particularly demanding because it combines lifting heavy tires and standing on hard concrete floors all day. “It’s hard on your body,” he said. Scott said when he sees people in physical jobs that are experiencing pain, often their job has built up certain muscles but over- all they aren’t that healthy. They might be overweight, or eating a lot of junk food that increases inflammation, or not getting any cardio — all risk factors. Poor mental health can play a contribut- ing role as well, he said. Reversing those habits — through healthy eating, exer- cise and addressing men- tal health problems — can help people better manage or avoid job-related pain. And when that isn’t enough, Good Shepherd will con- tinue recruiting providers who can provide other meth- ods for treating injuries. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastorego- nian.com or 541-564-4536. POPULATION: Eight Oregon counties lost population Continued from 1A overly ambitious on growth projections because then you overbuild and a smaller num- ber of people are paying for that, but you also don’t want to under-build and not have capacity,” he said. The city is currently working on a new water project northeast of town that will include a new water tower and pipes by the spring of 2020. Morgan said there are already housing develop- ers talking to the city about taking advantage of the addi- tional capacity to bring new housing in. East-end cities in Uma- tilla County lost population or stayed the same, with the exception of Milton-Freewa- ter, which gained 35 people. On the west side, Umatilla gained 75 people, Stanfield gained 40 and Echo gained five. Overall, Umatilla Coun- ty’s population increased 0.3 percent to 80,765. Morgan said he wasn’t surprised to see growth in Umatilla, Stanfield and Echo. “We’re really more like neighborhoods of the same housing market,” he said. Stanfield city manager Blair Larsen echoed that sentiment, noting that new jobs for projects like Lamb Weston’s expansion and Amazon’s new data centers usually result in people mov- ing in to all four west-end cities. “I think we’re really see- ing a rising tide lifting all boats in this area right now,” he said. Larsen said the city is always looking for ways it can help people who own property in Stanfield get it developed, and is seek- ing to add more industrial land around the Interstate 84 interchange. Housing devel- opment has been up this year, he said, and Stanfield had 15 homes under construction in February. “That was the first time in anyone’s memory that we had that many stick-built homes going at once,” he said. Population increases come with benefits and challenges for cities. Often money that comes to local government from the state is based on population, which is why the state requires PSU to undertake population esti- mates each year. More peo- ple means more money, from the state and from local prop- erty taxes. On the other hand, the growth can also strain resources. Hermiston School District superintendent Tri- cia Mooney said the dis- trict will be adding two more modular classroom buildings to its campuses over spring break — one at Hermiston High School and one at Sun- set Elementary School. They will also be using spaces at the middle schools differ- ently next year to accommo- date more students there. She said enrollment is currently about 50 students higher than it was at this point last year, which is in line with the growth that the district had projected. The district’s smallest class is its high school juniors, at 375 students. “Obviously growth has been a theme for the district over the last 10 years,” she said. Mooney said the district is looking forward to con- tinue to partner with the city to address continued growth in the area. While Umatilla County saw slight growth, Morrow County had a net loss of five residents. Boardman grew by 55 residents, but other parts of the county lost residents. Overall eight counties in Oregon lost population, mostly in Eastern Oregon. The state’s total popula- tion grew by 1.3 percent to 4,195,300 residents, accord- ing to PSU’s estimates. DeVos: overhaul to campus sexual misconduct rules By COLLIN BINKLEY Associated Press Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Friday pro- posed a major overhaul to the way colleges and uni- versities handle sexual mis- conduct complaints, add- ing protections for students accused of assault and harassment and narrowing which cases schools would be required to investigate. Her plan would scale back important Obama administration rules while adding mandates that could reshape the campus disci- plinary systems that schools have developed over the past decade. Under the new plan, col- leges would have to investi- gate complaints only if the alleged incident occurred on campus or in other areas overseen by the school, and only if it was reported to certain officials. By con- trast, current rules require colleges to investigate all student complaints, regard- less of their location or how they came to the school’s attention. It adds several provi- sions supported by groups that represent students accused of sexual miscon- duct. Chief among them, it says accused students must be able to cross-examine their accusers, although it would be done through a representative to avoid per- sonal confrontations. The Education Depart- ment says the proposal ensures fairness for students on both sides of accusa- tions, while offering schools greater flexibility to help victims even if they don’t file a formal complaint or request an investigation. “We can, and must, con- demn sexual violence and punish those who perpe- trate it, while ensuring a fair grievance process,” DeVos said in a statement. “Those are not mutually exclu- sive ideas. They are the very essence of how Amer- icans understand justice to function.” The proposal effectively would tell schools how to apply the 1972 law known as Title IX, which bars dis- crimination based on sex in schools that receive federal money. For years, schools have relied on a series of let- ters issued by the Obama administration instruct- ing them how to respond to complaints. Missteps could bring federal investigations that often last years, with penalties as high as a total loss of federal funding. Advocacy groups for victims say the Obama rules forced schools to stop sweeping the issue under the rug, while those sup- porting accused students said it tipped the scales in favor of accusers. Some colleges complained that the rules were too com- plex and could be overly burdensome.
