News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
A3
Diane Simmons shares Huntington woman’s story
Author to read
from “The
Courtship of Eva
Eldridge” Jan. 17
Blue Mountain Eagle
Contributed image
Author Diane Simmons,
who grew up in Eastern
Oregon, writes about
a Huntington woman’s
story in “The Courtship
of Eva Eldridge.”
Award-winning author Di-
ane Simmons kicks off Eastern
Oregon University’s 2017 Carl
and Sandra Ellston Ars Poetica
Literary Lecture Series Tues-
day, Jan. 17.
Simmons will share se-
lections from her new book,
“The Courtship of Eva El-
dridge: A Story of Bigamy in
the Marriage-Mad Fifties,” at
7:30 p.m. in the Pierce Library
Reading Room on campus.
The reading is free and open to
the public.
David Axelrod, Ars Poetica
director and professor of En-
glish at EOU, encourages the
community to attend to learn
more about this true story about
a woman from Huntington.
“If there is one literary event
this year that speaks to inter-
est in the history of women in
farming communities in rural
Eastern Oregon, this reading is
for you,” Axelrod said.
Simmons’ book draws on
a trove of some eight hundred
letters and papers about El-
dridge, who like others of her
generation, grew up pretty and
popular in rural Oregon and
was expected to marry young
and live a life much like that
of her parents: farming and
rearing children. But when the
United States entered World
War II and men headed to
battle, the government started
recruiting women to work in
their stead.
Eldridge and many other
young women found that life in
the city with plenty of money,
personal freedom, and soldiers
and sailors eager to pay court,
was more exhilarating than
living on the farm. Her remark-
able life illuminates women’s
struggle for happiness at a time
when marriage – and the per-
fect husband – meant every-
thing.
The New Yorker singles
out Simmons’ narrative of El-
dridge’s life for tracing “one
woman’s story through hun-
dreds of wartime letters and
papers, ultimately uncovering
postwar America’s rampant
bigamy and the women who
overcame it.”
Fellow author Peter Chil-
son praises Simmons, too,
stating that her writing “is
vivid and tight, with a touch
of American noir reminiscent
of Raymond Chandler and
Joan Didion. Simmons’ writ-
ing brings to life the dark side
of a country trying to move on
in the wake of war. She blends
history and her own detective
work to tell a story of betrayal
and shattered dreams.”
Simmons grew up on a
farm in southeastern Oregon
and completed her under-
graduate degree in history
from the University of Ore-
gon. She began her writing
career as a journalist in Ida-
ho and her first investiga-
tive piece involved a ponzi
schemer in a mink tie and
rattlesnake boots. She has
also worked for newspapers
in Alaska and Washington,
and is the author of two high-
ly regarded novels and an
award-winning collection of
short-fiction.
Her novel “Dreams Like
Thunder” set on a farm in
Eastern Oregon at the end of
the frontier, won the Oregon
Book Award. Her short stories
have appeared in Northwest
Review, Missouri Review,
Beloit Fiction Journal, Drunk-
en Boat and elsewhere.
Simmons went on to
earn a master of arts in cre-
ative writing from The City
College of New York and a
Ph.D. in English literature
from the City University of
New York Graduate Center.
She currently lives in the
New York City area and is a
professor of English at Bor-
ough of Manhattan Commu-
nity College – City Univer-
sity of New York.
Copies of “The Court-
ship of Eva Eldridge” will be
available to purchase at the
reading. Learn more about the
author at dianesimmons.net.
New deputy DA looking forward to building cases
After law school
in Chicago,
Houck enjoys
the trees,
mountains
By Rylan Boggs
Blue Mountain Eagle
Deputy District Attorney
Mara Houck has a thing for
Legos.
She sees similarities be-
tween building a case with
pieces of statute and building
a structure with tiny bricks.
Each piece has to work to-
gether.
Trying to support or refute
an argument requires using
pieces of statute and case law
that work, while taking out
pieces that won’t work and
making sure they can be coun-
tered, she said.
Houck started Dec. 19 and
said it’s been a nice change
of pace from working in the
Multnomah County DA’s of-
fice, which was regularly in-
undated with cases.
“It was all hands on deck
figuring out what you wanted
to do with those cases every
morning because the person
is sitting in jail overnight and
you have to charge them or
they get to go,” Houck said.
She worked in the Mult-
nomah DA’s office while on
a school-funded fellowship
from Northwestern University
in Chicago. She initially dealt
with misdemeanors. Once she
passed the bar examination,
she began handling domestic
violence cases, specifically
restraining order violations.
The Grant County DA’s
office handles only a fraction
of what Multnomah County’s
office dealt with, according to
Houck. So far she is enjoying
the slower pace, but is expect-
ing it to pick up.
“Overall it’s a little more
relaxed, and I like that be-
cause I get to give better at-
tention to the cases,” she said.
The Eagle/Rylan Boggs
Deputy District Attorney Mara Houck sits for a photo in her office in the Grant County Courthouse Wednesday, Jan. 4.
Houck has worked in a
number of government posi-
tions and said she had rarely
encountered the stereotype of
the “lazy public servant.”
“I’ve worked for a lot of
aspects of the public service,
and I’ve always liked it a lot.
I feel like the people you en-
counter and work with are
usually really sincere,” she
said.
Houck grew up in Ore-
gon and graduated from Or-
egon State University with
a degree in environmental
engineering. After graduat-
ing she went on to work for
a civil engineering firm and
then the city of Forest Grove’s
light and power department.
While working there she de-
cided a career change was in
order. She chose to study law
at Northwestern University in
Chicago.
Houck said she enjoyed
aspects of living in Chicago,
such as the art museums, but
wouldn’t want to live there
again.
“I just didn’t fit in there. I
was not a city girl. I missed
being able to drive around. I
missed trees. I missed moun-
tains,” she said.
Now, she has neighbors
bringing her gravel for her
driveway and lending her a
roaster to cook Christmas din-
ner.
She anticipates getting out
Local students named to EOU dean’s list
Blue Mountain Eagle
Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity named 520 students to
the dean’s list for the 2016
fall term. Qualifying students
achieve and maintain a grade
point average of 3.5 or higher
on a 4.0 scale while complet-
ing a minimum of 12 hours of
graded coursework for the du-
ration of the term.
The following local stu-
dents earned this distinction:
Mariah Meyerholz, Canyon
City; Jamie Waltenburg, Day-
ville; Hannah Brandsma, Mi-
chael Luttrell and Mikayla
Luttrell, John Day; Hannah
Flower, Kimberly; Stephanie
Croghan and Desiree Ko-
desh, Mt. Vernon; and Rian-
non Bauman and Amy Black,
Prairie City.
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and exploring the area.
“I’m hoping that living
out here forces me to put into
practice my largely theoreti-
cal love of the outdoors,” she
said.
Though she’s not fully un-
packed yet, Houck is looking
forward to settling in. She’s
a big fan of NASCAR, ice
hockey and, of course, Legos.
One of her recent projects is a
miniature city block she con-
structed, adding LED lights to
brighten up each room on the
block.
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MEETING NOTICE
UPPER MAINSTEM AND SOUTH
FORK JOHN DAY RIVER
AGRICULTURAL WATER QUALITY
MANAGEMENT AREA PLAN
The Biennial Review of the Upper
Mainstem and South Fork John Day
River Agricultural Water Quality
Management Area Plan will be held
January25,2017 at 4:00pm at the
USDA Conference Room at 721 S.
Canyon Blvd., in John Day.
Contact
Jason Kehrberg or Pat Holliday
at 541-575-0135 with any questions.
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