Preview of "Music Down in My Soul"



Posters for the performance have been posted all over campus


Close your eyes and let it sink into you, the shadowy sweetness of the voices. It had started with a pounding thunder like the rhythm of waves heard from a cliff above the beach. Slowly it had drowned into a whisper faded from a long distance away. And then it was gone.

"Drop the 's's!" cried the conductor.

LBCC's student choirs have been practicing all term. Jessica Wilson a member of the Concert Choir said everything they do has been working up to the performance next Thursday on June 2. It will be called "Music Down in My Soul."

The choirs have other performances, such as the Albany Sings! which was on May 26; but this will be only LBCC students. And as Wilson said "They're really good."

Songs will include the sweet and sad and the rollicking and funny. James Reddan the choir director said he chose his songs to include something "for everybody." They'll sing the Ode to Krispy Kreme by Take 6. Then they will also sing How Can I Keep from Singing? which is based on an old Quaker hymn.

"Every emotion possible is explored in this concert," said Reddan.

The concert is called "Music Down in My Soul," after one of the pieces they will perform. But Reddan believes it's more than that. Much of this concert he said will be about the way music touches people's souls.

Diana Hancock plays the piano on Thursday. She has been playing and singing in choirs since she was seven. In fourth grade choir her teacher was sick and Hancock played to replace her. She has seen many choirs and different musical groups. Hancock thinks the LBCC choirs are good.

"I think they'll do great on Thursday," she said. "Everybody in the choir is really dedicated and they are very well trained."

They practice in SSH-213. The room is big and sparsely furnished. There are a few chairs around the room, the chairs for the singers lined up on stairs, two grand pianos, three normal pianos and one organ. The walls are replete with awards, pictures and plaques from as far back as 1987.

When they practice the swelling of their music can be heard from the courtyard.

Their conductor loves them. He glows when he talks about them, scolds, conjoles, pleads and jokes when he talks to them. He almost dances when the music becomes exciting.

The LBCC choirs do a special at home concert every term. They also travel across the U.S. to compete. On May 4 they were in Reno, Nevada for an international competition. All 4 groups that went won silver medals. The Chamber Choir was 0.29 points away from a gold.

The Chamber Choir is the group that is going to the Olympics. In July 2012 there will be a special music concert in Southwark Cathedral in England as part of pre-Olympic festivities. It will be a mass choir from around the world singing with the London Philharmonic orchestra.

Reddan said LBCC's Chamber Choir had also been asked to do special solo concerts. One of these will be at a famous cathedral called St. Martin's-in-the-fields.

When asked why students should come to "Music Down in My Soul" Wilson had a simple answer. "You'll hear some really good singers and there will probably be someone in the choir you might know."

At-a-glance:
"Music Down in My Soul"
Place: The Russell Tripp Performance Center
Date: June 2
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $7 for general admission, $5 for students and seniors
To purchase: www.linnbenton.edu/go/tickets

Victoria Fridley: Writing Center Director

It was right above “ Be the next LBCC Student Poet Laureate” sign and across from a list of the “most persuasive words.” Someone had scrawled it in blue on the white of the board.

“Art is always talking. A good artist just listens.”

If that is the case then Victoria Fridley, Writing Center director, is an amazing artist. For the last three and a half years she has been striving to find out what students need for writing success and making that available to them as soon as possible.


Fridley reigns over the Writing Center gracefully from the desk in the corner that has her name on it. The files are impeccable. The tea cup has a little plate over the top to keep out dust and sits on a table coaster. Even her pencils are organized. 


This is the person that made the Writing Center what it is. Her efficiency and her talent for making things run smoothly has turned her job into something so quietly organized no one seems to notice what's going on. She's always in control. Even on the days the Center overflows with students her voice is still quiet and she gives the same enthusiastic interest in your work as she would on an easy day. 

Danyelle Sullivan, a student who uses the Writing Center for help with her hybrid class, said if the Writing Center closed, “It would be horrible.”

One of Fridley's writing assistants, Gary Brittsan, said he knew what makes her happy, it's when "she's working with a student and the student has that moment of realization when everything clicks."

Watching Fridley with a student you see what her husband called passion. Michael Fridley said no matter what she’s doing she brings passion and compassion to it. He loves that about her.

He said that he’s “proud of her achievements and her humility with which she makes her achievements.”

The Writing Center as we have it now is one of her achievements.

Q: How have you changed the Writing Center in the time that you have been here?

Fridley: The person who was in this position before me, Greg Rather, was a part time English faculty and he was wonderful. He let me bring my own ideas. One of the immediate things was to change the look of it. When we started we kind of had these ugly partitions up and a couple ugly kinds of nonfunctional tables and I wanted to get some small round tables for our one to one work. I wanted to rearrange it constantly to make it more appealing. We changed the whiteboard to a place where students can share their poetry and quotations they love or to draw. I created the Writer’s Wall so faculty and staff and classified and students can share their writing with each other. We put chocolates on the tables. We keep trying to improve what we do. I’m very excited that next fall we’re adding another way that students can use our services. We’re going to allow students to make 30-minute appointments. That’s going to be really nice.

Q: What made you want this job?  

F: Many things actually. I really love writing. I love helping ease the anxiety and insecurity that a lot of people feel about writing. I love to teach but the thing I don’t like about teaching is grading. So I love working in the Writing Center because I can teach by explaining and by guiding students with their writing but I don’t have to evaluate it in terms of putting a grade on it; and that frees me to focus on composition. I also have a lot of students again and again and you really get to know what they’re working on, what their style is like and your approach and help for them is very personalized and I love that.

Q:Tell me some of your background in writing.

F: I got my MFA at Davis’s playwriting. I had the opportunity to have three of my plays produced when I was there as a student and learned just a lot. It’s certainly not a practical degree. It’s about as practical as poetry in terms of making any money from your work. It’s difficult to get any productions of your plays but it was wonderful. It was a very creative time. One of my plays had several productions and it’s being used in hospitals and some grief training groups across the country because it’s a play about two mothers whose children have leukemia, one who’s child is dying and one who is newly diagnosed. Doctors and social workers and nurses really wanted me to do something with it. I thought about it as a play. It was going to be produced at a theatre company with a playwrights group I belonged to. But they wanted it to be videotaped. I had not really thought about that until people asked me, but I did get it videotaped. And then Dr. Donna Wong, who wrote the leading book on pediatric nursing, wanted me to write a discussion guide on it and to promote it. Now it’s available for sale again. It’s been converted to DVD format.

Q: Do you have a best memory of your job?
F: The really incredible moments that I treasure have been with students. Like to have a student start out a session with me saying they're a horrible writer and they hate writing and then in the process of looking at their work we are able to identify some really beautiful strong things and all of a sudden there's this light that comes on, you know the "I can do this!"It is just the most rewarding job. 

 

Q: Tell me something about yourself most people wouldn’t really guess.

F: I wouldn’t say necessarily most people. Because I’ve always been in really people-intensive jobs and I really like people, when I tell someone that I’m shy or introverted they don’t really believe me. But I am: very shy and very introverted. I have come to realize that you can work very well with people and really enjoy people and still be introverted.


At-a-glance:
Who: Victoria Fridley
Family: Married 24 years to Michael Fridley, with a 20-year-old son named Daniel
Education: B.A. in English, Master's at U.C. Davis, MFA in playwriting
Favorite thing in the whole wide world: Books
Pet peeve: Her husband leaving things on the floor
Failings: A self-professed coffee snob 

Visit from Author Rick Borsten

Caleb Tremain was struggling through the forest, the dark heavy around him. His breath came harshly, too loud, and he tried to muffle it. He had to be silent; he had to hear the Thing that was coming up behind him. The Bear. The chase between the man and the bear was a crucial point in Rick Borsten's new novel, Insane for the Light, which he read from last Thursday in North Santiam Hall.   The reading was in NSH-207. The classroom was big enough for the thirty odd people that came to hear him. There were students from a short story class, a few teachers, people from around campus and older folks who knew Borsten and liked his work. Steve Scheetz used to be his boss. He came to support Borsten because they're still friends. They go out to breakfast on Friday morning. Borsten teaches him golf. Borsten started by introducing his new novel, Wobbly in the Buddha Fields, which includes a character, a certain Dolores Ludlow. He sketched her brilliantly with vivid pictures and short words. He seemed to enjoy the reading himself, laughing a little bit at the funny parts. Then he went on to a much larger selection from Insane for the Light. This piece was set back in the 1850's in the Sierra Mountains. It was a story about a logger called Caleb Tremain and his struggle with a giant tree. Borsten did his research well. With well chosen description and characters he brought back the old days. He used the right terms for the logging equipment, of course, and even wrote a song with logger slang from the 1850's. Tremain triumphed over the tree and the bear; Borsten stopped reading and hinted to the audience  what would happen in the end. Time was opened up for questions. People wanted to know where he found his ideas and characters, where he liked to write and how he managed to actually publish. Most of the audience seemed to love his work. Kate Carr, a student, said, "I don't buy hardbacks of anything I don't absolutely adore." She bought both of Borsten's books in hardback.  Borsten is a Corvallis author whose first novel, The Great Equalizer, was published in 1986 by Permanent Press in New York. It was rated 4.40 by goodreads. In 1987, the book was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. This is Borsten's fourth year reading at LBCC. Terrance Millet, a short story teacher who shared his class time with Borsten Thursday, said he is an excellent person for young writers to learn from. " He's an accessible writer with great stories about how to be a writer and how writers live." He loves what he does. It shows in his enthusiasm, in the way he became caught up in his own words as he was reading.  He works at a part time job so he has time to write. "You get a rush, " he said with a smile, "when things fall together."

At-a-glance: What: Valley Writers Series Next talk: Jed Wyman When: Noon, Wednesday, May 11

--for more information:

Jane White--- whitej@linnbenton.edu Lucette Wood---woodl@linnbenton.edu

LBCC brings Career Fair to the Valley

WANTED. The ads are on store windows or in the back of newspapers and too often they are even in hiding.

Every college student is on the lookout.

Last week, on April 14, the "Wanted" ads came to LBCC.

The 33rd annual Career Fair filled the Activities Center gym with the roar of many voices. The high heels of well-dressed employees from more than 50 businesses tapped the blue tarp on the floor. The whole gym smelled faintly of the tarp's rubber.

But nervous job seekers didn't seem to notice. They were on the go, searching for the right business, stammering or achieving that perfect introductory speech.

"It's a little confusing," said Patty Evans, a job seeker, "It's like a rat race." She said she should have done more background research before coming. That had been part of the counseling services plan. They had offered sample questions to ask employers, information on the businesses that were there and a list of career planning services.

From looking at the economy it seems that the number of jobs is limited, but many of the businesses were hiring.

Milly Sage, from the Valley West Health Care Center said, "We always have jobs."

T Mobile was looking for retail and customer service representatives.

Edward Jones wanted financial advisers and a branch-office administrator.

At first glance it looks odd that they brought these jobs into a college instead of offering them first to the working adults. It wasn't all because they wanted degrees. None of the jobs from the companies above needed anything but a high school diploma.

Sage knew the answer. She said that she is always offering jobs to the public.

Chrystal Hart, at Edward Jones said, "We just want to reach out to anybody who's ready and willing to go to work."

Carla Raymond, Career Fair coordinator said she advertised hardest at the college but the fair was open to the public because it is the largest one in the valley.  So college students weren't the only ones there. Charity Dillon had the job fair recommended to her by the Department of Human Services as a place to look for a career. 

Kim Hallock from a company called Flakeboard said there was "a lot more people that weren't students...but the mix is good."

Hallock  was pleased with the fair. She said that her company had found some people worth following up.

Wendy Frank with Team Mobile agreed. Her company has been coming to this fair for a long time, "Because," she said, "It's a very consistently busy job fair. We've always been able to hire people."

ATI Wah Chang had a few available positions and found  some people they wanted to follow up with.

The Career fair is to bring businesses and potential employees together. And it was right to have it here because that's what college is about. As Raymond said, "Success means to go to school and get a job. Success is really important at LBCC." 

At-a-glance:
Tips to finding the career that works for you:
1) search the web
2) find out as much as possible about the company you're interested in
3) talk to employees of that company
4) observe the work place
5) ask managers questions that are direct and pointed
6) check out the company's website
7) trust your instincts
--from U.S. news, "7 Ways to find your perfect job"

The Horse Team

Photo courtesy of LBCC Equestrian Team

The stallion snorted at himself in the arena mirror. He danced back and forth on slim dappled legs and suddenly reared, throwing his head back to see over the white wall. The thunder of his voice echoed through the barn.

The stallion was borrowed for  the breeding season at the LBCC Horse Center. The center is too busy to have them here now but this is where the Equestrian Team practices for their horse shows and competitions all over the Northwest. Lately their competion has been quite successful.

But without the horses there wouldn't be a team.

They are Esther and Lola, Hazel and Kadene, Rita and Molly, a Belgian draft mix. Molly weighs almost 2,000 pounds. Kadene is old, 28 years old. Rita was born and trained here at the Horse Center. She was named after the former LB President Rita Cavin.

 The nineteen members of the Equestrian Team practice in the arena where the stallion was being held. Jenny Strooband, their team adviser and the department chair of agricultural science teaches them. During their training season there is one or two practices a week in the white arena on the heavy sand.

The E-Team is training for competitions that the other members of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association in their area host.

They've traveled as far as Canada. Danielle Saunders, a former member, told of a cold early morning during a show there. She said that while watching the expert riders warm up,  "I thought, that's what I want to do, that's what I want to be."

Every year the E-team hosts a show  at the Linn County Expo Center as part of their fund raising. They make up to $9,000.

Much of that money is used to cover travel expenses. E-Team members do not have to pay even for their hotel rooms. When their captain, Cole Newman and rider Halley Beaver went to Texas for the Western semi-finals, their tickets were paid for.

To Newman one of the best memories of riding was when he learned both he and Beaver made it past semi-finals and to nationals in Kentucky. “I was just really excited,” he said “It means we’re one of the top 12 teams in the nation."

"I think it's only going to get better. "

Membership on the E-team is only $35 a year, but they ask their riders to allow at least a $100 because of other expenses. Strooband said compared to the 11 other teams in the region that is cheap. The University of Oregon horse team membership dues are $300.

A limited number of beginners are allowed. You don't even have to own your own horse.

The long clean row of stalls by the arena smells of the horses' breakfast alfalfa. There is a low rumble of munching. Strooband’s favorite horse, a Canadian Warmblood named Oscar, finished his breakfast a little early. He was standing in his stall with a green blanket over his black coat, tall and arrogantly handsome. Oscar is also ridden by the E-team.

After breakfast the horses are let out. There are three acres of pasture, green against the white gate and the red barn. There they play, dance, and eat.

They are ignorant of their destiny. Do horses understand making it to nationals? 

At-a-glance: 
What: LBCC Equestrian Team
Officers: Jenny Strooband, advisor, Cole Newman team president
Where they meet: Horse Center
Contacts: Jenny Strooband, 541.917.4767
For tryouts: email jenny.strooband@linnbenton.edu

Study Jam story

If you haven't yet studied for finals...the time is now!

Actually it's gone. But so many of us still need to catch up. That is expected. That's what Study Jam is for.

On the weekend before finals, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, the Learning Center will be open. Vikki Maurer said why: "We're here to help."

Everything you need to study will be available. The LC has been hosting this since the fall of 2008 and they know what to do. White boards will be empty, scratch paper and table space, library books and friends to study with will all be there. You will be able to use computers in the both the LC and the library.

Sometimes teachers will drop in to work with their students.

Tests, for some of us, are so easy to put off. That's why during Study Jam the testing center will be open until 5 p.m. on both days.

The Math Angle will be open.

 Destaney Jefferson, a student in her first term, knew exactly was the scariest part about finals was. "Math," she said and added, "If I fail I'll lose my financial aid."

 The Math Angle provides more study space just for this subject and a chance to ask all the questions you need to and have them answered.

But the Math Angle is only for students in MTH 095 and below. For those who aren't signed in at the Angle the Math Help desk will also be staffed from 12 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both days.

And while you're studying, if you sign up soon enough, you can send your children, free, to a Kids Jam at the Periwinkle center.

Most of all Study Jam provides a helpful, encouraging atmosphere for the stress right before finals.

And, you might be interested to know, you pay for it.

Eric Fleming, a Student Government representative, explained how the ASG, who helps host Study Jam,  is given part of every tuition dollar to provide services students want. "We've always had a very good turnout" he said but added that if students don't come they'd have to cut Study Jam back.

Part of any extra money goes to a big drawing  at the end of the weekend. Up to 20 people are awarded prizes.

ASG, as a good host, brings food. Free breakfast fruit and muffins, vegetables and pizza are provided.

Fleming said, "We know we have a good turnout when the food disappears."

Let's make it disappear this time.

Books I want to Write: from Chris Brogan's Topics

If it was possible to change the world with 10,000 words what would you say?

The world has changed already. For those who want to change it back there is almost too much to say.

Something that really bothers me about this changed world is the materialistic belief that this is all that exists: just what you can see, think and touch right now. I want to write a book about a man who believed that and changed.

This rationalistic being fell through his solid little world onto another planet. He found to his surprise that something else, quite superior and beautiful, existed. And a flaming sort of way his whole worldview changes. That's what fascinated me about the idea; the way this one belief can control so much of a man's mind.

But to be a mere supernaturalist is dangerous. It's too powerful for us to play with. So, I'd write another story. This one would be about the raging battle in the world of good and evil.

A Catholic priest moves to a middle-sized town. There is other pastors and such there. But he's different. A long time ago he was set on fire with the knowledge of this battle between good and evil. He's unable to pass by any suffering, any evil, any single person. His heart is in pain with the thought that so many people will be slaves to evil and fear. He prays and fasts and talks to town leaders about secret gangs, talks to gang leaders about the Higher Council of One. But he is also fighting the same battle with himself. He too is in the spiritual realm. 

And it wouldn't be enough to create a theological dualist. The next of my books would talk about God. But it takes a genius to handle that Subject rightly. All I could do is give a list of books that do it like I think it should be done.Goodness is so beautiful. God is so good.

But who would listen? The world has changed too much already. There's no hope of a person turning it around.

What I learned from Jennifer Moody

Journalists seem to always be asking for the inside scoop. What better way for journalism students to find out about the game then from one who's learned to do it well?

That's why Jennifer Moody became a teacher when she came this Wednesday. There is things you can only learn from experience.

Moody told us her story of work experience. The thing that really impressed me was that sometimes they need to be a so-called expert in every field. I decided to look into journalism because I have a problem. I'm interested in everything. Moody just re-answered that problem. I think if I was journalist I'd rather be one at a small paper where I could do a little of everything.

But before you can enjoy your job you have to get it.  I have found the determination Moody found necessary to land her job fascinating...and scary. The last thing I want to do is go and bother someone to hire me when I know they don't want me. But I can understand what she said about doing anything to earn experience. That made complete sense. That's where she started earning all that wonderful experience!

I have so much I need to learn. Much of it is mere experience. Perhaps I could have learned how to know what lead you want from a book. The one that brings the water bubbling up from the ground. But then again I don't know. How would you teach the "know-that's-it" feeling without actually doing it? Someday maybe I'll have the experience necessary to be able to say---that's the right one!

I just realized something I did not learn from Moody. I wanted to ask her.

How do you end?

Runners Wild

Let's say you have this friend. He's actually a pretty nice guy. Smart. Cool truck. Then something happens. He takes up running. And your relationship is never quite the same.

Most of us have known a "runner" at sometime or the other. On the whole they seem like normal people. But I've had a sneaking suspicion for a long time that runners are really  fanatics. When you realize they are you know you have  a problem. How do you deal with a fanatic?

There has to be something wrong with them. They run in the rain. Some of them run in the sleet. They run and they run and they run.

They must be insane.

Ray Charbonneau, in "Chasing the Runners High," tells of his ultra runs. "Ultra" does not mean 10 miles, or 26. It's 50 or a 100. And as if that isn't enough runners seem to attempt to find the worst places to run their crazy races.  There is a 100K and a marathon, all for the mentally insane, being held at the South Pole. Runners are wild. Nothing is beyond them.

James Fixx, in "The Complete Book of Running," shares the story of a man named Bob Glover who ran fifty miles in a circle on a quarter mile track. That's 200 rounds of physical and psychological agony.

Here in Oregon, Ray Wold, a marathon runner in his seventies, admits to 103 marathons and more than 35 years of running. "They used to say I was addicted to it," he said.

And elite runners aren't the only ones who can become "addicted." Runners, elite or not, boast of their single mindedness. They talk like they enjoy losing toenails from miles of running, as if hail and hills are their best friends. It might be all right for them to run and run but they like it so much that they talk about it too. Often. And you have to listen.

They have to be crazy.

Suzanne Bonnen, an LBCC student, who used to run three miles three times a week, used the term fanatic for marathon runners. " I don't know how long they'll be able to run 26 miles," she said before talking herself out of the harsh term.

And she used to run!

Margo Herrling, another LBCC student said, "People who are fanatical about running must have really addictive personalities." That sounds about right. They're fanatical addicts. And addicts need help. This next section is for you people who know a runner. I hope some of these tips are helpful for controlling their compulsive behavior.

Do monitor the phone.Runners sometimes have a large network of like-minded friends that should be actively discouraged.

Do watch for race fliers on bulletin boards in junk mail, on the web etc. This is very important.

You could try to hide their running shoes. But keep in mind that they have been known to keep a pair in the car.

You could give them lists of all the potential pains that marathon runners experience. (Tip: if they are already a marathon runner this probaly won't work.)

Runners have been known to be quite skinny and always hungry. If it is necessary to resort to drastic measures, such as when a race date conflicts with your own schedule of free time, then controlling a runner's food supply has been quite effective.

Hide the energy drinks.

If possible make friends with the local sport shop owner. He could be helpful in tracking your friend's movements.

Or if all else fails try what Wold's wife did. Wold said he had no conflicts with her over running "Because she ran at the same time I did."

But that might be considered encouraging their behavior. It might be more helpful to make your friend start the successful AA procedure. The first step is: say, "I admit I am an alcholic."

So I begin. "I, Michaela Wasson, admit I am a run-aholic...."

Runners Anonymous here I come.

At-a-glance

A runner's mind:

The greatest stimulator of my running career was fear. Herb Elliot 

You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming. Frank Shorter 

I'm never going to run this again. Grete Waitz after the first of nine NYC Marathons. 

Jogging is for people who aren't intelligent enough to watch television. Victoria Wood 

from: http://www.momentumsports.co.uk/RunningQuotes.asp

DAC genocide project missed a few things

We must be aware.

On Jan. 27, the Diversity Achievement Center set up a "Field of Flags" outside our library windows. We saw the colors. Some of us read the numbers. It was a display on the crime of genocide. But maybe there was more to understand.

Do we think?

Chelsea Baker, an LBCC student said, "It was shocking seeing that many flags." Jill Mahler, another student, said, " It was visually interesting, caught a lot of attention." The display was effective.

The DAC people should be proud. They wanted to raise attention. "It wasn't meant as a shock but as a reminder," said Toni Klohk, DAC coordinator."I want students to be aware."

We read the numbers. We saw the colors. We're aware.

But were we getting a true message?

Though Ricky Zipp, DAC team leader, said there was, "No special colors," the black flags under our country's name were ugly. We had the highest numbers on the whole display, 10 million. Beside us Joseph Stalin looked like a city gangster in a yellow suit. We seemed the worst villains of all.

But are we? Let us think. Hard.

I have Iroquois blood from my grandmother's side. I would never deny what we did to the American Indians. They did die. Ten million is not too high a number. But there can be more that we weren't told.

Guenter Lewy, writing on George Mason University History News Network, wrote, "It is thought that 75 to 90 percent [of American Indians] died of disease." It was called a "virgin soil epidemic." As an example, we all know about Squanto, the Indian who saved the Pilgrims. His whole village was wiped out by smallpox.

Those black flags were symbolizing a gigantic American murder? Really?

Yes, we murdered. There were men who treated Indians like dogs. But genocide is against the first sentence of our Constitution. So we have lavished gifts on the present day Indians in sorrow for our crime.

We are one of the most benevolent countries in the world.

Why must we bear the black flags?

In the genocide display, right next to us, were those yellow flags giving a  mere seven million murders to Stalin. An average estimate by scholars is actually 20 million, twice the amount shown under America. Zipp said in defense of his numbers, "He [Stalin] did it so fast...people just didn't know." Only they did know.

If the DAC wishes us to be "aware" of genocide why didn't they give the right numbers? And why do they consider it all right to choose not to show the deaths from abortion of 48 million or more possible people  as a genocide?

Of course the DAC can make mistakes, they are only people. But those could be costly.

We must think. Or we could never understand why more people were killed in the 20th century than any other. It could have been the growth of atheistic philosophies. We could learn to hate the country that gave us birth. We could learn to give up our individuality in an attempt at mass diversity. We could learn to rely on emotions when we need to understand statistics. We can be lazy. We could not think.

Beware.

Some murder statistics:
Armenian massacre-1.5 million killed by Turks who objected to their religion: burned alive, slaughtered in a death march or in private atrocities
Rwandan massacre-800,000 murdered by Hutu, the ethnic majority in their country
Joseph Stalin-20 million or even more, mainly from gulag deaths or forced famine
Adolf Hitler-11-17 million from concentration camps and individual atrocities during WWII
Mao Tse-tung-45 million murdered in camps and avoidable starvation

LB Janitor keeps track of towels and students belongings'

Tom Bohmker thought he was dying. At 60 years old he had been struck with paralysis and was flat in his bed. He thought a lot about leaving. Sometimes he even wanted to. But there was one thing that worried him very much about the idea. His wife's dream house. He hadn't finished it yet.

Bohmker is the equipment coordinator at LBCC's Activity Center. The whole place needs his work to keep things running smoothly. But now he was sick.

Seven years ago James Bell hired him for the post of athletic equipment coordinator. He said  he was the most qualified man that applied. "He had the skills to fix things, the positive attitude...and the desire to help the teaching/learning done in the AC."

Tom does even more than that. All we see when we walk by his office is Tom puttering around the roaring washing machines. We recognize the perpetual jean shirt with the stains washed into it, the smile that stretches his bony brown face as he tries to remember your name. But we can't see around the corner to where the hidden office is.

The little room floats in the smell of cleaning solutions; it's tidy, with labels on the cabinets of supplies. Some jokester put up a picture of "Tom's dream commuter pickup," a huge dump truck. A history in two volumes of Stonewall Jackson is propped up on a shelf. And on one of the closets there, slightly crooked, hangs a picture of a woman and her two girls. She was a former work-study student. Her daughter is very sick. Bohmker is worried about her.

He also tells the story about Tim. He's very proud of Tim.

Tim was a student that no one else would have been proud of. Out of high school he had dragged around watching video games until signing up to do work-study at LBCC. Tom said he tried. But Tim's work wasn't quite good enough. He had to stop. Still Bohmker said with pride that Tim had made "A start on life." He is now in the Navy as a succesful chef.

One of his workers lived in a homeless shelter. Bohmker said it was a terrible place.  That was another student he was proud of.

It's all about the students. He said that the "pleasure of his job is to serve students." He rotates around them.

Bell said that Bohmker has "a heart of gold, he's not mean." The students who work under him agree. Susan Erwin, who's on her second term as a work-study student said that "there is nothing I'd change" about Bohmker. Kecia Speck, also in work-study said the same thing. "I love working with him...he genuinely cares about the people working here."

Bohmker  had to think a long time to decide what he didn't like about his job. Finally he decided it was the "domino effect," when so many things piled up at once. The roof is leaking and a teacher has come in for a tool but over at the gym the basketball holder is broken while a student is asking for help opening her locker and the baseball field needs to be cleaned up...

We all know of course that in that paralysis attack Bohmker didn't die. He recovered, even though he had to spend some time in a nursing home. Not a very cheerful place, but he said that "We pretended we were at a very distinguished country club."

He's been given more time. The dream house is almost done. 

Bohmker was brought up in San Fransisco in what he called a "functional" family. His mother didn't work. His father was a Navy man. He taught them to call right starboard, left port, and to keep at a hard job until they finished it.

After earning a degree in aircraft technology, Bohmker moved to Oregon at 21 years old.

It's here that he met his wife. "We're very compatible," said Rosie Bohmker.

Of course there was that time when they had only been married five years. Tom Bohmker wanted to buy a Station Wagon for more room. She objected, strongly. It was dark green and a Dodge. "I was young," she said laughing, "and it looked too much like a hearse." Besides, Bohmker was going to sell her loved powder-blue car to help find the money. When they went to the bank for  the cash, she drove off on him. Left him stranded.

"He called his mother," she said. "I understand his reasons now." Bohmker bought her a teapot full of flowers to make it up.

Now he's here, busy fixing things and finding lost watches. He pans gold and writes what he said are "technical publications" about his hobby.  Just recently he sold a story to the Prospecting and Mining Journal. Sometimes he daydreams about his projects, but sweeps the floor at the same time. 

 Because as he said, "Somebody has to do it."

Tom Bohmker 

Age: 62                                      

Family: wife Rosie, two boys and two grandchildren

Interests: panning for gold, hobby farm, writing "technical publications," fixing things

Former jobs: logging, woodcutting, working in the metallurgy department, custodial work, mining industry, airplane mechanic, construction

"On Campus"

It's the only office in the Activity Center where the door is never locked. The man likes it that way. It's the most humming place in the AC and if you stop he'll look up from the everlastingly full towel tub and smile so the wrinkles press up his eyes. He might even remember your name because he's pretty sharp.

Every PE student can recognize him. Drab clothes hang on his skinny frame, the jean shirt with the stains washed into it and the LBCC yellow and blue billed cap are as perpetual as his smile. Under his cap he's almost bald. But it matches his bony brown, old  face.  He squeaks when he walks. Perhaps it is the remains of his attack of paralysis; but he has to wear plastic ankle braces. Still, when  you've lost your necklace in the locker room that walk sounds like music. He knows where everything is.

This man knows how to fix things. He doesn't wear a Superman costume but he and his coworkers are the ones who rescue the AC when it starts crumbling at the corners.

Teachers come to him for supplies and he shuffles things out cheerfully talking all the while. He likes to talk, when someone has the time to stop. That office directly on the hall is one wheel  hub for the whole AC. And the man rotates around all the rest: cleaning, organizing mending and fixing and mending again. Then while he sweeps he daydreams.

The Kindly Towel-Shepherd---first information

Subject: Profile of Tom Bohmuker, The Athletic Equipment Coordinator

Nut Graf: The Activity Center, and with it your favorite PE class, relies for smooth  operation on this man and his co-workers.

Sources:
Tom Bohmuker
His two co-workers
Relative (if I can)
Student?
The man who hired him

Questions:
For Tom--
What exactly is your job? When did you get it? 
When did you get this job? Why?
What have you worked at before? What did you like?
What's something that makes you happy? Why?
Is there anything we'd be surprised to know about you?
What's your most painful experience?
What do you think about as you work here?
What are you passionate about outside of work? 

For a relative--
How does this person interact with people around them? 
What do you think is his strongest character trait?
What's something funny about him that no one would guess?
What is you favorite memory with him?
What other kind of job do you think he'd be great at?
Why do you think he's the way he is? What shaped him?

For a co-worker--
What's he like as a boss?
When is he happiest?
What's the most colorful thing about him?
How does he encourage you?
What do you admire about him? Or wish to change?

Three things I learned from Stephen King

This is a question: Which is right, A or B?
A. The man was held by the cottage while he rusticated extensively.
B. The man stayed at the cottage for a long time.
You're correct. Of course it's B! But how did you know something like that? How were you sure?

Stephen King says that sometimes you just know.  When you have the skill you can be sure.

I used to worry about my small vocabulary. Granted it was bigger than some people's but it just didn't seem big enough to be a writer. That's wrong, said King. It isn't what you have, it's how you use it. When an experienced writer needs a word they know what word to put in there. With the small available space in feature writing, this sureness is important.

You can say it's that way with adverbs too. Beginning writers often use the adverb as a way to make certain everybody knows exactly the way Jill sniffed the flowers. An experienced writer, King said, can use the context and character development of Jill to show that she's not the sort to sniff eagerly or rapturously. When they write knowingly about everything else they can cut excess words. Always cut excess words. Your readers will praise you...rapturously! (For instance this paragraph is too long.)

 The third thing I learned from King seemed especially important for feature writing: the passive voice. The man stayed, not the man was held!  The journalist needs power. Passive writing is the death of power. And no, that statement is not scientifically tested.

I just know it's true.

Love Love Teriyaki: for when you've had enough of ketchup

You have to get beyond McDonald's sometime. Ready to take the grownup way past the golden arches? Love Love Teriyaki is five or six steps up.

Actually it's delicious. The little Japanese restaurant situated conveniently by the parking lot at Heritage Mall is for your hidden urbane taste...and a slim pocket book.

Customer Amber Shinn who has gone to this restaurant since it opened, calls it, "Quick, healthy with a clean atmosphere."

It serves real food for people that don't want to be sustained on chemicals anymore.  Though surprisingly small at  little over 10 tables Love Love Teriyaki serves up to 150 people a day. And most of them aren't first- timers. Here's why they keep coming back. Wonderful service, wonderful surroundings, great prices...and the food!

With nothing on the menu above $9 this restaurant is affordable even after a day of shopping.

Some customers call the appetizer sampler one of the best deals on the menu. Arranged diagonally on an elegant white plate between two saucers of dip, the differently curled, delicately fried treats are sweet to the eyes.

 Try the Cream Cheese and Crab won tons. When you bite through the pastry into a warm creamy center you'll never want another McDonald's hamburger. I promise.

The restaurant advertises the Love salad on the windows for a reason. It's made with freshly cut lettuce tossed with perfectly smoked terayiki chicken and drenched in a luscious dressing. The dressing was just made in the kitchen three feet from the tables. The crunch of the fresh ground spices are almost still there.

Or as a mere twist on the love salad buy a big Teriyaki Chicken bowl. Cabbage, lettuce, and that namesake teriyaki are tossed with newly cooked brown rice and soaked in a smack-your-lips dressing.

The miso soup will do as something warm to finish off. Most soup from Japanese restaurants taste  canned. Love Love Terayiki's is almost alive.

Now notice this, fresh lettuce, fresh dressing even fresh brown rice. Where else can you buy brown rice?

The waiters are proud to say customer satisfaction is very high. But reviews on userinstincts.com say Love Love Teriyaki has "good food, poor customer relations." Still those are the people that don't come back. On the average regular customers seem satisfied with the restaurant's quality.

And I'll tell you a secret. Waiters will change the chicken on your love salad for a bowl of brown rice...that is if you ask nicely. And you couldn't believe how good it tastes!


The surroundings match the food. A gray, white and black scheme with bamboo floor and long windows have an austere beauty that is very Japanese. Because the restaurant is so small the customers have learned to take care of each other and speak quietly. And instead of the rock and roll that goes down with hamburgers and shakes your nerves for hours afterward the music, 107.1 K Love, fits the serenity (and the name) of Love Love Teriyaki.

Because like I told you, this is really a step or  two beyond McDonald's.

Love Love Teriyaki
Address: by Heritage Mall---2195 14th Ave. SE #102/ Albany
Phone: (541) 926-4142
Rating: Average good (by userinstinct)
Founded: 2008
Manager: Min Young

Three things I've learned in feature writing so far

I was so scared about doing  this class. Journalism  feature writing with a number in the 200's seemed impossible. But now I'm beginning to understand something. Yes, it's new, and I have a great deal to learn, but with a little work and perseverance things will come together.

When my first story was graded something clicked. This is a simple class, with elaborate English and careful phrasing, second place to mere ugly research. Or at least they are in a equal place. I was glad. I love research and writing.

One reason I was scared about taking this class is I'm kind of shy. With my first interview staring me in the face I took a walk around campus. But then I did it. Blundered into it actually. Since I was writing about running I talked to Jayme Frazier, the jogging teacher, and she was so nice! I discovered that when you have the Press Hat on you don't have to be shy.

Then my story got published. And a sad fact appeared. The Commuter didn't like all my quotes. They changed my precious words. A third idea popped up in it's grinning mask. The Editor always wins.

Shucks.

Running at LBCC is a Healthy way to go

They're on the Wellness Trail. That's where you'll  find Jayme Frazier and her LBCC running class. And it's more than just a cinder track that starts behind the Activity Center. It includes the foggy winter weather, chatting with friends, and the simple act of running that a student said  he "loved."

But mostly they're just following the Wellness Trail. Because running can improve your health. Here at LBCC, you can start a running club, jog/walk with a class, take your own way on trails across campus or on rainy days run around the gym. And it's all on the Trail.

Frazier, the jogging teacher, glows with vigour. Lean and fit looking, she said that running "keeps her in tune." Then dryly she listed all the physical issues that don't bother her, "probably because I run." She took up the sport after college as a way to keep healthy. Now it's been 20 years, and she's teaching jogging because, "I know what it gives me. I want to help people stay on track." So,  she thinks running can keep college students  mentally and physically strong through these hard years?

"Absolutely."

Runners seem a mentally strong group. They speak of dreary acts of will, like marathons, with grins and excited eyes. Frazier is hoping to qualify for one of the top races in the nation, the Boston marathon. Cole Newman, a student, was registered in a marathon for a birthday present. Brad Carman, former track coach, has a "couple" marathons to his credit.

And in a larger scale, is the craziest example of all, Dean Karnazes, a typical running hero. He's raced in 50 marathons in 50 days and in super races across the world like those covered in the Timesonline. 

Yes, said, Kristi Murphey, PE teacher and runner, mental toughness is "huge." Eagerly, she praises her sport. "It teaches me to do more than you think you can."

But runners across campus think that it isn't just about dealing with pain, it relaxes.
Frazier: "I didn't realize the benefits of stress release." 
Kristi Murphey:  "It helps with depression."
Frank Warren: "Running makes you feel good."
"Literally afterwards I can focus better," said student Lori Murphie.

 Murphie, bundled up to the ears against the cold, shining with earnestness, 44 and getting back to jogging, thinks it is "enormous," not just for the mind but for the body. " It's a must for health...everything."

The health question sets runners heads nodding. Kristi Murphey had a friend who lost 100 pounds with running. Carman has seen people take up running to fix bad hearts or diabetes.

 Warren, who wants to start a jogging club on campus, was inspired by the story of John Bingham in The Courage to Start. This man began running when he "looked like a penguin." And the story is... he doesn't look like one anymore.

 The experts are beginning to agree with the runners. The envious detractors of running are being forced to back off. There is still a question of whether chronic running can hurt your heart (Timesdaily.) But, said, Frazier "Walking is for everybody."

Behind the Activity Center, in a smooth green field, the Wellness Trail starts. Maybe we should pull on our running shoes and get moving, thud, thud, thud...

The first five steps to running (from time-to-run.com)

1. Get a good pair of running shoes

2. Start by walking 

3. Exercise at least three times a week

4. For the first two months don't run for two days in a row

5. Determine exercise length by time not distance

(Suggested link: Couch potato to 5K )