September

ICL Opening Day wil be an all-day event celebrating ICL's 20th Anniversary!

To kick off the day, join the group for a special coffee and refreshments, and to meet new members, as we begin the Fall Semester of 2012.

**Please wear your name tag!**

• Presentations by Willamette President, Dr. Thorsett, and ICL founders, Kathy and Gene Fletcher, with Jim Booth of Willamette.
• These will be followed by a “blockbuster” ICL Video honoring all present and past ICL Board Directors.

• Welcome
• Presentation by Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Marlene Moore
• Introduction of new members
• Overview of the 2012-2013 curriculum highlights
• Slideshow: “ICL Memories”
• Anniversary Cake, coffee, punch

Disasters are usually the very last thing that people like to think about. However, with sufficient preparation, most disaster situations are survivable. We will teach you some of the basics to be sufficiently prepared for disasters; through getting a plan, getting a kit and becoming involved.

Roger Stevenson comes to us with an extremely varied background. After attaining his Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology in Southern California, Roger started his working career at Sea World in San Diego, working as a veterinary assistant with marine mammals. He transitioned to Retail Regional Management with a large home center corporation, followed by owning his own marketing business, and finally finding a niche in Emergency Management for the last 28 years. Roger is an exuberant speaker and enthusiastic about the safety of others.

Learn more about CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) classes.

Charlene Robbins, an ICL member since 2008, will give her final presentation on the Star-Spangled Banner saga. In earlier presentations she gave a history of the manuscript that was given to her father and her experiences at the Antiques Roadshow. Today she will give the story of her experiences being filmed for History Detectives, a 15 minute episode to be shown on PBS this season. She will take us behind the scenes of filming and the inside story of the manuscript's final resting place.

Just as we all remember where we were when JFK was assassinated, it seems almost everyone has a story to tell about the that tragic day in September. Today will be our opportunity to share these stories. If you have media you would like to share from the podium, feel free to do so, the microphone and projector are available. We will also pass the microphone to all for these memories.

This lecture describes the rise of German music during the Baroque. The Protestant Reformation put a new emphasis on the German language in worship, and the music with it followed the idiosyncratic cadences of the German language, as opposed to Latin/Italian. We also explore the Lutheran view of music and composition as a spiritual act, a view that altered the history and nature of German music.

We welcome back actress Lyndsey Houser, who portrayed the Victorian woman explorer, Isabella Bird, in a fine presentation last semester. This time she will present a one-woman comedy show that has stories to share taken from her Southern upbringing and Hollywood journey as an actress.

To kick off our focus on elections this semester, we are honored to bring Secretary of State Kate Brown to Willamette's Institute of Continued Learning. As Secretary, Brown serves as Oregon's Chief Elections Officer. In this role, she interprets and applies state election laws and supervises all elections, statewide and local. During her visit she will present an overview of her job with a focus on Oregon Elections.

Note: Secretary of State Kate Brown is currently a candidate for re-election. Any questions pertaining to her campaign would be inappropriate.

Kate Brown currently serves as the Oregon Secretary of State and was elected to that office in the 2008 elections. Prior to becoming Secretary of State, Brown served in the Oregon State Senate representing Oregon's 21st senate district, which includes portions of Northeast and Southeast Portland and Milwaukie. As Oregon does not have a lieutenant governor, Brown is first in line to succeed to the office of governor if the governor should become unable to perform the duties of the office. (Wikipedia)

Abuse and violence, sleeping in a park or alley, sex trafficking…all of these are conditions experienced by teens here in Salem. In 1993, Peggy Kahan joined a group of concerned community members, as well as current and former homeless youth, to establish HOME Youth & Resource Center, a day shelter for at-risk and homeless teens.

Since that time, Peggy has been a strong advocate for this population of young people – sometimes called “throw away kids” – who are living in our community. Thousands of youth have been helped at HOME, now a program of Community Action Agency, by the safe environment, meals, clothing, caring adults and assistance with shelter, school, employment and life skills.

Peggy Kahan has a BA in Anthropology from Drew University and a Masters Degree in Urban Studies from Portland State University. She’s worked as an administrator in the non-profit field for almost 30 years, either as an Executive Director or Program Director. On a personal level, she’s lived in Salem since 1978, is married with two adult children and 5 grandchildren. In addition to family, Peggy’s interests include travel and photography. In 2011, her work earned the Judges' Award at the Oregon State Fair’s Salon for Photography.

This lecture offers a description of the music produced in Brazil and its development over the last 150 years. From the distinctive formation of Brazilian society (1500-1900), to the search for a “national identity” (1900-1950) and, finally, the international recognition of the Bossa-Nova style (1960s), Brazilian music has become a successful and unique example of cultural diversity and mixture.

Review a bio of Cassio Vianna.

From Arizona and the Supreme Court to the presidential election, immigration looms as one of the most contentious issues on the public agenda. Most Americans (and elected officials) view the current immigration system as "broken," yet comprehensive immigration reform has languished for years. Why is the United States, a nation built upon immigration, so routinely conflicted about newcomers past and present? What is the significance of immigration for U.S. politics today? Why is immigration reform log-jammed? This session will explore these questions, focusing first on the evolution of our legal immigration preference system and then on the political and policy dilemmas posed by illegal immigration over time.

Our presenter is Dan Tichenor, Philip H. Knight Professor of Social Science, University of Oregon.

Eleven years after September 11, 2001, the U.S. is winding down its military commitment in Iraq and slowly pulling out of Afghanistan. What exit strategy will help Afghanistan and Iraq build stable democratic nations? How can the U.S. continue to achieve its counterterrorism goals? What is the role of the U.S. in the future of the Middle East? What have we learned?

There seem to be no experts, though many opinions and questions. The following members of ICL will share concise reflections of their viewpoints: Roger Colburn, Bea Epperson, Bruce Flaming, Gene Fletcher and Don Masson. Jeanette Flaming will coordinate.

Review a supplementary reading list on Afghanistan and Iraq compiled by ICL member Anita Stables.

Inspired by natural science illustration, its birth during the Age of Enlightenment and its subsequent popularization during the Victorian Era, Catherine Alexander creates illustrations and mixed-media artwork that pay homage to these traditions, while taking advantage of experimental and alternative art techniques, creating a visual lexicon that is all her own.

But what is a lexicon if there is no message? For Catherine, the answer lies in her childhood upbringing in the foothills of Oregon’s Coastal Range. Fen Meadow Farm is a remote homestead nestled in the woods and is a place that still feeds her creative spirit. It hosts a wetland area that serves as a habitat for a variety of native birds, plants and animals, some of which are currently threatened.

In addition to penning a novel set at Fen Meadow, Catherine has begun a florilegeum, or book of botanical illustrations, and a bestiary, or book of zoological species, documenting the wildlife in this region of Oregon. Each book also contains poems and excerpts from literature (also known collectively as a “florilegeum”), thus offering multiple interpretations of these historic literary and artistic forms of expression.

Catherine grew up in the forests of western Oregon. As a child, she often drew the flora and fauna of this region. After studying Fine Art at the University of Oregon and Portland State University, she worked for a private art dealer in New York for eleven years before relocating to Florida to direct a contemporary art gallery, pen art criticism for the New York Times Syndicate and teach at the Ringling School of Art & Design.

It was at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida that her love of nature illustration was rekindled. After devoting 6 years to illustrating orchids & other epiphytic plants, she returned to Oregon to renew her connection with Pacific Northwest ecology and to share the beauty of nature with others through art.

Catherine currently serves as the Gallery Director at the Bush Barn Art Center in Salem, Oregon. She also teaches workshops at several regional art centers and botanic gardens, exhibits her artwork and participates in juried art festivals throughout the Pacific Northwest. She is writing a novel set in Oregon’s Coastal Range and is at work on a series of illustrations for a guide to selected native plants of Western Oregon.

“Mixed-status” families, those likely to have a U.S. born citizen, a foreign born person with legal residency, and/or a person who is not documented all living under the same roof, present an important and complicated challenge for policy makers, sociologists and activists. Immigration policies, developed at the federal level and implemented on the local level, are increasingly creating “divided fates” within such families. Through this research project, our research team interviewed 25 families in Oregon and examined the consequences of immigration policy on mixed-status Latino families; we consider how policy accentuates/attenuates stratification upon and within families.

Willamette University Professor Emily Drew spoke to ICL last September about the Restorative Listening Project, which uses cross-racial dialogue as a strategy for community formation and "antiracist place-making" in Portland's northeast neighborhood.

Karl Marx wrote that capitalism was doomed and would eventually be replaced by socialist and communist societies. John Maynard Keynes developed theories to soften the impact of economic downturns, while Friederich von Hayek felt that capitalism was inherently stable and self-correcting.

ICL member Mark Kasoff will present these theories and discuss their impact on economic policy and politics.

Poet and fiction writer, Lois Rosen, will guide us on an exploration of list poems. Lists are ways of keeping on track, documenting, reminding, and figuring out what we know. Most early cultures' written languages include lists. List poems can be surprising, revealing, and powerful. We'll read and discuss examples by poets including: Billy Collins, Joy Harjo, Naomi Shihab Nye and Gary Snyder. Then we'll play with writing our own list poems and sharing them. It would be handy to have a notebook with you for this session.

ICL member Lois Rosen is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Willamette teaching creative writing. Traprock Books of Eugene published her poetry book Pigeons in 2004. Her award winning writing has appeared in numerous literary journals including: Alimentum, Willow Springs, Northwest Review, Calyx and many more. With Virginia Corrie-Cozart, she co-edited the poetry book What Got Me Here by Willamette English professor, Adele Birnbaum. Lois is the co-founder of Salem's Peregrine Poets. After retiring in 2003 from a career of teaching ESL at Chemeketa, she enrolled in the Rainier Writing Workshop and received an MFA in fiction in 2010. She received a Debra Tall Memorial Scholarship and has been awarded residencies at Soapstone, Vermont Studio Center, and The Anderson Center. She's currently working on a novel-in-stories and a second poetry collection.

Catherine Chung, the critically acclaimed author, will read from and discuss her novel Forgotten Country. Weaving Korean folklore and history within a modern narrative of immigration and identity, Forgotten Country has been praised by The New Yorker as an unflinchingly honest examination of grief, anger, familial obligation and love.

Catherine Chung was born in Evanston, IL. She attended the M.F.A. program in Creative Writing at Cornell University. There she met amazing teachers and friends and spent the following years teaching, and working on her first novel, Forgotten Country. She and her book were given shelter and encouragement at MacDowell, Jentel, Hedgebrook, SFAI, Camargo, The University of Leipzig, and Yaddo. Forgotten Country was published by Riverhead Books in March 2012. Catherine is a Granta New Voice, and the assistant editor for fiction of Guernica Magazine. She currently lives in New York City.