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Published by the Library Staff Association of the University of Oregon Library System
No. 40, March 2002
Spring in the World!
When I agreed to write an article for the Newsletter, it didn't occur to me that my contribution would coincide with the month in which Spring returns. Given the natural extravaganza underway just outside the library walls, it now seems appropriate that this reflection take the form of a personal musing on the change of season.
"Spring in the world! And all things are made new!" Richard Hovey (1864-1900) really nails the essence of what all the excitement is about-the annual pageantry of Nature's own olympic games. Advance publicity takes the form of a crocus here and there (there is a nice patch in front of the Bowerman Building on 15th) and a sprinkling of cherry tree blossoms, a hint of pink here and a touch of purple there. Walking along the sidewalk in front of PLC yesterday, I saw my first tree in bloom. As a bold affront to the claim that Winter has staked to the month of February, tiny, delicate flowers-made all the more daring without a canopy of leafy backup-catch and dazzle the eye. It's impossible not to feel the stirrings of something akin to deep longing, to resonate in tune to a distant drumbeat heralding the return and triumph of light and life over dark and dormant.
It's no secret that the garden we call campus is a great place to enjoy the delights of spring. For my part, I eagerly await three gold medal, Oscar worthy, Grammy award winning moments of arboreal excellence:
- The Festival of Golden Chains: my habit is to park in the lot between the Education and Music buildings, so my daily walk to and from the vehicle takes me by the gravel courtyard on the west side of Knight. Here reside a small grove of Golden Chain trees. For most of the year, these trees are arguably drab, even ugly if you don't appreciate the myriad pods that form in the latter part of the season. But, for about two weeks these trees take center stage and grab the spotlight with their spectacular display of dangly chains of yellow flowers. The abundance and profusion of the long, golden ornaments create a joyous, unrivaled effect. I just can't get enough of these trees, so I planted a specimen in my yard to prolong the pleasure each year.
- Fagus Sylvatica Atropupurea: better known perhaps as the Copper or Purple European Beech, this mammoth specimen is my favorite tree on campus. Standing like a monarch whose dynasty will roll down through the ages, the Beech commands the space between Gerlinger and Susan Campbell Hall. The massive, low hanging limbs, themselves as big as the trunks of many lesser trees, spread out over the sidewalk as if to invite the child within to climb onboard and scale the lofty heights above. I pass under these bark covered arms each day and think about how many generations of students and staff this Beech has sheltered. This is a good tree, a wise tree, an elder worthy of awe and respect.
- Magnolia Fever: in my book, no other type of tree on campus rivals the magnolia in terms of the sheer decadence and lavishness of its response to the warming breezes and filtered sunlight that characterize the end of Winter. My favorite is the large specimen on the quadrangle side of Condon Hall. On your way by next time, stop and inspect the buds. They are redolent, bulging, bursting at the seams. Soon, they will explode open and unfold into hundreds of teacup flowers that start to lose their petals almost as soon as they make their appearance. It's almost impossible to comprehend the beauty compressed into the moment. What a waste! No, what a gift!
As William Allingham (1824-1889) writes, "the joyous Book of Spring Lies open, writ in blossoms." Go forth and enjoy. Happy Spring!
M. Watson
Diversity Doings-March 2002
I recently had a conversation with my young son that caused me to reflect on language: specifically the words we use and how they can change to fit changes within our society.
I had made the innocent mistake of looking out of the living room window and saying, "Hmm… the mailman hasn't come yet." My son informed me, "Mom, you can't say 'mailman', because a mail carrier can be a woman." We went on to talk about some of the other professions that had formerly ended in "-man" and what those professions are called now.
I'm old enough to remember when the person that delivered our mail probably was a man, or at least he was in my foggy memory. I will confess that I'm also of that age that I can remember our milk being deposited on our doorstep by the "milkman" in his butter-colored van.
March is "National Women's History Month". While I was searching out web sites about the history/herstory of women for this article, I thought about how much language has changed in my own lifetime to encompass women in the workplace. Workers are no longer labeled "policeman" or "policewoman"- they are all called "police officers". I tried to think if there was even a female counterpart to a "fireman" (now called "fire fighters") and I sure couldn't remember if women were even allowed to fight fires until recent years. I even came across a new word (for me), "waitron"-meaning a waiter or waitress. The word sounds vaguely robotic to me!
Even the simple use of the word "history" stirs up a rousing debate on the Internet across generations and gender lines and sending scholars into a rage. Look in the dictionary and check out the etymology of the word. I don't know if the "his" in "history" was intended to be a slight toward women.
It was not until the passage of the Equal Pay Act in June 1963 that it became illegal to pay women lower rates for the same job strictly on the basis of their sex. It was not until August of 1968 that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled 3-2 that it violated the Civil Rights Act (of 1964) for employers to place separate male and female "Help Wanted" ads in newspapers, except where sex was an occupational qualification.
Both of these events have happened in our lifetime.
So, think about women's history this month: where we have been and where we are all going. Think about the ways we have relabeled the titles of the jobs that people perform and how jobs in general have changed in the last generation or two. Think about what your own workplace would be like with fewer (or no) women.
And think about your mail carrier and never having to call him or her a "mailman" again.
Here are a few web sites to help you mull over the history/herstory of women:
National Women's History Project's web site: your official window on the world of women's history
Infoplease.com's Women's History Month web site:
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womenshistory1.html
Gifts of Speech: Women's Speeches From Around the World:
Woman a Week Archives: biographies of women in history-a new bio every week
The "1943 Guide to Hiring Women" (condescending, but humorous):
http://jobsearch.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.tiac.net/users/cri/women1943.html
---submitted by Rose Thomas
4. Last year this Texas native published a memoir of her early days growing up on her family's ranch in Arizona. After graduating from law school and serving as a legislator and a jurist, she was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to one of the highest offices in government, and became the first woman to hold this position.
5. This contralto, who had made several successful tours of Europe and South America and who had sung for the royalty of Great Britain and Scandinavia, was refused the opportunity to sing in Constitution Hall in Washington, owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution, because of her race. Her exclusion ignited widespread protest, and with the help of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, she gave a recital for some 75,000 people on Easter Sunday, 1939, at the Lincoln Memorial.
6. Known as the "Moses of her people," this ex-slave helped more than 300 African American slaves escape to freedom. During the Civil War, she served as a nurse and a scout for Union forces, but it took her some 30 years to begin receiving a pension for her service.
7. This native Oregonian and Harvard Law School graduate served twelve terms as a United States Congresswoman from Colorado. She became co-chairperson of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues and the first woman to serve on the House Armed Services Committee, arguing against excessive defense spending.
8. After casting a vote in the 1872 presidential election, this champion of women's rights and suffrage was arrested and convicted of illegally voting, but at her sentencing she declared, " I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty… And I shall earnestly and persistently continue to urge all women to the practical recognition of the old revolutionary maxim, that resistance to tyranny is obedience to God."
9. President Franklin Roosevelt's appointment of this labor law specialist to the post of Secretary of Labor in 1933 aroused the ire of business leaders, but this first woman to serve in a cabinet position proved extraordinary effective; she helped bring to fruition the minimum wage and a maximum work week, limits on child labor, and the Civilian Conservation Corps, and she helped draft the Social Security Act.
10. After serving for six years in her state's senate, this Texan was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives in 1972, where she worked tirelessly to advance civil rights and improve the lives of poor Americans. Her skill as an eloquent and forceful speaker became evident to the nation in her opening remarks during the impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon, where she declared, "my faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution."
Once you've identified these ten individuals (or as many as you can), send your answers to Fact File. Answers must be submitted by March 31. The library staff member whose submission has the most correct answers will win a prize, courtesy of the Library Staff Association. In the event of a tie, a random drawing will be held to determine one winner. The answers, and the name of our winner, will be announced in the April issue of LSA News
Arts and Crafts show
Just a reminder: the Arts and Crafts show is coming up, April 3 (soon!). Contact Lisa Sieracki (6-1834) if you would like to participate, help, or otherwise be involved.
Been to an interesting conference? Send us a brief report for publication in the next newsletter. Thanks!
- Marilyn Mohr isn't new, but she did get promoted into Jan Roberson's old position, the Library Technician III in Materials Processing and Preservation.
- Stacy DeHart is the new AV Technician I in Media Services. She's been here a month now, so I feel a little late just now saying "welcome," but it hasn't been said yet, so, Stacy, welcome.
Kudos to all the folks who hit the 5-year milestones celebrated campus-wide this week. I'm impressed by how many of us there are, last year and this year. It's sort of heartening when we so often have vacancies and turnover and it's frustrating, to think about these folks, especially the 20 and 30 year types but really all of the long-timers, who have been here and continue to stay, who provide memory and continuity and mentorship. Thank you.
Kudos, too, to Richard Bear, on his ongoing publication of old texts online. Richard's publications, both things he wrote himself and things he transcribed from hundreds-year-old texts, are at his website. Recent additions: The mirrour of vertue in worldly greatnes; or the life of Syr T. More and, as noted in the staff bulletin recently, Stony Run, a Gardener's Journal.