LSA News

No. 78, December, 2006

If you have anything you want in the next newsletter, send it to lsaweb@lists.uoregon.edu .

Index Easy Exuberance by Catherine Flynn LSA Tours the New Courthouse by Marilyn Mohr & Mandi Garcia Excerpt from Iron Buddha by Risa Stephanie Bear LSA Sale Success Benefits Food for Lane County The View from Hidden Spring by Pam DeLaittre Program Committee Brings Event Ideas to Fruition by Terry McQuilkin Events of Interest Announcements People in the Library

Roof top sculpture at the new Courthouse, Stare Decisis by Matthew Ritchie photo by Mandi Garcia

Easy Exuberance

by Catherine Flynn

During this season of high expectations, many of us could use a few ideas for comfort and cheer that won't contribute to domestic distress and further depletion of the immune system.

Now I do believe that one should do some selective fussing over the holidays. For example, I am known for spending an entire evening grappling with the vagaries of getting caramel to set up in our typically damp December. Then I conscript my daughter to help individually wrap the hundreds of portions in slippery pieces of unbleached waxed paper (points for using materials that are harder to find!), which has been painstakingly cut into precise squares. They are luscious, and have that rusticated look that oddly requires excessive time and effort to achieve. For this kind of holiday task, you can queue up a Very Brady Christmas or another seasonal favorite.

Heading the list of holiday domesticities I scoff at are the creation of Yule logs in cake form. Some things are best left to professionals, as the satisfaction of creating realistic-looking mushrooms out of meringue seems disproportionate to the effort. And I have never even considered the folly that is turducken (google it). I figure those people are what a friend calls "Level 2". If Level 1 is where we all go once in a while, and Level 3 requires institutionalization, you get the idea. One of my uncles actually does this, and he hovers at or around 2.

If you can't get into kitchen table surgery, you can still embrace the season with these effortless hot beverages and a lavish nosh—all are sure to gladden.

December weather is always good for cradling a hot cup of anything whose gentle steam rises to comfort and renew. Around the holidays my friend Rabiya often has a pot of a spicy, soothing tea made with cinnamon and walnuts. She learned it from her Lebanese aunts. It's insanely simple, and fills the house with a luxurious aroma. Gently simmer six cinnamon sticks and three handfuls of walnuts in a quart of water for half an hour. Sweeten with honey and/or sugar. Serve in Russian tea glasses with cinnamon stick for garnish. A quick search (who can resist?) elicited an intriguing variation for a similar beverage of Egyptian origin called Finjan Erfeh. It's only slightly more involved, and while you're there you can visit a great resource for Middle Eastern cooking.

My current favorite hot toddy requires a decent lemon (organic Meyer is best), good honey (something mild and local—otherwise use a combination of honey and sugar), Stash Lemon-Ginger Tea and a halfway decent rum or brandy. For one cup, steep two teabags in 4 ounces of boiling water for five minutes. Add the juice of one half of a large Meyer lemon, 1 to 2 ounces of rum or brandy, and honey to taste. At this point the whole thing will have cooled off a bit, and you will have to zap or otherwise heat it briefly, to achieve the optimal temperature. Drink in bed or on the couch, holding your face over the steam.

Margaret's Baked Brie. This epitomizes what holiday cooking should be: indulgent, simple, satisfying. Unctuous and decadent, this easy dish still has notes of virtue and substance with the textural addition of dried fruit and nuts. Margaret spends the day skiing, and then breezes in with her Nordic glow and this delightful thing.

Preheat the oven to 350. You'll need a 6-inch round of Brie, halved horizontally and placed on a glass pie plate. Core and chop a tart apple (peeling optional), and set aside. Melt two tablespoons each of butter and brown sugar in a medium skillet. Add the apple along with 1/3 cup each toasted hazelnuts (or walnuts) and dried apricots (I recommend Trader Joe's "slab apricots") and cook for a few minutes. You can add a few splashes of sherry or not. Sandwich the filling between the two layers of cheese and bake for 7 to 10 minutes, or until it's just barely runny. You can use pears in place of the apples, and vary the fruit/nut combo—dried cranberries and toasted pecans work well, too. Serve with crackers.

Happy Holidays!

LSA Tours the New Courthouse

by Marilyn Mohr, photos by Mandi Garcia

Marilyn Mohr in Courtroom 6

The dedication of the Wayne Lyman Morse Federal Courthouse offered the opportunity for a spontaneous LSA outing Friday. A small group toured the building—from the Administrative Offices in the basement to U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken's expansive suite on the 5th floor. We explored a Bankruptcy Courtroom and a District Courtroom, but were slightly disappointed that the holding cells were not available for tour. Art work was admired or pondered (the Beach Lab plans a project inspired by artist Sean Healy's portraits—stay tuned). It is an interesting building, well worth another visit—jury duty, perhaps?

click here for more photos from the tour

Excerpt from Iron Buddha: a work-in-progress

by Risa Stephanie Bear

Buddha, remembering the only time Smitty went steelhead fishing, can't resist that knowing smile of his.

You like to remember this, too, says Buddha.

Yeah, well, glory days. And we thought we were hot stuff.

Illegal, yes?

Yeah, but, you know, we figured—one fish—and we felt like they owed it to us.

OK, says Buddha. Tell it to me. I have a lot of time today.

(story continued)

LSA Sale Success Benefits Food for Lane County

photos by Jen Lindsey

Jen Hufman faces some hard choices at the start of the Sale

This year's LSA Sale was great for both sellers and shoppers as the November 30 date coincided with both payday and the start of the holiday season. Early birds definitely got some of the coolest items, as Mandi Garcia's "star books" flew off the table. As usual Michiyo Goble's pottery was a steady seller, with its understated colors and lovely shapes. Marilyn Mohr's "various Mary" icon-like ornaments were deemed "perfect stocking stuffers" by a number of shoppers. Jams and candy, rummage sale "stuff" and knitted goods such as Lori Robare's fingerless gloves (perfect for the office!) were also popular.

One of Mandi Garcia’s coveted star book ornaments

The Library Staff Association took its usual 10% commission, and the $154.75 was donated to Food for Lane County. Twenty-five people took the opportunity to pay their LSA dues, and almost everyone bought a raffle ticket for Kaiping Zhang's potstickers. The vegetarian potstickers were won by Lisa Sieracki, and the meat potstickers by John Helmer. We'd say congratulations if we weren't still so disappointed....

Thanks to all who worked hard to make the Sale a success, and especially organizer Pam DeLaittre, and thanks to all the incredibly talented artists, artisans, craftspeople, cooks, and fiber artists for participating.

click here for more photos from the sale

The View from Hidden Spring

by Pam DeLaittre

On December 3, 2006, I treated my family to my favorite opera. Ok, I'm not really an opera buff, but I grew up with this one. Every year I looked forward to when it would be on television, and I love it almost as much as "It's a Wonderful Life", a movie I own and watch every year. I was thrilled when I found that the Hult Center would have "Amahl and the Night Visitors" by Gian Carlo Menotti performed on a matinee.

Kirk and Margot had never seen it, while I know every word, every note. I not only watched it each year, but had a record (vinyl) of the performance and libretto.

As many of you know, this is the story of a poor widow and her son, "a crippled boy", being visited one night by the Magi and their servant. There is a wonderful score that is quite challenging, especially for the artists cast as the mother and son. This is not to diminish the import of the three kings, and their ability to both shine individually and to also meld their voices in harmony, sometimes slightly dissonant, always in tune.

The story opens as Amahl, (playing his pipe, which is performed by an oboist beautifully), is being called in to the house by his mother. He is slightly resistant to coming in due to the unusual star in the sky, and when he finally comes inside, he tells his mother about it. Things just begin to quiet down when there is a knock on the door.

(story continued)

Program Committee’s Efforts Make LSA Event Ideas Come to Fruition

by Terry McQuilkin

Have you been on one of Whitey Lueck's fascinating tree walks? Did you learn how to make potstickers from Kaiping or get some hands-on experience in bookbinding from Andrew Huot? Did you go on Ed Teague's informative tour of campus architecture, or attend Cara List's informative and entertaining talk on artists' books?

Program Committee members brainstorming

If you've never participated in any of these activities, nor attended any of UO Libraries' famous Gonzo Revues, then you haven't taken advantage of a key part of the Library Staff Association's mission.

While it's pretty common for libraries like ours to have some kind of "staff association," many such associations limit their mission to sponsoring social events such as holiday and retirement parties. Certainly our association performs these functions, but our Library Staff Association is distinctive in having sponsored a wide array of educational, artistic and recreational programs that reflect the varied interests of our staff. The task of satisfying those interests by planning, organizing and publicizing the varied menu of LSA-sponsored events falls to the Program Committee, one of the association's seven standing committees.

Library staff tour group on the giant freight elevator at the Museum of Art

Earlier this month some of you attended the most recent event organized by the committee, a tour of the just-completed Wayne Lyman Morse Federal Courthouse. Although this event was open to the public, many activities sponsored by the Program Committee are LSA exclusives. In February, 2005, about a month after the formal reopening of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 16 library staff members were giving a special insider's tour of the facility by the museum's registrar, Jean Nattinger.

On several occasions, UO assistant adjunct professor of landscape architecture Dennis "Whitey" Lueck has led library staff on walking tours of the trees found on campus. In a survey taken in early 2005, staff members rated these tree walks as one of their favorite events. According to committee chair David McCallum, library staffers can anticipate another tree walk with Whitey this spring.

(story continued)

Events of Interest

As well as featuring upcoming LSA events, we'd like to get the word out about events staff are involved in that might be of interest to co-workers. If you'd like the world, or at least your co-workers, to know about something cool coming up, please email Harriett Smith or lsaweb.

LSA EVENTS

Tuesday, December 12, 2006: Celebrate the winter holiday season with friends and co-workers at the Holiday Potluck. We'll gather in the Knight Library Browsing Room between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., and as always there will be festive music, seasonal decorations, and good cheer to go around. Bring your favorite dish to share with your co-workers (sign-up sheets are in the Knight staff lounge and library administration office). You are welcome to bring guests to the Potluck; please bring a little more food if you do so.

All dishes should be table-ready with serving cutlery, and breads should be pre-sliced and placed in a suitable bowl or basket. Microwaves will be available.

If you can bring a turkey or ham to the potluck, have questions, or would like to help Social Committee with the details, please email Raina Smith or phone her at 346-1837.

Former employees who need transportation should email Stephanie Midkiff or phone her at 346-1661. If you can bring greenery for decorations, please contact Stephanie.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007: Get creative with Stars and Blizzards: Sculptural Books Made Easy. Mandi Garcia from the Materials Processing and Conservation Unit of MDLS will teach us how to make "star" books, and Victoria Wong, a student who works with her in the Beach Conservation Lab, will demonstrate how to make a "blizzard" book. Participants will create their own blizzard and star books. The workshop will be held in Proctor 41 (formerly Studio B) from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Materials will be provided, but there is a class limit of 20 people. If you'd like to try your hand at this cool book construction project, email Mandi or phone her at 6-0761.

NON-LSA EVENTS

Until December 13, 2006: The library will be collecting donations for the Toys for Tots program again this year. The collection box will be available at the Holiday Potluck on December 12, or you may drop off a toy in Library Administration any time before December 12. These should be new, unwrapped toys or books, or you can drop off a check. If you have questions, please email Sheila Gray or phone her at 6-1891.

Sunday, December 10, 2006: David Landazuri sends word that Accordions Anonymous will play at the Holiday Market at the Lane County Fairgrounds at 3:15 p.m. during "Retro Day at the Market". They will debut multi-accordion arrangements of three pieces from the "Nutcracker Suite". Should be stunning....

Sunday, December 17th, 2006: Eugene Sacred Harp Singers present a Christmas Concert & Shape-Note Sing-Along. Join David Landazuri, Jean Murphy, and Harriett Smith at 7 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive St. in Eugene. This is a fun annual event where music and refreshments are provided and the crowd always contains familiar, library-type faces (and voices). Donations welcome. We are not a Christian group, but the music we sing comes from a tradition of hymn singing which came over with the Pilgrims and continues as a living tradition today. Each line of a tune is melodic, which makes it lots of fun to sing. You do not have to be a good singer to join in!

Sunday, December 24, 2006: At the the Holiday Market at the Lane County Fairgrounds at 12:30 p.m. ("Pajama Day at the Market") S.L.U.G. Queen Slugretha and Dr. D (Prof. Dianne Dugaw of the English Dept.) will perform as the Santa Supplanters, to which David Landazuri will be appended for a few songs as an insubordinate clause. The Queen proclaims this is the first time she has persuaded other musicians to play "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer."

Announcements:

Program Committee Changes Gonzo from June to August. The LSA Program Committee has voted to change the date of the Gonzo from June to August. Exact dates will as usual be arranged yearly to be as convenient as possible for all, but June has increasingly become less convenient for all. June is also the time that the big ALA conference is held, which means many people are busy or gone. Considering what a resounding success we had this August, and the likelihood of a less hectic month for many of us, August has a lot going for it. See you at the next Gonzo!

LSA Committees Still Seeking Volunteers. There are still some LSA committees in need of an extra member or two. Ways and Means, which "develops LSA's budget, conducts dues drive, raises other funds as needed, and carries out special projects" could definitely use one more person. Check out the committees page and contact the chair if there is a committee that interests you!

There's Still Time to Pay Your Dues! Just a reminder that you may pay your $6 LSA dues at any time: just send or bring them to Pam DeLaittre, LSA Treasurer, in Collection Development & Acquisitions. Remember, Library Administration has graciously agreed to match dues paid before December 31, so don't delay!

People in the Library

Welcome:

On the Move :

Goodbye:

Staff photos by Jen Lindsey unless otherwise indicated

Last updated: 11 December, 2006
lsaweb@lists.uoregon.edu