Bernd Mohr's Oregon Picture Album

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LSA News

No. 48, August 2003

Summer is coming to a close and the new school year rapidly approaches. In this issue: The View from Hidden Spring, a final poem from Kent Neal, and as part of "The World Around Us", Colleen Bell shares insights and pictures from her trip to South Africa, an entertaining website, and Welcomes, Good Byes & Congratulations.

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

The view from Hidden Spring

By Pam DeLaittre

Last summer, Kirk started talking about wanting to raise our own beef. We raise lamb for lots of other people, it's as close to organic as you can get, but he doesn't really like lamb like I do. So we thought about it and started researching what breed would be a good match with our small farm.

Kirk started talking about 'Dexters', a breed of cow I had never heard of until then. It's a small cow, about 1/3rd smaller than the usual cows. Originating in Ireland, it is an old breed descending from the hardy Celt cattle. It is a dual purpose cow, used both for milking and meat. So I thought, this might be a match for our farm.

Coincidently, he located an ad in the paper for a herd reduction of Dexters not too far from us in the Elkton area. We called and made a date to go see the herd.

Donna, the herd owner, asked us what we were looking for when we got there. We didn't really know, but asked to see what she had for sale. We looked at a lot of cows, all were black, though the breed does have some brown colors too. Finally we saw a cow that had a very tiny calf, and asked about her. Seems the cow had been turned out with several young bulls and wasn't supposed to have had a calf at all.

Since the calf was born in late July and all the rest of the cows had calved 3 or more months before she was now totally outside of their calving program, plus since they didn't know who the sire of the bull calf she had at side, he wouldn't be registerable. She quoted us a price considerably lower than the other cows and calves we had looked at. We decided to think about it.
We talked about the pros and cons on the way home. First we didn't care if the calf was registered due to his gender, second Donna had offered to rebreed the cow for us - this time with a known parents, third she offered to, for a fee, rebreed the cow each year.

This seemed ideal, so when we got home I called Donna and told her we would like to buy 'Anna' and her calf which Kirk had already named 'Porter' [for Porterhouse-his favorite steak]. Anna and Porter came home to the farm about 6 weeks later. Porter had grown a lot!

This spring as we approached the month of June, we couldn't tell if Anna was pregnant or not, not an unusual occurrence, due to the fact that Dexter calfs are very small at birth only weighing about 35 lbs as opposed to a Herefords 75-90 lb calf. We did finally notice that she seemed to be getting a bigger udder.

I had Margot check her each day after she got home from school and call me, there was no news. Then one monday, June 9th, when I went up to feed after I got home from work, there was Anna and her new son 'Hamilton' [after Hamilton Burger]. Porter didn't like having another calf! He was his mommas boy!

We put Porter in with the rams, he hooted and bawled and cried, all night long......until the next morning when he jumped the fence and got back in with Anna and Hamilton. So then Porter got exiled to the horses dry lot, behind a big electric fence. That worked but he was not happy about it. It took about a week before he shut up!

Earlier this summer Anna enjoyed a vacation with Hamilton, in Elkton with a strapping young bull and returned to the farm this past weekend.

For more information on Dexters : http://www.dextercattlesociety.co.uk/breed.shtml

Anna

Temple Explorer

by Kent Neal

Large bronze doors lead to a dark antichamber.
An orb of light hovers above.
I wander through a pink soundscape
and glide up the grand staircase.

Rows of towering shelves
embrace me like old friends.
This temple’s treasures are arranged
in cryptic hieroglyphics.
I pull a symbiotic scroll from my pocket.
Each title embraces an alphanumeric mate.

The scroll guides me through
these labyrinthine stacks.
PN
851
.C36
to
PN
1101
.D
My eyes scan shelf after shelf.
Maybe it’s checked out.
I’ve seen it before—
on a shelving cart.
There it is!
PN
1042
.A35
1997
The Poet’s Companion
Kim Addonizio & Dorianne Laux.

A taste of chapter one dazzles me.
Not all are this brilliant
Many must be put back to await
the arrival of another explorer.

After discovering several other
treasures, my expedition ends.
On a bench outside,
I turn to the introduction
and surrender to its seduction.

Gonzo follow-up

For those who enjoyed the Well-tempered Pitchfork's performance at the end of the Gonzo, Pitchfork (a.k.a. Rake) members would like to let you know there is more! We shamelessly stole these lyrics for educational purposes from:

The Beetless' gardening book : an organic gardening songbook/guidebook : containing the poetry of Jam Lemon, Pear Machete, Joychoi Heirloom, and Rutabaga Variety - four lads who made organic gardening a household word once more / edited and annotated by Chris Roth ; foreword by Alan Kapuler.

The cool thing is, these folks are local; the publication information is Cottage Grove, OR : Carrotseed Press, c1997. ISBN: 0965709027 (pbk).

We borrowed it from the Eugene Public library, who has it cataloged at 811.5 BEETLESS 1997.

David Landazuri is desolated that he didn't remember to thank his friend Shelley Winship for the loan of the rake and inspiration as to its uses. Thanks, Shelley!

WEB MECHANICS MENTORING GROUP

Dealing with web page updates or making a site? Check out the Web Mechanics Mentoring Group, where you can share information through discussion, develop new skills and gain new insights into even basic topics by watching short tutorials, and network with others. Our noon brown bag group meets every 2nd Thursday in Media Services, starting Sept. 11th. For more information see http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~beginweb/index.html .

According to UO policy, classified staff may be able to use release time to attend if the training relates to job responsibilities and the supervisor approves. See http://policies.uoregon.edu/ch3e.html and check with your supervisor.

"Two Weeks in the Life...: A Visit to South Africa"

The World Around Us

by Colleen Bell

In July 2003, I spent twelve days in Cape Town, South Africa. I was attending the 15th International Conference on Assessing Quality in Higher Education, but left myself plenty of time to explore the city and surrounding areas. Within a few short days in Cape Town, I realized I'd fallen in love – with the beauty of my surroundings, definitely, but more so with the people. In spite of poverty, AIDS, tuberculosis, and the lingering after-effects of apartheid, the South African people are amazingly optimistic and resourceful; they are survivors, and I am completely awed and inspired by my them. Below are several vignettes intended to give you an idea of why I was so deeply touched by my visit.

Every Sunday there is a large flea market at Green Point Stadium. Monday through Saturday, the market is at Greenmarket Square in the heart of the city, but on Sundays, it moves to the area known as Green Point, where it more than doubles in size. Greenmarket Square is for the tourists; the Green Point market is more for the locals. The Sunday market is a hodgepodge of booths, offering an assortment of typical flea market fare (household items, clothing, glassware, and assorted cast-offs), crafts and artwork from local and regional artisans, and African "kitsch" – those mass-produced items modeled on traditional indigenous crafts, such as carvings and weapons.

My first full day in Cape Town, I visited the market. I stopped to take a closer look at some artwork displayed in one of the booths at the far end of the market. "Welcome. My name is George. Please come in." George is Xhosa (the tribe indigenous to the Cape Town region), with graying hair and a big smile. "This is sand art. It's made by an artist near here, in Langa." Langa, I learned, is the oldest of the planned townships surrounding Cape Town; its name means "Sun." read more...

Entertaining Website

This was a cute library flash site: http://www.cheekybeef.co.uk/library.html

FROM THE FACT FILE

Back to the Tube

by TERRY McQUILKIN
Two years ago, when we asked readers to identify a half-score television programs from the past, we found the Library staff tremendously adept at naming programs that aired during the last 50 years. With that in mind, we've assembled another visit to TV Land, as we ask you to name the ten television series described below. As before, we have a mix of hits and a couple of duds, and the programs date from the 1950's up through the 1990's. A caveat: Be sure to find the exact name for the show in question.

  1. This serial drama was a spin-off of another popular serial. It was centered around a group of self-absorbed, hedonic, unnaturally good-looking young men and women, most of whom lived in the same apartment building in a trendy part of town. Among the more popular characters was the duplicitous, manipulative Amanda Woodward, who was played by Heather Locklear.

  2. This show, emceed by Hal March, was the first quiz show with a big money payout. Contestants were asked to answer a series of very difficult questions in an area in which they professed expertise. To prevent audience members from giving away answers, contestants were placed in the "Revlon isolation booth" to answer the more advanced questions.

  3. The setting for this medical drama was a big-city hospital in which a dedicated but overworked staff worked ceaselessly to save the lives of the largely indigent population it served. Unlike earlier medical dramas, some patients didn't survive, and the doctors and nurses experienced problems of their own. Among the large and able cast were Ed Flanders, William Daniels, David Birney and Cynthia Sikes.

  4. The familiar theme song for this series tells the premise: A group of seven people are supposed to be together for three hours and end up having to spend three years together, isolated from society. All of characters were so endearingly inept that viewers overlooked the implausibility of the situations, the predictability of the plots and the second-rate acting, and the series ran for three successful seasons.

  5. The longest-running of all legal dramas, it featured a defense attorney whose battering cross examination of witnesses invariably led to a dramatic courtroom confession. This title character never lost a case and often the deciding evidence would be rushed into the courtroom at the last moment.

  6. The premise for this sitcom: A wealthy CEO takes responsibility for raising the two children of his deceased housekeeper. The show's success was due in large measure to the cuteness and acting talent of a diminutive child actor. (A postscript: This actor, who was 10 years old when the series began, is now 35 and is one of the many people running for governor of California.) The show led to a spin-off series set in a prestigious school for young women.

  7. Inspired by a 1986 movie starring Matthew Broderick, this series centered around the high jinks of its title character (played by Charlie Schlatter in this series), who attended Ocean Park High School in Santa Monica. The series folded after less than four months.

  8. An actress who had delivered a memorable performance in the film, The Miracle Worker starred in this popular situation comedy by playing both of the lead roles--relatives whose physical similarities contrasted with the vast differences in their tastes for food, music and style.

  9. This comedy about a traveling Bible salesman and his 11-year-old daughter was based on a movie of the same name. The TV series starred Christopher Connelly and Jodie Foster, but it lasted a mere three and a half months.

  10. In this successful sitcom, a writer of "how-to" books buys a historic Vermont inn with the idea of restoring it to its original charm and opening it for business. Overnight guests are few and far between, but eccentric characters abound. Eventually the inn is bought by a Japanese businessman and golf course developer, and to viewers of the lead actor's earlier sitcom, the final scene of the final episode was a real gut-buster.

When you've finished rifling through all your old issues of TV Guide and determined the names of those shows of old, submit your answers to Fact File. Answers must be received by September 26. The winner will be determined by the number of correct answers; in the event of a tie, a single winner will be selected by lot. The winner will receive a $5.00 gift certificate for purchases at the University of Oregon Bookstore. Participation is limited to staff and faculty of the University of Oregon Libraries.

Welcome:
  • Donna Pellinger, Development Assistant, who began on August 18.
Congratulations
  • Michelle Page, has been promoted to Library Technician 2, Circulation, Reserves and Videos, effective August 18.
  • Rick Peterson, has been promoted to Library Technician 3, Circulation, Reserves and Videos, effective August 1.
Goodbyes
  • Michelle Batchelor, Library Technician 3, Circulation, Reserves and Videos departed on July 30 to pursue her MLS at the University of Washington. Good luck 'Chelle!
  • Andrew Nicholson, MAP/GIS Librarian , Documents Center, to accept a position at the University of Toronto Mississauga Library. His last day in the Library will be October 10. Best wishes, Andrew!
  • Kent Neal, Library Technician 2, Current Periodicals/Stacks, departed on August 22 to spend a year in Europe. Bon Voyage Neal!

Been to an interesting conference?

Send us a brief report for publication in the next newsletter. Thanks!

 

Last updated: 030902
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