I picked up the newest Gorge magazine this morning. I love this magazine, although I must make a confession: I’m also a frequent contributor. That said, editor Janet Cook and creative director and graphic designer Renata Kosina deserve praise for this quarterly publication. The magazine is always full of interesting articles and gorgeous photography. And it’s free!
The magazine’s contributors and staff work hard to capture what makes the Columbia River Gorge such a wonderful place to live and work. The spring issue includes a diversity of stories, from the history of Tofurky and its founder Seth Tibbott to profiles of local artists participating in the upcoming Open Studio Tours throughout the Gorge.
My assignment this issue was to research and write about the recently completed mural on the wall of the Diamond Fruit building in downtown Odell. This breathtaking mural by artists Michelle Yamamoto and Allison Bell Fox celebrates the cultural history of farming in the Hood River Valley, and tells the stories of the agricultural workers who care for the valley’s wonderful fruit crops.
I started writing for Gorge magazine soon after retiring from my teaching career at Odell’s Mid Valley Elementary School. Returning to this small community for this assignment was a homecoming for me. I lived there in the early 1980s and fell in love there. Our wedding was catered by an Odell restaurant (Huckleberry Mountain Café, now Michoacan), and I spent my entire teaching career at Mid Valley. Last week, I returned to Odell as a visiting artist — part of the school’s annual “Art Week.” It was a wonderful, though exhausting, reunion for me.
Art Week brings a team of diverse artists to the school for four days. The students learn about their options ahead of time, and select three different artistic experiences that are most interesting to them. There’s everything from bucket drumming to puppetry, watercolor to weaving. Each child is assigned to one of their choices; those kids that selected me made paper mosaics from recycled materials.
The artists spent their first day setting up. I loaded my car with bottles of glue, scissors and flattened boxes of everything from Kleenex to Captain Crunch cereal. Recycled boxes serve as my “paints.” Out to Odell, I passed the beautiful mural once again, its color pallet supposed to stay vibrant for at least 20 years.
After lugging all my supplies into the school, I treated myself to some carnitas tacos from the “Los Amigos” restaurant nearby. When I worked at Mid Valley, this was a regular lunch stop for me. Years later, they’re still delicious. Fortified with food, I returned to my prep, feeling nervous about the coming days, but my belly full.
Over the next four days, I met with students from kindergarten through fifth grade. The kids made beautiful mosaics comprised of tiny pieces of cut up boxes. As we worked, I also tried to teach them about the three “R s”— Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. When I taught this art lesson years ago, I could honestly tell my students that their materials would be recycled. Today, with China no longer interested in the U.S.A.’s recyclable materials, the cynic in me knows that everything dumped into our blue recycling bins goes directly to landfills. Such a sad lesson to teach.
It was wonderful to see the teachers and staff who were my colleagues when I taught at Mid Valley — such an amazing group of hard-working educators. There were lots of fresh young staff members as well, many of them fluent in Spanish. Skilled bilingual staff give students opportunities to learn in both languages. What a wonderful skill; I can say from personal experienced that they will never regret being bilingual.
The magazine’s contributors and staff work hard to capture what makes the Columbia River Gorge such a wonderful place to live and work. The spring issue includes a diversity of stories, from the history of Tofurky and its founder Seth Tibbott to profiles of local artists participating in the upcoming Open Studio Tours throughout the Gorge.
My assignment this issue was to research and write about the recently completed mural on the wall of the Diamond Fruit building in downtown Odell. This breathtaking mural by artists Michelle Yamamoto and Allison Bell Fox celebrates the cultural history of farming in the Hood River Valley, and tells the stories of the agricultural workers who care for the valley’s wonderful fruit crops.
I started writing for Gorge magazine soon after retiring from my teaching career at Odell’s Mid Valley Elementary School. Returning to this small community for this assignment was a homecoming for me. I lived there in the early 1980s and fell in love there. Our wedding was catered by an Odell restaurant (Huckleberry Mountain Café, now Michoacan), and I spent my entire teaching career at Mid Valley. Last week, I returned to Odell as a visiting artist — part of the school’s annual “Art Week.” It was a wonderful, though exhausting, reunion for me.
Art Week brings a team of diverse artists to the school for four days. The students learn about their options ahead of time, and select three different artistic experiences that are most interesting to them. There’s everything from bucket drumming to puppetry, watercolor to weaving. Each child is assigned to one of their choices; those kids that selected me made paper mosaics from recycled materials.
The artists spent their first day setting up. I loaded my car with bottles of glue, scissors and flattened boxes of everything from Kleenex to Captain Crunch cereal. Recycled boxes serve as my “paints.” Out to Odell, I passed the beautiful mural once again, its color pallet supposed to stay vibrant for at least 20 years.
After lugging all my supplies into the school, I treated myself to some carnitas tacos from the “Los Amigos” restaurant nearby. When I worked at Mid Valley, this was a regular lunch stop for me. Years later, they’re still delicious. Fortified with food, I returned to my prep, feeling nervous about the coming days, but my belly full.
Over the next four days, I met with students from kindergarten through fifth grade. The kids made beautiful mosaics comprised of tiny pieces of cut up boxes. As we worked, I also tried to teach them about the three “R s”— Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. When I taught this art lesson years ago, I could honestly tell my students that their materials would be recycled. Today, with China no longer interested in the U.S.A.’s recyclable materials, the cynic in me knows that everything dumped into our blue recycling bins goes directly to landfills. Such a sad lesson to teach.
It was wonderful to see the teachers and staff who were my colleagues when I taught at Mid Valley — such an amazing group of hard-working educators. There were lots of fresh young staff members as well, many of them fluent in Spanish. Skilled bilingual staff give students opportunities to learn in both languages. What a wonderful skill; I can say from personal experienced that they will never regret being bilingual.
My husband and I volunteer as SMART (Start Making a Reader Today) volunteers at Mid Valley. Every Tuesday afternoon we head out to Odell and read one-on-one with kindergarten and first grade students. It’s one of the most satisfying volunteer experiences I’ve ever had.
During SMART, each student reads one-on-one with an adult reading buddy for a half hour. During that time, the kids get to select whatever book from the collection that interests them. There are books in English and in Spanish. My students enjoy both languages, and their ability to read in Spanish often surpasses my skill level. At the end of a SMART session, the students get to select books to own and take home.
One young boy has been reading with my husband for almost two years. He is only 6 years old, but he’s already teaching my husband how to read in Spanish. He corrects my husband when he mispronounces a word, and translates the story into English when necessary.
On the first day of Art Week, I had my group of kindergarteners and first graders sit down on the rug with me so I could explain the lesson. I looked at the students and suddenly noticed a familiar face — the young boy who “tutors” my husband. A few days later these students were on to a new project, one that involved buckets of cut paper letters. One person at a time at each table group shook the bucket and selected a letter. Turns followed until each kid had a small pile of letters to glue down. Many made abstract designs using the cut-out letters; others attempted to make made-up words. One young man selected the letters U, F, K and C and made them into a word not repeatable in this newspaper. He knew it was the wrong thing to do, and placed the letters back in the tub. I breathed a sigh of relief.
My husband’s reading buddy found all the letters in his name and glued them down carefully. Then he asked me how to spell “love.” I told him and he went in search of those four letters. Carefully glued down, he said it was a present for his mother.
During SMART, each student reads one-on-one with an adult reading buddy for a half hour. During that time, the kids get to select whatever book from the collection that interests them. There are books in English and in Spanish. My students enjoy both languages, and their ability to read in Spanish often surpasses my skill level. At the end of a SMART session, the students get to select books to own and take home.
One young boy has been reading with my husband for almost two years. He is only 6 years old, but he’s already teaching my husband how to read in Spanish. He corrects my husband when he mispronounces a word, and translates the story into English when necessary.
On the first day of Art Week, I had my group of kindergarteners and first graders sit down on the rug with me so I could explain the lesson. I looked at the students and suddenly noticed a familiar face — the young boy who “tutors” my husband. A few days later these students were on to a new project, one that involved buckets of cut paper letters. One person at a time at each table group shook the bucket and selected a letter. Turns followed until each kid had a small pile of letters to glue down. Many made abstract designs using the cut-out letters; others attempted to make made-up words. One young man selected the letters U, F, K and C and made them into a word not repeatable in this newspaper. He knew it was the wrong thing to do, and placed the letters back in the tub. I breathed a sigh of relief.
My husband’s reading buddy found all the letters in his name and glued them down carefully. Then he asked me how to spell “love.” I told him and he went in search of those four letters. Carefully glued down, he said it was a present for his mother.
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