Ashland Community Connections

‘A CELTIC CHRISTMAS’ RETURNS REVELS, INSIDE

‘STORIES THAT NEED TO BE TOLD’

Tiziana DellaRovere, Anima Mundi Productions co-founder and one of our resident artists, plays one of the Pianos for Peace.

‘The painted piano people’ plan two additional concerts.

Page 3 COURTESY PHOTO

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A2 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings

CALENDAR Thursday, Dec. 12 Phoenix Book Club: Discuss books on select topics at 2 p.m. the second Thursday of each month at the Phoenix library, 510 W. First St. Readers can choose fiction or nonfiction as monthly topics. See jcls.org or call 541-774-6408.

Spanish Conversation: English speakers learning Spanish can attend free conversationals from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursdays at the Ashland library, 410 Siskiyou Blvd.

All levels of fluency welcome.

See jcls.org or call 541-744-6996.

Ben Larsen: Portland-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ben Larsen will perform at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, at Belle Fiore Winery, 100 Belle Fiore Lane, Ashland.

Admission is free. See bellefiorewine.com or call 541-552-4900.

John Nilsen: Oregon pianist, guitarist and recording artist John Nilsen will perform a solo piano holiday concert, featuring holiday classics, boogie-woogie and jazz, along with some of his originals at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, at Pascal Vineyard, 1122 Suncrest Road, Talent.

Admission is $10 at door. Call 541-535-7957.

An Evening with The Hearth: Six diverse community leaders will share a memorable experience from their personal life during “An Evening with The Hearth: Night of the Storytellers” from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, at Temple Emek Shalom, 1800 E. Main St., Ashland. Storytellers

include Danielle Mancuso from The Lantern; Cesar Flores from Noche de Cuentos; fiddler and storyteller Kevin Carr; writer and poet Alma Rosa Alvarez; story coach and author Jay Golden; and Hearth founder Mark Yaconelli. Live music will be performed

by Hollis Peach. Admission is a $10 to $20 donation requested at the door to benefit The Hearth’s community-building efforts. See thehearthcommunity.com/.

Youssoupha Sidibe: Grammy-nominated Youssoupha Sidibe, Senegalese West African Kora (African Harp) player, will perform a world music concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, at the Havurah Synagogue, 185 N. Mountain Ave., Ashland. Sidibe will be accompanied by violinist Dr. See. Tickets are $20 to $30 in advance, $25 at the door. Tickets can be purchased online at tickets.brightstarevents.com/event/ YoussouphaSidibe, or at the Music Coop, 268 E Main St, Ashland. Doors open at 7 p.m. For more information, seefacebook. com/events/420971075453839/.

Dart Tournament: Dart matches for skilled and novice players start at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays at The Black Sheep Pub, 51 N. Main St., Ashland. Entry is $5, and the pub will match the pot up to $50.

Call 541-482-6414.

Trivia Night: Bird & Rye hosts free trivia games from 8 to 10 p.m.

Thursdays at 23 S. Second St., Ashland. Call 541-482-7437.

Game Knights: Play a variety of board games at 8 p.m. Thursdays at The Black Sheep Pub,

QUESTIONS? Email calendar@rosebudmedia.com or call 541-776-4477

51 N. Main St., Ashland. All ages welcome until 11 p.m. Call 541-482-6414.

Friday, Dec. 13 Ice Skating: The Ashland Rotary Centennial Ice Rink will be open for skating every day through Feb. 17, weather permitting.

Skate rentals, snacks and hot drinks are available. Call 541488-9189 or see ashland.or.us/ icerink for schedule and admission information.

Preschool Puppet Theatre: See what Brenda Bear and friends are up to at 10:30 a.m. the second Friday of each month at North Mountain Park Nature Center, 620 N. Mountain Ave., Ashland. Admission is $6. A short environmental lesson will be followed by the puppet show and playtime. A snack and craft or activity will follow. No late seating is allowed.

Winter Fine Arts Festival: Ashland High School will showcase student art at its 28th annual Winter Fine Arts Festival Friday, Dec. 13, in the school’s Mountain Avenue Theatre and Commons, 201 S. Mountain Ave. Exhibits include illustration, painting, textiles, digital art, photography, sculpture, ceramics and woodworking, along with live performances by the school’s orchestra, band, dance troupe, vocal and theater ensembles.

Exhibits open at 5:30 p.m. and are complemented by a light dinner prepared by Culinary Arts teacher Jake Taub and

his advanced students. Performances begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the door. Ages 4 and younger get in free. All ticket purchases include admission to the art exhibits, performances, silent auction and light dinner. Proceeds support arts programs through Ashland High Arts Advocates, a nonprofit dedicated to creating accessible arts programs for K-12. See ashlandarts. org for information.

Jim Malachi: Guitarist and singer-songwriter Jim Malachi will perform a mix of folk-rock, pop, country and more at 5 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 13, at Ashland Wine Cellar, 36 Lithia Way, Ashland.

See ashlandwinecellar.com or call 541-488-2111.

Dennis Konecny: Singer and guitarist Dennis Konecny will perform at 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, at Trium Wines, 203 E. Main Street, Talent. See triumwines. com or call 541-625-9100.

Perry Road: Guitarist Erica Flynn, bassist Mike Plane and drummer Randy Schoenauer will play rock and country at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, at Belle Fiore Winery, 100 Belle Fiore Lane, Ashland.

Admission is free. See bellefiorewine.com or call 541-552-4900.

The Siskiyou Singers: The choir, directed by Mark Reppert, will perform their 2019 holiday concert, “Ceremony of Carols,” Friday through Sunday, Dec. 13-15, in the Music Recital Hall, 450 Mountain Ave., at Southern Oregon University, Ashland. Showtimes are set

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Saturday and Sunday. Harpist Ellen Lindquist will perform along with the choir. Featured songs include the sacred “Hodie Christus Natus Est” by Palestrina and “Angelus ad Virginem,” a 13th-century carol. Musicologist Ed Wight will present a free pre-concert lecture one hour before each concert. Tickets are $20, $5 for students and Oregon Trail Card holders, and can be purchased at Music Coop or Paddington Station in Ashland and Grocery Outlet in Medford.

See siskiyousingers.org.

Ashland International Folk Dancers: The group meets Fridays at the The Grove, 1195 E. Main St., Ashland, to perform dances from Eastern and Western Europe, Greece, Scandinavia, Israel, Turkey and the Middle East. Instruction begins at 7:30 p.m., and dancing goes from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. No partners necessary. Admission is $5 by donation. Call 541-535-6397 or 541-482-8249.

Saturday, Dec. 14 Holiday Boutique: The Talent Library Club will hold a holiday boutique sale from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Talent library, 101 Home St. Look for new or gently-used items such as CDs, movies, kids’ books, knick-knacks and puzzles. All donations received help provide programming and materials for the Talent library. See jcls.org or call 541-535-4163.

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Ashland Tidings | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | A3

COVER STORY

Providing a voice

COURTESY PHOTO

The Malek Jandali Trio performs Oct. 6 in the Southern Oregon University Music Recital Hall. Malek Jandali (piano) is joined by David Rogers (oud) and Michal Palzewicz (cello).

Two more concerts planned by ‘the painted piano people’

By Caitlin Fowlkes for the Tidings

Y

ou might know them as the painted piano people.

In October, Anima Mundi Productions presented what it called a Heart of Humanity concert. It brought in a trio of musicians featuring Malek Jandali and partnered with Pianos for Peace to place community-painted pianos in two locations in Ashland for the public to play.

Jandali is a pianist and composer who is working to turn Syrian writing and history into music.

Within the week the pianos were painted, Jandali gave a couple of presentations about how music can preserve culture through the face of war, and then Anima Mundi launched the first in a series

of three concerts.

“We sold about 250 tickets to the show, but way more than 250 people walked by that piano near the entrance to Lithia Park,” said composer Ethan Gans-Morse.

The mission of the organization, which Gans-Morse co-founded with his wife, Tiziana DellaRovere, is to create original works of music and produce works from other composers, with a common thread that everything produced addresses social issues.

The second Heart of Humanity show is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 12, at the SOU Music Recital Hall.

The show, titled “With Malice Toward None, With Charity For All,” will feature Japanese-American baritone Christòpheren Nomura with pianist Daniel Lockert and local musician Jodi French.

Gans-Morse described the performance

as an “unforgettable recital of classical and popular works that explore the pressing topic of healing the wounds of war and restoring compassion.”

The third concert in the series, titled “Dreams Have No Borders,” is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, April 26, at the SOU Music Recital Hall.

The concert will include an original piece created by the co-founders based on interviews with several Latinas in Ashland who emigrated to the Rogue Valley.

“Everything that happens in the story really happened to someone we interviewed right here in Oregon,” Gans-Morse said.

The concert will feature Grammy-winning soprano Estelí Gomez, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Duarte, tenor Rafael Moras and the Delgani String Quartet.

SEE CONCERTS, A6

A4 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings

LOCAL REVITALIZATION

City takes another crack at downtown improvements

By Caitlin Fowlkes for the Tidings

Ashland city staff along with a hired consulting team are working to revitalize the downtown area after multiple unsuccessful attempts over the past half century.

The goal is to make the downtown area safer and more efficient in terms of transportation, as well as beautify the historic and popular core of the city.

Public Works Director Paula Brown said staff have looked at ways to make transportation in that area safer, and ways to beautify the downtown, but this time they’re prioritizing the project and working on securing funding so it will come to fruition.

Public Works Deputy Director Scott Fleury said the first time the city tried this was in 1976, and an attempt has been made nearly every decade since.

Public Works staff are working closely with the consultant, Jacobs, and the Oregon Department of Transportation planning and analysis unit.

Fleury said the ODOT team spent a significant amount of time this spring collecting traffic data, including crash information, to create a modeling system for transportation proposals.

Brown explained that the team can determine whether changing the downtown oneway streets from three lanes to two with a larger bike lane might be safer for bicyclists, pedestrians and vehicles, for example.

On Nov. 6, an open house put on by the Revitalize Downtown Ashland advisory committee collected ideas from the public.

Each committee member headed a table focused on a different facet of the project — transportation, parking, beautification, safety, wayfinding, etc.

About 60 community members attended the open house, and about 120 comments were received on an online survey.

Jacobs collected the information and compiled it into a

ASHLAND TIDINGS FILE PHOTO

Ashland city staff along with a hired consulting team are working to revitalize the downtown area after multiple unsuccessful attempts over the past half-century.

synopsis, which it will use to determine some project ideas, which will be presented to the public at another input-gathering session planned for an unspecified date in February.

Brown said many opinions were gathered. She said some people thought there was too much parking and some thought there was not enough.

“There were a diverse

amount of comments,” Brown said. “There’s a lot of community desire, but as it’s been in the past, it’s kind of all over, so using the consultant team and the ODOT analysis unit will be very helpful.”

According to the Citizen Advisory Committee web page, the study area includes the downtown couplet (Main Street and Lithia Way/C

trucks, improvement of bike and public transit systems, lighting, efficient directional and traffic signage, general cleanup of storefronts, and adding more vegetation.

A main consideration from the community is to ensure all revitalization efforts pertain to the city’s climate and energy action plan.

Next steps will be presented

by Jacobs and city staff at the February open house, and community input will be gathered then too. A final open house will take place a couple of months after that, Brown said.

At a City Council meeting Dec. 2, the council directed staff to begin discussion with ODOT about taking over maintenance of a corridor currently maintained by ODOT along the downtown portion of East Main Street and Lithia Way, often referred to as the couplet.

If the council approves this jurisdictional transfer, more funding would become available for these downtown area projects, Brown said. However, she said she suspects that decision will be several months away.

Staff expects to have all input gathered, a plan drafted and the jurisdictional transfer decision wrapped up by the fall of 2020.

Without funding from the jurisdictional transfer, funding for the Revitalize Downtown Ashland projects come from the standard gas tax and road user fee.

To stay up to date on the project, see the city of Ashland website at ashland.or.us, scroll over departments, click Public Works and then click “Revitalize Downtown Ashland” on the left side of the Public Works page.

“It’s nice to have the community stay engaged,” Brown said. “It’s been a long time. I appreciate the community’s interest. A lot of people have asked us, ‘If it didn’t work before, why do you think it’ll work now?’ And a lot of it is timing and funding.”

Street), intersections where the separated couplet terminates, parallel streets and side streets.

The study area is generally bounded by B Street, Fourth Street, Hargadine Avenue and Helman Street.

Some suggestions from community members gathered at the meeting included: looking Contact Ashland Tidings into various parking strate- freelancer Caitlin Fowlkes at gies, limitations on delivery caitlin.fowlkes@gmail.com.

Ashland Tidings | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | A5

LOCAL / STATE

Oregon Health Authority OKs 5-year deal with AllCare

By Vickie Aldous for the Tidings

The Oregon Health Authority announced it approved a five-year contract allowing AllCare Health to continue managing Oregon Health Plan benefits.

OHA had previously approved a one-year contract for AllCare Health and three other organizations it said

Although AllCare now has a five-year contract, more than 10,000 Jackson County residents will still see changes to their OHP plan. AllCare has about 25,000 clients in Jackson County.

providing local, supportive care to the people of Southern Oregon,” said Dr. Thomas Eagan, AllCare CCO Board Chair. “AllCare’s Board of Governors hadn’t submitted enough evidence in standards beginning in 2020 for coor- and staff are dedicated to the next five their applications to win five-year con- dinated care organizations, which years and beyond, as Oregon continues tracts. Other organizations across the manage the mental, physical and dental to lead the nation in health care delivstate received either five-year contracts care for the 1 in 4 Oregonians on the ery innovation through comprehensive, holistic care.” or didn’t get contracts.

Oregon Health Plan.

SEE ALLCARE, A6 The state is launching higher “AllCare Health is excited to continue

Future of Elliott State Forest still Grants offered for on hold following SCOTUS ruling humanitarian youth Sale of 800 acres being ruled illegal won’t affect proposal to turn forest into a lab at OSU

By Buffy Pollock for the Tidings

By Sam Stites Oregon Capital Bureau

The advisory committee tasked with looking at the feasibility of turning the Elliott State Forest into a research forest managed by Oregon State University will take another year to give the State Land Board a recommendation.

But public testimony given at the board’s meeting Tuesday shows lukewarm interest in handing over the 82,000-acre coastal forest between Coos Bay and Reedsport to OSU’s College of Forestry, citing mismanagement of the school’s own McDonald-Dunn Forest as reason to leave the forest as is.

The board comprising Gov. Kate Brown, Secretary of State Bev Clarno and Treasurer Tobias Read held session for nearly four hours to hear updates from members of the Elliott State Research Advisory Committee on progress made in exploring a partnership between the Department of State Lands to turn Oregon’s oldest state forest into a living laboratory and outdoor classroom for students, researchers and managers to learn about forest ecosystems and management.

In 2017, the board decided not to sell the Elliott State Forest to create revenue for Oregon’s Common School

ASHLAND TIDINGS FILE PHOTO

Joe Metzler walks across a fallen log over a creek in the Silver Grove surrounded by some trees in the grove that are over 220 years old on Oct. 27, 2016, in Elliott State Forest near Reedsport.

“While our conversations have been productive, we’re not finished discussing and resolving these highly complex issues. Further conversation will be critical in a successful outcome, and the committee remains resolute in continuing our work as we recognize the importance of this endeavor.”

Keith Tymchuk, committee member and former mayor of Reedsport

Fund, which is fed by money from harvests on state forests.

In December 2018, the board directed state lands agency to work with OSU to propose a new plan for the Elliott that would develop a habitat conservation plan and create a new management system led by the school. The agency created a 17-member advisory committee to oversee the process.

One year and 10 meetings later, the committee isn’t any closer to making their recommendation.

“While our conversations have been productive, we’re not finished discussing and resolving these highly complex issues,” said Keith Tymchuk,

committee member and former mayor of Reedsport. “Further conversation will be critical in a successful outcome, and the committee remains resolute in continuing our work as we recognize the importance of this endeavor.”

Anthony Davis, interim dean of OSU College of Forestry, addressed the board, giving an update on how those conversations with both State Lands officials and the committee are shaping up. According to Davis, the proposal is now focusing on helping solve the global climate and sustainability crisis with new research by OSU. SEE FOREST, A6

Highlighting young humanitarians in communities where it does business, U.S. Cellular is looking for the best of the best.

The company kicked off its fifth annual Future of Good program last week by asking for nominations of community-minded youth ages 6 to 17.

U.S. Cellular makes a callout each year for nominations of kids doing great work in their communities. This year’s campaign seeks to highlight humanitarians “bringing fairness to their communities.”

Nominations will be accepted online until April 15.

The wireless carrier pledges $60,000 — six grants of $10,000 each — to further the good deeds being done by the helpers with the most heart-warming projects.

Erryn Andersen, director of sales for U.S. Cellular’s Northwest region, said she loves to see the nominations and hear about the good being done all over the U.S. Her hope this year is for an increase in nominations — and great stories being told — about young humanitarians in the Pacific Northwest, particularly the Rogue Valley.

“We haven’t really had any winners in the Medford area that I can recall. A couple in the Northwest region — Washington and Oregon. I know we have a lot of good being done in the Rogue Valley. I was just reading about some cool projects happening locally,”

Andersen said.

“There are great things happening all around us. We just have to look for the good in the world and then take the courageous step to make that nomination.”

Andersen said the nomination process is quick and simple.

Projects in years past have ranged from veterans-related issues to environmental causes.

“We had one humanitarian who was passionate that all military veterans should have taps played at their funeral, so U.S. Cellular was able to offer support financially so that continued to happen,” she said.

“Another really good one was a young person who wanted to provide backpacks or suitcases for all foster children when they were moving from home to home, instead of their belongings being shoved into a trash bag. And we had another young humanitarian who saw people in need and created a soup pantry in their area.”

Andersen said the project is a way to highlight the positive and offer a financial boost to ensure community projects can continue.

To enter, nominators should visit thefutureofgood.uscellular.com. Nominations should describe the nominee’s cause, how it is helping his/her community and how the nominee could use a $10,000 cash grant for technology or other means to continue and grow his/her efforts.

Nominees must not turn 18 before Aug. 30, 2020.

A6 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings

LOCAL / STATE ALLCARE From Page A5

Headquartered in Grants Pass, AllCare Health has 50,000 members in Josephine, Jackson, Curry and Douglas counties.

Jackson Care Connect, another CCO serving Jackson County, already has received a five-year contract to continue managing OHP benefits.

Organizations that received only one-year contracts had to submit more information to show they could meet the higher goals of what has been dubbed CCO 2.0. Goals include improving mental health care, addressing nonmedical issues such as housing that impact people’s health, and controlling costs.

Like AllCare, the CCOs Cascade Health Alliance and Umpqua Health Alliance submitted additional information and have now been awarded five-year contracts. Yamhill Community Health, the remaining CCO with a one-year contract, is making progress on a remediation plan, state officials said.

“I appreciate the steps AllCare, Cascade Health Alliance and Umpqua Health Alliance have taken to show they are ready to meet the higher bar we’ve set in CCO 2.0,” OHA Director Patrick Allen said. “We recognize that CCOs play a vital role in their communities. We look forward to partnering with these three CCOs over the next five years to improve the lives of OHP members and make health care more affordable in the communities these CCOs serve.”

Although AllCare now has a five-year contract, more than 10,000 Jackson County residents will still see changes to their OHP plan. AllCare has about 25,000 clients in Jackson County.

“I appreciate the steps AllCare, Cascade Health Alliance and Umpqua Health Alliance have taken to show they are ready to meet the higher bar we’ve set in CCO 2.0. We recognize that CCOs play a vital role in their communities. We look forward to partnering with these three CCOs over the next five years to improve the lives of OHP members and make health care more affordable in the communities these CCOs serve.”

OHA Director Patrick Allen

The state is moving at least 10,000 Jackson County OHP members from AllCare to Jackson Care Connect.

AllCare wasn’t able to secure a contract for primary care with a Medford-based network representing more than 500 local doctors.

The doctors’ network said it wanted to streamline and use only one CCO. Doctors said they chose Jackson Care Connect because of a strong working relationship with that CCO. AllCare patients can still visit the doctors, but only on a referral basis.

In more turmoil for OHP, many Southern Oregon patients had to switch to a new CCO after the state didn’t award the CCO PrimaryHealth either a one-year or five-year contract. PrimaryHealth scored highly in providing patient care, but state officials worried the organization might not remain financially solvent.

Reach reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or valdous@rosebudmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @VickieAldous.

FOREST

“They have a long track record, decades of mismanagement of their forest. They abandoned their From Page A5 own research forest management plan 10 years ago “Tremendous opportunity and only recently reinstated it. This is a long history of comes from being able to focus what we see as failed management, and it comes from on long-term research,” Davis heavy timber industry financing of the college.” said.

According to Davis and members of the advisory committee, the guiding principles of how the forest would be managed by OSU should manage the forest to recreational access to the forest, maintain educational partnerships, help local and regional economies and pursue conservation The proposal wouldn’t be at odds with the recent Oregon Supreme Court decision that found the 2014 sale of nearly 800 acres of the forest was illegal, the land board was told.

Matt Devore, assistant attorney general representing the land board, said the case

Doug Pollock

doesn’t affect the proposal because the state would still own the forest.

Among those speaking against the plan was Doug Pollock, who brought attention to OSU forestry researchers who harvested nearly 16 acres of old growth trees — including one 420 year old Douglas Fir — within their Benton County research forest earlier this year sparking public outrage.

Pollock is founder of the Friends of OSU Old Growth, a group of nearly 600 individuals concerned with the

protection of old forests and trees managed by OSU. He urged the board to be cautious in allowing OSU’s College of Forestry to manage the Elliott State Forest.

“They have a long track record, decades of mismanagement of their forest. They abandoned their own research forest management plan 10 years ago and only recently reinstated it,” Pollock said.

“This is a long history of what we see as failed management, and it comes from heavy timber industry financing of the college.”

CONCERTS

The show includes a combination of classical From Page A3 music, using some songs He described the perforfrom Nomura’s Broadway mance as a concert opera. performance, plus an “People associate a lot original from the with operas,” Gans-Morse co-founders of Anima said. “They usually think it’s not in English and they Mundi and an original have powdered wigs and from Jodi French that take place in 18th century uses a poem from a past Austria, but it’s really a dramatic narrative story told Japanese-American poet in song.” laureate of Oregon.

Nomura, who will be featured in the January show, was part of the original Broadway cast of “Allegiance,” which was about the Japanese-American internment during World War II. Gans-Morse said the musical caused a lot of people who had been silent about their own experiences to come forward and share their stories.

“This is exactly the type of experience we’re trying to cultivate — taking interdisciplinary art and using it to tell stories that need to be told,” he said.

The show includes a combination of classical music, using some songs from Nomura’s Broadway performance, plus an original from the co-founders of Anima Mundi and an original from Jodi French that uses a poem from a past Japanese-American poet laureate of Oregon.

“The show creates a journey from war to reconciliation and healing,” Gans-Morse said. “We try to have all of our performances end with hope.”

The Heart of Humanity series will become an annual event, Gans-Morse said, with three concerts each year, one in fall, winter and spring, on a Sunday at the Southern Oregon University Music Recital Hall. He said next year’s theme will be environmental impacts.

Gans-Morse said he and his wife have been commissioned to create other musical performances addressing social issues, beginning in 2010. The first, an opera the couple wrote together, “The Canticle of the Black Madonna,”

premiered in Portland and focused on a soldier of the Afghanistan war who suffered PTSD and returned during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The couple were also commissioned to create an opera, “Tango of the White Gardenia,” for a younger audience about bullying in Eugene.

The couple were also commissioned by the Rogue Valley Symphony to create a piece for its 50-year anniversary. They wrote “How Can You Own The Sky?” which described Southern Oregon Native American history, with collaboration

by SOU professor and performer Brent Florendo and Dancing Spirit drummers.

“Over the course of these three projects, we found this powerful multilevel effect that happens,” Gans-Morse said. “These minorities say they don’t feel as invisible anymore.”

Anima Mundi means “The Soul of the World” in Latin, Gans-Morse said, and “it refers to our conviction that the soul of humanity and the fate of the planet are intertwined.”

The goal of the organization is to “seek to heal the soul of the world through the arts by providing experiences that bring people into their hearts and imagination, demonstrate the power of beauty and heal societal wounds through the shared experience of live music.”

For more information and to purchase tickets, see animamundiproductions.com.

Contact Ashland Tidings freelancer Caitlin Fowlkes at caitlin.fowlkes@gmail.com.

BUSINESS

Ashland Tidings | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | A7

QUESTIONS? Contact Justin Umberson • jumberson@rosebudmedia.com • 541-776-4484

Fed leaves low rates alone, foresees no moves in 2020 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate alone Wednesday and signaled that it expects to keep low rates unchanged through next year.

The Fed’s decision follows three rate cuts earlier this year. It reflects its view that the U.S. economy has so far withstood the U.S.China trade war and a global slump and remains generally healthy. Its benchmark rate —which influences many consumer and business loans — will remain in a low range of 1.5% to 1.75% In a sign of its confidence about the economy, the Fed’s latest policy statement dropped a phrase it had previously used that referred to “uncertainties” surrounding the economic outlook. That suggests that the Fed may be less worried about the impact of the U.S.China trade war or overseas developments.

After the Fed issued its statement, stock market indexes rose modestly and bond yields dipped, apparently in expectation of continued low rates.

For now at least, the Fed appears inclined to leave rates alone through 2020, an election year. Many analysts note, though, that the economy faces risks from the trade conflicts, a global slowdown and a potentially disruptive Brexit and that the Fed may feel compelled to cut rates at least once next year.

Persistently low inflation with very low unemployment has emboldened many Fed officials to conclude that rates can remain lower for much longer than they thought without spurring higher prices. Low rates help consumers and businesses afford to borrow and spend.

Still, savers have struggled to find returns outside the stock

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell removes his glasses as he listens to a question during a news conference after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday in Washington. The Federal Reserve is leaving its benchmark interest rate alone and signaling that it expects to keep low rates unchanged through next year.

market that can keep them ahead of inflation.

Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Chairman Jerome Powell even suggested that even with the pace of hiring solid and unemployment low, he thinks the Fed can further strengthen the job market through a low-rate — or “accommodative”— policy.

“Even though we are at 3 ½% unemployment, there is actually more slack out there in a sense,” Powell said. “And the risks of using accommodative monetary policy, our tool, to explore that, are relatively low.”

In updated forecasts the Fed issued Wednesday, no officials penciled in a rate cut in 2020. Instead, four of 17 Fed officials said they expected a rate increase next year. The remaining 13 projected no change to rates.

At his news conference, Powell made clear that he thinks higher rates are

Persistently low inflation with very low unemployment has emboldened many Fed officials to conclude that rates can remain lower for much longer than they thought without spurring higher prices.

Low rates help consumers and businesses afford to borrow and spend. Still, savers have struggled to find returns outside the stock market that can keep them ahead of inflation. unlikely anytime soon.

“In order to move rates up,” he said, “I would want to see inflation that is persistent, that is significant, before raising rates to address inflation concerns. That is my view.”

Powell has said that this

year’s rate cuts have helped lower mortgage rates and spurred growth in home purchases. Auto sales have also remained healthy as more Americans have borrowed to buy cars.

After having raised its benchmark short-term rate four times in 2018, the Fed reversed course this year and cut rates three times to a range of 1.5% to 1.75%.

Powell has portrayed those cuts as mainly “insurance” against a slowdown resulting from weak global growth and President Donald Trump’s prolonged trade war with China.

Monthly job growth reached its highest point this year in November, and the unemployment rate matched a 50-year low of 3.5%. Measures of consumer confidence also remain at historically high levels.

Powell and other Fed policymakers have made clear that they are no longer

worried that a healthy job market will necessarily fuel excessive inflation. Instead, they would like to see inflation reach their 2% target level after running below it for most of the past seven years. Even with unemployment at a 50-year low of 3.5%, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge showed prices rising by just 1.3% in October compared with a year earlier.

Tame inflation and ultralow unemployment have led Fed officials to rethink their view of the so-called “neutral rate.” This is the point at which the Fed’s key rate is believed to neither accelerate economic growth nor restrain it. The neutral rate typically shouldn’t change very often or very much. But the Fed’s policymakers estimate that the neutral rate is now 2.5%, down from 3% as recently as September 2018.

And Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida suggested last month that full employment — the lowest rate that the Fed thinks the jobless rate can go before it starts escalating inflation — could be as low as 3.6%. A year ago, the Fed thought it was 4.4%.

At his previous news conference in late October, Powell had set a high bar for a rate hike. Recent economic data has been healthy, providing another reason for the Fed to stay on the sidelines.

On Wednesday, Powell acknowledged that the Fed was caught by surprise when the economy appeared to weaken late last year.

“Toward the end of 2018, there was still a sense that the economy was growing at around 3%, and it didn’t,” he said. “I didn’t expect to face the challenges, but I think we did face them, and I’m pleased that we moved to support the economy in the way that we did. I think both the economy and monetary policy right now — I think are in a good place.”

A8

| Thursday, December 12, 2019 |

Ashland Tidings

REGION UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Study: Transgender kids’ identity as strong as that of cisgender

By Ryan Blethen The Seattle Times

SEATTLE — Gender identity is as strong in transgender children as it is in cisgender children (those who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth), no matter how long a child has been treated as being a gender they don’t identify with, according to initial findings from a University of Washington study that is the largest of its kind.

The results bolster earlier UW research that has found transitioning doesn’t affect a transgender child’s sense of self.

The study also found that transgender children’s gender development mirrors that of cisgender kids.

For example, just as cisgender children tend to show interest in toys and clothes that society stereotypically associates with their gender, transgender children tend to do the same for things associated with the gender they identify as.

Even if a transgender boy’s family treated him as a girl for the first few years of his life, he will notice cues about what society expects of boys and “self-socialize” to learn how to “be” the gender he identifies as instead, said Selin Gülgöz, a postdoctoral researcher in UW’s psychology department and lead author of a paper about the study, which was published Nov. 18 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

“These children have a very clear understanding of the things assigned to the sexes,” Gülgöz said. “But it looks like, once they identify their gender, they are gravitating toward what society shows them.”

There is nuance when it comes to the influence of stereotypes, Gülgöz noted. How much girls like traditionally feminine things can vary, for instance, but researchers found that variance

occurs to about the same extent in transgender girls as in cisgender girls, she said.

The UW researchers studied 822 children from the United States and Canada — 317 transgender children between the ages of 3 and 12, 189 of their cisgender siblings and 316 other cisgender children as a control group — and will follow them into adulthood.

Gülgöz said this study differs from other large studies of transgender children because all the children in UW’s study have socially transitioned to their present gender. Those children’s experiences might be expected to differ from those of children who are gender-nonconforming but haven’t transitioned, she said.

This research is part of the TransYouth Project, led by UW psychologist Kristina Olson, who earlier this year received the Alan T. Waterman Award, which is given to early-career scientists by the National Science Foundation, and was awarded a genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation. Olson put a $1 million grant from the Waterman award toward the TransYouth Project.

Transgender populations are understudied, according to the American Psychological Association. The study will deepen the available literature about transgender children and could become a resource for transgender children and their families, Gülgöz said.

Understanding the findings could help adults better support children when it comes to gender identity, said Aidan Key, executive director of Gender Diversity, a Seattle-based organization supporting transgender people and their families. Key, a transgender man, has written and spoken extensively about children’s gender identity and is working on a book due out in late 2020 titled “Trans Children in Today’s Schools.”

“It’s not about the end destination,” he said. “It’s about making room for kids to explore and find their way.”

What : Cost : When :

Paddington Express 300 E. Main Street | Ashland, OR | 97520 (541) 482-1710 | paddingtonstationashland.com MF-00119938

Ashland Tidings | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | A9

REGION

Oregon-born playwright William Luce dies

By Matt Schudel The Washington Post

William Luce, a playwright best known for exploring the lives of historical figures in single-character dramas, most notably in the acclaimed plays “The Belle of Amherst,” about poet Emily Dickinson, and “Barrymore,” about actor John Barrymore, died Dec. 9 at a memory-care facility in Green Valley, Arizona. He was 88.

The cause was complications from Alzheimer’s disease, said his co-executor and godson, Grant Hayter-Menzies.

Luce, a Portland native who Luce spent many years living in Depoe Bay and who began his career as a musician and singer, had never attempted a play before director Charles Nelson Reilly asked him to write about Dickinson, as a theatrical vehicle for actress Julie Harris.

Then in his 40s, Luce had published only a few poems and song lyrics when Reilly happened to be at Sardi’s restaurant in New York, where he overheard two theatrical producers talking about finding a new project.

“What about Julie Harris as Emily Dickinson?” he asked.

The producers, Mike Merrick and Don Gregory, were interested.

An early draft of Luce’s play included as many as 14 characters, but at the producers’ request, he eliminated all of them except Dickinson, the 19th-century poet who lived virtually all her life in Amherst, Mass.

“She was reclusive, an individualist of the highest order,” Luce wrote in an author’s note to “The Belle of Amherst.” “To interpolate other actors and actresses seemed unnecessary to me. I decided that Emily alone should tell her story.”

Dickinson lived with family members, never married and published virtually none of her almost 1,800 poems before

FILE PHOTO

Julie Harris is seen as poet Emily Dickinson in “The Belle of Amherst,” the most-famous work by Oregon-born playwright William Luce, who died Monday.

her death in 1886. In the years since, her poetry has found an enduring place in American literature.

Luce studied her poems in high school and had committed many of them to memory before Reilly — an actor and director who was later known for his witty appearances on TV talk shows and game shows — asked him to write the play. For two years, Luce read biographies of Dickinson and studied her poetry and letters.

“During this study,” he wrote, “I took extensive notes, culled dramatically workable anecdotes, poems, and excerpts from Emily’s letters; catalogued them under subject headings; rearranged them in a chronological pattern; and interwove them in a conversational style, blending my own words as seamlessly as possible, and with the cadence and color of Emily’s words.

Gradually, Emily’s story emerged, as if she were telling it herself.”

After early tryouts in Seattle, Boston and other cities, “The Belle of Amherst” opened on Broadway in April 1976. It was an immediate triumph and ran for four months. The play contained “sassy family tales, stingingly phrased regrets, reluctant candors [and] suppressed memories,” New York Times theater critic Walter Kerr wrote.

Harris won a Tony Award — her fifth — for a performance that Kerr called a “generous, spiny, proud, bemusedly defiant, subtly yielding evocation of Emily Dickinson’s mornings, twilights, and sometimes busy midnights.”

Harris reprised the role in a television production and toured the country with “The Belle of Amherst,” including an extended run at the Kennedy

Center in Washington. She was alternately confiding and confrontational in delivering Luce’s lines, many of which flowed from Dickinson’s poems: “I’m Nobody! Who are you?

“Are you — Nobody — too?

“Then there’s a pair of us!”

“One of my intentions was to show the normalcy of Emily,” Luce said in 1976.

“Her strange ways look normal on a stage. It’s an arena big enough to accommodate that strangeness.”

Luce went on to compose one-person plays about writers Emily Brontë, Lillian Hellman, Isak Dinesen and Molière.

Another play, alternately titled “Zelda” and “The Last Flapper,” recounted the life of Zelda Fitzgerald, a writer and the wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald — and one of the most charismatic and tragic figures of the 1920s.

“When you’re writing these plays,” Luce told the Los Angeles Times in 1992, “you think about the character all the time, but with Zelda I even dreamed about her. There’s a kind of heroism about her. She was exciting, original, witty, talented, tormented — all the ingredients for the stage.”

Luce spent several years reworking his play about Barrymore before it made its Broadway debut in 1997, with Christopher Plummer in the title role. In the play, which Times theater critic Ben Brantley called “both fiendishly entertaining and blisteringly sad,” Luce presented the once-renowned John Barrymore as a drink-sodden shell of his former self, vainly hoping to return to Broadway in a Shakespearean role.

A box-office and critical success, the play “provided Christopher Plummer with the chance to create a portrait of riveting complexity and paradox that defies easy psychology,” Brantley wrote of Plummer’s Tony-winning performance, which he repeated on film in 2011.

William Aubert Luce was born Oct. 16, 1931, in Portland.

His father sold cigars, and his mother was a Christian Science healing practitioner.

Luce was a musical prodigy on piano, performing Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto with an orchestra when he was 9. He attended a conservatory in Boston and studied at two other colleges without obtaining a degree.

He accompanied his mother on her Christian Science healing missions and was a church organist in Oregon and Southern California, where he settled in the early 1950s, before eventually leaving the faith. In Los Angeles, he received encouragement from Charlotte Greenwood, a veteran musical-comedy performer on stage and screen, and her husband, composer Martin Broones.

Luce wrote songs for Greenwood and Doris Day and became a member of the Norman Luboff Choir and Ray Charles Singers — not the same Ray Charles as the popular soul singer — and often appeared on television.

After his Broadway success with “The Belle of Amherst,” Luce wrote several scripts for TV movies, including “The Last Days of Patton” (1986), featuring George C. Scott, “The Woman He Loved” (1988), about the marriage of Wallis Warfield Simpson and Britain’s King Edward VIII, and “Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter” (1991) about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

His other plays included dramas about opera star Enrico Caruso, dancer Vaslav Nijinsky and fashion designer Coco Chanel. In 2000, Luce revisited Dickinson’s life for a musical play, “My Business Is to Love,” with vocal parts sung by soprano Renée Fleming. He also wrote librettos for several oratorios and an opera, “Gabriel’s Daughter,” by Henry Mollicone.

For many years, Luce lived n e a r M a r i p o s a , C a l i f o rnia, then later in the Oregon coastal town of Depoe Bay before moving to Arizona. His partner of 50 years, artist and furniture designer Ray Lewis, died in 2001.

A10 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings

NATION&WORLD

QUESTIONS? Contact Justin Umberson • jumberson@rosebudmedia.com • 541-776-4484

TIME MAGAZINE / PERSON OF THE YEAR

Young climate activist ‘surpised,’ ‘honored’

By Frank Jordans The Associated Press

T

eenage climate activist Greta Thunberg said she was surprised and honored Wednesday to be named Time’s youngest Person of the Year, while adding that others in the global movement she helped inspire deserve to share the accolade.

The 16-year-old Swede has become the face of a new generation of environmental activists, drawing large crowds with her appearances at protests and conferences over the past year and a half. Some have welcomed her work, including her speeches challenging world leaders to do more to stop global warming. But others have criticized her sometimes combative tone.

“For sounding the alarm about humanity’s predatory relationship with the only home we have, for bringing to a fragmented world a voice that transcends backgrounds and borders, for showing us all what it might look like when a new generation leads, Greta Thunberg is Time’s 2019 Person of the Year,” the media franchise said on its website.

As she left a U.N. climate conference in Madrid, Thunberg told The Associated Press that she was “a bit surprised” at the recognition.

“I could never have imagined anything like that happening,” she said in a phone interview.

“I’m of course, very grateful for that, very honored,” Thunberg said, but added: “It should be everyone in the Fridays for Future movement because what we have done, we have done together.”

Thunberg said she hoped the message being pushed by her and other activists — that governments need to drastically increase their efforts to combat climate change — is finally

PHOTOS BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Climate activist Greta Thunberg, center, stands with other young activists Monday at the COP25 Climate summit in Madrid, Spain.

getting through. The “Greta effect” has already been linked to a rise in support for environmental parties in Europe.

But she insisted that the media should also pay attention to other activists, particularly indigenous people, whom she said “are hit hardest by the climate and environmental crisis.”

Her concern over the slayings of indigenous Brazilians in the Amazon drew a harsh rebuke from the Latin American nation’s president Tuesday.

“Greta said that the Indians died because they were defending the Amazon,” Jair Bolsonaro said. “It’s impressive that the press is giving space to a brat like that,” he added, using the Portuguese word “pirralha.”

Thunberg responded by changing her bio on Twitter, where she has over 3 million followers, to say “Pirralha.”

The teenager has also been a strong advocate of science, regularly citing complex studies about the causes and impacts of climate change.

On Wednesday, Thunberg used her address at the U.N.’s annual climate summit to accuse governments and businesses of misleading the public by holding talks that she said aren’t going to stop the world’s “climate emergency.”

“The real danger is when politicians and CEOs are making it look like real action is happening, when in fact almost nothing is being done, apart from clever accounting and creative PR,” she said.

Thunberg cited scientific

reports showing that national pledges to reduce reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions aren’t enough to meet the ambitious goal set in the 2015 Paris climate accord of keeping temperatures from rising by more than 1.5 degrees Celsis (2.7 Fahrenheit) by the end of the century.

“This is not leading, this is misleading,” she told officials, adding that “every fraction of a degree matters.”

Thunberg said the youth climate movement, which has staged repeated worldwide protests attended by hundreds of thousands of people, has managed to spread awareness about the need to urgently emissions and help those already affected by global warming.

“To get in a sense of urgency in the conversation that is very needed right now to be able to move forward,” she said. “That, I think, is our biggest success.”

Asked whether she thought world leaders were beginning to respond to this message, Thunberg told the AP: “They say they listen and they say they understand, but it sure doesn’t seem like it.”

“If they really would listen

and understand then I think they need to prove that by translating that into action,” she added.

Thunberg said the experience of the past 15 months, going from solo-protester outside the Swedish parliament to speaking in front of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, had changed her.

“I think life is much more meaningful now that I have something to do that has an impact,” she said.

Thunberg has tried to preserve some privacy despite the relentless interest she’s received from media and adoring fans.

“I would like to be left alone,” Thunberg said when asked about her immediate plans. But before heading home to Sweden, to spend Christmas with her family and dogs, she will attend a climate protest Friday in Turin, Italy.

“After that, I have no school to return to until August because I’ve taken a gap year,” she said.

“I will probably continue a bit like now, travel around.

And if I get invitations, to come. And just try everything I can,” she added.

Ashland Tidings | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | A11

NATION&WORLD

Independent booksellers persevere despite rising costs ... and Amazon

By Joyce M. Rosenberg The Associated Press

P

ete Mulvihill has felt optimistic enough about selling books that he bought a third bookstore within the past two months.

“The industry is much better than it was — the last four to five years have been pretty healthy,” says Mulvihill, who owns three Green Apple Books and Browser Books shops in San Francisco.

The stores have survived the devastation the independent book business suffered after Amazon.com began selling books online and at lower prices in 1995.

But Mulvihill still faces challenges. He’s taken on this latest store because of economies of scale — it’s cheaper to spread administrative costs across three stores instead of two. Like other booksellers, he’s had to change the merchandise he stocks to keep customers coming in and buying even though they can get books cheaper — for example, on Amazon. Although books are his primary items, as much as 15% of sales come from what’s known as non-book merchandise including gifts, music, games, cards, apparel.

He also sells used and rare books.

A variety of merchandise is particularly necessary during the holidays, when, Mulvilhill says, “there are only so many books that will sell. People come in and they want to buy their uncle a puzzle.”

While book retailers like Mulvihill are cautious, statistics from the American Booksellers Association, a trade group for independent booksellers, show a recovery from the industry’s darkest days. The ABA had 1,887 member companies as of May 15, up nearly 35% from 1,401 in 2009. The number of

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pete Mulvihill poses for a photo in his Browser Books store that he recently opened in San Francisco. Mulvihill has felt optimistic enough about being an independent bookseller that he bought a third store within the past two months.

members’ stores totaled 2,524 in May, up more than half from 1,651. Another sign of improving health: the number of books indies have sold. Book sales rose 5% in 2018 from 2017, and in 2017 they were up 2.6% from 2016.

Independent sellers are doing better even as Amazon continues to thrive online and to open its own stores, so far mostly in big metropolitan areas.

Amazon does not break out how much revenue it takes in from books. Barnes & Noble, which has been struggling as Amazon continues growing, also does not break out book revenue.

Indies are doing better partly because customers feel a deep connection, even affection, for the shops where they can find kindred spirits in owners and staffers, and where they can touch and leaf through the books.

Social media, which helps bookstores build and nurture those relationships, also helps

sales, says Dan Cullen, senior strategy officer at the ABA. So does the growing “shop local” movement. “Literally millions of consumers are deciding to spend a certain amount of their discretionary income on locally owned stores,” Cullen says.

The indies are also helped by the fact more people are reading printed books rather than electronic versions — sales of e-books fell 37% between 2014 and 2018, according to the Association of American Publishers, an industry group.

Still, independent book selling remains a low-margin and challenging business.

Owners who sell toys and gifts do so because those items are more profitable than books; there’s more price flexibility with nonbook merchandise because publishers print the maximum price on dust jackets.

Some shops have installed cafes, making their stores more inviting. These features

became popular with the growth of the now-defunct Borders chain, and Barnes & Noble includes them in its stores.

But Christine Onorati, who has WORD bookstores in Brooklyn, New York, and Jersey City, New Jersey, and has tried these strategies, worries about indies’ ability to sustain their growth.

“We’ve gotten to the point where flat is great,” she says.

“If you can stay flat, you’re hanging on and you’re doing OK.” And bookstores still shut down, especially if rents are so high an owner can’t even break even or if changing demographics mean a neighborhood can’t support a store. Labor costs are also a challenge in states and cities where the minimum wage is rising. ‘‘It essentially comes down to more than anything, rising payroll costs, but also costs like rent and administrative costs,” says Bradley Graham,

who has owned Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., for nearly nine of its 35 years. In Washington, the minimum wage, which was $12.50 in 2017, has gone up 75 cents each year and is now $14; it rises to $15 July 1. The city also has laws requiring companies to give workers paid sick, medical and family leave.

But, Onorati says, “the good news is, when customers walk into the store, there’s an unwritten understanding they could buy cheaper else.

They say, ‘I’ in here because I want to be here.”

The human touch that small bookstores offer draws people in, says Chris Morrow, co-owner of Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont, and Saratoga Springs, New York. “Ït’s our ability to listen well and ask questions and connect people with the right book at the right time,” he says. For example, someone who has suffered a loss and is looking for a book on grieving.

Some indies persevere partly because they have legendary status well beyond the cities and towns where they’re located. Politics and Prose is one, and others include Denver’s Tattered Cover and BookPeople in Austin, Texas.

A location in a college or university town or a tourism area can boost sales.

Waucoma Bookstore in Hood River, Oregon, gets steady business from people visiting the Columbia River Gorge and the Cascade mountains.

“We definitely have tourists who come in for the bookstore experience,” co-owner Jenny Cohen says. “A lot of them have commented that they like the shop because they no longer have a bookstore in their community.”

A12 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings

A&E

‘Parasite,’ ‘Bombshell’ get a boost in SAG Awards nominations

By Jake Coyle The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Scarlett Johansson received two individual nominations, “Parasite” scored a best ensemble nod and both “The Irishman” and “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood” solidified their Oscar favorite status in nominations announced Wednesday for the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The SAG Awards are one of the most closely watched Academy Awards bellwethers because, historically, a best ensemble nomination from the actors is usually a prerequisite for any best-picture contender’s resume. Actors make up the largest percentage of the film academy, giving them the greatest influence of any branch.

The actors guild, as expected, nominated both Martin Scorsese’s Netflix opus and Quentin Tarantino’s Hollywood fable for best ensemble, along with a pair of individual acting nods: Al Pacino and Joe Pesci for “The Irishman” and Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt for “Once Upon a Time.” Each film also added stunt ensemble nominations.

But the guild’s other choices were less predictable. The SAGs rounded out best ensemble with the casts of Taika Waititi’s Nazi Germany coming-of-age tale “Jojo Rabbit,” Jay Roach’s Fox News docudrama “Bombshell” and Bong Joon Ho’s class satire “Parasite.”

“Parasite,” the much-praised Korean film, became just the second foreign language film to be nominated for the SAGs’ top award. Only “Life Is Beautiful” managed to do it before, in 1997. Already one of the year’s most critically acclaimed films, “Parasite” looks assured of a rare best-picture nomination for a foreign language film.

Notably missing out on the best ensemble nomination was Noah Baumbach’s divorce drama “Marriage Story,” which on Monday led the Golden Globe

NETFLIX

Scarlett Johansson, left, and Adam Driver in “Marriage Story.” Johansson was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actress in a motion picture drama for her role in the film.

nominations with six nods.

It still came away with acting nominations for its leads, Adam Driver and Johansson, and Laura Dern for best female actor in a supporting role. Johansson was nominated in that category, as well, for her performance in “Jojo Rabbit.”

Recently, a SAG ensemble nomination hasn’t been quite as vital for a best-picture winner at the Oscars. The last two winners, “Green Book” and “The Shape of Water,” managed the feat without a nod for the screen actors’ top award. Before that, it had been two decades since the SAG Awards didn’t help predict the eventual best-picture winner.

Nothing got more of a boost from the actors guild than “Bombshell,” which tied “The Irishman” and “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood” with a co-leading four nominations. Critical reception has been mixed for “Bombshell,” a starry dramatization about the culture of sexual harassment at Fox News. It opens in theaters Friday. But along with the significant ensemble nod, the actors guild nominated its three stars: Charlize Theron (lead actress), Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman. Kidman also scored a nod for her performance in HBO’s “Big Little Lies.”

Along with Theron and Johansson, the nominees for best performance by a female actor in a leading role were: SEE SAG, A20

MF-00119723

Ashland Tidings | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | A13

SPORTS

QUESTIONS? Contact Tim Trower • ttrower@rosebudmedia.com • 541-776-4479

MAJOR LEAGUES

NFL

Inconsistent seams, player behavior the cause of home run explosion

By Jake Seiner The Associated Press

SAN DIEGO — The baseballs weren’t juiced during a record-setting 2019 regular season, according to a study commissioned by Major League Baseball.

They were just flying farther.

A four-person committee of scientists found that baseballs this year had less drag on average than in previous seasons, contributing to a power surge that resulted “We have in a record never been number of home runs. asked to juice Their report or de-juice a released baseball. And Wedneswe’ve never day blamed done anything the spike on inconsistenof the sort. cies in the Never would.” seam height Rawlings President of the baseand CEO Michael balls, as well Zlaket as “changes in player behavior.” Batters connected 6,776 times in the regular season, smashing the record of 6,105 set in 2017.

The committee says it did not find evidence that MLB intentionally altered the baseballs and believes the inconsistencies were due to “manufacturing variability.” The balls are hand-sewn by workers at Rawlings’ factory in Costa Rica.

“We have never been asked to juice or de-juice a baseball,” said Rawlings President and CEO Michael Zlaket. “And we’ve never done anything of the sort. Never would.”

SEE BASEBALL, A14

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (3) is sacked by Los Angeles Rams linebacker Obo Okoronkwo, left, and linebacker Travin Howard during the second half of Sunday’s game in Los Angeles.

On the rebound

Seahawks hope this late stumble leads to another playoff run

By Tim Booth The Associated Press

RENTON, Wash. — Even in their seasons that ended playing for championships, the Seattle Seahawks were apt to throw out a clunker late in the regular season.

The latest one, a 28-12 dud against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night, could end up being more painful than others if it ends up costing Seattle (10-3) a division title and a home playoff game.

The Seahawks still have complete control of a route to the NFC West title if they win their final three games.

But the loss to the Rams cost Seattle direct control of the No. 1 seed in

the NFC. And for a team that’s made three Super Bowls all in years when it had home-field advantage throughout, that’s a big deal.

“Regardless of what would have happened last night we have to do the exact same thing we have to do this week. And the next week and the next week,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “We’re fortunate to be in that position. We’re not waiting on anybody else. We’ve kind of been in this situation before and we’ve gotten through it and I hope we can do it again.”

In the previous years when Seattle had a late-season stinker, it was able to learn from the experience. The adage of a late loss being a good thing proved to be true several times. In 2013, the year

Seattle won the Super Bowl, it lost twice in the final month, at San Francisco and at home to Arizona. In 2015, when Seattle was a wild-card team after it lost to the Rams in December.

Even last year, Seattle stumbled with an overtime loss in December at San Francisco, which finished with four wins.

“For us, I just think that we haven’t lost in a while. It’s good for us to lose,” Seattle wide receiver Tyler Lockett said.

“Nobody wants to lose, but everything works together for the good. You just look at the game, you kind of take the pros and the cons and you just move on.”

SEE SEAHAWKS, A15

A14 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings

NFL COMMENTARY

Jimmy Garoppolo, Niners game manager?

He’d love for you to keep that theory going

By Jerry Brewer The Washington Post

A

t this stage in the San Francisco 49ers’ sudden rise, there is no established blueprint for beating them. It’s not that they are unstoppable; they are simply too new. Somewhat similar to the Baltimore Ravens, they enjoy the double blessing of dominant strengths and obscure weaknesses, at least for now.

That is the positive side of a new contender’s inexperience. Their book is incomplete. The 49ers have an 11-2 record and a strong case as the best team in the NFC, if not the entire NFL, because it’s clear what they are — a ground-and-pound throwback with gusts of modern offensive imagination — and what they aren’t has yet to be sufficiently verified.

Case in point: For most of the 49ers’ eight-game winning streak to open the season, the perception was that they were doing so with a mere game manager at quarterback. The perception was that life would become much more difficult for the 49ers when opponents forced Jimmy Garoppolo to beat them. Based on what we knew then, it seemed logical.

But it’s December now, the 49ers are amid the toughest stretch of their schedule, and Garoppolo is being asked to carry more of the offense.

And Jimmy G is ballin’. And his team, though no longer undefeated, looks more complete and impressive than it did when it was streaking.

On Sunday, in one of the most important matchups of the season, San Francisco went to New Orleans and won a wild and spectacular game, 48-46, at the Superdome. It was an eye-opening performance because the 49ers had to win with their vaunted defense tied behind their back. It seemed the Saints possessed the ideal

camp in which he threw five straight interceptions in practice and posted a 0.0 passer rating in a preseason game. It led Coach Kyle Shanahan to take it slow with Garoppolo as he regained confidence in his knee, learned to trust his offensive line again and eliminated rust.

Garoppolo improved, and the 49ers boosted the receiving corps around him, acquiring Emmanuel Sanders from Denver. Sanders was brilliant against New THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Orleans, finishing with seven San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo celebrates after Sunday’s receptions, 157 yards and win over the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans. The 49ers won 48-46. a touchdown. Now, with Sanders, Deebo Samuel and arm — the quarterback took formula to win. Drew Brees advantage of the opportunity Kittle as the primary targets, threw for 349 yards and the passing game is becomto answer his critics. five touchdowns, and the ing a solid complement to “Let’s keep that theory Saints racked up 465 yards. the 49ers’ intricate rushing going,” he shot back.

They put extreme pressure attack.

This isn’t a one-game on Garoppolo to throw San Richard Sherman, the aberration. Over the past Francisco to victory. And outspoken San Francisco six weeks, Garoppolo has Garoppolo was up for the elevated his play in a manner cornerback, has barked at challenge. critics of his quarterback that redefines the possibilConsidering the stakes as throughout the season. So ities for his team. His stats the 49ers fight for the No. 1 after a game in which the over this span: 1,756 passing seed in the NFC, it was the 49ers still won without yards (292.7 per game), 16 best performance of Garopthe defense leading them, touchdowns, four interceppolo’s career. He completed Sherman shook off the tions. He is completing 69.1 26 of 35 passes for 349 yards “unfortunate” defensive and four touchdowns, and he percent of his passes. performance and praised Garoppolo has thrown for calmly engineered a drive in an offense he has long at least 248 yards in five of the final 53 seconds to set up supported. those six games, including Robbie Gould’s game-win“Thank goodness for our a 424-yard effort against ning 30-yard field goal. offense,” he told reporters.

Arizona. And he’s not just For certain, tight end “Thank goodness for Jimmy feasting on the Arizonas of George Kittle did most of Garoppolo, George Kittle, the NFL. The 49ers have the work with a brilliant run obviously, Kyle Shanahan. had to play Seattle, Green after the catch for a 39-yard The entire offense made Bay, Baltimore and New gain that put San Francisco plays when we had to, made Orleans in this stretch. No in field goal position. But it hard down the stretch. one is going to rearrange Garoppolo was on time and Obviously, there were some the list of MVP candidates accurate with the throw. All things in there, some cirbecause Jimmy G is hot. But game, he made the simple cumstances that you can’t he shouldn’t be considered a plays consistently and took control, but we’re thankful command when he needed to weak link anymore. that we got the win. It’s a San Francisco can win be special. His only turngreat team win.” a championship with this over came on a tipped-pass It’s a great team win with version of Garoppolo directinterception that wasn’t his Garoppolo front and center. ing the offense. He’s closer fault. It’s almost impossible On a squad with a deep to the franchise quarterback to visit the Superdome and stable of running backs and a win a shootout against Brees, the 49ers hoped they were but Garoppolo exited with his getting when they traded for fearsome defensive line, the quarterback doesn’t have to him in 2017 and then signed fist in the air. be the superstar. But there is He was defiant, too. When him to a $137.5 million conalso no rule saying he can’t be tract after only five starts.

Fox sideline reporter Pam from time to time.

Then Garoppolo tore the Oliver referenced the theory Keep that theory about ACL in his left knee early last about beating San Franseason. When he returned, he game-managing Garoppolo cisco — force Garoppolo to going at your own risk. struggled through a training try to win the game with his

BASEBALL From Page A13

The 27-page report was authored by physics professor Alan Nathan, statistics professor Jim Albert, mechanical engineering and mathematics professor Peko Hosoi and mechanical engineering professor Lloyd Smith.

A series of recommendations were provided. The scientists say MLB should consider installing humidors at all 30 ballparks “to reduce the variability in storage conditions,” and install atmospheric tracking systems in each stadium. They believe Rawlings should begin tracking dates that baseballs are manufactured and shipped, and they also have suggested a study with a larger sample size to explore the possibility that carry is influenced by the rubbing mud applied to bright, white baseballs before they are used in games.

“We choose to use a piece of equipment in our game that is made of natural materials and is hand-stitched,” added MLB vice president Morgan Sword. “That introduces a lot of variability.”

The committee also confirmed suspicions by players and coaches that the “juiced” ball was carrying less during the 2019 postseason. Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said during the NL Championship Series that St. Louis’ analytics team believed fly balls were traveling 4 1/2 feet less on average.

That backed a study published by data scientist Rob Arthur at Baseball Prospects showing the balls suddenly had less drag.

The scientists could not determine why the playoff balls weren’t flying as far. MLB has said the postseason balls were pulled from the same batch as the regular season ones, and Nathan said there was no discernible difference in the seam height among the samples they studied.

The aerodynamics of the baseballs were found to be notably different even within each season. The committee cited “significant ball-to-ball variation in the baseball drag that is large compared to the year-to-year change in the average drag.”

The committee concluded that 60% of the home run surge across 2018-19 could be attributed to an increase in carry, with 40% due to players attempting to hit more fly balls.

Ashland Tidings | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | A15

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Transfer quarterbacks dominate the CFP field

By Tim Tucker The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tremendously well for the quarterbacks and their new teams, judging from the College Football Playoff field.

Three of the four starting quarterbacks in this season’s playoff began their college careers at other schools: LSU’s Joe Burrow transferred from Ohio State, Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts from Alabama and Ohio State’s Justin Fields from Georgia.

“We’re fortunate that the transfer rule is in place,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. “Joe’s one of the most important recruits we’ve had at LSU.” Two of the transfer quarterbacks in the playoff, Burrow and Hurts, will meet in a semifinal game in Atlanta’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. No. 1 LSU (13-0) and No. 4 Oklahoma (12-1) will square off Dec. 28 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The playoff’s other transfer quarterback, Fields, will be in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl semifinal in Glendale, Ariz., where No. 2-seeded Ohio State (13-0) will face No. 3 Clemson (13-0), also on Dec. 28. Clemson is the only playoff team without a transfer starting at quarterback. Clemson’s QB, Trevor Lawrence, led the Tigers to the national title as a freshman last season.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, who is considered a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy, acknowledges the crowd as he is pulled from his last game in Tiger Stadium, in the fourth quarter of the team’s Nov. 30 game against Texas A&M in Baton Rouge, La. LSU won 50-7.

The LSU-Oklahoma matchup crystallizes the impact of quarterback transfers on college football. Burrow, in his second (and last) season at LSU, is the overwhelming favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. Hurts, in his first (and last) season at Oklahoma, is the latest in a line of transfers to thrive at quarterback for the Sooners, following the past two Heisman winners, Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield.

“The transfers for quarterbacks have been good for us — that goes without saying,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. “I totally believe you have

SEAHAWKS From Page A13

The concern for Seattle is twofold.

Its defense was disorganized in the first half when Los Angeles rolled to a 21-3 halftime lead. And its offense failed to sustain drives and rally in the second half when the Seahawks started to get stops on the defensive side.

Seattle also took a hit offensively with the loss of running back Rashaad Penny for the season due to an ACL injury.

Penny was injured on his first offensive play on Seattle’s opening drive and Carroll said the emerging running back would be out for the season.

WHAT’S WORKING: The acquisition of safety Quandre Diggs for a fifth-round draft pick continues to look like an absolute steal. The arrival of Diggs has changed the way Seattle plays coverage in the secondary and his two interceptions

to have very good quarterback play to get into the playoffs and to eventually win it all. It’s such an important position.

“Jalen’s been a very positive impact on our program.

His (impact) has been unique because it hasn’t been years; it’s been months. So it’s been kind of fast and furious, but very positive.”

Burrow and Hurts graduated from Ohio State and Alabama, respectively, and thus were eligible immediately at their new schools under NCAA rules for graduate transfers.

Burrow spent three years (including a redshirt season)

against the Rams — one of which was returned for a touchdown — only amplified his importance. In his four games with Seattle, the hard-hitting Diggs has three interceptions, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and 13 tackles.

WHAT NEEDS HELP: It’s been a tough few weeks for Lockett. He suffered a significant leg contusion against San Francisco in Week 10 that required two nights in a hospital. He returned from the injury only to get struck by a nasty flu going through the team. In his past three games, Lockett has just five catches for 81 yards. The inability to push the ball downfield to Lockett has impacted the rest of Seattle’s passing game. The Seahawks had just two pass plays of more than 20 yards against the Rams. Carroll said while Seattle wanted to take its shot with Russell Wilson, either pressure by the Rams’ defensive front or coverage in the back forced Wilson to throw underneath on

at Ohio State, transferring to LSU in May 2018 after losing a spring-practice competition for the Buckeyes’ starting QB job to Dwayne Haskins. Hurts spent three years at Alabama, the first two as a starter and the third as a backup, before transferring in January 2019 rather than spending his senior season backing up Tua Tagovailoa.

Burrow has passed for 4,715 yards and 48 touchdowns this season. “With the spread offense, we couldn’t have had success without him,” Orgeron said. Hurts this season has passed for 3,634 yards and 32 touchdowns, rushed for 1,255 yards and 18 TDs and now is in the playoff for the fourth consecutive season, the first three with Alabama.

Come the Peach Bowl, Mercedes-Benz Stadium won’t be new to Burrow or Hurts.

Burrow was named MVP of the Tigers’ SEC Championship game victory over Georgia there Saturday. Hurts played in the building three times for Alabama — once in a Chickfil-A Kickoff game, once in an SEC Championship game, once in a national title game.

Alabama won all three.

Hurts was benched for the second half of the national championship game against Georgia in January 2018 as Tagovailoa took over and led the Crimson Tide to a

several occasions.

STOCK UP: WR DK Metcalf took over the NFL lead in yards and catches among rookies after having six receptions for 78 yards against the Rams.

With Lockett struggling to get back into the mix, Metcalf has 25 receptions over the past five games.

STOCK DOWN: Wilson’s MVP candidacy may be finished. Through the first half of the season, Wilson was a front-runner along with Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson. But Wilson’s last four games have been more pedestrian and less MVP caliber. He’s completing 63% of his passes, thrown four touchdowns and four interceptions and had an 82.7 passer rating during those four games.

Wilson was 22 of 36 for 245 yards and one interception against the Rams.

Seattle won three of the four games, but needs Wilson to find that form from earlier in the season going into the playoffs.

come-from-behind victory.

Then the roles reversed at the SEC Championship game in December 2018, when Hurts replaced an injured Tagovailoa in the fourth quarter and rallied Alabama to another win over Georgia.

Peach Bowl officials relish the story lines Burrow and Hurts will bring to Atlanta later this month.

“To have Jalen Hurts, who won the SEC Championship game with tremendous play against Georgia, coming back to the same stadium to play against the No. 1 team in the nation — you can’t write that script any better,” Peach Bowl CEO Gary Stokan said.

The other transfer quarterback in the playoff, Fields, left Georgia for Ohio State in January 2019 after playing sparingly behind starter Jake Fromm as a freshman last season. The NCAA approved a waiver of the rule requiring non-graduate transfers to sit out a year, making Fields eligible to play for the Buckeyes this season. He has thrown for 2,953 yards and 40 touchdowns (against just one interception) and run for 471 yards and 10 more TDs. Fields’ and Hurts’ former teams didn’t make the playoff.

But Burrow possibly could face his former team in the national championship game.

INJURIES: Aside from Penny, there’s some concern about rookie LB Cody Barton, who played through knee and ankle injuries against the Rams while starting in place of Mychal Kendricks.

Barton was set to have an MRI. The status of Kendricks (hamstring) likely won’t be known until the end of the week. Carroll said DE Ziggy Ansah will practice but whether he plays this week depends on the strength in his shoulder.

KEY NUMBER: 430.5 — The Seahawks are giving up 430.5 yards per game in the last six matchups against the Rams. In the last four, the Seahawks have allowed 455 or more yards to Los Angeles.

WHAT’S NEXT: It’s almost become a yearly trip for the Seahawks traveling to Carolina. This will be Seattle’s sixth visit to face the Panthers since 2012, five of those being regular-season games.

Since Carroll’s arrival in 2010, the Seahawks are 7-2 against Carolina overall.

A16 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings

VOICES

Steven Saslow ������������������������������������������������Publisher Justin Umberson ��������������������������������������������������Editor Gary E. Nelson ����������������������������������������� Voices Editor Send letters to tidingsopinion@rosebudmedia.com

QUESTIONS? Contact Gary Nelson • gnelson@rosebudmedia.com • 541-776-4472

EDITORIAL

State fails children again

T

he state of Oregon’s child welfare system is again under fire.

This time, a child was shot to death by a parent weeks after state workers closed an investigation into his well-being.

That investigation was open for 154 days — well past the 90-day deadline required by state law. By the time his file was closed on June 25, 2-year-old Aiden Salcido of Medford and his parents had been missing for 14 days.

On July 24, police in Montana attempted to stop a vehicle occupied by Aiden’s parents. The vehicle sped away, and when officers caught up, they found the couple dead in a murder-suicide. Aiden’s body was found three days later near a rural Montana campsite.

There is plenty of evidence that state child welfare workers allowed

their investigation to drag on long past the legally required deadline and closed the file without being sure Aiden was safe. That’s unacceptable. But the agency remains woefully understaffed — especially in Jackson County.

Besides caseworkers’ failure to keep tabs on Aiden, a lack of interagency communication also played a role. When Aiden’s mother failed to appear for a June 11 court hearing, no one notified caseworkers. That should be routine.

This case is only one example of the failure of DHS to do its job. But this time, a child is dead as a result. If lawmakers do nothing else during the upcoming legislative session, they should demand action to prevent other children from suffering Aiden’s fate, and provide the funding necessary to accomplish that.

SHARE YOUR VIEWS Submissions to the Voices section should be emailed to tidingsopinion@rosebudmedia.com. Include address and a daytime phone number. Letters are limited to 250 words, one letter per writer every 30 days. Letters at length are limited to 500 words. Guest opinions are limited to 650 words. All submissions may be edited for content and clarity. The Tidings encourages thoughtful, well-reasoned letters and discourages personal attacks, repetitive messages and personal disputes.

ANOTHER VIEW

The Republican Party picks power over liberty

T

he profound damage President Trump has inflicted on our liberties can be measured by widespread complacency in the face of his administration’s escalating attacks on the rule of law, our public servants and the truth itself.

As Attorney General William Barr was reducing the Department of Justice to a legal defense and public relations firm, Trump himself (who pretends to be law enforcement’s greatest friend) was attacking the FBI in terms that authoritarians use to prepare the way for persecuting their political enemies.

“Look how they’ve hurt people,” Trump told his supporters Tuesday night

in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

“They’ve destroyed the lives of people that were great people, that are still great people. Their lives have been destroyed by scum. OK, by scum.”

Please pause here. “Scum” was the word used twice by the president of the United States about those who dedicate their lives to battling wrongdoing and lawlessness.

And because he is Trump, the response involved mostly shrugs and head shaking.

When this presidency began, it was commonplace to write off fears that our political and journalistic systems would eventually “normalize” the president’s abuses.

The worry was that however strong our system might have

been in the past, we’d come to accept behavior that had never been acceptable before.

This is exactly what has happened. When the House unveiled impeachment articles on Tuesday, a large share of the reporting and commentary was about the political risks facing Democrats for insisting on something that would once have been uncontroversial: It is a chilling threat to freedom and to democracy for the commander in chief to use his power to press a foreign government to investigate a political opponent.

Not long ago, the smug and self-satisfied were certain that such a thing could never happen here. But is has happened here.

And the Republican Party — including many of its leaders from whom we once expected better — has reacted not with horror but by closing ranks around their petulant, abusive leader, accepting from him behavior they would have rightly denounced from any other president.

For years now, Team Trump claimed that an honest examination would prove Deep State conspiracy theories. In probing possible Russian ties to the Trump campaign, the FBI was “spying” as part of a politically motivated “witch hunt.”

The Justice Department’s Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, undertook just such an inquiry. As he explained to the Senate

E.J. DIONNE JR.

Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, his office found that the FBI’s investigation “was opened for an authorized investigative purpose and with sufficient factual predication.” It “did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation” lay behind the FBI’s actions.

This, of course, did not matter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. He announced his conclusion before the hearing began to SEE DIONNE, A17

Ashland Tidings | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | A17

VOICES ANOTHER VIEW

The FBI gets another black eye in IG’s report

T

he FBI owes Carter Page an apology.

That wasn’t the headline after the Justice Department released a blistering internal review of the FBI’s Russia investigation.

The top news was that the FBI had solid grounds to investigate, and it wasn’t a partisan hoax, as President Donald Trump angrily insists.

But Page’s ordeal — as a former Trump campaign adviser who became the target of court-approved wiretapping — tells us something disturbing about the FBI. In July 2016, when the FBI opened its investigation into contacts between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign, Page was one of the first Americans the agency looked at.

The voluble businessman had traveled to Moscow in search of oil and gas deals, wangled meetings with Russian government officials, and told them he was active in the Trump campaign.

That earned Page a starring role in the so-called dossier compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British spy who specialized in Russian cloak-and-dagger. Steele’s compendium of raw, unverified intelligence alleged Page

DIONNE From Page A16

“CBS This Morning.”

“When he says that there’s no evidence of political bias or political motive — everybody involved in this investigation hated Donald Trump,” Graham said. “They wanted to bring down this president. I really believe that.” Graham’s beliefs mattered more than a 434-page report, the product of almost two years of work.

Worse were Barr’s attacks on his own department’s inspector general and his furthering of Trump’s conspiracy theories — he called the FBI’s effort to unmask Russian influence a “travesty” — along with a highly

DOYLE MCMANUS

was part of a “well-developed conspiracy” between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Based largely on Steele’s allegation, the FBI asked the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a warrant to intercept Page’s communications, including his texts, emails and calls.

But the FBI omitted two pieces of exculpatory evidence from its application to the FISA court.

It didn’t mention that some FBI and CIA officials had doubts about the reliability of Steele’s information. And it didn’t say that Page had reported his contacts with Russia to the CIA, which meant he at least kept U.S. officials informed.

The FISA court OKd the application and later renewed it three times — including in mid-2017, well after Trump had taken office — without realizing it was acting on incomplete information. unusual public statement from Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham.

Handpicked by Barr to undertake yet another investigation of the Trump investigation, Durham said his office had advised Horowitz that “we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.” Horowitz said Wednesday he was “surprised” by Durham’s statement in light of his own interactions with him.

As for Trump, he attacked his own appointee, FBI Director Christopher Wray, who said he accepted Horowitz’s conclusions, including criticisms of his own agency.

Trump wasn’t happy,

One more thing: The surveillance produced nothing of value.

Page wasn’t the linchpin of a well-developed espionage conspiracy; just an overeager businessman with more ambition than smarts.

Another wiretap captured the assessment of a Russian intelligence officer: “I think he is an idiot.”

Even idiots deserve to be protected by the Bill of Rights.

The injury done to Page doesn’t mean the FBI investigation was groundless. The special counsel investigation led by Robert S. Mueller III documented a vast Russian intelligence operation aimed at Americans during the 2016 race, and said Trump’s aides “welcomed” Russian offers of help.

It certainly doesn’t support Trump’s wild charges that the inquiry was directed by President Obama, and that the FBI officials who ran it were guilty of “treason.”

To the contrary, the inspector general concluded that the FBI had legitimate reasons to investigate Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 election.

But he also said the FBI was guilty of “serious performance failures” in its probe.

How did the FBI screw up

so badly? Simple.

Despite its outsize reputation, burnished with good public relations and Hollywood productions, most of the FBI is just an oversized police force — with some brilliant investigators, many who are less than brilliant, and an often-sclerotic bureaucracy.

In the 1990s, the FBI failed to connect the dots when Saudi Arabian student pilots trained in the United States for the terrorist plot that would become 9/11.

In 2007, an inspector general slammed the FBI for exceeding its authority in investigations aimed at potential terrorists, including physical searches, wiretaps and data collection that had not been properly approved.

This time, to his credit, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray — whom Trump appointed — accepted the inspector general’s findings and promised “meaningful remedial action,” including more than 40 specific steps.

Of course, every government official promises meaningful action when things go bad. Congress needs to keep close watch on whether Wray follows through.

Here’s a reform he should add: Whenever the FBI asks

the FISA court for a warrant, an independent advocate should review the application.

The advocates, five lawyers with security clearances, are allowed to participate in the court’s deliberations — but only if the government or judges ask.

Alas for Wray, he’s already been slammed by his bosses, Trump and Attorney General William Barr.

“I don’t know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me,” Trump complained Tuesday on Twitter. “With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI.” Since the president has fired Wray’s predecessor, James B. Comey, his use of the word “current” looked ominous.

Here’s a challenge for Trump critics who are also skeptical of the FBI: In this fight, whose side are you on?

I think it’s an easy choice.

Trump should get out of Wray’s way and let him try to fix the FBI. Otherwise we may discover how fragile our liberties are.

Just ask Carter Page.

tweeting about Wray: “With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI.” This was either a threat to fire Wray, or an attempt to pressure the director to think twice about any future steps that might hurt Trump’s

image. One way or the other, it was a corrupt effort to, well, put the “fix” in.

Slowly, gradually, but inexorably, our country is accepting the unacceptable.

We thought we had a consensus about basic norms

that protect freedom and self-government. That consensus has been swept away

by Republican partisans who value political power over the constitutional liberties they have always claimed to revere above everything else.

DOONESBURY

Doyle McManus is a Los Angeles Times columnist.

A18 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings

Peanuts

Charles Schulz

HAIKU CORNER

A chill in the air creek reflects autumn colors reflection, then chill —Liz Cooper Email haikus to dieffsr@gmail.com; allow four weeks or more for publication.

Garfield

Frank & Ernest

Dilbert

Jim Davis

Speed Bump Dave Coverly

Bob Thaves

Scott Adams

Real Life Adventures Gary Wise & Lance Aldrich

Rhymes With Orange

Heart of the City

Hilary Price

Mark Tatulli

Ashland Tidings | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | A19

DEAR ABBY

Hotheaded friend dunks man’s toothbrush in toilet DEAR ABBY: I have shared a friendship for 40 years with a woman who is known for having a quick temper. Although I have been on the receiving end of her anger many times, we manage to maintain our relationship.

She lives across the country now and, unfortunately, suffers from a major debilitating illness. She lives with a man she argues with often, in his small apartment. They struggle financially, and she recently confided that when they argue, she dunks his toothbrush in the toilet to get even. Obviously, it is without his knowledge.

I have never met him, but he is very nice to me when I call. I want to tell him what my friend has been doing. I feel he needs to know the health risks he’s facing when he brushes his teeth.

Of course, if I do, I know I’ll incur her wrath once again as she’ll know I ratted her out. And he will undoubtedly evict her from the apartment.

She doesn’t have the finances to get her own place, and the eviction may result in her becoming homeless. I’m struggling with which is worse: his health risk or her homelessness.

Thursday EvEning dEcEmbEr 12, 2019 C A 5 5 8 8 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 RVTV - 9 UNIV 7 CSPAN 17 17 TCM 19 75 ROOT 23 25 ESPN 24 29 ESPN2 25 33 HALL 28 26 LIFE 29 80 FREE 31 27 E! 34 34 A&E 36 36 TNT 38 38 TOON 39 39 USA 40 40 TBS 41 41 PARMT 42 42 AMC 43 74 FX 44 44 APL 45 58 DISN 46 76 NICK 48 70 HIST 49 49 DISC 50 50 TLC 52 52 CNN 59 59 FNC 61 61 MSNBC 63 63 MTV 67 68 SYFY 70 88 TVLAND 71 43 COM 72 72 OXYGEN 78 48 FS1 85 190 GOLF 88 85 (5) NBC (8) PBS (10) CBS (10.2) CW (12) ABC (26) FOX

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JEANNE PHILLIPS

So far, I have kept my mouth shut, but each day I know he is brushing his teeth with bacteria. Should I continue to remain silent? -- YUCK FACTOR IN THE DESERT DEAR YUCK FACTOR: While dipping his toothbrush in the toilet may not kill him, it could make him sick. Tell him what has been going on. If your friendship with the woman ends, so be it.

DEAR ABBY: I’m a 34-year-old single mother of a 7-year-old son who wants me to get married. I’m not dating anyone, so marriage is nowhere in the near future.

I know my son’s wish for me to be married is due to the absence of his “father” in his life and his desire to have a dad. I have technically been single for more than 10 years.

I dated a lot over the years but

haven’t during the last two years, instead focusing on my mental, emotional and physical well-being in addition to securing a decent career path, which I’m just a week into.

I have contemplated dating for months, even prior to my son saying anything. Being an only parent, I have very little free time, and dating can be very disappointing. I don’t have time to waste. Should I get back out there for the sake of my son or not? -- DATING FOR TWO IN CALIFORNIA DEAR DATING: Should you date because your son wants a father?

No. You should date because you meet someone whose values and interests are similar to your own, someone you think is worth getting to know better.

You are starting a new career, and in time you will meet eligible men.

In the meantime, because your son needs a masculine influence in his life, consider having him spend time with male family members. If that’s not possible, contact Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and try to arrange a mentor for him. The website is bbbs.org.

c - charTEr communicaTions; a - ashland Tv

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Moving Ahead With ODOT Congressman Walden in Medford Disability Recreation Project ACH Health Primer impacto Noticiero Noticiero Univis’n Amor eterno (N) Ringo (N) La Rosa de Guadalupe El dragón (N) Noticiero Univis’n Public Affairs Politics and Public Policy Today Politics and Public Policy Today } Smarty (’34) (6:15) } ››› Gold Diggers of 1933 (’33) Joan Blondell. } ›› Havana Widows (’33) (9:15) } ›› I’ve Got Your Number (’34) } ›› Lawyer Man (’32) High School Football WIAA Class 3A Championship: Eastside Catholic vs. O’Dea. Seahawks Press Seahawks Press The Short List Fantasy Football Hour ’19 (N) Heartland Poker Football Awards CFB 150: The American Game The Greatest Champ. Drive SportsCenter (N) (L) SportsCenter With Scott Van Pelt SportsCenter (N) (L) SportsCenter (N) (5:00) College Basketball Iowa at Iowa State. (N) (L) Don’t Ever Give Up CFB 150: The American Game Champ. Drive Always Late Countdown Now or Never (N) The Christmas } Christmas in Evergreen (’17) Ashley Williams. } A Christmas Love Story (’19) Kristin Chenoweth.

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(10:03) } A Christmas in Tennessee (’18) The 700 Club (3:35) } ›› The Holiday (’06) Cameron Diaz.

(6:50) } ››› The Santa Clause (’94) Tim Allen.

(8:55) } ›› The Santa Clause 2 (’02) Tim Allen. } Coyote Ugly (6:15) } ››› The Devil Wears Prada (’06) A recent college graduate lands a job at a fashion magazine.

(8:50) } ›› Fifty Shades of Grey (’15) An inexperienced student begins a daring love affair.

Live PD Presents Live PD Presents Live PD Presents Live PD Presents Live PD Presents Live PD Presents Live PD Presents Court Cam Court Cam Live PD: Wanted (N) Live PD Presents (5:00) NBA Basketball Philadelphia 76ers at Boston Celtics. (N) (L) NBA Basketball Portland Trail Blazers at Denver Nuggets. (N) (L) Inside the NBA (N) (L) NBA Basketball Total Drama Teen Titans Go! Teen Titans Go! World of Gumball World of Gumball We Bare Bears We Bare Bears American Dad American Dad Bob’s Burgers Bob’s Burgers Family Guy Law & Order Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Temptation Island (Part 1 of 2) Chrisley Knows Family Guy Family Guy Family Guy The Misery Index The Misery Index Big Bang Theory Big Bang Theory Big Bang Theory Big Bang Theory Big Bang Theory Big Bang Theory Conan Two/Half Men Two/Half Men Two/Half Men Two/Half Men Two/Half Men } ››› 21 Jump Street (’12) Young cops go under cover as high-school students.

(10:45) } ››› 21 Jump Street (5:45) } ››› National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (’89) Chevy Chase. } ›› Christmas With the Kranks (’04) Tim Allen.

(10:05) } ›› Fred Claus (’07) Vince Vaughn. } Baywatch (’17) } ›› Bad Moms (’16) Mila Kunis. } ››› Girls Trip (’17) Girlfriends get wild at the Essence Festival in New Orleans. } ››› Girls Trip (’17) Whale Wars Whale Wars “Dead in the Water” Whale Wars Whale Wars: Watson’s Last Stand “On the Offense” Whale Wars: Watson’s Last Stand “Radio Silence” Jessie Good Luck Jessie: NYC Christmas Sydney-Max Music Event Gabby Duran Coop & Cami Sydney-Max Raven’s Home } › Home Alone 3 (’97) Alex D. Linz.

The Loud House The Loud House The Loud House The Loud House The Loud House Top Elf Guest judge Frankie Grande.

The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage! Bikini Bottom faces catastrophe.

Friends Forged in Fire Forged in Fire “The Smallsword” Forged in Fire Forged in Fire: The 12 Cuts of Christmas “Top 12 Legendary Blades” Naked and Afraid Naked and Afraid “Paradise Lost” Naked and Afraid Naked and Afraid Naked and Afraid (N) Four Weddings Four Weddings Four Weddings Dr. Pimple Popper Dr. Pimple Popper Twelve pops in one day.

My Obsession Extreme Chea.

Anderson Cooper Cuomo Prime Time (N) CNN Tonight With Don Lemon (N) CNN Tonight With Don Lemon (N) Anderson Cooper 360 Cuomo Prime Time CNN Tonight Tucker Carlson Hannity (N) The Ingraham Angle (N) Fox News at Night With Shannon Tucker Carlson Tonight Hannity Ingraham All In With The Rachel Maddow Show (N) The Last Word The 11th Hour With Brian Williams The Rachel Maddow Show The Last Word The 11th Hour Catfish: The TV Floribama Shore Floribama Shore Floribama Shore “Hog Senses” (9:01) Ex on the Beach (N) (10:02) Floribama Shore Ridiculousness (4:57) } ›› Underworld (’03) Kate Beckinsale. } ›› G.I. Joe: Retaliation (’13) Dwayne Johnson. } ››› A Nightmare on Elm Street (’84) John Saxon.

M*A*S*H Andy Griffith Andy Griffith Andy Griffith Andy Griffith Love-Raymond Love-Raymond Love-Raymond Love-Raymond Two/Half Men Two/Half Men King of Queens (5:45) The Office (6:15) The Office “Casino Night” (6:50) The Office (7:20) The Office (7:50) The Office (8:20) The Office (8:50) The Office (9:20) The Office (9:50) The Office The Office The Daily Show Killer Couples Snapped “Debra Dillard” Snapped An Unexpected Killer Homicide for the Holidays Homicide for the Holidays Homicide Hol (5:00) Boxing From July 20, 2019.

PBC Face/Face PBC Collection WWE Backstage TMZ Sports (N) Fair Game NASCAR Hub (4:00) 2019 Presidents Cup Second Round. From the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia. (N) (L) Live From the Presidents Cup (N) (L) Live/Pres. Cup

A20 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings

SAG

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS High yesterday 50 Low yesterday morning 35

24-hour precipitation 0.20 Miscellaneous Lots of clouds, but little action

Rain since Oct. 1 2.99 Avg. since Oct. 1 6.14

Rain since Jan. 1 23.26 Avg. since Jan. 1 21.47

ASHLAND WEATHER TODAY

TONIGHT

FRIDAY

0

53

42

Cloudy with showers around

RF RF

Periods of rain

50

39

RF

48/34

RF 48 30

The patented AccuWeather.com RealFeel Temperature is an exclusive index of effective temperature based on eight weather factors.

Astoria 52/43

46/33

Mostly cloudy

RF 44 26

La Grande 48/35

Baker City 45/30

TEMPERATURE

Tue. high/overnight low ................. 41/33 Normal high/low ........................... 48/29

PRECIPITATION

24 hrs. ending 10 a.m. Wed. ......... 0.10” Month to date ................................ 0.35” Season to date .............................. 3.30”

SUN AND MOON THE SUN Today Friday THE MOON Today Friday

RISE 7:30 a.m.

7:31 a.m.

RISE 5:21 p.m.

6:16 p.m.

SET 4:39 p.m.

4:39 p.m.

SET 7:54 a.m.

8:56 a.m.

Last

New

First

Full

Dec 18

Dec 25

Jan 2

Jan 10

AIR QUALITY INDEX

Boise 49/37

Burns 46/29

Statistics through 10 a.m. Wednesday

Yesterday ..................................... Particulates

Ontario 50/36

Bend 46/33

Medford Brookings 53/42 55/47

Good: 0-50; Moderate: 51-100, Unhealthy (for sensitive groups): 101-150; Unhealthy: 151-200; Very unhealthy: 201-300; Hazardous: 301-500 Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality

REGIONAL CITIES Lakeview 43/34

ASHLAND 53/42

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

NATIONAL CITIES City Anchorage Atlanta Baltimore Boston Charleston, SC Chicago Cincinnati Dallas Denver Des Moines Detroit Hartford Honolulu Houston Indianapolis Kansas City Las Vegas Los Angeles Miami Minneapolis Nashville New Orleans New York City Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh St. Louis Salt Lake City San Diego San Francisco Seattle Washington, DC

RF 45 29

Madras 49/34

Roseburg 54/46

Today Hi/Lo/W 32/27/c 53/38/pc 39/26/s 34/28/s 55/46/pc 44/32/c 46/32/pc 58/41/pc 47/31/s 44/25/c 37/31/pc 34/21/s 83/73/pc 62/48/pc 44/29/pc 51/35/s 61/44/pc 71/53/pc 82/72/pc 22/10/sn 55/41/s 61/56/r 35/31/s 37/30/s 68/47/pc 38/26/s 53/32/pc 44/36/c 68/54/pc 62/55/c 51/44/r 40/31/s

43/33

Periods of sun with a shower

Pendleton 53/40

The Dalles 46/37

Portland 53/44

Eugene 53/44 Coos Bay 54/46

43/31

2

Goldendale 44/35

Albany 53/43

Corvallis 52/42

2

A little afternoon rain

RF 44 28

MONDAY

The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. 0-2 Low; 3-5 Moderate; 6-7 High; 8-10 Very High; 11+ Extreme.

Vancouver 53/43

Salem 53/43

SUNDAY

1

Still cloudy with showers ®

ALMANAC

SATURDAY

0

From Page A12

Fri. Hi/Lo/W 34/29/sf 47/45/sh 45/43/r 45/42/pc 59/56/r 40/31/c 45/38/sh 63/40/s 47/24/pc 43/19/c 42/33/pc 41/38/pc 82/73/r 72/48/pc 45/34/pc 53/26/pc 62/46/pc 71/54/s 82/71/pc 25/10/sn 51/43/r 69/55/t 46/45/r 47/45/r 70/48/s 45/37/sh 48/34/c 43/35/c 69/57/s 59/52/c 49/41/r 45/43/r

Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.

Fields 48/36 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019

NATIONAL FORECAST Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation.

Temperature bands are highs for the day.

City Astoria Bend Brookings Eugene Klamath Falls Medford Newport Portland Redding Roseburg Salem Yreka

Today Hi/Lo/W 52/43/r 46/33/sn 54/46/r 53/44/r 45/36/sh 53/42/r 53/45/r 53/44/r 58/50/r 54/46/r 53/43/r 54/40/r

Fri. Hi/Lo/W 49/37/r 41/26/c 52/41/sh 49/37/c 40/25/sh 48/35/r 50/40/r 50/40/r 56/39/sh 48/39/r 50/38/r 47/33/sh

National Summary: As an Alberta clipper storm spreads snow across the Upper Midwest, much of the balance of the eastern two-thirds of the nation will be dry today. An exception will be rain that lingers over the Gulf of Mexico to part of Florida. While the Southwest will be dry and sunny, a storm will bring rain with mountain snow to the Northwest.

Cynthia Erivo (“Harriet”), Lupita Nyong’o (“Us”) and Renee Zellweger (“Judy”).

Those picks omitted Saoirse Ronan (“Little Women”) and Awkwafina (“The Farewell”).

Joining Driver and DiCaprio in best actor were Christian Bale (“Ford v Ferrari”), Taron Egerton (“Rocketman”) and Joaquin Phoenix (“Joker”). Among those left out were Antonio Banderas (“Pain and Glory”), Robert De Niro (“The Irishman”), Eddie Murphy (“Dolemite Is My Name”) and Adam Sandler (“Uncut Gems”).

A number of prominent contenders were shut out, including Sam Mendes’ WWI thriller “1917,” Greta Gerwig’s Louisa May Alcott adaptation “Little Women,” Lulu Wang’s family drama “The Farewell,” Fernando Meirelles’ Vatican drama “The Two Popes” and Rian Johnson’s star-studded whodunit “Knives Out.” Tom Hanks (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”) and Jamie Foxx (“Just Mercy”) were nominated for best male actor in a supporting role. Jennifer Lopez (“Hustlers”), looking more and more like a lock for her first Oscar nomination, also joined the best female in a supporting role category.

Usually, about four out of five individual SAG nominees go on to land an Oscar nomination.

In television categories, Apple TV-Plus’ recently launched “The Morning Show” scored three nods (Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, Billy Crudup), while HBO’s “Succession” was surprisingly overlooked. In best drama series ensemble, the actors nominated the casts of “Big Little Lies,” “The Crown,” “Game of Thrones,” “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Stranger Things.” Comedy ensemble nods went to “Barry,” “Fleabag,” “The Kominsky Method” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

The SAG Awards will be presented Jan. 19 and broadcast live on TNT and TBS.

A24

| Thursday, December 12, 2019 |

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THURSDAY December 12, 2019

Do you think you know your Griswold family trivia?

Foley’s ‘A Celtic Christmas’ returns to the Craterian

Joyful Noise Find your new favorite tunes of the season with our 2019 Holiday Album Guide PAGE 6

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R2 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings | Revels

HOLIDAY PERFORMANCE

‘A Celtic Christmas’

Tomáseen Foley and his singing, dancing friends bring a taste of rural Ireland to the Craterian stage Local report

P

repare to go back in time to the 1950s to a remote farmhouse in the parish of Teampall an Ghleanntáin in the west of Ireland as Tomáseen Foley’s “A Celtic Christmas” celebrates its 24th successive performance on the Craterian Theatre’s stage.

Unlike the “high culture” of continental Europe, it was the ordinary people, often rural people, that gave birth to Ireland’s heritage — the priceless treasury of Irish culture.

The music, singing, dancing and the storytelling all were created and nurtured by the firesides of small farmers, tradesmen, fishermen and laborers.

Long before “Riverdance,” ordinary men and women — at the end of a day working in field, meadow, bog or glen — would gather at each others’ cottages at Christmastime, and, rhythmically battering the floor with their hob-nailed boots, would raise sparks off the flagstones with their jigs, reels and hornpipes. They would “raise the rafters” with the fiery music of fiddle, whistle, bodhrán and the mesmerizing uilleann pipes.

In concert halls from California to Florida, from Texas to Maine, native Irishman (and Talent resident) Foley recreates just such a night, with his unique brand of storytelling magic.

Foley takes audiences back to a night before Christmas in the 1950s, to a place where the motor car, television and telephone were little more than unlikely rumors, and to a time when the neighbors would gather at each others’ homes, bringing with them not only their traditional musical instruments but also their songs, their dances, their laughter and always, ever and always, their stories.

Alyssa Reichert performs in “A Celtic Christmas.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TOMASEENFOLEY.COM

Tomáseen Foley, a Talent resident, is in his 24th year of presenting “A Celtic Christmas” on the Craterian Theatre stage in Medford.

Foley grew up in a home that had a thatch roof, stone walls, tiny windows and a flagstone floor. It didn’t have any modern conveniences either — no plumbing, running water, electricity, and the sole source of heat was an open turf fire. However, as time marched on, the “old communal way of life” began to change with the introduction of electricity into his community. As Foley grew older and began to travel the world, he found that a part of him has always remained firmly rooted in the “Old World,” before electricity came along with all of its advances, entertainments and distractions.

“Perhaps it was only by traveling through much of the New World I found that the old communal world,

that world I had glimpsed briefly in childhood, inexplicably, almost magically, was alive within me — and I felt I had to give it expression,” Foley writes on his website.

“And since storytelling in the Old World was as natural as breathing, I found myself becoming a storyteller — of sorts.”

With warmth and humor, Foley and a dazzling tribe of world-class, award-winning Celtic musicians, singers and dancers bring back those “good old days” of Christmas evenings spent by a roaring fire, if only for a little while.

Dancers this year include Alyssa Reichert and Marcus Donnelly, and musicians include multi-instrumentalist and dancer Eimear Arkins, William Coulter on guitar and Brian Bigley on pipes.

Marcus Donnelly performs in “A Celtic Christmas.”

“ ‘A Celtic Christmas’ seeks to be a window to that Old World by attempting to recreate the joy and innocence of just such a night, and, when we succeed, its memory may linger — and even shimmer — long, long after the curtain comes down,” Foley states.

This holiday treat is set for 3

and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 22, at the Craterian Theater, 23 S. Central Ave., Medford. Tickets are $32-$38 for adults, $22-$28 for children and students 22 and younger.

For tickets and information, see craterian.org or call the Craterian Box Office at 541-779-3000.

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R4 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings | Revels

DINING

Bambu is more of a city favorite than a hidden gem

By Jordan Marie McCaw for Revels

A

lthough it’s tucked away in the Larson Creek Shopping Center off North Phoenix Road in east Medford, one can’t really say Bambu is a hidden gem.

Bambu has been a favorite for Asian cuisine locally, most recently garnering the Mail Tribune’s “Best of the Best” award for Best Thai Restaurant in 2019, and it’s also topped Southern Oregon Magazine’s “Readers Choice Awards” for several years in a row.

On the Monday night my husband and I dined there, the establishment filled up quickly with patrons. It was my first time inside, and I didn’t expect the elegant decor, open-style kitchen and atmospheric lighting. If I couldn’t tell by its awards, I knew immediately this restaurant takes itself seriously.

We were seated in the corner of the restaurant, allowing us to look across the small space and peek at other diners’ dishes. As soon as we heard about the chicken and mushroom potsticker special ($8.95), we had to order it.

Served lined up on a narrow plate, the potstickers sat in a shallow pool of soy sauce and were topped with microgreens. The first bite of a pot sticker often means burning the tip of your tongue from the steam inside, but these were the perfect temperature to consume as soon as they were served to us. The outside was slightly crispy, while the inside was tender and warm.

The ground chicken paired

R E V E L S

Chicken and mushroom potstickers with their balanced flavors are the perfect starter.

PHOTOS BY JORDAN MARIE MCCAW

A dish of Korean BBQ Beef tops a bed of steamed bok choy and side of homemade potato crisps.

well with the mushrooms’ earthy flavors. The soy sauce lingered as a pleasant aftertaste rather than absorbing the other ingredients, and the micro-greens added a light crisp texture.

My husband ordered the Korean BBQ Beef ($18.95) for his main course. The meat was prepared medium rare atop a bed of steamed bok choy marinating in a pool of soy and sesame sauce.

Alongside the beef were homemade potato crisps.

The potato crisps were thinly sliced, salted perfectly and practically melted in my mouth. The beef had a similar melt-in-the-mouth sensation. It was tender and best enjoyed when dipped in the soy and sesame sauce, enhancing the beef’s flavor.

Bok choy is a staple to me in

www.ashlandtidings.com A supplement to the Ashland Daily Tidings Published weekly Publication No.033-800 Periodicals postage paid at Medford, OR 97501 STAFF Steven Saslow..................................Publisher

Asian cuisine, and the way it was prepared for this meal felt like no exception. The leaves were drenched in the soy and sesame sauce, and the body of the vegetable was as tender as the beef.

For my main course, I ordered the Bambu Curry with tofu ($16.95). The curry can be prepared as yellow, red or green, with each color progressively spicier than the last.

I chose red for a milder spice.

It was served with a small bowl of cucumber salad that was crunchy and slightly sweet.

The curry came in a covered bowl alongside a bowl of white jasmine rice. The curry itself was the perfect amount of spice, tickling the back of my throat throughout the meal but not overpowering the flavors. There were slivers of bamboo shoots and spinach

SUBSCRIBER & ADVERTISING INFO Office address: 111 N. Fir St., Medford, OR 97501

in each bite, and the tofu was a desirable springy texture, taking on all the creamy qualities of the curry. The sticky rice absorbed the thick curry sauce, though it was so creamy and thick I found myself taking sips from the spoon by the end.

For dessert we ordered the Spice Island Ice Cream ($7).

This house-made ice cream is mixed with a variety of strong flavors, like Chinese Five Spice, vanilla bean, star anise, golden raisins, macadamia nuts and orange zest. Seeing that many flavors in one ice cream made me wonder if I could taste anything at all.

Thankfully, I was easily won over as each flavor melted on my tongue with every bite.

The macadamia nuts and golden raisins were the right texture ingredients cutting

through the bold flavors of everything else. The best part was the hint of orange zest left behind after each bite.

Our waitress was attentive, sweet and patient. The menu is jam-packed with big plates, curries, small plates, soups and salads. The drink menu is also extensive, ranging from sake and wine by the bottle or glass to beer and Thai iced tea or coffee.

By the end of our meal, it was clear to me why this restaurant was full even on a Monday night. Bambu has won accolades from the bellies of its customers several years running, and it’s clear it doesn’t aim to stop competing for years to come.

Bambu, located at 970 N. Phoenix Road, No. 106, is open Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and then from 5 to 9 p.m.

Orders-to-go are available by calling 541-608-7545.

Reach freelancer writer Jordan Marie McCaw at jmblack1554@gmail.com.

Mailing address: P.O. Box 1108 Medford, OR 97501

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R6 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings | Revels

MUSIC

Enjoy the sounds of the season

Check out this 2019 Holiday Album Guide, from the Oak Ridge Boys to Ne-Yo to Los Lobos

By Alan Sculley Last Word Production

It’s been a rather prolific year for holiday albums – the 14 titles covered in this column even omits a few 2019 releases. And there aren’t any real duds, either. So here’s a look at this year’s selections.

Idina Menzel — ‘Christmas: A Season Of Love’ If one 2019 Christmas album is likely to become a big seller year after year, it’s probably “Christmas: A Season Of Love.” Menzel, whose roles in the “Frozen” movies made her one of the world’s most popular vocalists, applies her considerable vocal talents to 18 songs, most of which are timetested favorites. They’re given big, brassy treatments (that on occasion go just a bit overboard), but Menzel brings plenty of enthusiasm to this entertaining disc.

Keb’ Mo’ — ‘Moonlight, Mistletoe & You’ Keb’ Mo’ has never been strictly a bluesman, so it’s no surprise this isn’t a one-trick holiday album. The title cut and “Better Every Day” have a good bit of soul, while “Christmas Is Annoying” (about how perspectives on Christmas change when one grows up) has a jazzy feel and “One More Year With You” adds some pop to the equation. The variety is welcome, and one thing this warm, enjoyable album won’t give you is the blues this Christmas season.

Los Lobos — ‘Llego Navidad’ The great band from East Los Angeles, no surprise, brings a good bit of Mexican influence to its first Christmas album. But other places (Colombia, Puerto Rico and Texas) also figure into this entertaining album. With most songs being sung in Spanish, “Llego Navidad” (at least for those who don’t know Spanish) doesn’t feel like a holiday album, enabling it to play just as well when its sunny and 90 as when snow blankets the ground.

Chicago — ‘Chicago Christmas’ On their third Christmas album, Chicago goes primarily with songs penned by the band members. The band, which shows a bit more of an R&B slant in its horn-laced sound,

deserves credit for taking this risk.

Some of the songs work well (“All Over The World,” “I’m Your Santa Claus” and “Bring My Baby Back,”) but a few others fall flat. Even with a few duds, I find an album of originals more interesting than one of oft-covered standards.

Ne-Yo — ‘Another Kind of Christmas’ This refreshing effort favors original songs and has its share of creativity.

The funky “Just Ain’t Christmas” is a break-up song that gets a twist because it happens on Christmas Eve. “Open Mine Tonight” has some clever wordplay in its tale of Christmas Eve romance after the kids are asleep. On the other hand, “Christmas Vibez” goes for a tropical feel, but comes up a bit light in the song’s reggae styling.

But that’s one of the few flaws on this fine holiday effort.

Josh Rouse — ‘The Holiday Sounds of Josh Rouse’ For years, Rouse has been writing a Christmas song annually for his family. Eventually, he realized they would make up an interesting Christmas album. So here we have nine originals that feature Rouse’s familiar folky sound blended with dashes of pop, rock and jazz find and offer (mostly) light-hearted stories related to the season. Glad Rouse decided not to keep these songs in the family.

Dave Koz — ‘Gifts of the Season’ “Gifts of the Season” offers more of what Koz’s previous six Christmas albums have delivered – a set of Christmas standards given a smooth jazz makeover. Koz’s accomplished and tasteful saxophone work often takes the lead, but guest vocalists, including Melissa Manchester, Jonathan Butler and Chris Walker, also provide highlights on this solid effort.

Rob Halford with Family & Friends — ‘Celestial’ Halford may be the turbo-lunged singer of Judas Priest, but “Celestial,” his second holiday album, isn’t strictly a head-banging affair.

“Away in a Manger” has considerable ambience. “Morning Star” is a folky and gentle original tune and another original, “Protected by the Light,” is an Irish-accented hymn complete with accordion. Of course, Halford & company also crank it up, particularly on “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Joy To The World” and “Deck The Halls.” Suffice it to say, the “fa-la-lala-la-la-la-las” of the latter standard have never sounded quite this way.

The Oak Ridge Boys — ‘Down Home Christmas’ Working with in-demand producer Dave Cobb, this latest Oak Ridge Boys holiday album favors heartfelt and humorous contemporary songs

co-written by the likes of Anderson East, Jamey Johnson and Mando Saenz. Cobb keeps the instrumentation lean and puts the four Oaks and their signature vocal harmonies out front, a wise approach that works well on “Down Home Christmas.”

The Imaginaries — ‘Hometown Christmas’ This husband-and-wife duo of Shane Henry and Maggie McClure have made minor waves as solo artists. Now paired up as the Imaginaries, they’ve made one of 20019’s best Christmas albums. “Hometown Christmas” is split evenly between familiar holiday tunes and equally strong original songs. With a cheery and rootsy brand of pop (think Sheryl Crow, Sara Bareilles), their songwriting chops shine on such appealing songs as “First Thing on My Christmas List,” “Christmastime Again” and “Kiss For Christmas.”

Meg & Dia — ‘December, Darling’ The sibling duo takes an intimate and low-key approach here, keeping instrumentation spare and their vocals out front. The effect is quite charming, if a bit simplistic. The renditions of favorites like “Winter Wonderland,” “Let it Snow” and “White Christmas” are fine. But it’s the four originals that stand out, as SEE ALBUM, R8

Ashland Tidings | Revels | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | R7

BEST BETS Studio Roxander’s ‘The Nutcracker’ Magical dolls, flurries of snowflakes, and visions of sugarplums will grace the stage during the 10th annual production of “The Nutcracker.” David and Elyse Roxander’s full-length production features local dancers as well as professional guest dancers from The Pennsylvania Ballet.

Opening weekend, guest artists will include principal dancers Mayara Pineiro and Zecheng Liang. Closing weekend, guest artists will feature first soloist Nayara Lopes and soloist Ashton Roxander, son of the studio’s founders.

Performances are set for 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Dec. 13-21, and at 1 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, Dec. 14-22 at the Crater Performing Arts Center, 655 N. Third St., Central Point. Saturday matinees include the Kingdom of the Sweets, a meet-and-greet where attendees can get autographs and take photos with their favorite characters. Tickets are $18, $14 for seniors and children, and can be purchased at the Studio Roxander Box Office, 101 E. 10th St., Medford, online at studioroxander.com or by calling 541-773-7272.

‘A Christmas Story’ Humorist Jean Shepherd’s memoir of growing up in the Midwest in the 1940s follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in his quest to get a genuine Red Ryder BB gun under the tree for Christmas. Ralphie pleads his case before his mother, his teacher and even Santa Claus himself at Higbee’s Department Store. The consistent response: “You’ll shoot your eye out!” All the elements from the beloved motion picture are here, including the family’s temperamental exploding furnace; Scut Farkas, the school bully; the boys’ experiment with a wet tongue on a cold lamppost; and Ralphie’s father winning a lamp shaped like a woman’s leg in a net stocking. Written by Philip Grecian. Directed

by Dianna Warner. Shows are at 7:30 p.m.

Fridays and Saturdays, Dec. 13-28; 7:30 p.m.

Thursday Dec. 26; and at 2 p.m. Sundays Dec.15-29, at Randall Theatre, 20 S. Fir St., Medford. There also is a 2 p.m. matinee on Tuesday, Dec. 24. Tickets are $22 for reserved seating. Pick-your-price tickets are available 30 minutes before shows, subject to availability. For tickets, see randalltheatre.com or call 541-632-3258.

First Frost Gala The Ashland Rotary Centennial Ice Rink will host its annual “First Frost Gala” from 2:30 to 10 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 14, at 95 Winburn Way, across from Lithia Park, Ashland. Look for hockey exhibitions, figure skating performances, live DJ music and more. The ice rink will be open through Feb. 17. Skate rentals, snacks and hot drinks will be available. Call 541-488-9189 or see ashland.or.us/IceRink for schedule and admission information.

Band du Pays Swing The Siskiyou Singers The choir, directed by Mark Reppert, will perform its 2019 holiday concert, “Ceremony of Carols,” Friday through Sunday, Dec. 13-15, in the Music Recital Hall, 450 Mountain Ave., at Southern Oregon University, Ashland. Showtimes are set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, and 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Harpist Ellen Lindquist will perform along with the choir. Featured songs include the sacred “Hodie Christus Natus Est” by Palestrina and “Angelus ad Virginem,” a 13th-century carol. Musicologist Ed Wight will present a free pre-concert lecture one hour before each concert. Tickets are $20, $5 for students and Oregon Trail Card holders, and can be purchased at Music Coop or Paddington Station in Ashland and Grocery Outlet in Medford.

See siskiyousingers.org.

The band — singer Kacie Bowers, sax and clarinet player Stephen Gagné, percussionist Jenny Gray, guitarist Tony Brussat and upright bassist Merrill Smith — will perform a mix of swing music for dancing from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at Paschal Winery, 1122 Suncrest Road, Talent. Evergreen Ballroom’s Jacob Jagger will offer 30-minute swing dance lessons at 7 p.m. Admission is $10. Call 541-535-7957 for reservations.

R8

| Thursday, December 12, 2019 |

ALBUM From Page R6

the two sisters bring memorable pop hooks to these tunes, which include “Lights Blown Out” (a tender, lyrically creative ballad about holiday loneliness) and the title song (about the sights, sounds and feelings that make the season special).

A few other notables:

Jonathan Butler — ‘Christmas Together’ This singer/guitarist’s second Christmas release is a guest-filled affair that sticks mostly to established standards. Things work because of the fresh elements in many of the arrangements. “Winter Wonderland” gets a bit of a hip-hop element. The instrumental versions of “Joy To The World” (with sax man Dave Koz) and “We Three Kings” (with trumpeter Rick Braun) have nifty elaborations on their base melodies.

And “Jingle Bells” (with

Ashland Tidings | Revels

saxophonist Kirk Whalum) gets a jazzy accent.

HO HO HO,

Michael Lington — ‘A Foreign Affair Christmas’ Touted as having a global sound, the smooth jazz saxophonist indeed brings some Latin, Afro-Caribbean and European flair to a few tracks.

But most of the album sounds quite American. That’s fine because Lington and guests (including Vince Gill and Russ Freeman) deliver heartfelt performances on these nine familiar holiday tunes.

that’s easy! Move to Maple Ridge Senior Living!

Mariah Carey — ‘Merry Christmas’ Deluxe Anniversary Edition Carey’s hugely popular holiday album gets a 25th anniversary expansion with a second disc that includes six tracks Carey recorded in December 1994 at a benefit concert, remixes and a few bonus tracks. If not essential, these extra goodies should entice many of the six million buyers of the original album to spring for this version.

Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is a maid, a cook, a handyman and a chauffeur!

“Incredibly rich and perfectly performed.”

December Clear and Bright

Bring more jingle into living at Maple Ridge!

Call today to join us for lunch.

Deeply moving inspirational choral music

Small Pets Welcome!

Painting by Pegi Smith

Repertory Singers invites you to our annual celebration of the best in holiday music from the Renaissance to today, including carols old and new from around the world.

Beautiful Private Accommodations Chef Prepared Meals | Housekeeping Walking Distance to Ashland Plaza

Saturday, Dec. 21 at 7:30 pm Sunday, Dec. 22 at 3:00 pm

541-482-3292 | 548 NORTH MAIN STREET, ASHLAND WWW.MAPLERIDGESL.COM

SOU Music Recital Hall, Ashland

Tickets: repsingers.org • 541-552-0900

MF-00119946

Dr. Paul French, Music Director

MF-00119845

Ashland Tidings | Revels | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | R9

ARTIST(S)

NIGHTLIFE

TIME AND DATE

LOCATION

COVER

4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays 6 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays 5:30 p.m. Fridays 6 p.m. Saturdays 6 p.m. Saturdays 5 p.m. Sundays 6 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18

Larks Kitchen & Cocktails, 200 N. Riverside Ave., Medford, 541-774-4760 Pie + Vine, 358 E. Main St., Ashland, 541-488-5493 Callahan’s Lodge, 7100 Old Highway 99 S., Ashland, 541-482-1299 The Wild Goose Cafe, 2365 Highway 66, Ashland, 541-488-4103 Julek’s Polish Kitchen, 160 N. Pacific Highway, Talent, 541-897-4444 Callahan’s Lodge, 7100 Old Highway 99 S., Ashland, 541-482-1299 Callahan’s Lodge, 7100 Old Highway 99 S., Ashland, 541-482-1299 Callahan’s Lodge, 7100 Old Highway 99 S., Ashland, 541-482-1299 Larks Kitchen & Cocktails, 200 N. Riverside Ave., Medford, 541-774-4760

6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12 7 p.m. Dec. 13 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13 8 p.m. Friday. Dec. 13 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13 9 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Dec. 13-14 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 14 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18

Walkabout Brewing Co., 921 Mason Way, Medford, 541-734-4677 Bella Union, 170 W. California St., Jacksonville, 541-899-1770 The Wild Goose Cafe, 2365 Highway 66, Ashland, 541-488-4103 Morrtons, 980 N. Phoenix Road, Suite 104, Medford, 541-772-3154 Bella Union, 170 W. California St., Jacksonville, 541-899-1770 Grape Street Bar & Grill, 31 S. Grape St., Medford, 541-500-8881 Brickroom, 35 N. Main St., Ashland, 541-708-6030 J’Ville Tavern, 125 W. California St., Jacksonville, 541-899-1170 The Black Sheep, 51 N. Main St., Ashland, 541-482-6414 Pier 21, 841 W. Stewart Ave., Medford, 541-776-3263 Bella Union, 170 W. California St., Jacksonville, 541-899-1770 Oberon’s Tavern, 45 N. Main St., Ashland, 541-482-2316 Brickroom, 35 N. Main St., Ashland, 541-708-6030 The Black Sheep, 51 N. Main St., Ashland, 541-482-6414 Brickroom, 35 N. Main St., Ashland, 541-708-6030 Walkabout Brewing Co., 921 Mason Way, Medford, 541-734-4677 The Black Sheep, 51 N. Main St., Ashland, 541-482-6414 The Wild Goose Cafe, 2365 Highway 66, Ashland, 541-488-4103 The Wild Goose Cafe, 2365 Highway 66, Ashland, 541-488-4103 The Wild Goose Cafe, 2365 Highway 66, Ashland, 541-488-4103 Oberon’s Tavern, 45 N. Main St., Ashland, 541-482-2316

6 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 6 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 14 5 p.m. Sundays 6 p.m. Sundays 6 p.m. Mondays 7 p.m. Mondays 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17

Hearsay Restaurant and Lounge, 40 S. 1st St., Ashland, 541-625-0505 Arbor House Restaurant, 103 W. Wagner St., Talent, 541-535-6817 La Baguette Music Cafe, 340 A St., Ashland, 541-482-0855 Luna Cafe, 2525 Ashland St., Ashland, 541-482-3372 The Wild Goose Cafe, 2365 Highway 66, Ashland, 541-488-4103 The Rogue Grape, 36 S. Central Ave., Medford, 541-662-8662 Martino’s Restaurant & Bar, 58 E. Main St., Ashland, 541-488-4420 Grape Street Bar & Grill, 31 S. Grape St., Medford, 541-500-8881

7 p.m. Thursdays 2 p.m. Saturdays 2 p.m. Sundays 8 p.m. Sundays 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18 6 p.m. Wednesdays Wednesdays 8 p.m. Wednesdays 8 p.m. Wednesdays

The Rogue Grape, 36 S. Central Ave., Medford, 541-622-8622 Tom’s Guitars, 1103 N. Riverside Ave., Medford, 541-772-1994 The Black Sheep, 51 N. Main St., Ashland, 541-482-6414 The Wild Goose Cafe, 2365 Highway 66, Ashland, 541-488-4103 Jacksonville Community Center 160 E. Main St., Jacksonville, 541-702-2585 The Black Sheep, 51 N. Main St., Ashland, 541-482-6414 La Baguette Music Cafe, 340 A St., Ashland, 541-482-0855 Grape Street Bar & Grill, 31 S. Grape St., Medford, 541-500-8881 Jefferson Spirits, 404 E. Main St., Medford, 541-622-8190 The Phoenix Clubhouse, 310 N. Main St., Phoenix, 541-292-8532 Pier 21, 841 W. Stewart Ave., Medford, 541-776-3263 AQUA Restaurant and Bar, 31 Water St., Ashland, 541-488-2782

Acoustic Live Music & Happy Hour Daniel Verner John Hollis David Scoggin and Jeff Addicott Dave Barnes Lee Stewart Lee Stewart Michael Kemp Lee Stewart

Rock, blues, country and alternative Walkabout Brewery Acoustin Rock Rogue Rage Duo Craig Martin & Friends Doug Warner Eric Leadbetter Giantess The Coffis Brothers Rogue Underground Robbie Dacosta Trio Hog Wild The J Brothers Supernaut Landon Wordswell Sweetgrass Black Santa Tour Buddy Paprock B Wishes Ol Mount’n Due Lori Joe and the Good Rockin’ Daddies The Wild Goose Chase Trio Die Geister Beschwören/Crowey

$10 $5 $10

Jazz and Piano John Dabaco Nolan Indecks Ed Dunsavage Trio Jazz Sundays Jim Quinby Jazz Monday Paul Schmeling Quartet Southern Oregon Jazz Orchestra

Open mics and jams Open Mic Night Acoustic and Old-Time Music Jam Celtic Music Session Little Thom’s Open Mic w/Dave Hampton Family All-levels Music Jam Rogue Poetry Slam House Band Jam Grape Jam Band Jam Open Mic Open Jam w/T.J. Elton Open Mic Night

R10 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 |

Ashland Tidings | Revels

MOVIE REVIEW

Tautly made ‘Dark Waters’ reveals a stunning display of greed Dark Waters 126 min Rated PG-13

By Chris Honoré for Revels

F

ilms made in the genre of “Dark Waters” can seem not only familiar but formulaic: a social issue/topic du jour is selected, and in three acts investigated, the narrative structure created brick by brick, not unlike a 2,000-word investigative journalism piece.

But when such films are done well, and “Dark Waters” is done exceptionally well (as was “Erin Brockovich”), even with their documentary feel and inherent linearity, they can manage to instill a sense of dread, slow to arrive, granted, but palpable nevertheless.

Such stories are both dramatic and expository, most leading to a final, stunning reveal.

“Dark Waters” begins when Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo), a Cincinnati corporate defense attorney, sitting in a partners’ meeting is interrupted, motioned by a staff person to step outside. Waiting to speak with him is Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp), a blunt, denim-clad West Virginia farmer who was referred by Robert’s grandmother. He’s carrying a cardboard box of VHS tapes, each dealing with his dairy herd and a nearby landfill owned

by DuPont. Robert, eager to return to his meeting, offers to refer Tennant to another firm.

The farmer will have none of it and angrily leaves Robert, who is still holding the box.

Days later, intrigued, Robert visits his grandmother, stays

for a meal and then continues on to Tennant’s farm. Shown around the place, he is told by Wilbur that ever since DuPont created a landfill and pond, abutting his property, his dairy herd has begun to die off. He goes on to explain that he has made countless phone calls asking for information and help from local agencies and the Environmental Protection Agency; his appeals have all been ignored. When Robert asks him how many cows he’s lost, Wilbur says 190 and shows him a field of large mounds, each a grave.

This is the moment when Wilbur Tennant captures Robert’s attention and the corporate attorney, whose mandate is to defend chemical companies, begins what will become an all-consuming journey, investigating what was initially a questionable connection between landfill runoff, a creek used by the herd for drinking, and the premature deaths of one man’s dairy cows.

Gradually, Robert morphs from a soft-spoken lawyer, who just made partner, to Colombo sans raincoat and tentatively begins peeling the onion. No one at his firm is anything other than skeptical, to include the firm’s managing partner, Tom Terp (Tim Robbins). After all, DuPont would be a dream client. It’s a monster of a company with pockets that are canyon-wide and very deep. And yet, despite even his own reticence and that of his wife, Rachel (Anne Hathaway), Robert continues.

During discovery, DuPont buries him with boxes and boxes of paper, making

The word that is clearly embedded in all that Robert uncovers is “knowingly.” The use of this chemical in a vast array of commercial products, such as Teflon, has earned DuPont $1 billion a year in corporate profits and is touted as “better living through chemistry.” evident their resistance, akin to suggesting that suing them will be akin to dragging a wet sack of cement up a steep driveway. Add to this Robert’s increasing sense of paranoia as he begins to wonder to what lengths DuPont might go in order to shut down his investigation.

There is, of course, that bridling moment when Robert

realizes that what has been occurring goes well beyond a small herd of cows. He begins to grasp that the chemical he has been attempting to identify — PFOA (perfluoroctanoic acid) — has been sold globally

by DuPont since 1951 and is toxic and ubiquitous, reaching far beyond a small berg in West Virginia.

The word that is clearly

embedded in all that Robert uncovers is “knowingly.” The use of this chemical in a vast array of commercial products, such as Teflon, has earned DuPont $1 billion a year in corporate profits and is touted as “better living through chemistry.” It’s a worldwide brand. Is this staggering amount all that is required to act with heedless disregard and with impunity while producing what are known as “forever chemicals” (they never break down) that have been linked to cancers and birth defects? That is the meta question posed by this well done, tautly made film.

249 A St, Ashland, OR 97520 (541) 482-3476

Come visit Ashland Hardware and pick up an ornament to donate today

MF-00120448

Saturday, December 14 at 7pm Stedman Auditorium at Central Medford HS 815 S. Oakdale Admission Free: Donations Accepted

With: The Rogue Ringers and The Ashland Brass Quintet

MF-00119870

Ashland Tidings | Revels | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | R11

AT THE MOVIES Varsity Theatre

Jake Kasden. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Madison Iseman, Kevin Hart, Danny DeVito, Jack Black.

Rated PG-13 adventure action, suggestive content and some language/114m.

Dec. 13-19 NOTE: See catheatres.com for days not listed, and ticket prices.

National Theatre: All About Eve

Knives Out

NEW 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 15; 1 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 16

“All About Eve” tells the story of Margo Channing.

Legend. True star of the theatre. The spotlight is hers, always has been. But now there’s Eve. Her biggest fan. Young, beautiful Eve. The golden girl, the girl next door. But you know all about Eve ... don’t you? Directed

by Ivo van Hove. Starring Lily James, Gillian Anderson, Julian Ovenden, Monica Dolan, Sheila Reid, Rhashan Stone, Stanley Townsend. Not Rated/148m. Adults — $25; full-time students with ID and children under 12 — $10.

Honey Boy NEW Sat-Sun early show: 2:05 Daily showtimes: 4:30, 6:55, 9:20

When 12-year-old Otis starts to find success as a child television star in Hollywood, his ex-rodeo-clown father returns to serve as his guardian. When Otis isn’t on set charming audiences, he spends his days with his father at an extended-stay motel on the edge of the city, enduring his overbearing father’s abuse. “Honey Boy” follows two threads of time, watching father and son’s contentious relationship and their attempts to mend it across the course of a decade. Directed

by Alma Har’el. Starring Shia LeBeouf, Lucas Hedges, Noah Jupe. Rated R for pervasive language, some sexual material and drug use/94m.

Dark Waters Sat-Sun early show: 12:00 Daily showtimes: 3:00, 6:00, 9:00

A corporate defense attorney takes on an environmental lawsuit against a chemical company that exposes a lengthy history of pollution. Directed by Todd Haynes. Starring Anne Hathaway, Mark Ruffalo,

Sat-Sun early show: 12:00 Daily showtimes: 3:00, 5:55, 9:00 (No 5:50 showing Dec. 19)

Dec. 13-19 NOTE: See catheatres.com for days not listed, and ticket prices.

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan’s dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan’s untimely death. Directed by Rian Johnson. Starring Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collete, Chris Evans, Don Johnson, Daniel Craig, Frank Oz. Rated PG-13 for thematic elements including brief violence, some strong language, sexual references, and drug material/130m.

Richard Jewell

Frozen 2

NEW Sat-Sun early show: 12:10 Daily showtimes: 3:10, 6:05, 9:10

Sat-Sun early show: 12:50 Daily showtimes: (3-D) 3:30, 6:15, 8:45 (No 6:15 showing Dec. 19)

SONY PICTURES

Kevin Hart, left, Karen Gillan, Jack Black and Dwayne Johnson appear in a scene from “Jumanji: The Next Level.” See listing, this page.

William Jackson Harper, Tim Robbins, Bill Pullman. Rated PG-13 for thematic content, some disturbing images and strong language; 126m.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Sat-Sun early show: 12:10 Daily showtimes: 2:50, 5:30, 8:20

Two-time Oscar-winner Tom Hanks portrays Mister Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” a timely story of kindness triumphing over cynicism, based on the true story of a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. After a jaded magazine writer (Emmy-winner Matthew Rhys) is assigned a profile of Fred Rogers, he overcomes his skepticism, learning about empathy, kindness and decency from America’s most beloved neighbor. Directed by Marielle Heller. Also starring Christine Lahti. Rated PG for some strong thematic material, a brief fight, and some mild language/108m.

Jojo Rabbit Daily showtimes: 3:30, 9:10

Writer-director Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Hunt for the Wilderpeople”) brings his signature style of humor and pathos to a World War II satire. The story follows an awkward young German boy (Roman Griffin Davis)

raised by a single mother (Scarlett Johansson), and whose only ally is his imaginary friend, Hitler (Waititi). His naive patriotism is tested when he meets a young girl (Thomasin McKenzie) who upends his world views, forcing him to face his biggest fears. Directed

by Waititi. Rated PG-13 for mature thematic content, some disturbing images, violence, and language/108m.

Parasite Sat-Sun early show: 12:30 Daily showtimes: 6:10

by Kasi Lemmons. Starring Cynthia Erivo, Joe Alwyn.

Rated PG-13 for violence and language; 125m.

Ashland Street Cinemas

American security guard Richard Jewell saves thouIn Korean with English sands of lives from an subtitles exploding bomb at the 1996 All unemployed, Ki-taek’s Olympics, but is vilified by family takes peculiar interest journalists and the press who in the wealthy and glamorfalsely report that he was a ous Parks for their livelihood terrorist. Directed by Clint Directed by Bong Joon Ho. Eastwood. Starring Olivia Starring Kang-ho Song, Yeo- Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Paul jeong Jo, So-dam Park. Rated Walter Hauser. Rated R for R for language, some violence language including some and sexual content/132m. sexual references, and brief bloody images/129m.

Harriet

Sat-Sun early show: 12:50 Daily showtimes: 3:50, 5:50, 8:50

Based on the thrilling and inspirational life of an iconic American freedom fighter, Harriet tells the extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman’s escape from slavery and transformation into one of America’s greatest heroes.

Her courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history. Directed

Jumanji: The Next Level NEW Sat-Sun early show: 12:05, 1:05 Daily showtimes: (3D) 2:50, 3:50, 5:35, 6:35, (3D) 8:20, 9:20

A team of friends return to Jumanji to rescue one of their own but discover that nothing is as they expect. The players need to brave parts unknown, from arid deserts to snowy mountains, in order to escape the world’s most dangerous game. Directed by

Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven leave Arendelle to travel to an ancient, autumnbound forest of an enchanted land. They set out to find the origin of Elsa’s powers in order to save their kingdom.

Directed by Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee. Starring Jonathan Groff, Kristen Bell. Rated PG for action/peril and some thematic elements /104m.

Ford v. Ferrari Sat-Sun early show: 2:00 Daily showtimes: 5:20, 8:35 (No 8:35 showing Dec. 19)

American car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles battle corporate interference, the laws of physics and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford and challenge Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966. Directed by James Mangold. Starring Christian Bale, Matt Damon. Rated PG-13 for some language and peril/152m.

R12 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 |

Ashland Tidings | Revels

MOVIE TRIVIA

Oh, Clark!

By Austin American-Statesman staff

“H

allelujah. Holy (expletive).

Where’s the Tylenol?”

As foul-mouthed holiday rants go, a couple of Chevy Chase’s — as family man Clark Griswold in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” — are up there.

Oh, they’re not as intentionally offensive as Steve Martin’s rental car counter tirade in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” (he drops the f-bomb 18 times, if you’re counting). Nor are they as endearing as Peter Billingsley’s “Only I didn’t say fudge” from “A Christmas Story.” And let’s not even mention Jimmy Stewart’s filthy diatribe in the uncensored version of “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

We kid.

Like Santa’s sleigh, “Christmas Vacation” flies under the radar. It’s nowhere near as popular as those other holiday mainstays, but that’s OK — with its unvarnished look at the impossibly high expectations and nonstop pressure of the holidays, it works best as a cult classic, anyway. Much like Clark, it’s a perpetual underdog.

If you’re a fan of the film, take this 20-question quiz to see just how closely you’ve watched. And if you’ve never seen it, get your “cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, (expletive)less,

MF-00119613

Test your Griswold knowledge in this ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’ quiz

hopeless, heartless, fat-(expletive), bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey (expletive)” self to the big box store bargain bin.

The sanitized ABC Family version’s just not as much fun.

1. What Christmas carol are Clark and Ellen singing at the beginning of the film, as they head to the woods to cut down a tree?

2. Which sports team’s cap does Clark wear at various points throughout the film?

3. What item does Clark forget to bring on the tree-hunting expedition?

4. What does Clark plan to do with his Christmas bonus?

5. What does Clark receive instead of money for a Christmas bonus?

6. What does Aunt Bethany recite when the others ask her to say grace at the dinner table?

7. How many lights does Clark use on the house?

8. What kind of vehicle does Uncle Eddie drive?

9. What classic holiday movie is Clark’s son Rusty watching on television as the arguing in-laws arrive?

10. What does Clark do to amuse himself while he’s stuck in the attic?

11. What does Clark wear on his head when using his chainsaw for the first time?

12. What year was “Christmas Vacation” released?

13. What type of animal is in the Christmas tree?

14. What are the first names of Clark’s neighbors, played

by Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis-Dreyfus?

15. What is the name of

Cousin Eddie’s dog?

16. Who accidentally traps Clark in the attic?

17. When Clark finds himself on a runaway sled, what store is at when the sled eventually stops?

18. What corrected Eddie’s daughter’s crossed eyes?

19. What song does the family sing together at the end of the movie?

20. What’s the last line of the movie?

SEE ‘CLARK’, R23

WARNER BROS.

Chevy Chase appears in a scene from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

Proceeds to benefit local student scholarships!

Ashland Tidings | Revels | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | R13

S E N I O R

L I V I N G

I N

M E D F O R D

1. $1,000 ho liday bo like (for first m nus to use as you onth’s costs, mo expenses, etc . – it’s up to yo ving u) 2. $100 VISA Gift Card 3. Complime ntary turkey d inner for 8 with all t he fixin’s 4. Complime ntary holiday gift wrapping service for up to 10 pack ages 5. Choice of homemade a pple, pumpkin or p ecan pie mad e by our in-house bakery.

FOR EVEN MORE HO-HO-HO Ask about our Lifetime Rate Lock!

You might want to check our Holiday VIP Package more than twice.

Move in to Weatherly Inn Senior Living before December 31st, 2019 and everything on that list is all yours.

And so is a relaxing holiday season, too. Let us do the cooking and wrapping while you sit back and enjoy the season. Naughty? Nice? It doesn’t matter, because everyone can get in on this special offer.

Please call 541.414.2466 to find out more and schedule a personal visit.

Happiness and comfort. Found daily.

Weatherly Inn Independent Living Weatherly Court Assisted Living & Memory Care MF-00120451

2180 Poplar Drive | Medford OR | 541.414.2466 WeatherlySeniorLiving.com

R14 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings | Revels

PLAYS Barnstormers Theatre: 112 Evelyn Ave., Grants Pass. See barnstormersgp.org or call 541-479-3557 for tickets. Group discounts are available.

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’: Based on the film by Frank Capra with story by Philip Van Doren Stern, George Bailey, from the small town of Bedford Falls, has had his dreams of escape and adventure repeatedly quashed by family obligations and civic duty. On Christmas Eve, George’s guardian angel, Clarence, descends to save him from despair and to remind him that his life has been pretty wonderful after all.

Directed by Marty Follose.

Performances are set for 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday Dec. 13-14, and Thursdays through Saturdays, Dec. 19-21, and at 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 22. Tickets are $18, and at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, tickets are pick-your-price at the door.

Camelot Theatre: 101 Talent Ave., Talent. Tickets and information available at camelottheatre.org or 541-535-5250.

‘Peter Pan’: James M. Barrie’s classic tale of the boy who won’t grow up. The Darling children act out Peter Pan stories, much to the chagrin of their grumpy father, as Peter — and his sidekick Tinkerbell — visit the nursery and whisk them off to Neverland to meet Lost Boys, noble Islanders, and pirates — including the infamous Captain Hook. Once, Peter cut off Hook’s hand and fed it to a crocodile.

Ever since, there has been a bitter rivalry between the two.

This joyous tribute to youth includes the songs “I’ve Gotta Crow.” “Never Neverland,” “I’m Flying,” and “Hook’s Waltz”. So come with us where dreams are born and time is never planned.

Directed by Haley Forsyth. The Broadway premiere in 1954 starred Mary Martin as Peter Pan. Performances are set for 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays through Dec. 27, 2 p.m.

Sundays through Dec. 29, and at 2 and 8 p.m. on select Mondays and Tuesdays through December.

Tickets are $33 to $38, $10 for students with ID. Rush tickets are $20, if available at the door one hour before each performance.

Collaborative Theatre Project: 555 Medford Center, Medford.

PHOTO BY CHELSEA FINE

Mark B. Ropers as Captain Hook has a talk with Smee, played by Lanny Horn, in Camelot Theatre’s production of “Peter Pan.” See listing, this page.

Tickets and information are available at ctpmedford.org, by calling 541-779-1055 or at the box office. Group rates are available.

‘The Velveteen Rabbit’: Margery Williams’ classic children’s tale of the friendship between a young boy and his toy rabbit, adapted

by Scott Davidson and featuring original music by Jared Brown, explores reality and make-believe as the stuffed rabbit comes alive through a fairy’s wish and the little boy’s love. Directed by Todd Nielsen, the production is designed for young audiences as part of the company’s “Saturday Series.” The whimsical piece is created to be a first theatrical experience for children, with interactive elements and a 40-minute run time. A final performance is set for 11 a.m.

Saturday, Dec. 14. Tickets are a suggested $5 donation.

‘The Snow Queen’: Collaborative Theatre Project in Medford will present “The Snow Queen” from Nov. 22 to Dec. 29, at its theater in the Medford Center, 555 Medford Center. This adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fantastical coming-of-age adventure that inspired the hit Disney

movie “Frozen” is directed by Susan Aversa-Orrego. Join Gerda on a dangerous and whimsical quest to save her best friend Kai before he is trapped forever in the Snow Queen’s palace.

It’s a world where flowers sing, animals talk and riddles yearn to be solved. With an original pop-rock score, alluring ballads, urban steam-punk flair, and the enigmatic Snow Queen, this is not your average bedtime story.

Performances are set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturdays through Dec. 28, and at 1:30 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 29, and Saturdays, Dec. 21 and Dec. 28. Tickets are $28.

Oregon Cabaret Theatre: 241 Hargadine St, on the corner of First and Hargadine streets, Ashland.

Tickets and information are available at theoregoncabaret. com or by calling 541-488-2902.

Reservations are required for pre-show dinner and brunch.

Appetizers, beverages and desserts are available without reservations. Student rush tickets are $10 and can be purchased 30 minutes before curtain. A 20% discount is

available for groups of 10 or more.

‘Miracle on 34th Street, a Live Musical Radio Play’: When a department store Santa claims he’s the real Kris Kringle, his case gets taken all the way to the Supreme Court, and a little girl’s belief makes the difference in the “miracle.” With live Foley effects and a score of holiday carols, “Miracle on 34th St.” is a beloved musical that will melt even the most cynical of hearts. Adapted from Jon Lorenz’ 1947 Lux Radio Broadcast of the classic Christmas story and directed by Galloway Stevens.

Performances are set for at 8 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday through Saturday, and select Tuesday and Sunday nights through Dec. 31, and at 1 p.m.

Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 29. There is no performance on Christmas Day. Regular tickets are $43, $39, and $29.

Randall Theatre: 20 S. Fir St., Medford. Tickets and information are available at randalltheatre.com or by calling 541-632-3258. Pickyour-price tickets are available 30 minutes before shows, subject to availability.

‘A Christmas Story’: Humorist Jean Shepherd’s memoir of growing up in the Midwest in the 1940s follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in his quest to get a genuine Red Ryder BB gun under the tree for Christmas. Ralphie pleads his case before his mother, his teacher and even Santa Claus himself at Higbee’s Department Store. The consistent response: “You’ll shoot your eye out!” All the elements from the beloved motion picture are here, including the family’s temperamental exploding furnace; Scut Farkas, the school bully; the boys’ experiment with a wet tongue on a cold lamppost; and Ralphie’s father winning a lamp shaped like a woman’s leg in a net stocking.

Come be a part of this holiday classic! Written by Philip Grecian. Directed by Dianna Warner. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Dec. 13-28, 7:30 p.m. Thursday Dec. 26, and at 2 p.m. Sundays Dec.15-29. There also is a 2 p.m. matinee on Tuesday, Dec. 24. Tickets are $22 for reserved seating. For tickets, see randalltheatre.com or call 541-632-3258.

Ashland Tidings | Revels

PERFORMANCES

Youssoupha Sidibe

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Grammy-nominated Youssoupha Sidibe, Senegalese West African Kora (African harp) player, will perform a world music concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, at the Havurah Synagogue, 185 N. Mountain Ave., Ashland. Sidibe will be accompanied by violinist Dr. See. Tickets are $20 to $30 in advance, $25 at the door. Tickets can be purchased online at tickets.brightstarevents.com/event/ YoussouphaSidibe, or at the Music Coop, 268 E Main St, Ashland.

Doors open at 7 p.m. For more information, seefacebook.com/ events/420971075453839/.

Thursday, Dec. 12 Ben Larsen: Portland-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ben Larsen will perform at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, at Belle Fiore Winery, 100 Belle Fiore Lane, Ashland.

Admission is free. See bellefiorewine.com or call 541-552-4900.

John Nilsen: Oregon pianist, guitarist and recording artist John Nilsen will perform a solo piano holiday concert, featuring holiday classics, boogie-woogie and jazz, along with some of his originals at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, at Pascal Vineyard, 1122 Suncrest Road, Talent. Admission is $10 at door. Call 541-535-7957.

Friday, Dec. 13 Jim Malachi: Guitarist and singer-songwriter Jim Malachi

will perform a mix of folk-rock, pop, country and more at 5 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 13, at Ashland Wine Cellar, 36 Lithia Way, Ashland.

See ashlandwinecellar.com or call 541-488-2111.

Dennis Konecny: Singer and guitarist Dennis Konecny will perform at 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, at Trium Wines, 203 E. Main Street, Talent. See triumwines.com or call 541-625-9100.

Perry Road: Guitarist Erica Flynn, bassist Mike Plane and drummer Randy Schoenauer will play rock and country at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, at Belle Fiore Winery, 100 Belle Fiore Lane, Ashland.

Admission is free. See bellefiorewine.com or call 541-552-4900.

Shine Swing Trio: The jazz trio will perform classic swing at SEE PERFORMANCES, R16

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6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, at South Stage Cellars, 125 S. Third St., Jacksonville. See southstagecellars.com or call 541-899-9120.

Studio Roxander’s ‘The Nutcracker’: David and Elyse Roxander’s fulllength production is performed at the Crater Performing Arts Center in Central Point, from Dec. 13-22. Saturday matinees include the Kingdom of the Sweets, a meet-and-greet where attendees can get autographs and take photos with their favorite characters. For details, see studioroxander.com or call 541-773-7272.

John Nilsen: Oregon pianist, guitarist and recording artist John Nilsen will perform a solo piano holiday concert, featuring holiday classics, boogie-woogie and jazz, along with some of his originals at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, at RoxyAnn Winery, 3285 Hillcrest Road, Medford. Admission is $10 at door. Call 541-776-2315.

The Siskiyou Singers: The choir, directed by Mark Reppert, will perform its 2019 holiday concert, “Ceremony of Carols,” Friday through Sunday, Dec. 13-15, in the Music Recital Hall, 450 Mountain Ave., at Southern Oregon University, Ashland. Showtimes are set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, and 3 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday. Harpist Ellen Lindquist will perform along with the choir. Featured songs include the sacred “Hodie Christus Natus Est” by Palestrina and “Angelus ad Virginem,” a 13th-century carol. Musicologist Ed Wight will present a free pre-concert lecture one hour before each concert. Tickets are $20, $5 for students and Oregon Trail Card holders, and can be purchased at Music Coop or Paddington Station in Ashland and Grocery Outlet in Medford.

See siskiyousingers.org.

Saturday, Dec. 14 John Nilsen: Oregon pianist, guitarist and recording artist John Nilsen will perform a solo piano holiday concert, featuring holiday classics, boogie-woogie and jazz, along with some of his originals at noon Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Gold Hill United Methodist Church, 416 Fourth St., Gold Hill. Admission is a suggested donation of $10 at door.

Call 541-855-7224.

Zak Knutson: Zac Knutson of the country band Fogline will perform

‘Frozen, Jr.’

PHOTO BY JIM CRAVEN / JIMCRAVENPHOTO.COM

From left, Christopher Kranenburg as Kristoff, Kaiya Bagley as Elsa, Sarah Metwally as Anna, and Will Sayler as Hans star in Teen Musical Theater of Oregon’s production of “Frozen, Jr.” Teen Musical Theater of Oregon will present “Frozen Jr.” this holiday season, a show based on the Disney movie and 2018 Broadway musical. Shows are at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 14-15; and at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 20; and at 1 and 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, at the Craterian Theater, 23 S. Central Ave., Medford. All seats are $15. For tickets and information, see craterian.org or call the Craterian Box Office at 541-779-3000.

original country rock and folk music at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at Stone River Vineyard, 2178 Pioneer Road, Talent. Call 541-864-9234.

Sage Leaf: Guitarist and vocalist Sage Leaf will perform a mix of blues, jazz and reggae at 5 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 14, at Ashland Wine Cellar, 36 Lithia Way, Ashland. See ashlandwinecellar.com or call 541-488-2111.

Pacifica: Vocalist Alissa Weaver, guitarist and vocalist Jack Fischer and drummer Michael Whipple will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at South Stage Cellars, 125 S. Third St., Jacksonville. See southstagecellars.com or call 541-899-9120.

Ed Dunsavage and Siskiyou Jazz Project: Jazz guitarist Ed Dunsavage and the and Siskiyou Jazz Project will perform their sixth annual holiday jazz concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at Paschal Winery, 1122 Suncrest Road, Talent.

Admission is $25. See paschalwinery.com or call 541-535-7957.

Southern Oregon Concert Band: The community band, conducted

by Marianne Robison and Chris Pearson, will be joined by handbell musicians The Rogue Ringers to present “Christmas

Memories,” a program of favorite Christmas songs and hymns, at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, in the Stedman Auditorium at Central Medford High School, 815 S. Oakdale Ave. The program features “Ding Dong Merrily on High,” “Do You Hear What I Hear,” “White Christmas and Christmas Eve/ Sarajevo 12/24,”as performed by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and arranged for band by Bob Phillips and George Megaw. Also included are Leroy Anderson’s “Christmas Festival” and “Sleigh Ride,” Holst’s “Christmas Day — Fantasy on Old Carols” and more. The Ashland Brass Quintet will play a pre-concert recital in the lobby of Stedman Auditorium beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Admission is free, but donations will be accepted. Email at socbprez@jeffnet.org or call 541-324-0404.

Band du Pays Swing: The band — singer Kacie Bowers, sax and clarinet player Stephen Gagné, percussionist Jenny Gray, guitarist Tony Brussat and upright bassist Merrill Smith — will perform a mix of swing music for dancing from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at Paschal Winery,

1122 Suncrest Road, Talent.

Evergreen Ballroom’s Jacob Jagger will offer 30-minute swing dance lessons at 7 p.m. Admission is $10. Call 541-535-7957 for reservations.

Tana’s Holiday Spectacular: Joe Dunbar Designs will present a burlesque variety show at 8 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Historic Ashland Armory, 208 Oak St., Ashland. The variety show will feature performers from Las Vegas, San Diego and Portland, as well as local performers.

Tana the Tattooed lady of Las Vegas will emcee and give a performance. Admission is $30, $50 for table seating. Tickets are available at the door or online at liveatthearmory.com. VIP tickets are available and doors open at 7 p.m. Call 541-488-7001.

Sunday, Dec. 15 Jeff Kloetzel: Singer, songwriter and guitar player Jeff Kloetzel will play an acoustic mix of pop, folk and soul, along with original songs, at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15, at Pebblestone Cellars, 1670 Pioneer Road, Phoenix. See pebblestonecellars.com or call 541-512-1704.

Peter Michaels: Guitarist Peter Michaels will perform a mix of jazz and pop at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15, at Ashland Wine Cellar, 36 Lithia Way, Ashland. See ashlandwinecellar.com or call 541-488-2111.

Blades of Grass Duo: Mandolin player Jef Ramsey and guitarist Kathryn Casternovia will perform a special holiday set of bluegrass, vintage country and originals at 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13, at Belle Fiore Winery, 100 Belle Fiore Lane, Ashland.

Admission is free. See bellefiorewine.com or call 541-552-4900.

Robbie DaCosta: Singer and guitarist Robbie DaCosta will perform a mix of pop, oldies and light rock along with Kristin Calvin and Tom Stamper at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15, at Platt Anderson Cellars in the Ashland Art Center, 357 E. Main St., Ashland. Admission is free.

See ashlandwine.net or call 541-708-0530.

Handbell Christmas Concert: Shepherd’s Bells, Tintinnabulation, the Rogue Ringers and the Grace Notes will present “Ringing in Christmas” at 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15, at the First Presbyterian Church, 85 S. Holly St., Medford. Audience members will be invited to participate in singing carols. A cookie and wassail reception will follow the concert.

Admission is free, and donations to the church’s food bank will be accepted. Call 541-944-6841.

Wednesday, Dec. 18 Jen Ambrose: Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jen Ambrose will play a mix of original blues, soul and folk at 5 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 18, at Belle Fiore Winery, 100 Belle Fiore Lane, Ashland. Admission is free.

See bellefiorewine.com or call 541-552-4900.

Jeff Kloetzel: Singer, songwriter and guitar player Jeff Kloetzel will play an acoustic mix of pop, folk and soul, along with original songs, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 18, at South Stage Cellars, 125 S. Third St., Jacksonville. See southstagecellars.com or call 541-899-9120.

Thursday, Dec. 19 Jon Galfano: The guitarist and composer will play his original instrumentals at 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 19, at Belle Fiore Winery, 100 Belle Fiore Lane, Ashland. Admission is free.

See bellefiorewine.com or call 541-552-4900.

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HOLIDAY EVENTS Holiday Art Exhibit: 49 regional artists will be featured in an exhibit titled “Holiday Treasures” to be displayed through December at Art Presence Art Center, 206 N. Fifth St., Jacksonville.

Look for artists’ interpretations of angels. The art center’s hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Call 541-941-7057.

Beekman House Christmas Tour: See how Christmas was celebrated in the late 1800s and learn about holiday tradition origins during guided tours from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 29, at the historic Beekman House, 470 E. California St., Jacksonville. Admission is $5.

Also look for “Mrs. Beekman’s Christmas Bazaar,” which has antiques, collectibles, old-fashioned toys, handcrafts, holiday items and more available for purchase. Proceeds from both the tours and the bazaar go toward maintenance of Jacksonville’s historic buildings, programs and events. Call 541-245-3650 or email info@historicjacksonville.org.

Dickens’ Christmas Feast: The Winchester Inn, 35 S. Second St., Ashland, will hold its 37th annual Dickens’ Christmas Feast Dec. 12-15 and 18-24. The feast consists of a local take on a traditional six-course Christmas feast. Carolers in Dickens’ Christmas costumes entertain as they stroll through the restaurant singing traditional carols.

The restaurant will take your orders when you make your reservation. Cost is $85 per person, with tax and gratuities included.

A $42.50 per person deposit is required with a guaranteed number for your party. Dinner begins at 6:30 each evening. The restaurant recommends arriving by 6:15. For details, call 541-4881113 or see www.winchesterinn. com/restaurant-events.

Jacksonville Victorian Christmas: Jacksonville decorates the town in natural greenery with white lights to evoke Christmases past.

On weekends between through Dec. 22, visitors can take family pictures with Father Christmas, enjoy strolling carolers — some in vintage costumes — and find complimentary hot cider and Jolly Holly Trolley rides. For details, see jacksonvilleoregon. com/victorian-christmas.

John Nilsen holiday piano shows: After giving 230 performances throughout the U.S. in 2019, Oregon pianist, guitarist and recording artist John Nilsen will perform four solo piano holiday concerts in the Rogue Valley in December. Nilsen, who recently released “Foreign Films,” his 20th CD, graduated from Southern Oregon University in 1979 and spent nearly two decades in the Rogue Valley before moving to West Linn. His shows will feature holiday classics, boogie-woogie and jazz, along with some of his originals. Showtimes and dates are 132 NE B St. Grants Pass, 541-479-5369. Cost is $10 at door; Thursday, Dec. 12, at 7 p.m., at Pascal Vineyard, 1122 Suncrest Road, Talent, 541-535-7957. Cost is $10 at door; Friday, Dec. 13, 6 to 8 p.m., RoxyAnn Winery, 3285 Hillcrest Road, Medford, 541-776-2315. Cost is $10 at door; Saturday, Dec. 14, at noon, at Gold Hill United Methodist Church, 416 Fourth St., Gold Hill, 541-855-7224. Suggested donation is $10 per person.

Are you ready

“To Be Family” again?

Contact us today to arrange a personal visit and lunch tour.

Contact Melissa Harris at 541.482.0888 or mharris@villagevalleyview.com

★★★★★

The only 5-Star Memory Care Community in the Rogue Valley *Google Reviews as of September 1, 2019.

Christmas Lights Tour: Enjoy the holiday lights and decorations around the valley during a RVTD bus tour at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13. The bus will pick up tour guest at the Santo Community Center, 701 N. Columbus Ave., Medford. Tickets are $6 and pre-registration required. For tickets and more information, call 541-774-2400 or see playmedford.com.

Nativity Drive-Thru: Life Path Church of the Nazarene, 1481 S. Columbus Ave. in Medford, will present a drive-thru Nativity from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 13-14, and a special performance at 5 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 15. The performance is “an imaginary journey back in time where we hear the eyewitness account of two individuals who were present at that first Christmas 2,000 years ago.”

Hot cocoa and cookies provided.

1071 W. Jackson Rd. Ashland, OR 97520

Rogue Valley Christmas Market: The annual Rogue Valley Christmas Market will be held Friday and Saturday, Dec. 13-14, at the Fry Family Farm store, 2184 Ross Lane, Medford. The European-style market will run from SEE HOLIDAY, R18

541.482.0888

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‘New Year’s Eve Gala: A Toast to Majkut’

1 to 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The event will include live music and a number of vendors offering food, wine, cider and a wide range of handcrafted Christmas gifts from local artists and crafts people. Admission is free, but the market will be supporting Medford Habitat for Humanity with donations received for on-site gift wrapping. For details, see facebook.com/ ogueValleyChristmasMarket.

Lithia Artisans Holiday Market: More than 70 local artists will be on hand this weekend at the Medford National Guard Armory, 1701 S. Pacific Highway, Medford. Free admission. There will be music and food trucks.

A raffle drawing will be held on Sunday afternoon, with the winner receiving a $100 gift certificate. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14; and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15. Take advantage of the free DIY gift wrap station. For more details, see lithiaartisansmarket.com.

Southern Oregon Concert Band: The community band, conducted by Marianne Robison and Chris Pearson, will be joined by handbell musicians The Rogue Ringers to present “Christmas Memories,” a program of favorite Christmas songs and hymns, at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, in the Stedman Auditorium at Central Medford High School, 815 S. Oakdale Ave. The program features “Ding Dong Merrily on High,” “Do You Hear What I Hear,” “White Christmas and Christmas Eve/ Sarajevo 12/24,”as performed by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and arranged for band by Bob Phillips and George Megaw. Also included are Leroy Anderson’s “Christmas Festival” and “Sleigh Ride,” Holst’s “Christmas Day — Fantasy on Old Carols” and more.

The Ashland Brass Quintet will play a pre-concert recital in the lobby of Stedman Auditorium beginning at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted. Email at socbprez@ jeffnet.org or call 541-324-0404.

Handbell Christmas Concert: Shepherd’s Bells, Tintinnabulation, the Rogue Ringers and the Grace Notes will present “Ringing in

KAMRON COLEMAN

Rogue Valley Symphony will present “New Year’s Eve Gala: A Toast to Majkut,” a glittering gala celebration for the anniversary of Maestro Martin Majkut’s 10th season. Attendees will experience symphonic waltzes, surprise guests, and duo pianists Joel Fan and Christine Eggert on Francis Poulenc’s “Concerto for Two Pianos.” The show is set for 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31, at the Craterian Theater, 23 S. Central Ave., Medford. Silver tickets are $50 and include the concert only. Gold tickets are $75 and will also include a pre-concert champagne and truffle reception and a toast with the Maestro. Platinum tickets are $150 and will include the above experiences plus a ticket to celebrate on stage following the concert with passed hors d’oeuvres, dancing, and champagne until midnight. For tickets and information, see www.craterian. org or call the Craterian Box Office at 541-779-3000.

Christmas” at 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15, at the First Presbyterian Church, 85 S. Holly St., Medford.

Audience members will be invited to participate in singing carols.

A cookie and wassail reception will follow the concert. Admission is free, and donations to the church’s food band will be accepted. Call 541-944-6841.

Southern Oregon Repertory Singers: The Repertory Singers will offer its annual show, titled “December Clear and Bright,” at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 21, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 22, at the Southern Oregon University Music Recital Hall, 450 S. Mountain Ave., Ashland.

The show will span music from the Renaissance to today, including carols old and new from around the world. Featured works include Giovanni Palestina’s “Magnificat” for double choir, Eriks Ešenvalds’ “O magnum mysterium” for choir and tuned water glasses, and new works

by Gabriel Jackson and Randall Stroope. The concert will include a combined performance with the

Chamber Choirs from both North and South Medford High Schools accompanied by guest instrumentalists. Tickets are $15 and $42, $5 for students and Oregon Trail Card holders. For tickets and information go to see repsingers. org or call 541.552.0900.

Ashland Hanukkah Celebration: Chabad Jewish Center of Southern Oregon will hold a Hanukkah celebration beginning at 4 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 22, at the Plaza in downtown Ashland. Events begin with a public Menorah lighting ceremony. The festivities will include live music from a Klezmer band, latkes and donuts for sale and singing of traditional Hanukkah songs. Call 541-482-2778.

Hanukkah Fest: The Havurah Synagogue will hold its annual Hanukkah Fest at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 22, at the synagogue, 185 N. Mountain Ave., Ashland.

A latke dinner will be available for purchase and children can create menorahs and beeswax candles and play dreydl. Communal candle lighting and songs will

follow, led by Rabbi David Zaslow and Cyrise and Stefan Schachter and storytelling by Debra Zaslow.

A Hanukkah Gift Shop will have items available for purchase. Call 541-292-0805.

Tomaseen Foley’s ‘A Celtic Christmas’: For more than 20 years, native Irishman (and Talent resident) Tomáseen Foley has brought his unique brand of storytelling magic to captivate holiday theatergoers in packed houses throughout the U.S. With warmth and humor, he and a dazzling tribe of world-class performers carry audiences back in time to a wintry night in an Irish “rambling house” where traditional song, dance, music and stories bring a community together for one wondrous evening. You don’t have to be Irish to appreciate this moving and intimate show that reminds us all of the power and joy of the ancient art of storytelling. This holiday treasure is set for 3 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 22, at the Craterian Theater, 23 S. Central Ave., Medford. For ticket information, see craterian.org.

Medford Hanukkah Celebration: Medford will celebrate Hanukkah with the lighting of a 10-foot menorah at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 23, in downtown’s Vogel Plaza, at the corner of Central Avenue and Main Street.

Sponsored by the Chabad Jewish Center of Southern Oregon. The festivities will include live music from a Klezmer band, latkes and donuts for sale, and a chocolate coin drop. For more information, call the Chabad Jewish Center at 541-482-2778.

Christmas Dinner: All are welcome to attend Ashland Christian Fellowship’s 40th annual free holiday dinner from noon to 4 p.m. Christmas Day, Wednesday, Dec. 25, at the Historic Ashland Armory, 208 Oak St., Ashland. A buffet-style turkey dinner with all the trimmings and dessert will be available to attendees, along with live music performances. To request meals deliveries within the Ashland/ Talent area, call 541-482-8539 or e-mail at ashlandchristianfellowship@gmail.com.

Ashland Tidings | Revels

Thursday, Dec. 12 Phoenix Book Club: Discuss books on select topics at 2 p.m. the second Thursday of each month at the Phoenix library, 510 W. First St. Readers can choose fiction or nonfiction as monthly topics. See jcls.org or call 541-774-6408.

An Evening with The Hearth: Six diverse community leaders will share a memorable experience from their personal life during “An Evening with The Hearth: Night of the Storytellers” from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, at Temple Emek Shalom, 1800 E. Main St., Ashland.

Storytellers include Danielle Mancuso from The Lantern; Cesar Flores from Noche de Cuentos; fiddler and storyteller Kevin Carr; writer and poet Alma Rosa Alvarez; story coach and author Jay Golden; and Hearth founder Mark Yaconelli. Live music will be performed by Hollis Peach. Admission is a $10 to $20 donation requested at the door to benefit The Hearth’s community-building efforts. See thehearthcommunity.com/.

Friday, Dec. 13 Ice Skating: The Ashland Rotary Centennial Ice Rink will be open for skating every day through

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Winter Fine Arts Festival

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Ashland High School will showcase student art at its 28th annual Winter Fine Arts Festival Friday, Dec. 13, in the school’s Mountain Avenue Theatre and Commons, 201 S. Mountain Ave. Exhibits include illustration, painting, textiles, digital art, photography, sculpture, ceramics and woodworking, along with live performances by the school’s orchestra, band, dance troupe, vocal and theater ensembles. Exhibits open at 5:30 p.m. and are complemented by a light dinner prepared by Culinary Arts teacher Jake Taub and his advanced students. Performances begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the door. Ages 4 and younger get in free. All ticket purchases include admission to the art exhibits, performances, silent auction and light dinner. Proceeds support arts programs through Ashland High Arts Advocates, a nonprofit dedicated to creating accessible arts programs for K-12. See ashlandarts.org for information.

Feb. 17, weather permitting.

Skate rentals, snacks and hot drinks are available. Call

Preschool Puppet Theatre: See what Brenda Bear and friends are up to at 10:30 a.m. the second Friday of each month at North Mountain Park Nature Center, 620 N. Mountain Ave., Ashland. Admission is $6. A short environmental lesson will be followed by the puppet show and playtime. A snack and craft or activity will follow. No late seating is allowed.

Stories with Santa: Visit Santa and hear him read stories at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, at the Central Point library, 116 S. Third St. Treats will be provided. Bring your own camera to take photos with Santa. See jcls.org or call 541-664-3228.

Author Talk: Author Lily Myers Kaplan will talk about her book, “Loss to Legacy: A stepping stone path to healing and transformation,” and give a synopsis of the stepping stone process of moving through mourning to find meaning, at 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, at Art Presence Art Center, 206 N. Fifth St.,

541-488-9189 or see www.ashland.or.us/icerink for schedule and admission information.

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Saturday, Dec. 14 Holiday Boutique: The Talent Library Club will hold a holiday boutique sale from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Talent library, 101 Home St. Look for new or gently-used items such as CDs, movies, kids’ books, knick-knacks and puzzles. All donations received help provide programming and materials for the Talent library. See www.jcls. org or call 541-535-4163.

Historic Bank Tour: Step behind the counter of the oldest bank in the Pacific Northwest from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through Dec. 29, at the Beekman Bank Museum, 110 W. California St., Jacksonville. See the gold scales, look in the teller drawers and walk into the vault while costumed docents share stories about the bank’s founder, pioneer life, gold shipping, and SEE ACTIVITIES, R20

R20 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 |

ACTIVITIES From Page R19

19th-century banking practices.

Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Proceeds go toward maintenance of Jacksonville’s historic buildings, programs and events. Call 541-245-3650 or email at info@ historicjacksonville.org.

Family Art Day: Kids and families can create and explore art from noon to 2 p.m. the second Saturday of each month at Rogue Gallery & Art Center, 40 S. Bartlett St., Medford. All ages are welcome and materials are provided. Admission is free.

No preregistration is required.

Children must be accompanied by an adult. Call 541-772-8118 or see roguegallery.org.

Maker Day: Teens 11 to 18 can explore LEGO Mindstorm, Littlebits and Sphero electronics and robotic sets from noon to 3 p.m. the second Saturday of each month at the Ashland library, 410 Siskiyou Blvd.

Children 8 to 10 may join in if accompanied by an adult. See jcls.org or call 541-774-6980.

Children’s Christmas Party: Visit Santa and hear him read stories at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at the White City Library, 3143 Avenue C. Treats and activities will be provided. See jcls. org or call 541-864-8880.

Author Signing: Regional author Ellie Alexander will sign copies of her novel, “A Cup of Holiday Fear!,” the newest in her Bakeshop Mystery series, at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave. Call 541-774-8679.

Winery Christmas Party: Naumes Suncrest Winery will hold a holiday party and ugly sweater contest from 1 to 7 p.m. at the winery, 1950 Suncrest Road, Talent. Look for raffles and compete for prizes. Live music will be performed by Not Too Shabby. Tickets are $25, and includes a glass of wine and appetizers. Youth tickets are $12.50 for ages 21 and younger, and include choice of blackberry or clementine Izze and appetizers. A portion of ticket sale proceeds will benefit Every Child, an organization dedicated to helping children in foster care. See Naumes Suncrest Winery on Facebook.com or call 541-608-1755.

Santa’s Christmas Party: Santa and Mrs. Claus will throw a winter party from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday,

Ashland Tidings | Revels

Dec. 14, at the Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave. Take a picture with Santa and other characters and create holiday crafts. Also look for a guessing jar, treats and an ugly sweater contest. See jcls.org or call 541-774-8679.

Family Game Play Day: Play a variety a variety of ever-changing games from 1 to 3 p.m. the second Saturday of every month at the Central Point Library, 116 S. Third St. See www.jcls. com or call 541-664-3228.

Math Help: Middle and high school students can get help with their math homework from 1 to 2:30 p.m. the second and fourth Saturdays of every month at the Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave. See. jcls.org or call 541-774-8679.

Cookie Decorating: Decorate a gingerbread cookie with icing, sprinkles, and dried fruit from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Ruch Library, 7919 Highway 238. Gluten-free cookies will be available. See jcls.org or call 541-899-7438.

Introspective Writing Group: Join the group and learn tools and techniques for exploring your inner self through writing from 1 to 2:30 p.m. the second Saturday of each month at the Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave. See jcls.org or call 541-774-8679.

Teen Crafternoon: Teens and pre-teens can learn to decorate cookies like a professional with Jolene Buccino, founder and owner of Jolene’s Sweets, from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Ashland library, 410 Siskiyou Blvd. A decorating contest will follow. See jcls.org.

Saturday Handweavers Guild: Those interested in weaving, spinning and other fiber arts can meet at 1 p.m. the second Saturday of each month September through June, at the Jacksonville library, 340 W. C St. All skill levels are welcome. Email at k.mallams1@ gmail.com or call 541-292-7879.

Teen Random Fandom: Teens are invited to meet to discuss a variety of literary and pop culture topics from 1 to 3 p.m. the second Saturday of each month, at the Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave. See jcls.org or call 541-774-8685.

Christmas on a Covered Bridge: The McKee Bridge Historical Society will hold a holiday celebration from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at historic McKee Bridge SEE ACTIVITIES, R21

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in Applegate. Look for cookie decorating, holiday music, displays of antique dolls, toys and Christmas decorating techniques. Hot cocoa, cider and tea will be served, and the Ruch Outdoor Community School will lead carols at 3:30 p.m. To get to the bridge from Jacksonville, travel 6.5 miles south on Highway 238 to Ruch. From Ruch, turn left on to Upper Applegate Road (County Road 859), and continue south approximately 8 miles to McKee Bridge Day Use Area.

First Frost Gala: The Ashland Rotary Centennial Ice Rink will host its annual “First Frost Gala” from 2:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at 95 Winburn Way, across from Lithia Park, Ashland.

Look for hockey exhibitions, figure skating performances, live DJ music and more. The ice rink will be open through Feb. 17. Skate rentals, snacks and hot drinks will be available.

Call 541-488-9189 or see ashland. or.us/IceRink for schedule and admission information.

Jacksonville Art Walk: Galleries, restaurants and studios in Jacksonville will show new exhibits, host art demonstrations and more from 5 to 7 p.m. the second Saturday of every month. Over 20 business participate in the Art Walk, showcasing local art, music and wine. Look for the neon-green pennant for additional participating locations.

Star Promenaders: The club hosts A-1 and A-2 dancing from 6 to 7:30 p.m. the second and fourth Saturday of every month at the Rogue Valley Square Dance Center, 3377 Table Rock Road, Medford. Pre-rounds are from 7:30 to 8 p.m. and plus dancing is from 8 to 10:30 p.m. Squaredance attire is appreciated.

Bring finger food to share.

Suggested donation is $4. Call 541-855-7884.

Contra Dance: A Contra Dance will be held Saturday, Dec. 14, at The Grove, 1195 E. Main St., Ashland. Beginners instruction begins at 7 p.m., and dancing is from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Becky Nankivell will call dance steps, and the Carr Family Band will perform live music. No perfumes or scented oils, and clean bodies and clothes are encouraged.

No partners necessary. Admission is $8-$15, free for children and those not dancing. Call 541-821-0997.

Equamore friendship celebration

The Youngs will discuss Nepali culture and customs, dispel a few myths, and share Nepal’s topography, natural history, and demographics. See jcls.org or call 541-774-8679.

Welcome Winter: Children ages 4 and older can celebrate the arrival of winter with a variety of activities from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 18, at Ashland Library, 410 Siskiyou Blvd. Look for beeswax candle rolling, cookie decorating, solstice stories and more. See jcls.com or call 541-774-6980.

Friday, Dec. 20

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Equamore Horse Sanctuary will hold a year-end friendship celebration from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15, at Equamore Sanctuary, 4723 Highway 66, Ashland. Visit with the horses and enjoy a cup of hot cider and other refreshments. Admission is free. Email euqmore@charter.net or call 541-482-5550.

Monday, Dec. 16 Schneider Museum of Art: New fall exhibits featuring a variety of contemporary Latinx artwork, as well as masterworks will be on display through Dec. 14, at the Schneider Museum of Art, corner of Siskiyou Boulevard and Indiana streets, at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. Featured artists are Justin Favela, V. Maldonado, and prints from Los Angeles’ “Self Help Graphics & Art,” including artwork from Judithe Hernandez and Frank Romero. Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. See sma.sou. edu or call 541-552-6245.

Make It Art Monday: Adults can create a range of crafts from noon to 2 p.m. the third Monday of each month, except for January and February which will meet on the fourth Monday, at the Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave. See jcls.org or call 541-774-8679.

Tuesday, Dec. 17 Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Winter Market: Seasonal produce, crafts, specialty foods, drinks

and more are available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Feb. 25, at the Phoenix Plaza Civic Center, 220 N. Main St.. See rvgrowersmarket.com.

Tuesday Afternoon Knitters: Crocheters, knitters and tatters of all skill levels can gather, share ideas and create new pieces from 3:30 to 5 p.m. the first and third Tuesday of each month at the Phoenix library, 510 W. First St. Call 541-326-2035 or find Tuesday Afternoon Knitters on Facebook.

Travel Stories: History buffs and travelers Dan and Carol Nielson will give a free presentation “Christmas in Europe” at 5 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 17, at the Shady Cove library, 22477 Highway 62.

Learn about the different Christmas celebrations and customs in countries throughout Europe and how they differ from those found in the United States. See jcls.org or call 541-878-8870.

Wednesday, Dec. 18 Guild Lecture: Paul and Barbara Young will present “Nepal and the Mystical Himalayas” at noon, Wednesday, Dec. 18, at the Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave.

Medford Garden Club: The club meets at 1 p.m. the third Friday of each month, September through June, at Ascension Lutheran Church, 675 Black Oak Drive, Medford. Find Medford Oregon Garden Club on Facebook or call 541-773-6884.

Book Sale: Book sales are held from 1 to 4 p.m. the third Friday of each month at the Central Point library, 116 S. Third St. Look for new or gently-used books, DVDs and CDs. Costs are by donation. Call 541-664-3228 or see jcls.org.

Book Club: The Gold Hill Library Book Club meets at 3 p.m. the third Friday of each month at the Gold Hill library, 202 Dardanelles St. On Friday, Dec. 20, “Days Without End” by Sebastian Barry will be discussed. See jcls.org or call 541-855-1994.

Third Friday Art Walk: Galleries, restaurants and studios in downtown Medford unveil new exhibits, host art demonstrations and live music from 5 to 8 p.m. the third Friday of every month.

For more information, find Medford’s Third Friday on Facebook. com. On Friday, Nov. 15, look for a seasonal exhibit of work

by Jeanne LaRea-Lagano, and live music performed by Rod Petrone at Art du Jour Gallery, 213 E. Main St., Medford.

Saturday, Dec. 21 Project FeederWatch: Volunteers can help experts count birds that visit feeders at North Mountain Park at 9 a.m.

Saturday, Dec. 21, at 620 N. Mountain Ave., Ashland. Results will be submitted to Cornell University’s FeederWatch program. Admission is free. Call 541-488-6606.

Medford Matinee: Families and friends can gather to watch the 2019 live action film “Aladdin” at 11:15 a.m. Saturday,

Dec. 21, at the Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave. Popcorn will be served. The film is rated PG. Call See jcls.org or call 541-774-8689.

Teen Crafternoon: Make a snow globe, paint with “snow” and make a snowman craft from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, at the Medford Library, 205 S. Central Ave. See jcls.com or call 541-774-8679.

Community Christmas Party: The Phoenix Clubhouse will be hosting its third annual community Christmas party from 1 to 5 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 21, at the clubhouse, 310 N. Main St., Phoenix.

Listen to Christmas stories, sing carols, create cards, ornaments and other crafts and more.

Refreshments will be available for purchase, and festive dress is encouraged. Admsission is free, donations of new or clean socks, gloves, mittens and hats and blankets will be appreciated. All donations will go to those in need. Call 541-292-8532 or email at thephoenixoregon@ gmail.com.

Solstice Celebration: Celebrate the longest night of the year from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, at the Northwest Nature Shop, 154 Oak St. Ashland. Look for solstice storytelling, music and refreshments. Admission is free. See northwestnaturehop. com or call 541-482-3241.

Sunday, Dec. 22 Community Chant: Explore chants from various global traditions at 4 p.m. the second and fourth Sunday of every month at the Jacksonville Community Center, 160 E. Main St. No singing experience necessary. Admission by donation. Call 707-382-8641.

Wednesday, Dec. 25 Christmas Dinner: All are welcome to attend Ashland Christian Fellowship’s 40th annual free holiday dinner from noon to 4 p.m. Christmas Day, Wednesday, Dec. 25, at the Historic Ashland Armory, 208 Oak St., Ashland. A buffet-style turkey dinner with all the trimmings and dessert will be available to attendees, along with live music performances. For more information or to request meals deliveries within the Ashland/Talent area, call 541-482-8539 or e-mail at ashlandchristianfellowship@ gmail.com.

R22 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | Ashland Tidings | Revels

WEEKLY EVENTS

Monday

Ashland Seniors Activities: A variety of activities and services are available to adults 50 and older Mondays through Fridays at the Ashland Senior Center, 1699 Homes Ave. See ashlandseniorcenter.org or call 541-488-5342 for full listings.

Central Point Songbirds: The Central Point Songbirds chorus invites singers to meet from 9:30 to 11 a.m. every Monday at the First Presbyterian Church of Central Point, 456 W. Pine St. The group performs a mix of American standards, hits from the ’40s and ’50s and contemporary songs. Call 541-772-3486.

Medford Seniors Activities: A variety of activities and services are available to adults 50 and older from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mondays, and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Tuesdays through Fridays at the Medford Senior Center, 510 East Main St. See medfordseniorcenter.org or call 541-772-2273 for full listings.

Color Mondays: Coloring sessions for adults will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays at the Ashland library, 410 Siskiyou Blvd. Coloring supplies will be provided. Call 541-774-6980 or see jcls.org.

Craft It Forward: Adults can bring a current project or knit a hat for someone who is in need, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays, at the Ashland library, 410 Siskiyou Blvd. Knitting materials and coloring supplies will be provided.

See jcls.org or call 541-774-6980.

The Needlers: Bring needle-craft supplies and participate in embroidery, needlepoint, cross-stitch, quilting, knitting, crocheting, beadwork and more at 10 a.m. Mondays at the Rogue River library, 412 E. Main St. Call 541-864-8850 or see jcls.org.

Kid Time!: Kids in elementary school and younger can explore interactive exhibits and learn about the history of Oregon, construction and engineering, water systems and more at Kid Time! 106 N. Central Ave., Medford. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.

Admission is $6 for adults, $10 for kids. Call 541-772-9922 or see kid-time.org.

Movie Classics: Classic films will be shown at 1 p.m. on select Mondays at the Gold Hill library, 202 Dardanelles St. Call 541-6643228 or see jcls.org.

Homework Hub: Children 5 through 12 who need help with homework, studying and comprehension can drop in and work with small groups and experienced tutors from 3 to 5 p.m. every Monday and Tuesday at the Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave. Admission is free, and one-on-one sessions are available with advanced scheduling. Call 541-774-8678.

Juggling Club: Those interested in juggling, flow arts and other object manipulations can meet from 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays at Levity Circus Collective, 280 Hersey St., Suite #15, Ashland. All levels welcome, and instruction will be offered.

Admission is a $6 suggested donation. Call 360-878-0331.

Pub Trivia: Family-friendly games of trivia are available from 7 to 9 p.m. Mondays at 4 Daughters Irish Pub, 126 W. Main St., Medford. Participation is free, and there are prizes for winning teams. Call 541-779-4455.

Clog Dances: Dance with the Misty Mountain Cloggers at 7 p.m. Mondays at the Southern Oregon Performing Arts Center, 930 Summit Ave., Medford.

Instruction is available. Admission is $8. Call 541-772-1431.

The Ashland Country Dancers: English and Scottish country dancing will be held from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Mondays in the Dance Space, 280 E. Hersey St., No. 10, Ashland. These community dance forms inspired square and contra dances. Instruction is available and no partner is necessary. Admission is $4.

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Tuesday ScienceWorks Hands-on Museum: A variety of interactive science exhibits are available at ScienceWorks Hands-on Museum, 1500 E. Main St., Ashland. Find upcoming events, shows and activities at scienceworksmuseum.org. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is $12, $10 for ages 2 through 12 and 65 and older. Admission is $3 the first Sunday of every month. See scienceworksmuseum.org or call 541-482-6767.

Spanish Language Group: Improve your fluency in Spanish from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesdays at the Medford Senior Center, 510 E. Main St. Look for casual, SEE WEEKLY, R23

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Ashland Tidings | Revels | Thursday, December 12, 2019 | R23

WEEKLY From Page R22

supportive conversation and interpretation. Call 541-779-1829.

Classical Recorder Group: Recorder players can join a group that plays classical selections at noon every Tuesday at the Talent library, 101 Home St. An ability to read music is required.

See jcls.org or call 541-535-4163.

Medford Cribbage Tournament: Compete at 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays at Mountain Mike’s Pizza, 2640 E. Barnett Road, Medford. Admission is $4.50. Call 541-773-2898.

Ballroom Dancing: Ballroom dancing to live music is held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays at the Rogue Valley Square Dance Center, 3377 Table Rock Road, Medford.

First-time visitors can dance for free, otherwise it’s $6. Dance instruction is offered for $3 and sign-up is at 12:15 p.m. Lessons begins promptly at 12:30 p.m.

No partners are required. Call 541-664-3176.

Children’s Movies: Free kids’ films are shown at 2:45 p.m. on select Tuesdays at the Phoenix library, 510 W. First St. Free snacks are available. Call 541-535-7090 or see jcls.org.

Medford Cribbage Club: The club meets at 5:45 p.m. every Tuesday in the community room at Greenbrier Terrace, 301 Freeman Road, Central Point. Admission is $5 June through August, and $7 September through May. All ages welcome. Email at lcamdenspd@aol.com or call 707-696-5472.

Sweet Adelines: The Southern Oregon Sound Chapter of Sweet Adelines International, an a cappella chorus for women, under the direction of Martha Segura, offers instruction on vocal technique, musical accuracy and showmanship. Rehearsals are from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays at Eastwood Baptist Church, 675 N. Keene Way Drive, Medford. Call 541-595-8247 or see southernoregonsoundchorus. com.

Trivia Night: Tuesday Night Team Trivia is held at 7 p.m. at Louie’s Restaurant, 41 N. Main St., Ashland. Admission is free, and winning teams will receive prizes. Call 541-482-9701.

Wednesday Jacksonville Museum Quilters: The group meets at 9:30 a.m.

Wednesdays and Thursdays at First Presbyterian Church,

Dart tournament

Saturdays at the library, 106 N. Central Ave., Medford. Look through the collection of 5000 glass plate negatives and prints, thousands of original newspapers, maps, photographs and more. Regular library hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Call 541-773-6536.

Teen Writers Group: Teens ages 11-18 can work on strengthening their writing skills at 2 p.m. every Saturday at the Central Point library, 116 S. Third St. Each week, a different aspect of fiction writing will be presented.

See jcls.org or call 541-664-3228.

Sunday

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Dart matches for skilled and novice players start at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays at The Black Sheep Pub, 51 N. Main St., Ashland. Entry is $5, and the pub will match the pot up to $50. Call 541-482-6414.

425 Middle St., Jacksonville. Call 541-941-2463.

Hands-All-Around Quilters: Work on individual projects or sew quilts for charity from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Wednesdays at Wesley Hall at First United Methodist Church, 175 N. Main St., Ashland. Call 541-482-4692.

Book Sale: Book sales are held from 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesdays at the Eagle Point library, 239 W. Main St. Look for new or gently-used books, DVDs and CDs. Call 541-826-3313 or see jcls.org.

Afternoon Movies: Classic films from the ’30s to the ’70s are shown at 2 p.m. Wednesdays at the Talent library, 101 Home St. Admission is free and refreshments will be provided. Call 541-535-4163 or see jcls.org.

Yarnia: Children 8 and older can learn to knit or crochet at 2 p.m.

Wednesdays at the Eagle Point library, 239 W. Main St. Materials and instruction are provided.

See jcls.org or call 541-826-3313.

Trivia Night: Howiee’s on Front hosts trivia games from 7 to 10 p.m. Wednesdays at 16 N. Front St., Medford. Call 541-773-5767.

Comedy Improv Sessions: Mighty Medford Improv-ers host free improvisational comedy practice from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays at the Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave. The sessions are led by Thomas Hartmann, new to the Rogue Valley from Chicago, where he trained with Second City. All levels of experience are welcome. Email forinfoman44@gmail.com for information.

Men’s Barbershop Singing: Men interested in singing four-part harmonies can meet with the Rogue Valley Harmonizers Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society from 7 to 9:30 p.m.

Thursdays at First Presbyterian Church, 85 S. Holly St., Medford. See rvhsings.com or call 541-840-2055.

Trivia Night: Bird & Rye hosts free trivia games from 8 to 10 p.m.

Thursdays at 23 S. Second St., Ashland. Call 541-482-7437.

Game Knights: Play a variety of board games at 8 p.m. Thursdays at The Black Sheep Pub, 51 N. Main St., Ashland. All ages welcome until 11 p.m. Call 541-482-6414.

Thursday

Friday

Spanish Conversation: English speakers learning Spanish can attend free conversationals from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursdays at the Ashland library, 410 Siskiyou Blvd.

All levels of fluency welcome.

See jcls.org or call 541-744-6996.

Jacksonville Carvers: Those interested in woodcarving can meet from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays for carving and coffee at the Jacksonville library, 340 West C St. All skill levels welcome. Admission is free. Call 541-621-1246.

Book Nook Sale: A book sale is held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each Friday at the Shady Cove library, 22477 Highway 62. Look for new or gently used books, DVDs and CDs. Proceeds help fund library programs, activities and collections.

Call 541-878-2270 or see jcls.org.

Ashland International Folk Dancers: The group meets Fridays at the The Grove, 1195 E. Main St., Ashland, to perform dances from Eastern and Western Europe, Greece, Scandinavia, Israel, Turkey and the Middle East.

Instruction begins at 7:30 p.m., and dancing goes from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. No partners necessary. Admission is $5 by donation. Call 541-535-6397 or 541-482-8249.

Saturday Woodcarvers Club: Woodcarvers offer instruction from noon to 3 p.m. Saturdays at the Central Point Senior Center, 123 N. Second St., Central Point. The first visit is free, then club dues are $5 a month. Call 541-944-4535 or see centralpointwoodcarvers.com.

Game Club: Play Scrabble, chess, cribbage or newer popular strategy board games from noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays at the Talent library, 101 Home St. Call 541535-4163 or see jcls.org.

Library Tour: The Southern Oregon Historical Society offers free tours of its research archive library from 2 to 4 p.m.

D & D After Hours: Teens and adults are invited to join a weekly gaming group playing the revised third edition of Dungeons & Dragons from 2 to 6:30 p.m. every Sunday at the Shady Cove library, 22477 Highway 62.

New players welcome. Email ShadyCove.DnD@gmail.com or call 541-878-8870.

WARNER BROS.

Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

‘CLARK’ From Page R12

Answers 1. “Deck the Halls” 2. Chicago Bears 3. A saw 4. Install a swimming pool 5. A yearlong subscription to a Jelly of the Month Club 6. The Pledge of Allegiance 7. 25,000 8. RV 9. “It’s A Wonderful Life” 10. He watches home movies 11. A hockey mask 12. 1989 13. A squirrel 14. Todd and Margo 15. Snots 16. Ellen’s mother Frances 17. Walmart 18. She got kicked by a mule 19. “The Star Spangled Banner” 20. “I did it.”

R24 | Thursday, December 12, 2019 |

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