Ashland Community Connections | August 2021

AUGUST 2021

A FREE Special Section of the Ashland Edition of the Mail Tribune

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THURSDAY August 5, 2021

A CALENDAR OF LOCAL EVENTS AND STREAMING OFFERINGS

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Ashland Community Connections | Revels

Fire district gets funds for station remodel

By Tony Boom for ACC

More firefighters will be positioned at Jackson County Fire District 5’s station on Neil Creek south of Ashland after an upcoming remodel is completed. The work is largely made possible by a $1.7 million grant from Business Oregon to reinforce the building seismically.

Presently only four firefighters can be based at the station.

Six will be housed with the capacity for more after the remodel, said District 5 Fire Chief Charles Hanley. Besides the seismic updates, work includes an expanding living area, a decontamination room, new emergency generator with housing, exercise area and additional bath facilities. The metal building is estimated to be 50 to 60 years old.

“Right now, we are already at capacity at that particular station. The Neil Creek station responds for all kind of stuff along Interstate 5 going down to the (California) border. We get multiple calls sometimes at the same time. It can be very hard to provide services.” District Board Chair Vicki Purslow said. “This allows us to expand the number of dorms there and free up space for another rig and have more people on duty when we get calls.”

The building now is about 3,000 square feet and can house three vehicles. There is a small mezzanine and one bathroom. Plans call for installation of a second-floor of slightly

ACC FILE PHOTO

Jackson County Fire district 5 volunteer firefighter Dale Grimes douses the second floor of a vacant house that burned at the corner of North Church and Fifth streets in Phoenix.

fewer than 1,000 square feet.

Water storage capacity will be increased to help deal with a low output well at the site.

Current facilities are functional, but in sore need of improvement, Purslow said.

“If you need help, want to get a burn permit, you were in (the crew’s) living room,” said Purslow. “There was a whole lack of privacy.”

“When the project is finished, we can house six with an overflow for another six for our summer crews,” said Hanley.

A grant the state awarded for an apprenticeship program will boost firefighter numbers.

A project manager is

handling design work. Hanley anticipates the project could go out for bid in October. Costs for work beyond seismic reinforcement is estimated at $500,000 and grant funding for that will also be sought.

Besides the remodel at Neil Creek, the district will gain a new fire station in Phoenix and have repairs done to the main station outside Talent after it was damaged in the Almeda fire.

A sleeping quarters next to the Phoenix station was destroyed by the Almeda fire.

The fire district and the city of Phoenix collaborated to secure a state grant from that

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will fund a $13.8 million building to house the Phoenix Police Department, city administrative offices and fire district personnel and equipment in one building rather than the four that are currently spread across the West Second Street location. The district leases space from the city.

More than 100 holes up to the diameter of a baseball were burned into the main station’s roof.

A contract will likely be awarded when the district’s board of directors meets July 20. A new roof would cost about $300,000, with the bulk of the money coming

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from FEMA and the rest from insurance. The work should be completed by the end of the year, Hanley said.

Funding for improvements comes at the same time the district is cutting back its budget due to a loss of tax revenues caused by property destruction in the Almeda fire.

The district includes Talent and Phoenix, both of which suffered heavy losses of housing and commercial property in the fire resulting in decreased assessed value for the tax base.

Assessed property value in the district, which covers 115 square miles in south Jackson County, declined by over $400 million. Assessed valuation is $1,905,397.995 for the current fiscal year.

For 2021-22 the district anticipates tax revenues $5,285,000, down $807,700 from fiscal year 2020-21. The district taxes at a rate of $3.20 per $1,000 of valuation.

A $1.5- million emergency fire loan from FEMA will help stabilize the budget over the current and next fiscal year.

The loan needs to be repaid within five years, although it can be extended to a 10-year schedule.

To cope with reduced funds, the district will cut supply and services expenses by $300,000, overtime costs by $50,000 and make other savings.

During spring, the board authorized a line of credit to secure bridge loans if they were needed, but it was never used.

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Ashland Community Connections | Revels

‘ONCE YOU HAVE BEEN EVACUATED, BOY IT BECOMES REAL TO YOU’ Residents come up with innovative answers to wildfire dangers

By Allayana Darrow ACC

After Sharon Spalding was evacuated from her home due to a wildfire in 2009, home fire safety became paramount.

In October 2014, Spalding was partially reimbursed through the Firewise USA program for removing large junipers around her property on Apple Street.

She replaced the highly flammable and yellow jacket-infested shrubs with a butterfly- and beefriendly, deer-resistant and drought-tolerant garden.

Following the Siskiyou fire, Spalding said, she cleaned up the landscape around her home of 45 years in the interest of safety and compliance.

“Once you have been evacuated, boy it becomes real to you,” Spalding said, noting her typewritten evacuation checklist.

Homeowners on the corner also ripped out their juniper, but other nearby properties feature blankets of the shrub from roadway to home siding — a source of concern for Spalding.

Still, one homeowner’s proactive efforts can positively impact their neighborhood by setting an example for others, said Brian Hendrix, Fire Adapted Communities coordinator. Removing fuel from a landscape can help slow a fire and set up an ”exponential effect” of action among neighbors, he said.

Over the years, various grant programs have come and gone targeting fire-safe landscaping activities, including home evaluations and risk assessments, said Chris Chambers, Wildfire Division chief. Quick-burning juniper is always a high priority for removal.

Juniper became popular in the 1970s and 1980s as a lowcost, low-maintenance and drought-tolerant plant, Chambers said.

Ashland’s prohibited

Firewise communities in town, we have been able to get a lot of work done,” he said.

“The fact is, there’s still a lot there. It’s vegetation, it grows back, so it is a continuous battle.”

Educating the public, plant nurseries and landscapers about the best plants — those that are deer-resistant, drought-tolerant, flame-resistant and pollinators — is a high priority, he said.

Ashland has more Firewise neighborhoods than any other municipality in the country.

Still, the efficacy of the program is limited by a lack of requirements for compliance or participation, Chambers said.

“Even with as many Firewise communities as we have across the city, we’re still only covering a small percentage of Ashland from an area or per capita standpoint,” he said.

Two years ago, Ashland PHOTOS BY ALLAYANA DARROW Fire & Rescue staff breached capacity to manage 35 Firewise Fire-prone conifers should be avoided around property lines and fuels should be kept clear within 3 to 5 feet of a neighborhood programs and house, according to Firewise Tips. transitioned to a model of flammable plant list was last self-governance, by which updated in 2018 and can be each community files its own found online at fireadapteannual reapplication for the dashland.org. Prohibited trees, program, he said. shrubs and grasses cannot “Historically, when we set be planted within 30 feet of a up these Firewise communistructure. ties, we had more grant funding Ashland’s Firewise urban that could help get dollars into landscaping guidelines include these communities to do initial avoiding fire-prone conifers actions and removals,” Henalong property lines, planting drix said. “That funding source fire-resistant plants as “visual is dried up.” screens,” using nonflammable Hendrix said expectations structures for climbing plants, of self-generated action creating a rock or concrete fuel within Firewise communities break, replacing bark mulch increased with a decline in with rock, planting moisgrant funding. Some commuture-rich plants, and keeping nities responded to their new vegetation watered and well autonomy with action plans Ashland Landscapes owner Rob Cohen developed an automated fire protecmaintained. and strong neighbor-to-neighA newly secured $3 million tion sprinkler system for his fuels-dense residence in the Ashland hills. bor outreach, he said. pre-disaster mitigation grant Passing the torch of stewAshland banned new wood the highest-risk homes in Ashchanneling Federal Emergency ardship to individual Firewise Management Agency funds will shake roofs in 1994. The final land. A reassessment process communities allowed the fire allow for cost-sharing part- 21 fire-hazardous roofs out of is in development to measure service to shift its focus to nerships with homeowners to roughly 7,000 will be cycled the quantity of fuels-reduc- evacuation zone outreach, remove flammable vegetation out soon with help from the tion on properties as a result of other grant applications and grant programs and individual management, he said. and the last remaining wood grant, Hendrix said.

Risk assessments gathered in action, Hendrix said. shake roofs in town, ChamSEE DANGERS, A8 bers said.

2017 and 2018 created a map of “We can say that with over 35

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Commemorative event set for Almeda fire

By Tony Boom for ACC

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two-day event to commemorate the Almeda fire is planned for south valley communities Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 11 and 12. A walk on the Bear Creek Greenway will take place Sept. 11, and Talent will host events downtown Sept. 12.

A grassroots team of four women created the event concept, said Talent City Councilor Ana Byers, who detailed the project when the council met July 21. By a unanimous vote, the council shifted $10,000 that was to fund the annual Harvest Festival to support the event.

“They have put real care into envisioning a trauma-informed event that weaves together the communities of Ashland, Talent, Phoenix and south Medford, including all the people who are living in the unincorporated areas in between these towns,” said Byers.

The four organizers are Teresa Cisneros, Jocksana Corona, Nina Garcia and Erica Ledesma.

On Sept. 8, 2020, the Almeda fire started in north Ashland and raced up the Bear Creek Greenway into south Medford, destroying an estimated 2,500 residences and 178 businesses while burning through Talent, Phoenix and unincorporated parts of Jackson County.

“It arose from talking with each other, talking with community members. A lot of people have felt left out during the rebuilding process, so this could be a way for people to come together,” said Ledesma. “We all kind of dreamed about what this could look like.”

Saturday will include a

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

In this photo taken by a drone, homes leveled by the Almeda fire line the Bear Lake Estates in Phoenix on Sept. 15.

procession down the Greenway from El Tapatio restaurant in north Ashland to the La Clinica health center in south Medford. Afterward an event with live music, food trucks and ways to reconnect with neighbors is planned in Phoenix’s Blue Heron Park.

“There will be medics and marshals to make sure the community is safe if they are walking,” said Ledesma.

Mental health counselors will be present to offer support.

Organizers hope to plant some native vegetation during the walk to help recognize the area as indigenous land.

Sunday activities will move to the downtown area in Talent. Events will include sharing of stories and experiences, food, live music and art activities for the whole

family. Massage therapists may be present along with other health care providers.

Murals for Talent’s Gateway transitional housing project may be displayed.

“We are still trying to figure out how to have healing circles,” said Ledesma. They would offer the chance to share stories and talk about what people are experiencing. Ways to answer people’s questions about the rebuilding process will also be included.

Municipalities will be asked to contribute what they can to support the commemoration. Ashland City Councilor Paula Hyatt and Phoenix City Councilor Al Muelhoefer attended a session where the event plans were presented.

“We will see what the council decides to do in terms

of how we will be involved, but I know we want to,” said Ashland Mayor Julie Akin.

“It’s an important event to commemorate. It’s vital for us to look at where we were, where we have been and where we are going and where we will keep going.”

The Ashland council has already discussed the event once and indicated it wanted to be involved, said Akins.

The topic will be discussed at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Muelhoefer said he had planned to raise the issue at the July 19 council session, but it was canceled. The council will talk about it when it meets Monday.

Organizers are looking for businesses and organizations to sponsor specific activities rather than giving monetary

donations, said Ledesma.

Talent assistance could include opening the Community Center and the Town Hall for activities. There would also be help with shutting down city streets, securing permits and paying for city staff time. Talent might use its GIS system to help with mapping of the parade route for parking and determining distances on the trail, interim City Manager Jon Legarza said.

Talent Mayor Darby AyersFlood said that no planning had been done for the Harvest Festival this year.

The annual event usually takes place in early October, but was not held last year due to the pandemic. It takes a whole year to plan and a standing committee, said Ayers-Flood.

“They have put real care into envisioning a trauma-informed event that weaves together the communities of Ashland, Talent, Phoenix and south Medford, including all the people who are living in the unincorporated areas in between these towns.”

Ana Byers, Talent City Council

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Ashland Community Connections | Revels

Community effort provides free Wi-Fi hot spots in Talent with the effort at its July 21 meeting. The city is committing to locating sites for the A year’s worth of free Wi-Fi devices and helping with setconnections will be coming ting them up. to Talent, with 83 hot-spot Frazier founded NOLO devices provided by a bank, a 18 months ago after realiznonprofit and the city. ing how many people lacked Umpqua Bank has donated reliable access to the inter$20,000 to No One Left net. The organization has Offline, which will work with worked extensively to provide the city to set up the Wi-Fi hot access for foster children in spots. There will be 30 units for Oregon, and has served other small businesses, nonprofits communities. and community groups in the “Without internet access, downtown corridor. The other many social problems only 53 hot spots grow,” said will be set up Jeremy Ney, in the transiNOLO comtional housing munity leader. development “Students being created cannot learn

by Talent online, parUrbanRenewal Talent City Council voted ents cannot Agency at the work remotely unanimously to move Gateway site and famiahead with the effort to house famlies across at its July 21 meeting. ilies displaced the counby the Almeda try cannot The city is committing fire. access digital to locating sites for “It was government the devices and helping services. definitely a priority for with setting them up.

Talent’s both of us project is the that we … connect as many largest for a single commuindividuals as possible. The nity and the largest in terms of city has really bought into this spending of any undertaken by ... as it is undergoing change,” the group so far, said Frazier. said Kevin Frazier, founder of NOLO has worked with Jackson NOLO. “It’s a priority to make County Housing Authority to it a place where everyone can get hot spots in public housing. have high-speed internet.”

“We have predominantly Umpqua Bank was already been working with foundalooking at ways to provide tions and other nonprofits,” greater connectivity for the said Frazier, “The real concommunities it served before nection with Umpqua came the Almeda fire, said Brenden about with their support not Butler, vice president and com- only in Southern Oregon but munity development officer for with helping close the digital the bank in Oregon and south- divide.” west Washington.

Location of hot spots at the “The bank wondered how Gateway site will serve families it could step up in a rebuild- who experienced trauma from ing capacity with services that the Almeda fire. could best support the com“There is so much uncermunity,” said Butler. “I saw tainty going on right now, so (connectivity) as an opportunity the last thing to think about is from an economic development how you are going to connect to perspective also. It can be a the internet. It’s one less thing driver in a community ... not that you have to think about,” only for life and work.” said Frazier.

Talent City Council voted SEE WIFI, A8 unanimously to move ahead

By Tony Boom for ACC

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‘THAT NERDY, EARNEST ENERGY HAS SERVED ME VERY WELL’ Ashland High alum scores position on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ climate policy team

By Allayana Darrow ACC

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s an Ashland High School student, Camila Thorndike was known among teachers for fastidious note-taking and a sharp mind — the student writing margin to margin in her best mechanical pencil handwriting on every Supreme Court case study in an Advanced Placement Government class.

In May, Thorndike, now 33, accepted a position as a climate policy expert in the Washington, D.C., office of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.

Thorndike said her Ashland upbringing — surrounded by supportive people, environmentally-conscious and civically engaged parents, Mount Ashland, Wild and Scenic rivers, agriculture and industry — made an early and lasting impression on her understanding of responsible stewardship and a deep-rooted sense of place.

“That took a while to realize: Of course that’s not how everyone lives, and what an incredible privilege to grow up in a place like this,” she said.

“I think it’s not a problem to take those gifts for granted to some extent, because these things should be accessible to everyone. It set a very high bar for me of the world that I’m fighting for and what I think everyone deserves.”

Thorndike graduated from AHS in 2005.

“Camila was exceptionally motivated and really interested in the workings of government and politics,” said Matthew McKinnon, Thorndike’s former AP Government teacher and colleague on the Geos Institute board. “It was exciting to see her take off in that direction.

She’s clearly trying to make a

COURTESY PHOTO

Ashland High graduate Camila Thorndike is a climate policy expert in Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Washington, D.C., office.

difference in our world and our community.”

During a gap year after high school, Thorndike’s grandmothers helped her travel and meet family in Chile, Argentina, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

As a freshman at Whitman College, she battled depression, left school for a time and returned to Ashland to take courses at Southern Oregon University before resuming her degree at Whitman the following year in time to graduate with her original class.

“I was very fortunate to be taken care of by the Ashland community,” said Thorndike, who coached skiing, worked at Creekside Pizza Bistro and taught dance classes for young

kids in Ashland.

After college, she spent two years in Arizona interning for the Udall Foundation National Center for Environmental Conflict Resolution, working with the Latino community and picking up skills in “consensus-based and participatory” decision-making.

Back in Ashland, she co-founded an organization with a group of fellow AHS graduates, born of a community art project they organized to engage people in Southern Oregon climate policy. Thorndike served as the founding executive director until 2015.

The organization became the national entity Our Climate, which focuses on empowering youth to become actively

involved in “science-based, equitable climate policy solutions,” according to the Our Climate website.

Thorndike led a campaign in Washington D.C. to pass carbon pricing legislation at the local level from 2016-2019.

“What we ultimately got passed was an omnibus package with the most ambitious clean energy standard in the country — it was 100% clean electricity by 2032 and new energy performance standards for existing and new buildings,” she said.

While working on renewable energy policy in Vermont, she was accepted to the Harvard Kennedy School with full tuition coverage through an environmental fellowship.

She graduated with a master’s degree in public administration in 2020.

After working for a small national nonprofit on statelevel climate policy, Thorndike campaigned in Georgia with the Sunrise Movement for the Senate runoff races in January.

Victories by Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff gave the Senate to a slim Democratic majority.

“It was life-changing to be there and see the work of so many generations of primarily Black advocates fighting against voter oppression,” she said.

Thorndike leaned on a strong peer network to endorse her work when it came time to apply for a Senate staff position.

“In terms of achievements that really gave me the confidence to push hard at the highest levels is the grassroots work here in Oregon that the community supported so strongly,” Thorndike said. “As an early-mid-twenty-something, I think it’s easy to not appreciate the kind of power that you actually have and that society expects you to be using. … I realized how much agency we as the public are leaving on the table by not showing up.”

Thorndike said she has witnessed the “transformative

power” to be found when individuals — often led by youth — sit down with lawmakers and make their climate change policy priorities clear and known.

Based on what she has observed, the process of passing a law from start to finish hinges on effective alliances — how well people can work together, accept responsibility, exercise compassion and build trust despite differences in agendas and funding models, Thorndike said.

With the budget reconciliation process in full swing, the Senate feels about as busy as the days of passing Obamacare.

“Everyone warned me it would be like drinking from a fire hose,” she said. “It has been a steep learning curve and incredible opportunity to get in right as we’re making some profound decisions.”

Thorndike leads the energy and environment team, with a portfolio focused on climate, infrastructure, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Environment and Public Works Committee, tribes and territories, and transportation.

She serves a dual role as the climate investments coordinator for the senator’s budget committee staff and personal office while Sanders chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget.

Looking back on her journey from AHS Grizzly to Senate staffer, Thorndike encouraged other young, passionate nerds not to be dissuaded if some students would rather eat pizza or play basketball than participate in student government or Amnesty International Club on their lunch break.

“All of that nerdy, earnest energy has served me very well,” Thorndike said.

“It wasn’t until this job, when people are looking to me as the expert on these sprawling, overwhelming topics under the climate change umbrella, that I actually started to see myself as an expert.”

Ashland Community Connections | Revels

From Page A6

Hector Flores, Talent community outreach officer, will work with NOLO on placement of the devices, said Jon Legarza, interim city manager.

“Our goal is to get them in place this fall,” said Legarza.

Construction work at the Gateway site should be completed in early October, when trailers will be moved onto the site.

“We are open and eager to work with any community.

We think that every community should take Talent’s vision

DANGERS From Page A4

Thirteen Firewise neighborhoods applied and received $500 grants from the National Fire Protection Association and State Farm Insurance for a clean-up day in May. Hendrix said as the community works toward a baseline understanding of what to plant and what hazardous fuels to remove, drought-tolerant, well-spaced, fire-safe, selectively watered vegetation will become the norm.

“Moving forward, it’s going to be more of an intelligent process of planning and figuring out what does work,” Hendrix said.

In addition to vegetation, hardscaping poses considerations for landscape composition — where to place a pathway as a fire break, for example, Chambers said.

“Firewise plants aren’t fireproof,” Chambers cautioned.

“Hot fires can burn even the best plants, especially if it’s a neighbor’s house on fire that’s exposing your house to a lot of heat.”

Rob Cohen, owner of Ashland Landscapes, managed juniper removal and drought-tolerant planting on Spalding's property.

Cohen has eight years of experience with the U.S. Forest Service and 38 years in landscaping and irrigation under his belt, providing the knowledge to develop an automated fire protection sprinkler system for his fuels-dense residence in the Ashland hills.

Cohen’s sprinklers — strategically placed in nine zones — cover the deck, roof and surrounding brush, and he can turn them on remotely in case

for a downtown corridor and Wi-Fi area that allows people to have access to the internet,” said Frazier.

Umpqua’s funding will provide the 1-by-2-by-5-inch devices and one-year subscriptions to internet services.

“We are definitely focused on talking about ongoing support, if there is a need there,” said Butler. “Our hope is that this could act as a catalyst to encourage other foundations and companies to support this work and continue to support the connectivity.”

Umpqua and NOLO previously approached the city of of an evacuation. The system functions on an irrigation controller with battery power, independent of city power.

Cohen said he has contracted to build fire protection sprinkler systems for Ashland residents. The roof system costs roughly $3,500 to $4,000 to install, but each project is unique to the size and shape of the house, he said.

Chambers said applied water is only effective within the hour that fire comes to a property.

If the house isn’t wet when the fire arrives, the systems lose their usefulness, he said.

Highly flammable fuels like pine needles and bark mulch dry out within an hour.

If all Ashland homes acquired automated sprinkler systems that ran for hours ahead of a fire, Chambers said he would have concerns about depleting the water supply without leaving crews enough to fight fire.

On windy days, like conditions the day of the Almeda fire, sprinkler water may be blown away from the house, Hendrix said. Many home systems don’t have sufficient water pressure, and the Talent Irrigation District is seeing more frequent shutoff times and dry spells.

“It’s good that private citizens are trying these things, but the water supply is a question to have because not everyone can have these,” Hendrix said.

Chambers said he plans to ramp up education and outreach to nurseries and landscaping businesses to encourage a fire-adaptive approach, but ultimately, consumer demand will drive the availability of home-hardening equipment, supplies, products and services in the regional marketplace.

Phoenix with a similar offer.

But the city council turned down the project, citing concerns about potentially funding the system in the future and the sentiment that businesses

could undertake the effort.

Umpqua Bank lost a branch building that burned during the Almeda fire. The company expects to announce a new location where it will rebuild

a branch in the community within the next 90 days, said Butler.

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THURSDAY August 5, 2021

Bring on the

Joy Rogue Valley Symphony plans five Masterworks for its in-person 2021-22 season PAGE 10

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Ashland Community Connections | Revels

COVER STORY

ROGUE VALLEY SYMPHONY SCHEDULES ITS RETURN

‘SPREAD THE FEELING OF JOY’

“Every concert is an ode of appreciation for lives lived to their fullest potential,” says RVS Music Director Martin Majkut. “Music has the miraculous power of reminding us of what truly matters.”

By Jim Flint for ACC

W

ith five Masterworks performances and one special event, next season marks the return to in-person performances for the Rogue Valley Symphony.

Everybody is happy about live music making its comeback. You can’t wipe the smile off the face of RVS Music Director Martin Majkut, and the same can probably be said of orchestra members, staff and patrons.

“The guiding principle for our 2021-22 season is to spread the feeling of joy,” Majkut said.

“Every concert is an Majkut ode of appreciation for lives lived to their fullest potential.

Music has the miraculous power of reminding us of what truly matters.”

Majkut has missed the podium.

“I am a greedy conductor, and I have suffered enough,” he said, laughing.

After more than a year off, there were numerous openings in the orchestra, but all have been filled. “We had lots of interest from all over the West Coast,” Majkut said.

Concerts are scheduled for all three symphony venues in the Rogue Valley: the Southern Oregon Music Recital Hall in Ashland, Craterian Theater in Medford and the Grants Pass High School Performing Arts Center.

However, because of logistics and pandemic-related scheduling problems, not all weekend performances this season will enjoy the usual On the cover: Cellist Cicely Parnas headlines the RVS season opener.

Tomas Cotik will perform Antonio Vivaldi’s “Autumn” from “The Four Seasons” and Astor Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” at the October RVS concerts..

Ashland-Medford-Grants Pass rotation. Patrons should check their tickets or the website for details.

The season launches Sept.

10-12 at the Craterian in Medford, delving into the Classical period with joyful works by Joseph Bologne (better known as the Chevalier de SaintGeorges), Franz Joseph Haydn and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Guest artist and cellist Cicely Parnas headlines the season opener, joining RVS in Tchaikovsky’s “Variations on a Rococo Theme.” Praised

by The Washington Post as “self-possessed and musically poised,” Parnas started playing cello at the age of 4 and made her concert debut at age 11. She performs on a 1712 Giovanni Grancino cello.

The concert will open with “Symphony No. 1” by SaintGeorges and close with the Surprise symphony by Haydn (Symphony No. 94 in G Major). The surprise? A startling loud chord that occurs in the second movement amongst very soft dynamics.

Masterworks 2 on Oct. 8-10 will focus on music

by Astor Piazzolla and Antonio Vivaldi. Portland-based violinist Tomas Cotik will perform in Piazzolla’s “Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (Four Seasons of Buenos

Otis Murphy will be featured in the April RVS concerts, performing Henri Tomasi’s “Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra.”

“We start with a smaller ensemble,” Majkut said, “and work our way up to a very SUBMITTED PHOTOS large orchestra.”

Wonkak Kim, basset clarinet soloist, The program begins with Schumann, her husband will perform Wolfgang Mozart’s Robert, and Johannes Brahms. French composer Darius “Clarinet Concerto” at the November Milhaud’s “Le Creation du Scheduled for RVS concerts.

Monde” (The Creation of the Jan. 21-23, the concert World), a jazz-tinged piece features Brahms’ witty Aires) as well as “Autumn” inspired by a 1920 visit to “Academic Festival Overfrom Vivaldi’s ubiquitous ture,” pianist Vijay Venkatesh Harlem and stories of creation work, “The Four Seasons.” performing Clara Schumann’s based on African myths.

The RVS woodwind section Next, alto sax virtuoso Otis will be featured in the opening “Piano Concerto,” and Robert Murphy joins RVS to perSchumann’s “Symphony No. number, Charles Gounod’s form a colorful concerto by 2 in C Major.”

“Petite Symphonie.”

Henri Tomasi, followed by an A special program in colMasterworks 3 on arrangement of the familiar laboration with the Oregon Nov. 12-14 will feature a tune, “What a Wonderful Shakespeare Festival is set variety of musical voices, World.” Murphy, professor of for one performance only on including a work by Jessie sax at Indiana University, was March 27 at the Craterian.

Montgomery, who recently praised by the Chicago Triwas named the next composer The concert celebrates the bune as playing “with a polish American journey, featuring in residence for the Chicago and sensitivity that make the works by Peter Boyer, one of Symphony. Described as most of the music.” the most frequently per“turbulent, wildly colorful The concert and season formed American orchestral and exploding with life” by close with the monumental composers of his generation.

The Washington Post, her “Pines of Rome” by Ottorino “The music on this concert orchestral work, “Strum,” Respighi. explores how our nation came draws on American folk “It’s a glorious work,” to be, and envisions what it idioms that Majkut promises Majkut said, “featuring an may become,” Majkut said. will have your toe tapping orchestra so large, some Boyer’s “Fanfare for along. players will be among the Tomorrow,” which preAlso on the program are audience.” miered at the last presidential Franz Schubert’s “OverThe four-movement inauguration, and “Ellis ture in the Italian Style,” an symphonic poem is the Island: The Dream of Amerarrangement for woodwind second of Respighi’s trilica” surround a multimedia quintet of British composer ogy of love poems based on amalgamation of the words Percy Grainger’s “Lincolnthe city, along with “Founof George Washington and shire Posy,” and Mozart’s tains of Rome” and “Roman the music of British composer Festivals.”

“Clarinet Concerto,” featurSamuel Coleridge Taylor, ing guest artist Wonkak Kim For tickets and more infor“The American Rhapsody,” on the basset clarinet, the mation, see rvsymphony. instrument for which Mozart narrated by OSF’s Chris org or call the box office at Butler. wrote the concerto.

541-708-6400.

Masterworks 5, the season The new year brings Masterworks 4, which highlights finale on April 22-24, is Reach Ashland writer Jim Flint the spirited relationships structured like an inverted at jimflint.ashland@yahoo. com. and love triangle of Clara wedding cake.

Ashland Community Connections | Revels

LIVE EVENTS

LOCAL MUSIC, GROWERS MARKETS & MORE Friday, Aug. 6 Soundwalk: Britt Festival Orchestra will present “Ellen Reid Soundwalk,” a free interactive musical experience in and around Jacksonville, through Oct. 15. Performed in part by members of the BFO, “Soundwalk” is a GPS-enabled public art work that uses music to illuminate the natural environment.

This installment is tailor-made for Jacksonville, created to encourage calm reflection and introspection. To participate, download the free Ellen Reid Soundwalk app (ellenreidsoundwalk.com/download) to your smartphone, then install “The Britt Festival Orchestra Soundwalk,” put on headphones, press play, and explore parts of Jacksonville on foot or by car to discover diverse musical elements in various locations around the town and surrounding trail systems. In addition to classical, music styles in “Soundwalk” include electronic, jazz and pop. Every person’s experience will be different as they choose their own path based on a map built into the app. For more information, see brittfest.org.

Daniel Meyer Pool: The outdoor pool at 1705 Homes Ave. in Ashland is open for lap and recreational swimming. The Daniel Meyer Memorial Pool will follow all guidance from the Oregon Health Authority to keep everyone safe during the COVID19 pandemic. For information on swim schedules and lessons, see ashland.or.us/swim.

ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum: A variety of interactive science exhibits are available at the museum, located at 1500 E. Main St., Ashland. The interactive museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday. Many exhibits will be modified to reduce touch surfaces — fewer hands-on activities — and increase physical distancing. Exhibits that will be temporarily closed include Bubble-ology, the Jam Room, Dark Science and Pacific Crest

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Are you ready to

“Be Family Again”?

Cove. Masks will be required for visitors ages 5 and up, and recommended for children ages 2 through 4. Staff and volunteers will be masked. Weekday admission is $10, $8 for ages 2 through 12; weekend days admission is $12.50, $10.50 for ages 2 through 12 and 65 and older, and free for kids under age 2. To purchase tickets or for more information, see scienceworksmuseum.org or call 541-482-6767.

Hunger Games Water Fight: Kids and teens ages 12 to 18 can play a safe, water-based round of Suzanne Collins’ “Hunger Games” at 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, at the Prospect library, 150 Mill Creek Drive. Discuss the leadership traits shown in the books, then quickly build a lean-to out of cardboard and tape. When time is up, defend yourself and your shelter with water soaker balls. For further details or to register, see jcls.org and click on Programs & Events and then JCLS Calendar or call 541-560-3668.

★★★★★

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

Movies in the Park: Find family-friendly movie fun under the stars at Bear Creek Park, located at the corner of Siskiyou Boulevard and Highland Drive, Medford. Movies begin at dusk every Friday evening through the end of August. On Aug. 6, “Raya, the Last Dragon” will be shown. Call 541-447-2400 or see playmedford.com.

Slopes & Trails: Slopes & Trails will host a free meet-and-greet at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, at Rellik Winery and Alpaca Farm, 970 Old Stage Road, Central Point. The nonprofit organization provides social and recreational activities. See slopes.org.

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

Contact Melissa Harris at 541.482.0888 or mharris@villagevalleyview.com

Jeff Kloetzel: Singer, songwriter and guitar player Jeff Kloetzel will play an acoustic mix of pop, folk and soul, along with original songs at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, at DANCIN Vineyards, 4477 S. Stage Road, Medford. Admission is free. Call 541-245-1133 or see dancin.com.

SEE EVENTS, A14

1071 W. Jackson Rd. Ashland, OR 97520

541.482.0888

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Ashland Community Connections | Revels

STAGE

ASHLAND NEW PLAYS FESTIVAL ‘NEW VOICES RETREAT’

FIVE EMERGING PLAYWRIGHTS GET TIME TO DEVELOP THEIR CRAFT ANPF announces 2021 Fall Festival playwrights

COURTESY IMAGES

Kathryn de la Rosa, left, Ty Greenwood, Heesun Hwang, Jasmine Sharma and Carlos-Zenen Trujillo are the five new playwrights selected by Ashland New Plays Festival to partake in a weeklong virtual “retreat” in August.

Local report

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shland New Plays Festival has announced the five emerging playwrights chosen for the inaugural “New Voices Retreat” — a weeklong, virtual mentorship and workshop experience — to be held in August.

“These young playwrights are passionate, generous, and original artists poised to make big waves in the future of theatre,” said ANPF Artistic Director Jackie Apodaca. “We are thrilled to be able to support them as they develop new works for the stage.”

The new playwrights selected to partake in the experience are Kathryn de la Rosa, Ty Greenwood, Heesun Hwang, Jasmine Sharma and Carlos-Zenen Trujillo.

The retreat, held virtually Aug. 1-7, will allow the artists to fully engage with the writing process. They will be paired with established theatre professionals as mentors who will assist with the development of a script in progress.

Mentors will include comedy writer and playwright Sarah Cho; playwright and TV writer Inda Craig-Galván; playwright and director Lavina Jadhwani; Amrita Ramanan, senior cultural strategist and dramaturg for Play On Shakespeare; and, dramaturg Luan Schooler of Artists Repertory Theatre. The playwrights also will receive

a $500 stipend and come together during the week for virtual workshops with special guests. The retreat is funded in part by a grant from the Kinsman Foundation.

“It’s been an incredibly difficult year — emotionally, physically and financially,” Apodaca. said “My hope for the retreat is to ‘buy back’ some of these playwrights’ time, from their day jobs or other commitments, so they can spend that on developing their art.

ANPF’s mission is centered on supporting and assisting playwrights. That support shouldn’t be focused solely on competition and presentation.

The New Voices Retreat will extend our earnest commitment to inclusivity by uplifting underrepresented and largely unproduced talent. We are excited to welcome into our sphere emerging playwrights, currently grappling with the difficult, messy, and vital work of the craft.”

The retreat week will conclude in conversations with the playwrights, available on ANPF’s podcast. They also will be featured in a live virtual panel during ANPF’s Fall Festival, scheduled October 20-24, where they will talk about their work and what it’s like to be a new writer during this unprecedented time.

Meet the playwrights ■ Kathryn de la Rosa is a Filipinx playwright and

dramaturg born and raised in Kentucky. They dream of theater that loves people and their gods in the middle of America and the edges of its empire. Plays include “Holy Virgins” and “Ribs,” which have been produced and developed by student groups at Northwestern University and Indiana University. De la Rosa was a 2019-20 dramaturgy apprentice at Actors Theatre of Louisville and previously interned with The New Harmony Project, Asolo Repertory Theatre and the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts.

They are a current MA theology and the arts student at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.

■ Ty Greenwood has a bachelor’s in communication arts with an emphasis in rhetoric and honors in theatre from Washington & Jefferson College and an MFA in dramatic writing from Carnegie Mellon. In 2013, he landed a four-year scholarship/apprenticeship with KDKA TV-News Pittsburgh. There he wrote anchor packages and helped produce the “Pittsburgh Today Live Show” through the Emma Bowen Foundation, an organization that places college students with corporate sponsors, with a goal of promoting diversity in the media. In 2016, his short film “Fuzzy on the Details” was entered into the British Film Festival. That same year, he also received the

Ashland New Plays Festival will present readings of new works by playwrights Thomas Brandon, Meghan Brown, Andrew Lee Creech and Tylie Shider at its flagship annual event, which is scheduled to run Oct. 20-24, officials announced Wednesday.

The 29th annual Fall Festival will feature in-person evening and matinée performances followed by audience talkbacks with the playwrights. There also will be a playwriting workshop taught by the winning playwrights, as well as several opportunities for audiences to engage in the festival virtually.

“This is the first year I have had the opportunity and responsibility of selecting the four winning plays,” said ANPF Artistic Director Jackie Apodaca. “The finalist pool, chosen through a vigorous process completed by our 70 devoted readers over 10 months, included 12 truly compelling plays. Our four winning playwrights stood out for their unique, original stories told through engaging characters.

I am truly grateful that we are able to bring these powerful new works to our community.”

The winning plays explore family, love, oppression, healing, and more, told in an exciting range of settings, from a cattle ranch in 1884 to New Jersey in 1967, during the Renaissance in Italy, and a park that exists out of time.

■ Television writer and playwright Thomas Brandon’s “Pocket Universe” is a mind-bending story about true love and the reckless hope that opens our hearts, even in the face of inevitable heartbreak.

■ Meghan Brown, a self-proclaimed writer about dangerous women, focuses on Shakespeare’s Hero in her new play “What Happened While Hero Was Dead,” where after the end of “Much Ado About Nothing,” Hero finds herself embroiled in false rumors and discovers that being dead might be the best thing that could’ve happened to her life.

■ Next, set at the tail end of the Cowboy Golden Age, “Last Drive to Dodge” by Andrew Lee Creech, a Seattle-based writer, performer and popular social media content creator, is an examination of race, love and legacy in a time when everyone is scrambling for their piece of the American Dream. It’s also part of a planned nine-play series about Black Americans at pivotal moments in American history.

■ Two-time Playwrights’ Center Jerome fellow and playwriting professor Tylie Shider’s “Certain Aspects of Conflict in the Negro Family” is an intimate drama about a disintegrated American family in the long hot summer of 1967 in Plainfield, NJ, as they try to repair and re-migrate south; however, racial tensions erupt in the city and threaten to thwart the family’s dreams for the future.

The winning playwrights receive a $1,500 stipend and a weeklong workshop of their plays with professional directors and actors.

Ticket sales for ANPF 2021 will open to the public in September.

ANPF members receive advance access and discounts on tickets.

Visit ashlandnewplays.org to learn more.

Ubuntu Emma Award through the Emma Bowen Foundation for his sense of community and promotion of diversity and togetherness in his work at college and in the media. He has presented his short play “Not a Fairy Tale” and research “Protecting our Black Men: Black

Masculinity and the use of the Black Body” in “For Black Boys Who Have Considered Homicide … ” at the Mid-America Theatre Conference. He developed and had a staged reading of his full-length choreopoem SEE PALYWRIGHTS, A19

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APPS ETC.

FROM DATA TO MOODS TO FINDING NEW FRIENDS

FOUR TOOLS TO TRACK YOUR BOOKS

By Angela Haupt

The Washington Post

S

erious readers, much like sports fans, often relish keeping track of stats.

Many turn to Goodreads, a large social cataloguing website that allows users to log, discuss, review and rate the books they read.

But increasingly, there are websites and apps beyond Goodreads Inside for analyzing Book reviews, your reading habits.

Page 20 Whether you want to boost your reading speed, keep track of your growing personal library or find just the right book to fit your mood, here are four reading tools to consider.

Litsy Instagram already has a thriving literary community where people post photos of and talk about books. Litsy, a book-centric social network, takes that to the next level. On the free app, you can follow other readers to cultivate a steady stream of bookish content. It looks like a pared-down version of Instagram — minus the occasional kid or dog photo.

When readers post about a book, they can rate it “pick,” “so-so,” “pan” or “bailed.”

Each post is directly attached to that book’s searchable catalogue page, where you can add it to your list. The search function works well. I typed in Emily Henry’s novel “Beach Read,” and thumbed through pretty photos of the book beside a dog, next to a scrumptious muffin and — fittingly — on a beach. Some photos simply featured favorite passages.

Everyone who joins Litsy starts with 42 “Litfluence” points, which indicate how influential you are on the platform. You can collect more by logging books that you’ve read and receiving

likes or comments on your posts. I have yet to reach influencer status, but I did find the app an upgrade from my usual mindless scrolling — I emerged from my screen every evening with a few new, quality additions to my reading list.

LibraryThing If you obsess over your home library and thrive on organization, LibraryThing might suit your needs.

The platform, available on the Web and as an app, recently dropped its membership fees and is now free. Getting started is easy: Import your books from Goodreads, plug them in manually or scan the bar codes on your physical copies using your phone’s camera.

You can also catalogue movies and music.

While sites like Goodreads are convenient for keeping track of what you read, LibraryThing is an excellent place to keep track of what you own. You can organize books into different collections and add tags to note whether you own a certain title or borrowed it. For example, you might categorize books to indicate that they’re on your living room bookshelf or in a box in the basement. (I like that I can also log library books I’d like to own, so if I come across

Bookly is a statistician’s delight: You can comb through reports on your reading speed and compare your performance on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. something interesting at a book sale, I can easily confirm I need it.)

LibraryThing’s recommendations are great: Its No. 1 pick for me was “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett, which I devoured. The site also fosters a nice sense of community: One popular group, called “Name That Book,” is designed to help people remember the name of a book they once read. “Girl sent to island for being sick,” a recent query read. (It turned out to be “The Scourge”

by Jennifer A. Nielsen.) On message boards, there is near-constant chatter about every bookish matter you could imagine.

The StoryGraph Whether a book resonates often depends on how you’re feeling when you pick it up.

The website StoryGraph delivers on a big promise: to steer you toward books that fit your mood.

After signing up, I filled out a survey that included a dozen questions, including: What are your favorite genres?

What characteristics do you appreciate the most in books right now? (Options: plot twists; women-heavy cast of

characters; morally ambiguous characters.) What turns you off from a book? (Flat characters; confusing ending; dense writing.)

I whittled my recommendations down by noting what I was in the mood for (“funny” and “lighthearted”), whether I wanted fiction or nonfiction (fiction), and number of pages (300-499).

My selections generated a list of books that was remarkably spot-on. It included “Breaking Out of Bedlam” by Leslie Larson, “Ghosts” by Dolly Alderton and “Super Host” by Kate Russo. None had previously been on my radar, but all appealed to me.

Stellar recommendations aside, StoryGraph — which is free — also allows users to categorize books into various piles, such as “currently reading,” and create yearly reading goals.

Bookly If you think of reading as a competitive sport, you’ll appreciate Bookly, an app that doubles as a personal trainer. The goal: to make reading a habit and increase your “performance” — which basically means reading more

123RF.COM

often and, ideally, faster.

Bookly’s app is easy to navigate and centers on a timer that keeps track of reading sessions. When you’re done reading, the app prompts you to log what page you’re on and calculates how much longer it will take you to finish the book.

Bookly is a statistician’s delight: You can comb through reports on your reading speed and compare your performance on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

The app is also big on goals. I entered that I wanted to read for 30 minutes a day, and I set an alarm to get a friendly nudge if I hadn’t done so by 8:30 p.m. The app’s tone is chirpy and encouraging — “Hey! It’s reading time,” it announces, in a notification with a smiley face and book emoji. Half an hour later, when I hadn’t resumed reading, another appeared: “With 21 pages to go, you need 10 minutes of reading time to finish your book today.”

Bookly is free to use, but there’s also a paid version. It offers additional perks such as PDF summaries of your stats, including your best reading day and all-time fastest speed — which sounds like the literary version of a baseball card.

Angela Haupt is a freelance writer and health editor.

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EVENTS From Page A11

The Reverberays: Chico Cornell, Hefe Rodriguez, Guapo Chuzman, Fia Stone will perform a mix of classic instrumental surf rock and surf-inspired standards that feature vocals, as well as obscure covers and originals at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, at Dunbar Farms Rocky Knoll Winery, 2881 Hillcrest Road, Medford. Nomad Kitchen will have food available for purchase. Admission is free.

See dunbarfarms.com or call 541-414-3363.

Kevin Conness: San Francisco-based Kevin Conness will perform a mix American roots, soul, blues and R&B at 5:30 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 6, at Hummingbird Estate Winery, 1677 Old Stage Road, Central Point. See hummingbirdestate.com or call 541-930-2650.

The Rogue Suspects: The band — Shae Celine, Jade Chavis, Bishop Mayfield, Greg Frederick, Dirk Price & Christo Pallani, will present their Motown Soul Revue show, featuring the R&B and rock music of famous artists such as Diana Ross, Gladys Night & the Pips, Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and more, at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, at Bayer Family Estate Winery, 11663 Agate Road, Eagle Point.

See bayerfamilyestate.com or call 541-826-8953.

Blowin’ Smoke: Rockin’ new country band Blowin’ Smoke — singer Beth Henderson, guitarists Curtis Cunningham and Michael Sidon, Alex Detweiler on drums and Paul Frederick on bass — will perform at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, at RoxyAnn Winery, 3285 Hillcrest Road, Medford. See roxyann.com or call 541-776-2315.

John Dabaco: Jazz pianist John Dabaco will perform standards and classics at 6 p.m. every Friday and Saturday, at the Hearsay Restaurant, Lounge and Garden, 40 S. First St., Ashland.

See hearsayashland.com or call 541-625-0505.

Petty Thievery: *This show is sold out* Guitarists and singers Gene Black, Bret Levick and Alice DiMicele, bassist Nick Kirby, drummer Matthew Kriemelman and keyboard player Don Harriss will pay tribute to the songs of rock ‘n’ roll star Tom Petty at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, at Grizzly Peak Winery, 1600 E. Nevada St., Ashland. Tickets are $20. See grizzlypeakwinery.com or call 541-482-5700.

Ashland Community Connections | Revels

Old 40: Denver-based band Old 40 will play at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, at Johnny B’s, 120 E. Sixth St., Medford. See jbsmedford.com for ticket information or call 458-226-2722.

Saturday, Aug. 7 Ashland Saturday Market: Fresh and organic seasonal produce, bakery items, artisan food, plants and other goods are available from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays through Oct. 30, along Oak Street in downtown Ashland. Social distancing and safety measures are in place.

See rvgrowersmarket.com.

Grants Pass Growers Market: Find local seasonal produce, baked goods, beverages and more from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays in downtown Grants Pass, at Fourth and F streets. Masks are required while in the market.

See growersmarket.org.

EAST MEETS WEST

Medford Cars & Coffee: Car enthusiasts can meet from 9 to 10:30 a.m. every Saturday at 2780 E. Barnett Road, Medford, near Starbucks and Mountain Mike’s Pizza. The group will not hold meetings in the event of rain or snowy weather. Find Medford Cars and Coffee on Facebook for further information.

Prescriptions filled fast and accurately by friendly staff.

Personalized treatment for all your health needs.

Lithia Artisans Market: More than 40 artisans display and sell handcrafted items from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through December along Calle Guanajuato, the pedestrian walkway behind the downtown plaza that runs next to Ashland Creek in Ashland. Safety measures will be in effect, masks are required, and social distancing will be enforced. Call 541-3019811 or see lithiaartisansmarket. com Walk through History: Take a walk though Jacksonville’s history during a one-hour guided tour at 10 a.m. every Saturday through Sept. 4. The tour leaves from Jacksonville’s Courthouse Square, in front of City Hall, 206 N. Fifth St., Jacksonville. Visit government and commercial buildings, fraternal lodges and homes. Learn how gambling money built a church; how the Civil War ended a successful mercantile partnership; how fire reshaped the town and a railroad both destroyed and preserved it, and more. Admission is free, reservations required.

Call 541-245-3650 or email info@ historicjacksonville.org.

SEE EVENTS, A15

Expert advice and referrals for both conventional and alternative healing resources.

Shop your locally owned, small-box pharmacy

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Ashland Community Connections | Revels

EVENTS

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further details or to register, see jcls.org and click on Programs & Events and then JCLS Calendar or call 541-899-7438.

From Page A14

Historic 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 Sept. 5, 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 and 19th-century banking practices. Admission is free, donations appreciated, and proceeds go toward preservation and maintenance of the bank. Call 541-245-3650, email at info@historicjacksonville.org or see historicjacksonville.org.

Oregon Oldtime Fiddlers Association: The group will hold a family-friendly public jam session and dance from 1 to 3 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 7, at the Roxy Ann Grange, 1850 Spring St., Medford. Acoustic musicians are welcome to sit in and play, and dancing is encouraged. Admission is by optional donation. Call 541-779-8145 or see ootfa4.org.

Jeff Kloetzel: Singer, songwriter and guitar player Jeff Kloetzel will play an acoustic mix of pop, folk and soul, along with original songs at 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, at Augustino Estate at The Big Red Barn, 16995 N. Applegate Road, Grants Pass. See augustinoestate.com or call 541-846-1881.

David Cahalan: Singer, songwriter and guitarist David Cahalan will perform at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, at Aurora Vines Winery, 2287 Pioneer Road, Talent.

See auroravines.com or call 541-897-0592.

Wild & Blue: The Southern Oregon based trio Wild & Blue will perform acoustic renditions of classic old-time, folk and Bluegrass tunes at 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, at Stone River Winery and Vineyard, 2178 Pioneer Road, Talent. Call 541-631-9583.

Fogline: Country band Fogline will perform original country rock and folk music at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, at Grape Street Bar & Grill, 31 S. Grape St., Medford.

See grapestreetbarandgrill.com or call 541-500-8881.

Fire & Grace: This duo — guitarist William Coulter and violinist Edwin Huizinga — will perform music combining elements of classical, folk, and contemporary traditions from around the world, ranging from Bach to Vivaldi, tango to Celtic tunes,

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Dirty Dogs Get ‘SPAW Treatment’ Dirty dogs are welcome at the annual the Dog Wash benefiting Friends of the Animal Shelter from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 8, in the Ashland Food Coop parking lot, 237 N. First St., Ashland. A wash and brush-out is $15; nail trims are $7; or opt instead to receive the “SPAW Treatment” (wash, brush out, and nail trim) for $20. This is a cash- and/or check-only fundraiser.

All event proceeds contribute to FOTAS programs benefiting the animals awaiting their forever home while at Jackson County Animal Services in Phoenix. See fotas.org.

traditional Bulgarian to American fiddle tunes and waltzes at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, at Grizzly Peak Winery, 1600 E. Nevada St., Ashland. Tickets are $25 and are available by email at seats@ cagefreeconcerts.com. See grizzlypeakwinery.com or call 541-482-5700.

Sips & Songs: Troon Vinyard will host a dinner with live music by the 18-piece Southern Oregon Jazz Orchestra from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. the first Saturday of each month. Tickets are $50 with dinner; $25 for admission only.

All admissions include either a complimentary flight or glass.

Reservations are required. Email at faith@troonvineyard.com or call 541-846-9900 ext. 1.

Crimson Guardian, Phake & Dead Leslie: The bands will play hard rock and metal at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, at Johnny B’s, 120 E. Sixth St., Medford. See jbsmedford.com for ticket information or call 458-226-2722.

Sunday, Aug. 8 Jacksonville Farmers Market: The market is open from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every Sunday through October on the grounds of the Historic Jacksonville Courthouse, 206 N. Fifth St., Jacksonville.

You’ll find local produce, fresh baked goods, naturally raised beef, local seafood, beverages, treats, prepared foods, arts, crafts and live music. Music is from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Find jville.market on Facebook for updates and further information.

Peter Anastos Quintet: The quintet — Peter Anastos on trumpet,

drummer Theresa McCoy , pianist John Mazzei, bassist Jeff Addicott, and Adam Harris on saxophone — will perform original compositions in modern jazz at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 8, at Grizzly Peak Winery, 1600 E. Nevada St., Ashland.

Admission is $20 and tickets can be purchased online at angelakoregelos.com, by calling 510-912-8899 or at the door (cash only). See grizzlypeakwinery. com or call 541-482-5700.

Highway Bound: The Country music trio featuring Erica Flynn on vocals, and guitarists Jimi and Alex Detweiler will perform at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 8, at Hummingbird Estate Winery, 1677 Old Stage Road, Central Point. Tickets are $7. See hummingbirdestate.com or call 541-930-2650.

Linda Powers Jazz Trio: Vocalist Linda Powers and her jazz band will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 8, at Dunbar Farms Rocky Knoll Winery, 2881 Hillcrest Road, Medford. Admission is free. See dunbarfarms.com or call 541-414-3363.

Marshall Stack and Friends: Singer and guitarist Marshall Stack joined by others will perform American Folk tunes at 4 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 8, at RoxyAnn Winery, 3285 Hillcrest Road, Medford. See http://www.roxyann.com or call 541-776-2315.

JustaDuo: Alois Henderson and Albert Lee will perform easy listening pop and light rock at 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 8, at Walkabout Brewing Co., 921 Mason Way, Medford. See walkaboutbrewing.com or call 541-734-4677.

Monday, Aug. 9 Take & Make: Kids and their families can stop by any JCLS branch to pick up a take-and-make craft kit during select dates. Each library branch offers a unique craft for every age group, from preschoolers to adults, and all need supplies are included in the kit. For details, see jcls.org or call the library branch in your area.

Paul Schmeling Band: The Paul Schmeling Band will perform jazz standards from 7 to 9 p.m.

Mondays at Martino’s Restaurant and Lounge, 58 E. Main St., Ashland. Email at martymorlan@ gmail.com or call 541-488-4420.

Tuesday, Aug. 10 Ashland Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Market: Seasonal fruits and vegetables, crafts, specialty foods, drinks and more are available from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Tuesdays through Nov. 23, at the National Guard Armory, 1420 E. Main St., Ashland. Masks are required. Social distancing and safety measures are in place.

See rvgrowersmarket.com.

Learn to Lead: Children ages 10 and older can meet with workers from Sanctuary One, an animal-care farm located in the Applegate Valley, at 10 a.m.

Tuesday, Aug. 10, at the Ruch library, 7919 Highway 238. Learn what a day in the life of a Sanctuary One volunteer is like, and what skills their volunteers learn that can translate into realworld application. You’ll also get the chance to meet the Sanctuary One Goat Ambassadors — Ned, Lucky, and Dusty. For

Kid’s Bee Presentation: Kids 8 and older can learn all about bees with the Southern Oregon Bee Association, which will present “Bee a Leader — How Bees Live and Work Together,” from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 10, at the Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave. Learn how thousands of bees live and work together in harmony, watch live honeybees at work in an observation hive, and discover ways you can lead a bee-, plant- and humanhealthy future. For further details or to register, see jcls.org and click on Programs & Events and then JCLS Calendar or call 541-774-8679.

Wednesday, Aug. 11 Escape the Zoo: Children ages 6 to 10 can work with other kids to solve a series of animal-themed clues, leading you to the final code to unlock the zoo enclosure and escape during this escape room adventure at 2 p.m.

Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 11-12, at the Ashland library, 410 Siskiyou Blvd. This escape room requires some reading ability to solve the puzzles and word scrambles. Pre-registration required. For further details or to register, see jcls.org and click on Programs & Events and then JCLS Calendar or call 541-774-6980.

The Sword in the Tome: Pre-teens and teens, ages 12 to 18 years, can learn about swords and their symbolism in literature, at noon Wednesday, Aug. 11, at the Ashland library, 410 Siskiyou Blvd.

From Arthur’s mythical blade Excalibur to Luke’s inherited lightsaber, swords are as much symbols in literature as they are tools for the characters. A brief fight choreography lesson will follow the discussion. For further details or to register, see jcls.org and click on Programs & Events and then JCLS Calendar or call 541-774-6980.

Living Loving Led: Led Zeppelin tribute band — singer Natasha Lee Neece, guitarist Anthony Cusenza, bassist Mike Thompkins-Pugh, and drummer Michael Saint John — will perform covers at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 11, at RoxyAnn Winery, 3285 Hillcrest Road, Medford. See roxyann.com or call 541-776-2315.

SEE EVENTS, A22

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Ashland Community Connections | Revels

LOCAL LIVESTREAMS, VIRTUAL EVENTS ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ book discussion club

details will be emailed to you when you register.

Dominique Toyer, research director of Southern Oregon Coalition for Racial Equity, will lead a discussion about the evolution of anti-racism in the United States through a book discussion club about Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Sundays through Aug. 29, via Zoom. To register, see jcls. libcal.com or for more info call 541-774-8679. Meeting details will be emailed to you when you register.

Native plants garden tour Take a virtual tour through 11 gardens to explore trees, shrubs, perennials and wildflowers that are native to our area at jacksoncountymga.org/nativeplants-garden-tour. Included are an eco-restoration garden, a permaculture mini-farm, a small urban garden and more.

Admission is free; donations to the Jackson County Master Gardeners Association will be accepted. For more information, call 541-227-1358.

Ashland seniors activities A variety of virtual activities and services are available to adults 50 and older Mondays through Fridays through the Ashland Senior Center, 1699 Homes Ave. See ashlandseniorservices. org or call 541-488-5342 for full listings.

Jeff Pevar Trio

renowned performers such as Grammy-winning soprano Estelí Gomez, Portland-based professional choir Cappella Romana and the elite LA-based HEX Vocal Ensemble, performing both new and classical works on environmental themes, as well as the world premiere of a new oratorio about Oregonians’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each video will be released with a special ticketed launch event, and will remain online through the end of August. For further information and tickets, see humanitytickets.com.

Motivated teens in grades 7 to 12 can meet virtually to brainstorm ideas, discuss books and movies, make crafts, and make the decisions on programming and displays and more at 4:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month (Aug. 10), via Zoom. To register, see jcls.libcal.com or for more info call 541-774-8679.

Anima Mundi Productions: ‘Heart of Humanity’ concert series

A Taste of OLLI — Math Magic Presentation

Anima Mundi Productions, an Ashland-based performing arts nonprofit dedicated to producing and presenting new musical works that address urgent societal challenges, will present a free series of four concert-length videos, launching one per month through August. The series, called “A Time For Life: A Spring Video Festival,” includes

Osher Lifelong Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Southern Oregon University will host Irv Lubliner, an emeritus professor at Southern Oregon University specializing in math education, as well as a multi-dimensional OLLI instructor who teaches math, blues harmonica and literature courses, who will present “There’s Magic in Math (and Vice Versa)” at 4 p.m. Tuesday,

Library2Go Presentation

The social group for LGBTQ+ communities and their allies meets from 10 a.m. to noon the first Saturday (Aug. 7) of each month via Zoom. Ashland Librarian Elanna Erhardt will facilitate group introductions.

Bring a list of your recent favorite books, movies, and/or podcasts, and share what projects or crafts you’re working on. To register, see jcls.libcal. com. For further information, email at EErhardt@jcls.org.

Learn about available digital resources, and how to check out library books and transfer them to your phone, tablet or e-reader at 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 14, via Zoom. The presentation will include information about how to search for, check out and download titles from the Library2Go website. To register, see jcls.libcal.com or for more info call 541-774-8679. Meeting details will be emailed to you when you register.

Aug. 10, via Zoom. In this talk, Lubliner will demonstrate the math behind a number of magic tricks, including some simple ones you can learn yourself.

This free presentation is part of OLLI’s “Taste of OLLI Summer Speaker Series.” Registration is required. To register and obtain the Zoom link, see inside.sou. edu/olli.

Medford Teen Advisory Group

Guitarist and singer Jeff Pevar, along with bassist Matt Spencer and percussionist Christo Pellani, perform covers of Jimi Hendrix and other esteemed musical influences during a series of archived streaming concerts, offered online at newbohemialive.com.

Queer Coffee House

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Medford Library Book Chat Discuss selected books with others in this reading group at 5:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of every month, via Zoom. The book to be discussed on Tuesday, Aug. 10, will be “Counting by 7’s” by Holly Goldberg Sloan. To register and reserve a copy of the book of the month, see jcls.libcal.com or call 541-535-7090. Meeting

Tea Time Tuesday Pre-teens and teens, ages 12 to 18, can join in an online book discussion with tea and dessert provided at 1 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month through August. The book to be discussed on Tuesday, Aug. 17, will be “Daughter of Smoke and Bone,”by Laini Taylor. Pre-register for the discussion, then pick up the book (yours to keep), tea, and dessert two weeks before each online event. To register, see jcls.libcal. com or for more info call 541774-8679. Meeting details will be emailed to you when you register.

Ashland Community Connections | Revels

Business Book Discussion Group This monthly book discussion group of business owners, nonprofit leaders and entrepreneurs will meet at 6 p.m. the third Tuesday of every month, via Zoom to discuss works by pioneering authors on resilience.

The author to be discussed on Tuesday, Aug. 17, will be Gay Hendricks. To register, see jcls. libcal.com or for more info call 541-774-8679. Meeting details will be emailed to you when you register.

Gold Hill Book Club The Gold Hill Library Book Club for adults 18 and older will meet at 3 p.m. the third Friday of each month, via Zoom. On Friday, Aug. 20, the book to be discussed will be “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig. Books are available for pickup one month before the meeting date. To register, see jcls.libcal.com or for more info call 541-855-1994.

Meeting details will be emailed to you when you register.

Tween Book Club This readers club for tweens will meet at 3 p.m. the third Saturday of each month, via Zoom.

On Saturday, Aug. 21, the book to be discussed will be “Song for a Whale” by Lynne Kelly. To register, see jcls.libcal.com or for more info call 541-774-8679.

Meeting details will be emailed to you when you register.

Brain Books Discussion Group The adult reading group

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Thursday, August 5, 2021 |

will meet from 3 to 5 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month via Zoom. On Tuesday, Aug. 24, the book to be discussed will be “The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life”

by Anu Partanen. To register, see jcls.libcal.com or for more info call 541-774-8679. Meeting details will be emailed to you when you register.

Rogue Valley Genealogical Society The Rogue Valley Genealogical Society will host author and professional genealogist Tricia Oberndorf, who will present “North American Migration — In, Out, and Across” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, via Zoom. Learn about our ancestor’s motivations, struggles and successes. Oberndorf will set the stage for various migration periods with the who, what, when, where and why of migration. She will discuss the development of a new nation beginning with the Colonial period, then following the progress of settlements up through the late 1800s, examining research strategies and resources to further help trace our ancestors. This full-day program will cover our ancestor’s travels from Europe to Atlantic and Pacific ports. Admission is $55. Registration closes at noon, Friday, Sept. 24. Once you’ve completed your registration, you will receive an email with your Zoom link the day before the presentation. To register or for further information, see rvgslibrary.org, email reception@rvgslibrary.org or call 541-512-2340.

Let us

Design Your

Dream Kitchen!

NEW IN STREAMING ‘Val’ takes an intimate look at an actor’s life

Amazon prepares 2022 ‘Lord of the Rings’ series

For most of Val Kilmer’s professional life, he was documenting it, himself. The documentary “Val,” which begins streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, culls together the actor’s many boxes of tapes to give an intimate view of Kilmer’s life, from “Top Gun” to “Batman Forever” to “Tombstone.” The movie is narrated by Kilmer but his words are voiced by his son, Jack. (Kilmer, 61, has difficulty speaking after throat cancer and numerous trachea surgeries.) The result is an unusually revealing documentary of an often hard-to-understand actor.

Start the countdown. An Amazon series inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” novels will premiere in September 2022. The date was announced Monday as filming in New Zealand concluded for the as-yet untitled series, which Amazon said will relate the “fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history.” The story is set thousands of years before the events of Tolkien’s famed fantasy-adventure works and will follow new and familiar characters confronting the longfeared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.

New Showroom in Medford 632 Crater Lake Ave, Shamrock Sqr, Medford “I am very pleased with the whole project! Thank you!” Janice S. “Quality of work is incredible! The whole staff is very professional and wonderful to work with.” Joseph Z. MF-00138045

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Ashland Community Connections | Revels

DINING

SCHOOLHAUS BREWHAUS

RETURNING TO ITS ROOTS, ALL IN A PERFECT SETTING

By Sarah Lemon for ACC

T

he local appetite for German food hasn’t diminished in the past decade, judging by the return of Jacksonville’s Schoolhaus Brewhaus.

With the pandemic’s grip on restaurants relinquished, Southern Oregon diners are ready for a little excess, a little kitsch and the chance to exchange everyday surroundings for an Old World aesthetic with some historical significance. The old Jacksonville school building on Bigham Knoll still provides the perfect setting.

Although the Schoolhaus tried to shed its German identity last summer in favor of a casual, almost cafeteria-style “grill,” the concept simply didn’t stick. A few German dishes were restored, but they couldn’t carry the operation through last winter and spring, when the Brewhaus closed for more than six months.

Upon the eatery’s mid-June reopening, customers greeted by dirndl-clad staff may have experienced deja vu.

Returning to its roots, in the words of co-owner Brooke Ashland, the Schoolhaus gave the region in 2010 its first German restaurant in almost two decades. The menu was strong on German specialties, from schnitzel to spaetzle, even sauerbraten and roast pork knuckle.

Condensing its latest menu to longtime bestsellers, the Schoolhaus also introduced a new lineup of housemade sausages, touting locally sourced pork, ground and stuffed by hand. The sausages are one of the restaurant’s first major moves toward “local food circles,” says Ashland, explaining that the locally raised pork

PHOTOS BY SARAH LEMON

Schnitzel comes with German potato salad, red cabbage and lingonberry sauce at Schoolhaus Brewhaus in Jacksonville.

is handled by a local sausage maker. Previously, the Schoolhaus purchased sausages from a Seattle company.

The fare is a solid start with plenty of room for expansion if customers start clamoring for old favorites. Plans also are in the works, says Ashland, for a “Schoolhaus Backdoor” menu, which will feature vegetarian, vegan and other dishes highlighting produce from the property’s large garden — all available for takeout and visitors to The Rogue Grape’s nearby tasting room. In 7 acres of open-air spaces surrounding the Schoolhaus are a bocce ball court, nine-hole miniature golf, playground, water features and lush lawns.

The type of on-site service depends largely on where diners choose to sit. Despite the heat, outdoor seating was in high demand on the evening we visited and opted for a table on the restaurant’s back patio.

There’s no wait staff assigned to the spot, however, so customers are obliged to come inside and place their orders with the bar.

German beers are de rigueur at the Schoolhaus, an antidote

German chocolate cake is a mainstay at Schoolhaus Brewhaus.

favor of the version with lingonberry sauce. to the typical Oregon tap list But we couldn’t refuse the of 10 IPAs, offset with perhaps Schoolhaus’ housemade pretzel one other style. I requested a ($5) with a side of beer cheese pint of the Kolsch ($6), a light ($3). While the pretzel was wheat beer perfect for summer passable, the cheese sauce was sipping. My partner asked for slightly more distinguished. the Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Such pretzels, nevertheless, are ($6), confessing that prior to classic companions to beer for his love affair with IPAs, he was good reason, and we gobbled a Hefeweizen fan. Offered the choice to garnish the brew with ours up.

Sprawling across an oval a lemon or orange wedge, he platter, the schnitzel looks like chose the latter. a larger meal than it actually is.

We took our beers outside Sides of German potato salad to bide our time for a table. and red cabbage are judicious, Once one opened up, we and the sauce is precisely trekked back indoors to place portioned. Deceptively simple, our dinner order: the schnitzel each component worked in plate ($19.50) and mushroom harmony with the rest, the pappardelle ($20). flavors distinct.

The “doner salad” would Caraway complimented have been an obvious first the warm potatoes while just course if it had consisted only the right addition of vinegar of greens, vegetables and tzatziki dressing. But we didn’t created the cabbage’s contrast, echoed in the slightly care to have its grilled kebab tart lingonberry sauce that my meat and thought $13 was too partner loved. The pork cutlet much to pay if we had simply was pounded ultra thin and requested the meat’s omisfried until commendably crisp, sion. The full kebab served on resulting in a protein that was flatbread surprisingly costs a two parts crunch, one part dollar less. chew — and totally delicious.

Potato-leek soup failed to My sons would love the kids’ entice in the evening’s 100version, served with fries for degree air. We also skipped the cream-sauced schnitzel in $8.

The pasta, a dish for which I had no particular expectations, boasted superior texture that elevated all the other elements.

If the Schoolhaus advertised these noodles as housemade, the kitchen may not be able to meet demand. A single bite betrayed their artisan origins, which Ashland confirmed.

Another house specialty, Black Forest cake, appealed to our preference for fruity desserts over chocolate. Sadly, other customers’ cravings had exhausted the restaurant’s supply, so we settled for the German chocolate cake ($10). Devotees of this coconut-enriched dessert won’t be disappointed, although I wondered if it was precut and plated for service, given the slightly dulled faces and hardened icing just around the edges.

The Schoolhaus is open from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. Seating is first come, first-served. While the restaurant updates its website, follow @schoolhausbrewhaus on Instagram or see facebook.com/BighamKnoll

Ashland Community Connections | Revels

PLAYWRIGHTS From Page A12

play “Death Dream” at Alumni Theatre Company in 2019. He participated in City Theatre’s 2019 Momentum Festival: New Plays at Different Stages where he presented an excerpt of “Untitled Thesis Play” as part of the In Their Own Voices event. His work focuses on telling stories that are not damaging to the identity, existence and bodies of Black people, but rather are empowering, unapologetic and radical in nature. Recently, City Theatre chose Greenwood as the inaugural recipient of a commission from the Kemp Powers Commission Fund for Black Playwrights. Asolo Repertory Theatre awarded Greenwood its first Ground Floor Playwright Commission to pursue a work he’s developing, inspired by Black writer and activist James Baldwin.

He was commissioned by The Hansberry Project to develop new works for The Drinking Gourd: Black Writers at Work.

This is a multi-year project aiming to develop a coalition of five Black theaters with shared goals to commission, develop, and premiere works by Black artists at theaters across the country.

■ Heesun Hwang is a queer, Korean-American playwright and artist currently based in Brooklyn. Her recent writing work was part of Mona Pirnot writers’ group and Kenneth Lonergan workshop at Williamstown Theatre Festival, and was a finalist at YoungArts UpNext: Writing. Her recent acting work includes “pov: u run joe biden’s tiktok” (ANTFEST, Ars Nova); Kim, Alternate, in “Miss Saigon” (Williamstown Theatre Festival National Tour); “who’s a good girl?;” and National YoungArts Foundation (finalist). Hwang will be joining UT Austin’s MFA playwriting program in the fall of 2021.

■ Jasmine Sharma is a South Asian-American actor/writer/activist and recent graduate of Northwestern University. Sharma and her writing have been recognized nationally by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center (NPC semifinalist); Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival

(Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards); The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards; New Jersey Governor’s Awards; UCROSS; American Blues Theater; and Athena Project.

Her work has been further supported by Lime Arts Productions, Permafrost Theatre Collective, NextStage Theatre Company, Mad Cow Theatre, Samuel-Lancaster Productions, Mayo Performing Arts Center, The Valdez Last Frontier Theatre Conference, The Blank Theater Company, AstonRep, AlterTheater Ensemble and Access Theater NYC. ■ Carlos-Zenen Trujillo was born in Bejucal, Cuba, and has been an Oregonian since 2006.

Carlos acknowledges that they live and work on the ancestral lands of the Kalapuya peoples.

Their writing work includes: “The Island in Winter or La Isla en Invierno” (Inaugural Problem Play Project Commission); “Abundancia” (Reading; Matchbox Theatre); “Christmas, Contigo” (Oregon Cabaret); and “Our Utopia” (Bag & Baggage Productions; Fertile Ground). Their acting work includes: Alfie Byrne in “A Man of No Importance;” Tutor in “Elektra;” and Teacher in “Small Mouth Sounds” (Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University); Patrick Chibas in “Spinning into Butter” (Bag & Baggage Productions); Chorus in “Oedipus” (Isolation Theatre); Understudy: Toby/ Pirelli in “Sweeney Todd” (Oregon Cabaret Theatre); Nurse/Prince/Sampson in “Romeo y Julieta” (Seattle Shakespeare Company); Letter Writer Three in “Tiny Beautiful Things” (Rogue Theatre Company); and OSF Acting Company Trainee 2020. Their honors include: Certificate of Merit in Dramaturgy (“The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui”); Irene Ryan Award nominations (“A Man of No Importance;” “Elektra”); Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) ASPIRE Leadership Fellow 2019, KCACTF John Cauble Award.

They also are a KCACTF Directing Fellow 2020. Trujillo has a BFA in Theatre Arts from SOU. To learn more about the new playwrights, and for updates about ANPF, see ashlandnewplays.org.

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Thursday, August 5, 2021 |

Leadership Begins at Southern Oregon University.

“SOU encourages leadership that starts with being inclusive.

Diverse people and ways of thinking create and nurture innovative leadership.”

Precious Yamaguchi Associate Professor, Communication

sou.edu • 855-470-3377

MF-00139247

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Ashland Community Connections | Revels

BOOKS

FACEBOOK’S STRATEGY

AVERT DISASTER, APOLOGIZE AND KEEP GROWING

An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination

By Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang Harper. 333 pp. $29.99

By Susan Benkelman The Washington Post

F

acebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s first-ever testimony before Congress, in 2018, came in a highly charged atmosphere that set up his appearance as a pivotal moment for the company and a critical test for the young chief executive. Just weeks earlier, it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica, which worked with the Trump campaign, had obtained Facebook profile data on millions of users to target voters, and Zuckerberg was under enormous pressure from politicians and the public to provide answers.

In the end, Zuckerberg passed the test easily. He often had answers at the ready, and when he didn’t, he respectfully pledged to get back to the committee. His performance stood out in comparison with that of lawmakers, who seemed naive about how the company worked. One senator even asked how Facebook made money if users didn’t pay for the service. In a now frequently memed response, Zuckerberg said, “Senator, we run ads,” his tone a mix of deference and incredulity.

Investors responded favorably to the performance, and after the two days of hearings were over, Facebook shares were up 4.5 percent and Zuckerberg became $3 billion richer as a result, Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang report in their new book on the company, “An Ugly Truth.”

Somehow, Facebook even

HARPER

seems to make money off near-disasters. But that’s no accident, Frenkel and Kang write. The company has put growth and profits above all else, even when it was clear that misinformation and hate speech were circulating across the platform and that the company was violating the privacy of its users. The book is not the first to tackle these issues, but it adds a trove of rich detail that will be important in the ongoing assessment of social media’s impact on society and democracy. The authors, both tech reporters for the New York Times, have zeroed in on what was arguably the most tumultuous period for the company since Zuckerberg founded it 17 years ago: the five years stretching from the run-up to the 2016 election through 2020.

The Trump era roiled the social media platform as never before, starting with Russia’s disinformation campaign in 2016. Like other tech companies, Facebook wrestled with how to handle President Donald Trump’s falsehoods and divisive rhetoric, what to do about posts promoting the extremist ideology QAnon, and where to draw the line on “junk” news sites that played

on emotion for clicks. It stumbled through the decision about how to handle a video manipulated to make House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appear drunk. In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic brought a new wave of misinformation, with anti-vaxxers at its crest.

At the close of the Trump era, Facebook was found to be one of the platforms that rioters used to organize their Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Despite all this, nearly 3 billion of us visit the site regularly, without giving much thought to what’s happening behind the scenes. We might know about Facebook’s problems in the abstract, but then curiosity intervenes; we want to see new pictures or life updates from our friends. So we log back in. Life goes on.

Facebook makes more money.

Therein lies what the authors say is Facebook’s ugly truth, its “possibly irreconcilable” dual goals of advancing society by connecting the world while also profiting off the people it is connecting.

To tell the story, Frenkel and Kang draw from their years of reporting on the company and from hundreds of interviews and documents to take readers, as the subtitle says, “inside Facebook’s battle for domination.”

That battle was often fought on defense and through improvisation, as the company veered from one crisis to another, swatting problems down as they arose and then apologizing for whatever harm they caused. (The back cover of the book shows a string of apologies Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg have issued over the course of Facebook’s life.)

The heart of the book, and its most compelling parts, involve the company’s discovery of Russian-generated disinformation on the platform during

the 2016 election and the security team’s frustrated efforts to get their findings in front of Zuckerberg and Sandberg.

When the leaders finally learn of the extent of the campaigns, recriminations and finger-pointing come out in tense why-didn’t-we-know-this? exchanges. And why, indeed, didn’t they? The answer, the authors write, is that the two were focused on growth and didn’t take much interest in the security team’s work. One executive even suggested that Zuckerberg and Sandberg were being protected from knowing because “you can’t disclose what you don’t know.”

In any case, the apologize-later strategy worked on a financial level. Even a $5 billion fine imposed by the Federal Trade Commission after the Cambridge Analytica scandal didn’t really faze the company. Investors were pleased to have the case resolved, and the company’s stock rose once again. As Chris Hughes, the Facebook co-founder turned critic, told the authors, “Privacy violations were just the cost of doing business.”

The drama between Facebook’s Menlo Park, California, headquarters and its Washington office will make the book fascinating for followers of tech policy. Students of corporate leadership will long examine the Zuckerberg-Sandberg relationship and how he relied on her business savvy but later crowded her out of key areas.

(An excerpt published in the Times focused on the relationship’s strains during the Trump era, though a Facebook spokesperson rejected the authors’ conclusion that the partnership had suffered.)

Users of Facebook will better understand how they’re being manipulated — maybe they should be called “usees”

— and the extent to which anyone is looking out for their interests. The authors walk through Sandberg’s model of behavioral advertising, saying it “treated human data as financial instruments bartered in markets like corn or pork belly futures.”

Given the scope of Facebook’s problems, it’s easy to wonder whether anyone, or any agency, will be able to contain the company. The authors open their book with the antitrust lawsuits brought by the FTC and 48 state attorneys general alleging that Facebook was a powerful monopoly that violated the privacy of users, stifled innovation and killed competition.

The lawsuits represented an imminent threat, the authors write, the “strongest government offensive against a company since the breakup of AT&T in 1984.”

Even that threat, though, has now been neutralized, at least temporarily. Since the authors’ prologue was written, a federal judge has dismissed the suits. That’s not to say Facebook’s adversaries won’t find another way to challenge the company on antitrust grounds. A new filing — and new laws — are still possible.

But once again, the pattern has repeated itself. Facebook averted disaster, investors responded favorably, and the company experienced another growth spurt. On the day of the judge’s dismissal, Facebook’s stock rose 4 percent, pushing its market capitalization above $1 trillion for the first time.

Susan Benkelman, a writer and editor in Bethesda, Maryland, has served as director of accountability journalism at the American Press Institute and as an editor at the Wall Street Journal and Congressional Quarterly.

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BOOKS

JOHN GLENN WAS THE OBVIOUS CHOICE

AMERICA’S FIRST TRUE SPACE HERO Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War

By Jeff Shesol Norton. 400 pp. $28.95

By Douglas Brinkley The Washington Post

W

hen I was an undergraduate at Ohio State in the early 1980s, I would often see John Glenn on campus, grabbing a tray and dining with the students in the cafeteria instead of hobnobbing at the Faculty Club. Even though he was a second-term U.S. senator at the time and would soon announce a presidential run, that never seemed to interest the undergrads, including me, who peppered him with questions over lunch. Instead, all they wanted to hear about was Feb. 20, 1962 — the day Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth.

Today, when everyone knows that Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are financing private space missions, but few can name any of the more than 200 astronauts who have lived on the International Space Station, it can be hard to explain the excitement and awe that 1962 mission aroused in Americans of all stripes, as well as people the world over.

It seems like a story from a simpler and altogether lessjaded time — a time Jeff Shesol captures in “Mercury Rising,” which brings Glenn’s story alive again with both nostalgia and a riveting, fast-paced narrative that has “movie” written all over it.

Born on July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio, Glenn grew up in nearby New Concord and flew in his first airplane with his father when he was only 8. Even as a child, he was a straight arrow with a sense of duty, honor and country,

for a spell and was awed by Glenn’s coolness under pressure, calling him “the bravest SOB I ever met.” After Korea, Glenn put that bravery to good use, becoming one of the top American test pilots of the 1950s.

Shesol does a marvelous job of documenting Glenn’s steady rise, which in July 1957 brought him fame as the pilot of the first-ever supersonic transcontinental flight, jetting from California to New York in a record time of three hours, 23 minutes and 8.3 seconds. When the Soviet NORTON Union launched the satellite Sputnik 1 three months later, and he carried that Boy Scout kicking off the space race quality into adulthood. After with the United States, there the Japanese attack on Pearl was hardly an American alive Harbor launched Amerbetter prepared to join the new ica into World War II, the NASA space agency and its 20-year-old Glenn dropped Project Mercury, which would out of Muskingum College seek to launch men into orbit and enlisted in the U.S. Army and bring them safely back to Air Corps, eager to defend Earth. Earnest, straightfordemocracy against global ward, physically fit and with fascism. Driven to succeed, an exemplary record, Glenn he rose quickly through flight ultimately beat out more than training courses, and his 100 other pilots to become one prowess soon earned him a of America’s first astronauts, transfer to the Marine Corps along with Scott Carpenter, as a second lieutenant. He Gus Grissom, Alan Shepard, was a deadly dogfighter by the Deke Slayton, Wally Schirra time he married his childhood and Gordon Cooper. sweetheart, Annie Castor, in While the “Mercury Seven” 1943, and he soon proved him- trained, the politics of the self flying 57 combat missions space race heated up as the around the Marshall Islands.

Soviet Union appeared poised According to Shesol, it to beat America for a second was in the South Pacific that time by putting the first man Glenn first experienced “the in space — a feat it accomthrill of excelling at someplished on April 12, 1961, when thing dangerous and of real cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin flew consequence,” as well as the a single orbit around Earth in “absolute confidence ... that Vostok 1. Less than a month makes a fighter pilot believe later, the first Mercury misthat there actually is not sion launched with Shepard another pilot and plane that becoming the first American can whip him in all the world.” in space, though on a suborMaintaining his chops after bital trajectory. Two months the war, Glenn flew patrol later, Grissom piloted a similar missions and served as a flight follow-up mission. And then it instructor before flying 63 was Glenn’s turn. combat missions in the Korean This is where “MerWar, often bringing his plane cury Rising” really picks up back to base riddled with speed, as NASA responds to bullet holes. Boston Red Sox Gagarin’s orbital triumph by slugger and future legend Ted accelerating Project Mercury’s timetable and pegging Williams was his wingman

its only Marine Corps astronaut as pilot. While Shesol doesn’t add much new to the well-known historical record of Glenn’s four-hour-and55-minute flight, his prose style nails the tension around the launch, which suffered numerous countdown delays before lifting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 9:47 a.m. on Feb. 20, 1962.

From the moments leading up to the Atlas rocket’s launch to the drama that developed around the Friendship 7 capsule’s loose heat shield, equipment malfunctions and hazardous reentry, Shesol’s descriptions are downright harrowing. But it’s his deployment of Glenn’s reflective letter to his young children, Dave and Lyn — written before takeoff, when his return wasn’t at all assured — that becomes the centerpiece of the saga. “Courage is only present when there is also fear,” Glenn wrote. “In a dangerous situation we all have fear. It would be foolish to not be afraid. I have never gone into combat, for instance, without being afraid, but the important thing is what we do about being afraid. ... I can tell you that I will be afraid when the booster is getting ready to fire because I know there are dangers involved much greater than normally experienced. What I do at that time is the important thing. ... Human progress has never been fostered by the cowards who have let fear rule their lives.”

With a sense of history becoming of a former White House speechwriter for Bill Clinton and an author of fine books on Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, Shesol does an excellent job of embedding Glenn’s story into the wider Cold War context.

Following his flight, Glenn became a national hero, visiting President John Kennedy at the White House and receiving a ticker-tape parade in New York, while the Friendship 7 capsule took on its own life as

a goodwill artifact, traveling the world as proof-positive of U.S. technological mastery and a crucial steppingstone on America’s journey to the moon.

By contrast, Shesol breezes through Glenn’s Senate career and 1984 presidential campaign, and completely avoids mention of the Keating Five Scandal, in which Glenn and four other senators were accused of helping bank chairman Charles Keating resist U.S. regulators in return for large contributions. (Glenn was ultimately cleared.) The narrative takes orbit again when Shesol re-creates Glenn’s 1998 return to space as a crewman on the space shuttle Discovery’s nine-day STS-95 mission — which made him, at age 77, the oldest human ever in space, a record that still stands.

While “Mercury Rising” captures the sense of energy and possibility in America’s Cold War space program, and ably explores what the New York Times once called Glenn’s “prickly sense of integrity,” there’s still a need for a definitive biography of America’s first true space hero. Luckily for history’s sake, Glenn was something of a pack rat, saving everything from elementary school drawings to class papers to his post-Mercury notes about space travel — all of it housed at the John Glenn Archives at Ohio State. Mining that archive for “Mercury Rising,” Shesol manages to extract the spirit of the man who took America for its first ride around Earth and then, 36 years later, looked down again from orbit and said, “Zero G, and I feel fine.”

Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown chair in humanities and professor of history at Rice University and the author of “American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race.”

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EVENTS From Page A15

OSF Wednesday Concert: Hollis Peach — singer and songwriter duo Dan Sherrill and Jacqui Aubert, along with Eric Jones on upright bass, percussionist Reed Bentley and violinist Abi Wilensky — will perform original progressive folk and roots songs, at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 11, on the outdoor Allen Elizabethan Theatre stage at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival campus. Tickets are $15. Masks are required; attendees must also present proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. For tickets and further information, see osfashland. org or call the OSF box office at 800-219-8161.

Thursday, Aug. 12 Comedy Improv Sessions: Mighty Medford Improvers host free improvisational comedy practice from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursdays at the Phoenix library, 510 W. First St. The sessions are led by Thomas Hartmann, who trained with Second City Chicago.

All levels of experience are welcome. CDC and OHA recommendations will be followed.

Email forinfoman44@gmail.com.

Ashland City Band: The community band, conducted by Don Bieghler, will perform at 7 p.m. every Thursday through Aug. 19, in the Butler Band Shell in Ashland’s Lithia Park. The concert will feature some of the most-often programmed selections by former band director Raoul Maddox as a tribute to his twenty-one years as conductor and seventy years as a member of the band. Music selections on Thursday, Aug. 12, will include Clifton Williams’ “Dedicatory Overture,” Floyd Werle’s “Fandango,” and a medley of Stephen Foster songs.

Pre-concert music by the High Society Jazz Orchestra will be offered at 6:15. Admission is free.

Visitors are encouraged to bring blankets or low-level chairs, as park bench seating has been removed. The Ashland Lions Club will sell ice cream bars; proceeds to go to the Ashland Middle School and High School band programs.

Trampled by Turtles: American bluegrass and folk-rock band Trampled By Turtles will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, at the Britt Pavilion, 350 S. First St., Jacksonville. Devon Gilfillian will open the show. Tickets are

Ashland Community Connections | Revels

$43 for reserved seating, $39 for lawn seating, and $29 for ages 12 and younger. Gates open at 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at brittfest.org, at the box office, 216 W. Main St., Medford, or by calling 800-882-7488.

Friday, Aug. 13 Olympic Obstacle Course: In honor of the 2021 Olympic Games, kids and teens ages 12 to 18 can compete in a mini-version of the Olympic Games through an obstacle course accessible to a variety of different ability levels, at 3 p.m. Friday, August 13, at the Shady Cove library, 22477 Highway 62. Medals will be awarded to the top competitors. For further details or to register, see jcls.org and click on Programs & Events and then JCLS Calendar or call 541-878-2270.

Allison Scull and Victor Martin: Singer-songwriter and guitarist Allison Scull and sax player Victor Martin will play a mix of folk, jazz, blues and pop, along with Scull singing some of her original songs in French at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 13, at DANCIN Vineyards, 4477 S. Stage Road, Medford. Admission is free. Call 541-245-1133 or see dancin.com.

Danielle Kelly Soul Project: Singer Danielle Kelly, guitarist Paul Turnipseed, drummer Nick Kirby, bassist Richard Meyer and Gordon Greenley on sax will perform soul and oldies from Motown at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 13, at RoxyAnn Winery, 3285 Hillcrest Road, Medford. See roxyann.com or call 541-776-2315.

Rogue Suspects: Rock, funk and blues band The Rogue Suspects — singer Shae Celine, guitar player Dirk Price, bassist Greg Frederick, drummer David Bolen and keyboard player Don Harriss—will perform at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 13, at Grizzly Peak Winery, 1600 E. Nevada St., Ashland. Tickets are $20. See grizzlypeakwinery.com or call 541-482-5700.

Indubious: Indubious, a roots-reggae band with electronic and dubstep influences, will perform an all-ages concert along with The Illies, Friday, Aug. 13, at Leap Farms, 348 Queens Branch Road, Rogue River. Illies kick off the show at 7 p.m., Indubious starts at 9 p.m. Food will be available for purchase; no alcohol sold on the premises. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $25, and are available online at indubiousleap.brownpapertickets.com.

For further info, see indubiousmusic.com.

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ART GALLERIES American Trails: The gallery, located in the Columbia Hotel, 250 E. Main St., Ashland, features art and crafts of the indigenous peoples in North and South America. The gallery will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Monday through Sunday. Masks are required, and hand sanitation will be offered at the door.

See americantrails.com or call 541-482-2553.

Art du Jour Gallery: The annual Charity Hubbard Student Show, showcasing several of Hubbard’s student’s works will be displayed and for sale in the Main Gallery and the Featured Artist areas. See exhibits by local artists in myriad mediums such as watercolor, oil, acrylic, pastel, pen & ink, Conté crayon, collage, sculpture, photography, mixed media and more. The gallery, located at 213 E. Main St., Medford, will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Private viewings are available outside open business hours by reservation. See artdujourgallery.com, or email at artdujourgallery213@gmail.com, or call 541-770-3190.

Art & Soul Gallery: See the August featured exhibit, “Adornment”

by Eric Peterson, on display through Aug. 29. His work includes abstraction and collage and seeks to celebrate our multi-cultural world. An artist’s reception will be held during Ashland’s First Friday event, from 5 to 8 p.m. Aug. 6. Peterson will answer questions about his work, and Barbara Tricarico will be signing copies of her new photography books featuring regions of Oregon. Limit of 25 visitors in the gallery at a time.

The gallery, which features art in a variety of mediums by regional artists and is located at 247 E. Main St., Ashland, will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Fridays and Saturdays, and by appointment. See artandsoulgallery.com or call 541-488-9006.

Art Presence Art Center: The gallery is located at 206 N. Fifth St., Jacksonville, and will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays. See art-presence. org or for further information or to schedule an appointment, call 541-941-7057.

Ashland Art Works: See the work of local artists in a variety of mediums, including ceramics,

COURTESY IMAGE

Jon Jay Cruson’s “Overview #18” is part of his exhibit now on view at Hanson Howard Gallery in Ashland. See listing, this page. woodwork, fiber arts and garden art. The art collective, at 291 Oak St., Ashland, will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Wednesdays and Sundays. The gallery’s July featured artists are Marydee Bombick and Shari Southard. See brightly colored ceramic flowers by Bombick and landscape watercolor paintings

by Southard. The galley will host artists who will give demonstrations and workshops from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the second Saturday of each month. For further details, see ashlandartworks.org or call 541-488-4735.

Fiber Arts Collective: See the work of approximately 30 fiber artisans at 37 N. Third St., Ashland. Exhibits include sewing, dyeing, knitting, crocheting, embroidering and felting to binding, collaging, painting, printing, stenciling, beading and creating assemblage pieces. The gallery is open

from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Call 541-708-6966 or see fiberartscollective.com.

Gallerie Karon: The gallery, located at 300 E. Main St., Ashland, features vintage textiles and jewelry, antiques, art and furnishings. See discovergalleriekaron.com or call 541-482-9008.

Hanson Howard Gallery: The gallery, located at 89 Oak St., Ashland, features works in an array of mediums including painting, sculpture, ceramics and fine art prints. Ceramic sculptures by Wataru Sugiyama will be shown alongside landscape paintings by Jon Jay Cruson through Aug. 14. The gallery will be open noon to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and by appointment. Masks are required to visit the gallery, and hand sanitation will be available.

For further information, see hansonhowardgallery.com or call 541-488-2562.

Houston’s Custom Framing and Fine Art: The gallery, located at 280 E. Hersey St #11, Ashland, will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and by appointment. See the colorful exhibit of intaglio prints by Yuji Hiratsuka and paintings by Stephen McMillan and Thomas M. Houston. See houstonscustomframing.com or call 541-482-1983.

La Baguette Music Café: See labaguettemusiccafe.com or call 541-482-0855.

Rogue Gallery & Art Center: The gallery, at 40 S. Bartlett St., Medford, will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.

See the traveling exhibit “PAN at 40: Printmaking from Print Arts Northwest” through Aug. 5, celebrating Print Arts Northwest (PAN) and their dedication to printmaking for 40 years. Based in Portland, PAN works to further printmaking in the Northwest

through exhibitions, educational programming, and professional development. The Community gallery will feature the work of Rogue Gallery artists inspired by Pattern and Decoration, a United States art movement of the mid1970s and early ’80s, through Aug. 13. Call 541-772-8118 or see roguegallery.org.

Schneider Museum of Art: See sma. sou.edu or call 541-552-6245 for further details.

Studio 151: The art studio, located at 151 N. Pioneer St., Ashland, features mixed-media sculptural artwork by Elizabeth York. See a series of work investigating time, wall relief Buddhas and a variety of sculptural animals and birds. The studio is open by appointment only. All proceeds support Shine a Light, a nonprofit organization committed to raising awareness about preventing and rehabilitating victims of sex trafficking both locally and abroad.

See studio151ashland.com.

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Ashland Community Connections | Revels

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LET THEM EAT CAKE!

Bakers report a flood of orders following a lean 2020

By Buffy Pollock for Acc

Local bakery owners are feeling like the easing of pandemic restrictions has been like a celebratory declaration to “Let them eat cake!”

Rogue Valley pastry chefs and bakers say they’ve been inundated with demand for wedding cakes, graduation cakes, birthday cakes and other sweet treats.

When the pandemic struck, Sugar Rush owner Tracy Mancuso said, the sheer volume of canceled orders was like the proverbial “icing on the cake” in a world that was all but shutting down.

“When everything shut down for COVID, the phone calls just started rolling in. It was nonstop, people rescheduling or canceling, saying they had to hold off. It all happened in two months time, so it was pretty overwhelming,” Mancuso said. “I probably did three weddings last year, and I usually do 50.”

Mancuso, who lost her retail space during the pandemic, said she moved into a smaller kitchen and figured out how to provide contact-free orders.

Nearly as shocking as losing much of a year’s income, however, has been the “reopening of sorts.” With pandemic restrictions loosening, Mancuso and others say, a flood of orders has swamped local bakeries. Not only are all rescheduled events suddenly “back on the books,” she said, but 2021 weddings and an increased push to celebrate other events are rolling in.

“First off, they all rescheduled to 2021. They had all rescheduled for venues — and because Saturdays were already taken from the regular bookings that didn’t have to cancel for COVID, now we have a bunch of Sunday

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PHOTO BY JAMIE LUSCH

Sugar Rush owner Tracy Mancuso puts the finishing touches Monday on a wedding cake at her home in Central Point.

weddings … and we have Tuesday weddings … and we have Friday weddings.

“My 2021 weddings are trying to book and don’t understand how everything can already be taken. My regulars come in and I’m like, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t take on any more.’ I tried posting a list on my Facebook, of the dates I was already booked out, and it kept changing so fast I had to take it down.

“Everybody who didn’t get to celebrate in 2020 is going all out, doing something extra huge this year. They want cupcakes and cookies and cake pops. They want the whole shebang, because they couldn’t have it last year.”

Cupcake Company manager BeJae Mattheisen said the past year was a roller coaster, topped off with a huge loss in available workers.

“As a small business, sometimes people get excited that we opened up again and place orders, but then it seems we would just get restricted again and orders would get canceled. It’s just been this cycle,” Mattheisen said.

“And the employment benefits are so good now that I can’t find anyone that wants to work. When I do find someone, they want way over minimum wage, which is more than ... I can afford. We’re kind of just fumbling our way back from COVID, so it’s been an up-and-down situation, but we’re doing the best we can do.”

Dana Bosgieter, owner of Seize The Cake, said she’s tried to take the changes in stride and be grateful to still be in business.

“During COVID we got a lot of

cleaning done, contracts printed. ... I tried to look at the positive. I had time to do things I normally don’t have time to do. I still ended up doing about 30 weddings, which was less than usual but still quite amazing considering it was in the middle of a pandemic,” she said.

“This year, we’ve got over 50 already.

I had a handful of brides that rescheduled to this year from last year. I think this year it’s just exploding because we’re in a place now where it’s finally OK to have these events. Nobody knows what 2022 could bring, so everybody wants to celebrate while they can.

There’s a sense of, ‘Let’s hurry up and do this.’”

Mancuso offered advice for cake-seekers and others. Patience, she said, is a virtue.

“The ones that have booked with me, for the most part, have been really nice and just happy to be able to have their big day. I had one person go a little crazy on me, and my husband had to deal with her,” Mancuso said with a laugh.

“There are the occasional calls from people who want a cake by tomorrow. I tell them, ‘The only person who can get away with asking me for a cake tomorrow is my husband. … And at this point I can’t even promise he’s going to get cake.”

Mancuso said she hoped the industry would continue to recover — as gracefully as possible.

“We’ve all been through this crazy time together, and we’re all doing our best. I’m just really happy to be able to be part of the celebrations again. Happy for our graduates and our brides,” she said.

“If you know you’re gonna need cake in November, order it now. Just order as soon as you know. And just know that everyone is doing the best they can do.”

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Ashland Community Connections | Revels

HER METTLE LEADS TO MEDAL Despite losing her vision, Ashland teacher becomes part of the cycling national title team

By Joe Zavala for ACC

Wendy Werthaiser was just starting to get serious about bike racing about four years ago when she realized she couldn’t do it anymore.

The degenerative disease that had already stolen her mother’s eyesight – cone-rod dystrophy – had sunk its teeth into Werthaiser’s, and the Ashland Middle School language arts teacher was forced to accept that riding fast was out of the question.

Werthaiser’s racing ambitions were too big to quit, though, and since she couldn’t replace her failing eyes she decided to do the next best thing and borrow a pair.

Now part of a tandem racing team with Jennifer Sharp, an accomplished solo rider from Colorado, Werthaiser is a newly crowned national champion.

Racing for the first time since placing fourth in the 2019 Pan American Games, Werthaiser and Sharp earned a double victory at the USA Cycling Para National Championships recently in Boise, Idaho, winning both the women’s tandem time trial on Friday, July 9, and the women’s tandem road race two days later.

Both wins were special for their own reasons for Werthaiser. Standing on the podium following the time trial win, she became emotional when the announcer told the audience that Werthaiser was racing for Flywheel Bicycle Solutions, the Talent bike shop that sponsors her which burned down in the Almeda fire.

The road race proved to be the perfect cap to a great weekend. Werthaiser and Sharp had talked for years about how fun it would be to cruise to victory across the finish line as

Jennifer Sharp, left, and Ashland Middle School language arts teacher Wendy Werthaiser pose after cruising to a tandem road race victory at the USA Cycling Para National Championships, July 11 in Boise, Idaho.

Werthaiser threw her hands up. When the opportunity presented itself at nationals, they didn’t pass it up.

“So as we were getting close to the finish (Sharp) was like, ‘OK, this is it. I’m going to get down … so you need to get up and swing your arms crazy,’” Werthaiser said.

Did she do it?

“Oh heck yeah,” she said, laughing, “I screamed like a 12-year-old.”

The duo completed the time trial in 52 minutes, 38 seconds, about nine minutes faster than the second-place team from Clackamas despite wiping out while making a U-turn, and

won the road race in 1:58.28, about 10 minutes faster than the runners-up from New London, New Hampshire.

Werthaiser was still in her 20s when she found out that she had cone-rod dystrophy and would eventually lose most if not all of her eyesight. She was able to bike for years before it became unsafe to continue riding alone, and that’s when she began looking into the possibility of tandem racing.

“I know that there lots of blind athletes out there so I started investigating and seeing what other people do that have visual disabilities,” she said.

She found an organization that holds a training camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, about four years ago.

For somebody who was used to riding alone, almost everything about tandem biking was new.

Riding in back as the stoker, Werthaiser had to learn how to work well with her partner, the pilot.

Once she adjusted to the weight distribution and balancing act, however, Werthaiser was surprised at how quickly she became comfortable with the arrangement.

“Actually, it was very easy for me,” she said, “because to be on a single bike myself requires a lot of concentration and focus in order to be able to see and pay attention and take in everything in order to be safe.

Being on the back of a tandem I really get to let go of that kind of responsibility. All I have to do is focus on pedaling as hard as I can. I don’t have to worry about obstacles, I don’t have to worry about the hill that’s coming up or the sharp turn.”

From the pilot’s perspective, Sharp said, chemistry develops over time and goes far beyond the sport’s physical demands. You have to be strong, of course, but tandem bikers must work with synergy. “Because,” Sharp said, “if they’re pushing and you’re not pushing or vice versa then you’re wasting energy. You have to figure out not only how to communicate when to push but you also physically feel that motion together.”

That on-the-bike chemistry usually develops over time, Sharp added, but that’s not enough. What she has with Werthaiser is a product of much more than synchronized pedaling and sheer leg power.

“In my experience that I’ve had with other stokers I think

the chemistry off the bike is so much more important,” Sharp said. “You’re helping them on the bike, yes – you’re their eyes and you’re their engine guiding them through this.

However, I’m going to push so much harder for someone’s that there is mutual respect for than somebody who is not a very nice person. And Wendy is an incredibly nice person.”

Trust is also vital, especially from the perspective of a stoker, who pumps her legs madly, whistles past signposts with reckless abandon and leans into corners – all without the benefit of functional photoreceptors. In Werthaiser’s case, the world looks like a Claude Monet painting. Her central vision is mostly gone, so she relies solely on her remaining peripheral vision.

“You can kind of make things out to what they are but you can never fully bring it into focus,” she said. “So for me, it’s that that’s the tricky part.

I might be able to see a large mass of something but there’s no telling – is that a shadow from a tree or is that the back of a pick-up truck?”

In Werthaiser’s case, it’s usually not the back of another biker.

She also has a victory in the 2019 track nationals under her belt, and finished fourth in four different events in Peru during the 2019 Pan American Games. Now, she’s about to start training for the next big race even though she’s not sure what that will be.

That means about 100 miles of riding every weekend, 4 a.m. wake-up calls, and the joy of stationary bike duty. She’s game.

“I don’t know what’s next,” Werthaiser said. “I know I’m going to continue training after I take a couple weeks off here. And then hopefully by the beginning to the end of September we’ll know what’s the next competition.”

“You can kind of make things out to what they are but you can never fully bring it into focus.

So for me, it’s that that’s the tricky part. I might be able to see a large mass of something but there’s no telling – is that a shadow from a tree or is that the back of a pick-up truck?”

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‘I’m still learning how to crawl’ A Medford woman is finding hope after a decade of homelessness and addiction

By Nick Morgan ACC

T

ahra Haner has few worldly possessions, but she has more to look forward to than she’s had in at least a decade.

Aside from a bicycle, some clothes, a donated TV and a makeshift “vanity” that’s a mirror on a shelf and an old office chair, Haner doesn’t have much to her name. But she’s got plans for a trip to Washington, D.C., a path toward the custody of her two teen children, newfound and burgeoning sobriety and, most importantly, a stable living situation after about a decade of living on the streets.

Her clean-and-sober-living house in west Medford is a far cry from the place she and others in homeless circles knew as “Paradise” — the place Haner called home less than two months ago.

Paradise was an unauthorized camp in south Medford off Alba Drive behind the Motel 6 and Traveler’s Inn. It was where Haner lived separate from her kids and dealt drugs.

Over the past 47 days, Haner’s gone from a flooded homeless camp to taking a leadership role as “president” of the sober living Oxford House known as Freedom Park. She says she’s working on herself toward a goal of helping other recovering addicts.

“It’s just been an amazing journey,” Haner said. “I’m still learning how to crawl.”

As Haner relaxed at home — with Amber on her phone and Joseph on his Nintendo Switch — her roommate Brittany Ruby popped in to let Haner know she was leaving for work and when she’d be home.

“Want us to save you a plate?” Haner asked.

Ruby, one of Haner’s six roommates at Freedom Park, said she reluctantly

looked into the Oxford House because it was an opportunity to keep her children. She’s there, she said, because of Haner’s encouragement.

“She’s the best thing that ever happened to me and my kids,” Ruby said of Haner.

Ruby said she’d once been sober for a year and a half, and was afraid the pressures of “conforming” in group living would trigger another relapse.

“The thought of going into an Oxford House has always been an iffy,” Ruby said. “But here it’s a cool situation.”

“It’s like a family here, honestly,” Haner said.

Haner will be 47 days clean and sober Sunday. She can hardly believe the whirlwind of changes after a decade living on the streets, but she knows that she didn’t find her path out of homelessness by herself.

It took persistence from Medford police officers, the Kelly Shelter’s “hella supportive” accommodations, among countless other supportive efforts.

What’s more dramatic than Haner’s changes in a month and a half is how far from uncommon her experience is.

Haner is one of 609 people the Medford police Livability Team has connected to housing services since the unit’s September 2019 rollout, according to numbers provided by Medford police Sgt. Geoff Kirkpatrick.

“People like Tahra, they’re all over the place,“ Kirkpatrick said, adding that stories like Haner’s are “what keep us doing what we’re doing.”

The Livability Team is composed of three officers, one corporal, one full-time community service officer and two part-time community service officers.

Although the Livability Team has been active for two years, Kirkpatrick said the team’s focus shifted somewhat after August 2020, when Medford’s Urban Campground opened.

PHOTO BY JAMIE LUSCH

Tahra Haner is working her way through drug addiction and trying to regain her children after years of homelessness.

The authorized camp operated by nonprofit Rogue Retreat makes it much easier to help a homeless person find a stable environment where they can be linked with services.

“They have a supportive system there,” Kirkpatrick said.

Since August, they’ve made 718 referrals to the camp, including helping 568 homeless people move in.

“Most of the time we take them because they’re ready,” Kirkpatrick said.

Kirkpatrick said that developing a method of police work that serves “both sides of the coin” — which he described as enforcing the laws on the books while also looking at a person’s problems holistically so that the Livability Team does more than move the same problem to another place — has required more than just modeling programs that are successful in other places over the past two years.

“We have reinvented the wheel in many different ways,” Kirkpatrick said.

The Livability Team’s “strong suit,” Kirkpatrick said, is the police department’s relationships with service providers.

“I’m not a mental health provider, I’m not a substance

abuse (counselor), I’m not a housing specialist, but I do know those people,” Kirkpatrick said.

Because the team has developed those kinds of relationships, connecting a person with appropriate resources is often a phone call away.

The Livability Team also builds relationships and trust with homeless people. They watch for when a homeless person wants to make a change, then they use their connections.

“When it’s time, we know,” Kirkpatrick said. “We’ll be like, ‘All right, let’s do it.’”

Haner’s decision to change came after a June rainstorm that flooded her Paradise camp.

Her possessions were wiped out, and Haner remembers how she “just sank” at the thought of having to start over again.

She’d already started packing because police were preparing to shut down the camp, but Haner said she was already growing “tired of the hustle” and “that look on my kids’ faces.”

She’d spent more than a year and a half resisting the Livability Team and the mental health, addiction and other specialists who’d often accompany them. With

nothing left to lose, however, Haner let police refer her to the Kelly Shelter in downtown Medford, and gave her a ride.

From concerns about keeping her support dog — a Chihuahua-dachshund mix named “Dobby“ — to sleeping in close proximity to others after years of camping on her own terms, Haner had a litany of reservations about the bunk bed shelter operated by Rogue Retreat.

“I don’t do ‘inside’ well,” Haner said.

She was strung out and paranoid, but a shelter operator she recognized as someone who used to be homeless put her at ease.

“I took her camping spot back in the day,” Haner remembered. “She was so happy to see me.”

The shelter made sure she had a bottom bunk, and Haner remembers that she was placed next to neighbors who were “very kind” to her and Dobby.

“That right there was huge for me,” Haner said. “They were just hella supportive.”

While she was detoxing, she started going to meetings and the Medford nonprofit Reclaiming Lives’ Recovery Cafe events three times a week.

SEE HOPE, A31

Ashland Community Connections | Revels

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Thursday, August 5, 2021 |

A29

Players of all ages have fun playing pickleball in classes taught through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

The world’s funniest pickleball game

By Jack Methot for ACC

Pickleball has been getting a lot of notoriety because it fulfills so many of the needs and desires of our busy and complicated lives. It’s an oasis of exercise, enjoyment and socialization.

Besides being fun, why is Pickleball so popular? The rules are easy to learn. It’s low-impact, nonstop exercise — perfect for people of all ages. There is no boredom in Pickleball play. During rallies, the ball is struck once every one to three seconds, and the rallies might last as long as 20 to 35 hits.

It can be played indoors, but our favorite locations are outdoors at some of our lovely parks.

The social aspect is high.

Doubles is what’s mostly played.

You partner up with folks you don’t know, and they become your friends. Those friends also become your opponents, so bonhomie is common,

and in/out ball calls friendly and fair. And, when one is waiting to play, discussions of all kinds take place with those waiting with you. You get to know many people more deeply than one would normally expect in a competition sport.

Equipping oneself or family is not expensive: decent court shoes, a paddle (there are good secondhand and good, inexpensive composite ones for sale), and a hat. Nets can be found in locked boxes at the courts where we play. Lessons can be had from free to an hourly fee.

Southern Oregon Pickleball Association and our foundation, SOPF, came into being four years ago. We saw the need for places to play, indoors and outdoors, times to play, making instruction available, and diversifying the player population. We could not grow this sport with our existing demographic (average age 68 years).

One of SOPA’s visions is to get youngsters on board, get pickleball into middle and high schools, and have the schools offer it as a varsity sport. One

of our volunteers has started Youth Involved In Pickleball Play. YIIPP volunteers will be approaching schools and organizations for participants and sponsors to ensure no child will be left on the sidelines because they cannot afford a paddle, good court shoes and balls. YIIPP will also provide instruction.

Teaching the youngsters has other growth benefits. The parents bring their kids to pickleball, see how fun it is, and will want to join in.

Because pickleball is a tiered sport, that is to say, one is ranked according to ability, age is not a factor; we see grandparents playing with their grandkids (me included).

I can’t imagine seeing three generations playing a competitive game of soccer, baseball, football or volleyball.

One of our player sources has been the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. In 2018, I was talking with a friend, and she began telling me about OLLI. What flashed into my mind was our own Southern Oregon

University-based OLLI. She thought it would be a good idea if we taught pickleball there. I applied, and we began teaching.

After a long COVID hiatus, this fall semester will be our fourth time teaching. We instruct 1.5 hours per day for 5 days, normally teaching 16 folks with four instructors. We have had a great relationship with the OLLI players — so much so that after instruction, they join our player ranks all over the valley and become SOPA members.

We have assisted people from Grants Pass and Klamath Falls in starting their own clubs.

We’ve taught at Ashland YMCA summer camps, at the middle school level in Talent, at SOU, at the V.A. in White City, and at Lithia Park every Wednesday morning.

We have received permission to use and teach at the North Medford High tennis/pickleball courts. One of our directors has gotten permission for Medford Parks & Recreation to build 12 dedicated courts at Fichtner-Mainwaring Park and is in

the process of raising $350,000 to pay for its construction.

We’ve line painted 10 courts in Ashland, Medford, Jacksonville and Central Point. SOPA and SOPF have donated nets to Lithia Park, Chuck Roberts Park in Talent, Pheasant Meadows in Jacksonville, Don Jones Park in Central Point, and Fichtner-Mainwaring Park.

In June, SOPA’s knock-itout-of-the-park event was our fourth sponsored tournament where two of our directors headed up an impressive three-day competition that attracted over 300 participants and earned SOPA/SOPF a good start toward the construction money needed for the 12 dedicated courts and over $1,200 in donations for local fire relief funds.

On our website, www. sopickle.com, you will find the names and contact info of our local instructors.

Jack Methot is president of the Southern Oregon Pickleball Association.

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Ashland Community Connections | Revels

AGING HAPPENS

Questions when considering a care facility

W

e still seem to be at a confusing place in our world with regard to COVID-19. In our own town, there are those who are fully vaccinated and those who do not have any intention of getting jabbed.

At this point, this is still a personal decision that we each have to make.

Questions arise if you or a loved one are considering a move to an assisted living, memory care or even a skilled nursing facility.

What are the COVID protocols you might want to consider then?

We have two assisted living facilities in Ashland, Maple Ridge and Skylark. We have two memory care facilities, Village at Valley View and Skylark. We also have one skilled nursing facility, Linda Vista, as well as several adult foster care homes.

What are the important questions we might ask about the policies for both the residents and the staff in order to gauge the level of safety and quality of life we are looking for? This protocol changes all the time, as you well know.

In March 2021, the COVID Tracking Project found that

MF-00139469

ELLEN WALDMAN

residents of long-term care facilities comprised only 1% of the U.S. population, yet they accounted for 34% of all COVID deaths.

The following are recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and observations from members of the National Aging Life Care Association. Below are the primary domains to consider, items to note, and questions to ask. Some refer mostly to those in skilled nursing facilities like Linda Vista.

1. Personal protective equipment: From masks to gloves, suits and shields, what are their policies and how is the facility situated?

What is their access to PPE? Is lots of hand sanitizer being used?

2. Staffing: Facilities are sensitive about this topic.

Staff shortages, staff turnover and general staffing policies could be considered

What are the important questions we might ask about the policies for both the residents and the staff in order to gauge the level of safety and quality of life we are looking for? This protocol changes all the time, as you well know. proprietary information.

What is being done to monitor staff health daily? Is there nonpunitive, paid sick leave?

The more a facility invests in training on safe use of PPE and infection control, the better the outlook.

Having a COVID coordinator to stay up to date on CDC recommendations helps a lot.

3. Vaccination policy: Although it is not legal for an individual (e.g., family member) to be told the vaccination status of a given employee, it is entirely legal for a resident or family to require that all the people providing care are vaccinated.

For some employees, pressure to get vaccinated feels too invasive and is contributing to the nationwide staff shortages in long-term care.

What percentage of the staff and residents are vaccinated? Are existing or new unvaccinated residents

allowed in the facility?

How are the unvaccinated being protected?

4. Testing for COVID: Ask what the policies and procedures are should a staff member or resident test positive, and whether they are using contact tracing.

These are especially important questions for skilled nursing facilities. Do they do daily screening for residents? Is testing mandatory?

For staff? For residents?

What if an individual refuses being tested? What if a staff member or resident tests positive?

5. Visitation and re-entry: Of course, family members want to have open visitation. But that does create more exposure and proves risky for the population as a whole. How is family visitation facilitated?

Are policies different during a local surge than during a

safer spell? Do new residents coming in need to be tested?

Vaccinated? Is there a quarantine period?

6. Addressing socialization: Isolation is devastating, and is especially true for persons with dementia. How does the facility provide for safe social activities? How will they accommodate special needs for mental stimulation, exercise, touch and social contact?

7. Communication policies: Families like to be kept informed of how their loved ones are doing. What are ongoing communication policies about a resident’s status, especially if visits are limited again?

There are many more questions to ask and no clear-cut perfect answers as this is an ever-changing environment.

We may never all agree on best approaches to this virus, but you can certainly ask all the right questions.

Ellen Waldman is a certified aging life care professional.

Submit questions about aging and Ashland-area aging resources and column suggestions to her through her website, www.SeniorOptionsAshland.com.

Ashland Community Connections | Revels

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Thursday, August 5, 2021 |

A31

‘It looked like an Atomic Bomb’ Ashland resident surveys the devastation from the Bootleg fire

By Sergio Olmos The New York Times

BEATTY — Marc Valens washed his hands in the rubble of what was once his home, in the bowl where he used to make salad. There was something almost normal about it all: the clink and clank of lids and pots as he stood at the still-intact sink and stove.

But any sense of normalcy was an illusion. Much of his home and belongings were gone, swallowed up by the largest wildfire currently burning in America, the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon.

The frame of a chair sat amid the ash where the living room used to be. Except for the tall spire of the tan-rock chimney, the outdoor sink and stove and a few other things, there was little else. The rest was rubble and ash — even the aluminum rims of his car melted, leaving a silver puddle in the dirt.

“It looked like an atomic bomb,” said Valens, 72.

The Bootleg fire has consumed a wide swath of southern Oregon forest — an area the size of Portland, Seattle, Sacramento, California, and New York City combined.

The fire, the third-largest blaze in Oregon since 1900, has mostly burned in a remote, sparsely populated area in and near the Fremont-Winema National Forest. Only 161 homes have been destroyed, a low number for a wildfire that immense.

But for Valens and others who have lost their homes,

The frame of a chair sat amid the ash where the living room used to be. Except for the tall spire of the tan-rock chimney, the outdoor sink and stove and a few other things, there was little else.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Marc Valens surveys what is left of his home of 50 years, burned in the Bootleg Fire, near Beatty.

destruction is destruction, regardless of the scale.

On a recent afternoon, Valens walked slowly with his hands clasped behind his back, assessing what remained with his wife, Anne Golden.

He kicked aside some of the wreckage on a charred sled.

“I think it’s still usable,” he said.

Valens has been sleeping in a tent near the rubble, returning home as soon as evacuation orders were lifted. The outhouse burned, so a neighbor brought him a new one. His brother brought him a small trailer.

“Now I can shower,” Valens

HOPE

From Page A28

She described the events, which include dinner and coffee, as a “big family reunion kinda thing” where the family circles get closer-knit the more regularly a recovering addict attends.

When Haner is in an off mood or otherwise struggling in her recovery, friends at Recovery Cafe pick up on it and draw her out. When someone misses a meeting unexpectedly, they look for them.

“It’s literally a big family,” Haner said.

explained.

Valens and Golden lived in the house at Moondance Ranch for 50 years, a short drive from Beatty, an unincorporated town about 40 miles north of the California state line. They divided their time there and at their second home in Ashland.

He is a retired lawyer who spent a lifetime specializing in environmental and Native American cases. She works as a business consultant and serves on the board of a local hospital.

“This is my hippie van,” Valens said as he toured his property, pointing to the burned-out hulk of his 1960s Chevrolet camper van. “When

It wasn’t a place that her kids could visit. Within two weeks at the Kelly Shelter, the residents of Freedom Park voted her into the house.

One resident in the all-women house in west Medford has three kids, and Haner’s kids — currently in their grandfather’s custody — are free to visit and stay over with their mom in trundle beds.

As president of Freedom Park, she’ll represent her Oxford House next month at the Oxford World Convention in Washington, D.C. One of her biggest concerns is finding a gown for the event, when she’s just learning how to

I turned 21, I took a year driving across the West Coast, Canada, down through New England to the Blue Ridge Mountains.”

Up close amid the rubble, there was no pattern or logic to what survived and what did not. The picnic table on a patch of grass emerged unharmed, pristinely and surreally spared from the flames. On the fireplace was a small ceramic souvenir — a miniature bus with a demon on top.

“That was a little ceramic I brought back from Mexico on one of my trips,” Valens said.

“That little devil survived.”

Earlier this summer, heat waves gripped the Pacific

live independently and support herself.

After the convention, Haner said, she is looking forward to participating in the Medford Walk for Recovery slated for Sept. 10 in Hawthorne Park.

Her longer-term goals include reaching the one-year sobriety milestone — after which her father has offered to help Haner get full custody of her children — and the two-year milestone, after which she'll be eligible to take classes to become a recovery coach.

“I want to be where I’m changing other addicts,” Haner said.

She said she's sharing her story with the goal of helping others in homeless

Northwest. In Portland, temperatures reached as high as 116 degrees, and a majority of the state has been primed to burn while undergoing severe drought. The past few weeks have felt especially chaotic, as climate change has helped make extreme weather and extreme disaster commonplace in the region.

“West of the Mississippi we have droughts, fires and smoke, and east of the Mississippi there’s flooding,” Golden said. “It’s biblical. It just feels like the plague and everything else.”

In the aftermath of the fire, Valens and Golden are uncertain whether they and others who lost their homes will receive any state or federal aid.

Valens said fire insurance had been difficult to obtain for him and other homeowners in the area. “We couldn’t get nearly as much insurance as we wanted,” he said, adding that he was able to insure only about 20% of his ranch months before the fire.

In 2019, Valens was diagnosed with a rare form of prostate cancer. As he toured the wreckage, he paused to sit down several times, the cocktail of drugs helping to keep the cancer in remission making him tired at times. He was quiet and contemplative.

“The lesson I learned with cancer is that it’s a waste of time worrying about what you should have done,” he said.

“And that’s where we are with the fire. What do we have now?

What resources are left?”

circles find their own sobriety. Despite her own path away from homelessness, she said she respects those who prefer to live outside and still thinks of those she camped with as her family.

"We get so discriminated because we’re homeless,“ Haner said. ”We have a disease.“ Haner looks back fondly at her time at Paradise. She loves that there’s a tree near Bear Creek with her name carved into it, and she was visibly upset at the thought the unauthorized camp is no longer there.

“It makes me angry because it’s a beautiful place,” Haner said.

A32

| Thursday, August 5, 2021

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Ashland Community Connections | Revels

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