Former Staff Updates

Brad McMullen

It is with great excitement that we announce that Brad McMullen, a recent graduate of the University of Oregon’s Folklore and Arts Administration graduate programs and three-year Graduate Employee at the Oregon Folklife Network, has accepted the position of Programs Manager with the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada.

McMullen’s primary responsibility at the Western Folklife Center will be to organize and manage their premier event, the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, held annually in Elko (January 28 to February 2, 2019). Located in the historic Pioneer Building in downtown Elko, Nevada, the Western Folklife Center is both a local and a regional nonprofit cultural center whose exhibitions, educational programs, national radio and television programs, research and preservation projects, and cultural events explore and give voice to traditional and dynamic cultures of the American West. Meg Glaser, Western Folklife Center Artistic Director says, “We are so pleased to welcome Brad to our staff. His grounding in folklore, skills in arts administration, interest in folk poetry, and good sense of humor are a great fit for the Programs Manager position and the Western Folklife Center.”

McMullen has a bachelor’s degree in Folklore & Mythology (Harvard University), a master’s degree in Welsh (University of Cardiff), and two master’s degrees in Folklore and Arts Management (University of Oregon). During his time with the Oregon Folklife Network, McMullen conducted fieldwork, managed the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, coordinated public programs, assisted on grants, documented the FisherPoets Gathering, and did extensive community outreach.

McMullen credits the faculty, staff, and students at the Oregon Folklife Network and the University of Oregon for his success. “I couldn’t have asked for a better springboard to a career than the time I spent at the OFN and the University of Oregon. I was incredibly lucky to work with an array of wonderful faculty, staff, contractors, and fellow students to develop the skills I needed to get a fantastic job like this.”

As the Program Manager for the Western Folklife Center, McMullen will oversee year-round programming as well as manage the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. The 2019 Gathering is a celebration of the Gathering’s 35^th anniversary and has a great line-up of new and classic performers, already posted online. He hopes to see some familiar faces there!

Jennie Flinspach

With much sadness, OFN says farewell to Jennie Flinspach, OFN’s 2018 Summer Folklife Fellow. With a BA in English (Simpson College), Flinspach completed dual Master’s degrees in Folklore and Arts Management (University of Oregon). During her time with OFN, Flinspach helped to launch and later manage the Oregon Culture Keepers’ Roster; she also interned with the 2017 Warm Springs Folklife Fieldschool, which put her years of experience teaching English and Theatre to good use. Flinspach fearlessly braved new software programs that enhanced OFN’s visuals on social media. This past summer she ably coordinated several public programs with artists in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. For her final project, she made it possible for OFN to realize a long-time goal of a full-color, picture-rich annual report. With further experience as an archivist for the Randall V. Mills Archive of Northwest Folklore (where she designed and edited Cooking with Folklore: Recipes from the Archives), Flinspach aided OFN by building robust organizational management systems. Prior to moving to Oregon, Flinspach was a high school English and drama teacher in the Iowa public school system. We are sorry to lose Jennie Flinspach in the OFN office, and eager to see what unfolds in her professional career.

2018-2019 New Staff

OFN welcomes Latham Wood, a doctoral student in cultural anthropology at UO; as OFN’s new Graduate Employee for the academic year, he’ll be coordinating the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. Wood’s doctoral research explores the politics of culture in Vanuatu, and focuses specifically on a traditionalist movement on the island of Aneityum that aims to revive an ancestral system of socio-political organization. His interests also include kinship, personhood, and human-environment relationships. Along with his more theoretical work, he has authored three publications and produced numerous films in collaboration with the Vanuatu Cultural Centre—created specifically for indigenous ni-Vanuatu audiences. He is married to a ni-Vanuatu woman, and they have two children.

OFN also welcomes Iris Teeuwen, a first-year master’s student in the Folklore program who is working with OFN as a Graduate Employee for Fall and Winter terms. She earned a B.S. in Anthropology with a minor in Philosophy from Portland State University. Teeuwen is the first member of her family to graduate from college and is looking forward to furthering her education. Her research on holiday myths draws on her Dutch upbringing and considers how Sinterklaasis celebrated in the Netherlands; in doing so, she is focusing on the current debates over the traditional black-faced holiday figure Zwarte Piet(Black Piet). Her work at OFN includes coordinating the newsletter, drafting folk arts award nominations, and logging ethnographic documentation.

OFN is pleased to welcome back Jacob Armas, an undergraduate in International Studies and the Department of the History of Art and Architecture, where he focuses on Diplomacy and International Relations in Europe. He is also pursuing a minor in Creative Writing with a focus in poetry. Jacob studied in Prague, Czech Republic in Fall 2017, where he studied how Czech art historians view Czech art history of the 1970s and early 80s; he is currently researching performance art in Central Europe under communist regimes. Armas plans to apply to graduate school and pursue a career in museums. At OFN, Jacob will continue the work he started last winter on the Culture Keepers roster.

OFN welcomes new intern Andrew Ferry, an undergraduate transfer student majoring in Folklore at UO. At OFN, he is updating the operations and communications manuals, analyzing social media practices, and editing videos from the field. Ferry’s main research interests concern how folk belief and folk religion inform folk medicine and healing practices.

Jennie Flinspach and Brad McMullen

The 2017 Warm Springs Folklife Field School engaged rising eighth graders from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs K-8 Academy in a week-long adventure to explore their heritage and document their cultural traditions.

Students learned fieldwork skills by interviewing each other. Using OFN’s recording equipment, students questioned each other about treasured family objects.

Students worked in groups to conduct interviews with tribal elders. We were honored to hear the elders’ share moving accounts of their heritage and traditions.

On Wednesday, students and staff took a field trip to the Warm Springs Culture and Heritage Department. Tribal archivist, Creston (Dana) Smith, one of our on-site teachers, showed us how he preserves the recorded history and culture of Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

After their interviews, students learned to process and analyze audio clips from their audio recordings. They wrote reflections, recorded narration, and assembled clips into a group presentation.

One of the special highlights of the week was Thursday’s visit to the Warm Springs radio station, KWSO 91.9 FM, where Marge Kalama, local radio personality, conducted a live on-air interview with the students.

At the end of the week, the students presented their research to the Warm Springs community. It was the perfect way to end a great week of cultural documentation! But there was still more in store for these young folklorists…

Two weeks later, the students traveled to the University of Oregon for an overnight campus visit. They visited Special Collections, where Corrigan Solari University Historian and Archivist Jennifer O’Neal showed them the Edward Curtis photographic collection, an invaluable collection of late 19^th-century Native American portraits and images of traditional occupations and lifeways.

At the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Curator Cheryl Hartup gave a tour of “Conversations in the Round House: Roots, Roads, and Remembrances,” an exhibit of native works including one from Warm Springs elder, Lillian Pitt.

A stop at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History included a tour of the new Cultural Wing, which includes exhibits and short documentaries about Oregon’s native Tribes, past and present.

Our guests enjoyed a backstage tour of Matthew Knight Arena, where they got to “throw their O” at center court. Capping off the afternoon was a walk through Kalapuya Ilihi Hall, the newest residence hall on campus and home to the new Native American and Indigenous Studies academic residential community.

The next morning, Warm Springs students presented their research at the Many Nations Longhouse to UO Native students, faculty, and staff. At a special luncheon that followed, audience members reciprocated and shared with students the many opportunities and resources available to them as future UO Ducks.

Before heading back to Warm Springs, students had some fun with Professor Kirby Brown (English Department, Native literature), who taught them how to play sjima. Sjima, also known as Shinny Ball, is a traditional game with similarities to hockey and lacrosse and is specific to Oregon’s Klamath tribes.