Welcome, New Staff!

RidoutEmily Ridout, M.A., is OFN’s Interim Program Manager through July 2016.  She holds a concurrent position as the Program Coordinator for the Confucius Institute for Global China Studies. Ridout has an MA in Folklore and a certificate in New Media and Culture from the University of Oregon where she filmed, edited, and produced documentary films on topics ranging from environmental tourism to the chemistry of effective birth control.  Her research interests include intersections of culture and environment, poetics, foodways, documentary, and religion. While a graduate student intern and post-graduate fellow at OFN, Ridout worked on the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program and a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship nomination.

Ridout strives to develop and promote meaningful cultural programming in ways that are innovative, sustainable, and respectful. Before coming to the University of Oregon, Ridout led educational and adventure trips in the Fiji Islands, the Southern California mountains, Kentucky, and throughout the Midwest and Appalachia. When she is not working with cultural programming, she can be found teaching and practicing yoga, hiking, or writing what she hopes is the next great American novel.

 


brunoBruno Seraphin
, Oregon Folklife Network’s Winter Fellow, is a folklorist, narrative and documentary filmmaker, and musician. Originally from Massachusetts, he earned a BFA in Film Production from New York University and lived in Appalachian North Carolina for several years, before moving to Eugene to complete an MA in Folklore Studies at the University of Oregon. His academic and professional interests include environmental justice, human-plant relationships, philosophies of place and space, anti-racist organizing, collaborative film-making, and the ways that social movements generate and use stories.

Seraphin produced and directed the award winning experimental independent film “If I Had Wings to Fly,” which explores traditional music and storytelling in Western North Carolina. It was featured at the Folklorists in the South conference in 2012. His newest documentary, “Year of the Possum: The Green Grass Cloggers’ 40th,” will premiere in 2016. Seraphin’s MA thesis, “Stories We Live: On the Hoop with Nomads of the Northwest,” is an ethnography of a grassroots network of nomadic, mostly white “rewilders.” His subjects use Indigenous ecological knowledge to harvest and replant wild foods in the Great Basin region of the United States, particularly northeastern Oregon. Seraphin’s thesis pays special attention to their land ethic and their interactions with Native groups.

During spring 2016, Seraphin will serve as a Project Coordinator for a series of collaborative documentary videos for the Museum of Natural and Cultural History and Oregon Tribes.

FisherPoets Exhibit On Display

Julie Meyer

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In September, OFN opened the exhibit “Shifting Tides: Women of the FisherPoets Gathering” in our Knight Library office Window Gallery on the University of Oregon campus. This exhibit highlights the creative work that women fishermen Moe Bowstern, Erin Fristad, and Tele Aadsen perform at the annual FisherPoets Gathering in Astoria, Oregon. The FisherPoets Gathering encourages commercial fishermen to share their occupational experiences through their creative expressions. The Gathering offers women fisherpoets a space to begin disrupting the underrepresentation of women working in a predominantly male occupation.

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The exhibit consists of three cases and two wall panels. The first case provides a brief history of the FisherPoets Gathering, while the second provides an excerpt from Moe Bowstern’s “Subcutaneous Layer of Fat,” a prose work that addresses sexist expectations for women fishermen. Copies of the FisherPoets Anthology, Anchored in Deep Water, and Bowstern’s XTRATUF zine line the bottom of the case.

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The final case displays fishing gear, commercial grade rain gear, netting, a slide show of women fishing in Alaska, and various other objects that exhibit coordinator and folklorist, Julie Meyer, gathered during her fieldwork on commercial fishing in Bristol Bay, Alaska. A final panel provides excerpts from Erin Fristad’s poem “Advice to Female Deckhands” and Tele Aadsen’s prose piece “Being a Female: An Unwelcome Reminder” both of which deal with issues of inequality that women fishermen face. The exhibit will be on display through mid-February 2016.

New Exhibit: Buckaroo Traditions of Oregon

by Adrienne Decker

Photo courtesy of Douglas Manger

Photo courtesy of Douglas Manger

The Oregon Folklife Network (OFN) is proud to present its new exhibit Buckaroo Traditions of OregonThis exhibit celebrates the continuity of occupational traditions in rural Oregon and encourages audience understanding and appreciation of art forms arising from ranching practices. The exhibit was made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the fieldwork of folklorists Douglas Manger and LuAnne Kozma. Featuring artists from Malheur, Harney and Lake counties, the exhibit traces the development from vaquero to buckaroo and promotes the work of some of Oregon’s finest gear makers.

Cowboys have made an enduring mark on the American popular imagination, but not every cowboy is a buckaroo. What sets them apart? In addition to their sense of style and self-sufficiency, buckaroos work almost exclusively from horseback in the manner of their vaquero predecessors. In the Great Basin, knowledge of many vaquero and buckaroo traditions have been passed along through families and become integrated into the lives of working ranchers and horsemen. Buckaroos are unique in their use of extensive horse training techniques and custom handcrafted gear, including traditional saddles featuring intricate leather- and silverwork as well as mecates (ropes) made from horse mane hair and braided rawhide reatas (lassos).

Some of the most vibrant examples of buckaroo artistic traditions are thriving in rural eastern and southern Oregon, despite their decline elsewhere. Buckaroo Traditions of Oregon features a hackamore from the workshop of Bill and Teresa Black, mecates by Merlin Rupp and Helen Dougal Corbari, and the tooled leatherwork of saddle makers Steve McKay and Len Babb. Each of these pieces represents a unique blend of hard work and artistry.

Buckaroo Traditions of Oregon is on display now in the OFN exhibit cases on the second floor of UO Knight Library, Room 242.

It’s a Hard Duck Life

by Jules Helweg-Larsen

Living in Eugene, it is impossible to escape Duck Pride as Oregon football fandom. Church sermons invoke the Ducks and refer to the team’s hard work and dedication. Grocery store transactions and chats at local cafes or gas stations conclude with “Go Ducks!” Fans wear school colors and jerseys, as well as shirts stating “QUACK ATTACK” and “Come to the Duck Side”.

In January, Eugene was buzzing with excitement over the first College Football Playoff National Championship with UO Ducks taking on the Ohio State Buckeyes. On and off campus, there was a constant chatter about the game from both fans and normally disinterested residents. Social media posts and tweets were fast and furious as fans and friends cheered on their team. Trending hashtags included #DucksvsBucks #GoDucks and, after their defeat, #OnceADuckAlwaysADuck.

So what is it about sports that promotes such loyalty, not just from students and alumni, but also the city and state at large? Is it only the pride and national recognition, or is it something deeper? “Being an Oregon Duck is not about winning,” said Emma Oravecz, a graduate student in the UO Folklore program. “It’s not about trophies or points. Being a Duck is about being part of a community that reaches far beyond the scoreboard.” This community of students and players is one that she is “proud to be a part of and will continue to support throughout my entire life.”

Becoming a duck can be as simple as attending the university, living in Oregon, or being a dedicated booster. Duck mania is everywhere and inescapable here in the land of the webfoot—the old name for an Oregonian. Whether we win or lose, Duck pride is integral to Oregon identity—part of our community folklore. Tell us about your favorite Oregon Football Fandom moments with a comment on our Facebook page!

Photo from the University of Oregon Libraries shows the Quack Ops logo seen in town. No longer operating, Quack Ops was a student-run business for "underground apparel for ducks, by ducks," where fans took their representation into their own hands.

Photo from the University of Oregon Libraries shows the Quack Ops logo seen in town. No longer operating, Quack Ops was a student-run business for “underground apparel for ducks, by ducks,” where fans took their representation into their own hands.

Tribute to Mark Lewis, Storyteller

by Adrienne Decker

Tall tales, jokes, and mythical stories are some of our oldest and most beloved forms of folklore. OFN recognizes the legacy of one of Oregon’s greatest storytellers, Mark Lewis, who passed away unexpectedly on December 7th. Lewis inspired confidence and a deep appreciation for the power of the imagination, promising to always be the supportive “angel in the audience” for the hundreds of students and budding performers he mentored throughout his career. An actor and professional storyteller, Lewis won two Emmy awards for a televised performance of his signature piece “Word Pictures.” He also taught highly popular classes at the UO School of Journalism and had long worked with a variety of educational and recreational programs for youth throughout the state.

On January 10th, hundreds of students, teachers, fellow performers, family and friends attended a memorial service in Lewis’s honor at South Eugene High School, all of them eager to share stories of their encounters with Lewis. Guided by Lewis’s quintessential bit of performance advice to always “Keep Breathing,” the speakers lead the audience through this emotional celebration with humor and grace. Sharing words of gratitude in honor of a man who knew how to live and love well, their stories were punctuated by a few musical moments in which the audience joyously participated. The service was a fitting tribute to the wonder Lewis created through his own storytelling.

Lewis’s passing has inspired an outpouring of anecdotes and photos from the many lives he touched with his personal magic. You can learn more about these cherished memories and share your own at mark.lewis.muchloved.com.

Register-Guard Obituary

Community Day at OHS with FisherPoets!

Come on out for a FREE Community Day featuring fisherpoets Moe Bowstern, Jon Broderick, Jay Speakman, and Cary Jones on Saturday, December 13 at the Oregon Historical Society. OFN is proud to co-sponsor this event with our partners.

Community Day takes place on Saturday, December 13 at the Oregon Historical Society (1200 SW Park Avenue, Portland) with activities from 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Admission is free all day (10 a.m.–5 p.m.). Help OFN and OHS celebrate this important legacy with a day full of activities sponsored by Portland General Electric.

Community Day schedule:

• 11 a.m. – Special writing workshop with FisherPoet Jon Broderick (open to all ages; space is limited).
• 1-3 p.m. – Performances by some of Oregon’s finest FisherPoets including Cary Jones, Moe Bowstern, Jon Broderick, and Jay Speakman.
• 11 a.m.-3 p.m. – Hands-on activities for the whole family including knot tying lessons.

To learn more, visit OregonLive’s event spotlight for photos and videos of the fisherpoets in action.

The annual FisherPoets Gathering (Astoria, Oregon) celebrates the occupational traditions and stories of commercial fishermen throughout the Northwest with performances of poetry, prose, and song. Providing opportunity for reunions, activism, and community discussion, the Gathering is a key cultural experience for men and women involved in the Northwest commercial fishing industry and provides an opportunity to learn more about the danger and beauty of working on the Pacific.

OFN at Confluence “Day of Sharing”

By Adrienne Decker, OFN Assistant Folklorist
On November 1, the Oregon Folklife Network joined Confluence for a “Day of Sharing” at Fort Vancouver. Confluence is a multi-year endeavor to complete public art installations     at significant points along the Columbia River, a collaboration between Pacific Northwest tribes, renowned artist Maya Lin, civic groups from Washington and Oregon, and other Northwest artists. The Day of Sharing offered a unique opportunity for native teaching artists to share their traditional art forms and stories with public school teachers to encourage classroom participation in Confluence’s “Gifts from our Ancestors” program. The Oregon Folklife Network’s participation was provided in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, which awarded OFN funding to document the cultural traditions in the Columbia River Gorge region and to partner with the Confluence Project to foster collaborations between traditional artists and educators.

Lindsey Howtopat (Yakama) shares basket making techniques with teachers.

(Lindsey Howtopat (Yakama) shares basket making techniques with teachers.)

“Gifts” is a collaborative program between K12 schools and indigenous artists from both sides of the Columbia River. The program engages students and teachers in experiential learning through native arts, promoting interdisciplinary curricula with an emphasis on cultural and ecological stewardship. This year’s Day of Sharing featured cultural artists and tradition keepers Lillian Pitt (Warm Springs), Ed Edmo (Shoshone-Bannock), Toma Villa (Yakama), Lindsey Howtopat (Yakama), Patricia Whitefoot (Yakama), Lavina Wilkins (Yakama), and Joann Smith (Warm Springs).

Oregon Folklife Network joined new site partners at the meeting, including the Sandy River Basin Watershed Council, National Park Service, and Washington State Parks, for one-on-one interaction between artists and organizers. The meet-up sparked new ideas for further collaborations and engagement at the Confluence commemorative sites along the Columbia that highlight indigenous history and social justice. Colin Fogarty, Executive Director, offered valuable insight on several new Confluence initiatives that will continue to foster connection to place through arts education, including a call for “focus artist ” proposals that center on social science, social justice, or art projects.

Programming ideas for the Celilo Falls site became a major topic of discussion. Celilo Park, set to open in Fall 2016, will recognize the pivotal role that Celilo played as the primary Northwest destination for indigenous salmon fishing, trade, and gatherings for thousands of years. The Day of Sharing offered Oregon and Washington teachers the chance to listen to artists and discuss ways to integrate indigenous knowledge of environmental science, land and water management, and sustainable resource stewardship while teaching culturally inclusive histories in the classroom.

Celilo Falls was the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in North America until 1957, when the ancient falls were flooded by the US government’s construction of The Dalles Dam. Several teachers want to know how to broach this highly sensitive subject with their students, both native and non-native, whose families hold living memories of the personal and political struggle that transformed this once-thriving, thousands of years old sacred gathering site into a hydroelectric powerhouse; the clashing cultural values still resonate in nearby communities today. In response, renowned native artist Lillian Pitt and Warm Springs elder Joann Smith led a discussion of the important – and often misunderstood – sociopolitical issue of tribal sovereignty. They spoke about sovereignty in relationship to history, as well as contemporary traditional arts and cultural practices, asserting that younger generations benefit from the a pedagogical approach that integrates ancient wisdom with Common Core educational standards. The result is a “groundedness” in education that cultivates a strong sense of place, history, and culture. Confluence is invested in catalyzing discussions like these as necessary to promoting connection across cultural groups, between tribes, and among organizations and individuals dedicated to the well-being of all Columbia River communities. This year’s Day of Sharing ended with artist demonstrations and marks a promising start for future collaborations.

Ed Edmo (Shoshone-Bannock) sharing stories with Confluence teachers.

Ed Edmo (Shoshone-Bannock) sharing stories with Confluence teachers. Photo courtesy of Adrienne Decker.

EMU Tribal Flag Raising

By Nikki Silvestrini

In late September, a flag raising ceremony at the EMU amphitheater saw the flags of Oregon’s Nine Confederated Tribes go up. I sat down with Gordon Bettles, the Many Nations Longhouse Steward, to follow-up on the project. The flag raising was a student driven project that started two and half years ago when Famery Yang, Orion Falvey, Hannah Mixon-Gilliam, Michael Johnson, Tucker Lokendah and Tetsuya Mishagwho – students at the Lundquist College of Business – came together to increase tribal visibility on the UO campus. This student group collaborated with the Many Nations Longhouse, the Native American Student Union, and the Native American Law School Student Association to make the project a reality. Student leaders Falvey and Mixon-Gilliam stayed with the project from beginning to end. Despite some struggles with time constraints and bureaucratic regulations the students involved have left something lasting. Bettles says, “The Native American students that have gone and seen them or participated are very empowered to see a Native American presence on campus.”

What was Bettles’ favorite part? “Seeing my flag go up…. on equal footing with the other tribes…. No other people in the state of Oregon have the status that we do as Oregon’s first inhabitants and that sets us apart and makes us unique but it also shows that no matter is thrown at us we have the will to survive as a people.”

It is Gordon’s hope that UO will inspire other universities across the nation to represent their local tribes. “Being first in the Pac-12 means a lot. We should worry about our own neighborhoods first…. Let’s influence them and see what their response is going to be,” says Bettles. It might not look the same in each state. Bettles acknowledges that not every campus has a central location like the EMU to display tribal flags like, but the recognition of tribal nations is a step in the right direction.

The flags that now fly over the EMU will be part of an ongoing project. Some of the current flags that fly above the EMU are indoor flags and are waiting to be replaced with sturdier outdoor flags. “That’s called learning by doing and that’s further strengthens our relationships with the tribes because we had to get permission from them to order their own flags. The project is by no means finished and nor will it ever be.” Bettles hopes that with the funding they raised for the project there will be enough left over to place a kiosk in the UO Fishbowl detailing the project and each tribe’s history.

Ultimately, the collaborative effort of the students involved in the flag-raising project has created a legacy. Bettles said “I can see the residual effects it’s going to have on the students over a long period of time and hopefully every one of them will get a chance to slow down, take a look up, see the flags, and look at the base and start becoming interested in Oregon’s first inhabitants.”

Highlights from Folk Arts in the Parks

In June 2014, six Oregon artists delivered special presentations about the history and cultural significance of their crafts and traditions at state parks across Oregon. Folk Arts in the Parks was sponsored by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) along with the Oregon Folklife Network, the Oregon Arts Commission and the Oregon Cultural Trust. With the help of Parks and OFN staff, this diverse group of artists engaged with audiences through demonstrations, Q&A, and community conversation. Continue reading

A McKenzie River Legend

by Bruno Seraphin, Folklore Graduate Student

 
McKenzie River Fishing Guide and storyteller Robin Alexander relayed this story to me. The central character here is a fellow who lived by the McKenzie in the late 1800’s and claimed to be the “real” Huckleberry Finn from Mark Twain’s famous book. There are a number of outlandish stories about this eccentric man. This one tells how “Finn Rock” came to be so named.

Robin Alexander:

“He claimed that the rock was laying sideways in the wagon road. And he tied a whole bunch of cables and ropes to it, and he took a mule train across the river. And what he did was, he took those mules and pulled that rock up straight off the wagon road and stood it up right, where it exists now in the river.

And what happened was, the mules, right before it could go completely up straight, the mules were stopped because they were up against the mountain. So, what he had to do was pour water on the leather strappings. And from the sun, the leather dried and drew that rock up the rest of the way straight where it wouldn’t fall back, and that’s where it is today.

And there’s always a saying, if you look real close you can find cable marks on that rock. So, anybody that wants to can go look for those.”