Freshmen are staring at a poem. This is a strange and frightening thing. Through the windows, we are painted briefly in changeable light. Late-winter weather swirls up the Columbia Gorge, reminding Portland of its place in this big world. It’s a beautiful moment, somehow poignant. Should be good for poetry. Yet I know that some […]
Education
Posted inDecember 26, 2005: A New Green Revolution
Universities lag on organics
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “A New Green Revolution.” David Oien of Timeless Seeds has an immediate reaction when asked if the soils and agriculture departments at state universities have been helpful to organic farmers: “No!” “But then again, the average (conventional) wheat farmer would say the same thing,” […]
Posted inOctober 3, 2005: Out of the Four Corners
What’s at stake in the evolution debate
On my desk is the fragment of a tooth from an ancient camel that roamed the area around Fossil, Ore., 40 million years ago. My kids and I unearthed it on a summer camping trip, and today I found myself fingering it as I read yet another story about the evolution “debate.” This controversy pits […]
Posted inWotr
A little-known clause can be a killer
Few people know about Section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act, but it can be a killer. Known as the Military Recruitment Clause, it requires public schools to give information about students to military recruiters. Schools, of course, are eager to perform this service to the armed forces since failure to comply carries […]
Posted inOctober 11, 2004: The First Family of Western Conservation
University gets smart about food
In May 2003, two environmental studies graduate students at the University of Montana in Missoula teamed up with the university?s Dining Services, a $2.5 million-per-year business, to start the Farm to College program. Since then, the efforts of Crissie McMullan and Shelly Conner have made large-scale local food purchasing a reality: The university has bought […]