November 2008
Video: Sophomore featured in Project Happiness documentary
For sophomore John-Nuriel Vissell, the key to happiness lies in doing what you love. During Vissell’s senior year at Mount Madonna School in Watsonville, California, his Values Education class was offered a challenging opportunity to evaluate the concept of happiness with two other schools from India and Nigeria. Selected by Project Happiness, a non-profit group inspired by the Dalai Lama’s book “The Ethics for the New Millennium,” these three groups were filmed for an entire school year while interacting with each other through the internet and eventually meeting in India on a trip to visit the Dalai Lama.
For Vissell, this experience was life changing. After his group asked the Dalai Lama how to obtain lasting happiness, Vissell noted, “He sat silent for a while, then responded, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ It was the perfect answer. This was the pinnacle of our work on this project. We ascended the mountain and as soon as we met with him on the summit, he sort of brought us back down to where we started.”
Santa Cruz Sentenial (Santa Cruz, Calif.) Spreading ‘Happiness’ worldwide - one young person at a time
Alum earns Vichrow Award for anthropological research
Selena Jorgensen ‘08 has been awarded the Rudolph Virchow Award for best undergraduate paper, given annually by the Society for Medical Anthropology. The award recognizes works that are deemed to reflect, extend or advance critical perspectives in medical anthropology. Jorgensen, a sociology/anthropology major, is now studying at Harvard Medical School.
In her senior thesis, The Little Clinic that Could: Neoliberalism, Structural Violence, and Community Resistance in Portland, Oregon, Jorgensen details the socio-economic effects of a local health clinic struggling to serve the uninsured. She writes:
“Unable to obtain sustainable funding, the clinic is in danger of being absorbed into the very system its directors had previously resisted. It must adopt bureaucratic policies to qualify for federal funding, which concomitantly entails accepting notions about patient prioritization that prevent the most vulnerable community members from accessing health care. Following the transition of this community clinic into a public entity reveals how the guidelines under which federal clinics function are in opposition to the purpose for which they are created and funded. If these federally funded clinics are unable to provide quality care for the uninsured, then what are they structured to do? How do these federal clinics represent political agendas and long‐standing historical processes which continue to reproduce inequality and enforce normalized standards upon vulnerable patient populations?”
Slideshow: Pamplin Society welcomes seven new members
The Pamplin Society of Fellows formally inducted seven new members in a ceremony on October 20th. This year’s inductees (Rebecca Fitch, Riley Johnson, Dieterich Lawson, Emily Nguyen, Lili Pill-Kahan, Leah Scott-Zechlin, and Alex Simon) joined the ranks of 21 students, more than 70 alumni, and four endowed professors. Membership is extended to seven students each year as they begin their second year at the College.
Members of the Society demonstrate the characteristics outlined by Dr. Robert B. Pamplin, the Society’s founder: an exceptional blend of intellectual talent, dedication to the welfare of one’s community, the habit of physical fitness, and personal integrity. The Society includes members with a diversity of achievements, talents, majors and geographic representation.
The student Fellows determine, plan, and implement a number of programs that the Society sponsors to enhance the co-curricular educational environment of the College. Upon graduation from Lewis & Clark, fellows maintain their membership for life.
Law Student Nick Kahl wins District 49 House race
Law student Nick Kahl attributes his win in the District 49 House race to voter outreach. Kahl, who took in 56% of the votes against his opponent John Nelsen, was not very surprised with his victory: “We ran an aggressive grassroots campaign. I’ve knocked on, I’d say, 14,000 doors. The amount of voter outreach – that was the difference-maker.” Although Kahl was pleased with his win, he stresses that he wants to make a difference in his community first and foremost by revitalizing the sense of pride in Rockwood that he was so used to as a child growing up.
The Gresham Outlook (Gresham, Ore.) Kahl ready to fight for East County in Salem
Media Alert: OPB documentary featuring Mitch Reyes premieres November 17
The Lewis & Clark Expedition was a pivotal moment in American history. But the story of York, a slave to William Clark and comrade on this journey, has been obscured by omission and stereotype. “Searching for York,” a film produced for Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Oregon Experience, paints a portrait of this unofficial member of the Corps of Discovery as it discusses the ways in which history is written.
Assistant Professor of Communication Mitch Reyes contributes his expertise in the field of public memory to the program.
The documentary debuts on OPB on November 17th at 9:00 p.m. “Searching for York” will be re-broadcast on Wednesday the 19th at 3:00 a.m. and Sunday the 23rd at 1:00 p.m.
Professor of Economics Eban Goodstein prepares for new climate-change teach-in
Professor of Economics Eban Goodstein is working to create another global warming teach-in, called the National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions, on February 5. Goodstein organized Focus the Nation, a nationwide dialog about climate change, last January; his new project will concentrate on the climate change policies put in place within President-Elect Barack Obama’s first 100 days in office. Goodstein is optimistic that this project will draw large crowds the way Focus the Nation did, which included 1,900 participating colleges and groups. “This is a time for young people to engage with political leaders in Washington and basically spend a day learning, and take that learning to decision makers,” said Goodstein.
The Chronicle of Higher Education (Arlington, Va.) Professor Who Organized Climate-Change Project Plans Another Teach-In
Alum Andrew Saunderson scores dream job
For alum Andrew Saunderson B.A. ‘08, life after graduation has been anything but ordinary. After being recruited to Lewis & Clark to play baseball in 2004, Saunderson discovered where his passions lay: in film-making. As a communications major, Saunderson took a documentary form class his senior year and was immediately hooked. When director Brian Lindstrom gave a presentation to his class, Saunderson asked him about any possible job opportunities or internships. The rest is history.
Andrew served as the production assistant for Alien Boy, a feature length documentary about Portland resident James Chasse, who died in September 2006 while in police custody. Alien Boy will premiere at film festivals in the Spring of 2009.
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