Archive for March, 2010

Emily: Horrid!

Sunday, March 14th, 2010

The world is divided into two kinds of people: People who return their library books on time, and bad people like me, who keep them even after they are due and can’t be renewed. People willing to pay the 25 cent a day fine to keep a book longer.

This point was hammered home for me this morning when I turned to my regular reading of the New York Times’ Ethicist column by Randy Cohen, who tackles this exact topic.

And lo and behold!, look who’s asking questions of public library ethics — it’s none other than my good friend Rachel Bucci, Salem, Ore. resident and mom of one.

Here’s her question:

I borrowed “Juliet Naked,” the latest Nick Hornby novel, from my local library a few weeks ago. It is due today. Unfortunately I’m only about halfway through and can’t renew it, because it is on hold for another patron. I’m willing to pay the penalty, 25 cents a day, so I can keep reading. May I do that, or must I return it knowing that someone else is waiting for it? RACHEL BUCCI, SALEM, ORE.

And here is Mr. Cohen’s answer.

The Ethicist generally runs a few months after the issues are resolved, and that happened with Ms. Bucci as well. By the time she got her name in the New York Times — go Rachel! Every writer’s dream! — she had already decided the right thing was to return the book on time and check it out later.

That’s news to me. I still have the library’s copies of Jo Frost’s Confident Baby Care and Harvey Karp’s Happiest Baby on the Block, which were due on Thursday.

Don’t worry, I plan to make good on this library transgression by participating in the library’s FOOD FOR FINES program.

Apparently, when I am good, I am very very good, and when I am bad, I am horrid.

Or at least unethical.

Posted in Books | 5 Comments »

Score One for Salem

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

I’ve been talking to some of my young mother friends, and we’ve stumbled upon a tired family truism that, like all parenting discoveries,  may be old news to you but revelatory to the new parent:

A new couch improves your life by 150%.

We finally found said new couch in Salem, but before I get to that, let me tell you about our old couch.

Our old couch came from a second-hand store in Iowa City and, at just two seats wide, was small enough to fit in a tiny student apartment. You might call that a love seat, but when it’s all you’ve got, you, too, might couch your phrasing a little differently. Ours was grey and lovingly cat-proof and it got us through six seasons of LOST. But there wasn’t a whole lotta lovin’ going on there.

Old Grey Couch couldn’t stand up to late nights with the baby, though. After two months of periodically sleeping on the couch with our little lamb, my husband and I started to look a little crumpled, so we went looking for a replacement at our usual stops for consignment furniture, including Encore Consignment in Salem.

Adam fell in love with a couch there. It was purple and plush and probably would have taken up our entire living room. He  named it “Grimace” and was sure we’d catch it when its price dropped to 250 bucks two days later.

On the day we went to pick Grimace up, he was gone — snatched up by a lady who had arrived an hour before the store opened.

For the next few weeks, we made some sad trips to Portland, where we connived with lesser couches and were lured, however fleetingly, but the prospects of a new couch. And Adam continued to talk about the fabled purple Couch That Got Away.

A new couch! We haven’t bought anything but mattresses new… but considering the beating our old grey couch took in the four years that we had her, we began to consider the idea more and more. It would be our first major furniture purchase as a married couple.

Being stingy recyclers, we were feeling kind of torn, so we started to tell ourselves stories about why one might settle for something new.

There was that time when we pulled grey couch out of storage and found a dead mouse under a cushion…

So yes, we found a couch.  We found it on sale 55% off! — at Kuebler’s in downtown Salem. It’s a Broyhill, it’s firm and plush and perfect and supportive.

It’s the midnight parenting  these young parents needed — and it was totally worth it.

****By the way, Adam has the baby on his head because this is a proven position to combat the Dreadful Wails.***

Posted in Shopping | 9 Comments »

The Seeds More Traveled

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

It may be called Edible Portland, but the publication of Ecotrust’s Farm and Food Program is increasingly telling the food stories of the entire Willamette Valley, and sometimes, even of the whole state of Oregon.

I just wrote my first cover story for EP about the exciting work of a group of young people who call themselves the American Center for Sustainability.

It is the story of seeds more traveled. It’s about a man who was looking for a way to support the shift towards a more sustainable food culture and the solution he found — a volunteer project to bring seedlings to community gardens across Oregon. And it’s a road trip story with an old bus and a couple of dogs.

Along with a few volunteers, Ken Burrow delivers seedlings in old Trimet bus he christened Annapurna. The work of his group has allowed countless upstart community gardens across Oregon to make huge leaps in production in their first years. Good people doing good things for a better world.

You can read the current issue here. Photographer Leah Harb took the amazing photographs, including the kickin’ cover image. My story’s on page 18.

Posted in Food, Media | 2 Comments »

Art Opening at Hallie Ford

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

When was the last time you strolled the galleries of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, on the Willamette University campus? Last month? A few years back? Never? Seriously? You’ve never even BEEN there? There’s one major world-class art museum in this town and you haven’t shown your ugly mug there since you’ve been in Salem?

My fugly mug was there last week — and let its toothy smile tell you it’s time to revisit Hallie Ford.

In fact, get thee to Hallie Ford tomorrow night for the opening of the museum’s new rotating permanent collection. If you’ve read my column this month, you know that I think the revamp of the old gallery spaces there is a knockout. But maybe I’m just blowing hot air? (I’m not). Decide for yourself. It’s not often there is not-to-be-missed public opening of a revamped gallery featuring new works by some of Oregon’s most important artists.

For a primer on the new exhibition, called “On the Edge” (insert more specific subtitle here), read Professor Roger Hall’s shakedown on Pacific Northwest Art here.

And to mingle with the hoi-est of polloi, or maybe just some really engaged and interesting Salemites interested in art, you might want to go to the public opening, tomorrow night, 5-8 p.m.

I hope there’s wine and cheese, but if not, I’ll settle for another chance to look at Robert Hess’s “Passage.”

Posted in Art | No Comments »

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