2006 Archive

Professor Wendy Schiller comes to town!

We’ve got some exciting political races this year. The Washington senatorial race is heating up. Ditto for the Connecticut LaMont-Lieberman showdown. And is there any chance that the Democrats will start to take momentum from the Republicans, after a couple sessions being the minority party in both branches of government?

To help us sort it all out, one of the nation’s foremost political experts is coming to Portland. This is Professor Wendy Schiller from Brown’s Political Science department. She has won a Fulbright Award, and prior to teaching was a Research Fellow at the Brookings Institute and a legislative aide to New York Senator Daniel P. Moynihan and New York Governor Mario Cuomo.

For Professor Schiller’s full cv, please take a look here

It’s an honor to have Professor Schiller visit us. So without further ado, here are the details:

  • What: “Congressional Elections as Vehicles for Change in American Politics – What will 2006 bring?” An Evening with Brown Professor Wendy Schiller
  • When: Thursday, October 12, 2006
  • Time: lightly catered reception at 6:30 PM, program begins at 7:00 PM
  • Where: Vey Conference Center, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, Oregon Health Sciences University
    Directions: www.ohsu.edu/about/directions.shtml
  • Cost: Free for students and graduates after 2001, $5 for alums and folks they bring, $10 for non-alums
  • RSVP: Yes, please go here to sign up.
    If you have an account on Brown’s alumni website, please use it to register for the event.
    If you do not have an account (or are not an alum), please click on the ‘here’ at the top of the page at the end of the sentence that says “If you don’t have an account, you can still register for this event here.” That’s it!

Sunday, July 16th, NOON: Summer family extravaganza at Peter McDonald’s (’63) farm

The Brown Club summer picnic is coming into sharp focus — it’s going to be a great time! It’s our first attempt at an event for entire families to enjoy. Don’t worry, it’s going to be darn fun for non-families, too.

The picnic will take place at local alum Peter McDonald’s (’63) farm in Wilsonville. Thanks to the McDonald’s generosity, we will get to soak up the sun on approximately 360 acres of working hazelnut and timber farm. There will be a swimming pool, tennis courts (please bring white shoes and your own equipment if you want to play tennis!), volleyball, frisbee, croquet, and all sorts of barbequed goodies. Families and kids are welcome, nay, _encouraged_ — the only restriction on attendance is no pets. The farm is right on the west bank of the Willamette River and should be gorgeous.

We could also use some help at this one. Any alums out there interested in volunteering in any of the following ways, please email Sam.

  1. Organizing the music? Live music would be terrific. There are certain alums I know of that would be AWESOME at this so if there are no volunteers I’ll have to start applying pressure (Jessica & Mike, Mahesh, you know who you are 🙂
  2. Helping with the setup, cleanup, and/or cooking? We have one barbeque volunteer so far!
  3. Organizing games for the kids? Or young at heart? I can give an Ultimate frisbee lesson.

Please note that Brown has created a full-on registration system for these events now. Please RSVP via the link provided below. I’m sure there will some kinks in the system as people try to register so please drop me a line if you have any problems.

    What: Brown Club of Oregon Summer Picnic
    When: Sunday, July 16th, NOON
    Where: Peter McDonald’s farm, 15700 Wilsonville Road (driving directions below)
    RSVP: Yes, please, here.
    Cost: Suggested donation of $5 per adult attendee

Driving Directions:
Take I5 south to Wilsonville
Get off at exit 283
At the exit stop sign, turn RIGHT onto Wilsonville Road
Drive 4.5 miles
Road marker shortly before destination is Edminston Road to the right)
Turn LEFT into driveway at 15700 Wilsonville Road

Friday, April 21, 2006: Wordstock Dinner with Andrew Scott Greer ’92

Debi Coleman ’74 is hosting guest author Andrew Sean Greer ’92, who studied literature while at Brown and was chosen as Commencement Speaker at his graduation. He then went on to earn his MFA at the University of Montana. Since then Greer moved first to Seattle and then to San Francisco and began to have his work published in magazines such as ESQUIRE; THE PARIS REVIEW; and STORY before releasing a collection of stories: HOW IT WAS FOR ME (Picador 2000). His first novel, THE PATH OF MINOR PLANETS was also published by Picador in Oct 2001 to much acclaim. His second novel, published in Feb 2004 by FSG, THE CONFESSIONS OF MAX TIVOLI, was compared by John Updike to the works of Proust and Nabokov in his NEW YORKER review. It has already been translated into 12+ languages. This novel became a TODAY SHOW Book Club selection. Mr. Greer has won The New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award as well as the California Book Award.

Debi is underwriting the dinner which will be catered and feature fine Oregon wines. Guests will be expected to make a $25 donation/person to the non-profit Community of Writers, the beneficiary of Wordstock. NOTE: This event is limited to 30 people; Brown alums may bring one guest. Please RSVP to Debi Coleman right away if you would like to attend.

Sunday, April 23, 2006: AN EVENING WITH IRA GLASS ’81: RADIO STORIES AND OTHER STORIES

Ira is one of the best-known Brown alums in the country, as he both produces and hosts THIS AMERICAN LIFE on NPR. The show has garnered a galaxy of awards, including The Peabody, and Dupont-Columbia Awards. In 2001, TIME MAGAZINE named Glass “Best Radio Host in America.”

The event will be held at the First Congregational Church on 1126 SW Park Ave, in downtown Portland and it starts at 7 pm. Tickets are already being sold through Ticketmaster for $25, student/senior $20 each, but Debi has arranged for a group discount price of $18.75. Please email Debi Coleman to reserve your spot.

January 5, 2006, 7 PM: Annual Brown Holiday Party

The annual Brown Club of Oregon holiday party (this year it’s an EXTRAVAGANZA!) is right around the corner. At this event we treat the current crop of kids at Brown to some time with us (ancient alumni) as well as welcome the class of 2010 (students who were admitted early decision: there are 3 of them from our region this year). Harris Matarazzo has generously offered to host (okay, we applied extreme pressure) for the second consecutive year. Delicious food, drink, and conversation will abound!

To spice up this year’s event (if that’s possible after the _crazy_ 2004 event), we are also going to regale you with exciting stories from Teddy “Cave Dog” Keiser ’94 and Emily “Last Name” Lindsey ’02. Cave Dog is going to take us through gorgeous hikes across America, places he traversed in his record-breaking “50 KM in 50 States” mountaineering. Emily will take us to Antarctica, where it is cold. I think. Should be a lot of fun, regardless.

    What: Brown Club of Oregon FY2005 Holiday Party
    When: Thursday, January 5th, 2006, 7 PM
    Time: 7 – 9 PM
    RSVP: Yes, please, to me! It’s totally easy, just hit the “reply” button on your computing device

The food will be great, the company will be better, the new admittees will be younger (and smarter) than ever. I hope to see many of you there. Thanks and happy holidays from the Brown Club of Oregon!