APRIL 19, 2013

THE PIONEER LOG

FEATURES

Poet and Professor Mary Szybist talks about her inspiration

BY REBECCA PETERSEN
STAFF WRITER

Mary Szybist is an associate professor of English at Lewis & Clark and a poet of national acclaim. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to talk with her about poetry, faith and her new book Incarnadine, which is making a remarkable impression on critics. The Pennsylvania born poet received degrees from the University of Virginia and the Iowa Writers Workshop, and has earned numerous awards and features for her work. Her recent collection Incarnadine is characterized by experimentation with form and the incorporation of religious iconography, and was praised by The Oregonian as deeply felt and well-crafted, layered in content between the literal, the here and now, [and] the might-have-beens. Szybist describes poems as places where one can feel differently, where one can linger in ambiguity and acknowledge that emotions and beliefs that feel at oddslove and hate, faith and doubt, for examplecan be simultaneous. When asked about the title, a synonym for flesh-colored, Szybist explained the reference to Shakespeares Macbeth and said before going on to discuss the significance further: I also like [the title Incarnadine] partly because of its closeness to incarnation. Thats a big issue in the book: what is embodied, what is in the flesh, what is incarnate in the world, and what we make incarnate in the world, said Szybist. In Incarnadine, you utilize a lot of religious allusions and symbols. Did you have specific inspiration for this?

PHOTO FROM LCLARK.EDU

Associate Professor Mary Szybist I grew up in a religious household surrounded by Catholic ideas and icons. For a while I tried to get away from some of those images and concepts, but part of the project of this book is to acknowledge the myths and stories and sensibilities that are already in me and to reimagine them and put them to new use. William Stafford says that myth gets into poems because it is impossible to keep myth out of poems, and I think that thats especially true of the myths and stories that shape our early sense of ourselves. The Annunciation scene between the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary is the cover of this book, and recurs throughout the collectionis there any particular reason that this scene spoke to you? Well, I grew up attending the Church of the Annunciation, so I spent many formative hours looking up at that picture, that scene. I continue to find the scene beautiful and moving [...] it portrays a human encountering something fundamentally not human and suggests it is possible for us to see, perceive and hear something not like uswhich is I think very difficult to do. Its much easier to project ourselves onto things than to actually perceive something that is different. So, thats part of what I find really moving about the scene: the faith, the belief that that can happen. On the other hand, part of what I like about how artists have treated this scene, especially in the Medieval Era and the Renaissance, is that the artists dont portray complete embrace or union. They are not portraying sudden and complete understanding between these figures. They emphasize the distance between them. Often they emphasize it by literally putting columns between them. So the subject of a lot of the paintings is really the space between them, and thats something that I pick up on in a lot of the poems. Im interested in both the possibility of this kind of transformative encounter and also the difficulty of one consciousness ever really reaching another.

BY TOMOMI MASUDA JAPAN American people are friendly, Third, I realized many people eat a lot, and do not care about in this college were fashionable. their fashions. Furthermore, if American people These three ideas were my like someones clothes, they tell preconceptions before I came to them even if they are also not the U.S. When I arrived at Lewis friends. Japanese people take a & Clark for the first time, I was lot of time to prepare for school. absolutely sure that people in the Both boys and girls choose clothes U.S. are very friendly. As I passed and make their hair complete. If by people, they said hi to me they find an unfashionable person, despite the fact that we did not they may sometimes point it out. know each other. In Japan, if you Unlike Japan, American people spoke to a stranger, the stranger find a good point, and do not would feel weird. I was surprised care about a bad point. I also like at those who greeted me, and I this part of the culture. When I was happy at the same time. I like asked my American friends about this part of the culture better than American fashion, they answered the Japanese one. that people in Portland are more Second, we went to the fashionable than other cities. cafeteria, Bon, which prepared During Winter Break, I travmany kinds of dishes including eled to more than five cities in the vegetables. I heard that you could U.S., and each city has a distinnot eat healthy food in the U.S. guishing feature. America is so However, my preconceived idea big. Through my life in America, changed. American people care I learned that I cannot generalize about their eating habits more American traits. When I go back than I expected. When I looked to Japan, I will be asked, How at their dishes, they were well balwas America? I want to answer anced. Moreover, I sometimes eat the question in a way that will not more than Americans. cause misunderstandings.

Dear Virgins, How might one have sex with a self-proclaimed virgin? (Mostly Im talking to you, gay lady. Okay, Im talking about you, gay lady.) Signed, Another gay lady Dear Another gay lady, Omg who are you do I know you? Get back to me. Sincerely, Gay and sexually starved lady Dear Another gay lady, Yeah I dont think this is really about me. But I will tell you that my friend Gay Lady is really cool and has nice strong legs from biking and a fireplace in her bedroom. You want to get with this gay. Sincerely, Straight girl/Wing Woman

Dear Virgins

WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

BY LINDSEY BOSSE
STAFF WRITER

Campus is a place for living, learning, eating, sleeping, bathing, working, studying, exercise, gardening and everything else in between. Because of this, a wide range of resources are needed to make campus a livable and functional place. I decided to talk to Bon Apptit, the bookstore and Facilities to find out where some of the things we use come from. Bon Apptit Since Bon Apptit is part of a larger corporation, they have control over some of the products they order, but not all. For most food options, it is easy to shop local and opt for sustainable products. The various Bon Apptit accounts in Portland get to decide on what and from where they order food, meaning that not every account is ordering the same things from the same places. However, for products like dish soap and linens, Bon Apptit uses

companies with corporate contracts such as Sysco and Alsco, so each account uses the same cleaning supplies and tablecloths. When it comes to beef, one of Bon Apptits main suppliers is Carmen Ranch, which is located in Eastern Oregon. Beef is delivered weekly, although the raising and slaughtering of the cow is done on a seasonal basis. I enjoy knowing what were serving is traceable, said Chef Aaron Dionne, who is in charge of a lot of the product ordering. I can verify and vouch for all their claims. You have probably noticed that this year Bon Apptit has been serving Caffe Vita coffee. This decision was made by the Lewis & Clark Bon Apptit, as opposed to the corporation. Caffe Vita is a local company that distributes in Seattle and, more recently, Portland with a local roaster. The decision to switch to Caffe Vita was based on the integrity of the product, coupled with the recent opening of a new roasting plant in Portland.

Bookstore The products essentially separate into two categories: textbooks and not textbooks. There are several methods to choose the nontextbook items, which is handled by bookstore Manager Janet Kehn. The first method is through sale representativesmany live in Seattle and will travel to college bookstores with racks of items and stacks of catalogues. They will spend hours with the buyer rating the quality of products and the popularity of items. The second method involves buyers attending trunk shows. There are buyer groups such as the Northwest College Bookstore Association and Connect2One that meet once a year for trade shows with an assortment of college bookstore buyers. The main issue with being a small school is that companies that make products like T-shirts have a minimum count on their orders. With groups like the NCBA and Connect2One, smaller bookstores are able to find better prices with

lower order minimums. The bookstore is also a part of the Fair Labor Association and Workers Rights Consortium. This means that products purchased for the bookstore must adhere to a set of standards in their factories. These standards protect workers rights, ensure sustainable practices and maintain transparency in factory processes. There have been companies in the past that the bookstore has not been allowed to order from due to unsuitable working standards in product factories. Facilities Facilities is responsible for ordering everything from air conditioning control panels to tulip bulbs. Some products are easily ordered sustainably, and some arent. For example, a majority of the plants around campus are purchased from local nurseries. Sometimes products will be purchased from several locations in order to ensure that the healthiest plants are being purchased and planted.

Other products, like electronics and tools, are purchased from local commercial companies but are generally made in faraway lands. Some high-tech or old technologic parts have to be ordered from overseas. However, Associate Vice President for Facilities Michel George ensures that the disposal of products is done in the most environmentally friendly way possible. Sometimes, this means trying to reuse old things in a new way. Other times, it means disposing of electronics in a special manner to eliminate impacts of the products on the Earth. Sometimes you cant control your sources, but you can control how you get rid of them, said George. It is important to ask questions such as: are products local and environmentally friendly? The second concern is finance. Since student dollars are the ones paying for on-campus services, Facilities orders like to take that into consideration as well.