PSU Magazine Fall 2003

an electrical engineer, but I work in the power industry (high voltage and high current). l have been teaching my mentor (an electrical engineer) about mechanics and he is teaching me about power and electricity" '02 Barbara Forty is an accountant at Albertson's Distribution Center in La Habra, California. Kyleigh Kent is a Portland Rose Festival Association public rela– tions assistant. Kent lives in Portland. Herman Kwik PhD has joined Outsource Marketing of Belle– vue, Washington. The company provides strategy and project direction to businesses across the U.S. Prior to joining Out– source, Herman operated an international trading company serving the needs of food manu– facturers in Asia. Herman has also taught global business and marketing courses for the Uni– versity of Phoenix, Washington campus, since 2001. Miche ll e Schnoor is a market– ing specialist with State Farm Insurance in Oregon City. Mary Stiles owns the Water– front Bicycle & Skate shop in Portland. Karl Vakili has performed as a guest dancer with Oregon Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet, Pon– land Opera, the Skinner Kirk Dance Ensemble, and BodyVox. Vakili attended summer pro– grams at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Jaffrey Ballet Work– shop at San Antonio, and the School of American Ballet. He lives in Portland. '03 Corrie Johnson is attending a one-year program at the Ashmead School of Massage. Johnson writes," ... I will then be ready to take the board examinations to become a licensed massage therapist. lt is exciting, and I am looking for– ward to using the degree I earned at PSU coupled with my massage therapy license to pursue a successful career." She lives in Beaverton. D Gardening with Bouzouki By William Kallimanis '62 OST PEOPLE WHO DINE at a Greek restaurant in America enjoy hearing the roaming musician strumming Greek melodies on a bouzouki. But have they ever tried gardening with bouzouki? A six- or eight-string instrument that resembles the mandolin, the bouzouki, when played with two strings, emits a sound that is high-pitched, exotic, haunt– ingly melodic with the mysteriousness of the Eastern Mediterranean. A few years ago I purchased a couple of instrumental albums by Mikis Theodorakis and Manos Hadzidakis, which I like to play on the stereo. Much to my surprise I found that my wife, Helga, played the same records while cleaning house. I loved listening to the haunting but cheerful Greek melodies. I copied the music onto cassettes so I could play them on my portable player while out in the yard gardening. What a smart decision. The benefits of listening to bouzouki music while gardening are never end– ing. For those of us who know the words to the folk songs we can sing along. But just listening to the bouzoukis staccato sounds will stir your soul, relieve the stress of the work week, and make the birds come to your yard and sing- yes, sing. As soon as the bouzouki's high-pitched melodic sounds poured out of the player, the birds would perch on the conifers in my yard. When the mood would hit them and me, we would all sing along. What l didn't realize at first was that the birds only sang with the bouzouki playing of Theodorakis or Hadzidakis. When the cassettes stopped, the birds stopped. As soon as I changed tapes and the music started, they would sing again. l thought l was imagining things , but as l continued to prune and weed to the cassette concerts-the bird song always started at the push of the play button and ended abruptly as the tape ran out. I told the story to my neighbors, but no one would believe me. So one day, while the neighbors in our cul-de-sac were work– ing in their yards, I asked them to take a break and come O\'er for a cool drink. While we were relaxing, l asked them to take a moment to verify my story Sure enough, the birds sang-and stopped singing--every time 1 started and stopped the bouzouki music! As outside independent auditors would state, my story was "confirmed and independently authen- ticated, and verified by outside third par– ties." I was vindicated and the neighbors asked me , as they finished their drinks , to turn up the volume. Mr. Theodorakis and Mr. Hadzidakis, you have an audience you probably never dreamed of having in a part of the world far from Greece. On behalf of Oregon song– birds and myself, "Bravo!" You have touched us, and we will forever be soul brothers \j/U~oa8£11,<jna 't'Jl<; Zro11c;. William "Bill" Kallimanis, a former accountant and fina11cie1; lives , works, w1itcs, and gardens in B·nd. FALL 2003 PSU MAGAZINE 27