PSU Magazine Fall 2004

AROUND THE PARK BLOCKS Honoring Portland State Chicano/Latino students Respect, honor, and celebrate-these are the goals of the annual Chicano/ Latino Gala scheduled for November 13 at the Oregon Convention Center. The celebrity event includes dinner, dancing, and scholarships to be awarded to stellar Latino students. ln its eighth year, the gala raises money for future student needs in the University. Speaking at this year's gala will be MTV award-winning director Sergio Arau and his wife, acclaimed actress Yareli Arizmendi. Arau is also a visual artist, political cartoonist, and musi– cian . He won the Coral De Plata award at the Havana Film Festival for his animated short El Muro (The Wall) in 2001 , and A Day Without a Mexican, now showing in the United States, is earning awards in Europe and India. Arizmendi, a professor at Cal State San Marcos, translated the screenplay and acted in the movie Like Water For Chocolate and was lead actress in A Day Without a Mexican . The latter movie will play at the Northwest Film Center on November 14. For more information about the gala, contact Maria Alanis Ruiz at 503-725-4447. Sociology explanation is 'mind-opening' Sincere thanks to Professor Michael Toth and PSU Magazine for his elo– quent, mind-opening article in the Spring 2004 issue, "What sociology has to offer." Toths explanation of the sociological perspective furthers my own ongoing quest to understand A rock collection from out of this world The fireball accompanied by sonic booms was seen and heard from Canada to Northern Oregon and from the Pacific Coast to ldaho. The June 3 phenomenon was too fast and too heavy to be anything but a meteor, says Dick Pugh, an expert with PSU 's Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory. He estimates the meteor started out the size of a Volkswagen Beetle and as it entered the atmosphere over the Puget Sound it broke up many times, producing dozens of frag– ments . Those fragments , which can now be called meteorites since they hit the ground, are most likely strewn in the vicinity of Randle and Packwood, Washington. "We haven't had a fireball with a sonic boom since the mid-1990s ," Pugh says. "That means it slowed down below 700 mph , so that's why l think fragments may have reached the ground ." Meteorites are like gold to Pugh and his fellow Cascadia Meteorite Lab scientists, Alex Ruzicka and Melinda Hutson. Adding one of these latest meteorites to the lab's co ll ection will provide students and researchers with new opportunities for discovery. Ruzicka and Hutson established the Cascadia Meteorite laboratory at PSU in spring 2002, and it already L E T T E R S and construct an accurate picture of the human situation. His comments on the American myth of rugged individualism are immediately useful for both my per– sonal understanding and my commu– nication work at a public library district-an institution where we daily balance service to the greater social group against the personal desires of a contains a collection of more than 200 specimens valued at more than $1 million. Most of the meteorites are unclassified and have never been examined before, providing a unique learning tool for students and scientists. "Meteorites give us a free sample from other planets and asteroids," says Ruzicka . "And from asteroidal samples we can see the steps involved in forming the solar system and earth." Some meteorites even contain grains of material that are known to predate our solar system, he adds. The laboratory does not display the meteorites it houses, but recently Ruzicka and Hutson put together a public exhibit of 52 specimens for long-term loan to the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals in Hillsboro. They developed the exhibit as part of a three-year Education and Public Outreach grant from NASA. The grant also supports a middle school and high school education component. Anyone who has found fragments from the June fireball or wants more information on the Cascadia Mete– orite Laboratory may contact Ruzicka at 503-725-3372. For location and hours of the Rice Northwest Museum in Hillsboro , call 503-647-2418. few outspoken rugged individuals. lts too bad that I completed my required sociology class at another university before transferring to PSU; I think I would have enjoyed and benefited from a term or two in Professor Toths classroom. Sue Vanlaanen '92 Sent by email PSU Magazine wants to hear from you. Send your comments to PSU Magazine, Portland State Un iversity, PO Box 751, Portland OR 97207-0751; or to email address psumag@pdx. edu. We reserve the right to edit for space and clarity. 4 PSU MAGAZI E FALL 2004