Portland State Magazine Winter 2011

Publishing in da U.P., eh! LAKE W OEBEGONE, che fictional rown Garrison Keillor reports from each week on National Public Radio, is a lot like Copper City, Michigan, population 200. Ar least, rhar's how Laura myth '80 and Elmore Reese '83 see ir. About three years ago, the couple moved ro chis remote corner of che world on the edge of Lake Superior. Bur even in rhe remotest corners, culrure can sprout. Smyth and Ree e own Thimbleberry Press, a small, on-demand publi hing company char produces Adventures in the U. P., a magazine for children about the adventures of a dog, and Further North, a magazine about life and arr in rhe region rhar feature the work of local writers and photographers. The press also has rwo book under its imprint: Draw on Culture, an activity book to introduce children to Chinese cu lture, and Dragon's Daughters Return, 'TT1imbleberry's first book. myth , originally from up rare New York, and Reese, a Portland native, would visit family in Michigan's remote Upper Peninsula, or rhe U.P. as it's known, and fell head-over-heels with rhe whimsical Lake Woebegone quality of the area. "Ir's a very odd, quirky, pretty place," ays myth. "We just sort of fell in love with ir." In moving to opper icy from Montclair, New Jersey, die couple Alumni laura Smyth and Elmore Reese are producing literature for adults and children in Michigan's remote Upper Peninsula. and their daughter, Jane, gave up easy access to the opposite kind of place, New York, which is jusr 12 miles away from Montclair. Today, all their publications are print– on-demand, which helps keep overhead low. Still, Thimbleberry Pre s is young, and che publishing world is struggling. So, Reese and Smyth both hold ocher jobs, but the hard work, they say, is worth it. "'Press' is what we know," says Smyth. "It's what we love to do." Come to campus PSU Theater Arcs presents Fefu and Her Friends, a hallucinogenic, Obie Award-winning play by avant-garde dramatist Marie Irene Fornes about the lives of 1930s aristocratic women. This West Coast premiere of the Cuban-born playwright's one-set ver ion run Feb. 25 ch rough March 5 in Lincoln Performance Hall. Tickets are$ l 2 for adults; call the PSU Box ffice at 503-725-3307. ■ FANFARE WINTER 2011 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 7