Portland State Magazine Winter 2012

Portland Seate Magazine wants to hearfrom you. E-mailyour comments to psumag@pdx.edu or send them to Portland Scace Magazine, Office ofUniversity Communications, PO Box 751, Portland OR 97207-0751. We reserve the right to editfor space and clarity. ··· ······· ·· ··· ···· ······ ······ ·· ······ ··· ·················· ·········· Objecting to Condoleezza Rice To have Simon Benson's name associated with Condoleezza Rice is a disgrace co our PSU collective conscience (Portland State Magazine, Fall 2011, "Simon Ben– son Awards Dinner"). Ac che very lease, Ms. Rice was a conspirator in deception and misinformation leading directly co unjustifiable invasions and occupations, countless deaths ofAfghans, Iraqis, Pakistanis, and Americans. In league with other national figures, her actions led co an era marked by warrantless wiretapping and expanding broad abuses of presidential power. Dale A. Brounstein '69 EDITOR'S NOTE· See article on page 18. No boss is the best boss I read with interest the article in the fall edition of Portland State Magazine, "How's Work?" I recall my first years as a PSU grad trying co find a decent job in what was then the post-Vietnam war recession. My first employer used to like co say that his method of dealing with low worker morale was co "scare firing people until morale improves." Keeping your head down, a respectful look on your face, and appearing as though you're hard at work was the key co survival. After a few years I had an opportunity co scare my own sales repping business. This became the happiest time of my working life. I would work long weeks on che road, but then decide co take a week, or so, off and hang out on a beach somewhere in Mexico without having co grovel hat in hand co some cranky boss. Those of us of a certain age recall when it was possible in America co buy individual health insurance chat actually covered you and was affordable! Those times have been gone for a few years now, and if you don't have a job these days you'd better stay healthy until your Medicare eligibility kicks in, as indi– vidual coverage covers hardly anything important and the premiums and deductibles are simply ruinous. For chis reason I had co go back co working for a company again and resume my place at the oar as a galley slave. Chris Lawrenson, 1974 student Alikeness of evil? I received my Portland State Magazine (Fall 2011) and was a bit taken aback at the artwork on the cover. Was it your intention co make the "boss" on the cover look like the SciFi– esque "love child" of Hitler and Stalin? I'll grant you, Corporate America does seem to have arrived-I'm wondering if this was your message too? Jim Harrison '95 Taking it to the streets I could not help but chink back co the cover photo on your Spring 2010 issue of Portland State Magazine after watch– ing so many cities, including Portland, erupt in peaceful protests and occupa- tions of public areas in support of Occupy Wall Street. le so much feels like che Park Blocks in May 1970! Suddenly che piece you wrote on the 40th anniversary of the PSU Student Strike no longer seems like some impossible to imagine historic anomaly. eeing che earnestly hopeful and joyous kids out trying co change the world and saying what we once-young folks said so long ago fills me with hope in these scary times. I think that if there is anything I could offer co the organizers of today it is co understand that simply filling the streets with enthusiastic protest- ers will not alone achieve the desired results. Back in che '70s we were able co eventually stop the Vietnam War, but in the end we had no truly lasting affect on American policies, because we failed co enlist che support of the wider society. Today's protesters already seem co be reaching out beyond their own circle by gaining unions and other groups to support them. The example being set here, so far, has been a positive one, and I think if they continue along the path they have chosen then their movement can be redemptive for America. Doug Weiskopf '71 WINTER 2012 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 3