—3— Book Club choice: Desai’s ’Inheritance of Loss’ The Book Club will meet at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 16 at Terwilliger Plaza, 2545 SW Terwilliger Blvd. Call Prue Douglas at 503-299-4928 to RSVP and for directions. We will talk about the Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, awarded the Man Booker Prize in 2006. The book is described on the cover: In a crumbling, isolated house at the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas lives an embittered judge who wants only to retire in peace, when his orphaned granddaughter, Sai, arrives on his doorstep. The judge’s cook watches over her distractedly, for his thoughts are often on his son, Biju, who is hopscotching from one gritty New York restaurant to another. Kiran Desai’s brilliant novel, published to huge acclaim, is a story of joy and despair. Her characters face numerous choices that majestically illuminate the consequences of colonialism as it collides with the modern world. The RAPS book group met in September and discussed the delightful bookWater for Elephants by Sara Gruen, which is currently on the best-seller list. Our discussion centered on relationships we found between this story of Depression-era circus life with our own experiences. We noted similarities between descriptions in the book of dreadful treatment of the unemployed and homeless during the Depression and recent news reports of home foreclosures as well as the growing number of homeless school children in the Portland area. We also related our own experiences with aging to those of the narrator, who finds himself in a nursing home at age 93. In November, we will discuss Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. There is no December meeting, but we will meet in January to discuss The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig. —Mary Brannan and Marge Terdal Bridge Group meets Oct. 9 The next meeting of the RAPS Bridge Group will be at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 9. We will meet at Willamette View, the home of Irene Place. The Bridge Group is open to new RAPS club reports Photos courtesy PSU archives RAPS wasn’t always RAPS, or even anything close. The forerunner, dubbed the Professors Club, was formed in the early 1960s by a group of senior academics. Professor Channing Briggs was the engine behind early efforts to develop a formal association of retired PSU faculty, and Professor John Elliot Allen did substantial groundwork to help form the association, which was originally named the Emeriti and Retired Faculty of Portland State (ERFOPS). By 1985, the name was changed to Retired & Emeriti Professors of Portland State (REPPS), and in 2001 to Retired Association of Portland State (RAPS), reflecting the inclusion of retired staff members. Past Tense features glimpes into Portland State’s past. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. Word count should not exceed 100. PAST TENSE Short course: From ERFOPS to REPPS to RAPS Channing Briggs John Allen members. Please call (503-292-0838) or email (colinkeld@gmail.com) me if you have any questions about the group. If you would like to play, please call or email me no later than Friday, October 5. —Colin Dunkeld Hikers head to Mount St. Helens The October hike will be at Ape Caves on Mount St. Helens on Oct. 26. Ape Caves are lava tubes, and most of the hike will be underground. We will traverse between the upper and lower entrances. Please bring a strong flashlight with good batteries. I do not believe that gas Coleman-style lanterns are allowed, but propane ones are allowed; I’ll try to confirm this before the hike. We’ll have a sack lunch at the Lava Cast Forest picnic area. Since we will not carry the lunches on the hike, coolers are OK. Meet at the Jantzen Beach Safeway parking lot at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 26. We will carpool from there. Please confirm with me at 503-771-1616 or larry_sawyer@comcast.net by Thursday October 25. The September tram hike was held after the October RAPS Sheet deadline. —Larry Sawyer
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz