—3— Book Club: ‘The Women’ The RAPS Book Clubwill meet on Tuesday, June 15, at 9 a.m. at the home of Betsey Brown, Holiday Park Plaza, 1300 NE 16th Ave., Portland. Contact her at 503-280-2334 or aebport@hevanet.comto RSVP and for directions. We will discuss The Women, written by T. C. Boyle. The book is described on the back cover: Is it easy to live with a genius? T. C. Boyle’s dazzling new novel, The Women, will let you know. Having brought to life eccentric cereal king John Harvey Kellogg in The Road to Wellvilleand sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in The Inner Circle, T. C. Boyle now turns his fictional sights on the colorful and outlandish Frank Lloyd Wright. Boyle’s incomparable account of Wright’s life, as told through the experiences of the four women who loved him, blazes with his trademark wit and inventiveness. There’s the Montenegrin beauty Olgivanna Milanoff, the passionate Southern belle Maude Miriam Noel, the spirited and tragic Mamah Cheney, and his young first wife, Kitty Tobin. Boyle deftly captures these very different women and, in doing so, creates a sexy, gripping drama about marriage, the bargains men and women make, and the privileges and pitfalls of genius and fame. Looking ahead, our selection for July is the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, Olive Kittredge, written by Elizabeth Strout. We plan to meet throughout the summer. Check the RAPS Web site or contact Mary Brannan at 503-239-1077 or brannanmg@comcast.net for time, place, and selections. —Mary Brannan Bridge Group: Second Tuesdays The RAPS Bridge Group meets at 1 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month. The group is open to all members of RAPS. If you are interested in playing or need information about the group, please call me at 503-292-0838. —Colin Dunkeld Past Tense VIKINGS OUTLAST DUCKS Those of us retirees well remember the difficult times Portland State faced in its early days, much of it because the University of Oregon was constantly blocking our progress. In the first years of Portland State, progress was often stymied by an imperative that seems almost unbelievable today: any new course PSU faculty wished to offer required the permission of the like department or school at the University of Oregon. Obviously that institution fought hard not to allow Portland State College to grow beyond the size it was when it was known as Vanport Extension Center. Through some miracle two omnibus numbers made it through the Oregon State Board of Higher Education: 150 (lower division) and 350 (upper division). Although the University of Oregon never allowed new numbers to be added to our catalog, it was now possible to add courses through these two numbers. The catch: they had to be called “Special Studies.” The Music Department, for example, now could add very necessary courses such as Mus 350 Special Studies: Arranging, Mus 350 Special Studies: Counterpoint, and Mus 350 Special Studies: Composition (the colon was always necessary). The dean of the school of music at UO was furious, but there was nothing he could do about what the state board had dictated. As the years went on, Eugene was forced to relax its grip on PSC and new numbers were allowed, eliminating the “Special Studies” notation. For more about the early growing pains, please refer to Gordon Dodd’s history, The College That Would Not Die. —Gordon Solie Past Tense features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), e-mail the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. RAPS club reports Hikers: Drift Creek Falls On Tuesday, June 22, we will hike to Drift Creek Falls. The falls are located about nine miles south of Highway 18 and five miles east of Highway 101. It is a 3.7-mile roundtrip with a 340-foot elevation change. The hike will go through alders and secondand old-growth firs and hemlocks. Near the falls we will cross a 240-foot long suspension bridge. The falls and plunge pool can be seen from the bridge. The hike is listed in William Sullivan’s 100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Oregon Coast & Coast Range. Please bring a sack lunch to eat at the falls. We will carpool at 9 a.m. from our usual spot at the Cedar Hills Shopping Center near the DMV office. Confirm with Larry Sawyer, 503-771-1616 or larry_sawyer@ comcast.net, by Monday, June 21. —Larry Sawyer
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