Brian Taylor, ESU Portland, Oregon, Newsletter Editor and Webpage Administrator.
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Founding of the Portland branch
The Portland branch of the ESU was founded in the late 1920’s. Mr. & Mrs. Frederick Strong had visited Great Britain where they met members of the ESU. On their return, the Strongs assembled the first ESU group in Portland. | Recent Events
On the afternoon of Sunday, September 14, President Art Dodd and Vice-President Diane Plumridge opened their lovely home to welcome ESU members and prospective members to a wine and cheese party, which quickly turned into a feast of fruits, vegetables, cookies, cakes and more! Those 30 or so people who attended enjoyed visiting with old and new friends, and encourage others to come to future gatherings. Our thanks to Art and Diane for all the effort they put into this get-together.
The guest speaker at the meeting on September 24, Judge Judith Matarazzo of the Multnomah County Circuit Court, entertained, educated and charmed her audience with vignettes of cases that have come before her. Her wisdom, as well as her caring and sensitive handling of her cases, impressed those present. Thanks to Judge Judith for giving her time and experience, and good luck to her for the future.
For those who were able to attend the dinner meeting on October 15 it was an inspiring evening. Two representatives from a local organization called Self Enhancement Inc. explained how their staff and some 563 volunteers have worked this year to improve the lives of 2700 under-served young people, aged 8 to 25, by helping them to graduate from high school, and gain admission into college, some with scholarships. SEI operates on the principles of integrity and respect. It is achieving national recognition for its success. Many thanks to Miki Hunnicutt and La Shawn McCarthy for making us aware of this outstanding program.
Quinland Porter’s wonderful report of the Portland ESU meeting on October 8, 2008
On the evening of October 8, our E-SU branch held an unscheduled meeting for whoever could attend to hear an Iraqi biologist talk about his experiences working with the Allied military forces in Iraq and to give us an amazing thumbnail sketch of the last 30 years in that decimated and desolate country. He called his land, once called the "Fertile Crescent", "the Country of Lost Potentials", saying that in the last 30 years 4000 to 5000 years of civilization and culture have been nearly obliterated.
The territory we now call Iraq was part of the Ottoman Empire until its dissolution. It was then occupied by the British until 1921, when it achieved independence. Its first university was founded in 1922 in Bagdad, open to both men and women. He was quick and proud to point out that of all the Islamic nations, Iraq has never condoned the subjugation of women. Before the l990's, 80% of the dentists and 70% of the pharmacists in the country were women, not to mention teachers, scholars, artists, journalists, etc. The destruction of Iraq started, he said, with the war with Iran in the '90's and the rise of Sadam Hussein and his regime, followed by that same regime's invasion of Kuwait, leading to Desert Storm and the Persian Gulf War, and then by what he called "The Economic War, which included various embargoes and economic sanctions which actually victimized widows, children and the elderly and failed completely to affect Sadam Hussein, his family or his cabal at all!
When the allied troops arrived in Bagdad, our speaker who is fluent in English, found himself trying to teach both sides how to interact with each other without bloodshed! In an attempt to avoid simple misunderstandings both linguistic and cultural, he started with the American troops and gradually worked up through the ranks. "It worked," he said quietly, "I saved a lot of lives." The military was delighted with him, and soon he was working as interpreter and advisor to officers as well as men, including the allied military High Commands, "but," he added sadly, "the Embassy never understood; they never did get it!"
Though a microbiologist, with the city in chaos and his laboratory work impeded, he started working as a journalist, attempting to widen understanding among the peoples of Bagdad and the Allies. This led to his starting to write articles and columns for the U.S. press and other European news sources, which ultimately targeted him and his family for "elimination". He and his wife prepared for quick flight if the need arose. The day came. His wife phoned him at his office at the U.S. Embassy in mid morning that a large black X had just been painted on their front door! This is a signal used by Al Kaida to indicate the inhabitants are next on their list to be exterminated and to warn the neighbors to flee, so as not to be caught in cross fire or explosions. He tore home, threw the packed bags sitting by the door into the boot, as his wife bundled their two toddlers into the car, and they were off into Jordan, which was then still admitting Iraqi nationals across her borders. They later learned that less than an hour later their home was riddled with bullets through every window and thoroughly ransacked!
The family spent nine months in Jordan as refugees, waiting for a U.S. Visa, and came straight to Portland when one was obtained through the efforts of Amelia Templeton, who had known the family in Bagdad, and of Senator Gordon Smith, and Rodney Page, former head of both Ecumenical Ministries and of Church World Services, and under the sponsorship of Portland's First Christian Church, which has let the E-SU use its classrooms for our English In Action program for so my years. While here in Portland, he has volunteered at OHSU and spent a great deal of time training the officers and men and women of the Oregon National Guard in the language and cultural issues they will find in Iraq.
The speaker lacked the histrionic, excited hyperbole of our media. A quiet gentleman, he reminded me forcefully of some of my favorite graduate school professors, presenting his material in a well organized and clearly expressed way that assumed we were intelligent, educated beings who could assimilate his information and make our own conclusions. His English vocabulary seemed inexhaustible, and he used it simply and with no confusion. He told us a great deal more than I was able to get down in my notes. A spirited number of questions followed, and we came away knowing we had learned a great deal about Iraq that we had never gleaned from the media. This was, alas, a single opportunity not to be repeated for those who had to miss it. He and his family are relocating shortly to the Washington, D.C. area, where he will be using his multilingual and journalistic talents as well as the lessons he has learned in the last few years, working for the Mid East Broadcasting Network, which broadcasts throughout the Near East and also to the Islamic populations in the U.S. midwest and eastern seaboard. We wish him and his family well, and hope that they may someday return to Portland, where they have many friends and well-wishers.
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