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Food: Gardening:
Behavior
Modification
A wonderful convergence of community events this week celebrates the life and work — and play — of Ken Kesey. At the UO's Robinson Theatre, Dale Wasserman's stage adaptation of Kesey's novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest opened last week and continues through Nov. 22. While Kesey was often outspoken about his disdain for stage and screen adaptations of his novel, which shows society's ostracism of those who don't conform to proscribed models of behavior through the lens of a particular ward inside a mental hospital, he may have been happier with this version. Directed by former UO student Rob Urbinati, this production draws more inspiration from the book. The audience sees the events through the point of view of Chief Bromden (Sergio Martinez), a schizophrenic half-Native American. Sometimes Bromden exists on the plane most people are on most of the time; sometimes his visions are more hallucinogenic. In sharp contrast to Bromden's free-flowing reality, Nurse Ratched (Emily Peterson) has created an environment as starched and tidy as her nurse's uniform, a ward run with rigid militarism. When newcomer Randle Patrick McMurphy (Alexander Dupre) is admitted, all hell breaks loose. Whether McMurphy's mania is a harmful-to-others mental illness or just a really fun and slightly different personality type remains the question to ponder long after this set's been struck. Urbinati incorporates a unique sound design into this show: Act I assaults with 1950s syrupy pop spoonfed to the post-WWII masses, while Act II opens with Elvis — an obvious thrust toward the social revolution about to unfold. The set includes cleverly designed metal, curtained, cagelike structures moved around to be windows, walls and various other types of confinement. Ratched's nurse's station is also caged, showing her inability to break beyond her own bound existence. Both the sound and the set sweep a professional stroke across this production. Urbinati draws some incredible performances from the student actors. Dupre (McMurphy) is simply awesome. His presence grabs and holds the audience's attention throughout. Peterson's Nurse Ratched is wholly believable and highly focused. Martinez (Chief) is physically perfect for his part; he is both big and graceful, and just needs to dig a little deeper and give more resonance to his character. The rest of the ensemble is strong, but Marco Davis rises to the top as Dale Harding, a sane, married homosexual who remains on the inside to hide from society's prejudice. It's Harding who reveals the deeper truths — that guilt and fear lead to insanity; that the patients willingly remain inside. Davis shows remarkable control with sublime understatement as Harding grows from fearful to heroic. This production has a perfect balance of humor and pathos. I enjoyed every moment of it.
Soul
Food How are food and religion connected? EW spoke to local religious centers, and some scholars, including Katherine Ulrich, a DePauw University professor who teaches a course called "Diets and Deities: Food Themes in World Religions," to figure out whether fasting is a common way for people to express their faith. A fascinating variety of food practices have emerged across the religious spectrum. In some traditions, controlling your food serves as a form of self-purification and penance for past sins (see last week's cover story on Ramadan). In others, staying away from all food, or certain kinds of food, becomes a way to get closer to God or to show solidarity with the poor. Jainism, for example, places such importance on nonviolence that "even eating a vegetable is an act of violence" that attracts bad karma, says Ulrich. Monks and nuns frequently sweep their own paths to avoid stepping on insects. Some clergy too old to carry out their duties may even fast themselves to death as a way to atone for their accumulated bad karma. Less drastically, Jews also fast to repent for sins committed against God on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Believers go without food or water for 24 hours from sundown to sundown, often wearing white to signify purity. This also marks a time to ask fellow beings for forgiveness for any sins you've committed against them, says Deborah Green, UO professor of religious studies. And Tisha B'av, a fast on the ninth of the Jewish month Av, is held in memory of the destruction of the first and second temples in Jerusalem. One of the five "minor fasts" in Judaism revolves around the story of Esther, the Jewish queen credited with saving her nation. Esther ate nothing for three days to purify herself before going to the king — who knew nothing of her religion — to ask him to reverse his command for all Jews to be killed. In memory of Esther's bravery, Jews fast before the holiday of Purim and then feast to celebrate their survival. Purim is also the only holiday Jews are commanded to get drunk! Sikhs, however, do not believe in fasting for spiritual purposes. But they do restrict their diet: They eat no meat, and like Muslims, disapprove of mind-altering substances such as alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Sikhism emphasizes sharing meals as a way to promote community. "We like to mention in our history that when a beggar and a king came to the same court, they would eat the same meal before they met the guru," says Sat Ganesha Khalsa of the Eugene Sikh Gurdwara. Despite the image of the starving Buddha, fasting is not a Buddhist practice either. The Buddha fasted so strenuously he almost died, says the Rev. Oswin Hollenbeck of the Eugene Buddhist Priory, before realizing that such extremes were unnecessary in order to become enlightened. "I don't say this in judgment of any tradition, but for us, we found that not to be helpful," he says. Food is considered essential for the pursuit of spiritual success, as long as one neither denies nor indulges oneself in extremes. "The human body is our vessel and vehicle of our practice. We must not mistreat it or punish it in any way," says Hollenbeck. Hindu women will often fast for 24 hours to ask for blessing for the men in their family or their children, Ulrich says. Unlike Ramadan or Jewish fast days, which follow prescribed times, the fasts of Hindu women usually follow an individualized schedule depending on the deity to whom they pray. Many Native Americans pursue a spiritual vision of clear understanding, usually under the guidance of an elder, through a process that includes fasting from all food and drink. Some Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians and other Christian groups may observe 40 days of Lent, a time of personal reflection and repentance in preparation for Easter, when fasting usually means avoiding meat or other forms of self-indulgence. "Food is a good way to feel like you're controlling a lot of things," says Ulrich, because although we can't stop breathing or sleeping, we can stop eating for a while: Giving up certain foods for good, or all food for a short time, can help express one's spirituality.
Love
Those Oaks
Sublime weather drew a record crowd to this year's Mushroom Festival at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum. I wonder how many visitors noticed the magnificent Oregon white oak trees towering over their heads. Mount Pisgah is one of the best places to see Quercus Garryana, once the dominant tree in the Willamette Valley. (The Eugene area has two native oaks; we lie near the northern limit for California black oak.) Before white settlement, an estimated 1.5 million acres of valley land consisted of prairie with scattered oak trees, forming a habitat now called oak savanna. The landscape was kept open by fire, caused by both lightning and the food-gathering methods of the Kalapuya Indians. Whites brought diseases that devastated the Kalapuya, and the settlers pressed for fire suppression. Once burning stopped around 1840, upland prairie and oak groves gave way to Douglas fir and dense woodland, while the valley floor was plowed for farming. Oak savanna is now one of the region's most threatened ecosystems. Ed Alverson, who manages Willow Creek Natural Area in West Eugene, lives in Santa Clara. He feels there is cultural as well as ecological value in preserving our native oak trees. "Native oaks are really a key feature in the story of this place," he says. "As you look round my neighborhood you can still see big old oak trees. You can sit under a 200-year-old oak and imagine a Native American sitting under that same tree." If you have native oaks on your property, you'll be doing wildlife a favor if you preserve them. More than 200 species of mammal, bird, reptile and amphibian (as well as countless insects) use oak habitat for food and lodging. Local ornithologist Dave Bontrager stresses the complexity of the system, in which parasites such as wasps and mistletoe play an important role. Parasitic wasps make the hollow galls called "oak apples." When the wasp is done with it the oak apple provides a home for a new insect. Mistletoe berries are enjoyed by birds of the thrush family, including Western bluebirds. And according to Alverson, there is even a butterfly whose larva eats mistletoe leaves! Many species that use oak trees, including Western gray squirrel and the gregarious acorn woodpecker, do quite well around people. Humans, in turn, do well around oaks. Unlike Douglas firs, which can make a house and yard feel gloomy in winter, these oaks shed their leaves in fall and let in precious winter sunshine. Even in leaf they cast a benign shade, and it is easy to grow plants under them. There is a snag, though: You can shorten the life of native oaks by gardening beneath them if you use a conventional watering regime. One option is to make your oaks an excuse to do very little gardening. Just remove any competing conifers that will shade out the oaks, and mow under the trees each August to discourage new woody growth. Or you might choose to enrich the understory by re-introducing native plants that occur naturally in oak habitat. Alverson recommends California fescue ("quite ornamental, tall-growing with graceful seed heads") and Roemer's fescue, another bunch grass with fine textured evergreen leaves. He also suggests Geranium oreganum, Oregon iris, and shooting star (Dodecatheon hendersonii), all of which "look better in cultivation than in the wild." Landscaper Keith Oldham has considerable experience with gardening under native oaks, both on his own eight-acre property and for clients of Oakleigh Gardens. I asked him what advice he gives gardeners who are concerned about their oak trees. First, he said, "Avoid activities that will disturb the root structure, such as trenching and soil compaction. You want to avoid summer watering near the crown, which can promote root rot, so don't plant water guzzling plants like rhododendron and astilbe under your trees. Stick to plants that tolerate life on the dry side, like native flowering currant, sword fern, checker mallow, fawn lily and blue-eyed grass." Non-natives that don't need much water include sarcococca, daphne and hardy cyclamen, he said. An arborist can tell you if the oak trees on your property are native. Oregon white oaks have dark, often convex, leathery leaves with rounded lobes. The leaves of California black oak are pale, thinner and flatter, with pointed lobes. You can see the two together at Morse Ranch on Crest Drive. California black oaks in Eugene often look sick, but Alverson feels these big trees are just dying of old age. He thinks gardeners should consider planting both species from acorns. Plant lots of them, he says, and be prepared to outwit the squirrels. For more information about oak habitat, contact Walama Restoration Project (484-3939) or the Native Plant Society of Oregon. Rachel Foster can be reached by e-mail.
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