Monthly Archives: July 2010

John Kroger to Read from Convictions on August 21st

John Kroger, Attorney General of Oregon and Author of Convictions

John Kroger will read from his book Convictions at the Manzanita Writers’ Series at 7 pm on Saturday, August 21, at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita.

Convictions, subtitled A Prosecutor’s Battles Against Mafia Killers, Drug Kingpins, and Enron Thieves, is a professional and personal memoir that won the Oregon Book Award for creative nonfiction in 2009. The book chronicles Kroger’s decade long career as an assistant U.S. prosecutor working out of lower Manhattan, where he tackled organized crime’s biggest names and lowest operatives.

Kroger is the Attorney General of Oregon. His background includes service with the U.S. Marine Corps Force Recon, a degree in philosophy from Yale University, a law degree from Harvard University, and time as a senior adviser to presidential hopeful Bill Clinton. He has worked as a federal prosecutor, and law professor.

After years of taking down mobsters he needed a break and went on a solo bike ride across the country, attending to his own spiritual needs with as much energy as he fought for the public well-being. It’s this theme that resonates throughout: maintaining his personal convictions while convicting as many criminals as possible. In the end, he lasted longer as a prosecutor than most but eventually burned out and headed west. Still, after only a year of teaching at Lewis & Clark College, he was pulled back into the Enron investigations, and then found himself in the race for state attorney general. After only one year in office he has already fulfilled a campaign promise to establish an environmental crimes task force.

Following the author reading and Q&A, the popular Open Mic session will provide opportunities for the audience to hear nine local writers read from their original work. Interested writers sign up at the door to read; first come, first to read.
Writers interested in reading should check out the Open Mic guidelines and come prepared to read your original piece of work in five minutes or less.

The reading will be held at the Hoffman Center (across from Manzanita Library at 594 Laneda Avenue.) The building will be set up in a café style with coffee/tea and snacks available. Admission fee is $5. (Check out the 2010 schedule or contact Kathie Hightower, 503-739-1505; kathie@jumpintolife.net).

August 21st Workshop for Writers: Crafting A Writing Life

You want writing to be a priority in your life, but you keep getting side-tracked?

You wish you could focus on your writing, but you keep self-sabotaging?

You want to move from writing-as-hobby to writing-as-profession, but you don’t know how?

Lauren Kessler (www.laurenkessler.com <http://www.laurenkessler.com> ) and Thomas Hager (www.thomashager.net <http://www.thomashager.net> ) – who between them have written 18 books – will help you get serious about your writing life, from daily inspiration to annual budgeting. This one-day, high-energy workshop – with exercises and expert tips – will inspire you to up your game, whether it’s fiction, nonfiction or poetry. Learn from two writers in the trenches who have weathered the storms…and crafted successful writing lives for themselves as they raised three children.

Lauren Kessler, Author and Professor at the University of Oregon

 Lauren Kessler is the author of 12 books, including 6 works of narrative nonfiction. Her newest book, just released, is My Teenage Werewolf: A Mother, A Daughter, A journey through the Thickets of Adolescence. She is also the author of Pacific Northwest Book Award and Oregon Book Award winner Dancing with Rose; Washington Post bestseller Clever Girl; Los Angeles Times bestseller The Happy Bottom Riding Club and Oregon Book Award-winner Stubborn Twig, which was chosen to be the book for all Oregonians to read on the occasion of the sesquecentennial last year.

Tom Hager is the author of six nonfiction books and the former publisher of the University of Oregon

Tom Hager, Author

 Press. His most recent book, The Alchemy of Air, was named a “Best Book of 2008″ by Kirkus Reviews, and is a national finalist in Border’s “Original Voices” award program.

Saturday, August 21st from 10-3 Cost: $50.

Download and complete the Crafting Workshop Registration Form, and mail it in with your check to register.

Hoffman Center Offers Summer Drama Camp

Cast members from “Cassie the Crab and Rosita the Island Girl” , the 2009 Drama Camp production.

The Hoffman Center in Manzanita will offer a three-week Summer Drama Camp for children ages 5 to 18. Led by Annie Naranjo-Rivera, the camp will be held 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays, from Aug. 2 through 20 at 594 Laneda Ave.

 Students will audition for, rehearse and perform a full-length stage production of  “A Thousand Paper Cranes.” The play tells the story of young Japanese girl and her magical wish.

 Students will learn about stage acting, projection and movement, in addition to making original costumes and artwork for the production.

 No performing experience is necessary. Tuition for the camp is $100 for the whole session. As the camp runs over the lunch hour, participants should bring a lunch.

 Naranjo-Rivera has over 10 years of experience working with children on the stage. She studied at Lewis and Clark College for her BA in Theatre Arts. She has worked with numerous children’s theaters around the country, directing, stage-managing, designing sets and props, choreographing, and designing stage lighting.

 A limited number of scholarships will be available, thanks to the support of local businesses and art lovers. Parents interested should ask when registering.

 Register now by downloading Kids Camp Registration Form, phoning 503-368-3846 or e-mailing hoffmancenter@nehalemtel.net.

Manzanita Writers’ Series presents Cathy Lamb on July 17, 2010

Portland area author, Cathy Lamb

Cathy Lamb will read from her latest novel Henry’s Sisters at the Manzanita Writers’ Series at 7 pm on Saturday, July 17, at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita.

 Henry’s Sisters is a story of strength and reconciliation and change, with a Columbia River Gorge backdrop.

 A Publisher’s Weeklyreview says “Lamb delivers grace, humor and forgiveness…positively irresistible.”

 The Three Tomatoes Book Club blog declares: “If you loved Terms of Endearment, the Ya Ya Sisterhood, and Steel Magnolias, you will love Henry’s Sisters. Cathy Lamb just keeps getting better and better.”

 Previous books include Julia’s Chocolates and The Last Time I Was Me. Her next book, Such A Pretty Face, is due out at the end of July, and Holiday Magic, an anthology with Fern Michaels, comes out in November, 2010.

 Lamb has a B.A. in Elementary Education and a M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction, both from the University of Oregon. She was a fourth grade teacher for Beaverton Schools for more than seven years. In addition to writing seven books, she has written about 200 articles as a freelance writer for The Oregonian. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and three children.

 Following the author reading and Q&A, the popular Open Mic session will provide opportunities for the audience to hear nine local writers read from their original work. Interested writers sign up at the door to read; first come, first to read.

Writers interested in reading should check out the Open Mic guidelines at hoffmanblog.org <http://hoffmanblog.org <http://hoffmanblog.org> > and come prepared to read your original piece of work in five minutes or less.

 The series is a program of the Hoffman Center and will be held at the Hoffman Center (across from Manzanita Library at 594 Laneda Avenue.) The building will be set up in a café style with coffee/tea and snacks available. Admission fee is $5. Further information contact Kathie Hightower, 503-739-1505; kathie@jumpintolife.net.

Local filmmaker Andy Norris’s film “Source to Sea: The Columbia River Swim” to be screened in Manzanita on July 24th and 25th

Source to SeaThe Manzanita Film Series is proud to present “Source to Sea: The Columbia River Swim” on July 24th at 7pm and on July 25th at 2pm. Admission will be $6 for adults and $3 for children 13 and under.

This film takes a broad, sobering look at the history and destiny of what the indigenous people call Che Wana, the Columbia River. It also tells the story of why Christopher Swain subjected himself to a 13-month swim down its 1243-mile length. Using the swim as a thread, the present condition of the Great River of the West is revealed. Full of rare archival footage of the sacred Celilo Falls and Kettle Falls, now inundated by dams, the film also deals with the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, pollution from mining, the river in Canada, petroglyphs, salmon issues and the struggles Christopher encountered.

There will be a question and answer session with the filmmakers and a crew member after all screenings.

Ekahni Books will be on hand selling topical books as well as books on film at a 20% discount.

 Admission is $6 and theater concessions, as well as beer and wine, will be available for purchase.

Please contact Franz Hasslacher, franzhass@gmail.com for volunteer opportunities

Summer Art Camps for Kids

Lynn & the Boom Wackers (Summer 2009)

The Hoffman Center will host seven Summer Art Camps for kids during the week of Aug. 2-6. All sessions will be held at the Center building at 594 Laneda Ave. in Manzanita. The classes will cost $65 per student, with a separate lab fee added on.

“It’s All in the B-A-G,” a class for kids 5-10, will be held from 10 a.m. to noon each day and be led by Lynn Thomas. Students will perform simple tunes on recorders and boomwhacker, learning the difference between rhythm and pitch, and experiment with a variety of sounds while playing traditional folk songs. Lab fee $10.

“Clay PlayShop,” for ages 7-10, will be held 10 a.m. to noon each day and be led by Glenna Gray. Students will learn coil, ball and slab building techniques and explore surface decoration possibilities, and finally glaze and fire their own pieces. Lab fee $15.

“Dreams and Themes,” led by Mia Steury, will run from 10 a.m. to noon each day. Students, ages 5-10, will explore the secret world of dreams on canvas and create paintings inspired by the vibrant works of Mark Chagall. Lab fee $10.

“In Your Own Words,” for ages 5-10, will be led by local poet Travis Champ from 10 a.m. to noon each day. Students will learn to write their own stories, legends or adventures, and end up making a book to fill with their own words. Lab fee $5.

“Make Your Own Puppets,” will be led by Janet Maher from 10 a.m. to noon. She will teach kids ages 8-12 how to sculpt the head for their own puppet with clay and paper-mâché, paint and decorate a face, add hair, feathers or sequins, then design and attach a cloth body. Lab fee $8.

Nichole & Kids show off their art (Summer 2009)

“Multimedia Extravaganza” will be held 1 – 3 p.m. each day. Leader Nichole Poole will help students experiment with a variety of artistic media. “Come fearlessly and ready for fun,” says Nichole. “There are no rules in this class!” Lab fee $8.

“Hot Off the Press,” for ages 12 and up will also be held 1 – 3 p.m. daily. Sarah Skye Archer will lead students as they write journals and learn to print their own works on the Center’s printing press. Lab fee $5.

A limited number of scholarships will be available, thanks to the support of local businesses and art lovers. Parents interested should ask when registering.

To register download the Kids Camp Registration Form , phone 503-368-3846 or e-mail hoffmancenter@nehalemtel.net. Space is still available, so register now.