Marcus' World: Vacation: West Coast, Eugene, Ashland

My Mom and I traveled to Portland in 1995, as part of a Pacific Northwest tour that we took together right before I went to college. I loved Portland, as well as the Oregon coast and the waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge.

While in Portland that summer there were numerous advertisements for the world-famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. It was too far away for us to go, and ever since I've really wanted to attend the festival. I grew up watching my uncle Ed, a theater professor at Otterbein College, appear in various plays on campus or in downtown Columbus. And growing up I participated in many school productions. So theater is in my bones, but now as a spectator only.

This year I finally attended the Shakespeare Festival, as the culmination of a brief vacation that featured lots of coastal driving, obscure book acquisitions, and despair at the frequency at which I heard Rush Limbaugh on the radio (fortunately, this was only on the drive home and not all week.)

First I headed for the coast, because I'd also never been to the village of Mendocino (this has only been a goal for two years, since moving here.) As I discovered upon arrival, the Mendocino Theater Company is offering a production of Somerset Maugham's "The Circle" right now. Unfortunately, it wasn't playing on the day I was there. I did secure some nice pictures of the coast, and also engaged in a roiling debate about health insurance reform on Facebook. (This was all prompted by a status update in which I postulated that the opponents of "socialized medicine" use 911 even though it is socialized emergency relief.)

That first night I made it as far as Garberville, deep in the California Redwood Country. Best song on the radio that day, both for its passion and because it was so unexpected: Martha and the Vandellas' kick-ass Vietnam war protest anthem, "I Should be Proud."

The next morning I was in Eureka--where I resisted saying "I found it!"--by 11 AM, just in time for a morning beer at the delightful Lost Coast Brewing Company. I've enjoyed Lost Coast in Berkeley, so it was fun to go to the source. The rest of that day was mostly consumed with driving, and eventually I was in Oregon--the land of no sales tax, and where the road signs say "Speed" rather than "Speed Limit" (something I found odd in 1995, and still do.)

In Gold Hill, OR I picked up the incredibly wonky book The Federal Budget and Social Reconstruction: The People and the State for $4.00. It came out in 1978, as a project of the Institute for Policy Studies. In 1977 56 liberal Democratic members of Congress requested the study, as a left wing analysis of President Carter's social agenda. The chapters about the need for universal health care in the US are especially timely today, although it's hard not to get depressed by how far we still have to go to secure this fundamental right in the world's richest nation.

That night I oushed up 101 to Florence, OR, and was thoroughly tired by the time I arrived. But this was OK, because I wanted to be close to Eugene. The next morning I headed east on 126, and before I knew it was in the home of the University of Oregon. I love college towns, mainly because I know there will be many good bookstores. Sure enough, the marvelous Smith Family Books was there. Here I procured Lewis Hyde's magisterial The Gift, in which he defends the contributions of creative artists in a market-oriented society. Ironically--since the book is about the social importance of gifts and giving freely--I paid $8.00.

Eugene was further north than I realized; guess I wasn't paying much attention to the map. So the drive to Ashland the next day was longer than I'd expected. But it was on the way home, and I was still there by 12:00.

Ashland is beautiful, nestled in hills and loaded with parks and theaters (obviously.) Lunch at Larks was delicious, although since this was Oregon I was a bit put out by the 5% dining tax. (So are many Ashland restaurant owners, it seems.)

I'd come to Ashland with one play lined up--Much Ado About Nothing. That afternoon I splurged and bought a ticket for Clifford Odets's 1935 heart-wrencher Paradise Lost (the festival isn't all Shakespeare.) Odets masterfully chronicles the financial dissolution of a prosperous family shattered to pieces by the Great Depression, which certainly seemed timely this year.

I happened to be sitting next to a pharmacy professor from UC San Diego during the play (he started chatting with me, as I never talk to strangers.) During the second intermission we talked about library budgets and the future of libraries. With reference to the financial desolation we were witnessing on stage, I told him that something similar would happen to his online journal access if things don't change with how we pay for and distribiute scholarly content. It was an inspired, if strained, comparison.

On the day I was in Ashland, unbeknownst to me beforehand, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof was giving a free public lecture. (He grew up in Oregon, and he and his family attend the Shakespaeare Festival every year.) For years I've admired Kristof's moral compass, especially with regards to international human rights abuses. This week he spoke about the terrible problem of gender inequality in the developing world, which he and his wife Sheryl WuDunn have written about in their upcoming book Half the Sky. He also exhorted everyone to find a cause they believe in, which is not exactly new advice. However, I liked his reason: it will make us happier, along with making the world better (hopefully).

The second play was Much Ado, Shakespeare's comic ode to the disastrous consequences of unfounded gossip. This performance was in the outdoor Elizabethan Theater, on a picture-perfect night. I am very happy I was in Ashland, and hope to go again next year.

Below are a few pictures snapped along the way.