On Tuesday, November 5, the Associated Students of Clark College (ASCC) and Activities Programming Board (APB) presented Democracy, Dogs, and Donuts to celebrate civic engagement on election day. Students handed out “I voted” stickers, provided voter information and delicious donuts. Therapy dogs — dressed flamboyantly in patriot red, white, and blue — mingled in the crowds to help soothe election anxiety.
For many Clark students, it was their first time being eligible to vote in either a general or a presidential election. ASCC student government led the effort to encourage new voters by hosting voter registration events on campus and directing students to the ballot box on campus.
ASCC Civics and Sustainability Director Keith Christian said, “ASCC and APB held the election day event as a way for Clark College students to celebrate our nation’s right to vote and get more engaged in the Clark College community. Helping Clark College students by engaging them in activities, volunteering, and getting more involved, we can find more ways to connect with each other and the community we live and work in.”
About ASCC and APB
The Associated Students of Clark College (ASCC) student government advocates and represents Clark College students by serving as the liaison between students and faculty, staff, administration, and the community.
The Activities Programming Board (APB) is charged with the creation of a comprehensive events calendar to include cultural, educational, family, and social events for Clark students both on-campus and virtually.
Photos: Clark College/Carly Rae Zent
Learning About Tribes
Did you know that Native Americans couldn’t be United States citizens until 1924, and that state law continued to prevent some from voting until long after that? Did you know that California committed a genocide against Native Americans — and only apologized in 2019?
Jhon Kuppens delivered the third and final Penguin Talks on October 31 at Vancouver Community Library. He spoke on the theme ofNative American, Indigenous or Indian? – about American Indian tribal histories, sovereignty, federal trust responsibility, and rights. Kuppens discussed the impact of tribal politics, culture, law, jurisdiction, and values while examining the legacy of historical trauma.
Kuppens is an enrolled member of the Gabrielino-Tongva Indian Tribe, a California Indian Tribe known as the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians. He holds a Master of Legal Studies degree in Indigenous Peoples Law from the University of Oklahoma College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science from Washington State University.
Kuppens shared his own story. Because of his name inherited from his father, he was frequently told “you don’t look Native American,” which he found very hurtful. His mom’s side was an early California family, and he is descended from enslaved Native Americans forced to work at the San Gabriel Mission run by Spanish colonizers. He asked if anyone had read the book Island of the Blue Dolphins growing up. “That’s my tribe.”
While he was immersed in his culture growing up, he was always told to hide his Native American and Spanish heritage from those outside the tribe. “It was [perceived as] a negative thing.”
He explained that while he knew some about his own tribe’s history, there was much he didn’t know about the history of tribes across North America growing up.
When he was a young man, he became curious about his heritage. After an interaction with the Bureau of Indian Affairs gave him a glimpse of the complexities of tribal law, he dived further in to learn more and eventually became a lawyer himself.
Tribal rights
While many tribes have treaties with the United States that protect their rights, the United States has disobeyed those treaties.
Getting federally recognized is an incredibly complicated process with two pathways: acts of Congress, or an extremely complex recognition process through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Many tribes have been fighting for federal recognition for decades. Even Sacagawea’s tribe, the Lemhi-Shoshone, is not federally recognized.
The United States frequently gave unwanted desert land to tribes for reservations. Now, companies attempt to take natural resources from those lands against the will of the people who live there. For example, the Navajo Nation has and is near a lot of valuable uranium deposits. Mining is creating health hazards for the Navajo people and they are trying to take legal measures against the miners.
Jurisdiction can be very complex on lands belonging to Native Americans. It can be very difficult to determine who has the rights to what under criminal law, family law, and public services.
Local tribes
Tribes local to our area include the Cowlitz Tribe, the Chinook Nation, the Yakama Nation, and more.
Local tribes helped Lewis and Clark survive winter as they traveled through what is now known as the Pacific Northwest.
Cowlitz Tribe only recently gained federal recognition (2000) and a reservation of their own (2015).
Chinook Nation has been fighting for federal recognition for over 120 years. They were briefly recognized in 2001, but the status was revoked 18 months later.
In 2022, the Yakama Nation won a court case against Klickitat County which preserved their ownership of treaty-granted lands on Mount Adams and in Southwest Washington.
Speaking about Native Americans with respect
Native Americans don’t like being considered “minorities,” and most don’t prefer the term “Indian.”
Alaska Natives should not be called “Eskimos.”
The terms “Indian-giver”, “totem pole”, “powwow”, and “off-the-reservation” when used as casual idioms are rooted in racism and disrespect of Native American culture.
Kuppens ended his talk with a tip: “When you meet tribal people, have a kind heart towards them.”
Clark College and Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries partnered to present Penguin Talks, a lunchtime speaker series at noon on three consecutive Thursdays in October in the Columbia Room at Vancouver Community Library, 901 C Street, Vancouver. The free, public series featured local experts sharing their knowledge about critical topics impacting our community.
Students and employees came together for the quarterly Students with Disabilities Luncheon, with guest speaker Sandra Bush, pictured at the podium (far right).
Sandra Bush (they/them) has psychogenic non-epileptic seizure (PNES), a diagnosis that changed their life and also pushed them on a personal journey of discovery.
Bush, a Clark graduate and now Clark employee, shared their story with Clark students, faculty, and staff at the fall term Students with Disabilities Luncheon on October 22. The free event is presented each term by Clark’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The purpose of the luncheons is to allow students and employees to hear inspiring stories, connect with faculty, meet new friends, consider different career paths, and identify community resources and potential mentors.
Bush spoke about how they learned to cope with their diagnosis and stop allowing society to define them.
“Society is going to always have something to say about your ability or lack of,” Bush said, and added, “Society doesn’t always get to make the rules.”
Reaching this conclusion was a journey after hearing negative bias from society and from family members when they were growing up. “I have a hard time loving myself as I am… I’m doing work to figure out what that means.”
Their seizures, which are triggered by emotional stress or typical stress, can be dangerous and cause Bush to get hurt. The exact triggers for Bush’s condition have evolved over time. They have worked hard on managing emotional triggers and have developed strategies like listening to music or watching a funny video. At the same time, the condition makes it challenging to work through stressful emotions.
Sandra Bush speaks at the student luncheon.
When Bush first started experiencing seizures, they were frightening and dangerous. Being a Black person experiencing medical issues also changed how Bush was treated. Bush shared a story about an early seizure episode when they were alone at a mall and only had time to call their mother before falling to the ground and becoming unresponsive. When someone saw Bush on the mall floor, they made the racist assumption that Bush was on drugs and decided to kick Bush to see if they responded. The person stopped kicking only when Bush’s mother screamed through the phone. Finally, someone called 911 to get Bush help.
For the record, Bush noted, that’s not how you should treat someone having a reaction to drugs, either. They said, “People don’t always respond best to something they don’t understand.”
Getting diagnosed required a lot of tests. Even after getting diagnosed, they experienced some challenging times. Bush spent their first week as a college freshman in the hospital.
Bush worked hard to understand how their disability does and does not limit them.
They advised: “Sit with it. Do research about your disability. What does it say you can and can’t do? Test it.”
Bush described their own process of trying smaller things—like starting with shorter walks—then working their way up. They also gained the courage to ignore the judgements of others and lean into interests and hobbies, like jewelry-making and rock hounding, that don’t trigger their condition.
Bush offered the audience six questions to help them on their own journey of discovery:
Who are you?
What makes you YOU?
Who’s holding power over you and why?
What do you need to let go of?
Do you respect and love yourself?
What does changing the narrative look like for you?
Left to right: Sandra Bush and Vanessa Neal.
Save the Date:
Next DEI luncheon – Students of Color Luncheon in the Penguin Union Building (PUB), room 161 on November 12 at Noon.
Connect with the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI):
A high school competitor works on a welded piece in the Clark College welding lab.
Can you pass this welding pop quiz?
Q: As more than 155,000 welders in the U.S. approach retirement age, how many new welders will need to be trained by 2027?
155,000
200,000
360,000
The answer is C. The U.S. will need 360,000 new welding professionals by 2027, according to the American Welding Society. That translates into 90,000 welding jobs that need to be filled annually through 2027.
Regional employers came to the event to support the competitors.
On Friday, Oct. 18, the Clark College welding program welcomed SteelDays, a welding competition for local high school students to showcase the welding and fabrication industry. It’s one of 25 SteelDays events organized by the American Institute of Steel Construction from October 14-18 around the U.S.
Attendees from high schools with welding programs in Battle Ground, Fort Vancouver, and Kelso school districts spent the day welding, receiving guidance from Clark welding instructors, and competing to win. Representatives from the SteelDays sponsors, including Industrial Source, Thompson, and Central Welding Supply came to support the students.
Left to right: Wade Hausinger and Tiffany Saari helped organize the event.
Wade Hausinger, instructor of welding technologies at Clark, said that Clark’s relationships with local companies are important. He regularly visits welding employers around the region to learn the techniques they’re using in their shops so he can teach current skills to Clark students.
He also shared that local companies are hiring from Clark. One student was hired at Vigor Aluminum Fabrication right after finishing the program and started at $34.95 an hour. Vigor even brought some of their employees to Clark to learn some new welding skills from Hausinger.
Clark College’s Welding program:
Two-year degree, Associate of Applied Technology in Welding
Diane DeVore kicks off the 2024-25 student luncheons hosted by the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Diane DeVore (formerly Hernandez-Olortiga) has achieved some notable “firsts.” She’s a first-generation college student, the first member of her family to come out as queer, and a first-generation Latina in her family in the United States.
An academic advisor at Clark, DeVore shared her story at the first Queer Student Luncheon of the academic year on October 8. The free event is presented each term by Clark’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to create community for students who identify as queer and allies.
The luncheon provides food and community for students and employees.
DeVore grew up in Compton and Long Beach, California, and lived in a household committed to traditional gender norms, including her father who holds machismo world views. She was outed to her family when her father read her Myspace messages with her girlfriend. She said, “I was never afraid of myself, but I was scared of the world around me.” She was shaped by the pressure to come out early to a family that was not accepting.
When she had the opportunity to move out of her parents’ home, she took it. In college, she met queer and Indigenous mentors who allowed her to unlearn the gender norms and colonial thinking she grew up with. “In the queer community, especially, we ask ourselves hard questions… just by existing we are pushing against these boundaries every day.”
Her college journey was non-traditional. She dropped out twice but eventually earned her master’s degree in a primarily online program. She said “It’s okay to take breaks and step back. You’re not on anyone’s timeline but your own.”
When asked how her queer and Latina identities intersected, she said, “It took more unlearning than learning because of the machismo culture.”
Now, her relationship with her family is stable, she’s recently married, and she works at Clark helping students like herself navigate college.
Students had the opportunity to ask DeVore questions.
She left students with three pieces of advice:
“In the queer community, we are never really alone.”
“Give yourself the space to grow and figure out who you want to become and unbecome.”
“Together our stories help build for the next generation of queer community.”
Upcoming ODEI Luncheons
October 22 @ noon: Students with Disability Luncheon in PUB 161
November 12 @ noon: Students of Color Luncheon in PUB 161
Connect with the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI)
lunch is servedstudents attend the luncheonDeVore answers questionsDeVore tells her storyemployees also attendstudents ask questions
Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley
Columbia Writers Series
Clark College hosted award-winning author Kaveh Akbar on October 3 to a near-capacity audience of about 100 people. With nearly every seat full (and some attendees standing), Akbar read from his novel Martyr! and answered questions posed by the audience.
Left to right: English professors and Columbia Writers Series coordinators Alexis Nelson and Dawn Knopf, author Kaveh Akbar, and Vice President of Instruction Dr. Terry Brown.Photo: Clark College/Susan Parrish
The first Columbia Writers Series event of the academic year attracted multiple creative writing classes, the Addiction Counseling Education Students Club (ACES), Clark’s Vice President of Instruction Dr. Terry Brown, and Clark librarians with a pop-up check-out cart featuring works by Akbar as well as past CWS speakers.
The pop-up librarians were on hand to suggest books ready for check-out.
Akbar spoke extensively about his writing process (he called himself an ‘ox’ writer who needs to write every single day) and what drove his writing of Martyr!. Historically a poet, he found himself writing a novel. He said, “I tried to tell the story in lyric poetry. But I’m not a good enough poet to do that. I recognized I needed to learn a new skill.” He started with the idea of Orkideh — a performance artist at the center of the book — and the other characters evolved from their narrative need to exist along with Orkideh.
In Martyr!, Cyrus, who is a recovering alcoholic, becomes obsessed with having a meaningful death and decides to write a book about martyrs. When he sees that Orkideh, who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, is living out the rest of her life in an art museum, he undertakes a journey to visit her. The book explores the tension and commiseration between their two perspectives on death, along with multi-layered ideas on family, love, grief, and so much more.
Akbar shared the relationship between writing and addiction recovery. He said that doing the work of recovery involves a kind of honest self-analysis that is also key to writing honest work. “If you’re really doing the recovery work… it means you’re taking a searching and fearless look at your own life. It means that you’re rigorously accounting in ways that are not ethically infantilized, that are not rhetorically hygienic… you have a leg up.”
While writing is his profession, he shared that recovery, and working in recovery groups to help others in recovery, is the central mission that drives him. “The work of my life, the actual what I do with my life, is working in my recovery community.”
Though the poet has become a novelist, Akbar still writes love poems for his spouse and knows he will continue writing poems for the rest of his life. He believes his poems don’t have to be published to be meaningful.
When asked about how he creates his characters, he replied, “I wanted my characters to feel like the people I know.”
Lisa Barsotti waits in line to have her book signed after the reading.
Kaveh Akbar is an acclaimed poet, novelist, and editor, whose works appear in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Paris Review, and Best American Poetry. He is the author of Calling a Wolf a Wolf and Pilgrim Bell, with Martyr!, his debut novel, recently becoming a New York Times bestseller and one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year. His writing delves into themes of empire, immigration, addiction, and the healing power of art.
Left to right: author Kaveh Akbar with Carly Rae Zent.
The Columbia Writers Series hosted Akbar along with the college’s Addiction Counseling (ACES) Club.
Next Up:
Winter Columbia Writers Series: Paisley Rekdal, January 30, 2025, at 1 p.m., GHL 213. Rekdal is the author of four books of nonfiction, and seven books of poetry, most recently, West: A Translation, which won the 2024 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and was longlisted for the National Book Award. Her work has received the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA Fellowship, and various state arts council awards. The former Utah poet laureate, she teaches at the University of Utah where she directs the American West Center.
Spring Columbia Writers Series: Chelsea Bieker, May 29 at 10 a.m., PUB 258A-C Bieker is the author of three books, most recently the nationally bestselling novel, Madwoman, a Book of the Month club pick the New York Times calls “brilliant in its depiction of the long shadows cast by domestic violence.” Her first novel, Godshot, was longlisted for The Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and named a Barnes & Noble Pick of the Month. Her story collection, Heartbroke won the California Book Award and was a New York Times “Best California Book of 2022.” Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Marie Claire UK, People, The Cut, Wall Street Journal, and others. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award, as well as residencies from MacDowell and Tin House. Raised in Hawai’i and California, she lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two children.
Bill Erickson, General Council Secretary of the Cowlitz Tribe (left) accepted an award recognizing the crucial support of the Cowlitz Foundation. Pictured above (left to right) with Dr. Karin Edwards, Cheree Nygard, and Donna Larson. Photo: Monica Patton
Generations of veterans connected to Clark College gathered to celebrate how the college and its partners have impacted veteran students over the years. The May 21 event in Gaiser Student Center celebrated 10 years of the Veterans Center of Excellence (VCOE) at Clark College. The college has offered unique resources for veterans for much longer than a decade.
Several speakers shared the history of the Veterans Center of Excellence at Clark and reflected on how the VCOE has changed lives.
Cheree Nygard, chair of Clark College Foundation Board of Directors, a veteran, and a long-time supporter of the center said, “Reflecting on the inception of the VCOE fills me with pride and nostalgia. A decade ago, we embarked on a journey filled with hope and determination to support our veterans. Over the years, I’ve witnessed firsthand the transformative impact of the VCOE on veterans’ education and their successful integration into civilian life. Together, we’ve achieved significant milestones and made a tangible difference in the lives of our military-affiliated students.”
Nygard added, “Today, I stand before you as a testament to the resilience and determination of our veteran community. The VCOE has been more than just an educational resource; it has been a lifeline, providing guidance, mentorship, and a sense of belonging to so many of us. As we celebrate our past achievements, let us look towards the future with optimism and determination. Clark College remains steadfast in its commitment to serving and supporting our military-affiliated students, ensuring they have the necessary resources to succeed.”
A video highlighted Clark College student veterans sharing their stories and talking about how the support of the VCOE impacted their lives and their ability to succeed in school.
William (Bill) Erickson, General Council Secretary of the Cowlitz Tribe, contributed a land acknowledgment and shared the importance of veterans to his tribe. A high percentage of Cowlitz Tribe members are veterans.
Clark College President Dr. Karin Edwards and Donna Larson presented appreciation certificates to those who have made substantial financial contributions to the VCOE.
Photo: Monica Patton
Jane Hagelstein (pictured above receiving recognition from Dr. Edwards), a founding member of Clark’s Veterans Advisory Board, began supporting Clark Student Veterans in 2011 with a scholarship. She continued supporting student veterans by providing funds to build out the Veteran Resource Center for facilities, staffing, and emergency grants. Her overall support of veterans with scholarships and emergency grants, along with facilities and staffing support has totaled $300,000 from 2011 to 2019. Without her generosity and belief in helping student veterans, there would not be a Veteran Center of Excellence today. She was a founding member of the Veterans Advisory Board.
The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation contributed $250,000 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing the VCOE to expand basic needs and to provide needed technology devices student veterans needed to transition to remote learning.
People had opportunities to write thank-you notes to veterans and to meet others who are connected to the VCOE.
Donna Larson, associate director of the VCOE, said, “This event was truly a celebration for student veterans, alumni, staff, and supporters of the VCOE to celebrate this important milestone. The atmosphere felt like a tight-knit family gathering.”
She added, “A short history of the VCOE was shared, along with several inspirational student stories. The highlight of the event was presenting Clark College student coins to Jane Hagelstein and Bill Erickson of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe in appreciation for large donations to support the VCOE. After the program, employees, students, partners, and honorees mingled while they enjoyed coffee and festive cupcakes and cake.”
About Veterans Center of Excellence
The center assists military-affiliated students with their educational journey. Focused on supporting veteran student success, the center provides a single point of contact to coordinate comprehensive, individualized support services that address the academic, financial, physical, and social needs of Clark College’s student veterans. A Clark College veteran is any military-affiliated student at Clark: veterans, active duty, or a military dependent, either spouse or child.
The center’s staff can connect student veterans to agencies, programs, and support. The center also provides tutoring, help with books and calculators; useful workshops; a study area with computers and printers; a lounge and games for relaxation; networking with other veterans, and more.
Monica Patton, Program Coordinator, and Megan Anderson, Veterans Educational Planner. Photo: Carly Rae Zent.
November 2013: Clark College President Bob Knight began a new tradition: a college-sponsored celebration honoring veterans held the Thursday before Veterans Day in Gaiser Student Center. At that event, Knight announced the college would one day have a Veterans Resource Center on campus.
At that same Nov. 2013 event: Jennifer Rhoads, president of Community Foundation for Southwest Washington, announced in honor of the foundation’s 30th anniversary, they would donate six grants of $30,000 each to help alleviate poverty. The first grant was for Clark College to create its Veteran Resource Center.
March 2014: First open house at new Veterans Resource Center at Clark College—less than four months after the CFSWW announced the grant, the center held its first public event to welcome student veterans and the college community
Feb. 2021: The Veterans Resource Center received a $449,460 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education to establish a Center of Excellence for Veteran Student Success over three years. Clark was one of only two community colleges in the state to receive the grant. Focused on supporting student success, the Center will provide a single point of contact to coordinate comprehensive, individualized support services that address the academic, financial, physical, and social needs of Clark College’s student-veterans.
Workshop co-director Jesse Morse speaks to a packed audience. The event had several break-out sessions focused on poetry, nonfiction, fiction, imagery, and developing story stakes.
Clark Creative Writing welcomed over 120 attendees for the annual Spring Creative Writing Workshop.
The third annual event, hosted on May 11, invited the Southwest Washington writing community to Clark for free workshops, readings, and lectures. Participants chose three events to attend from the 12 offered and received free lunch, coffee, and pastries. A mix of Clark employees, students, and community members joined. This year, attendance notably increased.
Alexis Nelson, creative writing lead and Clark faculty said, “We wanted it to be something special for Clark students and employees, something that would add even more value and enrichment to our Creative Writing program, and something that would also bring more of the community to campus and help build the sense of Clark as a center for the arts within the area. And we wanted the event to be welcoming and open to all, just like the college. It felt like we accomplished all that.”
Clark faculty Jennifer Denrow and Jesse Morse are workshop co-directors.
Workshop instructors came from as far as Southern California. Sessions focused on poetry, nonfiction, fiction, imagery, and developing story stakes. Vintage Books, a local bookstore, set up a space to sell books by workshop instructors (pictured below).
Instructor Stephanie Adams Santos, a Guatemalan-American writer living in Oregon, taught Dreamscape of the Altar, inviting participants to create their own altar with art supplies, a candle, and an oracle card. She then led poets through an altar meditation to inspire language.
Another workshop led by HR Hegnauer, a poet and book designer specializing in independent publishing, covered the crucial aspects of book cover design and invited participants to design their own book covers.
Poet Mathias Svalina, founder of Dream Delivery Service, which delivers personalized poems by bicycle to subscribers, taught participants to write with dream logic.
Clark’s own Joe Pitkin shared industry knowledge, including using the resource Duotrope to connect with publishers.
Other workshop leaders included:
Sara Jaffe
Lisa Bullard (Clark instructor)
Emily Chenoweth
Michael Guerra (Clark instructor)
Debra Gwartney
Meredith Kirkwood (Clark instructor)
Pauls Toutonghi
Claire Vaye Watkins
About Clark Creative Writing
Clark Creative Writing, part of the English department, offers a creative writing associate of arts track with electives in poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, graphic fiction, and publishing. Clark Creative Writing:
Clark brought back the Transfer Fair this year, bringing in 13 colleges from as far away as Arizona and Alaska. The May 16 fair was the first Clark held since 2019 before the pandemic.
College representatives set up tables in the Gaiser Hall breezeway, chatting with students as they traveled between classes or across campus. They shared information about programs ranging from brewing science to psychology, taking student contact information so they could learn more and apply.
Several representatives shared that the new location made a huge difference, and they were able to connect with many interested students.
Kately Power, of Western Washington University, said, “I ran out of booklets. So that’s a win.”
Palmer Muntz of University of Alaska Fairbanks said, “I’ve done a lot of transfer fairs over the years and they’re usually bad — but this has been good.”
Colleges highlighted how they can benefit Clark students, specifically. For example, Northern Arizona University automatically participates in the Western Undergraduate Exchange for transfer students, which allows Clark students to pay in-state tuition. Pacific Northwest College of The Arts offers a Transfer Partner Scholarship to Clark students in studio arts.
The colleges who participated were:
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Washington State University (Vancouver/Pullman)
Western Washington University
Saint Martin’s University
South Puget Sound Community College (bachelor’s programs highlighted)
University of Idaho
University of Washington- Bothell
Central Washington University
Pacific Northwest College of The Arts (PNCA) at Willamette University
Portland State University
Grand Canyon University
Northern Arizona University
Multnomah University
If any students missed the fair, they should contact the specific colleges they are interested in to learn more.
Photo: Clark College/Carly Rae Zent
Columbia Writers Series
Left to right: Authors Andrew Leland and Justin Taylor discussing Leland’s work and process at the spring Columbia Writers Series event.
Andrew Leland quoted Georgina Kleege’s Sight Unseen to explain his own relationship to his work: “Writing this book made me blind.”
Authors Andrew Leland and Justin Taylor discussed Leland’s new memoir, The Country of the Blind, at the Spring Columbia Writers’ event. It was attended by Clark creative writing students, students from the nearby Washington State School for the Blind, and staff from Cannell Library and Disability Support Services (DSS).
Leland’s book shares his experience of slowly losing his sight due to a degenerative eye disease, Retinitis Pigmentos (RP). More than a description of his life, his memoir explores history, disability justice, and what it means to identify as blind.
With emotion, Leland said a blind reader described his memoir as “the story of our people.” Leland added, “it’s incredibly moving for me that it might have value.”
Writing the book helped Leland process his recently accepted identity as a blind person. At the beginning of his journey, “blindness did not feel like a word connected to me.” As he wrote, he evolved from using third person to describe the blind community (they) to using the first-person plural (we).
The book covers some of the history of innovation driven by blind people. The first typewriters, audiobooks, and LP records were adaptations designed for blind accessibility. Adaptations can become their own form of art as blind people experiment with how to communicate information within the world’s inaccessible design. As Leland put it, “Alt text is poetry.”
An early form of Optical Character Recognition was the Kurzweil Reading Machine, which scanned print books and turned them into computer-spoken words. The inventor designed it for blind people, working closely with the National Federation of the Blind.
When Xerox purchased the machine, the company laid off the blind sales staff. The technology then became a foundation for the internet, which today remains largely inaccessible to the blind. Only 2% of home pages are fully accessible to screen readers.
Leland said, “Often, after it [the technology designed for accessibility] gets coopted into the mainstream, the accessibility falls away.”
According to Leland, information access is one of the biggest barriers affecting blind people. The disability justice movement seeks to change barriers to access for blind people and for all those experiencing disabilities — including multiple disabilities. Key to the movement is understanding how experiences of disability intersect with other identities such as race, class, and gender.
He shared his own experience of diving into disability justice, and how his views started out as naive but became more complex as he talked with more people. “My privilege is intact and will continue to be intact as a blind person… to be a blind person of color is a radically different experience.”
He advised college students to be unafraid to engage with the disability justice movement even if their knowledge is incomplete. “It’s an important first step to be like, ‘I think it’s like this’ and then you take the tires off.”
Leland also shared his advice on writing. He advocates for a regular writing practice — even if you’re not writing with a goal of being published — to prepare you to write when you have something important to say.
“The butt-in-chair principle I think is really important,” Leland said and added “don’t be a hermit… it’s important to be sharing your work with readers.”
Find books by Andrew Leland and Justin Taylor at Clark’s Cannell Library or local independent bookstores.
About Andrew Leland
Andrew Leland’s debut book, The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight, about the world of blindness (and figuring out his place in it), was published in July 2023 by Penguin Press. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, McSweeney’s Quarterly, and The San Francisco Chronicle, among other outlets. From 2013-2019, he hosted and produced The Organist, an arts and culture podcast, for KCRW; he has also produced pieces for Radiolab and 99 Percent Invisible. He has been an editor at The Believer since 2003. He lives in western Massachusetts with his wife and son.
About Justin Taylor
Justin Taylor is the author of the novel Reboot, the memoir Riding with the Ghost, the novel The Gospel of Anarchy, and two collections of short fiction: Everything Here Is the Best Thing Ever and Flings. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Bomb, and Bookforum, among other publications. He has taught writing at the graduate and undergraduate levels in programs all over the country, including Columbia University, N.Y.U., the University of Southern Mississippi, and the University of Montana. He is a contributing writer to the Washington Post’s Book World and the Director of the Sewanee School of Letters. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
About the Columbia Writers Series
The Columbia Writers Series has been a part of Clark College since 1988, bringing local, national and international authors to the college throughout the year. Writers who have visited Clark College through the series include Ursula Le Guin, Donald Justice, Sherman Alexie, Marvin Bell, William Stafford, Jamaica Kincaid, Gerald Stern, Carolyn Forchè, Natalie Diaz, Karen Russell, Jess Walter, Dana Spiotta, Mitchell Jackson, and many others.
