Are you the curious type always asking “How come? “Why?” or “What was that all about?” If so, you will want to attend the 11:00 lectures every Tuesday at the Center where you will have an opportunity to question local leaders and experts on a wide variety of topics.
Starting in November there will be a three part series of lectures focused on the natural wonder we call the Columbia Gorge. The first lecture on Tuesday November 1st will feature Marc Berry and Dennis Davis: the two Wasco County members on the Historic Columbia River Highway Advisory Committee, plus Kristen Stallman from the Oregon Department of Transportation. They will discuss past successes and future plans for the Historic Columbia River Highway.
On the following Tuesday November 8th, Jim Wilcox, Mayor of The Dalles (and fashion connoisseur), will discuss plans for the largest city in the Gorge – as well as issues before the city council (anyone want to talk about water rates?)
And then concluding the series on November 15th, Roger Nichols local journalist, radio personality and man on the street will offer his unique perspective of the Columbia River Gorge Commission – as someone who reported on the commission for many years and now as the newly appointed Columbia Gorge Commission member from Wasco County.
Now a quick break for some real heart-to-heart. I am concerned that many of you just whipped by last week’s brain rattler (And for those who are memory challenged, it was “What word, when written in capital letters, is the same forward, backwards and upside down?”) But you need to slow down and take these things seriously. And since I’m a nice guy, I’ll help you through this brain rattler, but only this one. Now think of all the capital letters that look the same forward, backwards and upside down. Not many, right? And if the word is the same backwards and forwards you know the last letter is the same as the first. And here is the big clue – there are only two different letters used in the word. Does that help? And now back to our regular programming.
Every Monday (except the third Monday of the month), the Center hosts what I have been calling “Lunch with TED”. TED is a non-profit organization which invites speakers to conferences around the world to talk about “ideas worth spreading”. Over 700 of these short presentations have been posted on the Internet and each Monday during lunch we watch and discuss one. This coming Monday on the 31st we will watch a twenty minute TED talk by movie critic Roger Ebert, who shares how after losing his lower jaw to cancer, and consequently his ability to speak and eat, he found his voice with the help of family and friends.
To announce the Center’s Tuesday Night music line-up, I am going to use a code called “Turkish Irish” (and don’t ask me how they came up with that name.) See if your brain can figure out this one. Thabe Strawberry Mountain Band knabows habow tabo abentertain aband yabou wabill gabet tabo sabee thabem abin abaction Nabexabt Tabuesday Nabovember 1st. Aband tabonight yabou caban labisten tabo thabe Jazz Generations whabo wabill babe plabaying pabopular fabavorites frabom thabe 50’s, 60’s aband 70’s. Thabe mabusic stabarts abat 7:00, abeveryone abis wabelcome aband dabonations abare abalways abappreciated.
Gumby debuted on The Howdy Doody Show in 1956 with his orange sidekick pony, Pokey – which is the answer to last week’s question. (And the winner of five quilt raffle tickets is Jodi Heath.) This week’s “Remember When” question goes back to my childhood days when my family would drive from Indiana to Florida for Christmas vacation. Along the way, we would listen to this disc jockey playing country music and interviewing the top country stars late at night on the only station whose signal was strong enough to cover the whole trip. Who was this late night disc jockey for Nashville’s WSM radio station from 1957 to 1972 and went on to host his own talk show on TNN? Email your answer to the mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, call 541-296-4788 or drop your answer off with a recording of the Byrd’s “He is a Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man”.
Well it’s been another week trying to run when I can’t hide. Until we meet again, according to Zall’s Second Law, “How long a minute is, depends on which side of the bathroom door you’re on”.
“I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.” Winston Churchill
The answer to the Brain Rattler is NOON.
