CAROL ANN BASSETT'S story about Chile’s Mapuche Indians Indians was published in February in the anthology American Nature Writing 2000: A Celebration of Women Writers. Publishers Weekly called the collection “invigorating... nature writing at its best” and added that “some of the book’s strongest selections voice ecological concerns: ... Carol Ann Bassett braves the rapids of Chile’s wild Bio-Bio River as she mingles with the ancient Mapuche Indians, whose traditional culture is being threatened by a hydroelectric dam project....This is a strong and worthy compilation.” Bassett gave two readings and book signings with anthology editor John A. Murray at Powell’s Books in Portland on May 10 and the University of Oregon on May 11. She is now at work on an oral history and series of articles about natural resource issues in southeastern Oregon.

Pam Cyntrynbaum

PAM CYTRYNBAUM wrote an essay for a book entitled Pirkei Imaot (Stories of our Mothers), published by the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation Press.
She also conducted writing and reporting workshops with Thurston Middle School students, Corvallis High School’s journalism students and the staffs of The (OSU) Barometer and The (Corvallis) Gazette-Times.

ARNOLD ISMACH received the George Hage/Mitch Charnley Award of Excellence this spring from the University of Minnesota Daily Alumni Association. The award is given each year to the individual who most influenced the lives and careers of staffers on the newspaper. Ismach was the advisor to the paper for seven years in the 1970s and '80s. In other activities this year, Ismach led a workshop at the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association conference for editorial writers; wrote a chapter, “Double-Clicking to Disaster: The Dark Side of the Web,” for a book that will be published this year honoring the career of Richard F. Carter of the University of Washington; contributed an article, “Whatever Happened to News Councils?” to the spring issue of Media Ethics magazine; and wrote two op-ed columns on news media issues for The Oregonian newspaper. Ismach, who was dean of the School from 1984-94, will become a professo

Arnold Ismach

r emeritus this June.

Excerpts from LAUREN KESSLER'S ninth book, The Happy Bottom Riding Club: The Life and Times of Pancho Barnes, appeared this spring in the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, Aviation History, Woman Pilot and Oregon Quarterly. She did a West Coast tour for the book—which was in bookstores at the end of May—and visited with alums in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle areas. Kessler recently presented an evening workshop, “Creating Memorable Characters” for the Mid-Willamette Valley Writers Association. Her presentation to the Eugene Library Foundation Board, “Why writers love libraries,” is being reprinted in the group’s newsletter.

ANN MAXWELL is enrolled in a doctoral program studying Mythology and Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, Calif., and when she’s not teaching, she spends her time reading and writing papers. Her paper, “The Effectiveness of Account Planners at U.S. Advertising Agencies,” which she co-authored with Wayne Wanta (University of Florida) and Clyde Bently (UO doctoral candidate), was presented at the American Academy of Advertising in Newport, R.I.

Ann Maxwell

St. Martin’s Press has notified STEVE PONDER that his book, Managing the Press: Origins of the Media Presidency, 1897-1933, will be published in paperback in September. The hardback version was published in January 1999. The book has sold well in hardback and continues to receive favorable reviews in academic journals. Recent reviews appeared in the Journal of American History (March 2000) and in Journalism History (Fall 1999). Ponder has been asked to join a panel discussion on the historical origins of public journalism proposed for the annual convention of the American Journalism Historians Association, which meets in October in Pittsburgh. He’s currently at work on a chapter on reform journalism for a book he is co-authoring as part of a history of journalism series published by Greenwood Press.

JOHN RUSSIAL wrote an op-ed piece, “Young Journalists Are Good—Just Different,” for Newsday. It was published in September and is reprinted in this issue of Flash.

Currently, BILL RYAN is designing a book on death and dying for Dr. Robert Julien. In addition, Ryan is in the process of writing an article on photojournalist and documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark and her work.

Steve Ponder

KIM SHEEHAN and TIM GLEASON presented a paper entitled “Online Privacy: Internet Advertising Practitioners’ Knowlege and Practices” at the Regulating the Internet: EU and U.S. Perspectives Conference in Seattle, Wash.

AL STAVITSKY'S book, A History of Public Broadcasting, was published in March by Current Publishing (Washington, D.C.); co-authors are John Witherspoon, Roselle Kovitz, and Robert K. Avery. Stavitsky traveled to Las Vegas in April to present a paper on “microradio” and to moderate a panel on Scandinavian broadcasting at the annual meeting of the Broadcast Education Association. Stavitsky is serving as a consultant and commentator for an upcoming public radio series on radio’s historical role in international affairs, distributed by NPR in June.

LESLIE STEEVES is co-authoring the second edition of Communication for Development in the Third World: Theory and Practice with Srinivas R. Melkote. She is also the author of chapters in two upcoming books: “Feminist Theory and Political Economy: Toward a Friendly Alliance,” (co-authored with Janet Wasko) in Sex and Money, edited by Eileen Meehan and Ellen Riordan, and “Gendered Agendas: Dialogue and Impasse in Creating Social Change” in Redeveloping Communication for Social Change: Accounting for Power in Theory and Practice, edited by Karin Wilkins.

Jim Upshaw

JIM UPSHAW has begun work on a new ethics code for the broadcast-news business (replacing a 1987 version), as member of a task force of the Radio-Television News Directors Association. The project took Upshaw to the Poynter Institute for Media Studies recently for some brainstorming on ethics. He finds this timely because a record crowd of 24 seniors took his hands-on, ethics-heavy Advanced TV News course this spring. Jim also is busy on a committee updating UO’s environmental practices. And, as a coalition official for the SPJ and Freedom of Information, he testified recently before the state Board of Higher Education about a proposal to legalize confidentiality for private donors to public universities (he opposes it).

JANET WASKO'S book, Consuming Audiences? Production and Reception in Media Research (edited with Ingunn Hagen) was published by Hampton Press. Hollywood in the Information Age: Beyond the Silver Screen was released in a Chinese edition by Yuan-Liou Publishing.Wasko was recently appointed to the Election Committee for International Association for Media and Communication Research.

TOM WHEELER has been busy finishing his book, Phototruth or Photofiction? Ethics and Media Imagery in the Digital Age. In addition, he’s teaching a new course this summer covering the ethics of manipulated imagery in purportedly nonfiction media. Wheeler wrote a column for the Commentary page of The Oregonian discussing CBS News’ decision to electronically alter a sign in Times Square during a broadcast. That commentary is republished in this issue of Flash. At AEJMC in New Orleans, Wheeler had the good fortune to sit in with a very cool band called the Hank Sinatras.