129,336 research outputs found
The Profundity of Polychoralism: Exploring the work of Jonathan David Little [Interview and CD review]
No full textExtended (7000-word) composer interview and CD review of "Woefully Arrayed: Sacred & Secular Choral & Polychoral Music of Jonathan David Little", by London-based international music critic, Colin Clarke.
[INTERVIEW:] "The disc of sacred and secular choral and polychoral music by Jonathan David Little, Woefully Arrayed … is nothing short of remarkable. Stunningly recorded, the pure sonic joy is visceral. On a personal level, I haven’t experienced such revelation in choral terms since the Tallis Scholars’ first recording of the Allegri Miserere. As an interviewee, it turns out, Little is every inch as fascinating as his music. The following in-depth interview may be seen as an indispensable complement to the listening experience itself."
[CD REVIEW:] "Jonathan David Little is a composer whose music is vital, urgent and yet somehow timeless at the same time. … Woefully Arrayed has a mesmeric element to it … [and] is a masterpiece of time-stretching. As lines float and interact throughout the soundspace, there is a distinct impression of atemporality, of altering the way the listener experiences time. … sound is superb, full and reverberant … magnificently handled … A superb disc, one that simply gets better on each and every listening. There is a radiance to Little’s writing that seems shot through with spiritual light and which speaks on a very deep level to the listener."
PROJECT OVERVIEW: International Polychoral Music Composition, Recording and Dissemination Project (2015-17)
“The lost potential of the acoustics of performing spaces begins to be rediscovered in these works.”
A complex and ambitious, large-scale, two-year “polychoral” music creation and recording project was commissioned by the Australia Council – involving communicating how “re-discovered” ancient Renaissance and Baroque techniques of acoustically-innovative performer placement may be revived within new, original, contemporary contexts. One aim was to generate interest in largely long-forgotten, but still hugely useful and aurally impressive composition methods. Following a period of research and experimentation, several new, accessible choral works were created – most featuring intricate, a cappella, polychoral-inspired techniques. Therefore different sections of the choir, or different “sub-choirs” and/or vocal soloists, are sometimes placed in various arrangements around and above the audience (occasionally also involving movement). Due to the incorporation of such techniques, a striking extra dimension is added both to recordings and live performances – where the aural “spatial” interest creates a quasi-theatrical effect.
OPEN-ACCESS ONLINE CD BOOKLET (including contextual essay, spatial configuration diagrams, lyrics, pictures and notes): http://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6113/booklet---woefully-arrayed---jonathan-little.htm
Q and A with Jonathan White on In the long run: the future as a political idea
No full textWe speak to Jonathan White about his new book, In the Long Run: The Future as a Political Idea, which investigates how changing political conceptions of the future have impacted societies from the birth of democracy to the present. On Tuesday 30 January 2024 Jonathan White spoke about the book at an LSE research showcase which you can watch back here. On Monday 11 March at 6.30pm he will speak at a public LSE panel event, The politics of the future – find details and register here. In the Long Run: The Future as a Political Idea. Jonathan White. Profile Books. 2024
Jonathan Kozol - 03/18/2002 - (Riall Lecture Series)
No full textBegun in 1988, the E. Pauline Riall Lecture Series brings to the University and community outstanding national lecturers in the field of education. The series was established by the late Miss Riall, long-time principal and teacher of the former Salisbury University's Campus School. A generous bequest was provided by Miss Riall's will to fund this special program.
Jonathan Kozol, Author, Activist, Teacher - 3/18/2002 (2 pm) and
(7:30 pm)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO4ltRJDUF
Jonathan Kozol - 03/18/2002 - Afternoon Lecture - (Riall Lecture Series)
No full textBegun in 1988, the E. Pauline Riall Lecture Series brings to the University and community outstanding national lecturers in the field of education. The series was established by the late Miss Riall, long-time principal and teacher of the former Salisbury University's Campus School. A generous bequest was provided by Miss Riall's will to fund this special program.
Jonathan Kozol, Author, Activist, Teacher - 3/18/2002 (2 pm) and
(7:30 pm)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_CWU8SVFT
Archaean komatiitic and tholeiitic volcanics at Kambalda, Western Australia
No full textArchaean metamorphosed mafic and ultramafic greenstone volcanics at Kambalda, W. Australia, divide into five stratigraphic and lithological groups: (a) lower footwall tholeiitic basalts with ∼8% MgO and spherulitic pyroxene textures; (b) upper footwall tholeiitic basalts with ∼8% MgO and subophitic textures; ∼30%-20% MgO olivine spinifex textured komatiite lavas; (c) moderate to low MgO variolitic pillow basalts with felsic cores; (d) moderate to low MgO olivine - and pyroxene-phyric basalts. The lavas were erupted subaqueously, probably in deep water. The footwall basalts and komatiites share chondritic mantle ratios of Al/Ca/Ti/Zr/Y/REE, and geochemical trends suggest that the low-MgO basalts are minimum density cotectic lavas derived via olivine loss from komatiite parent magma. Spherulitic basal textures result from eruption as superheated liquids, subophitic textures from eruption at subliquidus temperatures. The parent magma of the footwall basalts was subsequently erupted as the Kambalda komatiite lavas, and the derivative nature of the footwall basalts implies the existence below Kambalda of an olivine cumulative body. High-Mg basalts overlying the komatiites are LREE-enriched, and cannot be related to LREE-depleted komatiite compositions by crystal fractionation. They either represent independent melts of enriched source compositions, or crustal contamination of komatiite magma. Felsic cores to variolitic pillows of high-Mg basalt probably result from metasomatic alteration, and do not represent immiscible igneous liquids. Geochemical trends thus directly link the high-Mg komatiite with the low-Mg tholeiite series. Pyroxene spinifex textured high-Mg basalts are not intermediate between the two and are not simply related to komatiites. Application of the term komatiitic to these basalts is therefore misleading. Conflicting evidence supports an eruption age of either ∼3.2Ga, in which case the mantle was chemically but not isotopically differenitiated, or ∼2.7Ga in which case either the mantle had gross Nd isotopic heterogeneities or LREE-enriched magmas are crustally contaminated. (D74037/87)</p
The Far End of the Garden. A profile of choreographer Jonathan Burrows
No full textJonathan Burrows removing make-up; end of performance at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; theatre bar; dancers rehearsing. Burrows’s VO talking about the curious relationship between the Jonathan Burrows Group and the Royal Ballet in which a small contemporary dance group has developed out of a larger organisation; he has stayed linked to the Royal ballet because this allows him the resources he needs to make his own work. Burrows walking through backstage corridors and store rooms; his VO talking about trying "to ignore arbitrary divisions between contemporary dance and ballet". Burrows rehearsing dancers. His VO talking about finding classical ballet too physically challenging; his projects having been done in spare time with dancers giving up lunch breaks, etc.; needing space to work in his own way. Rehearsal. VO says he has chosen to work with particular dancers, each of whom has an individual way of moving, and it prepared to try to do things in a different way. Rehearsal. Dancers talking about some of the differences between classical and contemporary dance. Burrows VO talking about being autocratic and having strong ideas about what he wants to happen. Burrows worries that three recent projects, Hymns, Dull Morning, and Stoics, all reached exactly the same audience and didn’t attract anyone new, and suggests that the contemporary dance audience is suspicious of anything linked to classical ballet. Rehearsal at The Place. Burrows VO says he would like more concentrated rehearsal periods, and to be able to tour more with his Group, but working with the Royal Ballet imposes constraints; he wonders about trying to find funding elsewhere. Jeremy Isaacs, General Director, The Royal Opera House, says that they would be sorry to see Burrows and his Group leave the Royal Ballet. Rehearsal. Burrows VO on wanting to go wherever he could continue his choreography and extend his audience. Kate Flatt, Choreographer, and VO talking about Burrows’s drive to create new work. Programme for performance of Stoics at The Place. People at box office and in restaurant. Dancers preparing. Burrows VO talking about the "violence" of the movement, and the audience response to it. STOICS (1991). Burrows saying that Stoics is so called in reference to ideas of English stoicism.Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Principal Choreographer of The Royal Ballet, talking about Burrows’s work, its "organic" nature and its "punctuation". Anthony Dowell, Director, The Royal Ballet, and VO on Burrows’s choreography. Further excerpt from Stoics. Burrows on his reasons for using The Blue Danube waltz. Further excerpt from Stoics. All four dancers. The Reverend & Mrs Burrows. Reverend Burrows VO on the long conversations he has with his son. Dancers in dressing room. Jonathan Burrows’s VO giving some biographical details. His father talking about his going to The Royal Ballet School at White Lodge. Burrows inside White Lodge, talks about the School’s aim to turn out people with "the right temperament and attitude". Flatt on Burrows’s interests outside dancing itself. Burrows talking about the "composition" course on choreography, and that Flatt and her co-tutor would urge their pupils to question what they did. Flatt on Burrows’s development. David Gothard, Riverside Studios 1978-1986, on how Burrows and others would work through the night at the Studios and would be influenced by each other. Burrows talking about becoming involved with Rosemary Butcher. Rosemary Butcher, Choreographer, says she was impressed by Burrows’s understanding of the modern dance movement. Burrows on working with Butcher. Photographs from Touch the Earth (1987) Butcher VO. Judith Mackrell, Dance Critic "The Independent", on the intelligence of Burrows’s characterisations. MacMillan on Burrows’s humour and acting ability. Dowell and VO (Burrows "Rehearsing the Kangaroo Rat solo from David Bintley’s Penguin Café") on how often Burrows is cast in small but important roles. Burrows and others performing a rapper sword dance in the piazza at Covent Garden. Burrows VO on learning Morris dancing at White Lodge, and how the very specific technique of Morris dancing has crept into his work. Flatt says that the inclusion of Morris technique in Burrows’s work has been organic rather than deliberate. Reverend Burrows agrees that Morris has influenced his son’s work, but adds that there has also been a rebellion against the traditional classical form. Pages from Burrows’s grandfather’s diaries, the basis for Dull Morning. Reverend Burrows’s VO saying how moved he was at this. Burrows talking about the "sad repetition" of the entries, each one beginning and ending with a comment about the weather, and with highlights being relatively insignificant events. DULL MORNING (1989). Rehearsal. Burrows VO on how he sees his future, the nature of dance, the impossibility of understanding dance "verbally". Burrows VO on his use of video to create a "movements diary". Isaacs believes that Burrows will one day create larger works which could be performed by the Royal Ballet if Burrows wants them to be. Gothard believes Burrows has the capacity to become a "key British choreographer". Isaacs would like to be able to fund new ventures. Gothard says that, in France, Burrows’s work would be properly subsidised. Burrows talks about a lack on money in Britain which can make it seem that not very much is happening when compared with Belgium and Holland. Burrows says he see himself as making "dance", not "ballet" or "contemporary" dance. HYMNS (1988), to harmonium accompaniment. Reverend Burrows: "it isn’t a send-up… it’s life." Credits
Wolfgang Koeppen: 'Unmasking' the 'Author' of a Holocaust Testimony
No full textThe possibility that works of art and literature might be forged and that identity might be faked has haunted the cultural imagination for centuries. That spectre seems to have returned with a vengeance recently, with a series of celebrated hoaxes and scandals ranging from the Alan Sokal hoax article in Social Text to Binjamin Wilkomirski's "fake" Holocaust memoir. But as well as creating anxiety, the possibility of "faking it" has now been turned into entertainment. Traditionally these activities have been dismissed as dangerous and immoral, but more recently some scholars have begun to speculate, for example, that all forms of national identity rely on forged myths of origin. Recent cultural theory has likewise called into question traditional notions of authenticity and originality in both personal identity and in works of art. Despite critical pronouncements of the death of the author and the substitution of the simulacrum for the original, however, making a distinction between the genuine and the fake continues to play a major role in our everyday understanding and evaluation of culture, law and politics. Consider, for example, the fiasco surrounding the "forged" Hitler diaries, law suits against auction houses for failing to detect forgeries in the art market, or the problem of plagiarism at universities. It still seems to matter that we can spot the difference, especially in the historical moment when we are capable of making copies that are indistinguishable perhaps even better than the original. This collection of essays considers the moral, aesthetic and political questions that are raised by the long history and current prevalence of fakes and forgeries. The international team of contributors consider the issues thrown up by a wide range of examples, drawn from fields ranging from literature to art history. These case studies include little-known subjects such as Eddie Burrup, the Australian aboriginal artist who turned out to be an 81-year-old white woman, as well as new interpretations of familiar cases such as faked holocaust memoirs. The strength of the collection is that it brings together not only a wide range of cultural examples of fakes and forgeries from different historical periods, but also offers a wide variety of theoretical takes that will form a useful introduction and casebook on this growing field of inquiry
Kent Olson
No full textKent Olson oral history interview as conducted by Jonathan Schafler.
Kent Olson worked with the Wetland Acquisition Program and at River Basins as a biologist.
Organization: FWS
Name: Kent Olson
Years:
Program: Refuges
Keywords: History, Biography, Employees (USFWS), Wetlands, Waterfowl, Biologists (USFWS), Interpretation, Islands, Wildlife management, Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge1
National Heritage Team of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Oral History Program
Subject/USFW Retiree: Olson, Kent
Location: Littleton, Colorado
June 22, 2005
Interviewed by: Jonathan Schafler:
Jonathan Schafler::
Please give me your full name and date of birth, Kent.
Kent Olson:
My name is Kent Norman Olson, and I was born April 3, 1928.
Jonathan Schafler::
What was your place and date of birth, date you gave me?
Kent Olson:
April 3, 1928 in Minneapolis.
Jonathan Schafler::
And your parents?
Kent Olson:
My mother's maiden name was Alderman, Madge Alderman. My dad's was Norman, Norman Olson.
Jonathan Schafler::
What were their jobs and education?
Kent Olson:
Mom was a school teacher and dad worked for the railroad as a foreman.
Jonathan Schafler::
Where did you spend your early years?
Kent Olson:
Well, much of that time was spent in Minneapolis. At the same time, we'd go up to my mother's home town and I would spend the summers there, and we also lived down in Hudson, Wisconsin on the St. Croix River, which is part of the boundary between Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Jonathan Schafler::
And how did you spend those years?
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Kent Olson:
Well, we spent a lot of time outdoors. My grandfather, my mother's father, was quite a hunter and also a fisherman. So, we'd go up to this small town in Minnesota, we spent a lot of time fishing, fishing for walleyes, northern pike, and large-mouth bass on a lake that was really pristine, a beautiful lake down at Hudson, Wisconsin. My life down there from about age 9 to 11, it was very much like a Tom Sawyer existence, say circa 1937.
Jonathan Schafler::
Barefoot in the river?
Kent Olson:
That's about it, yeah. We spent a lot of time on the river and learned an awful lot, playing around the St. Croix and the same with my time up there in central Minnesota; he was a good teacher, and he knew a lot about plants and animals.
Jonathan Schafler::
Did he impart any of that to your father?
Kent Olson:
Some to dad, yes some, but mainly it was directed to me. Dad grew up in St. Paul and never really had much background in hunting or fishing, but over the years he learned and really became a real skilled hunter and fisherman.
Jonathan Schafler::
And he imparted some of that knowledge to you?
Kent Olson:
Yes, that's right, I picked up some.
Jonathan Schafler::
So your grandfather was a big influence on you?
Kent Olson:
Yes, he certainly was. His name was Martin Luther Alderman. He had a grocery store in Gray Eagle, Minnesota, with a population of about 425. I would work in that store, help him out during the summers, and then towards the end of the day, maybe 4 o'clock, something like that, he would turn management of the store over to his wife and we'd go out fishing.
Jonathan Schafler::
That was good! How old were you when he passed?
Kent Olson:
Oh, let's see, I was probably about 20.
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Jonathan Schafler::
Age 20, so you got to know him pretty well?
Kent Olson:
Oh yes, very much so.
Jonathan Schafler::
What kind of jobs did you have as a child?
Kent Olson:
What kind of jobs did I have? Well, I helped grandfather, we would candle eggs; farmers would bring in chickens and eggs, and one of my jobs was to look at each egg to make sure that it was still fresh and that there wasn't a little chick inside. We'd do that, and then on Saturdays we would take all of the eggs that we had bought from farmers, and the chickens, and we'd run them over to Sauk Centre in Minnesota at the Swift Plant. That was one of my major jobs.
Jonathan Schafler::
Swift was a chicken processor?
Kent Olson:
Yes, right, yep.
Jonathan Schafler::
Did you hunt and fish much?
Kent Olson:
When I was a kid I'd tag along on hunting trips, kind of walk along when they were hunting ruffed grouse or pheasants, and then when I got to be about 14 or so, one of my relatives, my Uncle Dean, gave me a 22-gauge so I could participate a little more actively. And we fished all the time; I caught my first fish up there at my grandfather's place in a lake called Birch Lake, a beautiful lake.
Jonathan Schafler::
When was the last time you were back there?
Kent Olson:
Oh, Doris and I went back there about 10 years ago. My last aunt up in that town died, and we went up there shortly before she passed away.
Jonathan Schafler::
What high school did you go to?
Kent Olson:
It was Robbinsdale High in one of the suburbs of Minneapolis. Unfortunately, they bulldozed that high school out the other day. It was built in 1936 by the WPA (Works 4
Progress Administration), and it was really a superb building, really nice. But they kind of overbuilt in that district; they put up two more high schools, when they actually probably only need maybe one and a half, something like that. So yeah, the high school is gone now; all those trophies and the cabinets that were in the main hall of the high school are kaput!
Jonathan Schafler::
And you wonder where the trophies went.
Kent Olson:
You kind of wonder, you kind of wonder.
Jonathan Schafler::
How about the house you were born in, is it still standing?
Kent Olson:
Yeah, it's on Glendale Avenue in north Minneapolis.
Jonathan Schafler::
A little spendier than when your folks bought it back then.
Kent Olson:
Yeah, it's got some years on it now, and the whole neighborhood has changed totally. For the most part now it's a minority neighborhood, totally different than it was when I was a kid.
Jonathan Schafler::
When did you graduate?
Kent Olson:
I graduated from high school in that final year of 1946, and I graduated from college in 1951 with a degree in pharmacy.
Jonathan Schafler::
From where?
Kent Olson:
University of Minnesota.
Jonathan Schafler::
What aspect of your formal education equipped you for the future?
Kent Olson:
Oh, I think a lot of the science courses that I took, both in pharmacy and later on in wildlife management helped give me some skills that I could use. But I think a lot of that 5
just depends on your early childhood, things that you learned as a kid. I think they're real important in causing one to develop these skills or expand on them as you grow older.
Jonathan Schafler::
Who most influenced your education and career track?
Kent Olson:
Well, I can't think of anybody in particular. But I remember one day I was working in a drugstore in Robbinsdale as a pharmacist, and I happened to see this teacher that came in to buy something in the store, and I recognized her as my 8th grade art teacher and she remembered me, and she said, "Oh, you've gone into pharmacy?" And I said, "Yes." She said, "You never did anything with your art talents?" And I nodded. Well, that bothered me because I knew I had some skills, and I never really had developed them any.
Jonathan Schafler::
Give me your first recollection of drawing.
Kent Olson:
Oh heck, as a little kid, I could draw way before the time that I could read. I remember in kindergarten, our teacher one time said that several of my drawings that I had done in that class were being put up in the Minneapolis public library, which was a real nice, you know, thing to do.
Jonathan Schafler::
Was your first medium pencil or was it chalk?
Kent Olson:
Oh yes, it was pencil; I've been with pencil most of my life, I've done a lot in pencil. Later on I did pen and ink and brush and ink. But I'd always lay out my drawings; I'd rough them out first in pencil and follow it up with a finished drawing in ink.
Jonathan Schafler::
Did you ever do anything in oil?
Kent Olson:
A little bit. Down in Quincy, Illinois, when I worked on the Mark Twain Refuge, I belonged to an oil painting class down there. But then I transferred up to South Dakota, and that was kind of the end of my oil painting career.
Jonathan Schafler::
In college did you have any mentors or folks that stuck with you?
Kent Olson:
No, I really can't think of any.
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Jonathan Schafler::
Were there any adverse influences?
Kent Olson:
As far as art goes or such?
Jonathan Schafler::
Your college career and your early years?
Kent Olson:
Okay, I think one thing would be that I was a little concerned about going into art full-time, I thought I might starve today, and that's mainly why I, at least initially, went into pharmacy, because jobs were there, and they paid pretty well. But later on, my path in life took me back to artwork.
Jonathan Schafler::
Any military service?
Kent Olson:
Yes, I joined the National Guard in 1948 in Minneapolis. Harry Truman, God bless his soul, called us up in 1950, and I was in the Army then from 1951 to 1952, those two years. Most of my friends went to Korea, but I had just gotten a degree in pharmacy and they put me in a hospital at Fort Custer, Michigan, and I spent most of my time there filling prescriptions; had a real good deal.
Jonathan Schafler::
So that pharmacy worked out all right for you!
Kent Olson:
No complaints at all!
Jonathan Schafler::
Doris, since you're here I'm going to ask the same career questions of an employee spouse with the following other options: How long have you two been married?
Kent Olson:
It's been about 17 years.
Doris Olson:
Yeah, it's been about 17 years. I can never remember; I always ask him how long we've been married!
Kent Olson:
Actually, we've known each other for about 20 years.
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Jonathan Schafler::
And where were you born, Doris?
Doris:
I was born in Baird, Nebraska, which is in the panhandle of Nebraska, near Scottsbluff. It's a little farm area.
Jonathan Schafler::
And who were your parents?
Doris:
My mother was Ruth Tilden, her maiden name. And my dad is Elmer Hood.
Jonathan Schafler::
Elmer? There's a town in New Jersey named Elmer that I drive through all the time. There are not too many Elmers out there. And where did you spend your early years?
Doris:
Right there on the farm.
Jonathan Schafler::
And hobbies and things like that?
Doris:
I really didn't have any hobbies. We worked. We had a lot of work to do.
Jonathan Schafler::
Was that a dairy farm?
Doris:
No, it was an irrigated farm; beats, corn, potatoes.
Jonathan Schafler::
So most of your jobs were farm jobs?
Doris:
Yes, they were.
Jonathan Schafler::
Where did you go to high school?
Doris:
I went to high school in Baird, about 7 miles away. My brother drove the first two years of high school, and then he graduated and I got to drive the car and drive into town.
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Jonathan Schafler:
And what car was it?
Doris:
I think it was an Oldsmobile, a real old Oldsmobile.
Jonathan Schafler:
You don't remember the year, huh?
Doris:
I can't remember the year, but it was an old one.
Jonathan Schafler:
Did you attend university?
Doris:
No, I did not.
Jonathan Schafler:
Okay. Was there anything significant about your education that you remember, your high school years?
Doris:
No, nothing particular about high school; I really didn't like school. I graduated and then I just married and started a family, and then I went back to school when I was about 40 years old, a junior college here in Denver.
Jonathan Schafler:
And got a degree?
Doris:
Medical records accreditation, a two-year program that took me three years to complete it, but...
Jonathan Schafler:
I was in that same program for college, it took me five years! And then you went to work here in the Denver area?
Doris:
Yes, I did; I worked for the Mental Health Center.
Jonathan Schafler:
And that's where you met Kent?
Doris:
Yes, right. He was one of our patients! 9
Jonathan Schafler:
I had to throw that one in there! How did you two meet?
Kent Olson:
Well, our church had a trip to Europe, and we met on that trip. And I might just as well get a plug in; that's Riverside Baptist Church. As I recall, we really met for the first time in Munich at that restaurant there.
Jonathan Schafler:
What was the name of the restaurant?
Kent Olson:
You know, I don't recall off hand.
Jonathan Schafler:
Your mind was on other things!
Kent Olson:
I guess so, yep.
Doris:
(unclear)
Kent Olson:
Yeah, they had a passion play and we took that in too, Oberammergau, in Germany. If you can say that name, you can just about say any name! Had a good trip, enjoyed traveling and, certainly, I feel really blessed that I met Doris at that time.
Doris:
My dad was with me on the same trip, so we were traveling companions. He and Kent were talking a lot, and I thought that was really quite interesting that....
Jonathan Schafler:
You used her dad to get to her!
Doris:
He took such an interest in my dad! But the thing that really impressed me was when we were getting on and off the trains and on and off the airplanes, that Kent was always helping the older ladies, the single ladies, and I thought, "Wow, that would really be nice to know someone like that." That was my first impression. You didn't know that did you?
Kent Olson:
No, I didn't know that.
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Doris:
You learned something!
Jonathan Schafler:
Well, I'm glad these interviews serve some purpose to the folks who are doing the interviews, which is very...
Kent Olson:
Yes.
Jonathan Schafler:
Kent was still working for the Fish and Wildlife Service when you met?
Doris:
Yes, yes he was.
Jonathan Schafler:
What's been your impression of his career?
Doris:
You know, I think Kent only worked about 2 or 3 years, something like that.
Kent Olson:
That's about right, yeah.
Doris:
And then he retired. So I really wasn't involved in any of his earlier years.
Kent Olson:
She probably figured I had one of these cushy government jobs, you know!
Doris:
You didn't have! I still think you did!
Jonathan Schafler:
We won't go there!
Doris:
And then five years after he retired, then I retired.
Jonathan Schafler:
And when did you marry?
Kent Olson:
That would be 1988.
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Jonathan Schafler:
And where?
Kent Olson:
In town, well actually, Colorado Springs.
Jonathan Schafler:
And you have how many children?
Doris:
I have three; one is deceased and two living children, a son and a daughter, both living here in Littleton in the area.
Jonathan Schafler:
Oh, living in the area. You're never moving! Going back to Kent, why did you want to work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?
Kent Olson:
Oh, I certainly enjoyed the outdoors, and I thought, in addition to say, doing some biological work for the service, I could probably get into public education and do some things with my skills in art. I had some friends that worked for the service, Jim Gillett would be one, and several others, and they certainly enjoyed the work they were doing, and I thought I could follow a similar path.
Jonathan Schafler:
Jim Gillett is big in the retiree's group.
Kent Olson:
Oh he is?
Jonathan Schafler:
Yes, he'd doing good things. What was your first professional position; state, federal or other?
Kent Olson:
Well, I worked for the State of Minnesota in their Fish and Game Department a couple of summers out of Winona, Minnesota and the Prairie Pothole Country. Then from there, I joined the Fish and Wildlife Service, and my first job there was down at Crab Orchard Refuge in southern Illinois.
Jonathan Schafler:
What did you do for Minnesota for your summer job?
Kent Olson:
A crew leader of a duck banding crew, we banded ducks all summer.
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Jonathan Schafler:
What did you do at Crab Orchard?
Kent Olson:
I was a trainee.
Jonathan Schafler:
A refuge manager trainee?
Kent Olson:
Yes, they had me doing everything; counting trees, counting geese, counting ducks. It was a good job, very interesting, and I certainly enjoyed it down there.
Jonathan Schafler:
Having worked at Crab Orchard myself, I know that it is a very interesting refuge, with a bomb making facility, and now a superfund clean-up site. It has its own railroad, its own fire departments, its own police department, and kind of an urban refuge surrounded by a lot of different people. It's quite the different place to work. Any impressions on that?
Kent Olson:
Well, I guess my thought at Crab Orchard was management was pretty much from the northern states, whereas the work crew was from the local area. I always thought there was a little friction between those two groups. But, overall, I think we did a good job down there.
Jonathan Schafler:
It was a wonderful refuge. So anyway, what was the pay and benefits?
Kent Olson:
Well, I think I started out at about $3800.00 a year. Initially, we didn't have any health benefits. They came, I think, in the early '60s, and I started at Crab Orchard in 1958. I think one the things I really learned at Crab Orchard, I really picked up a lot of information on trees. Crab Orchard is kind of in a transition zone, from the trees of the south to those of the north, so I picked up a lot of information on tree species.
Jonathan Schafler:
Was there a science of the day there? I mean it's different than now. Is that where you learned a lot of the day-to-day activities of working for refuges?
Kent Olson:
I think so, yeah. I kind of watched the refuge manager and our project leader just to see how they were handling their jobs, and how they got along with personnel and things like that. That is probably the most important, I think, on any job. Accumulation and knowledge is important, but either success or failure depends on your ability to get along with other people. I think that's where I picked up some good information.
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Jonathan Schafler:
Any mentors there at Crab Orchard that maybe took you under their wing?
Kent Olson:
I had a guy by the name of Al {Menke}. Al was a fighter pilot in the Second World War, he flew B-51s. He gave me a lot of help, he really did.
Jonathan Schafler:
Was he there when you left?
Kent Olson:
No, he had transferred out about a year before I left.
Jonathan Schafler:
No contact with him?
Kent Olson:
No, but there's an interesting episode with Al. He went up on his first combat mission over Germany on a B-51, and he was shot down by a Messerchmitt 109, and he said after the pilot could see that Al's plane was spiraling to the ground, this Messerchmitt pulled up alongside of him and waved at him. He said when he came down, he parachuted to earth, he said German civilians almost killed him, and if it hadn't been for the Army, the German Army, he would have been killed. The German Army rescued him and saved his live.
Jonathan Schafler:
And took him prisoner?
Kent Olson:
Yeah, took him prisoner then, yeah.
Jonathan Schafler:
Wow! Where did you go from Crab Orchard?
Kent Olson:
I went up to Mark Twain Refuge, and that was another really good job, I really enjoyed it up there. We worked out of Quincy, Illinois. There is a series of islands that are near the Quincy area, including the Gardner Island, and we managed wildlife there, mostly ducks and geese.
Jonathan Schafler:
What was your job series and grade?
Kent Olson:
It was about the same; I had gotten an increase in grade, I had gone from a 5 to a 7, and I had a real good boss down there, Arch Meerhoff, a very knowledgeable fellow. We had 14
some fine times there on the refuge. I used to take a young boy out with me quite frequently, his name was John Meyers, and John was terribly enthusiastic, and he also was quite a talker, he hardly ever slowed down in his talk! I remember one time I took John out, it was late in the day and we were going to band wood ducks. So we crossed that half mile river out to the island, and I told John, "You stay right here near the office." We had an office and maintenance shed on the island. And I said, "You sit right here, right on the edge of the woods and look out across that meadow, and you'll see just hundreds of wood duck coming in to roost." He said "Oh, yes, yes, I'll do it, I'll do it." So, just as dusk was coming on I left John; I had to go about a mile or two upstream to check on a wood duck trap. I did that and came back, and as I approached the shore, I was about ready to pull the boat up, I heard this voice of John saying, "K-k-k--Kent, is that you?" John had been sitting there, he had been watching the wood ducks and this big buck deer had come up behind him silently, and he hadn't seen it come up, and the deer, once he sensed John, snorted and wheeled around. John said he could feel the hair on the back of his neck and his head goes straight up!
Jonathan Schafler:
He was scared to death when you got there?
Kent Olson:
Yep.
Jonathan Schafler:
Any contact with him after you had left there?
Kent Olson:
We did for awhile, and I've got a plaque downstairs with my name on it that he made for me. We corresponded for a couple years, and then it just kind of dropped away. He moved to Chicago, his folks moved to Chicago.
Jonathan Schafler:
He didn't stay in the service?
Kent Olson:
No, he didn't. He was just probably 13 or 14 when I took him out. Whatever he did with his life, I have no idea. He may have gotten into fish and wildlife work.
Jonathan Schafler:
Now your job at Mark Twain was assistant refuge manager?
Kent Olson:
Yes, that's what it was.
Jonathan Schafler:
Where did you go from there?
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Kent Olson:
I transferred up to Miller, South Dakota and the Wetland Acquisition Program, and it was my job to pick out those wetlands that I felt were suitable for eventual purchase by the government through the Small Wetlands Pr
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