December 2016 Issue by Grant Magazine

Grant Magazine grantmagazine.com

December 2016

Donald Trumpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s election has the Grant community asking

SO NOW WHAT? Stories begin on Page 7

In this issue...

On the cover: aftershock By Grant Magazine Staff

Grant students and staff react to Donald Trump’s rise to the White House. (Cover illustration by Julian Wyatt)

Illustration by Julian Wyatt

out of the spotlight

playing through the pain

copy that

When junior Kate Petralia didn’t make it as an actor, she didn’t leave theater. She became the glue.

Emily Geoffroy and other aspiring musicians are suffering serious injuries from overuse in playing instruments.

Dianne Copper, Grant’s volunteer copier, spent more than 30 years in education. She can’t leave it behind.

By Georgia Greenblum

Grant Magazine

By Sydney Jones

By Molly Metz

riding high

the alumni profile

Afterthoughts

Freshman Helen McDonald started riding horses to cope with her mom’s breast cancer. Now, it’s her passion.

Ted Rooney was a bust as an actor at Grant in the 1970s. But his career took off in Hollywood.

Losing a family member to Alzheimer’s disease is hard. So how do you grieve while they’re still here?

By Ari Tandan

Moments: Santa For the day

By Toli Tate

By Isabel Lickey

Photo by Miles Rideau

By Miles Rideau

Six years ago, Dean Hanson tried on the holiday suit for the first time. He’s been spreading joy ever since.

December 2016

Quick Mag

A condensed version of Grant Magazine that has almost nothing to do with just about anything else.

Talk Back

Over the Holidays By Momoko Baker

What is your favorite throwback song and why? By Toli Tate Sade Means, senior Song: “La Di Da Di” by Slick Rick “My dad and I, when I was little, used to listen to music on Thursday nights until 10 because it was his day off. We used to laugh and dance, and (La Di Da Di) always came on. It was his favorite and became my favorite.”

The Mini Profile: Sadie Thorburn

How boxing empowers this Grant junior. By Jessica Griepenburg Sadie Thorburn can remember the intimidation she felt as the only kid and one of few women in her first boxing class at Northwest Fighting Arts. But once the class began, Thorburn lost sense of time. “I remember the class like, ‘Wow, this is so hard.’ And then it was over. Like, that was the fastest thing I’ve ever done,” she says. The more she practiced, the more she fell in love with the sport. But it hasn’t always been easy. Thorburn says being a young woman in a class full of older men is difficult. They underestimate her abilities and go easy on her. “I feel like they think, ‘Oh, she’s just a girl, she’s

just a teenager. Gotta take it easy.’” But she doesn’t let them discourage her. Women’s empowerment is a thread in Thorburn’s life. Along with boxing, she’s also involved with Crimson Wave, a club at Grant dedicated to making care packages filled with menstrual supplies for the female homeless community. Today, she works at the front desk at the Fighting Center once a week before going to class. The intimidation she used to feel is gone. When she steps into the boxing gym, she’s focused and in control. It’s all business. “I can do a lot more than I thought I could,” she says.

How much snow has Portland seen over the decades? Here are the average inches per year for every decade dating back to 1870.

Zoe Shaw, junior Song: “Sexyback” by Justin Timberlake “JT is timeless, and anything from the late 90s or early 2000s is such good music. A couple years ago, my mom and I were driving up to Seattle to visit family, and I just remember that song came on the radio, and we blasted it and danced in the car while we sang along.” Chris Yamasaki, freshman Song: “Gangnam Style” by Psy “I think of it fondly as it had such a big following … everyone was into it, and for me that was my first real introduction to pop culture, probably.”

Nice clothes

Outfit

Pajamas

Ham, potatoes, pie

Food

Kraft Mac & Cheese

Games with cousins

Time Spent

Watching Netflix

With grandparents “What are your plans for college?”

Conversations

Winter Holidays

(in order of how many days celebrated)

Hanukkah: 8 days Kwanzaa: 7 days Diwali: 5 days

18.3

By the Numbers

Crowds that are impossible to push through

when Loud conversations carry into classrooms

Number of words in Hillary Clinton’s concession speech

Unidentifiable food on the floor left over from lunch

Number of words in Donald Trump’s victory speech

Social gatherings directly in front of your locker

Number of songs Donald Trump has been referenced in since 1989

4.4 4.7

Music being played without headphones

16.4

1890-1900 7.7

1900-1910

11.9

1910-1920 9.9 9.8

1920-1930 1930-1940

9.3

1940-1950 8.4

1950-1960

By Jessica Griepenburg

6.7

1960-1970 1970-1980 4

1980-1990 1990-2000 2000-2010 0

Number of times a president has been elected without winning the popular vote

A Brief Review: Cup Noodles By Ella DeMerritt

Are the vegetables rubber or just really chewy? Is the meat real? The Cup Noodles in the student store have a distinct edible-but-cheap taste to them, providing a quick, hot meal, leaving you wondering if they have actual nutritional value, or if it’s all just sodium.

With friends “Want to hang out today?”

Christmas: 1 day

20.4

1880-1890

Alone

Pet Peeves in the Hallway Chinese New Year: 1 day

By Julian Wyatt 1870-1880

vs.

Family Over

Grant Magazine

Editorial

A Change in Strategy

Those who are upset by the election of Donald Trump should take a proactive approach in how to make a difference in the future.

here were you when it happened? Were you huddled around the TV with family or friends, watching the voting results roll in? Were you refreshing Google over and over, waiting for the states to turn blue or red? Or did you go to sleep early that night, avoiding the news and social media, only to find out the next day that Donald Trump had become the next president? The 2016 presidential election has been a wake-up call for the entire nation. People wrote Trump off, firmly believing he couldn’t win because of his lack of political experience, his blatant racism and his misogyny. Many Portlanders were left in shock as our liberal bubble abruptly burst, leaving us to think: What do we do now? In some ways, we are fortunate to live in Oregon, a place that lives on the liberal edge. We were one of the first states to legalize marijuana. We embraced gay marriage long before the U.S. Supreme Court made its landmark ruling, legalizing such unions. The majority of our congressional delegation falls into the category of Democrat. And Trump received just 17.6 percent of the vote in Multnomah County – our most populous county. The other major urban centers in the nation didn’t vote for Trump either. But a lot of the country did, including plenty of people in Oregon. The reality is that, in Portland, we live in a liberal bubble. But if we learn anything from this election, it’s that we shouldn’t sit back and enjoy our place in the bubble. It’s been popped. It’s time to expose ourselves to different perspectives. For too long, liberals have ignored the perspectives that exist outside of our own. People unfriend their conservative friends on Facebook and refuse to engage in conversation with their Republican-leaning peers when things don’t go according to plan. It’s time to not only get out and expose ourselves to rural and conservative

America, but to expose them to us. Some say we shouldn’t compromise with racist, xenophobic and misogynistic beliefs. But at the same time, we can’t continue to ignore the people who elected our next president. Trying to understand an alternate point of view does not mean undermining your beliefs.

For those who are young, education is crucial. We must read books and articles, take classes on politics and government, speak to experts and attend lectures. Let’s usher in a new age of well-educated and informed politics. If you feel strongly about a proposed law or bill, it’s vital that you make sure those in power know where you stand by writing letters to your elected officials and attending town halls or city council meetings. Trump has done a thorough job of disparaging marginalized groups. This has rendered many advocacy groups and local organizations all the more important in supporting our vulnerable communities. Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Q Center, the Immigrant & Refugee

Community Organization and many others are going to need an influx of volunteers and supporters. If people are in a position to do so, they should also seriously consider utilizing the power of the pocket – donating to advocacy groups that align with the issues you care about. This also means being conscious of where you spend money. Every dollar you spend on companies who have voiced support for Trump or any of the 500 companies under The Trump Organization is a dollar toward the bigoted values that President-elect Trump has championed. Ultimately, the most effective way to play your part is to get out and vote. If you’re 18 or will be in 2018, register to vote. Presidential elections are important, but other state and city elections will have the most impact. Take this last election seriously. The rise of Trump parallels a recent drop in American beliefs about the importance democracy. It’s not just our nation; the world has seen a recent spike in authoritarianism. Liberals are angry and maybe rightfully so when you look at the national popular vote that saw Hillary Clinton get over 2 million more votes than Trump. Many are calling for the removal of the Electoral College system. But the reality, is there have been more than 700 attempts to reform or eliminate that system. None have worked. If you’re upset by the result of the election, get involved. Stand up for what you believe in. Hold people accountable for their actions. Don’t allow bigotry to be normalized. Acknowledge the privilege we each possess, and utilize it to uplift those who do not share the same privileges. The battle against hatred and bigotry associated with Trump will not be a battle won by safety pins or Facebook posts. This is not the beginning of this battle, and in four years, it will not be over. We must be willing to take action against the harmful values that are currently prevailing. ◆ December 2016

In My Opinion

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Editors-IN-CHIEF Sarah Hamilton Sophie Hauth Molly Metz Blu Midyett Kali Rennaker

Photo Editor

Finn Hawley-Blue

DEsign Editor Julian Wyatt

Online editor Charlotte Klein

Video editor

Mackie Mallison

editorial page editor Dylan Palmer

Adviser

David Austin

Editorial Policy

We encourage the community to participate in our publication. Grant Magazine accepts guest editorials, letters to the editors and corrections. Please include your name and contact information with any submissions.

Grant Magazine

Apology Not Acceptable

Too many girls and women say they’re sorry when they’ve done nothing wrong. Let’s stop presuming guilt.

s I’m heading to class on a recent morning, I spot a male student moving toward me. He bumps his shoulder into mine. In an automatic reaction, the word “sorry” leaves my mouth. The boy continues on without speaking. Even though it was clear that he was the one who bumped me, I apologized immediately. Neither of us were guilty of malicious Callie Quinn-Ward intentions, but why was I so quick to assume fault? As I thought about this, past experiences came to mind. I thought of the time a female friend was called on to share her homework responses. She prefaced her answer with, “Sorry, I don’t know if this is correct.” I remember going grocery shopping and hearing the woman ahead of me profusely apologizing for having a large amount of items to bag. When Hillary Clinton’s campaign issued an apology after the candidate fell ill with pneumonia, I immediately thought of the defensive statement President-elect Donald Trump released after being caught on tape bragging about sexual assault. I reflected on all the times I have witnessed women and girls apologize for things they didn’t do. It’s as if apologizing regardless of fault has become commonplace for us female-identifying people. Given the history of gender roles in this country, it’s not hard to see why. In the 1800s, Victorian, corset-wearing women were deemed too delicate to work. In the 1950s, suburban housewives tossed away their own aspirations for the sake of the family. Today, mothers are expected to put careers on hold in order to raise kids, while being a stay-at-home father is viewed as emasculating. Some say that in our society as a whole, masculinity is associated with assertiveness, while femininity is linked to passiveness and politeness. Time and time again, I’ve witnessed men praised for their confidence, while women are criticized for attempting the same behavior. Through media consumption and parental guidance, females are taught that we must soften ourselves. It’s no surprise that a number of young women at Grant say they feel an emergence of apologetic tendencies and uncertainty as they reach adolescence. There’s data to back this up. In 2010, faculty at the University of Waterloo conducted a study

on how often male and female people apologize. The results are telling. Researchers concluded the rate of apologizing when participants deemed themselves responsible is nearly identical between the sexes. However, the study states that overall, “men apologize less frequently than women because they have a higher threshold for what constitutes offensive behavior.” In 2014, an experiment conducted by George Washington University found both men and women tend to interrupt women more often. Members of the Grant community have felt the consequences. Rachel Karplus, a junior, recalls auditioning for choir and saying sorry every time she thought her voice was off-pitch. “I was like, ‘Why am I apologizing for so much when it’s not something I should be apologizing for?’” she asks. Sasha Bartoo-Smith, another junior, describes the gender disparities she sees in classroom conversations. “They are often male-dominated,” she says. “If someone who’s not male tries to insert their opinion, (they get) talked over or people cut them off or don’t listen to what they’re saying.” And a number of teachers note that while females outperform males academically, gender disparities in the confidence of students’ answers are apparent. There’s no denying strong female voices exist in our culture. For example, Beyoncé has a net worth of $450 million and continues to be a commercial success; the 115th U.S. Congress will feature a record of 21 female senators. The past election managed to bring gender issues to the spotlight. Trump blatantly berated Clinton in the debates, using her gender against her. His attacks became commonplace. For me, it was difficult not to draw parallels to classroom environments at Grant. Now, having elected a misogynist into our nation’s highest office, we need confident female voices more than ever. So, I’m calling for females to get rid of the uncertainty and push past restrictive gender roles to speak with authority. We have been apologizing for far too long. I, for one, am not sorry for that collision in the hallway. I am not sorry for having strong opinions. I am not sorry for speaking my mind. I am not sorry for being female. And nobody else should be either. ◆ Callie Quinn-Ward is a junior and a reporter for Grant Magazine.

What’s Next? The Grant community reflects on what a Donald Trump presidency means for the future.

Photo by Miles Rideau

Grant community members gathered in front of the school for a candlelight vigil to spread peace and hope after the election.

t’s been more than five weeks since Donald Trump was elected as the 45th president of the United States. The ensuing weeks have been an odd whirlwind of heightened emotions and victory shouts across the country. At Grant High School, the tone has been – for the most part – somber. From parents crying at parent-teacher conferences to candlelight vigils and student-led protests, the Grant community has made its stance on the election clear. Cristy McCarty, a photography teacher at Grant, says the scene at the school the day after the election was nearly postapocalyptic. Almost every parent she talked to at conferences that day couldn’t make it through the meeting without breaking down. “The closest thing I felt to that is 9/11,” she says. “That kind of being scared and the unknown and ‘What just happened?’ It

sounds really messed up to compare those two to each other, but that was the closest emotion, the scared feeling, the ‘What’s going to happen next?’” Trump’s win not only shocked the majority liberal Grant neighborhood but also most of the country, as almost all major polls predicted a Hillary Clinton victory. Trump has also sparked a revolt against the traditional image of a presidential candidate. With sexual assault accusations, a $25 million settlement in a series of lawsuits against him and the release of a recording of him talking about groping women, Trump has led anything but a normal campaign. But his scandals didn’t stop him from gaining support in droves or from making promises and proposing policies that most politicians would consider political suicide. He has called to ban all Muslims from the United States. He wants to deport millions of illegal immigrants from the country and

appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade – the landmark ruling that gave women the right to choose to have abortions. “I would emphasize that in the days after the election, he has done nothing to give you a sense that he’s moving off of those positions or is going to surround himself with people who will moderate those positions,” says Ian McDonald, a political science professor at Lewis & Clark College. “So I think (minorities) should be very troubled and upset.” Grant Magazine set out to find the voices behind the fear and satisfaction surrounding the upcoming presidency to understand how people plan to move ahead in the coming years. From immigrants to people who identify as LGBTQ+, as well as those who support him, students and faculty at Grant share their take on the impact of a Trump presidency. ◆ December 2016

Naa Amorkor Quaye senior, 18 On a recent Monday night, Grant senior Naa Amorkor Quaye walked down the streets of downtown Portland with a crowd of nearly 150 other Portland Public School students at her side. A line of cops on bikes and motorcycles blocked off the busy streets during rush hour traffic. Quaye, a Ghanaian immigrant who arrived here six months ago, repeatedly shouted her message with passion: “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here!” For her, protesting the election of Donald Trump was a cathartic way to process her fears surrounding his presidency. “As an immigrant ... even though we have citizenship to stay, Trump is so antiimmigration, I can’t just sit down and watch myself and my family and all that we’ve been through here just go away,” she says. “I’m motivated to go protest for my rights because it’s my right, so no one or Trump can take that from us.” Trump has caught criticism for

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his promises of deporting all illegal immigrants. While Quaye and her family of 12, all immigrants from Ghana, have legal citizenship and are not concerned about being deported, they worry about the people espousing anti-immigrant ideologies who’ve been emboldened by Trump’s campaign. The fear of a Trump presidency has resonated in their home. “I do feel the fear,” says Harriet Lamptey, Quaye’s mother. “He can stand in front of millions of people and say that (he wants people deported), and people voted for him. Then you can see how many people want immigrants to be out of here.” “You get up every day going to work or your kids are going to school, and you don’t know what’s going to happen ... if you were in my shoes, trust me, you would be scared,” she says. Quaye says she can’t risk underestimating Donald Trump. “For someone like us, who no matter

what has a debt against them ... this is reality. It’s not like we are being too sensitive or something. It’s reality. You are scared,” says Quaye. “You cannot just calm down and expect something. You must be ready for (a Trump presidency).” While protesting was her immediate response to the election, in the long run, Quaye wants to make an impact by becoming a public defense lawyer. Protecting the rights of those who have less is her ultimate goal. “I cannot sit down and fold my arms and watch other people suffer,” she says. “I just feel bound to help people, that’s why I feel that is my call. I can’t see myself doing anything apart from that.” – Story and photo by Blu Midyett

To hear more of Naa Amorkor Quaye’s story, visit grantmagazine.com/election.

courtney palmer Courtney Palmer remembers sitting in the front room of her house eating pizza with her 10-year-old daughter, Regan, who is a student at Capitol Hill Elementary School, on election night. Sensing the night wouldn’t end the way she hoped, Palmer sent her daughter to her room for bed at 8 p.m. and went to sleep shortly after. The next morning, she woke up to a text from her daughter. “Mama, Trump won,” the text read. “And mama, now I’m afraid to be a girl.” The words hit Palmer hard. “As a parent, that’s devastating to hear. The last thing I want is for my daughter to think that she’s in danger because of the way she was born and that anything is out of her ability to achieve because she’s a girl,” says Palmer. “She was upset. She was scared for herself and scared for me and scared for her family.” The text message solidified a fear that’s been brewing in Palmer since the beginning of the election season. When

english teacher, 38

it comes to a Trump presidency, women, she says, have reasons to be fearful. For Palmer, Trump’s rhetoric and interactions with women make it easy for others to make room for sexism in today’s society. “All of a sudden, it’s OK because the top position in the land has made it OK, has said terrible things about physically violating women, has repeatedly talked over women and not allowed them to say anything,” she says. “When that position of power starts to say those things, it makes other people more comfortable saying the same kinds of things, and that terrifies me.” Palmer, who identifies as queer and describes herself as a “massive feminist,” has been an advocate for LGBTQ+ and women’s rights since she was young. Her daughter is already a champion for women’s rights – she stood by Hillary Clinton from the beginning – and Native American rights, as her father is Native American.

The pair kept up with the news throughout the presidential campaigns, listening to NPR in the car and watching debates. The two took notice of how Trump interrupted Hillary Clinton and called her names, leading Regan Palmer to declare that Trump “doesn’t like women.” Regan Palmer also wasn’t oblivious to the headlines claiming that Trump groped women and was accused of sexual assault. Courtney Palmer worries about the safety of outspoken women in the future. She hopes to eventually take her daughter downtown to watch protests and help her find other ways to make change at the local level. “I think it’s important,” says Palmer, “for her to understand how our country functions and why things are different for different groups of people and how we try to avoid that.” – Story by Sophie Hauth, photo by Finn Hawley-Blue

December 2016

essence taylor On election day, freshman Essence Taylor lay on her stomach on the bed at her grandmother’s house, her hands propping up her head as she watched the polls come in during the presidential election. Her mother and grandmother watched from the living room. Taylor decided to watch by herself because she didn’t want her family to see her emotions. “I could feel the tension and anxiety in the air,” she says. “I was beyond nervous – I just wanted it to be over already.” By the time the results came in and Donald Trump was elected president, Taylor was left speechless. “I couldn’t comprehend what was going on for a little bit. I even went to bed thinking ‘Oh my gosh, is this really what we’ve become? Did this really happen?’” she says. “I was disappointed in this country. I honestly believed that we had overcome a lot ... For him to become president ruined that

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freshman, 14

thought for me.” Her mother, who is West Indian Catholic, and her father, who is Middle-Eastern Arab Muslim, separated when she was two years old. As a child, Taylor grew up learning and experiencing the two cultures and religions that her parents exposed her to. “Although it’s part of the reason my parents aren’t together today, I feel that it has allowed me to connect with many different people of different cultures,” says Taylor. Growing up, Taylor spent time with her grandparents learning Arabic, how to make luqmats, an Arab version of the donut, or Arabic belly dancing with her cousins. Occasionally, she’d also go to a Catholic mass with her mother. But sometimes there’s a disconnect between Taylor and her parents. “It still gets hard though, when you have two different parents with completely different views on life and how they want you to live yours,” she says.

President-elect Trump has previously called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States and has perpetuated negative stereotypes of Muslim people. Taylor is angered and upset. “It makes me completely afraid knowing what Trump has said about Muslims. It makes me think that it will be easier for others to make bad comments about all of the Muslims in the world because our President-elect has said them,” says Taylor. “I know for a fact that it hurts some of my family members – whether they mention it or not. It has made me very protective of them.” Looking forward, Taylor’s not sure what will happen with immigration or what the future will look like for Muslims in America. “(Donald Trump) being elected was just a big shocker for everyone,” says Taylor. “I honestly just hope for the best.” – Story and photo by Molly Metz

Vinnie and Zach Leonard sophomore, 16 and senior, 18 In the Portland bubble, Trump support often seems like an anomaly. In Multnomah County, only 17.6 percent of the general election vote went to Donald Trump, the lowest for any county in the Pacific Northwest. At Grant, Trump support has been seemingly even more dismal, at least on the surface. Brothers Vinnie (at left) and Zach Leonard say they’ve refrained from speaking up about their political beliefs in fear of being ostracized by the community. But now, they want to share their reasons for their support. “A lot of the Republicans I know would never voice their opinion,” says Vinnie Leonard. “When Trump got elected ... I felt like they felt proud to be a Republican or a conservative. In Portland, you’re alone if you’re a Republican.” The brothers say they identify as moderate conservatives and were originally not in support of Trump, but that changed when they were left with only two options for president. For them, it came down to economics and trust. “A transparent government with someone that you could trust and doesn’t have a record of just lying to the people, I feel like I could get behind that a lot more,” says Vinnie Leonard. Gun rights were also a big turning point for the two. When the National Rifle Association endorsed Donald Trump, the brothers’ choice was set. “I hunt, and my family owns guns, so a lot of people have the fear of their guns being taken away,” says Vinnie Leonard. “I feel like that was also one of the bigger deciders, having a president that aligns with my gun views, my second amendment views.” When Grant students led a protest a few days after the election to stand in solidarity with the marginalized groups they believed would be most affected by a Trump presidency, Vinnie Leonard walked with them. He says he wanted to understand

what the protests were about. But still, for the brothers, social issues were not the major influence. Zach Leonard says that while many of Trump’s proposed policies and statements are unrealistic and sometimes blatantly offensive, the media and many Portlanders focus too much on the idea of political correctness. He says it distracts from the bigger issues at hand, illegal immigration being one of them. “We do have a lot of illegal immigrants that come here, but they don’t necessarily bring any particular skill,” Zach Leonard says. “If they don’t speak English, for example, that doesn’t really benefit the country.” “I’m not saying that ‘Oh, they steal jobs,’ but they’re just unskilled laborers,

and they’re coming into the low-income bracket, and it burdens like a lot of taxes that need to be funneled to welfare.” Ultimately, the brothers say their support for Trump is centered on the betterment of the country, and they feel others should accept the outcome of the election. “He is going to do the best for the country, and I feel like in four years we’re going to be more united and close-knit than we have been in recent years,” says Zach Leonard. “It’s not going to be a utopia by any means. We’re still going to have problems, but I would just say give him a chance. We’re going to have to support this guy, whether we like him or not.” – Story by Blu Midyett and Finn Hawley-Blue, photo by Finn Hawley-Blue December 2016

owen charlish In the nights leading up to the election, Grant junior Owen Charlish began losing sleep. He’d often lie awake in bed until midnight, his mind filled with what-ifs: “Could he actually win?” he thought. “I’m an avid sleeper, I guess you could say, so that was really abnormal for me,” he says. The thought of a Trump presidency “would just be on my mind, and I couldn’t let it go.” Charlish, who didn’t think a Trump presidency was possible, worries that without political or military experience, Trump seems unqualified for the job. But most of all, Charlish, who identifies as gay, worries about what a Trump presidency means for people who identify as LGBTQ+. “I don’t think he actually understands the

12 Grant Magazine

junior, 17

stuff that people in the LGBTQ community go through,” says Charlish, who says his own political views are “in the middle.” One of his concerns is the status of the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision to make same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. A majority Republican Supreme Court come 2017 makes Charlish believe the act could be overturned. While Trump has no clear plans to overturn the ruling, he has stated that it is something he will “strongly consider.” “They could repeal it, which is kind of tragic, because it’s something we’ve worked so long for as a country,” says Charlish. Charlish, who is not out to his family, says this possibility coupled with an increase in widespread hate speech since Trump’s win makes him feel less confident in his identity.

“I’ve started coming out to more people, which has helped give me confidence, but for the most part, this has stripped away some of that,” he says. While Charlish says that he’s “terrified,” about what could happen, he’s also arrived at acceptance, realizing that the goal should be to help make Trump’s transition into presidency as smooth as possible. “I’m holding onto hope,” says Charlish. He believes it’s essential for members of the LGBTQ+ community to take time to educate Trump on their concerns. “I’m just trying to keep in mind: what’s the most unifying thing that I can do that I believe in that can bring this country together?” – Story by Sophie Hauth, photo by Molly Metz

margarett peoples special education teacher, 47 In the summer of 2016, Grant special education teacher Margarett Peoples celebrated the Fourth of July in Louisiana with relatives, including her mother, Nancy Peoples. Throughout the trip, Nancy Peoples mentioned having trouble breathing. Margarett Peoples, 47, suspected it was the intense humidity in Louisiana, but when her mother’s symptoms persisted back home in Tennessee, they realized it was something more serious. After several hospital visits, Nancy Peoples, 67, was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, a rare high blood pressure condition in which the heart and lungs don’t properly work together. With a Trump presidency quickly approaching, Margarett Peoples is increasingly concerned about the stability of her mother’s healthcare. Nancy Peoples – who relies on Medicare, a federal health insurance program for people 65 years or older – was prescribed Albuterol and Opsumit. Albuterol opens up airways in the lungs, and Opsumit, a highly expensive drug for hypertension, regulates the heart. “My concern with the Trump presidency is that during his campaign, he talked about Medicare as an entitlement program,” Margarett Peoples says. “Will that mean that this drug will be cut back?” Without payment help from pharmaceutical grants, charities and Medicare, the drug would cost Peoples and her mother thousands of dollars. She worries about what Trump’s policies on healthcare could mean for her ailing mother, who also has Type 2 Diabetes. While Trump’s personal stance on health care has fluctuated – at times he’s said he would support Medicare – his cabinet appointments thus far haven’t followed suit. In the weeks after the election, the Trump transition team announced the selection of Congressman Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services. For the past six years, Price has been a leader in the movement to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and cut funds to Medicare.

Over the recent Thanksgiving break, Peoples traveled to Tennessee to visit her mom, who had been readmitted to the hospital and still hasn’t received the Opsumit. Doctors say it will take time for Nancy Peoples to recover from pulmonary hypertension. “It’s not going to be one or two pills and you’re done. It is going to be several years or the rest of her life,” says Margarett Peoples. Peoples recently lost her grandmother and gets teary-eyed at the thought of losing her mother. “To think that I would lose my mom as well is very difficult,” she says. “We are very close. As I have gotten older, she is less my mom and more my confidant.

I talk to her about everything.” “For whatever reasons, folks don’t like Obamacare. I challenge us to remember that it was put in place moving us more to a universal health plan,” Peoples says. With a Trump presidency, Peoples is worried that support won’t come from above, so she’s continuing to be politically active by writing to members of Congress and participating in town hall events. “My ultimate concern is immediate and local: How do I make sure that my voice as a citizen is heard?” – Story by Finn Hawley-Blue and Sarah Hamilton, photo by Finn Hawley-Blue December 2016

lewis and julianie padilla Villalobos junior, 16 and senior, 17

On Nov. 8, Julianie and Lewis Padilla Villalobos sat eagerly in front of the television, both hopeful that the first female United States president would be announced later that night. But as the night drew to a close and Hillary Clinton’s prospects were slimming, their hopes diminished. As Julianie Padilla Villalobos (at right) glanced down at her phone, a flutter of messages filled the screen. Family from Puerto Rico conversed over a group chat, discussing the undesired outcome of their own election of Governor Ricky Roselló. With both unwanted turnouts, the family shared condolences with one another, nearly 4,000 miles apart. For Lewis Padilla Villalobos, the U.S. election results didn’t come as a surprise, given the close race. “Now you see the real face of the people,” he says about the voting turnout. But for Julianie Padilla Villalobos, that night came as a shock. The results took over her every thought. “I was thinking too much, and my uncle tells me, ‘Don’t worry, you are a citizen, you don’t need to worry.’ I told him, ‘I worry about other people ... every immigrant,’” she says. The Padilla Villalobos siblings came to Oregon from Las Marías, Puerto Rico just months ago. In Puerto Rico, their image of America came with thoughts of “opportunity,” “an open place” and a “better life.” Keeping minimally up to date with American politics, it wasn’t until they settled in Portland that they began to pay attention to Donald Trump’s rhetoric. The siblings were quick to recognize Trump’s offensive language toward Latinos. He has also put the deportation of millions of illegal immigrants high on his presidential agenda, causing the siblings to fear for the future of many Latinos in America. “I worry about other people who don’t have papers and that they maybe don’t have the opportunity here,” Julianie

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Padilla Villalobos says. Both siblings know this election may not directly impact them and their citizenship, given Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and they’ve been citizens since birth. Yet, they’re concerned about those close to their family. With the election’s turnout, thoughts about a family friend, who is an undocumented immigrant, come to mind. The friend came to the U.S. to make more money, having to support his family back in Mexico. With a Trump presidency, his future in the country could be jeopardized. Concerns with the rise of racist attacks

also surface for the two. With Trump as the leader of the country, they worry that his offensive language could spark the normalization of such rhetoric. Now, the siblings reflect on their future with their lives in Oregon and a Trump presidency: “It was like I can have a job and be happy there, have my family with me. But now I’m afraid for family,” Julianie Padilla Villalobos says. “There are people who are racist, and now that he won, maybe they show they’re racist.” -Story by Kali Rennaker, photo by Finn Hawley-Blue

Behind

THE SCENES

Stage managing has kept junior Kate Petralia in theater and opened up a door for her future. By Georgia Greenblum • Photos by Molly Metz

Kate Petralia tests out the fog machine at a performance of “Goosebumps the Musical: Phantom of the Auditorium” in the Newark Theatre, where she served as a stage management apprentice. Petralia wants to become a professional stage manager.

s the stage lights in the Grant High School auditorium dim, a voice from backstage speaks into a headset: “House to half. House out. Light cue one, go.” The curtain rises, and actors assemble on stage. Giving the cues from backstage is junior Kate Petralia. She’s the driving force behind many theater productions at Grant. Petralia paces with an iPad in hand, directing actors into their positions and

giving cues for lighting and sound effects. But despite the chaos, she stays composed and organized. Minutes later, the director yells “Cut!” and the lights come on. Petralia enters the stage, busy but content. When acting fell through for Petralia in 2014, she found her niche in stage managing. The position has provided her an opportunity to work with professionals and peers and mentor those younger than her. This isn’t just a hobby for the 16-year-

old Petralia. It’s the beginning of her career. Spending 15 to 21 hours a week stage managing different shows, Petralia has little time for anything else. “I do stage management for the opportunity to constantly grow and learn while also being able to show others the magic of theater,” she says. “It’s a place where I know I can always be myself and will always be surrounded by fellow supportive artists.” Born on Jan. 28, 2000 in Portland, Kate December 2016

Petralia is the first child of Rich and Alison Petralia. From the beginning, her parents recognized their daughter’s immediate connection to theater. “She got involved right in the beginning,” says her mother, Alison Petralia. “I think it goes back to when we saw ‘The Lion King.’ She was really young.” Having parents who support the arts, Petralia participated in the 6 a.m. choir practices at Beverly Cleary Elementary during third grade, and a year later, she joined band. These platforms helped open other doors of interest. Petralia then attended da Vinci Arts Middle School where she carved her artistic path. While she’s never had a tough time making friends, it was in theater where she found herself. “It was an environment where they were self positive,” she says. “I think that definitely helped me feel really comfortable in who I am, and that’s definitely translated to high school.” She had never been an actor when she tried out for “Attack of The PomPom Zombies.” She was not expecting much from her audition but received a background role, which made her content. During the same time, Petralia also was introduced to the world of tech, as she started working the light board for the school’s talent shows. Everything from the lights that allow the audience to view the characters to the sound effects was now Petralias’ responsibility. “It opened my mind to … how much effort people who often never get credit put into those things,” she says. She continued to do tech for the talent shows after she was denied a role in the school-wide da Vinci production, “Black Mask.” But because she had been learning tech, she was happy to contribute to the

“One thing that I love about theater so much is that you’re never doing the same thing ... You might be using the same skills but you may be using them in a different way.”

-Kate Petralia 16 Grant Magazine

production even from behind the curtains. “It was new and exciting and always challenged me,” she says. “There were so few people that tech’d for them in the first place. I was on headset backstage and felt important.” While taking the masters drama class in seventh grade, Petralia was picked as stage manager for the fall show, “The Lost Princess of Oz.” By this time, she had already started climbing the ladder in the world of theater. Stage managers are responsible for correcting actors’ lines, keeping track of when props need to be used, giving cues for lighting and set changes and serving as the voice between the actors and the set designers. Petralia started leaning away from acting and focused her time on tech and stage managing. In eighth grade, Nicole Accuardi joined the da Vinci faculty as the new drama teacher, and Petralia became her right-hand person. Accuardi says of Petralia: “She … went on to pretty much run the light board at every talent show we had. She would run it for the music concerts. Any time someone needed anything regarding the light booth for tech or anything, Kate was right there.” After performing in the play, “I Ain’t Got No Home,” Petralia didn’t feel like herself on stage. It wasn’t where she wanted to be, so she decided to give up acting. “I assistant-directed, and honestly, that was the most fun I have ever had in a production,” she says. “I was essentially a personal assistant during that show, but it was also an interesting look at the mind of a director, and it was something I had never done before, which was really cool.” Before Petralia entered high school, Accuardi talked with Grant’s theater teacher, Chris Lane. “I told him … ‘You have the greatest student coming to you who will be your life saver,” she recalled.

“‘This is someone who you can rely on at all times.’ It seemed pretty quickly he figured it out, lucky for him.” Petralia easily lived up to the expectations. “People definitely thought coming into it that I was older than I was,” she says. “People would be like, ‘You’re a junior or a senior right?’” Petralia became a member of the Thespian Troupe 1657, the Grant chapter of the International Thespian Society, where thespians come together to share passion for theater.

The spring flew by with Petralia spending time in Grant productions like “Tartuffe” and assistant directing “Little Shop of Horrors.” Even with her crazy schedule, Petralia never stopped lending her time to Accuardi. Petralia would come back to help at da Vinci with anything that needed to be done. “Honestly, at this point I’m just flattered that she takes the time to come and be with us at da Vinci,” says Accuradi. “I honestly do not think I would be able to survive my first three years of teaching had Kate not

been there.” At the end of freshman year, Petralia applied for the Young Professional Program, which provides highly skilled teens advanced training in the theater department. After being turned down the first time she applied, she was finally accepted. In the spring of 2016, Petralia stage managed her first Young Professionals show, “Chrysalis,” which gave her professional training. It also helped her make connections to increase her chances

Above: At a recent day at the Newmark Theatre, Petralia puts props in their place for the latest Oregon Children’s Theatre main stage show “Goosebumps”, which is just one of her many jobs as a stage manager.

for a future career in stage managing. “I felt really supported, and it was all very professional, which was a change for me coming from Grant but a nice change,” says Petralia. Accuardi sees nothing but good fortune in her former student’s future. “It’s

definitely a challenging place to get a foothold in and for Kate to have done that,” she says. “She’s working on productions that hundreds of thousands of dollars are going into … and Kate is one of the people responsible for them running smoothly and effectively.” When not at rehearsals for the Youth Professionals, Petralia helped Accuardi organize paperwork at da Vinci and had a job as production manager since the beginning of junior year, even suggesting that they do the show “The Lion King” for their spring play - which ended up running. “I think that she’s really a real role model for a lot of people who are younger than her,” says Accuardi. “I know when she comes back to da Vinci, there’s a lot of kids that really look up to her and admire her, and I really love that she is a woman in that position.” Last summer, Petralia found herself at the Newmark Theatre in a room full of local artists and actors. She was honored at the Portland Tony award ceremony, called “The Drammys.” Having been nominated by her director Matt Zrebski, Kate was the youngest of four high schoolers to be nominated. “I was really nervous because it’s very rare that I am up on stage, so having everyone watch me was a different experience,” she says. A week and a half later, Petralia flew to New York for the National Student Leadership Conference. For a week, she was surrounded by other thespians and attended workshops, shows and building activities. But, when the summer ended, she was back in school, attending rehearsals for the fall mainstage show, “Goosebumps.” Young Professional member and Grant junior Heidi Osaki has closely worked with Petralia. She says: “I think that her domain is very much stage managing, and I definitely would look up to her as a mentor in that aspect … I am just amazed at how

she gets around because she does so much stuff.” Petralia’s love for stage managing propels her to combat the odds. Her hours are long and tiring, but she’s in a world where men have dominated all the jobs and positions. Getting to Broadway in New York City is slim for anyone, but it may be her only way to reach the top. Accuardi says of the industry: “Women were not even allowed on stage at all until roughly 300 years ago. Still, the majority of the cannon of work that people do has more male parts than female parts. So when we look at what’s happening on the stage, it’s really male dominated, just like in all of society. Males have an easier time of being taken seriously for their roles of directors or technicians or any of those things.” This situation is something that has been recognized by younger people involved in theater like Petralia, and it hasn’t gone away. The Young Professional company makes a point of giving equal opportunities to both genders. “From what I’ve seen, it’s pretty even but leaning more towards the female,” she says. “I think it is kind of hard because we are definitely at the tail end of the time where females can do everything, and I think if you went to Broadway right now, it would be mostly male.” Petralia will be starting rehearsals for the main stage Oregon Children’s Theatre production, “Flora and Ulysses” and spending the rest of her time on Grant’s production, “Chicago.” Of getting back to work, she says: “I’m really excited. I always like a challenge, and I’m ready to face the challenge this spring.” She’s planning her future and doesn’t want to stop her busy schedule of stage managing. “I have given a lot of time to it, and it’s something I love, otherwise I wouldn’t give it this much time,” says Petralia. “I definitely want to go equity, which basically means I get higher paid stuff, and it’s more national than regional. I think it would be amazing to work in New York. It’s a cool, unknown world.” Accuardi has worked with Petralia for five years and has no doubt that she can achieve her goals. “My hopes for Kate is … that she continues to get involved in theater, and I hope that she actually gets to work in stage managing on Broadway,” says Accuardi. “Because I know that she loves Broadway.” ◆ December 2016

Moments

Here Comes Santa Claus

On a cold Saturday, Kris Kringle made an appearance on the front lawn of Grant High School as part of a fundraiser for the school’s dance and baseball teams. Photo and interviews by Miles Rideau

Dean Hanson, “Santa,” 66 “About six years ago, a pastor from my church ... needed a Santa and said, ‘Dean have you ever done it? You kind of look the part, you act the part, you are the part.’ I loved it so much that I bought the suit. I have always had a great love for people around me, and when I see little kids who just want to be held, and they want to know somebody cares about them, that touches my heart deeply. Some people just need to know that somebody is listening to them. George (the stuffed animal) rides with me in the sleigh everywhere I go. He is kind of like my navigator, and he gets a little on the cold side, so he loves warm hugs ... Sometimes when Santa seems a little bit spooky or too scary, then (the kids) can hold onto George and give him a big hug and a squeeze.”

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Amy Friday, 42 (with daughter, Scarlett, 1) “It’s a complete tradition for us. Last year when we took her, she was like two months old or something. My family always took us to see Santa Claus, and there was a great big line. It was always really exciting. Traditions are important in general. And having family traditions that are loving and celebrate happiness and positive things during the holidays are really important. Daddy couldn’t come because he was working ... we will do another Santa run where Daddy gets to come, too. It makes the holidays fun and special, and that’s what family is all about.”

Moments

Maintaining the Legacy

“Dance Day with the Gendrills” raised money for the team and inspired girls from kindergarten to eighth grade, as dancers formed relationships with the next generation. Photo and interview by Jessica Griepenburg

Ali Woodyard, 15, Grant freshman (second from left) “I think it’s important because it (shows) graders, and they were really sweet. It was fun to parents and, you know, other kids what it’s like just kind of hang out with them because they’re to be on dance team. You don’t just practice it not as immature as you think. We played little for like five minutes, you know it takes a long games with them and stuff, and they learned it time. This was six hours of just teaching and really fast. It wasn’t like as difficult as we all going through and doing it over and over ... I thought it was gonna be. But it was just fun to actually really like little kids, and we got fourth actually teach instead of learn.”

December 2016

An Unknown Risk Grant junior Emily Geoffroy wants to play in a major symphony when she’s older. But the pain of being a musician has her fighting to keep going. Story and photos by Sydney Jones

n most days, Emily Geoffroy wakes up feeling exhausted. She’s nauseous, and her head is throbbing. She sits up slowly, letting the spots clear from her vision before slowly walking out of her room. Geoffroy’s mom notices that, once again, she looks pale. As she gets ready for school, the Grant High School junior tenses her body every time she hears a noise. Something as simple as the radio playing loud makes her temples pulse. By the time she gets to her first class, she’s already exhausted and feels like she never slept. This morning routine has become normal for Geoffroy, who

20 Grant Magazine

suffers from chronic nerve compressions. The culprit of her symptoms? The clarinet that she plays everyday – both in band and after school. The repetitive nature of pressing the keys on her instrument has led to the condition. “It was just really confusing and pretty helpless because when you have a constant headache, it’s hard to focus on schoolwork,” she says. “That made going to school like 10 times worse.” Geoffroy, 16, isn’t alone. While there are little to no statistics about music injuries, band teachers and physical therapists say they’ve seen an increase of musicians suffering from overuse injuries. That’s especially the case in the highly competitive world

“It’s not just like any other class ‘cause you’re like producing the material,” says Geoffroy about her band class. “It feels so great to play a piece and have it sound amazing ‘cause you’ve worked hard at that. It’s just a really cool experience.”

of jazz and orchestral music. For Geoffroy, the injury hasn’t stopped her from dreaming big. Since she was 14, there’s been no question about her wishes for the future – she aspired to join an orchestra as a clarinetist. However, because of her injury this year, her plans aren’t as clear. Her love of playing has caused her constant pain and forced her to participate in weekly physical therapy appointments. With her chronic nerve compressions, headaches and soreness, the road to her dream job is becoming increasingly problematic. She’s not giving up just yet, but the road has been difficult. “I just need to play. I love practicing ... just hearing the actual sound of the instrument,” she says. “Even if it’s not practicing, and you’re just listening to it, like just once, it makes me want to sound like that and improve.” Born on October 31, 2000, in Framingham, Massachusetts, Geoffroy was an outgoing, happy and confident kid, her parents say. A short time later, they moved to New Jersey. Her parents made sure music had an influence on her life. In college, the two were avid musicians who played the trumpet and clarinet. As soon as Geoffroy was able to play, her parents were driven to get her into music. She started piano lessons at age 6. “My mom had to beg me to practice … I just remember not focusing at all in my lessons,” says Geoffroy, who recalls her teacher bribing her with toys to practice her piano scales. A few years later, the family moved to Woodbridge, New Jersey because they thought the schools would be better. Through the strings program at her elementary school, she picked up the viola. “It wasn’t anything like I thought it would be,” says Geoffroy. “Beginning strings sounded like dying cats.” When Geoffroy was in fifth grade, her family moved to Portland, and she attended Alameda Elementary School. That’s when she picked up a clarinet for the first time. She was in the Alameda band class a week after her first day and says the instrument came to her, instinctively. “It was different because you actually use an air stream,” she recalls. “I think I just picked it up much more naturally. I wasn’t naturally good, but I could naturally make a sound.” In middle school, Geoffroy’s musical career took off as she joined Beaumont Middle School’s advanced jazz band. By eighth grade, she had begun working with a private coach, practicing nearly 90 minutes a day. Dunja Marcum, her clarinet coach, says she was taken aback

by her skill. “I definitely was impressed immediately with her musicianship,” says Marcum. “She’s done nothing but improve. Definitely in the top five percent of students I’ve ever had.” As a freshman at Grant, Geoffroy played with the wind ensemble band, pit orchestra, jazz ensemble and pep band. That year, she was one of four students from school who went to the All-State competition at the University of Oregon. She also began playing in the concert orchestra and symphonic band at Portland’s Metropolitan Youth Symphony. In January of her sophomore year, Geoffroy went to the AllState competition again, representing Grant with a group of nine musicians. “That was like 20 hours in one weekend of playing,” she recalls. “So that was really intense.” When she got back, she noticed her thumbs were sore and had started throbbing. She ignored it, and soon, it went away. But two months later, while playing in the pit orchestra for Grant’s production of “The Little Mermaid,” Geoffroy noticed the pain coming back. Her arms and hands were sore – it felt like needles were poking her. Her shoulders and back had a deep ache, and her head was constantly throbbing. But she pushed through it, playing bass clarinet, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone and clarinet for the musical. “That was up to five or six hours of playing every day for the two weeks leading up to the musical,” she says now. “So then it kind of just started growing up my arms, going up my bicep.” The pain made it hard for Geoffroy to perform. “You could see it in her face, you could see it when she had to lift her clarinet,” says her mother, Amy Geoffroy. “It was impossible to ignore.” A week after the pain had gotten severe, she and her mother went to the doctor and got a diagnosis of tendonitis. She started frequently visiting the doctor and made appointments with chiropractors and physical therapists. She wore braces and went through a rotation of different prescriptions to help with the pain. “By the time Emily was going to the doctor, it was far past a manageable point,” says Marcum. Marcum sporadically had injured students in her classes when she started coaching. But these days, she sees it more frequently. In addition to Geoffroy, she currently has four other students who have sustained injuries from playing too much. Marcum, who is also a personal trainer and strength coach, blames the increase of injuries on people constantly looking down at their phones or computers. “Our lifestyle is much more sedentary … We’re rolling our shoulders forward to do all the things in front of us, like texting, computers, and looking down just contributes to it,” she says. “I do see it more, and I expect to continue to see it more. It’s no longer an anomaly. I can pretty much count on a number of kids dealing with it at one time.” “April and May were definitely the lowest points,” says Geoffroy. She missed several days of school because of the severity of the pain. She also has suffered from nausea and dizziness, which causes her to have a lack of appetite. So far, she’s lost nine pounds. “I don’t think there’s anything more painful for a parent than to see a child suffer,” says her dad, Kevin Geoffroy. “Especially when you don’t know what you can do to make it better.” Grant band teacher Brian McFadden could see the frustration in Geoffroy. During the spring when she could play, she alternated between playing and resting in five-minute increments. McFadden stresses the importance of relaxing and not rushing December 2016

the healing process. “I don’t think a lot of people think, ‘Oh musicians are gonna get injured’” he says. “Problems can arise and some musicians aren’t aware of it either.” As Geoffroy’s pain developed, the demands from pit orchestra at school started picking up. “The Little Mermaid” was in full swing at the time, and the performers needed to be practicing their parts. On one of the performance days, Geoffroy went to her chiropractor. The doctor tested her blood pressure. It was low, but Geoffroy said she felt fine. But toward the end of the appointment, as her chiropractor was doing nerve stimulation, her headache more than tripled in pain, and she started seeing black spots everywhere in her vision. The next thing she remembers is waking up on the floor. Geoffroy suspects she lost consciousness from eating too little because of nausea. Later that day, she was shaken and nervous to play in the performance. “I was so scared that I was going to pass out during the performance. Because I didn’t feel any better,” she says. Despite her condition, Geoffroy played anyway. Once “The Little Mermaid” was over, Geoffroy started to wind down and limit playing time to help her body heal. But the pain in her arms, shoulders, back and head would not go away. She went back to the doctor to get looked at again. Doctors discovered that she was struggling with nerve compressions – pinched nerves due to excessive pressure on the nerve. Eleanor Golden, a sophomore at Grant, has suffered from a similar injury. As an oboe and alto saxophone player and taiko drummer, she has been in the music world for many years. During the spring of 2016, she was diagnosed with an overuse injury, suffering from symptoms of tendonitis. Golden’s injury was not as severe as Geoffroy’s, but she still suffered from sharp pains in her forearm and from her wrist to her thumb. The brace she wore and some strengthening exercises helped her through the pain of everyday things like holding cups or pencils. “Music is tough, and especially if you practice a lot, then you can overuse certain parts of your body,” says Golden. “I feel like people are more aware of athletic injuries and how to prevent those

rather than injuries that you can get from less athletic things.” Geoffroy agrees, as she remembers people either not believing her or being confused when she told them she was injured from playing music. “I definitely think that there’s also a big stigma that music injuries aren’t really a thing,” she says. “I’ve definitely had neighbors who were like, ‘You should just suck it up.’ A couple of my neighbors were like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you were going through that, like I didn’t know that was even possible.’” At the start of her junior year, she stopped seeing her physical therapist. But she continued to visit her massage therapist, and work on exercises at home. Marcum was sympathetic to Geoffroy’s condition, in part because Marcum’s own chances at a professional career in music were cut short because of an overuse injury that she failed to treat. “I mean my whole life – where I am now – changed when I had my injury, so it had a pretty profound impact,” she says. As a junior music major at University of Oregon, Marcum practiced clarinet and tenor saxophone five to seven hours each day. She started feeling pain and then numbness in her arms. “I thought I was going to be in a major symphony, and that got derailed … It took me years and years before I would finally figure out how to deal with it,” says Marcum. Because of unsuccessful healing, Marcum occasionally suffers from the same pain she had in college. “I just did a gig in Pendleton where we had five hours of rehearsal a day,” she says. “I had to just be really careful that I did some stretching in my breaks – foam rolling, walk around, do my shoulder stretches,” she says. Marcum has told Geoffroy of her own past with music injuries but also encouraged her to stay hopeful. Today, Geoffroy is starting to see improvements in her physical condition. Her body isn’t constantly tense, and she is learning to ignore her headaches. She still wears her wrist brace to ease the pain of her nerve compressions. After she graduates, Geoffroy is looking to study music in college. “This is what I want to do with my life,” she says. Her plan is to double major in music performance and music education, but her ultimate goal is to play in a major symphony. The idea of getting a spot in a symphony, Geoffroy’s ultimate dream, is still a reach. “If I’m gonna be in constant One form of treatment for Geoffroy is her weekly appointments with a pain, it’s not gonna be worth it,” she says. “By now craniosacral massage therapist. This type of massage uses light touch and my arm pain is to the point where if I felt this my movement to bring her relief. entire life, if I got my headaches under control, then it would be fine. Annoying but fine. But it’s definitely scary that I’m thinking this strongly about it.” Moving forward, she hopes others can recognize that the dedication required to be a full-fledged musician takes more than just a time commitment. It can be a risk to someone’s health. Others agree. “I think it needs to be genuinely accepted that music is athleticism,” says Marcum. “When you’re playing a musical instrument and all those years of training, that is utilizing muscles and ligaments and joints just as much as a sport. I think that has to be conveyed to the students. We can’t just wait until students are injured to start the conversation.” ◆

Visit grantmagazine.com/bandinjury to see more of Geoffroy.

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Time with...Amelia Muldrew

Rough and Ready

Grant junior Amelia Muldrew has a passion for ice hockey.

“Hockey’s just that constant reminder that it’s worth it.”

Interview by Stella Kondylis Breeze • Photo by Blu Midyett What was your first experience with hockey? The first experience I had with hockey was watching a game. I got bored and just sat on my phone and just watched a Boston versus L.A. Kings game. That was the first game I ever saw. I was immediately interested. What about it caught your attention? It just looked like so much fun. It was a sport that didn’t seem insanely boring. I hate football. I used to play soccer, but this was a sport that I could play and that I want to play and watch … One that I could be obsessed with. What did your parents say when you became interested in hockey? That it’s too violent. But my mom made a deal with me while I was buying my gear. I could play as long as I would wear a cage. Have they come around to you playing? They’re fully supportive now, which is awesome. How did you feel during your first game? I was so scared to check someone … I was like, “This is terrifying.” I hit her, and I was like “I am so sorry.” I apologized to her as soon I tapped her. I’m not like a super violent person, so I’m not going to come up and hit you or anything, but it’s still fun. Has that changed at all? For sure. When I play now, it’s with people I’ve played with before and that I know are supportive if I mess up. Are you playing on a team now? I’m not on a team because I’m in between ages. There isn’t a team for girls my age. I’m not old enough to play with the women, and I’m not young enough to play with the kids, so I have to wait until next year, my 18th birthday. What’s it like to not be playing on a team? I try not to stress about it, but it sucks, honestly. I’m grateful for the chance I’ve had to play with one. Has anyone ever told you that you shouldn’t play hockey because you’re a girl? Absolutely not. Most of the people that know that I’m playing think it’s pretty awesome. Because it’s not something you get to see very often locally, especially in

o r

Portland. I still haven’t met many people who even like hockey here. As I reach out into Vancouver Mountain View Ice Arena or Beaverton Skating Center, it’s nice to meet more females that love and enjoy hockey. What is that community of female players like? It’s so supportive. It’s competitive but not competitive to the point that we are fighting or anything. A couple checks here and there, but it’s all about fun and enjoyment and just roughhousing. It’s like a family. You don’t want to leave. In what ways have you noticed the obstacle of being a female hockey player, even when it has never been explicitly expressed to you? It’s just never really seeing women’s hockey anywhere. It’s kind of sad. There aren’t many black hockey players in the NHL. Has that discouraged you? No, not really. The black players that are in the NHL play pretty well, so I don’t think it’s discouraged me in any way. How does hockey help in the rest of your life? It’s motivational to figure out how I want to get to where I want to be. Whether in school, life or progressing into the field I want to go into. I want to be a … nurse or go into pediatrics of any form. That’s hard, and playing hockey is hard. But it’s worth it, and why not go for it? They both feel worth it, and hockey’s just that constant reminder that it’s worth it. What else do you do when you aren’t playing hockey? I’ve been pretty into art since I was younger. When it comes to like drawing and painting, it kind of depends on the mood. It’s usually whatever comes to mind first. I draw a lot of hockey players, that’s pretty big.

Age: 17 Favorite hockey players: Martin Jones (San Jose Sharks) and Tuukka Rask (Boston Bruins) Skating playlist: Oceano, Ohio Players, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins Favorite subject in school: Biomedical science

What are your favorite parts about hockey and art? Hockey is a fun way to meet people. It’s a nice stress reliever. And with art, since I’ve been kind of a quiet person, drawing was always my company. ◆ December 2016

Copy That

Dianne Copper has been in education for more than 30 years. In her retirement, she makes photocopies for the Grant High School staff. Story and photos by Molly Metz

n a recent Tuesday morning at Grant High School, the sun hasn’t risen yet, and the campus is quiet. Dianne Copper walks through the front doors and makes her way to Room

127. It’s a 13-by-14 foot windowless room 20 yards past Center Hall. After unlocking the door, she sets down her lunch tote and sparkling water, takes off her coat and slides the first stack of papers into the tray of a copy machine that starts to hum. It’s 6:43 a.m. Copper, 68, is Grant’s “copy lady,” in charge of making sure teachers and other staffers have enough copies of schoolwork and other materials each day. It’s a volunteer job, one she’s held for the past five years after a lengthy career in education. “I enjoy getting up and doing it, and people are happy to have that done for them,” says Copper. “It leaves more time for the teachers to spend more time with their students, and I think that’s important.” Her colleagues say Copper goes above and beyond, so much so that they don’t consider her a volunteer. “She’s the first staff in the building,” says Nick Branch, Grant’s chief custodian. “She’s always here on the dot. Especially knowing that it’s volunteering, she makes me want to work 10 times harder. She comes in, never late, always there.” Principal Carol Campbell says Copper fills a need the school otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford. “We are really fortunate because most schools don’t have this type of resource,” Campbell says. “The fact that she’s here and does the copying, it really provides the teachers more time to actually focus on planning and giving kids feedback and getting prepared to teach, as opposed to standing in front of a copy machine.”

Copper was born Dianne Mason on June 10, 1948, in Alhambra, Calif. She was the third of four children of Clyde and Ruth Mason. At age 3, the family moved to Bellevue, Wash. Copper knew from a young age that she wanted to be a teacher. “I would gather up the neighborhood kids during the summer,” Copper recalls. “We’d also go for walks, and we’d go down to Lake Washington as a field trip.” At Bellevue High School, Copper took an introductory education course, where she’d spend time at a nearby elementary school working with first graders. “The teacher was absent one day, and the substitute came and said ‘I don’t know what to do,’ and I’d been there enough that I could take the kids through their routine,” she remembers. “So I really got to substitute teach without being a teacher, and I really enjoyed it. I knew then that I wanted to be a teacher.” After graduating, Copper spent a year at Central Washington University before transferring to Western Washington University where she studied education. During her junior year, she met her future husband, Bruce Copper, who was also a student there. The two began eating meals together, playing cards in each other’s rooms and doing homework. Bruce was also studying education but ended up pursuing a career in the U.S. Navy instead. While Dianne Copper finished her senior year at Western Washington, Bruce Copper began active duty on Swan Island in Portland. In 1971, they married at a church in Bellevue. After moving to Norfolk, Va., as part of his naval duties, the couple had a son. Later, they were stationed in Guam. During the day, Dianne Copper taught at the Little Red Schoolhouse, a preschool for the American and Guamanian kids whose parents worked on the military base. “It was a joy for me,” she says now. “Every day, we’d start the day and talk about what day it was and was there anything going on in their (lives). It was really cute.” After living in Guam for a year, they moved to San Diego, Bangkok and Singapore before settling back in Norfolk. Just a few

Dianne Copper talks with a Grant teacher about the specifications for his copies.

24 Grant Magazine

On a recent Tuesday, Copper ate lunch and caught up with the waitresses at one of her favorite restaurants, The Portland Seafood Company.

months after moving in, Dianne Copper gave birth to her second son. A year later, the Coppers moved to Portland, and she started teaching again. Her days were busy raising the kids, substituting in Portland Public and David Douglas school districts and taking classes at the University of Portland as she worked toward her master’s in history. At that time, her father-in-law was a teacher at Grant, and he helped her gain name recognition in the community. Soon, Copper was the go-to-gal for substitute teaching at Grant. “I would get up at 5 o’clock and get ready, and I’d lay down in (the living room) and ... I’d just wait for the call,” says Copper. “I was pretty busy.” She remembers the time when a social studies teacher specifically requested Copper to substitute her class. The previous sub she had used didn’t pay attention to her instructions, instead choosing to jump rope with a TV cord in front of the students. “It was nice to kind of have a home school because the kids knew me, and they knew they couldn’t get away with anything,” says Copper. By 1981, after four years of classes, Copper earned her master’s degree. She continued to substitute across the city, but Grant was always where she felt at home. The kids had gotten to know her, and she felt like she belonged. In 2011, she retired from substitute teaching, but her time at Grant wasn’t over. She started volunteering daily in Grant’s special education department and loved it. “You can see their growth,” she says. “You can see that a student might not be able to do something, and then you can see them gradually learn the process like addition or subtraction.” During one of the weekly morning staff meetings, Copper noticed the energy in the room was lacking, and not much was getting done. The next meeting, she brought doughnuts to liven things up. To her, the pastries seemed like too heavy of a treat, so she started bringing in homemade quiche. After two years of volunteering with the special education department, Copper took notice of the amount of jammed paper in the school’s printers and the unorganized copies in the copy room.

She stepped in to help. Slowly, she created a system and began her volunteer position making copies. “I was a teacher, and I spent so much time making copies … so one day I just came in, and if it had a name on it, I’d put it in the box,” she says. “I thought, I enjoy doing this because people came in, and we talked. “I got to know a lot of the teachers that I had never had the chance (to meet) before, and I just enjoy it, and it gets me out of bed. I just love it.” She’s kept making the quiches out of habit. Now she has her regulars, like Athletic Director Brian Samore, who enjoys a slice each week. “It is something I look forward to every Wednesday,” Samore says. “Sometimes it’s with spinach and garlic, and others, it’s with spicy sausage and jalapeno. There’s a few people that have become big fans of hers, me being one of them. I feel like she’s a sister watching over me a little bit.” Copper enjoys interacting with staff and students and hopes she’s making their lives easier. “I have candy for students who come and pick up copies for their teachers. I get a smile, and sometimes that’s just what somebody needs,” she says. In her time outside of copying, Copper spends her afternoons out to eat at the Portland Seafood Company. She and her husband also enjoy weekends at the coast or traveling to Victoria, British Columbia. She says she’ll keep spending her mornings at Grant for a while longer, even with the move to the Marshall campus next year. Copper is looking forward to what the setup will be like. “It’ll be totally different because I don’t even know what room I’ll be in,” she says. “When I was there, the copier was in several places, the big machine moved around, so maybe I’ll get a room with windows. Knock on wood.” ◆ Grant Magazine Photo Editor Finn Hawley-Blue contributed to this report. December 2016

Taking the Reins Grant freshman Helen McDonald started horseback riding when her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now, it’s more than just a hobby.

Story by Ari Tandan • Photos by Mako Barmon

rant freshman Helen McDonald furrows her brow as she prepares to jump over a two-and-a-half foot fence on her horse, Styles. “It all comes down to these last few jumps,” McDonald thinks. “Focus.” She keeps an even pace, carefully timing each of Styles’ steps. Counting those steps is imperative to success in competitions. The wind rushes against her face, and her heart beats quickly as she approaches the fence. McDonald knows her mom is among the spectators and hopes that she can make her proud. “I know someone is going to have something nice to say when I’m done,” McDonald says. “It’s better when she’s there.” When her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011, McDonald started horseback riding as a way to take her mind off things. “We all have things happen to us that we wish didn’t happen,” McDonald says. “Horses really got me through that.” But riding turned into something more than just a distraction. “I get this feeling of exhilaration when I ride,” McDonald says. “Horses just have energy. You can find yourself if you ride horses.” Now, McDonald competes in events every summer and commutes to Savin Hill Farms near Newberg four times a week so she can ride. “I don’t mind the time commitment because horseback riding is something I love,” she says. McDonald was born an only child on June 7, 2002, in Portland. From a young age, she was very energetic and always needed something to do. Her father, Darren McDonald remembers his daughter collecting plush microbes, which she still keeps in a basket in her room today. “She would often get really deep into a subject,” he says. McDonald attended the Franciscan Montessori Earth School for elementary school. “There was a lot of science-based work,” McDonald’s mother,

26 Grant Magazine

Lora Looney says. At the school, which didn’t have much structure, McDonald was encouraged to find her own interests. She became absorbed in reading and studying different animals. When she was 7, she could name every species of shark, including where it lives, what it eats and how common it is in the world. Then in January 2011, McDonald’s life changed dramatically. Her mother took her daughter to see the movie “Secretariat,” A story about a once-injured horse that comes back to win the Triple Crown, a feat in which a horse takes the nation’s top three racing events of the year. After the movie, McDonald’s parents sat her down in the family room to break the news. “I found out something about my body,” Looney said at the time. “You have cancer, don’t you?” McDonald responded. When Looney affirmed McDonald’s assumption – that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer – a wave of shock came over her. She ran upstairs and started crying. Looney says now that taking her daughter to “Secretariat” was symbolic – it was her way of letting McDonald know she was going to overcome cancer the same way the horse overcame his injury. She says it wasn’t a surprise that McDonald guessed her condition. At the time, the assistant director at McDonald’s school had recently been diagnosed with cancer. They had also lost her physical education teacher to the disease. “Cancer was everywhere,” Looney says. “It was … in the air at her school.” In the months following, dark thoughts clouded McDonald’s

McDonald rides her horse, Styles, four times a week at Savin Hill Farms. This year, McDonald plans on traveling to Canada to compete in the West Coast Classic. She is currently ranked 9th in Oregon for her division.

mind. “There was a lot of unanswered questions,” McDonald says. She constantly felt anxious and had trouble focusing. With cancer, “you’re living with uncertainty,” Looney says. McDonald remembers her mom receiving weekly checkups and reports with the progression of her cancer. The stress of her condition took a toll on McDonald, Looney says. She had frequent meltdowns, crying uncontrollably in her room multiple times a week. Looney, who grew up for part of her life in the mountains in Colorado, spent much of her childhood riding and taking care of her horse, Pebbles. She remembers the bond she was able to create with her horse and wanted the same thing for McDonald during the difficult time. In mid-January 2011, Looney underwent a mastectomy to combat the cancer. The recovery period was difficult. Looney remembers having to be in the hospital for five weeks after the surgery. Although Looney was in a tremendous amount of pain, she

searched for things for her daughter. During the following summer, Looney signed McDonald up for a horseback riding camp. “I woke up one morning, and I said to myself, ‘Take her to the horses,’” Looney recalls. At the camp, McDonald’s curiosity showed. “I just found it really interesting that there could be all these big animals in one place,” McDonald says. The camp was also loosely structured, which allowed McDonald to create a better connection with all of the horses. Every day, when she entered and left the camp, McDonald would pet each one of the horses as she walked through the stable. In March, doctors told Looney that she wouldn’t have to go through chemotherapy or radiation. Instead, Looney was prescribed the drug Tamoxifen, a tablet that was used to help prevent her breast cancer from recurring. Unfortunately, the drug has many adverse side effects such as loss of energy and achiness. As a result, Looney often feels under the weather. “I hate it,” she says. December 2016

For McDonald, the riding served as a tonic. At age 9, she started At the end of the show season that year, McDonald switched taking riding lessons at Quarry Ridge Farms in Battleground, from two-foot to two-and-a-half-foot jumps. She was ready for the Wash. She felt an immediate connection with the horses. “Humans challenge. seem to get caught up in a bunch of complicated and difficult stuff Shortly after the show season, her family made the decision that doesn’t need to be so complicated and difficult,” McDonald to buy out the other owner’s half in Styles. “I just loved him so says. “Horses simplify life.” much,” McDonald says. She loves the way horses emulate the way the rider is feeling. The dedication and commitment have paid off. This year, She says horses base their confidence on the emotion of the rider. McDonald competed in four major shows, called rated shows, When McDonald felt anxious about her mom’s sickness, the horses winning first place in one class and winning second in two other could sense it. “I had to tone down the anxiety when I went to the classes. barn,” McDonald says, or the horses would get spooked. Today, she continues to practice four times a week. She believes The discipline of riding she learned is known as Hunter Jumper, with her current level of dedication, she will be able to move up to which was derived from fox hunting in the 18th and 19th century. It three-foot jumps by next year. involves jumping over multiple fences Sarah Savin, the trainer at Savin on a memorized course as gracefully Hills Farms, believes McDonald has as possible. grown a great deal emotionally since By the end of her first year of riding, joining her farm. “She understands that McDonald was already performing in mistakes are a part of learning,” Savin competitions that generally have five says. “She’s very forgiving of herself classes, or sections. A ribbon won of that now.” from each class is worth a certain This year, McDonald will compete number of points. The person with in multiple competitions such as the the most cumulative points wins the Oregon Trail Classic in Wilsonville, division. where she competes with people 17 Although McDonald enjoyed the and under. riding, she became hard on herself During the competition, McDonald due to the competitive environment wakes up at 5 a.m. It gives her enough at Quarry Ridge Farm. “I put a lot time to get to the grounds and set up of pressure on myself to do well,” her horse. McDonald says. Competitions last all day, and in In spring 2015, McDonald decided most circumstances, McDonald gets to look for a different barn. She home at around 8 p.m. McDonald quickly found Savin Hill Farms, repeats the taxing schedule for all five where she continues to ride today. to seven days of the competition. In April that year, McDonald got She also hopes to travel to Canada Styles, a 17-year-old Hanoverian in July to compete in the West Coast thoroughbred. He began his life as Classic at the Thunderbird complex, a fancy show horse in Wellington, one of the premier facilities in the Fla. “He was a really big deal,” Northwest. McDonald says. But when his owner Although McDonald has an went to college, Styles was shipped to incredible connection with Styles, he is Helen McDonald fell in love with horses after Oregon. getting older. This could pose problems attending a horseback riding camp in 2011. When McDonald first saw Styles, for McDonald, who wants to continue she was not impressed. He had dull “[Horses’] priorities are very ... reasonable,” to challenge herself with higher jumps. McDonald says. “They simplify life.” eyes and little muscle mass on his She plans to purchase another horse neck and shoulders. McDonald didn’t that can jump higher than Styles. “He think Styles would be capable of performing in competitions based can’t go over three feet,” Looney says. “He has an old injury that on his withered appearance. will prevent him from doing that.” But when she rode him, she understood why he had been McDonald says she wants to attend the University of Portland, recommended to her. “I was really happy with how he moved,” and she plans to graduate early – after her sophomore year – to McDonald says. get more of a challenge from school. She’s considering forensic She decided to split the cost of Styles with another rider. Styles science but knows she’ll never lose her love for riding. took her through the show season of 2015, and she rode him four “I like that you have a connection between yourself and the days a week. “You really have an understanding for each other,” animal,” McDonald says. “You can work together to do something McDonald says of her horse. incredible.” ◆ She recalls a recent incident with Styles as if she is talking about a member of her family. She remembers approaching a jump in a festival when Styles saw red flowers and became distracted. “He just started cantering backwards,” McDonald laughs. “It’s funny To see McDonald in action, now.” visit grantmagazine.com/horseback.

28 Grant Magazine

Pen & Ink

driving Driving trials Trials The journey to quicker transportation. The journey to quicker transportation. By Julian Wyatt By Julian Wyatt

The realization: Running late to school

Man, I wish that I could drive...

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You Passed

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Move the person off the road

Seek medical assistance

Remove the leather jacket

The first drive: Scaring your parent to death OREGON

Smile!

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The effect: Making someone else realize it’s time

Finally!

December 2016

The Alumni Profile

Playing the Part

As a professional actor and a well-known acting coach in Portland, Ted Rooney has come a long way since the days when he walked Grant’s halls. Story and photos by Toli Tate

ed Rooney still remembers being on the set of the hit TV show “Seinfeld” in the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles, Calif. in 1997. Several hundred people had come to watch the filming of an episode and sat in rows of chairs in front of the stage. The Grant alum watched as Jerry Seinfeld introduced the show and each cast member. When Seinfeld called out Ronney’s name, he knew he was living out his dream. Almost 20 years prior, as a near failing theater student at Grant, Rooney never would have suspected that he would end up as a guest star on “Seinfeld.” Rooney’s success came as a surprise to many. In high school, his teachers and peers discouraged him from pursuing acting. He rarely got a role with more than a few lines in Grant plays. But now as a professional actor, he has proved them wrong time and time again. Rooney has landed roles in TV shows like “ER,” “Gilmore Girls,” and “Boardwalk Empire” and created his own acting studio in Portland. He says his work ethic and Christian faith inspired him to fight past years of discouragement. “Something I’ve learned as a Christian is that striving for things

30 Grant Magazine

After Rooney and his wife decided they wanted to adopt, Rooney asked Sally Struthers for help. Struthers had experience working with Children’s Organizations in other countries.

and security can’t be someone’s hope. We all have weaknesses and blind spots, but one thing I feel blessed with is that if I know something is right, I’m not afraid to take the risk to do it.” Even though it took some time to reach success, Rooney has always known acting was his passion. “I was fascinated by the way stories were told and acted,” says Rooney. “I always felt that I just wanted to be part of that kind of storytelling and that I belonged there. Subconsciously, I always knew it.” Ted Rooney was born Sept. 22, 1960, in Portland to Ed and Dolores Rooney. He was the seventh of nine children. With so many siblings, Rooney made himself stand out as the goofball of the family. “I suppose one of the reasons why I ended up being an actor was because, in my family, if you’re not outstanding, then you get lost in the shuffle,” says Rooney. Rooney’s big family life was chaotic. He remembers playing

sports with his siblings and having enough people to form two teams. Rooney’s father worked at Grant as a basketball coach and math teacher from 1959 through 1975, and he later became a Grant counselor. Rooney says it was nearly impossible for his father to provide for the family of eleven on a teacher’s salary. So Rooney became used to paying for things on his own. Throughout his childhood, he delivered paper, worked in restaurants and made $2-3 a day picking berries. “(We) learned how to work at an early age because you couldn’t get new clothes unless you paid for them yourself,” remembers Rooney. “I was waking up at 3:30 in the morning at nine years old, delivering papers and then getting ready to go to school every single morning for six years.” If he wasn’t working, Rooney was daydreaming and coming up with stories in his head. He remembers getting home from school an hour later than his brother some days because he would get distracted thinking of stories. “Once, a friend of our family saw me on my way home from school and said I was underneath a bush, singing, pulling flowers out. That was me – I was a dreamer,” says Rooney. In middle school, Rooney saw the Grant Theater Department perform “Bye Bye Birdie,” a play about a rock and roll star named Conrad Birdie who is drafted into the United States army. Rooney dreamed of playing the lead role. Then in eighth grade, Rooney had his first chance to act in a play when his class performed the “Taming of the Shrew.” He auditioned for one of the main roles but was given the smallest part possible. “I was completely showing off, and it must’ve been a farcical. And I thought I was really good, and then I got one line, which was, ‘Yes sir.’ That was my first loss of confidence.” Despite this, Rooney was eager to act in as many plays as he could when he started his freshman year at Grant. Even though he auditioned for Grant plays each year, Rooney never got any big roles. That made his confidence drop. “In high school, I had been swimming in a sea of, ‘Who am I? How do I behave?’ And I hadn’t found it. I still had a lot of insecurities,” Rooney remembers. Being cut from the basketball team his sophomore and junior year only added to his insecurities. He made varsity his senior year but played very little. Then for his senior theater project, Rooney performed a scene from the play “Death Knocks” with a close friend. They spent hours outside of school perfecting the act. But they re-

Rooney has enjoyed teaching Portland actors but before opening the studio he was very nervous. His wife never had any doubts that the studio would a success.

ceived a “D.” “They didn’t hand out “F’s,” so getting that grade was like them saying, ‘Please don’t continue acting.’ I remember looking out the window of the bus and crying all the way home,” says Rooney. Rooney’s teachers discouraged his class from pursuing acting professionally, claiming the acting business was too competitive and unsteady. So after graduating from Grant in 1979, Rooney quit acting and hitchhiked across Ted Rooney Class of: 1979 the United States, Canada Age: 56 and Europe, visiting friends Lives in: Portland, Ore. at colleges and picking up High School Reunion random jobs along the way. Award: Most Changed When he returned to Portland, Before every acting gig: the basketball coach at Mt. “I still have some of mom’s Hood Community College ashes, and so I sprinkle invited Rooney to play on the a little bit of her ashes on team because he said he needa location in honor of her ed a tall player. Two years latbecause she was my biggest er – after committing himself fan.” to the sport – Rooney went to What he won’t miss about high school: “The one thing Lewis & Clark College and I don’t miss is the epidemic played as a starter on their insecurity and abundance basketball team. of inferiority complexes. I Rooney had improved was not the worst case, but I enough as a basketball playoften found it difficult to just er to move to Europe in 1984 be myself.” after talking to a basketball coach in Germany about playing there. He played professional basketball in the country for almost two years. But playing basketball overseas was more of an item to cross off on a checklist than a dream for Rooney. During his time in Germany, acting was still on his mind. Rooney says his faith pulled him back into the world of acting and allowed him to be less worried about failing. “Since we can’t hang onto life, and we can’t hang onto stuff, living for things you love, that’s most important,” he says. “If I’m (acting), then I’m going to be much happier than if I worry about security and whether I can make it as an actor or not.” When he returned to the United States in 1986, he worked with a children’s theater in Seattle for over a year and then applied to several graduate programs to get his Master’s of Fine Arts in acting. Rooney later moved to Philadelphia to attend Temple University. After graduating, he moved to New York, where he worked as a substitute teacher and actor. After living on the East Coast for ten years acting in plays, several commercials and a movie called “Celtic Pride,” he longed to return to the West Coast. When an opportunity came to move to Los Angeles, Rooney jumped at it. But the heightened competition in L.A. wasn’t easy on Rooney, and it was difficult to find work. “I remember one day driving up to San Gabriel Mountain off of Highway 2 and just yelling out to my creator, ‘What am I doing? Why am I here?’” says Rooney. “After that I decided to hire an agent.” December 2016

After hiring the agent, Rooney started to find success in the city – agreed that it would be too expensive to continue flying to L.A. for acting in commercials, TV shows and some movies. jobs. So Rooney opened the Rooney-Blanche On-Camera Acting Nan Schnebly was one of the first actors that Rooney worked Studio in Southeast Portland. alongside in L.A. Schnebly knows firsthand how hard it is to be “Teaching has turned out to be a really positive thing,” says successful as an actor in Hollywood. Rooney. “I’m very passionate about it and … there is a need for on“Something that I think kept Ted from giving up was his camera acting coaches in Portland.” connection to faith,” says Schnebly. “Because of his spirituality, he’s Rooney offers two ongoing group classes, private coaching able to put aside what people say about him and set his mind on sessions and a variety of one-time workshops. Since the studio’s doing something because he wants to.” opening in 2010, Rooney says he has coached around 1,000 actors. After moving to L.A., Rooney’s goal was to guest star in And three years ago, Rooney started teaching acting classes at “Seinfeld.” He even sent an email to his family and friends about his Portland State University. Teaching local actors has also given him career titled, “The Road to Seinfeld.” the chance to connect with the community. Rooney was in Las Vegas with friends when his agent called him Although Rooney maintains a busy schedule with acting classes back to L.A. for an audition. and taking care of his two children, he still does guest appearances “I got to the audition and said to Jerry Seinfeld, ‘Hey you know on shows. He flew to L.A. to film an episode of the “Gilmore Girls” you made me leave my friends in Vegas, but getting on Seinfeld has revival season, which was released on Netflix on Nov. 25, 2016. been my number one goal since coming from New York. So I’m Rooney often appears in “Grimm,” “Portlandia” and “Librarians” as here, baby,’” Rooney says. well. He got the part, and played He also tries to stay involved a character named Crichton in theater acting. In the play by in an episode of the ninth and the Artists Repertory Theatre, final season. “A Civil War Christmas” “I was with the cast the that opened Nov. 26 and runs whole week, so that was through Dec. 23, Rooney really cool to get to know the plays Abraham Lincoln. cast,” says Rooney. “It was “I hadn’t acted on a stage incredible.” for eight years when I got It was also in L.A. that casted for this play,” he says. Rooney began acting in “I was really excited about it. “Gilmore Girls” as Morey We rehearsed for four weeks, Dell in 2000. In the show, his worked 40 hours a week, so character is married to Babette it’s been a full-time job.” Dell, played by Sally Struthers. As a Grant student, Rooney The All in the Family star is never would have suspected also a Grant alum who was that he would end up where he taught by Ed Rooney during is today. Courtesy of Owen Carey and Ted Rooney her four years there. Ken Woods, his longtime In the play “A Civil War Christmas,” Rooney plays Abraham Although he enjoyed acting friend from high school, says Lincoln. The role isn’t new to him – while acting in L.A., with a fellow Portland-native, Rooney has stayed humble Rooney played Lincoln in a Mountain Dew commercial. Rooney says that because he through all his success. played a small role and wasn’t on the set as much as the actors, he “I often turn the TV on these days and just coincidentally, I’ll see felt left out of the “acting family.” Ted on there,” Woods says. “He plays some pretty strange roles, he “Initially we were supposed to have a larger part in the show, but was a child abductor on Grimm once. But it’s always the same old that didn’t happen,” Rooney recalls of his and Struthers’ husband- Ted. He hasn’t changed a bit.” wife role in “Gilmore Girls.” “That’s very common in Hollywood Rooney’s dream now is to follow in the footsteps of character actor – to be told you’ll get a good part and then get disappointed by what James Cromwell, whose acting career launched after his appearance actually happens.” in “Babe” late in his life. In 2003, Rooney met Lori Berkemeyer, a Mississippi-native that Thom Babbes, another close friend and actor Rooney met when he was working as a teacher in Czechoslovakia, on an online dating site. moved to L.A., doesn’t think this dream is unrealistic. They met face-to-face for the first time in Memphis in 2004 and then “I can absolutely see his career really taking off like Cromwell’s married that same year in Portland. Lori Rooney remembers falling because there is nobody like Ted Rooney,” says Babbes. “He knows in love with the city. where he is going, he knows the business and he knows the craft.” After living together for six years in L.A., they moved back to But Rooney says that he isn’t too insistent on making this happen. Portland in 2008. With steady acting jobs in Portland, the acting studio and his acting Just months after their wedding, Ted and Lori Rooney flew to classes at Portland State University, Rooney is content. Ethiopia to adopt a nine-month old boy named Abenezer. And three “I just want to keep getting better and be a good example for my years later, they returned to Ethiopia to adopt a five year-old girl students,” he says. named Betlehem. “I don’t have great ambitions as far as career goes, but if that At the time, Rooney was frequently flying from Portland to L.A. movie comes along and it’s my big break then that would be exciting. for acting jobs. But having doubled their family, Rooney and his wife But that’s not my one ambition because right now, I’m happy.” ◆

32 Grant Magazine

Afterthoughts

Remembering Nana

A holiday trip moves the author to reflect on how her grandmother’s Alzheimer’s affects her family.

By Isabel Lickey • Illustration by Julian Wyatt

y mom’s plan for the Thanksgiving trip was simple: get everyone out of the house by 8:30 a.m. for the drive to Olympia, Wash. to visit her side of the family. By 9 a.m., my sister was in the shower, my brother was playing video games and my dad had just put rolls in the oven. Thirty minutes later, we piled into the car and headed north. I drove, and my mom climbed into the front seat. We chatted briefly about her work before she turned on Christmas music and started a game on her phone. My grandparents were going to be there, and I remember wondering if this would be a good day for Nana. She has Alzheimer’s disease – a degenerative condition that destroys memory and other brain functions. I was focused on the road but couldn’t help thinking how this has hurt my mom. With every visit, with every encounter, it’s a stark reminder that the person who raised my mom isn’t there anymore. After everyone arrived, people stood around the kitchen, sampling appetizers and catching up. Nana stood near Papa, a blank look on her face. She smiled but said little. I think it’s easier for her that way because he can do the talking for the both of them. I only saw them separated once, when Papa went to the bathroom. Hands folded, she looked around, waiting for him to return. “Go talk to her,” my mom urged. I shook my head. It’s awkward talking to Nana. I can’t tell if she recognizes me, and within seconds she forgets the conversation. As we served the food, Nana appeared hesitant while waiting for Papa to bring her a plate. He guided her to the table, and she went without protest. Her diagnosis came 10 years ago. The disease wasn’t obvious at first, showing itself in the little things like forgetting

where she put her keys or whether she had eaten breakfast. The descent since has been harsh and quick. It’s devastating for my mom. I’ve seen her try to reconcile with the loss of a mother who is forgetting how to read and hardly recognizes her. It’s easier on me because Nana has had Alzheimer’s for most of my life. I watched as it went from forgetting my name to running out of her home near Seattle and calling the police on Papa, who she thought was a stranger. Seeing Nana go from such a strong woman to the shell she is now makes me scared for my mom, who seems invincible. That’s what she had thought about Nana. I don’t want to go through that with my mom. To understand Nana’s present, you have to know her past. She was born Maureen Mooney in Alberta, Canada in 1936. At 24, she moved to the United States to go to nursing school and met my Papa, John Short, while he was studying to be an oral surgeon. They got married and had three children. Nana was adventurous. When they lived on Staten Island, she was the only mom on their block to take her kids to Manhattan. She also drove them 18 hours every year to Canada to visit her family while Papa stayed home. They moved to five cities during his residency. She remained a dutiful wife but managed to retain her independence. Once, Nana wanted to go to Vienna and Australia to visit my mom who was traveling at the time. Papa didn’t want to go, so Nana shrugged and went with a friend. I never heard any of those stories from Nana. My mom told them to me. I remember when she came to Portland to watch us while my parents were vacationing. She took us on the MAX to the Park Blocks downtown, shepherding me and my two siblings there and back with a

smile on her face. Then, the Nana everyone knew began to fade. It happened slowly, and then it hit all at once. Us kids were some of the first family members she forgot. When she didn’t know my name, I didn’t cry. I just felt hollow. A few years later, she and Papa came down for Christmas. They went out to dinner with my parents and Nana spilled wine on her shirt. By the time the waiter returned with a towel to clean up, she had forgotten what happened. Later that week, my mom took me and my siblings out to lunch. She mentioned Nana and then started crying. I realized then the weight Nana’s condition had on my mom. The late night phone calls. The sudden trips up north. It’s crushed her, and that’s hard to watch. It scares me. My mom’s a successful lawyer, and I can never imagine her forgetting who I am. I don’t think anyone thinks that one day their parent will look at them and see a stranger. Nana and Papa left Thanksgiving early, right after they finished eating. My mom hugged them, and Nana looked anxious. They drove back to the care facility where she stays. There, she can wake up whenever she wants. There’s a circular hallway that’s locked from the outside. She wanders, wanting to know where she is. By the time she makes it back to her room, she’s forgotten why she came out. My family isn’t in such a loop. We’re going down a more linear path. Regardless, Nana isn’t going to come back, and that’s hard for the people closest to her. No one wants to say they’re grieving because no one wants to admit Nana’s gone. ◆ Isabel Lickey is a sophomore and a reporter for Grant Magazine. December 2016

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