Oregon State University fisheries professor Scott Heppell will discuss the popular book, An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong. The talk is part of the library’s Random Review series.
This month’s event is slated for noon, on Wednesday, Jan. 10 at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library’s Main Meeting Room.
Ed Yong’s An Immense World is a deep dive into the way other members of the Animal Kingdom perceive the world around them. Through his vivid writing and tireless curiosity, Yong encourages his human readers to attempt to perceive reality through the senses of other animals – from tiny insects to the largest of mammals.
Yong, a staff writer for The Atlantic from 2015 to 2023 whose reporting has appeared in numerous other publications, is also the author of I Contain Multitudes, which was the topic of a Random Review in 2017. He received a Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting and many other awards for his coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scott Heppell is a Professor of Fisheries in OSU’s Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences. He grew up in Tigard, Oregon, in a family that enjoyed camping, fishing and exploring the coast. He holds Master’s and Doctoral degrees from North Carolina State University and a Bachelor’s in Biology from the University of Washington. He teaches classes in Fishery Biology, Salmon Biology and Management, and Fish Physiology, and an undergraduate course for non-majors called Food from the Sea, which explores the many aspects of how seafood ends up on our plates.
Heppell is also vice chair of the Habitat Committee for the Pacific Fishery Management Fishery Council, chair of the Science and Data Committee for the Pacific Marine and Estuarine Fish Habitat Partnership and immediate past president of the Oregon Chapter of the American Fisheries Society.
At The Arts Center: In the Main Gallery from Jan. 16 to Feb. 29, it’s the annual Jim and Ruth Howland Community Open, which is a yearly opportunity for everyone in the community to exhibit artwork at The Arts Center. See artists of all ages and experience levels, especially those just starting their creative practice.
The exhibit is installed by category:
- People: (self)-portraits, full figure, busts, headshots, but perhaps also a mermaid or celestial beings.
- Fauna: any animal, wild, domestic and imaginary.
- Flora: All plants wild, domestic or imaginary.
- Scapes: All scapes – land, sea, city or otherwise. Indoor or out. The world is your subject!
- Abstract: a composition of shapes and colors, without a story, either 2 or 3 dimensional.
- Functional: things that can be used as other than an artwork, such as bowls, clothing, hats, jewelry or furniture.
Vicki Wilson Exhibit: At the Art Center’s Corrine Woodman Gallery until Jan. 27, Philomath artist Vicki Wilson presents Compass, a series in the “Tondo” style of sculptures, including free-standing work, as well as smaller works that serve as sketches and tests for texture, shape and color.
Afghanistan Before the Wars: If you find yourself on campus, do see Mark Svendsen photography exhibit.
Here, according to the curatorial statement, is why you want to go: Afghanistan has not always been a battleground. Before the overthrow of the monarchy in 1973, two progressive kings, Nadir Shah and his son, Zahir Shah ruled the country prudently, supporting education for both boys and girls (separately), and encouraging foreign assistance to develop roads, airports, irrigation, electricity systems, and other basic infrastructure.
The 44 years of their combined rule is often regarded as the country’s modern golden age. Life was difficult and sometimes harsh, but the country was at peace and progress was afoot. The coup d’état instigated by Zahir’s cousin, Daoud Khan, brought an end to that period and set in motion a series of wars and foreign interventions that lasted until the American withdrawal in 2021. It was followed by the harshly repressive fundamentalist regime which rules today.
The narrative for this exhibit is to acquaint Oregonians with the native beauty of Afghanistan and the universal humanity of its people, and to impart a sense of what life there was like when the country was at peace half-a-century ago. With America’s longest war there recently ended, this is a perfect time to look back on what were simpler and less fraught times in that nation. It is also a chance to share with new generations a story that will soon be gone from living memory.
Installed in Kidder Hall, The Little Gallery, Room 210, 2000 SW Campus Way. Runs until Feb. 16
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