My Writing
Wading through the slime
Art professor Christopher Michlig’s version of teaching can be a bit messy, but in breaking down the professor-student relationship, learning becomes a two-way street.
Christopher Michlig bounces between small groups of students in Lawrence Hall Room 143 as they discuss one of their first readings for his 400-level class, “Slime and Sliminess.” There’s a general hum of first-week excitement in the room, and students express disbelief at their professor’s passion for slime as a substance.
Michlig is a new core faculty member in the Clark Honors College this fall. He is also teaching “12,000 Colors.” His experiences in academia, his background as an artist, and his passion for analyzing the overlooked pushed him to break tradition in the classroom.
Bigfoot Seekers
The Investigators who keep Bigfoot on his toes
Thom Powell was strolling through his overgrown backyard in Clackamas County, the Columbia River roaring in the distance, mossy pine trees around him reaching toward the starry sky. Suddenly, everything went black. He heard the footsteps of bipedal creatures approaching him on either side. He frantically clung to a nearby tree. Sandwiched between the two creatures, Powell felt a jolt of fear run up his spine. Then, ever so softly, one of the creatures brushed his ear with its hairy fingertips before retreating into the forest.
As Powell entered his log cabin he heard an indescribable sound. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the ‘Saskies’ were laughing at him from between the pines.
Some Bigfooters share similar experiences with Powell, while others have never gotten close to having a visual encounter. Powell, an avid Bigfoot researcher, aligns himself with the supernatural side of the community. Dubbed the “woo,” these Sasquatchers believe that Bigfoot is an alien. Other researchers, nicknamed “apers,” hypothesize that Bigfoot is a hominid that lives in the woods.
'Maxie' is a monumental success
Maxie and Sid can do it today. Get clean, that is. They’re two teen addicts roaming the streets of Eugene and Springfield, bogged down by drug addiction and the traumas of their early lives. The two couldn’t be more different: Maxie’s family is wealthy, wholesome, and from the hills of Eugene. Sid’s is trauma-torn and from a Springfield trailer park. Through the judgment-free lens of director Jarrett Bryant, viewers watch Maxie and Sid's relationship develop through the highs and lows of their addiction over the course of a tumultuous weekend.
“Maxie,” a Drama film released on April 29, 2021, was filmed in the early days of the pandemic by Bryant, a Eugene-based director. Filming started on February 15, 2020, but when COVID-19 hit, the production was shut down for three weeks. Bryant then went through a massive rewrite, cutting characters and scenes that involved more people. “When I rewrote, I wanted to drive home the idea of a relationship based on convenience rather than actual love or affection,” he said.
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Life in Someone Else's Shoes
Miriam Yousaf remembers sitting in front of the whiteboard in the common room during her freshman year.
It was in Global Scholars Hall on the fourth floor of the center tower. She was part of the Clark Honors College Academic Residential Community.
She and two of her best friends stayed up until 3 a.m., talking through global problems with Expo markers in hand. “We have this dialogue of three people from very different backgrounds trying to talk through logic and religion and climate change and politics,” she recalls. “And we would work through it.”