Image courtesy of Anne Zimmerman

Anne Zimmerman, class of ’00, wrote a biography of Fisher titled “An Extravagant Hunger: The Passionate Years of M.F.K. Fisher,” which highlights Fisher’s life when she ventured to France and her relationship struggles with her first husband.

“It’s the story of how she went to France, fell in love with food and found her voice,” Zimmerman said.

She said that although Fisher wrote many autobiographies about herself, there was still a story to write about the author’s life.

“I equate Fisher’s many letters and books to what the rest of us do,” Zimmerman said. “We don’t always tell the whole story. When we write to friends, we say that we’re doing fine. But, in reality, our cat died, our kitchen is a mess and we are having relationship problems with someone.”

Zimmerman said that her book explores the passionate years of Fisher’s life, during which she produced her most popular books.

“I rarely meet people who say that they are familiar with M.F.K. Fisher’s name but haven’t read her work,” Zimmerman said. “Usually, they either don’t know who she is at all or they can tell me where they were when they first read something she wrote.”

Zimmerman said she was introduced to Fisher’s background when she was in graduate school and was assigned to write a 25-page biography of a female author. She said she originally planned to explore Zelda Fitzgerald, but when she arrived at the library, she felt overwhelmed by the amount of books on Fitzgerald.

“The names Fitzgerald and Fisher are right next to each other,” Zimmerman said. “So I picked up a coffee-table style book of photographs of M.F.K. Fisher. I remember just being taken away by her long, dark hair and round face.”

Zimmerman said she picked out a few more books by Fisher and went home to her apartment in San Francisco for the weekend.

“I emerged completely interested in her and the way she wrote,” Zimmerman said.

That weekend, smoky, congested skies from a fire in the area kept Zimmerman confined to her apartment with the books about Fisher, she said.

Zimmerman said she fell in love with Fisher’s writing and completed the biography project on the food writer. Her professor recommended that she explore the subject more because there were few books about Fisherother than a collection of autobiographies Fisher had written.

She said that she eventually contacted Fisher’s former literary agent and met up with him in New York before they decided to write a book proposal together. Zimmerman spent seven years researching Fisher’s life and writing the book before it was published this year.

Zimmerman said that much of her interest in writing and literature was shaped during her time at Linfield through various professors and a study abroad trip to England, France and Spain with Barbara Drake, professor emeritus of English.

She said that she recently unpacked a box of old books and found one by Professor of English Lex Runciman with an inscription to her inside.

“The inscription said, ‘I’m signing this book for you in hopes that you’ll sign one for me someday,’” Zimmerman said. “It was this snapshot into another time when I was taking creative writing classes and didn’t think that I showed any hope.”

Joanna Peterson can be reached at linfieldreviewculture

Senior Cynthia Lester (right) performs a flute piece during her April 23 recital in the Delkin Recital Hall. Accompanist Deborah Huddleston accompanies her on the piano. / Katie Pitchford /Photo editor

Lester, accompanied by Accompanist Debra Huddleston on the piano, performed songs by classical composers, Haydn, Widor, Ibert, Muczynski and The Beatles.

“The Beatles are just too awesome not to include,” Lester said. “I couldn’t resist.”

The audience was receptive, responsive and large. Audience members applauded enthusiastically during the performance.

The majority of the songs she performed were fast-paced and challenging pieces.

Lester said that it was exciting to play for her friends and family.

“My mom has heard me perform, but my dad and my brother haven’t. My brother dressed up nicely for this recital, and I really appreciate that my whole family was here,” Lester said.

The last piece on the program was a medley of three songs by The Beatles that Lester arranged herself. She played the alto flute for the piece and was accompanied by three other flutists. When the performers turned and walked offstage, still playing, the audience laughed appreciatively and applauded.

The performance was met with a standing ovation, and the applause did not stop until Lester returned to the stage for a second bow.

Lester has played the flute since the sixth grade. Denise Westby, adjunct professor of music and Lester’s flute instructor, said that Lester came to Linfield as a solid player but without experience with private lessons.

“Cynthia was wonderful to work with,” Westby said in an email. “She was always prepared for her lesson, having worked on whatever the previous week’s instruction had been. She made consistent progress and grew into an intelligent, sensitive musician.”

Lester said that her musical training at Linfield has helped her with form, analysis and theory in music, which allows her to see patterns.

“My first challenge was living up to [Westby’s] expectations. She has definitely challenged me,” Lester said. “I’ve never really felt that any one moment was a triumph because when you’re a musician, you can always do better.”

Lester said that she would like to continue playing the flute in the future, but that she will also focus on playing the piano. There are a number of other instruments that she would like to learn too, she said, but she said she is more interested in her other major, mathematics, as a career.

“Not only is she a fine flutist but she is also an impressive composer and arranger. Her final senior recital was testament to how far she has come,” Westby said. “I will miss her.”

Sharon Gollery can be reached at linfieldreviewculture@gmail.com

Junior Chloe Wandler and sophomore Chirs Forrer perform during a scene from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” on April 27 in the Ford Hall courtyard.

Associate Professor of Theatre Arts Janet Gupton’s Topics in Performance class produced the show in celebration of Shakespeare’s April 27 birthday. Gupton and 13 students performed during the event, recreating six scenes from “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” “Macbeth,” “Richard III,” “As You Like It” and “Hamlet.”

Gupton said in an email that it is important for actors to keep Shakespeare alive through theater.

“[Shakespeare] is the most-produced English-speaking playwright in the world, so from an actor’s standpoint, it is important to be able to handle his text,” she said.

The audience laughed at the actors during lively parts of the evening, such as when one of the forest scenes from “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” was depicted. Junior Chloe Wandler, who played Helena, climbed up a lamppost as if it were a tree.

There were also more melancholy moments, such as during a scene from “Hamlet” in which Hamlet denies his love for Ophelia. The scene featured sophomores Chris Forrer as Hamlet and Laura Haspel as Ophelia.

In addition to performing the various play segments, the actors engaged the audience in a contest for the best Shakespearian insults.

Sophomore Amanda Wolf said she enjoyed the outdoor performance and thought the weather correlated well with the Hamlet scene.

“I liked how it started raining during the tragic ending,” she said.

Haspel said that interpreting and memorizing the Shakespearian language was the most difficult part of the performance. She said she initially used “No Fear Shakespeare,” which is a modern translation of Shakespeare’s works, to help her interpret her lines.

“It’s easy to run into a language barrier with Shakespeare’s works,” Haspel said. “But it helps to view the language as a story or poetry. If you know what you’re talking about, it makes the performance much more powerful.”

Gupton said that it took work for the actors to adjust to performing in the outdoor setting.

“It was challenging to get the actors to realize how much they need to project with their bodies and voices for the outside, as well as to assure them that Shakespeare can be outrageous and bawdy and fun,” she said.

Joanna Peterson can be reached at linfieldreviewculture@gmail.com
Joanna Peterson/Culture editor

Cousin Affect brings its charming, high energy music from Phoenix to McMinnville. Scott Cheaney, on the guitar, (left) and Dan King, on the saxphone, play during the professoinal cat cab on April 14 in Fred Meyer Lounge. Megan Myer /Online editor

“This is the best Cat Cab show this school year,” Wiebke Herrmann, teaching assistant for German, said. “Compared with German concerts, audiences are interacting more with the band.”

The crowd was dancing to every song.

Freshman Shea Petty was dancing in the front row from the beginning to the end.

“[Cousin Affect] mixes jazz, blues, hip-hop and rap perfectly,” she said.

“Where I Go,” a song Cousin Affect performed during the professional Cat Cab, was awarded the Grand Prize in the Midas/Spin Magazine Rock The Highway Contest.

Manager and band member Mike Woods said, unlike some other songs talking about relationships, “Where I Go” relates to everyone’s life with lyrics that convey the message “find personal freedom no matter where you go and what you do.”

Woods began Cousin Affect in 2003 by himself during his freshman year at college. He said he was too shy to use his own name to perform in front of people. He met Daniel Stanton and other band members after he performed solo as Cousin Affect.

Now Cousin Affect has six members, Scott Cheaney on the guitar, singer Jessica Thomas, Dan King on the saxophone, emcee Daniel Stanton and percussionist by Charles Stachell.

“Each band member has been influenced by different artists and styles so we have such a mix that makes us play the same song differently every time,” Woods said. “You can still find influences of hip hop, R&B, blues and jazz.”

Woods also revealed thought behind the group’s music in relation to audience members.

“We are thinking of how we make a positive impact on the music. Our songs are clean for kids and old people,” he said.

Cousin Affect sends more than positive messages through its songs. Woods said that all band members try to give back by doing community volunteer work in Phoenix.

As a multi-member band, Cousin Affect faces some challenges of managing and handling the balance between being creative and doing business.

Woods said he needs 30 to 40 hours a week for managing the band, as he needs the same amount of time to be creative to write music.

He also said the band has to organize its schedule based on every members’ needs. Singer Jessica Thomas is married and has kids that travel and tour with the band.

Faced with these challenges, Woods said he and his band feel everything is worth it when they are playing in front of an audience, no matter how crowded it is.

Jaffy Xiao/Features editor
Jaffy Xiao can be reached at linfieldreviewfeatures@gmail.com.

She stands in a space decorated with old movie posters, a blue T-shirt with a dinosaur-themed puzzle hot glued to it and a map of California revamped with an assortment of watercolors. An oversized piece of canvas paper is attached to the wall and her work provides a serene focal point — especially when the daylight streams in.

The space is actually a room. It belongs to junior art major Josie Lipkin. She is working on a piece for her painting class.

“I can’t write, so this is like a journal to me,” she said.

Pointing to different sections of past brush strokes in an inviting shade of blue, she begins a verbal tour of the visual.

“Here, I might have been thinking about doing laundry and running errands — whatever I might have had at the front of my mind,” Lipkin said.

“As my mind starts to empty, it’s my work that fills up,” she said, drawing attention to another “entry” to the lower left of the first an orb that has a wispy, feathery feel about it.

“I was probably thinking about something more intense,” she said.

Lipkin’s artwork charts her thoughts and feelings. The final pieces portray a story contrary to reality. Nothing she does artistically is prearranged or controlled.

“Art isn’t organized, so why should I be?” she said.

Nils Lou, professor of art and visual culture imparted to Lipkin that you can’t get bogged down with the process of art.

“You have to play around and tap into this side of yourself that society tells you to repress but that [Lou] tells you to tap into because it’s one of the most creative aspects of yourself, your play side,” Lipkin said.

Lipkin grew up in Palo Alto, Calif., and her inner creativity was nurtured by her parents long before she reached college.

“In terms of how I do my artwork, it wasn’t so much the town that I grew up in,” she said. “My mom was an illustrator, and her love for art and also my dad’s love for art encouraged me to go to art museums in my free time.”

The artistic influence wasn’t limited to museums. Lipkin said her parents are avid art collectors. Two of their favorite things to collect are Japanese prints and “crazy, wood-carved Mexican masks.”

“I do notice a lot of my drawing and line work is similar to the line work in the prints and it’s because that’s what I grew up around. We had prints on our bathroom walls,” Lipkin said.

“You can see some similarity between the organic shapes carved into the Mexican masks and the organic shapes that I paint.”

When she was a toddler, Lipkin said she and her brother would draw together.

“It was very cosmic, out-of-this-world fantasy drawing which was weird because it kind of mimicked how we played,” she said.

Lipkin admits she has often pondered what drives her to draw. “There’s something that I feel like I need … I need to just put something on paper — it’s not a calling because that sounds too pompous — I really just need to draw,“ she emphasized.

When she’s not on the way to the art building or in her studio space in the Miller Fine Arts Center, you might find Lipkin in a dimly lit living room, Sharpie or Zebra pen in hand, doodling away while half listening to a Netflix movie streaming from her Mac computer.

Septembre Russell/Copy chief
Septembre Russell can be reached at linfieldreviewcopy@gmail.com.