JASNA Northwest - Oregon & SW Washington Region - JASNA Oregon & SW Washington Region

JASNA Oregon & SW Washington Region

In memoriam: Kathleen McCann

5/21/2014

Kathleen McCann

In memoriam:

Longtime member of our region, Dr. Kathleen McCann, passed away on April 27, 2014 at her Lake Oswego home surrounded by family and friends. Kathleen was born in the Philadelphia, PA area and moved to Oregon some thirty years ago. She pursued her dental career in Salem working for the State of Oregon. Always on the go, Kathleen was also an active member of the Portland Dragon Boats. She enjoyed the racing challenges and the camaraderie of the members.

Kathleen was an enthusiastic, welcoming, and knowledgeable member of our region. She frequently invited us into her home for our Reading Group meetings. She was also the inspiration and energy behind our online lending library. Just before she passed away, she generously donated her complete collection of Georgette Heyer novels to our group for all of us to enjoy. Kathleen will be remembered for her hard work at the Portland AGM in 2010, and was instrumental in the success of the event. We will all miss her very much, and will always remember her for her charm, friendliness, and devotion to JASNA.

If you would like to contribute more personal memories of Kathleen, please click the add comment link at the bottom of this post to share your thoughts.

Member's chapter published in 'Jane Austen and the Arts' book

3/31/2014

Congrats are in order to Alice Davenport, a regional member from Eugene!

Alice recently contributed a chapter on 18th-century landscape architecture in the book Jane Austen and the Arts: Elegance, Propriety, and Harmony (Lehigh/Rowman&Littlefield, 2013), edited by Natasha Duquette and Elisabeth Lenckos. Her chapter is entitled "An Adaptable Aesthetic: Eighteenth-Century Landscapes, Ann Radcliffe, and Jane Austen.”

If any members are particularly interested in this topic and would like to contact Alice, please contact Kim (see our Contacts page) for her personal email address.

You can read more about the book, plus a table of contents, at the Jane Austen in Vermont website by clicking here.

Jane Austen and the Arts book cover

Still time to RSVP for New Member Meeting

3/29/2014

Cover of Mansfield Park

Just a reminder that it is time for our third annual New Member Meeting! This meeting is intended for all members who have joined within the past year or two, as well as anyone who would like to attend to get to know the new members better. We usually have no more than a dozen people attending, so it is the ideal setting in which to become better acquainted.

When? Sunday, April 6th at 1:00 pm
Where? At the home of Deborah Eley, NE Portland

At the meeting, we will discuss Mansfield Park, the subject of this year's AGM in Montreal. Please come with questions and comments. No advanced preparation is required. I hope to see you there!

~ Kim Higgins, Regional Coordinator

AGM 2013 photo gallery

10/6/2013

Another successful AGM! Below is a slideshow gallery featuring some of our regional members in wonderful costumes -- and having a wonderful time! If you would like to submit more photos to share with the region, please contact Web Manager Jennifer Snoek-Brown directly.

PPK garners good reviews!

6/2/2013

Pride and Prejudice and Kitties, published earlier this spring and co-authored by our own Debbie Guyol, has been garnering good reviews -- of the book as well as the website! Check out all the news & reviews here at the Pride and Prejudice and Kitties web site at http://prideandprejudiceandkitties.com/news-and-reviews/ .

”If you’re a Jane Austen fan, or a fan of furries, you’re going to fall in love with this book…Janeites will love the photos that include little head-nods to other Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austen references – such as the Jane Austen for Dummies book in one photo and the Jane Austen figurine in another. Finding these throughout was a joy.”

~ The Bennet Sisters Blog

Memories of Anna from JASNA members

5/26/2013

Here are some in memoriam messages from JASNA members, sharing personal memories of Anna Quillan, a longtime JASNA member who recently passed away. If you would like to contribute more personal memories of Anna, please click the add comment link at the bottom of this post to share your thoughts.

Photo submitted by Debbie Guyol

~ Anna was the greatest. ~

~ I send my heart-felt condolences to the family. Although I have never had the pleasure of meeting Anna Quillan, the shared love of Jane Austen shows me that she is an exceptional person. ~

~ I was so sorry to hear of this sad news. I do remember Ana languishing on our sofa here at home as Lady Bertram when we had a dress as your favorite character. ~

~ Oh, such sad news. I will miss her sense of humor so very much... Such a loss to our group.
Our thoughts are with her family who must miss her a great deal. She was always such a delight to me.
I remember one of our conversations went something like this:
Robin: "So Anna, I heard you attended the AGM up in Vancouver... "
Anna: "I did. I couldn't tell you a thing about it, but I know I went."
(You see, she knew her memory was slipping, and she just went along with how things
were going to be as she got older. She seemed a little amused by it all!) ~

Memorial service for longtime JASNA member

5/23/2013

We just received the news that our long-time friend and life-time Janite, Anna Quillan, has passed away. Anna's family asked that information about the funeral service be forwarded to JASNA chapter members who may wish to attend. Because Anna was the chapter secretary for many years, many of you will remember her enthusiasm and wonderful sense of humor.

Anna's service will be this Friday, May 24, at 1:00 pm, at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (147 NW 19th Avenue, Portland). A church parking lot is across the street. The link to Google Maps is here at http://goo.gl/maps/bIXKK.

Huffington Post feature on PPK

5/1/2013

Here's a link to the Huffington Post blog post and slideshow, "Pride and Prejudice and Kitties," written by the book's authors Debbie Guyol and Pamela Jane: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pamela-jane-/pride-and-prejudice-and-k_b_3102990.html

Also, a reminder that Debbie will be presenting on PPK at Broadway Books in NE Portland on May 7 at 7:00 pm, for any interested eastsiders or others.

More PPK fun!

4/6/2013

More exciting news regarding the new publication of Pride and Prejudice and Kitties, co-authored by our own Debbie Guyol. The book has arrived!

Debbie will be reading at 7:00 pm on Monday, April 15, at Beaverton Powells. There will be a slide show plus the thrilling tale of how the book came to be. Debbie hopes to see many JASNA pals there!
Debbie and her co-author, Pamela Jane, have guest blogs on (1) Austen Authors: www.austenauthors.com and (2) The Bennet Sisters blog, from Australia: http://thebennetsisters.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/pride-and-prejudice-and-kitties-review-and-author-qa/ . Please check them out, post a comment, pass along to your friends!
There is also a book giveaway contest, open for entries until May 1. For all the details, please visit the PPK web site at http://prideandprejudiceandkitties.com/.
And last but not least, there is also a new, fun book trailer! Please check it out below:

And BONUS! The PPK slide show on Huffington Post should go live sometime this week. Wow!

New web site features & quick poll

3/28/2013

This is Jennifer Snoek-Brown, your friendly web manager, and I'm excited to share with you some updates and new features for our regional web site!

First of all, these updates are possible due to a recent site upgrade to the Pro level, and many thanks go to our Board of Officers for approving that site upgrade!

Image updates:

We have a new header slideshow (scroll up to the top of this page to view), featuring some of the different headers on different pages of the site. This slideshow is only on the home page of the site, and you can scroll through the images using the dots in the righthand corner.
There's a new "favicon" feature. A "favicon" is a small icon that appears next to the site's URL in the browser's address bar. I used a Jane Austen portrait for our site's favicon.

Navigation updates:

To make it easier to find one's way around the site, there's a new and improved search box on the home page.
This search box is also included in the new footer on the bottom of each page. Now you can search on our site from any page!

Page updates:

We have a new Lending Library page, thanks to Kathleen McCann's hard work. Please check it out!
And last, but not least, we now have the ability to have members-only pages of the site that are password-protected. This has enabled us to have a password-protected version of the Lending Library page that includes full contact details.
Note: I have also added a Members Only page on the main navigation bar, which will include links to all the password-protected pages, as we continue to explore this option for our group's activities. If you are a current regional member and would like to request the password, please contact our Regional Coordinator.

Which update or new feature is your favorite? Please take a minute and take our quick poll, at right, and let us know!

Fireworks

Celebrate site updates!

Our new Jane Austen "favicon"