Schedule for 2007-8
Jane Austen Society of North America
Oregon & Southwest Washington Chapter

Meeting Schedule of the Reading Group

You are welcome to attend reading group meetings that interest you. Please take a moment during the week before we meet to call the host and reserve a place, and if possible, bring something for the tea table.

The reading group meets five times each year: January, March, July, September, and November. We meet on the second Sunday of the month at 1:00 p.m. If you have a question about the reading group schedule, please call Pat Fulbright, 503-233-7925.


Date Host Reading & Discussion Topic Discussion Leader
January 13 Janet Rohrbaugh
R.S.V.P.
503-885-9985

The Novel Northanger Abbey Pat Fulbright
March 9 Anna Quillen
R.S.V.P.
503-299-4521

Crime in Jane Austen’s
Novels and Times Janet Rohrbaugh


July 13 Debbie Guyol
R.S.V.P.
503-284-6951
Food in the Novels and
during the Period of
Jane Austen: Potluck Picnic
And Period Recipes Kim Higgins &
Robin Darby


September 14 Pauline Beard
R.S.V.P.
503-645-3096
Masterpiece Theater’s 2008 Program of Jane Austen
Films: Let’s Discuss and Critique the Films
Pauline Beard & Melissa Schumacher

November 9 Deb Rossi
R.S.V.P.
503-690-9619 Jane Austen Comments
on Modern American Culture
and Lifestyles: What
Would She Say? Bill Boyd

Past Meetings:

October 5-7 Annual General Meeting, JASNA. "Discovering Emma in Vancouver" at the Fairmont Hotel,Vancouver, British Columbia.

November 11 Casting a Jane Austen Novel for a film. Donna Drummond.
email:jasnanorthwest@gmail.com

December 1 Winter/Birthday Meeting at the Kennedy School.
Phyllis Ferguson Bottomer will be discussing her very successful book: "So Odd a Mixture: Along the Autistic Spectrum in Pride and Prejudice". Pauline Beard/Frank McClanahan
fmcclan@linfield.edu

The next Reading Group Meeting is a light-hearted discussion of Masterpiece Theatre’s 2008 Program of Jane Austen’s Films on SUNDAY 14th.September from 1-3pm at Pauline Beard’s house: 15132 NW Aberdeen Drive, Portland Oregon 97229. Please bring something for the tea table and rsvp to Pauline either by phone: (503) 645 3096 or email: beardp1@pacificu.edu (a one after the p please note). Please be prepared to have fun! See below:

Melissa Schumacher, whose degree was in film and literature, will lead the discussion on adaptation of novels to film. She and Pauline have selfishly chosen two wonderful clips of film to critique…the infamous Chariots of Fire running piece from Persuasion (see YouTube if you missed this) and the purely romantic “The Look” between Darcy and Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice, the BBC version. We would then like you to choose a clip from one of the Masterpiece films for its appeal, its dedication to the text, or for its nonsense and travesty! Either cue the clip and bring with you if you have the recordings, or simply tell Melissa (who has all the films) which film, which section, and with her expertise in video she will locate it on the disc or video. Come with some critique in mind to open the discussion to everyone. The Beards bought a new large flat screen TV specially for the occasion.

Looking forward to seeing you!

I'll keep you posted!

Northanger Abbey--the new film is excellent!

The Oregon and Southwest Washington Chapter have led a busy year with The Reading Group tying in their discussions to the Masterpie ce Theatre series, culminating this September with a film critique on the entire series. The Spring Program was held at the lovely home of Mary Tooze where we all enjoyed the musical talent of our member Margaret Harshbarger who sang and played Eighteenth Century music that Jane Austen would have loved. Dr. Kenneth Erickson from Linfield College spoke engagingly on “The Wit of Jane Austen”, and entertained a lively round of question and answer. Maggie's Buns of Forest Grove provided a cold collation, including delicious desserts, during which members had an opportunity to meet in their committees to discuss the 2010 AGM in Portland which will focus on Northanger Abbey! Our Winter event is already planned for December 7th.when Paula Stepankowsky will discuss Jane Austen and Fanny Burney. If you would like to be included in the invitation list, please contact beardp1@pacificu.edu.

At the age of twenty seven, in the early 1950s, Anna Quillen became addicted to Jane Austen while residing pregnantly in the Philippines. When bouts of homesickness reinforced morning sickness, she discovered that Jane Austen reading binges provided the most effective relief for both conditions. Alas, the Austen gene was not transmitted; not one of her four children has gone farther than to keep a copy of Pride and Prejudice on the bookshelf. Anna graduated from Tusculum Collge (Greenville, Tennessee) in 1946 and received a Master's degree from the University of Tennessee in 1948. She was a newspaper reporter in Kingport, Tennessee, and subsequently taught remedial English in the Philippines and Wisconsin. She learned of the existence of the Jane Austen Society in 1987 while living in New York City and has participated its activities ever since.

Susan read her first Jane Austen novel at age 13--Pride and Prejudice--and she has continued to read it and the other novels repeatedly throughout her life. In 1980 Susan joined the fledgling Jane Austen Society of North America. Susan has served as the treasurer for the National organization of JASNA, co-coordinator of the New York City Annual General Meeting, and regional co-coordinator and treasurer for the Oregon and SW Washington chapter. In her professional life, Susan is the chief Administrative Officer for River Network, a national conservation organization headquartered in Portland Oregon. As part of her professional responsibilities, Susan has assisted hundreds of river protection groups across the country with financial and human resource management and strategic planning. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, has an MBA in Finance from Rutgers University, and has studied nonprofit administration at the New School University.

Frank McClanahan is a retired high school English teacher who has taught Jane Austen novels for almost twenty years. He is also a member of the Oregon Native Plant Society and is an active demonstrator against the Iraq War.

I was not born in the UK but grew up in the North of England...first loving reading Austen as a child, I now enjoy teaching her novels at Pacific University in Forest Grove. I have given two papers at JASNA AGMS and I have an essay on Mansfield Park in Persuasions on line which may be accessed through jasna.org ....I plan eventually to write a book on teaching Jane Austen in the American College Classroom. In my ever decreasing spare time, I enjoy gardening and matching food with wine.

On the 20th. May nearly 40 people gathered at the beautiful home of the Metzlers and enjoyed the delights of the wooden balconies around the main area, the totem pole carving in the kitchen and spectacular views from the deck. The Guest Speaker, Sheryl Craig presented us all with fascinating details of the food in Jane Austen's time, and dispelled a few myths about Regency food and dinner parties that the movies keep perpetuating! The food catered by Maggie's Buns of Forest Grove accompanying the presentation matched it in tastiness, and the sparkling wine and Pinot Gris provided by Cornell Wine Company added to the pleasure. Frank and Deb kept pace with the tea, and judging from the lively conversations heard around the lovely house, everyone enjoyed the trip into the country immensely.