A not-so-Black Friday

All of the tutors at Gutenberg College are worth getting to know. In addition to being people of substantial moral fiber with a firm dedication to the truth, they are just plain interesting. Listening to our tutors tell stories about their past is a time-honored tradition here at Gutenberg, and is generally considered an excellent way to spend one’s time.

Charley Dewberry is one of those tutors. He is one of the most unassuming people you will ever meet—but behind his friendly demeanor you will find a treasure trove of knowledge and experience.

One of the great things about Charley is that he doesn’t often come out and tell you about himself; he just kind of lets details about his life slip. You might not know when you first meet him, for instance, that he often gets to school by flying his own small plane from Florence to Eugene. But he does. Or you might not know that he spends much of his time as a research scientist, “diving and counting salmon throughout the Pacific Northwest.” (source) But he does. But even once you know those things, you are only scratching the surface of interesting things that you could know about Charley.

But anyway. Every year, Charley and his wife Susie have a tradition of inviting a group of students who sign up ahead of time to come out to their home in Florence the day after Thanksgiving. This year was the first time I was able to go.

We started off our morning by visiting a stream, where Charley pointed out some large, dark shapes swimming upstream in the water: Chinook salmon. Then we took short walk in a drippy, beautiful Oregon forest, while Charley stopped to explain things like “nurse trees” and lichens to us.

After our walk, we were all thoroughly cold and wet, so we journeyed back to Charley’s house for a wonderful warm lunch and some chatting.

In the afternoon, Charley made good on a promise he had made to take us flying! We drove out to the Florence airport and waited our turns in the homey little office building (complete with resident cat) next to the landing strip.

When it was my group’s turn to go up in the plane, I was honestly a little bit apprehensive. I am not, in case you haven’t noticed, a naturally adventurous person. (Last easter can attest to that.) Flying up into the air in a little tiny airplane is the kind of thing that would usually require large amounts of coercion by friends that I really like for me to even consider doing. But, once again, the idea of being able to take pictures in a place I had never been before convinced me. Maybe this whole photography obsession has been a good thing after all.

I think it probably goes without saying that I am glad I ended up going up in the plane. There was something immeasurably thrilling about soaring over the tiny little cars and seeing the waves breaking on the beach far below. After the first few seconds I forgot my fear and was just able to enjoy myself. (And, of course, I took pictures )

Thank you again, Charley and Susie, for opening your home to us and sharing these experiences with us!

If you are a Gutenberg student, and if Charley and Susie offer this opportunity again next year, I highly recommend you take them up on it. You won’t regret it.

Posted on Friday, November 24th, 2006 at 11:59 pm.
Belongs with: Happening Things, Photo Things, Gutenberg Things.
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