& tested the knots

seeing that they held.

little did you know

what was to hold you

after the sound of

water falling

over what

used to be.

EUGENE–A culture disappeared on the morning of March 10, 1957, when the gates of the new Dalles Dam closed. By that afternoon, the ancient salmon fishery at Celilo Falls on the Columbia River east of Portland was underwater.

Poet, storyteller and Shoshone-Bannock tribe member Ed Edmo grew up at the falls and saw the Celilo culture disappear. With poetry, artifacts and photographs, he will speak about "Celilo Falls: A Place, A Memory" at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, March 3, in the conference room at the Bean West Residence Hall on East 15th Avenue at the University of Oregon.

Edmo’s free public talk is part of the winter-spring 2000 lecture series on the survival of Native cultures organized by the UO Museum of Natural History. It is made possible by the Oregon Council for the Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

With Native American wit and stories, Edmo will discuss the destruction and displacement of the Celilo community and the consequences: racism, pain, pollution, struggles over fishing rights, and the decline of the salmon.

On Saturday, March 4, from noon to 3 p.m., Edmo will join two other Native storytellers, Joyce Greiner and Michael Gray, for an afternoon of old and new tales of the Pacific Northwest during a Museum of Natural History family celebration at the museum, 1680 E. 15th Ave. The cost for the event is $2 per person and $5 per family, with current UO students and museum members admitted free.

Edmo is a Portland poet, playwright, performer, traditional storyteller and lecturer on Northwest tribal culture whose plays and dramatic monologues have been performed internationally. His prize-winning play, "Through Coyote’s Eyes: A Visit with Ed Edmo," toured in Syria, India and Jordan. He narrated "Children of the Raven" for the Eugene Ballet Company. His play, "Bridge of the Gods," premiered in Portland in 1998.

Greiner is a Blackfoot storyteller, poet and children’s writer. She leads "Wonderkeepers," a storyteller’s guild in Corvallis and in Linn County.

Gray is an Algonquin storyteller, poet and flute player from the eastern woodlands of the United States. He works in Corvallis as a storyteller in schools, treatment centers and libraries.

Both the lecture and storytelling event are scheduled in conjunction with the UO Museum of Natural History’s current exhibition, "Sagebrush, Cedar and Tule: 10,000 Years of Oregon Basketry" which features the world’s oldest shoes. It is on display through March 26 in the museum lobby.

The UO Museum of Natural History and Museum Store are open six days a week, from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Suggested admission to the exhibits is $2. Current UO students and museum members are admitted free.

For information browse http://natural-history.uoregon.edu, send e-mail to mnh@oregon.uoregon.edu or call (541) 346-3024.

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