Ursula K. Le Guin is Portland's science fiction author emeritus. And though we now have Daniel Wilson, and Frank Herbert's Dune was inspired by the Oregon sand dunes by Florence, Le Guin will always be an inspiration. Four artists, Damien Gilley, Daniel Glendening, Laura Hughes and Jordan Tull have taken her novel, The Lathe of Heaven, as an inspiration for art, opening tonight.
Ginger Lukas, professional cake decorator by day, opens a light installation, Party Time, presaging our odd Christmas custom of multicolored lights. It's in the Vestibule space, a long hall. At Disjecta, in the shadow of Paul Bunyan www.disjecta.org 8371 N. Interstate Map 6PM-10 Free
It's not unicorns and rainbows everywhere and all the time throughout the world. Two stellar organizations, Mercy Corps and Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), are there to help people when things are horribly broken. Often they need to negotiate their access and their own safety with people with guns. Tonight Mercy Corps and MSF staff discuss their experiences, working from the headquarters office and on the ground. An example of how things can go terribly wrong caused MSF to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2004, 5 days after I was there. Joining Mercy Corps will be Nick Lawson, director of field human resources for MSF. He has worked in Afghanistan, Burundi, East Timor and Malawi. Portland nurse with MSF, Colette Kerr, discusses her work in Liberia, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Chad and other locations. At the Mercy Corps Action Center www.actioncenter.org 28 SW 1st. 7PM Free
Art Spark is back. The B Media Collective, making political work, hosts activist and artists groups Project Grow, Grand Detour, Sisters of the Road Empowered Voices Media Project and the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee. Later in the evening at 7, they show their 30 minute film Electile Dysfunction, a collage of political news footage. Art Spark www.portlandartspark.com at Hollywood Theater 4122 NE Sandy Blvd. 5PM-7:30 Free
