Latest Oregon Blue Book features student essays about pandemic

By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau

Secretary of State Shemia Fagan has added a twist to the latest edition of the Oregon Blue Book, the official state directory and unofficial almanac that has been published every two years in odd-numbered years since 1911.

For the 2023-24 edition, she invited student essays about their experiences during the coronavirus pandemic, which began early in 2020. Oregon lifted its remaining restriction — the wearing of face masks in health care facilities — on April 3 of this year, and President Joe Biden signed a congressional resolution to end the national emergency on April 10. Then-Gov. Kate Brown ended her emergency declaration a year ago, though she lifted most of the others by mid-2021, after a vaccine became widely available.

Fagan chose one essay for the front section, and a total of 10 essays were published in this edition. (All can be found online at bluebook.oregon.gov.)

Fagan said her children were in preschool and first grade at the onset of the pandemic. She spoke to an audience with the student essay writers, their parents and teachers, and others at the Capitol in Salem before they were introduced at a session of the Oregon House on Tuesday, April 25.

“Like many of you, I do not know whether any of you will ever remember a time before,” she said. “Knowing how you experienced that pandemic — maybe the good things that came out of it for you and your family, but also the harms — is an important thing to capture for Oregon’s history. I am very impressed with all of you and the work you did to write those essays.”

She chose an essay by Ashlyn Huang, a student in Desiree Chiu’s sixth-grade class at Corbett Grade School, who then read it aloud at the opening ceremony for the House on April 25. The essay says in part:

“I know that most people aren’t racist, even though they seem like they are. It’s only ignorance. I understand that. I’ve been told to go back to my country, I’ve been asked if I really ate bats or not, I’ve been looked at whenever someone mentions the coronavirus, I’ve been told by other people about the ‘China virus,’ and I’ve been mocked for speaking Chinese. I know it’s not much, but people can do better and be more considerate.”

The modern tradition of student essays began in 2015 with Kate Brown, who was thrust into the governorship just weeks before the release of the 2015-16 Oregon Blue Book. As secretary of state, she was next in line under the Oregon Constitution when John Kitzhaber resigned amid an ethics scandal. The 2023-24 edition is dedicated to Brown, who left office Jan. 9 after more than 30 years of public service as a state representative and senator, secretary of state and governor.

Brown said she started to include such essays in the Blue Book after she read a selection of essays written by students in 1905, before there was a Blue Book.

Other student essayists in the Blue Book are Keina Ga, grade 8, ACCESS Academy Alternative Program; Anileh Chen, grade 2; Anuva Shaw, grade 7, Tumwater Middle School; Bairon Lai, grade 3, FLEX Online School; Saffron Estrada, grade 5, Awbrey Park Elementary School; Charlie Ryno, grade 8, Mitchell School; Marin Busmalis Temple, grade 8, Mitchell School; Chazlyn Hale, grade 8, Mitchell School, and Mieko Soria, grade 4, Yujin Gakuen Japanese Immersion School.

The front-cover photo, “Morning Magnificence,” was taken by Micah Lundstedt of Eugene. It depicts sunrise in the Columbia Gorge near Rowena Crest.

The rear-cover photo, “The Master’s Voice,” was taken by Dale George of Grants Pass. It depicts three fish all lined up at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.

Essays about Oregon’s four national monuments, the color-photo insert in this edition, were written by Douglas Deur, a Portland State University professor, and Jason McClaughry, a geologist with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.

“Our photographers produced brilliant depictions of Oregon’s natural beauty. Our monument essayists provided wonderful information about these special places in Oregon,” Fagan said. “Their work will live on for generations in this important book about our state.”

This edition is the second during Fagan’s term, but the first wholly under her supervision, because the 2021-22 edition was released a couple of months after she took office.

The Blue Book is also updated online. Copies can be purchased for $18 each, plus a shipping and handling charge. Website: bluebook.oregon.gov.