The Bog

Not but 10 miles north of Corvallis and a right turn away lies one of the Willamette Valley's most overlooked restoration projects. The E.E Wilson Wildlife Reserve has been owned, operated and managed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife since first opening to the public in 1950. As it stands today, 75 years later, a look around the place evokes a sense of isolation, loneliness, and only a mere idea of what had stood before — and subsequently crumbled by way of the gentle decay of nature, and its persistent reclamation in the wake of a bygone era. Covering 57,159 acres, the site is expansive, dominating the little nugget of land sandwiched between Highway 99 and Independence Highway.  And this nugget glitters golden.  Between 1942 and 1946, the base was operating in full swing. The highest estimates for the number of soldiers on site are said to have been around 40,000, with at least 1,700 buildings having been built during its heyday.  Apart from the barracks, t...

  Lauren Visconti has been on staff at LBCC since 2018, and has greatly improved and reimagined the Anthropology Department, as well as the Women’s Studies department in that time. The same can be said about her impact on her students. As if her near perfect 4.7/5 rating on Ratemyproffesors.com wasn’t telling enough, her passion for highlighting intersectionality between cultures, current events, everyday phenomena— and drawing connections between the stories of the past— as well as in our own lives, is sure to be felt by all who are present for her lectures.  From her cross-cultural upbringing, her tendency to people-watch in public, and innate desire to ask unanswerable questions, it was only natural that she would align herself with the study of humans. Q: Have you been to Italy before? Lauren Visconti: Yes, I have family there. My grandma was actually born in Rome, and my grandfather — who passed down the paternal last name — is from Milan. I’m kind of your classic Ital...