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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels September 18, 2004 Poetry to be read at Oregon Stage Works Staff reports "An Evening with Steve Mason and Friends," a poetry reading, is planned for 8 p.m. Monday at Oregon Stage Works' Main Stage in the A Street Market Place. The evening will feature the poetry of Mason, the poet laureate of the Vietnam Veterans of America and an Ashland resident. Peter Alzado, Richard Elmore, Bill Geisslinger, Dan Kremer, Dale Luciano, Sharon Michelson, Ray Porter and Derek Lee Weeden plan to read selections from Mason's poetry. Proceeds will go to the National Gulf War Resource Center, an organization formed in 1995 to help address the emotional and medical needs of veterans of Desert Storm, the first Gulf War. OSW Artistic Director Peter Alzado says the event is a way of recognizing the impact Mason's poetry and public appearances have had. "Steve Mason has a profound and exhilarating effect on people," Alzado said. Mason is a native New Yorker who served as a combat officer in Vietnam in 1966 and '67, rising to the rank of captain and earning a bronze star for bravery in actions near Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). Years later he started writing poetry to explain the war, not just to others, but to himself. He said later he spent a year in Vietnam and "about 13 years coming home." He once said, "My nation has no enemies whose children I would not bring home and raise as my own." He is the critically acclaimed author of three collections of poetry, "Johnny's Song," "Warrior for Peace" and "The Human Being." His poem "The Wall Within" was delivered as part of the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Mason publicly insisted that combat veterans have an obligation to talk and tell the truth about what they saw. But the truth, he added, is never simple. Mason has received the President's Medal of the Veterans for Peace and the Bronze Medallion from The Chapel of Four Chaplains for his efforts on behalf of world peace. Past recipients include Bob Hope, John Glenn, Martha Raye and James Michener. Tickets for the event are $20, and reservations are recommended. Call 482-2334. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams