2009 Portland-Vancouver Bridges & Rivers Calendar (Urban Adventure Press, 2008), $10, 32 pages, editor Sharon Wood Wortman and Ed Wortman.

Created by the Friends of Multnomah County's Willamette River Bridges, a volunteer citizens group, and Witham and Dickey Printing under the fiscal sponsorship of the Willamette Light Brigade as a fundraiser for the celebration of Hawthorne's 100th birthday in 2010. The Hawthorne is the oldest operating vertical lift bridge in the world, and one of four vertical lift bridges in the Portland-Vancouver area, along with the Interstate Bridge, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Bridge 5.1, and the Steel Bridge. The calendar features poetry, large format (4 color) photographs, a guide and history of ferries, and nearly 200 historical and contemporary events and dates, of these 95 specific to Vancouver and Washington state. You'll will also find the area's best-known pedestrian bridges, including the Fort Vancouver Land Bridge, linking pedestrians from the fort to the Columbia River (grand opening Aug. 23, 2008). For more about the calendar and where it is available, the 2010 celebration, and a poetry reading about time, bridges, and rivers at Cover to Cover Books (1817 Main St., Vancouver) on Sept. 25, 2008, go to <www.portlandbridgecentennial.org>.

The Portland Bridge Book
(Revised and Expanded)

The Portland Bridge Book, 3rd edition (Urban Adventure Press, 2006), with Ed Wortman, 208 pages, soft cover, $24.95.

Available at many Portland-area independent bookstores and at Cover to Cover Books in Vancouver, won a silver award from Independent Publishers.The big river bridges of Portland-Vancouver profiled with photographs and drawings from the Historic American Engineering Study of the Willamette River bridges for the National Park Service/Library of Congress in 1999. Includes poetry, maps, chapter on How and Why Bridges are Built (by Ed Wortman), glossary, Portland Transportation History Timeline, with emphasis on construction of the WRBs, many illustrations and drawings, and stories. For example, where exactly the Fremont Bridge--the longest tied-arch bridge on this side of the world--cracked during construction.

Walking Portland's Bridges Using Poetry as a Compass

Walking Bridges Using Poetry as a Compass--Poems about Bridges Real and Imagined by 70 Poets, with Directions for Five Self-Guided Explorations (Urban Adventure Press, 2007), edited by Sharon Wood Wortman and Kirsten Rian, with 37 interior drawings by Ed Wortman, maps by Scott Bronson, 264 pages, soft cover, $10, available at most Portland-area independent bookstores and at Cover to Cover Books in Vancouver. Funded in part by a grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council. The cover, by Joseph Boquiren, lays out Portland-Vancouver according to landmark bridge geography. How to find your way around the Portland-Vancouver area. Seven poems about bridges by the author, plus poems by William Stafford, Doreen Gandy, Lawson Inada, Ted Kooser, Dorianne Laux, Paulann Petersen, Ed Edmo, Walt Curtis, Judith Arcana, and 50 others.

Bridge Stories—A Storytelling Slide Show
A Curriculum for Schools

BridgeStories: A Storytelling Slide Show" - Named "Crossover Artist of the Year" in Willamette Week's 2006 "Best of Portland" edition, Sharon presents rare and unusual images in a 55 minute collection of music, short video clips, and stories.

See all measure of bridges: the singing, grasshopper, lighted, and London, as well as the longest tied-arch in the Western world, the country's oldest operating vertical lift, and the only double lift bridge of its kind in engineering history--the latter three found in Portland, Oregon. This multi-media presentation was a favorite in the Oregon Chautauquas of 1999-2002.

Bridge In A Box—
Instructions & Patterns for Making Models of Portland's Truss Spans

(For Schools)

This step-by-step guide is designed for elementary and middle school students and teachers.

Choose patterns of Portland’s Steel, Broadway, Burnside, Morrison, Hawthorne, Marquam, Ross Island, and Sellwood bridges to make wooden models of bridges rigid enough to withstanding load testing. One third grader’s bridge supported more than 60 pounds! Using low-temperature glue guns and wooden craft sticks, create a variety of Warren and Pratt trusses.

50-page guide comes in the kit Bridge In A Box, with individual pattern sheets, starter supplies (100 glue sticks, a low temperature glue gun, trimmers), and “Truss Bridge Span Patterns,” a 3’x4’ poster that collects all the truss designs in a large format suitable for framing.

Portland Bridge Walks

Sharon has a permit that allows her to take groups into the tower and pit of the Morrison Bridge—one of the largest mechanical structures in Oregon. (See: Morrison Bridge Virtual Tour)

Most groups meet at the corner of NW Second and Everett, then walk about one mile to see eight of Portland’s Willamette River bridges, among them the oldest operating vertical lift bridge in the United States, the longest tied-arch bridge in the world, and the only double decker lift bridge of its kind. We usually walk across three bridges, but the route depends on weather. Includes an exercise on a tied steel arch to test for synchronous vertical excitation, and another test where we build triangles with our bodies to feel tension and compression. Hours: Most tours last four hours, but hours are flexible. For all ages and group sizes (guide carries a hand-held microphone).

China Gate Postcard

Portland China Gate Postcard © Image by Sharon Wood Wortman used by permission of the Portland, Oregon Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association.

This “archival” postcard was created in the spring of 2005, during the blossoming of Northwest Fourth Street’s over-the-hill cherry trees just before they were cut to make way for this National Register district’s (officially named Portland New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District) new festival sidewalks.

There are other major gates in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Vancouver, British Columbia, but Portland’s five-bay gate is among the largest. It commemorates 160 years of Chinese history in Oregon and features 58 mythical characters and 78 dragons. The characters on the north side read Four Seas, One Family and on the south Portland Chinatown. The lion on the left (west) is a female with her paw on a cub. She signifies the female energy Yin. The lion on the right (east) is a male with his paw on the globe and signifies the male energy Yang. In Chinese philosophy and religion, the interactions of these principles influence the destinies of people and things. There have been such gates in China for 2,000 years. Portland’s China Gate, assembled by artisans from Taiwan, was dedicated in 1986.

Available in Chinatown at the Portland Chinese Classical Garden (239 NW Everett), Dragon Art (301 NW Third), and Chinatown Convenience Store (213 NW Third), and in Pioneer Courthouse Square at the Portland Oregon Visitors Association (701 SW Sixth Ave.)

For informaton about exploring Portland's Chinatown on a walking tour please visit the Portland Oregon Visitor's Associaton website.

Oh, Gravity! — Poems About Bridges in Three Sections

Oh, Gravity! gathers poems and artwork by 29 third, fourth, fifth, and sixth graderss from Portland and Lincoln City about bridges as seen and imagined. A great book to introduce the poetic concepts of metaphor and simile.

Oh, Gravity! begins with a poem by Lawson Fusao Inada—named Oregon's Poet Laureate in 2006. Eight students from the 2003-2004 third grade class at Metropolitan Learning Center Public School in Portland created the bridge art (used by permission of the artists).

Available for purchase at Looking Glass Bookstore, 318 SW Taylor Street, Portland. $5. Also available online. $8, includes postage and handling.