Brenda Autry Journalism Blog

“Coming to the United States was hard. It shocked me,” said Subbappa Ribeiro, a yoga instructor at LBCC. “Before coming here I lived an isolated spiritual life. I think even if I had gone to a big city in India I would have been shocked.” Subbappa Ribeiro in his studio at LBCC Ribeiro is from Mysore, Kanataka in the southern part of India. He started practicing yoga in high school at age 16 and got serious about it a few years later when he met his teacher, B.K.S. Iyengar . He soon began dedicating more time to his yoga practice and moved into his teacher’s ashram where he spent 10 years of his life. “I started out working as the head of the kitchen. I ordered the groceries and things like that,” Ribeiro explains. “Then I started assisting my teacher [Iyengar] doing things like cleaning the studio. But this was just a couple hours a day.” “During my free time I studied, worked on my yoga practice and attended spiritual gatherings. I was searching for truth. I was learnin...

Every February, competitors from every corner of Oregon and every walk of life come to meet in the ring and battle for the title Oregon Golden Gloves Champion. For some, the road to this moment is long and paved with sacrifice. But still they come; with smiles on their faces and dreams in their hearts, hoping that at the end of the night they will don the blue and gold jacket that will brand them a champion forever. Golden Gloves Champions Past and Present. Photo courtesy of Kelvin Watkins Photography. Half an hour before the competition starts, the audience trickles in to fill hundreds of available seats in the large auditorium of the Salem Armory. The ring-side tables already hold a few of the more devoted boxing fans who are willing to pay a premium for the privilege of better proximity to the action. For now, the real action is behind the curtain on the stage that serves as a preparation area for tonight's fighters and their teams. Scattered across the dimly lit stage ...