Edwin Coleman. Photo: Paul Neevel.

Slant

Losing Ed Coleman

• We note with sadness the death on Jan. 20 of Edwin Coleman, jazz musician, professor of English and outspoken civil rights advocate in Eugene. He died at age 84 from complications of flu. As a jazz guitarist, Coleman backed up such musicians as Ella Fitzgerald, Vince Guaraldi and Peter, Paul and Mary. As a civil rights advocate he met the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. As a professor at the University of Oregon, he stood for equality and tolerance, bringing his love of African-American literature, folklore and drama to generations of Oregon students. As professor emeritus, he argued against the renaming of the UO’s Deady Hall, saying that to erase Deady’s checkered history would be to throw out the good with the bad. The memorial begins at 2 pm, Tuesday, Jan. 31, at Willamette Christian Center, 2500 W. 18th Avenue.

• No matter your politics, or for whom you voted, telling blatant lies is simply unacceptable. And gaslighting the media, or anyone for that matter, is also unacceptable. Alternative viewpoints are a thing; alternative facts simply are not. Is the media sometimes biased? Yes, here at EW we have a progressive slant. Does the media make mistakes? Sometimes, and we own up to them. But real news sources don’t lie. And real presidents shouldn’t lie either.

• Here’s a theory about David Reaves. He was the offensive coordinator brought to the Ducks from South Florida by new football coach Willie Taggart. Reaves lasted less than a week in Eugene before being arrested by the Eugene Police Department early on Sunday morning, Jan. 21, charged with DUII and several other things, and then fired for cause by the UO. The theory: This guy was out celebrating his great good fortune. A job with a football program and lush facilities backed by a benevolent billionaire whose blood runs green and yellow; a salary of $300,000 a year (the Oregon governor makes $98,600); a lively little city, albeit somewhat sunless, that loves Duck football and brews great beer. What’s not to celebrate? But the next celebration, if there is one for this young new football coach, might include a designated driver.