A Round of Applause, Please
I recently attended a few concerts at the Oregon Bach Festival where musicians came from around the world to our little city in the middle of Oregon and created incredible music for the people attending to enjoy.
And I was appalled by the behavior of some audience members when the music ended. In nearly every concert I attended, there were people who would fly up the aisle directly after the show, rather than stay and give applause.
Applause is how you show gratitude to a performer. It is how you say “thank you for the countless hours of hard work you put into studying your craft, for continuing to create despite all the obstacles and for coming here and spending the last couple of hours playing for us all.”
It takes a mere few minutes, it costs you nothing, and it’s largely the thing driving the performers to perform! Yes, they get paid, but there are easier ways to earn a living. They just gave their all to you for the last couple of hours, and the least you can do is show a little gratitude for a few minutes and stay and give applause.
Elizabeth Bookey
Eugene
Classical Tanglements
There are indeed “many more reasons” for Peter Van de Graff’s departure from KWAX, such as essentially being forced out by the UO administration. Do some digging.
Mike Kopf
Eugene
When Rubber Meets Glass
I bike more than I drive, and I am grateful to live in a city that supports cycling with bicycle paths and, now, protected bike lanes with really cool automatic lights. The bummer is that I can’t get anywhere without having to dodge broken glass. It’s maddening.
It’s on the river path. It’s in the bike lanes. It’s on the sidewalks. Seldom is there a ride where I don’t encounter a tire-popping mess. There are a couple of things I can do: report it to public works and bring a broom with a dustpan to clean it up myself. I’m open to ideas as to how to address this nuisance.
Tracy Weeks
Eugene
Slant This
You say “Slant,” I say “Askew.” This section of your paper appears to be the place reasoned thought often goes to die and emotional rant rears its ugly mug.
Case in point is last week’s blurb where one of your male writers tells every other man in the country “to get over yourselves” regarding the apparent resistance in this country to the idea of two women on the Democratic presidential ticket. When are we gonna learn ignorance is an equal opportunity employer. A female relative once told me she could never vote for a female politician.
I won’t bore you with her contorted reasoning. More recently two women conveyed to me that from their interpretation of the Bible they could not vote for a woman to apparently be a leader of anything. Doubt they are the sole representatives of that antiquated thought process. I wonder if this issue might have been covered by one of your female writers.
Dan Dizney
Eugene
Editor’s Note: Not to point out the obvious, but it’s called Slant because opinions are slanted … “Tell all the truth but tell it slant.”
It Pays to be Nice
My partner was hosting a couple from another state and we took them up the McKenzie Highway in order to see the amazing job McKenzie Trust and others have done to restore wildlife habitat at Finn Rock. My partner was driving.
We stopped at a little store on the way and parked. A driver pulled in next to us and as I got out, he said something like “you were going so slow, you could have pulled off and let the 30 cars behind you pass.” I got the message that he was angry and so against my first impulse, I apologized. Over and over. He said “well, it’s rude, you should let people by.”
I apologized again and went into the store. When I returned, he rolled down his window and said he was sorry for the way he acted. I said, “Hey, no worries” and went on my way.
People are angry and frustrated at most things now and it won’t get better. Be nice, be polite and stay safe.
Kim Kelly
Eugene
The Final Word on the Stadium
A final word on the multi-use stadium, or as I will call it, the “Field of Dreams” that will not be in Eugene.
It was not the cost, $22 a year for 20 years. It was the need to boost the winter economy. A covered convention center and an indoor sports facility, was the main opposition. Each would fill hotel rooms, which the Ems were not doing, and would bring more money through the hotel tax.
“Friends,” or should I say “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” will tell you they are friends of Allan Benavides, even today. They threw Benavides under the bus to promote their wants. The sports facility is Travel Lane County.
The convention center is for the hotels, and the billboard says it will cost taxpayers $100 million (not true). These friends rented rooms to the Ems.
Affordable Family Entertainment, an organization that supported the community year-round, was turned on by their “friends” because money was now available to address their needs to boost the winter economy.
This did not affect Kidsports, and this would not affect the Keefer Center. They fill a need, and the Ems fill a need.
The Register-Guard, after the election, quoted me as saying that the public was misled. I tried before but the Guard would not run, nor the local news channels.
A city councilor thanked the people who voted against the bond was in the paper. He should thank the “wolves in sheep’s clothing” also.
Now you know.
Steven Hunnicutt
Eugene
Shred the Shredfest
I want to double down on the fine letter you previously got from Anya Drawbowski about Shredfest, June 28 and 29, at the Fairgrounds. She emphasized her displeasure with the horrendous noise pollution. It also destroyed our ability to enjoy meals or gatherings on our deck, half a mile away.
I would like to know if anyone attempted to calculate how many tons of green-house gasses were released into the atmosphere from that one event, knowing that transportation is the major local contributor to global warming. I understand that we have jobs and schools to get to and to provide for the vital delivery of goods and services. But must we add to that number to entertain a few?
Roy Mitchell
Eugene
We Need Global Solutions
Everyone can see that climate change is killing us and it’s getting worse. The question for voters in November is what are the candidates going to do about it.
The usual strategies (ignoring it, denying it, blaming others, calling it names, wishful thinking, etc.) haven’t worked. They work on people but not on things. You can’t bully a heat dome.
We need a candidate who can bring people together to solve the problem. We must cooperate with other nations to find and adapt solutions for their environment. This is a global problem that needs global solutions. Our survival depends on it.
Bruce Barney
Eugene
Online Extra Letters
A Coronation?
President Joe Biden has warned about the potential impact of a second term for former President Donald Trump on our democratic values, citing the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump’s refusal to accept the election results as evidence. However, Biden’s renomination process has prompted questions about the Democratic Party’s dedication to democratic principles.
In a recent New York Times column, Ezra Klein highlighted how, during the 2024 presidential election, Democratic Party elites united around Biden, depriving voters of a genuine choice and the opportunity to assess Biden’s suitability for the presidency.
In the 2016 Democratic primaries, these elites propelled Hillary Clinton past Bernie Sanders to secure her nomination as the Democratic nominee for President. Party insiders known as superdelegates backed Clinton well before she had amassed enough votes from the primaries. Adding insult to injury, outgoing President Barack Obama threw his support behind the establishment candidate, Clinton, instead of his loyal vice-president, working-class “Scranton Joe” Biden.
As Biden has withdrawn from the 2024 race, the looming question is whether Vice President Kamala Harris will be crowned as his successor or if the Democratic Party will opt for an open convention, as was historically common until 1968. Notably, the ’68 DNC exposed party divisions over President Lyndon Johnson’s handling of the Vietnam War. Is fast-tracking Harris to the top of the ticket a strategy to avoid revealing Democratic Party schisms on issues that plague the Biden-Harris administration, such as inflation, border security and the conflict in Gaza?
Joshua Purvis
Eugene
Define Righteous and Devout
“The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.” (Isaiah 57: 1-2).
“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” (Revelation 20: 12).
God knows. He is always perfect. He always knows. The wicked will be in excruciating pain (in various measures) forever, and the good were written in the book of life where the deeds came with them (in various measures) forever.
Think on these things. It is very sobering. And if you are wicked, you can never change it after you die. You have to change it now.
May God help us all.