Columns

I’m a 27-year-old bisexual chick who just moved in with my girlfriend of 10 months. I love her very much, and this is a great relationship — hot sex, laughs, good conversation. Here’s the thing: I like to smoke pot, and pot makes her very uncomfortable. We’ve talked about it a lot — you know how dykes are — and I’ve been up front with her from the beginning. I’m responsible and successful, and I don’t smoke that often. But I don’t like feeling guilty. I’m afraid we’re reaching an impasse on this issue.

The local paper reported that a collector of Asian art was arrested and held in jail for five weeks before being released for “capacity-based reasons.” His crime was threatening to shoot a man he suspected of knowing about an art burglary. The art collector pled guilty and got three years probation. Lane County voters who approved a tax hike can now rest easy knowing that dangerous art collectors can hereafter be held in jail till the cows come home.

In his recent talk in Eugene, the Dalai Lama said that people in their 70s are members of the “bye-bye” generation. Well, as I write this on my 78th birthday the only things I’m saying bye-bye to are hopes for a sensible Republican party — and bowling.  

Twenty-one-year-old female here. When we were both 14, my first boyfriend took advantage of me. I wanted to explore my sexuality a little, but things went further than I wanted. One day, we were kissing with him on top of me. We were both fully clothed, and he started rubbing up against me. I didn’t realize he was dry-humping me until after he had to leave to clean himself up. He never asked for my permission. Once I understood what had happened, I felt violated. He’d also groped my boobs on another occasion without asking. He broke up with me a couple months later.

Lane County has been sued by another victim of “cultural changes” instituted by County Administrator Liane Richardson. If the county commissioners put the taxpayers’ interests first, they will let the Tea Party fight the culture wars — and encourage Ms. Richardson to spend all of her time angling for a salary raise. 

This truly is Wildflower Month, as the majority of our valley native plants achieve their peak of bloom in May. The blue camas is at its peak early in May. People driving  south should keep an eye out for the ivory colored camas that is found along the freeway from Sutherlin to Riddle. Its ivory petal color is different from the pure white of albino forms of the related blue species.

I am a 23-year-old straight male. My ex-girlfriend and I started dating in high school, when we were both 17, and continued dating until I broke up with her the summer after our freshman year in college because things felt too serious. We continued to have sex, but I blocked out all my feelings for her, while she was open about still wanting to be with me. She started dating someone else sophomore year. I realized then that I still wanted to be with her, and I broke down emotionally and made both our lives difficult while she was dating this new guy.

The county administrator wasn’t kidding when she said, “We have completely changed the culture at the county.” When before have you seen the sheriff opening the doors of the jail and telling inmates — who have not served their time — to bug out?