Divinity

A few weeks ago â€” or maybe it was more like a month, but it’s unimportant â€” I went to one of these lovely Music Industry of Eugene events, where writers, booking folks, venue owners, radio people, studio owners, PR folks and more (I’m sure I forgot something pretty key) get to meet face to face to chat and mingle and simply find out who we all are. I kind of love this; it just always helps to actually know who someone is. This time out, the first person I met was Thaddeus Moore, who runs Sprout City Studios (I suppose I’ll forgive him for only linking to the R-G story about the studios’ tenth anniversary, and not ours as well). As it turns out, he and his wife also run The Divine Cupcake, an organic, vegan, cupcakes-only bakery.

I put the business card for the bakery in my wallet and didn’t think about it again, except to giggle at the straightfowardness of a friend who told Thaddeus she’d heard one person rave about the bakery’s cupcakes â€” and one person rant about disliking them. (They’d been for sale at the Country Fair, apparently, so she’d heard about them from friends.)

Then I went to the library today for a cup of coffee, and there in the pastry case were these charming little things. Well, regular ones, little ones, all kinds of ones. I only had eyes for the green (green?) mini cupcake with a huge chunk of candied ginger on top; I’ve got a weakness for candied ginger.

Of course, it turned out these were Divine Cupcakes. And mine was, indeed, divine. It was light and fluffy and sweet and completely un-identifiable as vegan. The frosting tasted just like cream cheese frosting. The cake stood up on its own, with a slightly spicy flavor it might be hard to peg as green tea if you didn’t know what you were looking for (and there’s nothing wrong with that), but with the frosting it was luscious and decadent, and with the ginger? With the ginger I wanted to go back and buy another.

You need to try these things.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

That’s because of you!

Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.

Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.

And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.

None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.

As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.

Thank you for standing with us!