We've got issues.
I don’t know about you, dear reader, but the political season always makes me nervous behind the steering wheel. Every two years here in the 4th Congressional District, I used to have an involuntary fight-or-flight reaction to any vehicles sporting an “Art Robinson” bumper sticker. I’d slam on the brakes and elude, just in case the driver was preparing for the Rapture at any moment. Continue reading
The equinox passing is reflected in shorter days. The rate of change itself changes. Change in day length is fastest at equinox and slowest at solstice. The day-to-day change at equinox is about 3 minutes a day but only 30 seconds a day at winter solstice. At the end of September, seeds of incense cedar were scattered to the winds and now their cones are raining down. The cones of incense cedar decompose over winter and are gone by spring. Continue reading
OBVIOUS CHOICE I’m writing to urge Ward 1 voters to vote for Emily Semple. Endorsed by George Brown, Betty Taylor and Pete Sorenson, Emily Semple is the obvious choice. As a mother of two and the owner of a graphic arts business, Semple understands hard work and the needs of working people and struggling families. She also sees that Eugene has a shortage of affordable housing. Her concerns extend to the most vulnerable in our community, those who have fallen through society’s safety nets and now live without shelter. Continue reading
National Coming Out Day is a great time to come out, whether for the first or umpteenth time. It’s a day to remember the importance of being open about your true lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning, intersex, polyamorous, pansexual, asexual, two-spirit, nonbinary, genderfluid, agender or otherwise beyond-the-old-norm self. Continue reading
Movies about being a teenager have come a long way since I was a teen. (Let’s not talk about exactly how long it’s been.) The last few decades of teen storytelling have their charms, from John Hughes to 10 Things I Hate About You, but many teen movies have looked outward in a way that doesn’t always feel true to adolescent life, when the mess of things going on inside is as distracting, or maybe all-consuming, as school and friends and mean girls and attraction. Continue reading
No doubt Detroit rapper Danny Brown likes to party, evidenced by tracks like “Blunt After Blunt,” “Smokin & Drinkin” and “Die Like A Rockstar.” With an increasing fan base and his fourth studio album just released Sept. 30, it seems like the 35-year-old has no plans of halting the fun bus anytime soon. Continue reading
There’s a song called “City of Angels” from The Head and The Heart’s third release, Signs of Light, and the album’s cover image shows the band lounging around a pool on a sunny afternoon. All this seems to signal a shift for the Seattle musicians away from the delicate, cloudy indie-folk sound they came up under — the same sound popularized by contemporaries like Blitzen Trapper, Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons. Continue reading
Xylouris White is the sound of two people making music in a room. Person number one is Jim White of well-known Australian experimental rock trio Dirty Three. Person two is George Xylouris, one of Crete’s most beloved musicians, on vocals and lute. The result, evidenced on “Forging” from the duo’s 2016 release Black Peak, is something akin to punk, but also deeply rooted in the folk tradition of Xylouris’ native Crete. And like many folk traditions, there’s formalism but also creative naiveté — celebration, mourning and catharsis. Continue reading
• Mia Moran, the international bestselling author of Plan Simple Meals gives a talk 6:30 pm Thursday, Oct. 13, at the Eugene Waldorf School, 1350 McLean Blvd. The school says, “Moran will help simplify and demystify what ‘good food’ means today. She will share some gems of how to create the space to make good food and even the time to eat it. She will share several tools working with a regular rhythm to make mealtimes manageable at home — tools that work with middle school aged children too.” $10 suggested donation. Continue reading
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) fined Shola Adeniji (doing business as Shola’s Quality Plus Cleaners, located on Bailey Hill Road in Eugene) $525 on Sept. 19 for failing to submit an annual report for 2015 to DEQ. Continue reading