Year: 2016

Bend, Its Lure and Its Problems

News

Susan Primak retired from the University of Oregon in 2013 and was also a master gardener in Eugene. She and her husband Paul decided to move to Bend in 2014. “We always set our sights on Bend, but we were waiting for that magic moment,” she says.  Primak was ready to spend her free time outdoors and says the high desert climate has allowed her to bird watch, hike, kayak, fish and, most recently, she joined the Deschutes Land Trust — where she trained to complete bird surveys.  Continue reading →

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Letters

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN In the last year, the world has lost two powerful women in the struggle to end not just aerial spraying but the use of pesticides on all land. A year ago, Audrey Moore left us after making her mark with the first pesticide ban ordinance to get on the ballot in Oregon! And last week we lost Jan Wroncy, who so graciously took me under her wing after my first aerial spray exposure. She and others taught me the history of aerial spraying in Oregon, and it’s not a pretty one. There have been too many casualties on the way.  Continue reading →

Activist Alert 4-28-2016

Activist Alert

• A benefit concert with Rob Tobias, followed by a discussion about community radio in the Eugene/Springfield community will take place at Reality Kitchen, 645 River Road (next to Countryside Pizza). Sponsored by Eugene Peaceworks and Reality Kitchen, the concert is a fundraiser for KEPW-FM. The event opens its doors at 6:30 pm Friday, April 29. KEPW says “KEPW 97.3 will be Eugene’s first grassroots, community-powered radio station, providing programming that is local to the core.” Continue reading →

Bambi’s Secret

Tyrus, screening at the DisOrient Film Festival, looks at the revolutionary artist behind the iconic film who transcended Disney’s racism and disenfranchisement

Film
Artist Tyrus Wong at work

Still very much with us, the 105-year-old Chinese-born painter Tyrus Wong is quite possibly the most influential American artist you’ve never heard of — until now, that is. As the sole inspiration for the expressionistic animated style of Disney’s Bambi (more on that in a moment), Wong’s elegant and economical style, a melding of traditional Asiatic ink-and-brush painting and Western modernist influences, has literally suffused American culture, from dishware and Hollywood to Hallmark cards and museums everywhere. Continue reading →

War Dead 4-28-2016

War Dead

In Afghanistan • 2,349 U.S. troops killed (2,349 last month) • 20,071 U.S. troops wounded in action (20,071) • 1,629 U.S. contractors killed (1,629) • 16,179 civilians killed (updates NA) • $730.8 billion cost of war ($728.2 billion) • $292.4 million cost to Eugene taxpayers ($291.3 million)   Against ISIS • $8.7 billion cost of military action ($8.3 billion last month) • $3.5 million cost to Eugene taxpayers ($3.3 million) Continue reading →

Folk It Up

Eugene Concert Choir packs a full day of Latin American Folk into the Hult

Music
Gaspar Colón

After opening its season pulling from classic Christmas fare (A Christmas Story) and pop-oriented crowd pleasers (the Burt Bacharach songbook), the Eugene Concert Choir will step out of the box a bit with two performances this Saturday, April 30: Latin American Folk For Kids at 11 am and Cantata Criolla at 8 pm, both held in the Hult Center’s Silva Concert Hall.  Each show takes advantage of the considerable talents of visiting vocalists Idwer Alvarez and Gaspar Colón, renowned operatic singers in their native Venezuela and, increasingly, around the world.  Continue reading →