What we’re reading: Necessary Trouble: Growing up at midcentury by Drew Gilpin Faust, the former president of Harvard University This wonderfully written 270-page book is a memoir of a white girl growing up in a conservative Southern family who would go on to chronicle the civil rights and postwar movements around her. We’re giving copies to lots of friends.
• We want to offer a tribute to the family of Don Van Houten. He died August 17, one day shy of his 87th birthday, from a relentless kidney disease. A sociology professor at the University of Oregon, he eventually became dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and many thought he should have become the UO’s President Van Houten. After retiring in 1998, he joined the board of the Oregon Contemporary Theatre and volunteered on St. Vinnie’s housing committee. Don Van Houten always worked to make the world a better place.
• Readers of the Sunday New York Times may have noticed the full-page ad playing on the name of Oregon’s starting quarterback, Bo Nix. The ad shows him wearing his Oregon football uniform, calls him “Bodacious,” and says nothing else, just like the billboards that have gone up in New York and Dallas. This cryptic ad raises questions: Who paid for it? The Oregonian reports the UO athletic department says it didn’t fork over the money for the billboards. What is this ad trying to accomplish? What does this have to do with the academic mission of the University of Oregon? We’ve seen some Heisman campaign speculations, but it’s more likely a recruiting tool for the Ducks.
• What’s happening! No really, what is happening? That’s Eugene Weekly’s original name and still the name of our calendar. What’s happening is that our new calendar editor, Brianna Murschel, starts this week and she’d love to hear from folks who want to submit events for online and print, and maybe get a photo and write up. You can reach her at Cal@EugeneWeekly.com. Other folks might have an events calendar, but as our slogan was back in the day — EW is what’s really happening.
• Best of Eugene is well underway! If you haven’t nominated your favorite place, person, nonprofit or more, jump online at BestofEugene.com before the nomination round wraps up Friday, Sept. 1. After that you get to vote between the top three to five nominees starting Sept. 7!
• Congrats to Old Nick’s Pub! The gothic pub and venue hosts a plethora of events from bands to a whole lot of drag. Those drag events drew the ire of the far right who protested Drag Queen Story Time for several hours last October. Old Nick’s — and our local drag queens and kings — persevered, and the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Emerald Empire recently announced Old Nick’s is its business of the year. Any other local businesses standing up for what’s right? We’d love to hear about it, so send a note to Editor@EugeneWeekly.com.