• ICE Box. The Portland Immigrant Rights Commission reports that 42 detentions were reported to the PIRC hotline between Jan. 1 and Jan. 11 in Benton, Clark, Clatsop, Linn, Marion, Multnomah and Washington counties. ICE violence is escalating.
• Eugene might be selecting its new city manager as we go to press. Quick civics reminder: Eugene has a council-manager form of government, and the city manager, appointed by the council — so an unelected official — wields a great deal of power. For example, it was the city manager, not the Eugene City Council, calling the shots on Flock camera use. The candidates were interviewed Jan. 13 and are Martha Bennett, city manager of Lake Oswego; Jenny Haruyama, city manager of Beaverton; and Matt Rodrigues, Eugene’s interim city manager and former public works director. City councilors discussed the candidates Jan. 14. We will update at EugeneWeekly.com.
• Dead fans are mourning the death of Grateful Dead guitarist, vocalist and founding member, Bob Weir. Weir played Eugene many times over the years, first with the Dead — there was the oft-noted 1972 Field Trip show to save Springfield Creamery, whose founders Chuck and Sue Kesey both died in 2025 — and more recently a memorable show at Autzen Stadium in 2018 with Dead and Company, and in 2022 he played the Hult Center with Wolf Bros, to name only a few.
• Protests in Iran are heating up. Conservative counts place the number of protesters killed in the hundreds and others place the number in the thousands. Several videos have leaked from the country, showing security forces and protesters exchanging gunfire in the nation’s capital, Tehran. President Donald Trump has publicly stated that “help is on its way” and told protesters to continue protesting. The U.S. virtual embassy in Iran issued a “leave Iran now” advisory for U.S. citizens in the country. It’s unclear if Trump intends to bomb Iran once again, keeping up his streak of violent U.S. backed regime changes.
• Operation Inflation, the Portland-based activist network known for popularizing and distributing the famous inflatable frog suit among other animals, released a viral message Jan. 11. In the video, a person wearing an inflatable zebra says in an automated voice, “We have noticed a select few using the inflatable costumes to denote a message of peaceful and joyful resistance. We, however, are not interested in peace. This is not the time for peace. That is not an option on the table.” This is reflective of a shift in attitude among protesters after the death of Renee Nicole Good and increased DHS violence against protesters nationwide. After seeing relatively little effective action from democratic lawmakers in regards to actually stopping ICE, it’s no wonder people are feeling this way.
• What we are reading: Brian Cutean — aka Brian QTN — describes himself as an “Oregon songpoet and wordsmith musician” who “writes songs with offbeat and touching lyrical observations on the socialography of the human condition.” You will definitely get this vibe if you read Logodaidala (Gallagalala Press, $15). Cutean is prolific: He has released 10 albums of original music along with various book and card projects. He calls his slim volume, published in 2023, “a book of bedtime stories to read when you get up in the morning.” The book contains 52 playful narratives that “zig and zog and spark.” Cutean describes their genesis as coming “out of the liminal space between sleeping and waking, where dreams are still present. The pieces were all written from that space and some I do not remember writing at all.” Lucky for us, Cutean put pen to paper. Everything about this beautiful little paperback, the title included, is quirky. I found myself slowly savoring each story, enjoying the playfulness and poetry. Logodaidalia is available at Tsunami Books, Sundance Natural Foods, online at Cutean’s website BrianQTN.bandcamp.com or by contacting the author at QTNZYME@yahoo.com (Review by Jody Rolnick).