• We are appalled by what is going on under the Trump administration. Alex Pretti, a nurse, was killed in cold blood only weeks after ICE killed Renee Good. Immigrants and others are targeted for the color of their skin or their accents, and federal officers descended upon a local Jan. 27 protest and vigil with tear gas, tasers and pepper balls. The agents targeted people exercising their First Amendment rights — going after participants at an interfaith singing event, protesters with megaphones and credentialed journalists. Two Eugene Weekly reporters were struck with pepper balls and other deterrents while covering the protest, leaving the scene, shouting they were press and holding up their credentials. Reporters from almost every news source in town were affected — including from Lane Community College’s The Torch and the University of Oregon’s Daily Emerald. Stand up for free speech and transparency, support immigrants, support your community and support a free press. See videos and photos at EugeneWeekly.com. 

• As a newspaper, the Weekly is often asked to run anonymous letters and sources. We try to avoid that because we seek to be transparent. If someone asks to be anonymous, we ask why — and if someone is anonymous, we say why. To be anonymous, someone would need to have a genuine fear of danger or repercussion. We won’t print someone’s name if they requested anonymity — if we deny the request, we simply are not going to quote them or print the letter. There are places from Reddit to Facebook where folks can weigh in and hide who they are, but in the era where ICE agents wear masks while killing protesters, we shine a light on truth — we get the fear, we are targeted too — but democracy is worth it.

• On a lighter note, did you see someone at a recent protest you feel a connection with? Pass someone smelling like patchouli in the aisle at Kiva or Capella that you just need to compliment? Place a free I Saw You ad in Eugene Weekly’s classified section for the Feb. 5 Love and Sex issue by emailing ISawYou@EugeneWeekly.com.

•  Nationally published queer Eugene-based photographer Sophie Spinelle debuts her newest exhibition True to Form on Feb. 5 at Imperfecta Gallery in Portland. Spinelle created True to Form in response to the Trump administration’s attempts at restricting gender-affirming care as well as other attacks on the LGBTQ community. The series is a collection of portraits that presents queer and trans subjects who collaboratively shaped their individual shoots, having agency over how they are represented in a time where the Trump administration frames them as dangerous and extremist. For more, check out EugeneWeekly.com.