The Architecture of Belonging
The current debate over managed camps and “Safe Sleep” sites in Eugene often misses a vital component: the existing social fabric of the unhoused. While filming a documentary on our homeless neighbors a few years ago, I noticed a recurring theme that our city’s “solutions” often ignore: a profound sense of community. Many people living in cars, tents and RVs told us they felt safer and more “seen” by their peers than by the dominant culture.
We often design homeless services under the colonialist assumption that everyone wants exactly what we have. As Eugene anthropologist Lindsay Weiss pointed out in The Journal of Social Archaeology, “When we dismiss self-organized communities as mere eyesores, we miss their unique and valuable ‘architectural, material or cultural history.’”
If we want to truly address the crisis in Eugene, we must stop treating the unhoused as intruders to be “fixed” and start seeing them as whole people with social structures worth respecting.
Ron Burley
Eugene
Save Wild Utah, Save Wild Oregon
I appreciate David Funk’s op-ed earlier this month (March 19) and his advocacy for saving the beauty of Wild Utah (and Oregon) in bringing attention to the misguided Congressional Review Act Trump cronies are waging against Grand Staircase and Bears Ears National monuments. Bad precedents for the sanctity of public lands everywhere are highlighted in Utah right now.
I have spent countless hours enjoying the natural beauty of Grand Staircase over many decades. These wonders should not be stolen from future generations. Volume of letters and phone calls to your reps in Oregon (and elsewhere to Weekly readers outside of Oregon) will keep public pressure on Congress to keep their hands off our national monuments. While you’re at it, consider supporting SUWA (Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance) and Oregonians for Wild Utah.
Andy Traisman
Eugene
Anti Fascists
I have no doubt that the hearts of the anti-fascists interviewed (EW, March 5) are in the right place and that they are sincere in stating that they are a movement based on love. Despite their noble intentions, are they helping or hurting the cause? “Protecting people who were not prepared to deal with chemical agents” by advising them to protect their heads and faces is certainly doing a service to the protesters. Also, educating them about black bloc protects them against being singled out by ICE.
They themselves admit that, “Condemning more militant protest tactics is an extremely effective way to divide large movements.” This is especially true when it comes to blocking streets. This protest does not affect the government. It affects the poor people who happen to be driving their cars in the area. If you were really surprised that the protester that got hit by a car was arrested instead of the driver, then you are out of touch with the voting public. The most effective way that I am aware to oppose the behavior of ICE is to vote ICE supporters, such as David Loveall, out of office both locally and nationally in the next elections. We need voters to view the cause with sympathy, not fear.
Ken Rosemarin
Eugene
Library Levy
I began this fall as a scholar supporting the Eugene Public Library Foundation, but my commitment to libraries started years earlier. As an AmeriCorps member at the Roseburg Public Library, I saw firsthand what happens when a community loses its libraries. Just a few years prior, Douglas County had closed all 11 branches. The impact went far beyond books — families lost gathering spaces, children lost learning opportunities, and even professionals hesitated to move to a community perceived as not valuing education.
But I also saw what a library can be at its best: a place where seniors receive tech help, children discover a love of reading and parents find connection and support.
Now, as a board member and Eugene resident, I see how much our library contributes to this community — and what’s at stake.
Renewing the levy will keep all three branches open, maintain access to digital resources like audiobooks and computers, and support early literacy programs that help children learn to read and love reading. Without it, services and hours will be reduced, and access to new books and materials will disappear.
For about $1.40 a month for the average homeowner, we can preserve a resource that strengthens our entire community.
Libraries are not a luxury — they are essential. I urge Eugene voters to support the levy this May.
Christian Sala
Eugene
Election Week
Since the hollow-headed suits at the Supreme Court make the absurd and infantile argument that because of the word, “day” is used on every holiday or significant date that uses the word “day” — the idea is that that day is more important somehow than the other days and therefore those less important days are rendered to the trash heap of every other day Birthday gifts be damned if they are a day late! Same goes for Christmas. If you wish someone a Merry Christmas before the actual day, you’d be fined or forced to apologize. It’s Merry Christmas Eve, you idiot!
I suggest Oregon change the wording to reflect reality by saying it is election week, not election day. And therefore protects all the votes that happen to come in late because of reality.
I often wonder if I am living on another planet other than those chuckleheads at the Supreme Court.
Tom Baxter
Dexter
ONLINE EXTRA LETTERS
White Christians
I’m encouraged to see that Eugene Christians are having a march on Palm Sunday to protest the white Christian Nationalist movement.
I won’t be able to attend, but I would like to be there when they address the source of the problem and disavow the teachings of Saul of Tarsus.
If you’re not familiar with Saul, he was working to protect the Roman Empire from the threat of Christianity. After realizing that torture and martyrdom weren’t having the desired effect, he changed his name to St. Paul and joined the movement. His epistles obscured the teachings of Jesus enough so that the empire adopted Christianity as its imperial religion and went on to conquer Europe and the Americas in the name of Jesus.
It’s only natural that the white Christian Nationalist movement want to establish themselves as our state religion.
Steve Hiatt
Eugene
Proof of Fraud!
Finally! Scientific proof that the libtards figured out a way to rig the election!
You see, they simply use the bio-logarithmical harmonic resonances emanating from the quasivoltaic supraultraviolet light radiating off of the carborundum-encased dual-barreled Mopar® Dilithium crystal simulators which then switches ballot choices around via positronic electromagnetic defibrilizational contextuality psuedovibrations. That, combined with the specific chemical/pheromonical essences per rood given off by democrat DNA signature which in turn deforms the Escher space continuum in regard to voting. Once you add in the PSI of the signature, factor in the hyperlocal temperature and humidity of the voting booth (which has been proven to affect the special voting ink) AND the amount of phlogiston in the ink multiplied by the viscosity per square meter of the narrativium ambience of the Luminiferous Aether (measured in mobius strip quantiles as deracinated in omers per haptic muon.)
Now, simply run the results through a Minkowski Diagram generator (IMPORTANT: Don’t forget to calibrate in hypothetical kelvins!!), let cool for 45 minutes and you can see how easy it is to “game” the system. For example, we have found that in 2020 Donald Trump actually garnered approximately 3.5 million votes in Delaware.
It’s just science, people.
Jamie Selko
Eugene
Protesting in the Street
It’s a replication of dark age polity. It continues because in 1911, during session five of the 62nd Congress, legislators questioned the constitutional mandate of one representative for every 30,000 taxpayers. The physical size of the House was just too small to accommodate the growing number, so 435, the number at that time, became PL 62-5.
There has been no apportioned representation in the halls of Congress in proportion to population growth since 1911.
To apportion representation as per USC article one in section eight, the walls of the House must be removed. State houses need to serve as individual chambers in a 50-chamber House; think about that!
With one representative for every 30,000 taxpayers, common knowledge of the original U.S. Constitution and the context in which it was written will need to be the foundation of public education.
The Declaration of Independence shows where polity must not go: the trickle-down tyranny of a king. The Articles of Confederation provide the foundation to improve upon, not violate. They’re alluded to in the preamble of our Constitution; “to form a more perfect union is not linguistically correct, but provides the path we need to follow in order to reach that perfect end.”
Jon F. Meadow
Eugene
Measure 20-373 Nature’s Rights
Oregon has a reputation as a “green state,” boasting status as a national leader in sustainability and environmental protection, while in reality, we’re nowhere near to achieving statewide goals for clean energy. Environmental mandates currently lack accountability. They fail to include penalties for falling short of clean energy deadlines or penalties for companies that pollute and extract more than their fair share of resources. The consequences of keeping the status quo on toxic chemicals, coal, gas and other fossil fuels will be dramatic: rolling blackouts, polluted water, resource shortages, ice storms, and wildfires.
Measure 20-373 seeks to remedy the greenwashing that has been promoted by corporate interests throughout Oregon. It will serve as a shield of accountability by allowing local citizens of Lane County to enforce environmental protections for local watersheds when harms of extraction, pollution, and lack of integrity occur. Corporations will pay their fair share for damages and the fines will go to Lane County for enforcement purposes. Citizens can finally move their community towards integrity, where the actions of corporations must match their words.
The Rights of Nature movement is growing globally, transitioning from traditional environmental regulations that “manage” pollution into restorative, precautionary principle-based legal systems. Laws need to recognize ecosystems like rivers, forests, and lakes as legal entities with rights. This allows nature to exist, flourish, and defend itself in court, rather than being treated as property. We must remember that we are not defending nature; we are nature defending itself.