Slant — Slugs and strikes

Slant by EW Editorial StaffPosted on

• Hey kids, there’s gonna be a parade! The Eugene BRiGHT Parade is 7:30 pm, Saturday, Sept. 26 in downtown Eugene and Eugene Weekly will be there! Come see EW and our red boxes marching to the beat of a different drummer (mainly because we have no drummer) or stop by our booth near the Farmers Market Pavillion and say “Hi!” and don’t forget to stick around for the afterparty.

• Speaking of the parade, the raining Eugene SLUG queen, Mugzy W. Slugzy, will be there with an assortment of old queens, and Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson has proclaimed Sept. 20 through 26 to be “SLUG Queen Celebration Week.” We love a good proclamation!

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• There’s also gonna be a gubernatorial debate. Incumbent Dem Tina Kotek and challenger Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan face off Oct. 1 at the University of Oregon. The actual debate is not open to the public but there will be an in-person watch party at the Ford Alumni Center, via the UO’s School of Journalism and Communication, find tickets on EventBrite.com or through CityClubofEugene.org. City Club will host a forum on the Eugene Clean Energy Fund: Ballot Initiative noon, Sept. 25, and on Oct. 2  the Lane County clerk discusses election security, both at the WOW Hall, 291 West 8th Avenue, at noon. 

• A strike is looming at the University of Oregon. SEIU 503 announced Thursday, Sept. 17 that classified workers at all seven public universities voted to authorize a strike. We got that news via the Eugene-based Solidarity.News website, which also said says the union intends to strike Sep. 28 — the first day of classes — if they don’t receive a fair offer before then. A mediation is scheduled for Sept. 24. Solidarity News was one of the many local publications readers told us they go to in last week’s EW Asks reader survey. Y’all also read Dissonant Times and the archival collective A People’s Guide to the University of Oregon. The fact EW readers seem to be a lot of rebels and activists gladdens our little commie rag hearts.

• EW’s annual Pets Issue in August featured equestrian Kimberlee Barker of Corvallis who competed in the world championships of working equitation in Spain this month. Team USA came in eighth place overall and featured Kenton Wright, also of Oregon, as well as a Kiger mustang from Eastern Oregon. The event features horses and riders negotiating obstacles, herding cattle and more. Want to check it out in person? Oregon Horse Center has a working equitation show Oct. 24 and 25. 

• Punk nonprofit RAD hosts its fifth annual mental health benefit show, Together We Are Enough, with 22 local punk bands, a skate competition and a moshpit market at Washington Jefferson Park noon to 10 pm Saturday, Sept. 26 and Sunday, Sept. 27. Read more at EugeneWeekly.com. Check out this week’s What’s Happening calendar for events like Eugene Reptile Expo, the Hot Wheels and Diecast show, a hot pepper eating contest and open adult ballet classes.

• Our coverage of the Lane County thrift and vintage scene continues online with a story on The Racks. Two college students started the vintage shop as a weekly resell pop-up on the University of Oregon campus, and it has since grown into a fully staffed brick and mortar in the 5th Street Market with a dozen PNW vendors selling styles straight out of a Y2K romcom. Read Ella Poor’s story as well as an extended version of our story on Steezy Bus.