We've got issues.
Ben Ricker was a Eugene Weekly calendar editor and staff writer.
With EWEB talking about selling off its riverfront headquarters and City Hall in flux, many wonder why Eugene City Council continues to steer the conversation … Continue reading
It never ends. Eugene Public Works maintenance worker Matt Chaney shows me his smartphone. The small screen displays a special email account where he gets notes from concerned Eugeneans who report new outcroppings of graffiti with the Lane Council of Governments online reporting center. A note comes in that someone tagged the word “mold” nearby on 13th, he says, pointing to the message. There’s a chance one of his guys is already en route to scrub it clean. Continue reading
Eugene tech torchbearer Cale Bruckner had Middle Earth in mind four years ago when he dreamed up the term “Silicon Shire,” because of course he did. And he was correct if he thought it would strike the precise subliminal chords to produce charming pastoral visions of prosperity, while shoving Silicon Valley pitfalls out of the mental picture. Continue reading
Some Bernie Sanders supporters wept as they watched Hillary Clinton snag her party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention this summer. Months of hard grassroots toil erased. Millions of dreams squashed. Many diehard Berners balk at the notion of another Clinton presidency. And of course Trump is a non-starter. The quadrennial scrum for the Oval Office has devolved into a dog and pony show of oligarchic proportions. Continue reading
Food journalists at respected culinary magazines venture that doughnuts are “having a moment” right now. Frenchified boutique pastries made with cage- and hormone-free ingredients at places like Blue Star — first in Portland then L.A. and Tokyo — masquerade as doughnuts and telegraph the coming of a revolution similar to the obnoxious cupcake uprising of yesteryear. Continue reading
The funny thing is, this time last year Emerald Empire HempFest founder Dan “DanK” Koozer was ready to call it quits. Continue reading
Bob Emmons looks like he wants to spit. Standing on sun-scorched grass in Scobert Gardens Park, Emmons is hardly able to endure the blighted landscape, littered with empty beer cans, cigarette packs and pizza boxes. Shoeless daysleepers stretch out flat in swaying blots of shade. Summer breezes tumbleweed a plastic grocery bag across the dusty lawn and leave it at his feet. “It’s painful to see,” he says. Continue reading
Hedin Manus Brugh weighs down his bike trailer early Saturday morning with polished stones, crystals, jewelry and a grip of ornately handcrafted “magick” wands. Wearing a kilt and a patchwork hoodie, the modern-day Merlin sets off on a slow cross-town bike ride from his west Eugene apartment to Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza in the heart of downtown. Continue reading
Maggots have spiracles (breathing holes) near their ass ends, which grant them the ability to eat for as long as they please without stopping for breath. This natural science factoid crossed my mind Friday, as Republican autophile Donald Trump proclaimed his glory, at length, to more than 3,500 adoring fans (EW’s count). Counting down to Trump’s short-notice Eugene rally, the city clenched up nervously for the arrival of an angry rightwing cyclone-circus invasion of hillbillies, country music radio and riot cops. Continue reading
To generate an aura of cosmic destiny or maybe invite messianic comparison, Bernie Sanders’ team capped off the candidate’s surprise rally on the green grass of Springfield’s Island Park last week by blasting David Bowie’s dire sci-fi rock hymn “Starman.” And out of the sea of wide-grinning Berners stretched thousands of small hands, whose tide swayed always in Sanders’ direction. “He’d like to come and meet us,” Bowie wailed, “but he thinks he’d blow our minds.” Continue reading