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Camilla Mortensen is the longtime local editor of Eugene Weekly, the area’s alternative newspaper. The paper, which has been in print since 1982 (originally as What’s Happening) continues to print more than 27,000 copies a week in addition to its popular email newsletters and website. Camilla has a masters degree in folklore and mythology from UCLA and a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Oregon. She has been a reporter and editor at EW since 2007 and teaches journalism at the UO in the mornings before heading to the Weekly’s office. She also teaches newswriting at Lane Community College and advises The Torch student newspaper.
Want to weigh in on the city fee, the Lane County tax levy or the 4J funding issue? Then be sure you are registered to vote here in Lane County, and if you are not registered, get er' done by 4 pm Tuesday, April 30. To check if you are registered with your current address go to this link at the Oregon secretary of state's website. Continue reading
Some authors revel in rejection, others hide from fame, but when you get a chance to go see authors, established or up and coming, read their stuff, you get a chance to see the man or woman behind the curtain. Why judge a book by it's cover when you can come check out the writer? Continue reading
Drones bomb people in Pakistan. They make “targeted attacks” in Yemen. A recent piece on “Drone Strikes and the Boston Marathon Bombing” on The Atlantic’s website argues that drone strikes have “probably made this kind of terrorism — home-grown terrorism, committed by longtime residents of America — more likely.” Continue reading
A mixing zone is a spot where pollution enters into a river, and it’s legal for it to be there. These mixing zones exist throughout the Willamette River, and last fall, Travis Williams of Willamette Riverkeeper found himself floating over a dark, murky patch of water in the Willamette near Halsey. That murky water has led to a settlement between Cascade Pacific Pulp and Willamette Riverkeeper. However, the question over whether Cascade should have to post a sign letting river-users know about its mixing zone will be decided by a federal magistrate judge in Eugene. Continue reading
Demand is increasing for Occupy Medical’s free downtown health care, and the group needs more volunteers and donations. Occupy Medical’s mobile unit — that distinct red and white bus you see parked downtown at the Park Blocks on Sundays from noon until 4 pm — served 49 patients on April 21, according to Clinic Manager Sue Sierralupe. Occupy Medical serves patients for free, regardless of income or insurance. Continue reading
This information was just sent out to University of Oregon students and faculty: Dear Members of the UO Community: Today, we learned to our disappointment that doors leading to the Native American Student Union (NASU), the Vietnamese Student Association and Black Women of Achievement (VSA and BWA) had, respectively, been vandalized. We are shocked and saddened that events like that can happen on our campus. Continue reading
The first time she pulled weeds out of someone’s yard in Portland and made them into a salad, Rebecca Lerner didn’t much like them, saying they had “an unpleasant texture that suggested I was eating lawn clippings.” For five days she boiled slugs, made nettle broth and munched burdock root. She wound up not eating the slugs, she writes in her book, Dandelion Hunter: Foraging the Urban Wilderness, after “their skin turned white and their guts burst out in green goo.” Continue reading
Nothing goes together like nudity and nature, but there’s a limited number of places one can enjoy the outdoors au natural in Lane County. The recent shutdown of access to Glass Bar Island, one of Lane County’s traditionally nude beaches, has some questioning if the closure is targeting an already stigmatized group out of discomfort with the idea of nude gay people, while supporters say the proposed restoration project benefits humans and nature. Previous dumping brings more complications to the issue. Continue reading
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been causing controversy nationally and locally, and those who are fighting the specter of genetically modified canola in the Willamette Valley as well as the dominance of chemical companies such as Monsanto will be bringing their call to action to EWEB’s Earth Day celebration April 20 and on the 21st. Continue reading
Has former Lane County Commissioner Jack Roberts been improperly forced out of his position as the executive director of the Lane Metro Partnership? An email from Roberts to public officials details what led to him write a letter of resignation on April 8. The email alleges he resigned in order to maintain funding from the cities of Springfield and Eugene and from Lane County. He writes, "these things are often as much about personality and other people's ambitions as about merit." Continue reading