Eugene Weekly

An epidemic of violence against women is happening globally and in the U.S. that rarely gets acknowledged because violence is embedded in our patriarchal concepts of masculinity. Globally one in three women will be raped or beaten in their lifetime, or over one billion. The U.S. Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey documents 207,754 victims (age 12 and older) of rape and sexual assault each year. Every two minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. More than 90 percent of these assaults are perpetrated against women by men. Continue reading →

In mid-March, forced by a serious bout of pneumonia to spend quiet time at home, I was able to more closely examine budget and other documents and to reassess my advocacy for the proposed city service fee. After much calm reflection, I concluded that I personally, and council majority collectively, had made a mistake in focusing solely on the “revenue-raising” option as the preferred strategy to address the projected General Fund imbalance. Continue reading →

I applaud Eugene Weekly for writing about the Israel-Palestine subject [Slant, 4/4]. I believe this subject is the core foreign policy issue that confronts the U.S. today. Therefore, I hope you will continue to publish relevant articles so that the public can stay informed. Continue reading →

Community Mediation Services (CMS) of Eugene is pleased to announce the establishment of its new Restorative Peer Court (RPC) program. Peer courts (youth or teen courts) across the country give youth defendants the opportunity to participate in an alternative court system where offenders are allowed to be heard and judged by their peers.  Continue reading →

One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.  – Henry Miller Continue reading →

I had a strange dream last night. In my dream the lights were low … there, stage right, the Chicano devil, wearing a black fedora, pointed black shoes, pock-marked face, oversized styled black pants, bright red shirt, thin black moustache, full-on zoot suit. I hear him whispering in my ear, “Go ahead, stick ’em, it’s OK, go ahead, do it.” I abruptly awoke.  Continue reading →

It’s no big secret that Oregon’s farmer population is aging. On the other hand, increasing demand for locally produced food provides opportunities for a new generation of sustainably minded growers to develop successful farms — if they can get financing, that is.  Continue reading →

The first “Alternatives” class at the Osher Lifetime Learning Institute (OLLI) began with our watching an informative TED talk by Richard Wilkinson on how economic inequality harms societies. If you look at a long list of health and social problems, such as life expectancy, math and literacy, infant mortality, violence, imprisonment, teenage births, trust, obesity, mental illness, addiction, and social morality, there is little correlation between the wealth of the nations, but a very strong correlation between income inequality. Continue reading →

At a recent City Club meeting, Oregon’s Chief Education Officer Rudy Crew passed up a great opportunity to peel his hands off a “cow” that’s sacred in some circles — opposition to school choice — and make current investments in public education work a little more efficiently. The last question of the program was, “Can you find ways to make the charter schools in Oregon operate as part of a comprehensive system of public education?” He answered, “No. Charter schools are the competition.” If he looked at the local evidence, he might see things differently. Continue reading →