We've got issues.
THE CITY HALL VOID Where, oh where has our City Hall gone? We ask ourselves that question as we pass the barren site daily. It stands there as the largest “kitty litter box” in the world. The most symbolic project for our city in 50 years has received little or no public input, display or conversation. So what’s the problem? The current version shown is certainly not radical or particularly imaginative. Continue reading
STOP FAT HATING Continue reading
FINICUM’S REFUGE Snowy plover, greater sage grouse, short-eared owl and bobolink, white-faced ibis, heron, killdeer, sandhill crane and Siskin finch. The birds all pass through Malheur, even the cuckoo and the loon. And like all migratory species, they’ll be leaving pretty soon. The stillness of the winter morn gave way to a sound of men. And just like that the Malheur was stolen away again. White men; again, with god and guns, found the door unlocked and then, they seized that dinky building, proclaiming: Continue reading
FRIVILOUS LAWSUIT Our four “conservative” (Ha ha! — “Give us more money folks, but we don’t believe in big government!”) county commissioners must be visiting the pot shops a lot these days, ‘cause they’re sinking deeper into their old pipe dream that wiping out the local forests will somehow improve life in Lane County. Continue reading
VALUABLE CONTENT I am distressed and saddened that KLCC has removed Alternative Radio from its broadcast schedule. What is perplexing is the station is repeating other programs (TED Hour, Wait … Wait and Prairie Home Companion). Continue reading
RADIO FOR DUMMIES? Continue reading
A POWERFUL GIFT Continue reading
DEAR OREGON Your air feels freer, your coffee tastes richer and you always sound like a Sunday afternoon. I must a steal line and declare, “Oregon, I have just met you, and I love you.” It has been so few days, and yet I already wish to rip off my license plate and replace it with yours and a matching collegiate bumper sticker. Continue reading
A PROPHETIC MOMENT I’ve had the privilege of being Peg Morton’s scribe for her many writings in the last months of her life. More of these writings will be disseminated after her memorial service as she requested. In mid-November she wrote a proposal that was communicated throughout the world to her “peace-building, nonviolence-loving groups and others, including faith communities, friends and family.” Thousands of people have now read, shared and are acting upon Peg’s proposal, which begins: Continue reading
BEAUTY IN THE CRACKS As an alternative to more buildings downtown, how about some grass, flowers and trees? There’s a reason birds and bees and human beings naturally flock to them. City leaders seem hell-bent on filling every downtown space with concrete, providing green for the moneyed interests but only gray for the rest of us. There’s beauty lying dormant in the cracks. Continue reading