A Language Revived
LCC examines commitment to Chinuk wawa language courses
Unless you solely rely on your dusty elementary school education to shape your worldview, or you live beneath a social-media rock, you ought to have … Continue reading
Culture: Page 190
It’s About Time
The days are getting shorter
The equinox passing is reflected in shorter days. The rate of change itself changes. Change in day length is fastest at equinox and slowest at solstice. The day-to-day change at equinox is about 3 minutes a day but only 30 seconds a day at winter solstice. At the end of September, seeds of incense cedar were scattered to the winds and now their cones are raining down. The cones of incense cedar decompose over winter and are gone by spring. Continue reading
World Wines, Autumn Splendors
I was ready to break into “September Song” or my whistling riff of “Early Autumn” when Mole got up in my face. The Round Mound of Merlot almost never gets angry, but he was clearly irked: “Yuz hoit my feelins laz mont’ when yuz wrote dat I wuz smoikin’ lak da Donald. Ah wuzn’t smoikin’ ‘n’ ah ain’t lak Trump. Ah don’ even lak dat guy. He’s nasty ta wimmen ‘n’ nearly ever’body, ‘cept his pal Voldemort Pootin.’ Ah wuz jes’ smilin’ cuz weah back on track on da wines.” Continue reading
Denim and the City
Vanessa Froehling takes her street-wear line to Portland’s FashioNXT runway week
Local designer Vanessa Froehling has denim on the brain. Stonewashed, herringbone print, chambray, stretch and black denim, to be sure. In her home studio, Froehling flips through hangers of designs, including sailor-style high-waisted women’s shorts, a men’s blazer and a women’s jumpsuit. Continue reading
A Place of Their Own
Paving the way in Eugene for Adventure! Children's Museum
When Adventure! Children’s Museum founder and board president Amelia Reising was home with her small son, they got a little stir crazy. “I’d stopped working and was hanging out with him, and we were just trying to get out of the house,” Reising recalls. Continue reading
And in the Darkness Bind Them
Inside Eugene's cult of tech
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
The Electric Tie-Dye Test
Made of almost 200 illuminated glass panels lined with 120 specialized lights, the “Radiance Dome” is approximately 40 feet across and 20 feet tall. It’s crystal clear when the lights are off, but when the lights flicker on, it glows in swirling psychedelic patterns. Continue reading
Video Games at School
Eugene game makers and researchers make learning fun
According to a 2014 study in the Journal of Communication, up to 40 percent of parents are taught how to use computers by their children. Whether you think kids are tech zombies or you think computer coding should be taught as a second language, tech is here. And kids love it. Continue reading
Can’t Touch This
Magic Men Live in Eugene
I spent a half hour of my life watching YouTube videos of nearly naked men wiggling and worming around on stages illuminated by flashy lights — for research purposes, of course. Magic Men Live is coming to town and there’s something hypnotic about the performers’ abdominal capabilities. Magic Men Live is a simulation of the 2012 Steven Soderbergh film Magic Mike but omits plot development and Channing Tatum. Each set of dancers in the performance is dressed according to a theme, so you can expect impractical firefighter uniforms and cowboy hats galore. Continue reading
Summer’s End
And the virtues of escarole
August went by in flash, as usual. Daily watering chores. Jam making. An ocean of applesauce. After a week’s vacation in a cabin by the Metolius, I somehow carved out time to think about the fall and winter vegetable garden. Space must be carved out, too, and I’m grateful for any crops that can go in after the pole beans and tomatoes are torn out in October. But starts of red Russian kale, my favorite for winter eating, need to go in as soon as possible. By October what you see is more or less what you get until growth starts up again in March. Continue reading