Culture: Page 209

Do You Know the Coffin Man?

Landscaper Eric Kissell supplements his income selling handmade caskets

Culture
Eric Kissell

Late October, three years ago, Eric Kissell built his daughter a coffin.  Money’s always tight, so he used some distressed cedar planks pitted with holes bored by carpenter ants and wood beetles. Then he filled the casket with cold beers and added some dry ice for a spooky fog effect. “You can fit a lot of beer in a full-sized coffin,” Kissell says.  His daughter was thrilled. Guests at her Halloween party went nuts over Kissell’s macabre beer cooler. Shoot, he thought. Maybe I’m onto something here. Continue reading →

Local Haunt

Merlin’s Bar in Lebanon is full of ghosts and everyone knows it

Culture
Mike Groff sees dead people

Terry Kennon isn’t on the clock, but she’s at work anyway — because why not. What the hell else is there to do Wednesday night in Lebanon? She hops down from her barstool, walks outside and lights a cigarette under a sign that reads Merlin’s Bar and Grill. “I’ve worked here forever,” Kennon says, matter-of-factly. “Don’t tell me this place isn’t haunted.” Continue reading →

Party Hard (Cider)

WildCraft celebrates autumn with a harvest party and the Thievery Corporation’s Rob Garza

Culture

Oregon climate 2.0 may mean short sleeves in October. Nevertheless, it’s autumn all up in this place, and ’round these parts, autumn means apples and apples mean cider.  Eugene’s WildCraft Cider Works is celebrating apple season with the inaugural Urban Orchard Harvest Party — a celebration of the bounty many in Eugene find falling right in their front yard. “Urban Orchard Harvest Party is the follow-up to the community apple drive,” WildCraft owner and founder Sean Kelly says. Continue reading →

Curb Your Hunger

Local delivery businesses make life easier

Culture

When you’re a student, things get busy. Maybe you’re stuck studying in your apartment and, while starving, find the prospect of going out into the world for food unbearable. Maybe you just want to “Netflix and chill” without leaving the couch.  If so, you can utilize HungryDucks as your take-out shortcut, or contact Cascadian Courier Collective to get almost anything delivered, so long as it isn’t more than 300 pounds and can fit on one of its freight bicycles. Continue reading →

Student Q&As

Culture

Brandon Hosea Major: Economics and public relations Year: Senior Age: 21 Hometown: Bend, Oregon   Would you vote for Donald Trump? Yeah. Why? Because I respect his ambition. Honestly, I agree with some of the stuff he says, some of it I don’t — you can’t agree with everything. Continue reading →

It’s About Time – October 2015

About Time

Well, the summer has slipped past the equinox without much fanfare, as usual. All we need is for the rainy season to begin and fall will be here. When the bigleaf maple loses its leaves, the licorice ferns uncurl on its branches. Or, as they say in Alaska, “when the fireweed goes to cotton, the summer’s soon forgotten.” Continue reading →