The
1 Whole
Eugene
Catalog1:
'every
thing
you
want
to
know
about
the
city1
Photos by Steve Twedt
Seavey points out a story for “The Whole Eugene Catalog” on housing renovation—one of the articles
in the catalog he hopes will help its readers “take control of their own lives and stand up for their
lifestyles.”
Where can you find a guide to house-hunting, eating for free and
starting your own home business, and a people’s yellow pages of 100
individuals in the Eugene community “with reliable and reasonably
priced goods and services?”
All this information and more will be available starting July 7 in
By PEGGY McMULLEN
Of the Emerald
the new publication. “The Whole Eugene Catalog.” According to Bill
Seavey, coordinator of the catalog, the 32-page booklet will sell for $1
and will contain “everything you could possibly want to know about
Eugene.”
“I am trying to take all the essential agencies and tell people what
their services are so they can go to it at any time. This catalog isn’t
something they are likely to throw out or lose,” Seavey said.
The catalog will consist of sections on housing (the largest and
“most important”), food, work and jobs, money, entertainment,
resources, education, and health. Originally Seavey wanted to include
a section on the University, but “didn’t know any people with the in
formation I needed at the University so I had to drop the idea.”
His format for the catalog is to “develop feature stories around the
most important agencies and then put the rest of the agencies into a
list in a readily accessible form.”
While not “the ogre of alternative journalism,” coordinator of the
catalog. Bill Seavey, says the emphasis of the publication is to provide
a source of information for members of the counter-culture.
The form he felt would be the most useful is listing the 100 agencies
he considered are the most responsive with their address or phone
number and a one-line description of their services. Beside the feature
stories and list of agencies, Seavey said he is also “trying to take huge
volumes of information and reduce them into one-page information
articles.”
“I think people will certainly be getting their money’s worth with
this catalog,” Seavey said.
He noted that the idea for this type of publication has been around
a while.
“There’s been a need and a desire for a “Whole Earth Catalog”
type of thing for many moons. The idea has been suggested to me
many times.”
Seavey also said other publications have attempted to fill this
“Contact,” a recently published directory of community agencies,
is the most recent one to do this, he said, but he feels it isn’t as ef
fective as it might have been because of the format used.
“Unless you know what you’re looking for, it isn’t that useful. It’s
so official looking it isn’t something you can just read. It’s just too
dry.”
Although Seavey admits the catalog is aimed at “the counter
culture,” he said it is “being presented in such a way that I think
anybody can appreciate what it’s trying to do.”
“Eugene has a considerable amount of acceptance for the
alternative culture. Previously there has been no one source of in
formation to describe what sorts of things are going on.”
In comparing the catalog to present publications, Seavey touched
on the Augur community newspaper.
“I am trying to say something along the same lines but still dif
ferently. I have to create my own image but we still cooperate in a
variety of things.
“I hope to have a wider application than the Augur has. I am
attempting to condense a lot of the important things. ”
Originally the catalog was to be called “More for Less” but
Seavey changed the name “to reach more of the people I wanted to
reach.”
Seavey printed 1,000 handbills asking for article contributions,
“but I really didn’t get very many.” Seavey has been selling the ads
and putting together the catalog by himself, mainly because, “most of
my projects tend to be one-person-type projects. It’s just easier for me
to lay it out as I go along.” The lay out of the catalog is about half-done
at this point.
For financing the catalog he “originally wanted to get money from
some community service organization but that didn’t happen so I went
to O.U.R. Credit Union, a poor people’s credit union. I went with very
little collateral and a good idea and got a loan approved for $500 which
is basically what it is costing me to put it out.”
“I have also put in about $50 from my own pocket, I have sold
about $250 in advertising so my total budget is going to be around $600.
I need to sell through bookstores alone around 750 or so to break even.”
Seavey printed 2,000 cards advertising the catalog and placed them on
windshields at the Renaissance Fair.
He added, “I am donating 10 per cent above costs to the Eugene
Sustaining Fund.” The fund is an agency to help fund community
service organizations.
“The basic idea is to fund alternative agencies like Canterbury
Center, White Bird, the Children’s Community School—those not
funded or funded by agencies outside the community. The problem is
to provides continuous source of income for them.” He added, “I also
hope to make a little money from this. This is an organizational tool, a
focusing point for the alternative culture. It tries to synthesize all the
things happening.”
Seavey plans to print 4,000 catalogs which will be for sale through
local bookstores or which can be reserved by sending name and ad
dress to “More for Less,” P.O. Box 1701, Eugene 97401. The cost this
way is $1 plus mailing costs. Although he is only printing 4,000 Seavey
feels “it will get to the people who really want it.”
“I want people to take control of their own lives and stand up for
their lifestyles,” he said. And Seavey feels this catalog will show
people how to do that.