‘Healing quilt’ to help
repair torn community
Esther Hunter believes
a quilt will help people
express their feelings
after Thurston
By Michael Burnham
Community Editor
It tore us apart.
The range of emotions ex
pressed throughout the communi
ty since the May 21 shooting at
Thurston High School have dif
fered greatly.
Some have felt anger. Some
have felt shock. Some have felt
sadness. Some have asked why it
happened here.
But as members of the commu
nity grieved and started to heal in
different ways, the question re
mains as to how the community
can be stitched together again.
Eugene resident Esther Hunter
decided she would try and make
the first stitch in her own version
of community healing: a quilt.
Although Hunter said she is not
a quilter, she decided this was the
best way for her to try and bring
the community’s patchwork of
emotions together.
“I just basically felt a need to do
something to put some positive
energy back in the community,”
she said. “I wanted to create some
thing everybody could do.”
Hunter’s project, which has
been dubbed the “healing quilt,”
will consist of 10-inch squares on
which community members can
write messages of remembrance
and support. Individuals may use
their own fabric of obtain cloth
from a number of local fabric and
quilting stores that are donating
the materials, she said. However,
the squares will be joined with
half-inch seams on all sides, so de
signs on all squares should be kept
within a 9-inch-square area.
Hunter, who said the idea has
blossomed on the community lev
el since she first conceived it, now
has a number of businesses, artists
and other volunteers working on
the project.
She said she hopes to have the
healing quilt done for a late-sum
mer display at the Springfield City
Hall. The quilt will also be shown
at the Eugene Celebration from
September 18 to 20.
The deadline for all square sub
missions is July 20, but Hunter
said the challenge will be in
sewing the pieces together. She
said she thinks it will take more
than a month to sew all of the
squares together, although a local
fabric store has offered to help in
the process.
One community member who
has already begun to design a
square for the quilt is Loretta
Dukes of Eugene.
Dukes said she went by the
Thurston High School fence after
the incident and saw the flowers,
letters and other materials the
community placed in the wake of
the tragedy.
She said she has been working
for the past four days to try and
stitch her visual image of the fence
on her quilt square.
“It’s something I can give ...
from my heart," she said. “It’s
something you can do when you
really can’t express your feelings
to other people. We all have differ
ent ways of seeing things. ”
SHOOT FOR THE
STARS THIS SUMMER
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Register now for 1998 UO summer classes.
Summer DUCK CALL'S ready and waiting.
Pick up your free summer bulletin then pick up the phone.
Bulletins with schedule of classes are
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EMU News
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Recreation Center
Be the first to work in the newly renovated Recreation Center! We are
\ looking for employees to start either summer or fall term. Each
Recreation Center staff person will be in charge of a specific area of
programming and also work the front desk. Gain valuable
experience in budgeting, marketing, advertising, event management,
customer service and more. Hours are flexible. Although it is not
required, preference will be given to those with work-study or
work-tech certification for the beginning of fall term. Please call
Stephanie Dixon at 346-4378 or stop by
Cedar D for more information.
EMU Food Service
Now accepting applications for a Marketing and Advertising Assistant.
This position is responsible for developing promotions and producing
advertising and marketing materials for EMU Food Service. Knowledge of
graphic design and basic layout principles are required. Looking for a person
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skills, and the ability to work with short production deadlines. This position
will work 20 hours a week at the wage
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September 1st, but summer time
availability is a plus, too! Pick an
application at the EMU Food Service
Office between the hours of 8:00a.m.
and 3:00p.m., Monday-Friday.
Application deadline is June 3rd.
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Student gardener and fix-it person needed at the Child
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maintenance experience all are
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for more information.