Aaron Shakra
Art falls apart
Origami
enfolds
cultural
lessons
Many of my mornings this sum
mer have been spent meticulously
folding origami creatures of all sorts
— paper cranes, double hearts,
goldfish, dragons, baby shoes,
hats and so on. This pursuit has
quickly become dear to me, and I've
wanted to write about it since this
column began.
At first I was going to proceed by
giving a little information about the
history of this art form. But alas, I
was dreadfully uninformed and
made no attempts to gain knowl
edge on the topic during these often
lazy summer months. Most of the
information I gained from the only
book I have on the subject: Steve
and Megumi Biddle's "Essential
Origami."
I've been using origami for deco
rative purposes on numerous occa
sions. At the end of spring term, I
played a show and pinned a
turquoise peace crane to my guitar
strap. I wore a heart outside my
chest during a party with some cre
ative writing students. Most recent
ly, I attended a wedding, and be
forehand I decided there just
weren't enough black flowers in the
world, so I rolled into the ceremony
with a black paper flower tucked
into my shirt, eventually handing it
off to the groom.
On the car ride home from this
wedding, a thought hit me that clari
fied my fascination with this art form:
Folding origami so elegantly repre
sents one of the greatest challenges of
our age. It is bathed in metaphor and
significance; it is a message for sur
vival in this Western world.
Allow me to explain: As humans
continue to tax the planet's ecosys
tems with overconsumption, it will
become increasingly important to
reappropriate what we have already
created, making the seemingly
most useless things useful again.
This obviously exists in the form of
recycling, but more direct methods
are becoming necessary. Instead
of putting your refuse in a blue
box to be picked up by some ob
scure recycling service — and who
knows if they're really recycling
your stuff anyway — we should
take responsibility ourselves for
turning it to treasure.
It takes creativity to reshape
what already exists and make it use
ful again. Origami folding provides
insight, allowing one to discover
the usefulness in the smallest of
things. Personally, 1 don't believe in
buying overpriced, prepackaged pa
per at the store, and as a result 1
have been able to discover another
way to use scrap paper. Color it
with crayons and you've got good
origami paper.
Folding origami also takes pa
tience and attention, which are both
very meditative, and when taken to
gether, might equal a new kind of
awareness. I suggest the significance
Turn to SHAKRA, page 13D
Eugene culinary landmark
Cozmic Pizza splits a new
downtown location with
a soon-to-be Internet cafe
By Richelle Riddle
Freelance Reporter
Many people familiar with Eu
gene may know about Willamette
Street's Cozmic Pizza, a gourmet,
all-organic pizza shop with plenty
to offer customers.
Now, it can offer twice as much
with a new location at Eighth Av
enue and Charnelton Street.
Cozmic Pizza shares its new, larger
space with Theo's Coffee Mouse, and
a soon-to-be Internet cafe. Business
has been good for the newly opened
pizza venue, which receives quite a bit
of sidewalk traffic due to its welcom
ing signs and bright banners.
The first outlet opened October
1999 with hopes of helping people
understand the value of organic food.
Recently it took the next step in be
coming a part of the University and
Eugene communities by opening up
the new downtown location. The
goals are to attract everyone and to
represent the community's diversity.
"They've combined two great
places, Theo's and Cozmic Pizza,"
customer Chris O'Neill said. "We’ve
been coming to both for years."
The new location is also home to
a very inviting scene, with plush
couches, vibrantly colored chairs
and mismatched dining furniture
scattered about. There are chess sets
and two stages for open poetry and
open mic nights, usually held once
or twice a month. Sign-ups start at
6:30 p.m., and poetry goes until 8:30
p.m., followed by music till 11 p.m.
Recently, local bands, such as Rob
Tobias and Friends, Asbury Park and
Son Mela's, have performed.
"Ihe cool thing about being a per
former there is that the bands receive
100 percent of the door profit," En
tertainment Manager lules Vaughn
said. "The shows usually go for be
tween $3 and $6, but can be a little
more expensive for the well-known
bands in town."
Cozmic Pizza also hosts a few
clubs, such as the Never Bored Game
Club on Tuesday nights, where
groups of people can get together
and bring in their favorite games to
play. The Book Crossing club has
also become popular.
"It is a worldwide game and a
great way to share a favorite book
with someone else. You tag and
register a great book online, then
leave it for someone to find, read
and eventually pass on," Vaughn
said. "You can find tagged books ly
ing around on the tables."
Not only is there entertainment,
but there's also a variety of all-organ
ic food. Many people associate or
ganic food with high prices, but this
is a stereotype Cozmic Pizza hopes
to break, Vaughn said. It offers vegan
and gluten-free dishes and takes re
quests for other special diets. There
are beverages, fountain specialties,
salads, pizzas, calzones, soups and
foccacias on the menu.
Vaughn said she enjoys working at
Cozmic Pizza.
"I am very supportive of organics
and can spend time working with
something that supports those
views," Vaughn said. "Eugene turned
out to be a great place for an organic
eatery, and the owners enjoy the
business from the people."
Cozmic Pizza is open from 11
a m. to 11 p.m., Monday through
Friday, and 4 p.m. to 11 p m. Satur
day and Sunday. There is talk of
changing the hours, and owner Joel
Thomas hopes to get feedback from
the community about staying open
later. With longer hours, Thomas
hopes to attract students who need a
late-night place to study and have a
light snack.
Thomas is excited about starting
a new place, where lime green walls
meet rust red, and there are murals
to study and a comfortable seat
for relaxing.
"It is here, and it is happening,"
Thomas said.
Richelle Riddle is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.
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