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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2003)
TO THE EDITOR greatest one-day total yet. None of the vic- tims, you can be sure, is a son of corporate CEOs. These are young men and women from small towns, the inner cities and farms of America. Then there’s that statistic given us by an administration stonewalling the 9/11 Commission as it tries to learn what hap- pened and why it happened on that September day. In a grandstand play of “co- operation,” our appointed leaders tell us they gave the commission two million (!) pages of documents. Are you impressed? Then you probably also bought the Nixon lie that 10 minutes of tape recordings in the Watergate investiga- tion were “accidentally erased.” In this case, two million pages will be of little help when they don’t include the two or three crucial pages that would force even the most naive American to recognize the immoral lies and criminal behavior of the Bush administra- tion. George Beres Eugene TAKING OFFENSE I’m really curious as to where Mitzi Linn (9/25) and Kai Ariel (10/30) are coming from with their anti-Ducks Illustrated stance. None of us work for UO or have any affiliation with the football team or athletic department. We don’t represent some evil corporation push- ing an agenda. All of us are local, hard work- ing people, obviously passionate about sports, trying to earn a few extra bucks under trying economic times. In my case, it’s to help support a family. How dare you chastise a legitimate business venture among very de- cent folks! If sports journalism isn’t your cup of tea, don’t read it! I take complete offense at your ignorance and accusation. Here’s a novel idea: Try find- ing out the facts prior to jumping to false con- clusions. My guess is you’d be the first to condemn the small minded and arrogant who follow one way of thinking. Guess what? You’re no different, just more hypocritical. I’m easy to contact if you ever want to have an honest conversation. My guess is that’s out of your league be- cause the truth might get in the way of your agenda. This magazine represents open- minded thought for everyone. Try getting on board. Steve Tannen KPNW Radio FOOD EXPERIENCE There have only been a few times in the last year that I’ve read your food column with anything but disappointment. The short, un- informative blurbs you’ve usually run tell me little about a restaurant, other than it exists. I expect more from a food column: I want a sense of place. I want to know more about the food and its aromas, about its textures and flavor. I want to hear about the service, the wine list, and the decor. What you’ve denied me — and the rest of your readers — is an ex- perience, in words. So I was pleased and surprised to find myself devouring Marina Taylor’s review of Ruthie B’s (10/30). Like a well-directed pe- riod piece, I could have been there with Ms. Taylor — in my A Room with a View getup, inspired by the great mood-setting photo you ran with the story — eating my scone, wish- ing my quiche hadn’t lost its crust, gossiping about Sir so-and-so. Her weaving of the restaurant/second-hand store’s history and of its future, of her meal, of the glass menagerie that made her feel “a little nervous” carried with it a musty trace of Ms. Havisham — and made me wonder about the fate of Ruthie B’s building. Again, history is lost to a depressing man- ifestation of profit (an apartment building?). That small stretch of waterfront, although colonized by the destitute, is lovely. I drive by it every day on my way back to Eugene, after I pass the sex shop in the morning and the strip club in the afternoon, and imagine what it might have been. Now I know what it will be. But I also know what it is, at least for now. It’s a place to appreciate. Thanks, Ms. Taylor. Andrea Hove Eugene NOT A PEACE MAKER I was surprised to see my name in the Best of Eugene (10/9) under the category of Peace Maker. It’s totally inappropriate. Not because of the ways I relate as an anarchist to the state, but because of the ways I’ve related to the real people around me. I’m a past perpetrator of sexual assault, I’ve raped someone. After being called out for having done that and other related things, I used my power as a man of privilege and as a leader in the anarchist movement to deny having raped to the people around me and to myself for years. I used my power over others to reinforce politically convenient myths, like that a stranger jumping out of the bushes is the only real form of rape, and that non-ver- bal communication of sexual consent is sim- ple and sufficient. I helped foster a climate in our movement that says the experiences of women are not real, especially if men didn’t “intend” for them to feel hurt. That climate is just now be- ginning to change, it appears, and more peo- ple now believe that the anarchist movement, like probably every other group in this coun- try, has abusive men in it. That denial is de- creasing because of the hard work and risks taken by brave women challenging men in power. Many of those very women I have se- riously hindered and others I’ve deeply hurt. I have been the opposite of a peace maker, though I may have appeared as one and gained the respect of people who don’t know me. Working to shed my own denial and hurt- ful patterns isn’t fun, but it does feel like change towards real liberation. It’s not peace- ful, though, and I am not a peace maker. Marshall Kirkpatrick Eugene MORE NAKEDNESS A little more than a week ago, I left the Bijou theater after viewing the movie Magdeline Laundry. The movie was a graphic depiction of how people and institu- tions demean and exploit female bodies and female sexuality for their own benefit. When I left the theater, it didn’t take me but a few minutes to walk by a Weekly stand and see your version of the same exploitation. There was yet another nude woman on the cover of your magazine or your restaurant section complete with a little bit of breast, lit- tle bit of crotch, little bit of ass showing. That’s three in recent history. I’m not sure what you’re using as a ration- alization in your mind of these three covers, but once I see at least two covers featuring NOVEMBER 13, 2003 5
