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