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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 2004)
HAWK MADRONE Jane Mara, Bethroot Gwynn and Jennifer Council wearing costume designs from Tee Corinne’s Cunt Colouring Book. FEMINIST STATE OF UNION ADDRESS AT UO Bethroot Gwynn’s Women: The Longest Revolution recreates the herstory of the sec- ond wave of the feminist movement Friday at the UO. In the tradition of personal theater, the piece highlights the experiences of Oregon and West Coast women using inti- mate stories, historical events, poetry by Gwynn, humor and song. The performance promises to speak to anyone interested in so- cial change and particularly feminist, gay and women-centered women. Gwynn describes The Longest Revolution as “a feminist state of the union address.” Commissioned for the 2003 30th WomanSource Fall Gathering outside of Ashland, Gwynn wrote the piece around the questions, “What has changed for women in these past 35 plus years?” “What have we ac- complished?” and “What have we yet to do?” Starring Bethroot Gwynn, Jane Mara and Jennifer Council, the piece includes cameos by seven other women from the area. Eugene residents Lory McClane and Judy Goldstein will share stories of their feminist work dur- ing the ’70s, including participation in the Women’s Press, Starflower Trucking Collective and Amazon Kung-Fu (a women’s self-defense program). Proceeds from Friday night’s perfor- mance will benefit the Southern Oregon Lesbian Archival Collection at the UO Library. SOLAC librarians are actively gath- ering journals, essays, and letters that support research into the lesbian experience in Oregon. Women: The Longest Revolution shows at 7:30 pm, Friday, April 23, in 100 Willamette, UO. Suggested donation is $5-$15. No reser- vations are necessary. The show will also be performed April 24 at Portland State University, where reservations are encour- aged, (503) 232-6003. — Kate Storm COUNCIL BALKS AT BLOCKING BIG STORES While dozens of cities around the nation have moved to regulate big box stores such as Wal-Mart, it doesn’t look like Eugene will be one of them. The Eugene City Council voted 5-4 April 12 to not impose a moratorium on big box re- tailers. Councilors Nancy Nathanson, Jennifer Solomon, Gary Papé, and George Poling and Mayor Jim Torrey voted in favor of big boxes and Councilors Bonny Bettman, Betty Taylor, Scott Meisner and David Kelly voted to pursue a moratorium. The moratorium would have been put in place pending a council meeting May 24 on whether to regulate the size, location, traffic impact and other issues with development of the giant stores. Big box stores are under at- tack across the nation and in Oregon for 8 APRIL 22, 2004 urban sprawl, traffic congestion, pushing down wages, hurting local businesses and sheer ugliness. Most recently, Steamboat Springs, Colo., imposed a three month mora- torium on big boxes, and the Central Point City Council in southern Oregon is taking a stand, despite threats of lawsuits, against a planned Wal-Mart “supercenter.” “The intent is to protect local businesses and local workers,” said Taylor of her mora- torium proposal. “It’s way overdue. People are saying now, ‘Why haven’t you done something?”’ But Solomon said she opposes restric- tions on the “valuable service” stores like Wal-Mart provide. “This just feels very anti- business to me.” Nathanson, now running for mayor, said city staff work on the moratorium would dis- tract from higher priorities. She said a mora- torium could affect a wide variety of retailers. “Are we saying no more Jerry’s, no more 5th St. Public Market?” Taylor said her proposal would clearly not apply to places like 5th Street, with many small stores in a single complex. It also would not apply to a controversial Wal-Mart expansion in West Eugene because the corpo- ration is grandfathered in with an already submitted application. Bettman said the city needs a moratorium before it addresses the big box issue May 24. In the past, developers have rushed to file permits for structures that wouldn’t be per- mitted under proposed city code changes. “If we don’t have a moratorium, then it just sends out a signal that now is the time to get your application in.” Bettman said preserving local jobs against poor-paying big boxes should be a city prior- ity. The city spends a lot of money on eco- nomic development, she points out. “I think we can also spend money to protect local jobs.” A “Wal-Mart is a Bad Neighbor Rally” begins at 5 pm Thursday, April 22 at the cor- ner of Commerce and West 11th in Eugene.— AP EFN HOOKING UP WITH LOCAL UTILITY Two seemingly unrelated local public ser- vice organizations are making plans to link up to their mutual benefit. Eugene Free Network (EFN), struggling with financial and technical problems, announced this week that it will be turning over its Internet ser- vices to Emerald People’s Utility District (EPUD). Paul Harrison of the EFN board of direc- tors said in an EW news story (4/8) that the non-profit organization was in a “tight finan- cial situation” and was “looking at all possi- bilities.” This week he said EPUD offered the best solution out of several possibilities. NONVIOLENT PEACEFORCE EPUD, in addition to providing tradi- SPEAKER TO OUTLINE tional utility services over the past 20 years, MISSION has been growing a sideline, low-cost Internet service in recent years at The idea of civilian peacekeeping is an idea www.epud.net “A deal has been worked that’s been around a long time. In fact, according out so that all of our cus- tomers will be offered ser- to Nonviolent Peaceforce (NVPF) vices, and will be able to re- ceive service credits,” says spokesperson Nick Mele, who will speak in Harrison. “People who paid ahead will see their pay-aheads Eugene April 29, Mahatma Gandhi was honored,” and the current stan- dard ISP rates will remain the same. working on such a project when he was assassinated. Harrison says EFN will “continue Nick Mele to participate in a scheme that allows Gandhi’s project might not have achieved fruition, but his vision has. low-income people to get discounts on rates and allows non-profits to receive services The NVPF is a recent incarnation. It was born when David Hartsough, a longtime from OPN, the parent organization.” “We feel like it’s really a good thing. peace activist who got his start in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, met EPUD is a strong electric company that has a strong ISP offering, very reliable, very solid, Minnesota peace activist and Presbyterian minister Mel Duncan at the Hague Appeal for and they are the kind of people who work with a strong public interest motive,” says Peace Conference in May of 1999. The two started recruiting a small group of people at Harrison. — TJT BY PAUL NEEVEL M A TT B U T L ER Eugene native Matt Butler grew up in a musi- cal family. “My mom was one of the founders of the Eugene Symphony,” he notes. “She plays violin in the orchestra.” Butler took up drums at an early age, and played piano through high school. In San Diego for college, he and fellow South Eugene grad Chris Haugen founded the band Jambay in 1989. “Jambay toured relentlessly for eight years,” he says. “We did a lot of music, but even more driving!” Now the father of two young chil- dren, Butler stays closer to home in Eugene, where he plays local gigs, composes, and pro- duces recordings. He still gets out of town on occasion to manage his personal social-ac- tivist project, the Everyone Orchestra, a vary- ing group of all-star musicians that he has as- sembled to pay benefit concerts in Cincinnati, New Orleans, and now Eugene. The ninth EO performance (since 2001) is scheduled for Thursday, April 29, at the McDonald Theater. “The idea is to get great players together on stage,” Butler says. “I call it ‘music games’ — beautiful things can happen.” The con- cert will benefit Portland’s Pangea Project, a non-profit engaging low-income kids in ser- vice activities.
