Eugene weekly., November 18, 2004, Page 13, Image 13

BY MELISSA BEARNS
Morning Glory employees get naked for a calendar
and a cause.
G
oing buff for a good cause is nothing
new. Lady Godiva (as myth has it)
rode through the streets of Coventry,
England, naked on horseback in support of
the arts. In 2002 Zambian women bared
breasts to protest political corruption. Locally
The Men of the Long Tom Grange made
headlines when they dropped their drawers to
raise money for local schools.
Now the employees of Morning Glory
Café at 450 Willamette are joining this
famous and infamous set with their new 2005
calendar “Power to the Peaceful,” a fund rais-
er for Eugene PeaceWorks. All 14 employees
and café owner Gail Brown pose nude in the
12 artsy, black and white photos. The calendar
is marked with politically relevant dates such
as “800,000 rally for disarmament in New
York City (June 12, 1982),” and “Earth First!
Activist Judi Bari born (Nov. 6, 1941).”
Each employee had complete artistic free-
dom to pick his or her pose and the images
reflect the humor and diversity of the
Morning Glory Café staff. The shots range
from tastefully vanilla to a few that are sure to
raise some eyebrows.
For example, the February calendar
“girls” stand naked in a pose that could be
construed as sexually suggestive. October
features a man dressed in little more than a
few leather straps, a dog collar and stockings
straddling a motorcycle in a scene reminiscent
of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. But the
shot most likely to stir up some debate and
commentary is June’s calendar girl, an image
of a woman standing with her wrists bound
above her head and two of those spoon-like
tea holders clamped to her nipples.
Was Harmony, the staff member who
posed for that shot, worried it might offend
some people?
“I would definitely consider myself a fem-
inist,” she said. “My response is that I’m por-
traying an aspect of playing with power and
domination which very much has to do with
my own personal choice. The ability to work
with dominant and submissive roles in a sexu-
al context is really empowering and healing
for me, especially since our culture has sys-
tems of oppression built into it. This is a way
for me of processing that.”
But really, the employees EW spoke to
don’t want any of the pictures to be miscon-
strued as a political or social statement. The
only thing political about this calendar, they
said, is that it exists to support an organization
dedicated to working for peace.
“I also want to say that my photo is just for
fun,” Harmony said. “I wasn’t thinking about
being political, I was just feeling kind of feisty
that day and wanted to do something that
reflected my personality.”
Sahara, who works as a cook and a server,
poses in another eye-catching photo where
more on the artistic side.”
Most of the money for the project was
donated and local photographer Kurt Jensen
donated his time shooting the images and got
some free meals for his time. He also has a
personal reason for getting involved: A month
ago his brother shipped off to Iraq. They print-
ed 500 copies of the calendar. It sells for $12
at the café, which is open from 7:30 am to
3:30 pm The proceeds from the calendar will
be donated to Eugene PeaceWorks.
“I think it’s hilarious,” said Eugene
PeaceWorks Board member Phil Weaver. “I
thought it was very gutsy and that the pictures
are very funny. Leave it to Eugene and the
Morning Glory to take it a step further.” ew
KURT JENSEN
Bare-assed for Peace
she and another women stand facing each
other across a table, both holding very large
knives.
She said figuring out what to do for the
photo was “nerve-wracking.” Now that the
calendar is out, she said it’s also a little weird
to have customers flipping through it, picking
out the different servers working that day.
Was she worried about people’s reactions
to her cutting edge image?
“Everyone’s going to have their own opin-
ion about what’s the right thing to do,” she
said. “I say, to each their own. People don’t
have to buy it. There’s a fine line between art
and sensuality and porn and that line is differ-
ent for everyone. I feel that this calendar is
NOVEMBER 18, 2004 13