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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 2005)
news briefs QUEEN HOSTS BENEFIT BALL Slug Queen Scarlett O’Slimera will host The Queen’s Ball, a benefit for FOOD for Lane County, from 8 pm to midnight Saturday, April 9 at the Vet’s Club. Several live bands, including Broad Funk, will provide the tunes for the evening. Queen Scarlett will preside, and she promises a theatrical surprise. Any and all are welcome to attend in what- ever attire feels right. “Heed the call y’all, come to the ball!” the Queen drawls. “Your finer threads would be nice, but comin’ the way you want to come will be fine.” Ball- goers are encouraged to donate $3-$12 and three cans of food. — Kera Abraham HOPES FOR THE FUTURE Eugene’s railyard gets 24 hours of uninter- rupted, intense attention at the 11th annual HOPES Conference at UO, with free public events running Friday, April 8 through the weekend. HOPES (Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability) is a unique ecological design conference developed and managed by stu- dents, with the intention of working “to pro- mote deeper understanding and broader appli- cation of sustainable design principles.” The annual event at Lawrence Hall offers a large selection of workshops and speakers, and draws hundreds of architects, designers, envi- ronmentalists, students and sustainability ac- tivists from around the country. This year’s 24-hour design charette is look- ing at ways to redevelop the Union Pacific rai- lyard using feedback from a series of commu- nity meetings held ear- lier (see EW cover story 3/24). A design charette is a traditional intensive design process using ideas from various stakeholder groups. The charette review is open free to the public from 3 to 5 pm at Lawrence Hall on campus. Academics and local elected officials are in- volved in judging the charette, and representa- tives of UP have been invited. Friday evening’s kick-off event is a talk by Ed Mazria on “meet- ing humanity’s greatest challenge” from 5:30 to 7:30. Mazria is the author of The Passive BY PAUL NEEVEL BHAVIA WAGNER Born in Corvallis, Bhavia Wagner left Oregon at age 2 and grew up in Urbana, Ill. She studied environmental education in Colorado, managed a watershed council in Michigan, and owned a recycled paper com- pany with her then-husband in Wisconsin. “We had over 100 on staff,” she says. “We tried to be socially responsible.” After a divorce and a move to California, Wagner took part in a 1991 Peace Walk in Vietnam. She also visited Cambodia, devastated by American bombs, Khmer Rouge genocide, and civil war. “I was struck by the incredible poverty,” she relates. “No cars in the capital city, children in rags.” In 1994, she returned with photographer Valentina DuBasky for three months of interviews with Cambodians. Their book Soul Survivors was published in 2002, the same year that Wagner moved to Eugene to start a new non-profit. Launched in 2003, Friendship with Cambodia supplied scholarships to 31 poor children in 2004. Learn more at http://friendshipwithcambodia.org and attend the “Celebrate Dessert” benefit for Cambodian street children beginning at 6:30 pm Friday, April 8, at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 13th and Pearl. 8 APRIL 7, 2005 Solar Energy Book and is an internationally recognized architect. Saturday workshops and panels run from 8 am to 5 pm. Noted architect Jack Elliot speaks at 6:30 pm Saturday on “A Designer’s Weaving of Ecology and Aesthetics.” The “Trashy Fashion Show” featuring stylish garbage garments and the Saturday night party begin at 8 pm. Sunday workshops and panels run from 8 am to noon, followed by a closing talk by Cameron Sinclair on “Rebuilding communities in Sri Lanka.” Sinclair is the cofounder and executive di- rector of Architecture for Humanity, which promotes architecture and design solutions for humani- tarian crises. Weekend panels include “Aesthetics and Eco-Ethics,” “Retrofitting Suburbia,” “ReCreating Society with Ecovillages,” “Sustainable Transportation,” “Sustainability in the Design Process,” “DeConstruction/ ReConstruction,” “The Making of Sustainable and Livable Cities,” “Turn that Brown Upside Down,” and others. The full schedule is at http://hopes.uore- gon.edu SALVATORE COMING TO UO Eminent historian and author Nick Salvatore will be in Eugene talking about African American history and the politics of labor and American culture. Salvatore will speak at 7:30 pm April 12 at the UO Knight Law Law School, room 175. Salvatore is professor of industrial and labor relations and American studies at Cornell University, and is the author of a new book Singing In A Strange Land: C. L. Franklin, The Black Church, and the Transformation of America. Franklin, the fa- ther of famed singer Aretha Franklin, was a legendary African American preacher, civil rights activist, and inspirational public figure who exerted a profound influence on the post- World War II civil rights movement and the American cultural landscape. Salvatore’s biography of Eugene V. Debs won the prestigious Bancroft Prize and Philip Taft Prize for Labor History in 1982. SALEM UPDATE • The Oregon Conservation Network re- ports this week that “there seems to be some confusion among legislators regarding whether the House or the Senate should be re- sponsible for coming up with a solution to Measure 37’s serious problems. We unfortu- nately anticipate a train wreck when the two houses collide with their various approaches.” The coalition is urging activists to attend town hall meetings “where you can ask your legislators to stand up for the land use system which protects farmland, encourages healthy neighborhoods, and helps create a stable grow- ing economy.” A list of upcoming town hall meetings, including one in Cottage Grove April 16, can be found at www.olcveducation- fund.org/TownHall.htm • The Oregon Environmental Council, along with OSPIRG and the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, is working this week with members of the Natural Resources Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee to secure funding for the Pesticide Use Reporting System (PURS). Several senators are report- edly talking together about the importance of this program, which informs the public of where and what types of pesticides are applied statewide in Oregon. See http://actionnet- work.org/ct/M1azXR11Emq6/ BE A COMISH Two vacancies are coming up on the Lane County Planning Commission, with an April 29 deadline for applications. The commission makes recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners regarding compre- hensive plan issues and amendments; and also advises and cooperates with other planning agencies within the state and provides reports to local government officials on problems in county, regional or metropolitan planning. For information and applications, visit county offices at 125 E. 8th Ave. or www.co.lane.or.us
