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