letters
TO THE EDITOR
A HUMAN WALL OF SUPPORT
I was at South Eugene High School
the night our community lost Cameron
Ausland and Jack Harnsongkram. I was
there to offer support to their friends,
fellow students and parents as they
gathered together, united by unspeakable
sadness and grief. As director of Center
for Family Development and a therapist
in private practice, I have been part of a
healing profession for over two decades,
yet I have never encountered a more
powerfully healing moment than what I
experienced that night.
After waiting hours in solemn anti-
cipation for the vans to arrive from the
Oregon Coast, the students who had
gathered in South’s parking lot fi nally
caught sight of their friends who were
on the coast trip with Cameron and
Jack. Weary from their coast ordeal,
these friends approached hand in hand,
accessing strength from one another. I
watched in a sacred silence as the hundred
who had been waiting spontaneously
formed a long line, creating a human
wall of loving support. The two sides
came together slowly in a massive,
sobbing embrace. They then created a
literal circle of support, hugging, talking,
crying and consoling one another. These
were remarkably and tragically beautiful
moments, and it was then that I knew I
was no longer needed for this night. It was
clear these youth intuitively knew how to
connect deeply and take care of each other.
If you consider grief a portal through
which we must enter in order to experience
deeper levels of truth, may I suggest
you follow the lead of these brilliantly
compassionate teens, who are showing us
natural resistance
the way as they enter their pain and cope
with the passing of Cameron and Jack.
David J. Mikula
Eugene
LEARN FROM L.A.
Three months ago I moved to Eugene
from Southern California. I have a car
and drive, but like to take the bus when
possible for environmental reasons.
While I can’t comment on details of the
debate regarding the extension of the
EmX system, it has been a pleasure and a
surprise to use the current system: clean,
convenient, pleasant, fast, far superior to
what we had in Los Angeles. It’s a very
positive feature for this city. I will soon
be moving to West 15th and would be
delighted to be able to use the EmX there.
Please learn from the dreadful example
of Los Angeles: At the time I left, traffi c
congestion was a constant frustration for
us, yet development, rising costs, and local
politics made it almost impossible to add
mass transit lines or a subway. In coming
years Eugene will be very grateful to have
solved this problem while there was time.
Sara Chesluk
Eugene
OBSCENE COVER
The cover of your Feb. 10 issue was
a very poor choice. It is obscene by any
standards and insults all businesses that
advertise within your publication. More
than one business, I noticed, turned the
top paper face down, and few people are
picking it up from those stacks.
Whoever proposed this vulgar cover
pulled an “Emperor’s New Clothes”
stunt. I am assuming that same person is
Taking lessons from life, past
and present
t’s hard to fathom how many messages are given
to a child on any given day. Last Saturday, my
husband O’B, son Josh, his 5-year old son Linus
and I hiked to Tamolitch Pool, the “Blue Pool” up the
McKenzie River. Linus fi rst wanted to listen to Neil
Young as we drove from Eugene, particularly a song
in which Young mentions 9/11 (Linus had asked what
9/11 was when listening earlier to that CD). Then he
wanted to listen to a National Geographic book I had
brought about what Charles Darwin saw in his four-
year trip sailing around the world on the Beagle. While
it’s a picture book, the words are from Darwin’s diary.
The book mentions Darwin’s horror at slavery (yes,
some people do this to other people); his experience
of an earthquake and tsunami; a volcanic eruption;
strange variations of animals otherwise familiar
to Darwin; and the bones of huge animals that had
become extinct. Which led to a discussion of how
people at that time believed God had created each
animal separately and would not let any creations go
extinct. Which led to a discussion of God as opposed
to gods, and Linus asks whether someone is a
Christian if he or she believes in forest gods.
But then off on the trail to Blue Pool, never mind
that it is a thoroughly gray day. When Linus catches
up with Josh and me, he has learned from O’B how to
4 FEBRUARY 17, 2011
EUGENE WEEKLY
acceptably clad; I, one lowly Eugene peon,
will not be reading about your wares and
services in future EWs.
And to the ruler of that Weekly, “Mister,
you ain’t got no clothes!”
Kathryn Mason
Eugene
LOOKING LARGE
I’m a lefty Kucinich Democrat, but I
think folks need to take a few steps back
and see the BIG picture.
1) Most parents in the U.S. would kill
to have their kids in a school district like
Eugene’s. So no undertaking will destroy
the district. The Harvard valedicts will
BY MARY O’BRIEN
On the Trail
I
high enough in the pecking order at EW
to command surrounding peons to bow
down and praise his duds. I choose to have
faith that more than a few staffers were as
appalled as the general public.
No doubt that Weekly ruler is pleased
with being “on the edge,” but the bottom
line of any newsprint enterprise is
advertising. No matter how obscene
the cover or how radical the content,
without the income through participating
merchants, you will fold. If I were such
a business person, I would immediately
cancel any such agreement.
I can only say to those businesses
who agree that this offensive emperor is
distinguish a cedar tree from a Douglas
fi r. Linus is lowered into a tree well
formed when lava fl owed around an
ancient tree. The McKenzie River is
rapids and noise beside us .... until
we get to the Blue Pool, a rare,
glassy blue about the color of
the blue toilet bowl cleaner some
people use.
A dipper is singing, the only bird
we have heard along the trail. The
bird is marching on the rocks, peering
into the water. We eat lunch — with Linus’
favorite being sheets of seaweed. (Josh and
Linus’ mom Laura had no idea he was eating seaweed
until the school teacher suggested Josh and Laura
provide him with seaweed in some lunches, because
Linus was asking his friend Peter to share Peter’s
seaweed with him every day.)
But, oh my gosh, upstream of the Blue Pool there
is no river. Silence. Where is it? Underground. A river
can be fl owing underground, appear in a pool, and
roar downstream. Astounding.
Linus asks to be carried across the narrow bridge
because it’s icy, but just after Josh puts him down
on the other side, two hikers meet us coming down,
speaking briefl y with us.
“They probably thought I was 3 or 4,” Linus of
5 years and 2 months worries. So on the way back,
he negotiates the icy bridge by himself (with nearby
help). Another step away from fearing heights.
On the way back, the cut end of a huge log is
moving back and forth near the trail. “Why is it
moving, Linus?” I ask. Characteristic silence
while he tries to fi gure this out.
“Water,” he fi nally states. He has
discovered how its top 20 feet away is in
the moving edge of the river. Much in the
world can be fi gured out with observation.
A large tree has fallen over, uprooted.
“We’ve walked so far, and the tree is still
beside us, “ Linus remarks. These Pacifi c
Northwest trees are REALLY tall.
Linus stands inside a tree hollowed by
fi re. Some trees can live after burning all the
way through their trunk.
O’B says something Linus doesn’t believe. “You’re
a fi bber,” he accuses O’B.
“Well, O.K., Linus. I can tell you a true story right
now, or a fi b. Which do you want?”
“A fi b.”
There are differences between truths and fi bs.
A friend of mine who teaches “kiddie lit,” the
term for a class taken by would-be teachers about
children’s literature, eschewed having her college
students read 40 or 50 children’s books during
the course, which is a common practice. Instead,
she had them read no more than 10, but would ask
them to report on what messages about people and
the world each of those books conveyed to a child
hearing or reading that book. That turned out to be
extraordinarily diffi cult for many of the students. A
child’s book is just a child’s book, right? Nope.
A child’s day is just a child’s day, right?
Mary O’Brien has worked as a public interest scientist since 1981. She is
currently dividing her time between Eugene and Castle Valley, Utah.
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