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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 2012)
me in the beat-up old truck with a canopy over the top they called “The Dolphin” and threw me in the back. And I just laid there going down Franklin Boulevard heading toward Hwy. 58, and I just realized my life had changed forever. I was drunk and going to some place I had no idea where or what kind of people they were going to be. But I just knew it was the kind of adventure that would probably change my life. And it did. Didn’t you mention once something happened with your brother that made you dubious about the cops? There are different stories on how Roger died when he was 23. The story we were told was that it was malnutrition and a drug overdose in Amsterdam in 1971 or 1972. His body was cremated; we never saw his body. We knew that he was running drugs from Afghanistan and Morocco; he was a pretty dynamic cat. He used to beat up cops when he was young and was thrown in jail in Cottage Grove and Lane County a few times. Friends of his would talk to me and said the DEA killed Roger for the drug running. So it was questionable in my mind. He was huge, 6-foot-7, and really intelligent. He was not the kind of guy who was going to die of malnutrition in Amsterdam. He was the black sheep of the family at the time. I was 16 when he died. I’m fourth generation in Oregon, born in Roseburg, grew up in Eugene, went to North Eugene High School. Prefontaine was my hero as well as my mom and dad. Five boys and one girl in the family. My dad played semi-pro baseball and was an insurance salesman. My mom was an RN. They were ass-kicking parents. My mom died last year, while I was at Sundance Film Festival for If A Tree Falls. She died Jan. 24. And Jan. 24 this year was the morning my sister called and said, “Tim, you’re going to Hollywood.” That was an omen; maybe we’re going to kick ass in Hollywood. My mom was defi nitely excited about the whole Sundance thing. It’s sort of a drag she can’t see what’s going on now, but that’s the way it works. How was Sundance? What I can remember of it! Micah, my running buddy from PictureEugene, our YouTube site — we decided we’d drive the beat-up old Toyota truck there, and just tear it up, and we did. We went for fi ve days, went to four or fi ve showings of If a Tree Falls. It was like a big ego stroke because people would come out and recognize me and go “That’s the dude” and I’d just go “Yeah, that’s me, man.” It was fun. Got a lot of drinks bought for us. Got wasted and did that for fi ve or six days. The truck broke down on the way back. So are you going to the Oscars? Yes, it’s a once in a lifetime thing. We’re going down in Micah’s greasemobile. It’s sort of an outside chance we’re going to get into the show, but Marshall Curry said he’d try. I want Blair (his daughter) to go down there. As much as I hate Hollywood and what they do in creating memories and creating stories for people instead of people creating their own stories, this is something I can do with Blair and these kids. At least it’s our memories we’re creating. Oh, and Blair will say “there was that time my dad was in the Academy Award-nominated film …” Yeah, and “he was hanging from the balcony and we scooped him up and he almost died!” What did you think of the film? Sam Cullman showed me a rough cut at my house about four or fi ve months before it was ready for Sundance. I felt like it was really weak, and I didn’t realize it was going to be showing so much of Daniel; I thought it would be showing the overall scene. So initially I didn’t like it that much, but Marshall and I talked for about three hours and we talked about some of my views. I started to realize that I was too close to it. I hear someone talking about burning down a mill and for me it’s not such a huge step. But for someone in Iowa, for someone in middle America, that’s a huge step and it probably intrigues them. For me, it’s just something we talked about back in the day about whether that’s a good tactic or not. Daniel, obviously while they were fi lming him, didn’t know if he would go to prison for life. He played it close to the chest. He didn’t really want to own what they did. And also he’d transitioned into a different period of his life. I wanted him to own what they did. It was hard for me to see people backing off from that period of time and not really owning it. Then after I saw it at Sundance and saw a little but more about how this character, this sort of average Joe could go from graduating college in business and go to what’s called sabotaging mills throughout the Northwest, and how that would intrigue people. Objective reporting to me is just bullshit, frankly, but I think Marshall did it in a pure way, allowing each side to tell their story and letting the viewers decide for themselves. You sort of leave the theater thinking, instead of feeling hate for the mill owner or hate for the saboteurs. You’re sort of confused a little bit — most viewers — and I like that. I think that’s maybe the power of it; maybe that’s why it was nominated. So one thing that comes up in the film is Daniel waiting being told by Eugene-based federal judge Ann Aiken that he and the other eco-saboteurs were terrorists. What did you think about that? It’s just so silly these kids, in their 20s, being tagged with this. We all know why — it’s just to put pressure on anybody who’s thinking about doing anything like this, and trying to convince the public who terrorists really are. Classifying these kids and this type of thing as terrorism is totally absurd. As Americans, or just average Joes on the street just trying to make it, we all know who the real terrorists are. I mean the big bankers and like they say in the fi lm about the oil spills in the Gulf, these CEOs, they aren’t threatened with life in prison or with any of this stuff. And they are the ones causing this planet to go and just be fucked, for the lack of better term. You almost have to go and own the motherfucker. If they’re calling us and these kids terrorists then we have to own it. Country folk own “redneck”; gay people own “queer”; black people call themselves “niggers.” Take it away from the Ann Aikens, and go, “Yeah, fuck you. I am a terrorist.” We know who the real terrorists are, but it’s all part of the system. I think we should own it. Freedom fi ghter, that’s almost too poofy. Terrorist sounds a lot better. It’s got a real punch to it. Domestic terrorist. It’s got a nice punch. Do you think what Daniel and the others did changed anything? We need to create change in our own little world, our own little areas, our family, our friends, our land. I try to stay focused on that but also instigate a little here and there. But it also requires good homegrown beer and homegrown pot. I guess what I’ve been trying to do with my daughter is create a sense of place … where she knows that tree or where her dog is buried. When I look out the window and see three dogs, four kids run down a trail and over a creek and up the other side, I know I’m doing something right. I’m not trying to live with this tunnel vision of these “isms” any more. Politics, radicalism, anarchism, liberalism, Occupyism — you have to able to look outside that tunnel and live your life. Did it create change? It created change in people’s individual lives and we still see all sort of ELF actions still going on. As people get poorer and poorer and thrown out of their homes maybe we will see a lot more of this kind of shit. Creating real change. Or at least more prisons. I really do like that quote from the movie: “One man’s freedom fi ghter is another man’s terrorist.” I think that’s pretty accurate. If a Tree Falls is up for an Academy Award on Feb. 26. Full Service Clinic: Frontier : T he New Taking Care of Your Four-Legged Family for Over 30 Years ca ti li ur E ntal Futur nme e iro nv Po 30th Public Interest Environmental Law Conference rossroads of l C O University of Oregon March 1-4, 2012 Register At www.pielc.org • Well Pet Care • Orthopedic Surgery • Cancer Management • Behavior Consultations • Dental Care Cameron Jones, DVM Barbara Maki, DVM Cary Heyward, DVM Appointments Available 8am-6pm Weekdays 9am-4pm Saturday info@amazonparkvet.com • 541-485-0161 • 725 E. 25th Ave. Eugene WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM EUGENE WEEKLY FEBRUARY 23, 2012 11
