New Year’s Resolution…
Learn another language!
SLANT
• A critically important message to American educators, and all the rest of us, came from Dr.
Yong Zhao Jan. 4 at the City Club of Eugene meeting at the Hilton. He’s the UO College of
Education associate dean for global and online learning. Zhao said American education is
copying Chinese education while the Chinese are moving in the opposite direction, copying
America. That means more standardization, more centralization and more testing for American
kids, practices in China that have hurt innovation and entrepreneurship. “Everything has
focused on passing tests ... no intrinsic interest in education, only what you know to pass
tests,” according to Zhao.
• We like these Conestoga huts that are being built as emergency shelters for homeless
folks in Lane County. Perhaps this clever design could be put to good use elsewhere around the
country and the world where people need waterproof, lockable shelters. A group gathered at the
Episcopal Church of the Resurrection Jan. 5 to assemble two of the huts to be used at the church
property. The biggest need now is for more places to site dozens of the huts, according to Dan
Bryant, pastor of the First Christian Church and board chair of Occupy Village Eugene (OVE).
“Lots of folks are giving to build them, not so many are offering places to put them,” he says. Two
business leaders spoke at the gathering, Tim Laue of Essex Construction, and Sue Scott of Scott
and Sons Towing. Both talked about the benefits of having people camping in vehicles or huts
on their properties. In addition to sites, donations of labor, building materials and money are still
needed. Each hut costs about $400 to $500 to build. Checks can be sent made out to St. Vincent
de Paul, designated for OVE and mailed to CALC, 458 Blair Blvd., Eugene 97402. Cornbread Cafe’s
fundraiser is 4-9pm Jan. 13. Call 606-3480 or visit www.conestogahuts.org
For 15+ years the UO’s
Yamada Language Center
has offered small group instruction in
the world’s emerging languages
to adults in the local community.
Winter term course offerings
for LT 199 include:
Chinese (3 levels), Dutch,
Modern Greek, Modern Hebrew,
Persian/Farsi, Turkish, Vietnamese
Wolof, and Lushootseed (online).
Interested?
Orientation is Jan. 10, 5:30-7:00.
2 hours per week, 9 weeks, $125.
Yamada Language Center
Pacific Hall 121, 346-4319
http://babel.uoregon.edu
WE’VE MOVED!
classic. inspired.
delicious.
769 monroe
(next to sweet life)
noliitaliancafe.com
541.844.1663
We do takeout
OPEN FOR LUNCH
Tues-Sat 11:30am-2:30pm
DINNER:
Tues-Thurs 5pm - 9pm
Fri-Sat 5pm-10pm
• Good! It should be a sure thing that Chips Kelly will stay on the menu at the Wild Duck Café
on Villard. Great chips. We’d hate to lose them.
• The fight to preserve Waldo Lake’s quiet, wilderness ambiance and clear waters is back
and it might not go so well this time. Gas-powered motor boats are banned from the lake, thanks
to a vote of the Oregon Marine Board last spring, but much noisier, more dangerous and
potentially more polluting seaplanes are expected to get a friendly nod for Waldo, with some
restrictions, from the Oregon Aviation Board. The OAV will meet, hear testimony and likely adopt
recommended rules when it meets from 6 to 8 pm Tuesday, Jan. 31, at the Willamalane Center
in Springfield. Complicating the issue is Oregon’s odd and inconsistent statutory language: A
seaplane is a boat when it’s on the water and taxiing, but it’s an airplane when it’s landing or
taking off. But is it a motor boat? What about the 10 mph speed limit on Waldo? Jurisdiction is a
gray area, and the Marine Board is deferring to the Aviation Board.
The big issues here are super noisy take-offs and the fact that seaplanes can crash and sink,
causing huge pollution in a highly sensitive environment. Seaplanes have also been blamed for
transporting invasive species. And back in 1994 a landing seaplane’s pontoons killed a mom
and dad out for a family canoe paddle on the Willamette River, sparing their two children’s lives
by inches. The email addresses of Aviation Board members can be found at http://wkly.ws/1eu
• Not that we need any more lurid descriptions of pedophiles ravaging small boys in this
country, but the January issue of Harper’s magazine has a memoir too powerful to miss. It must
have been an agonizing decision for Barry Lopez to tell the terrible story of his own brutal
mistreatment from ages 7 to 11 in this national magazine. But he tells it with his usual precision
and fine fidelity to detail. Lopez, who lives up the McKenzie River and is certainly the most
famous writer in our region, has authored 13 works of fiction and non-fiction. In this piece, he
really forces the reader to vow to do everything possible to prevent, expose and punish such
crimes and their enablers. He also forces himself to confront the trauma of sexual abuse. Both
are huge accomplishments.
SLANT INCLUDES SHORT OPINION PIECES, OBSERVATIONS AND RUMOR-CHASING NOTES COMPILED BY THE EW STAFF. HEARD
ANY GOOD RUMORS LATELY?
CONTACT TED TAYLOR AT 484-0519, EDITOR@EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
ACTIVIST
LERT
• The Eugene Bicycle and Pedestrian
Advisory Committee meets at 5:30 pm
Thursday, Jan. 10, at the Atrium Building, 99
W. 10th Ave. New member orientation is on
the agenda.
• The Eugene Police Commission meets
at 5:30 pm Thursday, Jan. 10, at EPD
headquarters, Kilcullen Room, 300 Country
Club Road. A public forum will be followed by
a discussion of domestic violence policy.
• Eugene could use more good cops.
Police Officer Career Night is at 6 pm
Thursday, Jan. 10, at the city’s Emergency
Services Training Center, 1705 West 2nd Ave.
EPD is currently accepting applications and
the pay range is $54,808 to $69,888 per
year plus “comprehensive” benefits. See
www.eugene-or.gov/jobs
• Death and Taxes, a film about war tax
resisters and their motivations, will be shown
at 7 pm Thursday, Jan. 10, at CALC, 458 Blair
Blvd. Contact Peg Morton at 342-2914.
• The Streets Food Cart at 6th and
Lincoln in Eugene opened as a way to
integrate former prisoners back into society,
and is celebrating its one year anniversary
with a fundraiser from 9 am to 2 pm Saturday,
Jan. 12. All proceeds will go towards paying
off the health expenses of Drew and Michelle
Wattier of Eugene who were struck by a hit-
and-run driver outside their hotel in Los
Cabos, Mexico, Nov. 30. Both remained
hospitalized. Drew Wattier is a member of the
Lane County Sheriff’s Department.
• A community meeting on public safety
in Lane County is being planned for 6 to 8
pm Thursday, Jan. 17, at the Hilyard
Community Center, 2580 Hilyard St. in
Eugene. See more information next week.
eugeneweekly.com • January 10, 2013
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