SLANT
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• It’s hard to calculate what it cost the city of Eugene to shut down Whoville last week, but
it had to be a lot, figuring overtime for EPD and maybe others of the 60 or so city employees
who were called to participate. Regardless of whether the coordinated action at this scale was
justified or not, it gives the city administration a black eye. We noticed a “Fire Jon Ruiz”
Facebook page is up as of April 6. The page has lots of posts but as we go to press it only has
59 “likes.”
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• We knew something pretty big was brewing when fellow R-G employees, past and
present, took to the sidewalk in front of the daily’s Chad Drive offices to hold signs and
balloons, or just hug Serena Markstrom Nugent goodbye. EW was as shocked as anyone to
hear that the longtime popular music and entertainment reporter had been fired — allegedly
for checking her work email while on pregnancy disability leave. How much she means to this
community hit home when the intense traffic to our article on our website crashed our
servers. Her story resonated nationwide over the weekend as the story got tweeted,
Facebooked, picked up by Salon, Romenesko and other big websites. So now what? Getting
rid of valuable, experienced reporters isn’t doing the R-G any good — we hear retired arts
reporter Bob Keefer was told his freelance services were no longer needed after he organized
the going-away gathering for Markstrom Nugent. Nobody, and certainly not EW, wants to see
a locally owned daily news source further shrink; this town needs solid, daily news and arts
coverage.
WTF?
Reader Jason T. Pitzl sent us this photo
of a sign outside The Barn Light restaurant
at 924 Willamette. “I had no idea that
downtown Eugene is now the heart of
‘Little Portland,’” he writes. The restaurant
décor and ambiance was inspired in part
by Portland’s classy urban scene, but the
Portland reference does continue to raise
eyebrows. A distinction probably needs to
be made between “classy” and “hip.”
Portland might have more class, but
Eugene has always been more hip.
Need a new car?
• Speaking of newspapers, that tiny tabloid you see on the supermarket stands really is
the venerable Oregonian newspaper out of Portland. As of April 1, it is about the same page-
size as Eugene Weekly. The paper is boasting that it merges the 21st century trends of print
and electronic, but so far it reads like a thin vehicle for advertising first, news second. Oregon
desperately needs the fine in-depth coverage of state government, legal issues and politics
that this paper once provided. Where will we get it?
• The Eugene-Springfield Youth Orchestras celebrated its 80th anniversary with a well-
attended concert at the Hult Center April 5. It was an impressive event with performances by
elementary school String Academies through the advanced Eugene Youth Symphony. ESYO
programs are in collaboration with our public schools that unfortunately have seen major
cutbacks in arts programs in recent times. ESYO helps make up the difference and its alumni
have gone on to perform in the Eugene Symphony and beyond. Grammy-nominated
recording artist and performer Tracy Bonham Fine of New York (known for her hit song
“Mother, Mother”) spent six years with the ESYO in her youth and made a guest appearance
at the concert, debuting her newest song, “We Are the Future.” She writes on her website
(tracybonham.com) that “Programs like ESYO are so important in the challenge to keep music
in our young peoples lives.” We agree and we can’t say it often enough: The arts are not a
luxury. Arts keep young people engaged in school and develop young brains in ways that
significantly enhance both academic learning and success in later life.
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• Anybody else growing weary of the constant speculation about what happened to
Malaysia Flight 370? Full employment for “experts” and conspiracy theorists. Let the search
for the plane go on, but we’d like to see some of that intense national coverage turned to
issues of the environment, social justice, labor or many other under-reported topics.
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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
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