VIEWPOINT
BY K E VIN SULLIVA N
THE REAL VILLAIN
Reading last week’s letter [8/7] from Blake Andrews regarding Helvetica
font (and how horrible it was for EW to use it on the cover), I am both sickened
and appalled that someone would take issue with Helvetica font, considering
the modern climate of endless war, corporate takeover and an ever-expanding
prison industrial complex in our modern world.
The real villain here is Papyrus. While Helvetica remains a harmless, clean-
cornered choice that caters to businesses large and small, Papyrus font often
signifies a stable of unwashed, New Age employees ready to upsell their
customers on some untested herbal remedy or tool to clean your chakras.
That, or a mall kiosk that specializes in cell phone bling.
Regardless, it’s not just a bad choice in font abused by coffee-cart start-ups
(for those who use Comic Sans know not what they do), but rather, Papyrus
font is an unchecked plague on the world of graphic design. Further, Papyrus is
the only font that actually looks worse no matter what the layer effect, and until
the bevel/emboss option is removed from future versions of Photoshop, using
Papyrus font will forever be the single worst choice a person can make.
To think that marijuana and same-sex marriage are crimes, but Papyrus
font is legal in all 50 states, is an undeniable outrage. Helvetica never harmed
anyone (OK, maybe Helvetica bold is a little cocky, but Helvetica condensed
makes up for it).
Please stop publishing letters from bored readers with nothing real to
complain about. Instead, focus on the near-criminal effect that Papyrus font
has on our community.
Ray McMillin
Salem
how unattractive Rhododendron Drive
will look. Vowing not to lose a lush Rhody
Drive, they will be saying “give the money
back.” I agree.
Sally Daugherty
Florence
ONE SOLUTION
Cross borders, kids in droves invade/ a
newfangled Children’s crusade?
ISIS cares not one whit who’ll die/
Three planes, one week, fell from the
sky / One, by Ruskies, likely shot down/
Russia, ruled by a quirky clown.
Iraq, Ukraine and Syria/ whose problems
couldn’t be drearier/ Ebola seems loose in
our lands/ Israelis make outrageous demands
/ while Gazans shoot rockets with glee.
All this Obama didn’t foresee/
Prompting the Republicans to sue him.
Of course, what else is new?
Jean Marie Purcell
Eugene
SUFFERING IN THE HEAT
Once again the beautiful Willamette
Valley summertime isn’t so pretty for those
dogs whose owners leave them in cars
parked in the intense heat. Despite warnings
everywhere and widely disseminated
information, this deadly carelessness is still
going on.
Even more disturbing is a recent
incident where Lane County Animal
Services responded to a dog-in-distress
in a hot car call. Albeit following the
officer’s quick arrival to the offending car
at a grocery store parking lot where the
heat was in the 90s, the responding officer
stood around debating with the dog’s
owner for nearly 10 minutes longer —
leaving the suffering animal still not only
inside the car but in a crate inside the car.
The Animal Services officer apparently
was uninterested in trying to provide
immediate relief for this poor dog which
already had endured many long tortuous
minutes in the heat. In 90-plus heat a dog
already in heat distress is at death’s door
(or dead) after yet another 10 minutes.
Common sense, anyone? Anyone?
J.B. Baldwin
& S.K. Moore
Coburg
NO SHAME BEING SICK
So sad, the thought of Robin Williams
being gone. I am asking myself how I can
help. I send my love to his family and
those he so beautifully touched. For self
disclosure, I am manic depressive and have
had two very bad depressions in my life.
If not for friends and loved ones I would
not be alive today. For those similarly
struggling, if possible please ask for help.
Asking for help is not a sign of weakness;
it is actually a sign of strength and wisdom.
Please, if you sense someone is a little
off, down, depressed or is joking about
killing themselves, please reach out. A
few moments can make a huge difference.
This is life and death — a phone call,
email, knocking on someone’s door.
It’s great if the person speaks up and
asks for help, but from my experience,
this is not always possible. We need to
quit hiding in closets things like suicide
and mental illness. There should be no
shame in being sick. Let’s open our hearts
and allow ourselves to be vulnerable. No
family is immune. Try a baby step and you
will quickly see how amazing it can feel.
I will jump down from my soap box. I
love you all, my community, you support
me in so many ways. Know that I welcome
your call if you ever wish to talk. May you
be at peace, Robin.
Tim Boyden
Eugene
UO Ahead of
the Curve
SWAT AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE PREVENTION
M
y “sex education” classes
always failed me.
“Your privates are
gonna get bigger and
you’re gonna start smell-
ing bad,” one of the teachers said during
my fifth-grade sex-ed class. At the end, the
teachers provided us with a stick of deodor-
ant — thanks, Mr. Johnson.
In middle school, health classes were
more of a “you-need-to-exercise-or-you-
will-get-fat-you-pathetic-pear-shape” than
about sex at all.
In high school — I don’t remember.
There were a bunch of worksheets that the
teacher gave the answers to, and then he
would let us out early. Oh, high school.
In sum, I learned next-to-nothing. It wasn’t until college that the issue of
sexual assault was brought to my attention in an educational setting.
I sat through the “It Can’t Be Rape” play as an incoming freshman just
like every other incoming freshman has for years at the UO. I didn’t identify
as a feminist; I thought the play was funny but also preachy. Still, it made me
question societal standards and opened my mind at least a little.
Fast-forward three years and I was auditioning for the same play that I had
seen as an ignorant freshman. What had changed?
Although I have never survived sexual assault, it has hit close to home.
Freshman year my resident assistant was nearly assaulted and a year later a
friend confided in me about experiencing a sexual assault.
It made me furious but also hungry to instill positive change within the
UO community.
So, I auditioned for “It Can’t Be Rape.” The play is put on by the UO
Sexual Wellness Advocacy Team (SWAT), headed by Abigail Leeder, the
director of sexual violence prevention education at the UO. Leeder has
held the same position since 2005 and says that due to recent events, this
is the most attention she has ever received. “It’s wonderful that everyone is
passionate about preventing sexual violence, and we know this is a problem
on this campus and every other campus,” Leeder says. “My hope is that
people continue to care after the spotlight has faded.”
That is my hope as well.
I have been part of this production for two years now. More often than not,
students come up to us after the show and tell us how amazed, thankful, relieved
and comforted they are that we educate people about consent and the beauty of it.
Those moments when students thank us make me think of my elementary
days and wonder what the world would look like if students were taught
consent long before they got to college.
Either way, the UO is doing something right — teaching every incoming
freshman that consent is not the absence of a no, but the presence of a yes.
Kevin Sullivan is a UO graduate in journalism. While interning at EW and attending UO, he participated
in the UO Sexual Wellness Advocacy Team.
eugeneweekly.com • A ugust 14, 2014
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