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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 2015)
Yard Farmer, Hummingbird Wholesale and the Center for Appropriate Transport, among others. Spencer says that in order for permaculture to succeed, neighborhoods need to build a sense of community. “When people start to know their neighbors, they can increase the scale of their projects,” he says. “Eugene is a better than average place for this. We need to take time to make our ideal lives happen.” The 8th annual Northwest Permaculture Convergence starts 9:30 am Friday, Aug. 28, with a tour starting at the River Road Recreation Center, 1400 Lake Drive. Expo panels start 10 am Saturday, Aug. 29, at Emerald Park, close to the recreation center. Both the expo and site tours are free, but donations are welcome. Additional activities are available with a registration fee. Visit northwestpermaculture.org for more info. — Amy Schneider WOMEN’S SOCCER INSPIRES YOUNGER GENERATION The goalkeeper didn’t even have time to lift her hands in the air. The shot by Oregon’s Marlo Sweatman from outside the 18-yard box was that fast. After the defensive midfielder’s first shot rebounded off a Louisiana State defender, all Sweatman had to do was put her foot through the ball and keep moving forward during the UO women’s soccer match against the LSU Tigers at Papé Field Aug. 21. Unfortunately, LSU responded nearly as quickly, bringing the score up 2-1 in their favor and defeating the Ducks. This kind of a response can be attributed to the “big five” moments of scoring in soccer: After one team scores, it is most likely in next five minutes that either the same team will score again or the other team will counter with a goal of its own. Regardless of whether this statistic is totally correct, the underlying message is to do your damnedest to keep the momentum going, because the other team is channeling their frustration to shift the tide in their favor. After a scoreless draw against the University of Portland, the Ducks had taken to the field for their pre-season home opener looking for a win. The Friday evening loss to LSU wasn’t what the Ducks wanted. But after Sweatman finished talking to reporters, she turned and followed her teammates to several tables set up in front of the stands. On the other side of these tables, dozens of fans, most of them younger girls, were waiting to get autographs from the Ducks. The U.S. is entering a kind of third wave of women’s soccer. Now, finally, America is ready to embrace women’s soccer as a major sport, not one that disappears in between World Cups, as it did after women’s National Team World Cup wins in 1991 and 1999. Yet, little national interest was shown after the ’91 win; BY PAUL NEEVEL HAPPENING PEOPLE CONTINUED ON P. 8 >> ANNE DONAHUE A native of Berkeley, California, Anne Donahue studied sports psychology at the University of Oregon and competed in rowing and ultimate Frisbee. “Our ultimate team, Dark Star, finished third at the national championships,” she says. After graduation, she went into business, printing T-shirts in her garage, until it caught fire. She took care of a woman with multiple sclerosis and did housecleaning and landscaping. “I love working in the dirt,” says Donahue, who started as a volunteer at the city of Eugene’s River House compost education site and then completed master gardener training. In 1999 she became a full-time compost educator. “It was a dream job for me,” she says. “I got paid to shovel manure.” She worked for the city until 2013, specializing in urban agriculture and waste prevention. A decade ago, she and her domestic partner Chris Donahue started a garden on the unused 21st Avenue right-of-way adjacent to their home on Van Buren Street. In 2009, they enlisted neighbors, landed a $5,000 matching grant from the city and established Common Ground Garden to grow free veggies for the neighborhood. “It’s my hobby job,” says Anne Donahue, who manages the garden. “People bring us food scraps to make compost. We had 12 volunteers at last week’s work party.” The Northwest Permaculture Convergence, happening in Eugene this weekend, includes a tour of Common Ground Garden at 21st and Van Buren, free and open to the public at 1 pm Friday, Aug. 28. On Sept. 20, the garden will be a featured venue for the Eugene Sunday Streets event in the Friendly Neighborhood, hosting a raffle, a seed giveaway and a bake sale. • We keep wondering when the major media and leadership of this state are going to call for significantly more money for public education. Just ask a good teacher. It’s all about more teacher time per student and that costs money. The leadership to get us there is more than political. It’s business, arts, sports — every aspect of the state. On the political side, Oregon House Republicans are complaining this week about Oregon schools’ poor performance and the lack of funding, and yet Republicans adamantly resist any efforts to reform our state tax code. How would R’s improve public schools? Weaken the unions and cut teacher salaries and benefits? Cut social services? Privatize schools with a voucher system? Slash PERS? Republicans haven’t come up with any reasonable solutions so far, just complaints. Back in the mid-1970s, corporations in Oregon carried 18.5 percent of the state tax burden. But today Oregon corporations pay only 6.4 percent, thanks to Measure 5 and other property- tax limits, plus an absurd bundle of tax subsidies and loopholes, each backed by a special interest lobby. We individual taxpayers are coughing up the $2.2 billion that corporations would be paying under a more fair tax code. See ocpp.org for shocking numbers that Republicans (and even some Dems) are trying to ignore. • Fires are burning throughout the Northwest, and even if up until now you’ve been able to ignore this fire season on the news, the unhealthy, smoky air last weekend made it hit home. Back in the spring, the National Interagency Fire Center predicted “increasing to above normal” potential for wildfires across the drought-stricken West, including all of Oregon and Washington, which it said could put homes, businesses and ecosystems at risk. That prediction has come to fruition, and it’s put lives as risk too, with three firefighters dead in Washington and at least 39 homes burned in John Day, Oregon. This state is shutting down its climate-change inducing coal- fired power plant, but pondering a Coos Bay liquefied natural gas export facility that would take its place as our largest emitter of greenhouse gases. We need to connect the dots. • Chip Kelly watchers in Oregon should check out a recent Washington Post story on “Football’s most intriguing figure is also its most unknown” by Kent Babb. Chip’s disdain for the press clearly provokes the sports writers to dig for his story. This story weaves in an interview with Jennifer Jenkins, identified as his wife of seven years early in his career. All that really matters is whether his NFL team, the Philadelphia Eagles, win. Know anyone whose good work deserves attention in this space? Email editor@eugeneweekly.com. eugeneweekly.com • A ugust 27, 2015 7
