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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 2016)
• A gathering in support of Save Kesey Square and Break Climate Silence will begin at 3:30 pm Friday, Jan. 29, at Kesey Square downtown. Sponsored by International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment. The event, dedicated to the late peace activist Peg Morton, will focus on both Kesey Square and the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce’s silence in regard to climate change. Email davidwoaks@gmail.com for more information or to get involved. • The Eugene Springfield NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner will begin with a silent auction at 6 pm Friday, Jan. 29, at Valley River Inn. The theme this year is “Moving Ahead Together” and speakers will include Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson and MRG Foundation Executive Director Sharon Gary-Smith. More information and tickets at naacplanecounty.org or call 484-1119. • Eugene City Council candidate Chris Wig is meeting with Ward 1 constituents for coffee and conversation at 9 am Saturday, Jan. 30, at the The Barn Light, 924 Willamette Street. • A vigil “in solidarity with the people of occupied Burns” will be from noon to 1:30 pm Saturday, Jan. 30, at the old Federal Building, 211 E. 7th Ave. Sponsored by the Rural Organizing Project, Showing Up for Racial Justice and CALC. Email calcpeace@efn.org or call 485- 1755. • The Eugene Peace Choir sings songs of “social justice and environmental sanity” at 2 pm Saturday, Jan. 30, at the Atrium Building lobby, 943 Olive Street. Free. See eugenepeacechoir.org. • A fundraising event for the Winneman Wintu Tribe will be from 4:30 to 6:30 pm Saturday, Jan. 30, at Tsunami Books. A potluck and entertainment are planned. Call 344-0872. • The Springfield-Eugene Chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) will screen Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity, a film by Shakti Butler and presented by World Trust. The event from 4 to 6 pm Sunday, Jan. 31, at Hilyard Community Center, 2580 Hilyard Street, is co-sponsored by the Eugene- Springfield NAACP, Community Alliance for Lane County and the Eugene Human Rights Commission. Discussion to follow. Free, donations welcome. • A “Rally for a Healthy Climate and Clean Energy Jobs” will be at noon Wednesday, Feb. 3, at the Capitol steps in Salem. Sponsored by 350 Eugene. Email oregonpledgeofresistance@ gmail.com. • Looking ahead, author Naomi Klein will be speaking at the UO EMU Ballroom Feb. 16 and tickets are now available through the UO Ticket Office at 346-4363. Klein is author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. 8 January 28, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com Before the Eugene City Council meeting Jan. 25, the chants still enjoy staying up late doing fun things. We need a space like and drums of the Save Kesey Square rally could be heard from that for these things.” the nearby Harris Hall, growing louder as more than 100 pro- She continues: “Selling Kesey Square is just classism. I testers walked from Kesey Square to the Wayne Morse Free don’t want classism — I want dance parties.” Speech Plaza while a council work session was in progress. After the public forum portion ended, several councilors re- Zane Kesey brought out the Fur- sponded. thur Bus, and ralliers discussed the “I want to say this: Council has irony of fighting to keep a public no plans to sell Kesey Square, and square named after a man — Ken Ke- I know many of you won’t believe sey — who was an advocate for com- that and believe that the fix is already munity and openness. in,” Councilor Claire Syrett said, lat- Crystal Webb of Occupy Medical, er adding, “This council has not had who is opposed to putting an apart- any formal conversation about doing ment building on the square, said she anything to the square.” thinks the City Council, city manager Councilor George Brown coun- and Mayor Kitty Piercy underesti- tered with, “Regarding Kesey mated the intelligence of the people Square, you know we have heard — A S H L E Y W R I G H T, E M E R A L D C I T Y and their willingness to fight for the talk on council: It’s a failed space, it PEDICAB commons. doesn’t work, it’s a problem space, The group chanted: “Improve the it’s dangerous — perceived as dan- Square, Don’t Lose the Square.” gerous.” But, Brown said, “It’s not More than 60 citizens signed up to a failed space. The only thing that’s speak in favor of saving the square during the City Council failed is our imagination if we can’t figure out how to make it meeting’s public forum. better.” Ashley Wright, owner of downtown business Emerald City In February, the City Council is expected to review three Pedicab, said, “So I’m a 120 pound woman on a bike working proposals for Kesey Square collected from the RFEI (Requests independently late at night until 3 am. I’ve always felt safe in for Expressions of Interest) process in January, as well as con- Kesey Square.” She said, “My band Samba Ja plays free shows, sidering public improvements to the square or taking no action. and everyone dances together here: people with a lot of mon- The three proposals can be reviewed at bit.ly/1OPQQiI. ey, street people, disabled or unemployed people, people too See extended story with photos as eugeneweekly.com young to get into bars, people who don’t want to go to bars but — Alex V. Cipolle ‘So I’m a 120 pound woman on a bike working independently late at night until 3 am. I’ve always felt safe in Kesey Square.’ SIGVANNA MEGHAN TOPKOK The daughter of an Alaskan Native airline pilot, who flew back and forth to Alaska, and a Norwegian mother from Minnesota, Sigvanna Topkok endured family fights at home and racist comments at school, as she grew up in several towns across Oregon, from Baker City to the coast. She spent childhood summers in her grandparents’ home village of Ambler, Alaska, where tribal traditions were suppressed in previous generations. “My grandmother was adopted out of the tribe,” she notes. “My dad passed away in a car crash when I was 11. Substance abuse was his way of coping.” Her own way of coping was to read a lot and do well in school. As a high school student in Vancouver, Washington, she took community college courses in Native American history, and was invited into the Native American Studies program at Dartmouth. “I had free tuition for low income,” she says, “and the tribe paid for books. Dartmouth is where I started healing.” She returned to Ambler every summer after college and spent a year in Nome with a nonprofit before starting law school at the University of Oregon. “I didn’t expect to go into law,” she says, “but it is the most direct way to create change. I want to promote tribal sovereignty, and especially to incorporate traditional law, how we handle conflict, to overcome problems in our community.” She worked last summer as an intern with the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., and she expects to spend more time in D.C., to gain experience, after graduating in 2017. Eventually, she hopes to work for her tribe. BY PAUL NEEVEL • “Students of Color and Their Experience on the UO Campus” is the topic at City Club of Eugene at noon Friday, Jan. 29, at the Downtown Athletic Club, 999 Willamette Street. Speakers will include UO undergraduates Perla Alverez, Dante Haruna, Shaniece Curry and Gerald Jakabosky. $5 for non-members. SAVE KESEY SQUARE ASKS COUNCIL TO LISTEN HAPPENING PEOPLE • Women’s Action for New Directions meets at 7 pm Thursday, Jan. 28, at the First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive Street, to talk about the Women for Peace: National WAND Biennial Conference Report. The conference was held recently in Washington, D.C. Speakers include Annette Rose. Free.
