• 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.