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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2016)
LET TERS IMPROVE RESILIENCE As a permaculture designer, I read the article “Second Source” with interest [“Water for Life,” 11/23]. My work cen- ters around creating resilient food and wa- ter systems by preparing for disasters both acute (like earthquakes) and chronic (like climate change). While it’s important that EWEB improves the resilience of munici- pal water supplies, there are less central- ized methods of obtaining water that we should also prioritize. These include greywater recycling systems — now permitted in Oregon — which allow “waste” water from sinks, bathtubs and washing machines to irrigate home landscaping. Tanks, ponds and other earthworks can store seasonally abundant rainwater for use in the dry season. In- stalling these systems on every house and apartment complex would dramatically re- duce demand on municipal water supplies. Local land managers can also modify their practices to improve water quality and quantity by implementing low and no- till organic farming techniques and manag- ing forests by selectively thinning to main- tain continuous canopy cover. In the words of the late permaculture designer Bill Mollison, “The greatest change we need to make is from consump- tion to production.” We need to see our- selves, our homes and our neighborhoods as the “second source” for water, food and other needs, and decrease our reliance on increasingly strained centralized resource distribution systems. Tao Orion Resilience Permaculture Design, LCC Cottage Grove abuse, such as grabbing a woman’s pussy or raping an ex-wife. Six-inch heels are crip- pling and make women and girls powerless. Feminism has become a dirty word and sexism is hip — something to joke about. Articles like this help make it part of main- stream society — making it “normal” and available for us all to be affected and in- fected by this way of thinking. How about giving words and their true meaning more thought before you put them on public display? It might just make our world a better place. Jean Denis Eugene DEHUMANIZING ARTICLE Opening the “Holiday Happenings” section of the Weekly at random, my eyes lit on the “12 Days of Eug-mas,” Number 6. I could not believe it. Still depressed about the state of our country and the world, here it is, in my hometown newspaper. Women are “titties” and men are men. On stage or off. This is called objectification. It is dehu- manizing, which makes it easier to justify DESIGN MATTERS MESSAGE OF INDIFFERENCE The day before Thanksgiving and a mere week before paychecks would be dis- bursed, the University of Oregon decided to break its promise to its employees that it would cooperate with the Fair Labor and Standards Act regulations. Some employ- ees for months now have been counting on a fair and reasonable increase to their sal- ary to reflect new standards and fair wages. Due to an injunction in Texas, the new regulations are on hold based on the expec- tation that they will disappear once Trump takes office. Some institutions have made the moral decision to follow through with them anyway, or instituted the regulations early and decided not to reneg. However, the UO is among the many that have decided they care more about money than their employees, and sent some workers, including my husband, home to grieve with their families at Thanksgiving over not only the significant impact to their livelihood, but the clear message of indiffer- ence their employer has toward them. Please help us show the UO the mistake they have made by calling the office of Presi- dent Michael Schill directly and asking why they would make such a heartless decision. Sydney Georgieff Eugene NO BAD INTENT I am an alumni of the law school and acquainted with Professor Shurtz. I never took a class from her and was not at the BY JERRY DIETHELM You Have to Serve Somebody RENAME KESEY SQUARE Y ou have to ask yourself: Why such ex- treme prudence by our Eugene City Council when it comes to the official renaming of what everyone now calls Kesey Square? And what was it that occasioned the flurry of let- ters to the City Council from the business community urging delay? Was there something incipiently territorial per- ceived in that renaming, some slippery slope toward the official acceptance of public ownership, a per- ceived barrier to those still hoping to build over the square? Would the mere act of changing the name from Broadway Plaza to Kesey Square actually have such power? Some must have thought so. They say naming is like a handle on a pan. In the old West, the saying went: “What’s your handle, part- ner?” In other words, what grabs that pan full of you and pulls it into mind? Such naming turns out to be a natural part of think- ing and shows up everywhere. I remember my ninth-grade Spanish teacher ask- ing me, “Como se llama usted, Geronimo?” What do you call yourself, Jerry? And I would answer dutifully, “Me llamo Geronimo, señora.” I call myself Jerry. It was the same in French: “Je m’appelle?” And the good student would respond: I call myself, Jerome. And so it became clear that a name was an appella- tion, meaning that something was being “called,” and that the act was a profound process of bringing that thing into presence and into mind. A good test for the authenticity of that calling is when a name sticks, like Pig Pen in Peanuts or Kesey Square. George Bush, with no doubt special insight, called Karl Rove “Turd Blossom.” Let’s just take his word for it. 4 December 1, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com KEN KESEY STATUE IN KESEY SQUARE Bob Dylan won’t be going to Sweden this year, but if he stopped by Kesey Square, this is what he might sing: “You can call me Wheezy, you can call me Deezy and you can call me Freezy, If you want to make it easy, you can call me Kesey. But, o’naza, don’t call me Broadway Plaza, My name is Kesey Square.” And then his chorus [where he takes it from the bridge]: “But no matter what you say, You’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed, You’re gonna have to serve somebody Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” The large roomful of people that attended the city’s public forum on downtown open spaces this past Dec. 2, now almost a year ago, made it very clear that they wanted to keep and improve Kesey. They wanted to see it activated, not sold. They wanted to see invest- ment in our downtown commons, not their closing. They didn’t want to trade off one space for some improvements to another. Obviously, there’s still some foot-dragging going on here. But as Dylan says, “You’re going to have to serve somebody,” City Council: You’re going to have to serve some- body. Jerry Diethelm is a Eugene architect and planning and urban design con- sultant.
