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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2017)
The Shedd Institute The Jacobs Gallery, the “flying people” at the airport; the abused Sandgren murals by the new glaring airport terminal light- ing; the Hadzi sculpture from the County Public Services building; the destroyed art and murals from the past City Hall; soon, the opera; the reduced Bach Festival; the former national design awarded City Hall; soon, the Lane County Courthouse; the Federal Post Office; the pedestrian bridges abused by signs; and more to come. Doesn’t anyone care? We have become “the just get by city,” not the city of the arts, imagination and culture. We apparently only embrace an “off-the-rack” mentality. Eugene is famous within the valley as the city that destroys its history as docu- mented by its art and architecture. Not surprisingly, we are still one of the largest cities in the U.S. without a public museum. This piece of art, the curtain, represents what is the unique and special nature of this community and needs to be restored, preserved and maintained — not made into pillows or wall hangings. City manager, stop this nonsense. Otto P. Poticha Eugene TOTEM CHAINSAW MASSACRE Jim Linwood calls for “No More False Totems” in EW's letters section (May 25), referring to the Oregon Country Fair con- troversy over a commemorative pole that he claims would be part of having “ac- culturation and genocide constantly in our lives.” I see that now that Amazon Pool has opened for the season, it has what appears to be a totem pole done in the familiar Pa- cific Northwest First Nation/Native Ameri- can style. I don’t know the history of this object. It seems to have been there for the past 30 years when I’ve been at the pool. Does it too represent acculturation and genocide? Or does it have some kind of authenticity and resist genocide? Are there other suspect totems in Lane Coun- ty? Should we get out our chainsaws? And I don’t quite follow Linwood’s assertion that, “Too often we are in a po- sition of naming Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, and then killing him.” Wasn’t the naming done in commemoration of the leader after he was assassinated? In fact, many years later, and after a rather pro- tracted struggle to get the road renamed? Chuck Kleinhans Eugene MAKE AMERICA, AMERICA Because of the “genetic Republicans who could not conceive of not voting for a Republican” [“The Far Side,” EW 5/25] in Greg Walden's congressional district, any Democrat who runs against him will be at a disadvantage. For this reason, it might be time for Bernie Sanders supporters who are disaf- fected with the Democratic Party to show their displeasure by registering as Repub- licans and mounting a primary election challenge to Walden. If they would do this, they could form a substantial voting bloc that could, at least, force Walden to use some of his million dollar campaign chest for the primary election. Also, a progressive populist such as Sanders might be able to win the support of working class Republicans who are angry with the party for policies that are hurtful to them. One of the reasons that the Republican Party has turned so far to the right lately is the fear moderate Republicans have of losing to Tea Party Republicans in the pri- mary elections. This might change if there were substantial numbers of progressive Republican voters. If someone does mount a campaign to attack Walden from the left, I can think of a good campaign slogan: “Make America America again.” This means putting the good of the American people above the good of any political party and going back to a time when the government was of, by, and for all the people, not just the privi- leged few. Steve Hiatt Eugene TRUMP THE JOKER After he (soon?) leaves office, the brand name of Trump will likely be so tarnished that he might need to find a new line of work beyond that of being a famous guy. One possibility: Perhaps Donald Trump could find work as a comedy writer. He certainly seems to have a gift for irony. “I never mentioned the word or the name Israel,” he said, mentioning the word and name Israel, and thereby providing the first official confirmation that the agent whose intelligence he blabbed to the Russians in the oval office was indeed an Israeli asset. Ronald Blanton Eugene www.theshedd.org - 541.434.7000 June 1 Jean-Luc Ponty The Atlantic Years June 2 David Lindley The Magical Moombah! Saturday, June 3 Gloria’s Culinary Calamity! 10 am & 1 pm at The Shedd Your ticket includes a special Music Box playshop at 11:15 am LETTERS POLICY: We welcome letters on all topics and will print as many as space allows, with priority given to timely local issues. Please limit length to 200 words and include your address and phone number for our files. Email to letters@eugeneweekly.com. RED BARN N AT U RA L G R O C E RY & D E L I WHOLE FOODS FOR WHOLE PEOPLE, FRESH FROM THE FARM TO YOU... LOCALLY 4 TH & B LAIR • 541-342-7503 • 8 AM -11 PM D AILY (D ELI 9 PM ) June 5 SYJO The Shedd Youth 6 pm Jazz Orchestra The Shedd Free Jazz Tickets to Students program. eugeneweekly.com • June 1, 2017 5
