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
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