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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 2017)
LIVING OUT! LET TERS B Y S A L LY S H E K L O W NEITHER GOOD NOR BAD Thanksgiving A FAREWELL FROM A LONGTIME COLUMNIST If you know me you know that each year in November I like to take time to take stock and remember That Thanksgiving means: Giving thanks for it all For the things that are great and the things that are small For a home that is safe and is peaceful inside For the love and the laughs that I share with my bride For my neighbors and friends who are gentle and kind And for comfortable pants that don’t chafe my behind For the cats who live with us and sit on our laps And who join us in taking midafternoon naps I give thanks for my wife and for having fun daily Like singing old songs while she plays ukulele I’m thankful my body is working so well With its strong beating heart and a nose that can smell For my bones and my muscles and all of my guts For miraculous healing of owies and cuts I’m grateful my life’s rich with Jewish traditions Like Shabbes and latkes and klezmer musicians And rabbis who teach us and help guide the way As they wisely remind us to treasure each day I’m thankful for comics on late night TV Who help us endure the buffoon in DC For the writers and activists using their voices Exposing abuses, protecting our choices For all of the women now speaking about The assaults and harassment, men’s power and clout From Cosby to Weinstein, O’Reilly and Ailes And all of those guys who belong in our jails But lest I get angry and waste all my chi I’ll refocus on what’s most important to me My gratitude list helps in keeping my cool So I’ll stop and give thanks for the old Golden Rule Treat others with kindness, as Ellen’s still saying And never stop loving and laughing and playing And that is exactly my plan, when I say My “Living Out” column is going away First written way back in nineteen ninety nine The Weekly’s been great, and it’s taken some spine To run a queer column, so dykey and gay Especially with how things were back in the day I’ve had eighteen years, my dear readers and friends To write about life through a lesbian lens Things really have changed and you know that they will Keep changing and changing and changing more still I’ve changed a lot, too, and I’m glad for the chance To do my small part to help freedom advance I’m glad that at last I’ve achieved some maturity And am thankful as hell for my Social Security While November’s a good month to stop and reflect On things I enjoy and admire and respect I send you my thanks and a wistful goodbye And trust my departure won’t make people cry I hope you’ll be brave and hang in with good cheer There’s lots to be grateful for throughout the year Stay out of the closet, be true to yourself Get out there, have fun, don’t just sit on the shelf Keep thankfulness going and joyfully give it Life is amazing, however you live it And always take time to sit back and remember The things you are thankful for every November Sally Sheklow wrote “Living Out” from 1999 until 2017 and has been a winner and frequent finalist for “best writer” in EW’s Best of Eugene annual readers poll. 4 November 22, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com Sorry, Joe Tyndall (Letters, Nov. 16). Can’t do it. Men are human. Human be- ings, like other animals, are innately nei- ther good nor bad. I have known many “good” men, most of whom have at one time or another done a bad thing. It makes little sense to either blame or aggrandize anyone by category. Neither does it make sense to ignore privilege and harmful behavior. Evelyn Hess Eugene CONTACT PETER DEFAZIO Nice interview with Congressman Peter DeFazio with his selection as “best local pol- itician” (Nov. 2). He truly seems like a per- son who cares and will listen. So give him a call or write a note, asking him to cosponsor House Resolution 466 supporting the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The GPE will help countries provide education for the millions of children and youth out of school. By supporting the GPE’s efforts, America can join other countries and individual donors to create a more peaceful world. In addition to reducing conflict, edu- cated populations have lower birth rates, better health and higher earnings. This is a perfect step for the man selected as a “World-Changer.” Willie Dickerson Snohomish, Wash. PROTECT OWYHEE These are troubled times. Threats abound to our way of life, perhaps to life itself. It all feels overwhelming. What does a poor boy or girl do? Pick a threat, write a letter, then feel better. One threat deserving our attention is to public lands. Near and dear is a spectacu- lar example: Oregon’s Owyhee Canyon- lands. These public lands are an irreplace- able treasure and the largest unprotected area left in the lower 48 states. Carved by rivers winding toward the Pacific, the Owyhee Canyonlands — with their red-rock canyons, blue-ribbon trout streams and gently rolling hills — make up a diverse, wild place nearly the size of Yellowstone, home to a rich array of wild- life. There is no place else like it. Remoteness alone will no longer protect the Owyhee Canyonlands. Development pressure and impacts are coming. Dam- age from irresponsible ATV use is already here. Mining could be next. Permanently protecting the Owyhee Canyonlands would safeguard the nation’s largest herd of big- horn sheep, as well as native trout, raptors and the imperiled greater sage-grouse. Protecting the Owyhee Canyonlands would benefit people, too, by helping the local economy, providing certainty for ranchers, boosting recreation and tourism, and guaranteeing access for those who hike, camp, hunt, fish and explore. Now is the time to take action — be- fore it is too late. Please add your voice by contacting senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, and Congressman Peter De- Fazio. Ask them to push for permanent protection of the Owyhee Canyonlands. Benton Elliott Eugene LOVES TRUMP, HATES FREE PRESS I just read your Nov. 9 front page and article on President Trump and Vice- President Pence. I agree that everyone is entitled to his opinion and I happen to be a very conservative Republican who be- lieves in our president and vice-president! I can’t believe you would publish some- thing like this, calling for impeachment of President Trump … I found all of the cop- ies I could, here at the Eugene Hotel, and threw them in the trash. I will continue to read your publication, because I am interested in what is going on in Eugene, but PLEASE don’t publish “stuff” like that in the future. Thank you for your consideration, Burl V. Stonum Eugene Editor’s Note: EW states in the fine print on our masthead that individuals are limited to five free papers. That in- cludes individuals who want to burn them or throw them out. If you want more copies for less nefarious reasons, please stop by 1251 Lincoln Street and we will provide them. A SHADOW ON THE UO Newspeak for university riverfront de- velopment is “North Campus conditional use permit.” The meeting at EMU on Nov. 8 was sparsely attended because one notice was posted only one week before. That one notice was removed Nov. 16. It turns out this is an application to al- low four-story (45 feet) buildings next to the river: two or three buildings where Or- egon Research Institute would have been, before that was rejected several years ago, and two or three buildings right next to Autzen footbridge, plus three floodlit ath- letic fields. The existing Riverfront field is well drained, attractive and consistent with its location. However, AstroTurf with flood- lighting has no place in the sensitive and beautiful environment near the river. Also, there are plans to build six-story (75 feet) buildings just south of the railroad tracks. All these buildings would cast shadow in the winter on the bike path and block views. A great university needs to preserve this special land, which is needed for rec- reation for all its members and the growing Oregon public. The university planning committee meets Nov. 28. The university should not destroy this unique resource. The riverfront should not be turned into an antiseptic corporate environment. George W. Evans Eugene WHAT UP, SENECA? Since it’s hard to avoid your ads claim- ing Seneca timber practices are sustain- able, do tell us just exactly what was sus- tainable about the logging on your Doane Road tree farm? What were you sustaining other than your company’s profits? I assume you noticed that the Doug- las fir there was stressed and dy- ing, just like it is on our forest next to you and all over the valley. Is that why you harvested such young and small diam- eter trees, or did you need more wood to burn to boil water to run your turbines to produce electricity and air pollution? What do you intend to do now with
