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