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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 2018)
SLANT • Typos matter. Last week The Register-Guard ran an announcement that included such variant spellings as “con- trubutors,” “communicty” and “colunmists.” Hey, we get it: No one is immune to error. Last week EW printed our own ad- dress as “1251 Licoln Street.” But sloppiness has conquered the RG since GateHouse took over last spring. And it's not the only big-ticket institution in town to have slid. For a couple days last week the Oregon Bach Festival listed events on its home page at oregonbachfestival.org with text that read “blah blah blah blah blah…” On reflection, we blame Trump for the winter blahs. IT’S ABOUT TIME B Y D AV I D WA G N E R • The death last week of former President George H.W. Bush has a surprising resonance in our deeply discouraged nation. Apparently if a politician wants to look good in death, the time to go is while Trump is in office. We didn’t like Bush when he was in the White House. His policies favored the rich. He ignored AIDS/HIV. He invaded Panama and Somalia. He used the racist Willie Horton ad to get elected. At the same time, his passing reminds us what our nation has lost since 2016: at least the pretense of civility and mutual respect in politics. • UO Political Science Professor Priscilla Southwell talked to the City Club of Eugene on Nov. 30 about what the midterm elections tell us: First, 2018 was the year of the woman, with 100 plus women elected to the House. Also, if Democrats want to take the Senate, they must reach rural voters. In Oregon, our vote by mail should have prepaid postage. Oregon turnout was down slightly. Finally, a question: When Oregon gets its sixth congressional district, where will it be? Southwell looked ahead to the 2020 elections and picked Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota as an interesting Democratic candidate for president. Tell us who you want to run — presumably against Donald Trump. • We got a message the other day telling us about how Gervais Salon and Day Spa is putting together 150 packages of toiletry items to donate to Womenspace. At EW’s offices we collect warm clothes for the unhoused via White Bird Clinic. We are reminded there are so many things, little and big, individu- als and businesses do to help others in the community. What are you doing? What nonprofit groups do you support? Let us know who you think people should donate to in our upcoming Give Guide issue at editor@eugeneweekly. com. LEFT: KELLOGG OAK; RIGHT: OREGON WHITE OAK The rainy season has swept in at last, bringing happiness to the mosses and ferns that grow on the branches of the deciduous trees. It has been so warm, how- ever, with only a few frosts and a single freezing night, that leaf drop has been sig- nificantly delayed. It also made for some deep color in their leaves with gold and golden-browns that have been both unusual and quite spectacular. Last month’s observation that leaf color wouldn’t be a rich golden-yellow turned out to be off base. There was a two-stage development of the licorice ferns that I have never no- ticed before. A brief rainstorm early in October was followed by a continuation of the drought. That rain triggered the licorice ferns to start uncurling their fronds as usual. Then, the extended dry period caused them to fail to thrive and shrivel up instead. Only with the rains that came in November did the licorice fern flush start over and establish the fronds that will produce spores in late winter. Last month’s column completed 10 full years of writing EW columns. I hope it will keep bringing folks closer to nature and fighting for broader engagement in the struggle for environmental protection. We need to work harder on getting leaders to accept the reality of climate change and act on it. The nature calendar that spawned the column is ready. Get the 2019 Oregon Na- ture Calendar (in its 39th year!) at Down to Earth in Eugene or contact me through my web site. David Wagner is a botanist who works in Eugene. He teaches moss classes, leads nature walks and makes nature calendars. He can be contacted through his web site, fernzenmosses.com. • What we’re reading: Josh Reckord, one of the most voracious readers we know, recommends These Truths by Jill Lepore, a big history of pre-colonial U. S. up to the 2016 election and beyond. He also recommends her The Secret History of Wonder Women. SLANT INCLUDES SHORT OPINION PIECES, OBSERVATIONS AND RUMOR-CHA SING NOTES COMPILED BY THE E W EDITORIAL BOARD. HEARD ANY GOOD RUMORS LATELY? CONTAC T EDITOR@EUGENE WEEKLY.COM CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION In our 11/21 story on enterprise zones, we thought we had reached out to the entire City Council. We mistakenly left Councilor Betty Taylor off the list, though, and she in fact has a lot to say about those tax breaks. See our online update to the story at eugeneweekly.com. eugeneweekly.com • December 6, 2018 7
