Eugene weekly., June 13, 2024, Page 7, Image 7

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• June marks two big months for underrepre-
sented communities. First, as most folks know,
June is Pride month. Here in Eugene, however,
we do our Pride celebration in August (August
10 for Pride in the Park at Alton Baker Park, to
be exact). We’ve been told it’s so folks can go to
other Pride celebrations elsewhere and still be
able to put on our own great party. One party
that’s not happening this year, but we hope will
return, is the Eugene Juneteenth Celebration.
Juneteenth, a federal holiday on June 19 since
2021, commemorates the end of slavery in the
U.S., and the folks of Eugene Juneteenth have
been putting on an event since 2020. Want to
help them bring the Juneteenth party back?
Go to EugeneJuneteenth.com.
• File under the little newspaper that could:
Not only did Eugene Weekly come roaring back
from our embezzlement with our investigation into
now-departed 4J Superintendent Andy Dey, but
we won some awards this past year! In the Soci-
ety of Professional Journalists regional competi-
tion, EW was competing in the medium newsroom
category (we are deeply unclear how our little
embezzled newsroom could be medium-sized,
but OK) against papers like Willamette Week,
The Bulletin, Gazette Times and news sources
across the Northwest. Catalyst Journalism Proj-
ect student writers Anna Kaminski and Winter
Wagner, took fi rst place in Health Reporting
for “Crisis Mode” on Lane County's struggle to
build a mental-health crisis stabilization center.
And winning in Investigative Reporting was
Alexis Weisend’s “Fast and Furious" and “City of
Eugene Ignores State Law on Camping,” on how
the city of Eugene routinely ignores state laws
when it evicts thousands of unhoused people from
camping in public spaces every year.
• But that’s not all! The Portland chapter of
the Asian American Journalists Association
announced its 2024 AAJA Diversity and Inclu-
sion Awards competition winners on June 9, and
EW intern and part-time calendar editor Brianna
Murschel, competing against full time professional
journalists, took fi rst place in politics reporting for
her story, “Fear, Intimidation and Justice,” about
racism and policing in Springfi eld. We are delighted
by the recognition and even more delighted that
because of the support of readers like you, we
have been able to report on stories that matter.
Support Eugene Weekly!
• Oregon asked for nominations last year
for the state’s next poet laureate, to be named
this spring by the governor. The state got 151
nominations for the post, suggesting 71 individ-
ual poetic nominees, says Lucy Solares-Steger,
program coordinator for Oregon Humanities,
which administers the selection process. Out
of those, she says, 40 accepted the nomination
— and one has been chosen for the governor’s
approval. “Look out for that press release in
May-ish for the big announcement,” Solares-
Steger emailed in March.
Well, we did look out, and now it’s June-ish,
and not a peep. What gives? “Unfortunately,
we haven't gotten word either,” she emailed in
late May. “We've reached out to our governor's
office liaison a couple times, but they seem
pretty busy over there.” She’s now awaiting a
decision by mid June. We know Gov. Tina Kotek
has a lot on her plate, but this looks like a clear
case of poetic injustice.
• Last weekend in Eugene kicked off with
a major track meet and ended with a major
concert. Pink Martini, the Portland fusion
orchestra, played to a packed Hult Center on
Sunday night. Pink Martini’s singer-songwriter
China Forbes even sang a number she had writ-
ten to Eugene early in her career. Don’t you just
love living in a town like this?
• On the good news front, our friends at
KLCC recently hosted a benefit with NPR’s
Ailsa Chang from NPR for its Amplifying Oregon
Voices campaign. The event pushed the radio
station fundraising past $3 million, helping them
to stay on the air with excellent news and other
programming.
SLA NT INCLUD ES S HORT OP INIO N PI EC ES, O B S E RVAT I O N S AN D RU M O R- C H AS I N G N OT ES C O M PILE D BY TH E E W STA FF.
HEAR D A NY GOOD RUMOR S L AT E LY? C O N TACT CAM I L L A M O RT E N S E N AT 5 41- 4 8 4- 0519, E DITO R@ EUG E NE WE E K LY.C O M
Presented by
Thursday,
June 13th
at PK Park
Proceeds of ticket sales to benefit
Game starts at 6:35
Vs. Everett
Queer Eugene, Transponder,
HIV Alliance and Soromundi
Soromundi will perform the National Anthem
DJ Fast Layne will play during the game
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M
J U N E
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