6A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL April 22, 2015
Only REAL men iron
clothes at 3,000 feet
Radio CoGro features
local perspective, talent
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
When I heard there would
be a song about yours truly, the
nervousness turned to a twinge
of dread.
Last week, this reporter was
asked to be a guest on a locally
based radio show with a decid-
edly local fl avor, and it was a
bit daunting to show up at Little
Onion Studios in Cottage Grove
and learn that the weekly hap-
penings as relayed by the Cot-
tage Grove Sentinel often fi gure
prominently into the conversa-
tion there.
Still, I needn’t have worried,
as the folks at Radio CoGro are
a welcoming bunch, and the 20
minutes of radio I was fortunate
enough to be a part of were one
of the highlights of my week (in
addition to the fact that the tune,
written by Michael Brennan,
was a spot-on bit of acoustic
blues.)
Last week marked the 35th
production of Radio CoGro,
which airs three times a day lo-
cally on Cottage Grove-based
FM station KSOW 106.7. It’s
a show that features a bluesy,
folky blend of music and spo-
ken word poetry, as envisioned
by Dean Still of Aprovecho Re-
search Center fame, brought to
life by its producer, the Godfa-
ther, and written and performed
by Still and a cast that often
features local musicians Bren-
nan, Bretagne Werner, Samuel
Benston and others.
Still himself bills Radio Co-
Gro as “a 20-minute, home-
grown, twisted version of a
Prairie Home Companion-type
show,” and after experiencing
it myself, it’s diffi cult to come
up with a better descriptor. This
week’s show got started with “A
Light in the Window,” a tune
co-written by Still and Werner,
whose razor-sharp voice pro-
vided extra poignancy to a per-
fectly wistful old-timey number.
Brennan’s blues followed, and a
Werner-penned tune entitled “In
the Tide” painted a haunting
BY NED HICKSON
News Media Corporation
I
photo by Jon Stinnett
Michael Brennan and Bretagne Werner tune up for a tap-
ing of Radio CoGro.
picture of a relationship gone
wrong. There was plenty of
good-natured ribbing from the
group squeezed between four
songs in a packed 20-minute set
just right for radio or a podcast.
Still said the collaboration
that led to the production of his
recent play “Baked Goods,” a
dark comedy detailing the fate of
an Oregon heated to a frenzy by
climate change, led even further
toward a live radio show, which
is fi lmed Thursday evenings
and runs three times each day
throughout the following week.
The show can be heard daily on
KSOW at 7:40 a.m., 11:40 a.m.
and 4:40 p.m. Past shows can
also be experienced via a blog
located at https://bakedgoods-
cogro.bandcamp.com/.
Radio CoGro plans a live ex-
travaganza for its last show of
the season before the summer,
which is set for taping on Fri-
day, May 15 at the Arcade The-
ater on Main Street downtown.
There is a $5 cover charge for
the event.
a recent school board meeting
that struck a chord.
“It felt like, ‘this is where I
want to be,’” he said. “It looks
like a great way to apply myself
and to get involved.”
Beckes expressed a desire
to foster practical education in
schools such as personal fi nance
and auto care.
“A lot of education seems to
be geared toward more educa-
tion,” he said. “But without the
other stuff, students can struggle
later on. We can do a better job
preparing our young people.”
Price, a co-owner of Hard
Knocks Brewing, said that he’s
chosen to become involved in
education locally before his
young son gets to school age.
“If you want to make changes,
you have to start before they get
to school,” he said.
Price said he’ll espouse a gen-
eral focus on educational attain-
ment, including the “stuff that
doesn’t make headlines.”
“Our district is doing well
relative to others, but compared
to other countries, things aren’t
very good,” he said. “Our public
education system has become
so arduous, and it’s become
so common to acknowledge it
that it just kind of gets ignored.
What about bearing down on
getting kids to learn and realize
that their education is not just a
social experience?”
Next week’s forum will in-
clude opportunities for written
questions from the audience, ac-
cording to Leslie Rubinstein of
the Blackberry Pie Society.
F ORUM
Continued from page 1A
with previous experience as
a business owner, preschool
teacher and daycare provider,
while Tony (Lyman) Appellof
described his occupation as an
estimator with Kendall Auto
Group and lists himself as an
Army veteran of operations
Iraqi Freedom and Enduring
Freedom. Mort, meanwhile,
taught chemistry at Lane Com-
munity College for 16 years, ac-
cording to his fi ling.
Martin told the Sentinel last
week that she hopes to help the
District set its priorities for the
next four years.
“We’re in good shape com-
pared with other districts,”
she said. “We just have to take
things as they come, and I’m ex-
cited to be there and be helpful
as part of that process.”
Also entering the fray will be
three candidates who will vie
for the Position 6 seat soon to
be vacated by Joe Raade. Long-
time South Lane educator Jerry
Settelmeyer has fi led for the
seat, along with Nevin Beckes
and Ben Price.
“I still really like to see kids
be successful,” Settelmeyer
said. “I have energy to devote
to kids, and there’s not any ven-
detta or specifi c agenda behind
it, though I’m not sure we focus
enough on resources for our
youngest students.”
Beckes, a co-owner of Jack
Sprats restaurant and Weyer-
haeuser employee, said he’s pas-
sionate about schools and that
his life has depended on public
education. He said he attended
SAGINAW VINEYARD
LIVE MUSIC EVERY FRIDAY
have reached the conclu-
sion that most of the world’s
ironing is now being done by
men. I say this because it’s the
only explanation I have for a
sport called “extreme” ironing,
which is actually being lobbied
as an Olympic event by “iron-
ing enthusiasts” — a phrase re-
ferred to in the Bible as a sign of
the coming apocalypse.
And four horsemen will come
from the sky. And they will lay
waste to the land, but not before
having their robes pressed by
ironing enthusiasts..
It’s easy to understand how
extreme ironing evolved if you
keep in mind this simple truth
about the male species:
Given enough time, any man
performing a mundane task will
fi nd a way to hurt himself.
And if you can hurt yourself
doing it, then it’s practically a
sport already. Sure, bowling and
golf may appear to be excep-
tions to this rule. But ask any-
one who has ever jammed their
fi nger in the ball return, or inad-
vertently left a tee in their back
pocket, and they’ll tell you there
is plenty of danger involved.
As a man who irons, I know,
fi rsthand, the danger that comes
with pressing my daughters’
favorite clothes. Especially if I
use the wrong setting and turn
what was once a fl owery cot-
ton blouse into our newest hand
towel. Until recently, men who
ironed were looked upon as be-
ing wimpy. This was a stigma
left over from an earlier time
when men brought home the
bacon and women cooked it ...
... Then cleaned the kitchen,
vacuumed, washed the dishes,
bathed the kids, and did all the
laundry. Back then, men who
refused to perform domestic
chores were still called mascu-
line things such as “The Bread-
winner,” “King of the Castle,”
and “Man of the House.”
Generally by other men.
Today, men who want to bring
home the bacon — while avoid-
ing any domestic chores — are
called other things, such as
“single” or “recently divorced.”
As a result, we men have
come up with a way to demon-
strate our unquestionable male-
ness by 1) taking a simple task
and 2) making it as diffi cult as
humanly possible. This is the
general idea behind “extreme”
ironing, which, according to its
website (www.extremeironing.
com) “combines the excitement
of an ‘extreme’ sport with the
satisfaction of a well-pressed
shirt.”
Being a man, I can appreciate
that kind of logic.
Anyone woman can iron a
pair of slacks; it takes a MAN
to do it while jumping out of a
plane.
Because of this, I have decid-
ed to train for the 2016 Extreme
Ironing World Championships,
which my daughters have
pledged their support for by pro-
viding me with as much ironing
to do as possible. In fact, as a
demonstration of their unselfi sh
commitment to my goal, they
each recently purchased entire
new wardrobes, none of which
is “wrinkle free.”
My hope is that the experi-
ence will draw us even closer
together as a family.
At least, once I can fi nd them
on the other side of this pile of
ironing.
Ned is a syndicated columnist
with News Media Corporation.
His book, “Humor at the Speed
of Life,” is available online at
Port Hole Publications, Ama-
zon Books and Barnes & Noble.
Write to him at nedhickson@
icloud.com
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Fri, April 24 .............................Hank & Bill Shreve – blues, rock
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Open daily 11 am for
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942-1364 • www.saginawvineyard.com
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Cottage Grove Board of REALTORS®
Joe Ward, Broker
Territorial Land Company, REALTORS
R
%AST -AIN 3TREET #OTTAGE 'ROVE s
75426 WILLIAMS CREEK LOOP, COTTAGE GROVE
Êx{££ÓäÎ{ÊUÊ"
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