2021-01-07 Eugene Weekly

33.2 MB·English

by  Eugene Weekly

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2 JANUARY 7, 2021 EUGENEWEEKLY.COM EUGENEWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 7, 2021 3
letters
Finally, huge thanks to our citizens who
YOU GET WHAT YOU
stayed home, did not travel nor gather for
PAY FOR IN A MAYOR
the holidays. These selfless Oregonians
In a recent letter (EW 12/31), Kate have undoubtedly saved lives.
Goldsworthy claimed that Mayor Lucy As we enter this darkest of winters,
Vinis has had an “unremarkable tenure” may many more of us take additional
and that we deserve a more progressive precautions to save the health and lives
mayor. I agree 100 percent. The question of others as well as our own.
is, how can we draw more highly qualified Susan M. Connolly
progressives to run for mayor and city Eugene
council? One easy answer is better pay.
DEFEND OREGON’S
The mayor and city councilors who
SOUTHERN BORDER
live in the public eye, often under intense
scrutiny, make a measly salary of around Reality can be a hard pill to swallow,
$15,000. This poverty-level salary as is speaking the unspoken truth of
limits the pool of possible candidates, it. If 2020 taught us anything, it is that
oftentimes leaving us with uncontested desperate situations call for desperate
races and poor representation. If measures.
the mayor and councilors were paid Oregonians must recognize that
roughly the same as we pay county a catastrophic threat exists at our
commissioners, around $75,000, southern border and it will for some time.
we would draw significantly more In February, when COVID-19 was
candidates into these races. The pay ravaging Washington, I would commute 40
increase is a drop in the bucket, but has miles on I-5 to work. What struck me was
the potential to help transform our city. how many vehicles brimming with personal
Paying the city’s policy-makers poverty- belongings were driving south. It was
level wages is incredibly stupid. evident there were more Washingtonians
When I spoke with incoming councilor on the freeway than Oregonians. What
Matt Keating, he agreed that the mayor this indicated was the fleeing into Oregon
and councilor positions should be full- Lose a turn." year, correct? Why does the emergency and California of those seeking safety and
time positions and that they deserved Score! My faith in Eugene Weekly is of climate change, deforestation, resources from the virus.
professional compensation. He also restored! extinction of wildlife and poisoning I recently returned from three weeks
pledged that he would work to get that Art Bollmann of our children's watersheds not in California. I tested immediately before
done. I hope Councilor Keating will keep Eugene warrant extraordinary actions from our leaving, with results in six hours. What
his word and that he will get plenty of government? startled me was the widespread lack of
INDIVIDUALS CAN HELP
support for this common-sense reform. Clearcutting of forests should be wearing masks and social distancing.
THE HOMELESS, TOO
Joshua Welch banned. Spraying poisons to help plant There was this dangerous, pervasive,
Eugene I must admit the state of homelessness trees and crops should be banned. devil-may-care attitude. It is axiomatic
in Eugene is indeed very sad. Every time Burning fossil fuels should be banned, why every 10 minutes someone dies of
CAN EUGENE WEEKLY
I see a homeless person walking around and alternate energy sources should COVID there.
GO DAILY?
with all their worldly belongings I feel so be provided. Wild animal life and their We need to protect Oregon by
Perhaps you have also noticed that horrible for them. I’m also so grateful habitats should legally have the same rigorously screening those coming
The Register Guard is no longer a local that it is not me. I truly cannot imagine protection that people do (or will). from the south. Yes, establishing entry
news source. The Gannett people have what life would be like being in that The government has shown that check-points assuring visitors and
no local reporters in Eugene. Maybe you situation. A daily nightmare. they can make tough decisions and take those relocating have proof they are
folks at Eugene Weekly could consider With the recent clear-out under the measures that follow scientific advice COVID free, and such evidence must be
reorganizing to become Eugene Daily so Washington Jefferson bridge, I can’t help even when that causes economic pain within 72 hours (this includes truckers).
the local citizenry could actually have a but wonder how difficult this decision and public unrest. My hope is that the It is ludicrous to believe people will self-
daily newspaper. must have been for our city leaders. I power of the state will be used to heal quarantine for 10 or more days.
Thanks for your consideration. My realize the action seems quite harsh but, our environment and extend rights With the continual mutation of
wife, Carol, and I are planning to cancel sadly, I feel it is necessary. The level of to other than humans, even over the the virus that is increasingly more
our subscription to the RG, anyway. It’s filth that must have been accumulating, objections of corporations, greedheads contagious, this is an absolute
too bad. When the Bakers ran the paper coupled with the proximity of its and the ignorant. unpopular necessity if we are to
it was first class local news. occupants, was ripe for a super spreader Anthony Willey safeguard our state. It won’t fully solve
Larry Post situation in this time of global pandemic. Cottage Grove spreading but will help contain it.
Eugene The level of tolerance and empathy James Houston
Eugene's citizens have is refreshing. Eugene
Editor’s note: In fairness to The Register- GOV. BROWN DESERVES
I say to these people, reach out and
Guard, the paper still has a handful of
OUR GRATITUDE WE NEED CHANGE NOW
invite one of those so many that need
reporters based in Eugene. Our hope is
help to come to your house. Perhaps Oregon's COVID rates of infection Yes, we need change, fast. Yet carbon
that the RG once again becomes a robust
daily news source, so we can continue to they can set up a camp in your backyard. have been comparatively good for some taxing will be too hard to initiate, too
provide an alternative view. You can provide them sanitation time. Today we are 48th in the nation in slow and inadequate to the real rate of
stations and food. I am sure it would be cases per 100,000 population. Hooray! warming and global ice-melt, to prevent
greatly appreciated. So, who is ready for Thanks to Gov. Kate Brown, we are increasingly catastrophic years.
MOVE AHEAD THREE SPACES,
that? Anybody? safer than 47 other states. Brown's Carbon tax will help. Yet almost
MR. BOLLMANN
John Carlson intelligent decisions to follow the everything we generate, produce,
I glanced over the game board for the Eugene science and her courage in the face consume, use, eat and grow now
Eugene Fairyland game board enclosed of angry mobs are commendable and involves about 85 percent waste (energy
CLIMATE CHANGE IS
in EW’s Dec. 31 edition and found most saved us untold misery and death. and/or water, etc.). So accelerating
ALSO AN EMERGENCY
of it moderately amusing until I came Thanks are also due to the majority transition to a waste-free national
to spaces towards the end of the game. With an abundance of caution, the of Oregonians who have followed the culture will be faster. France’s interior
Then this jumped out at me: state has shut down whole industries Centers for Disease Control and state ministry found that increasing cover-
"You attend a City Council meeting and mandated certain public behaviors rules to protect themselves and their crops on bare fields by 0.4 percent per
and get appointed to a subcommittee. in order to save human lives this past neighbors. year will absorb increasing emissions of
2 JANUARY 7, 2021 EUGENEWEEKLY.COM EUGENEWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 7, 2021 3
letters
GOODBYE, LOSER
greenhouse gases. Will that save coastal manuscripts almost certainly had their “environmental” groups, the timber
infrastructure, nuke plants, cities, etc.? origins in climate change. Let's look at King Trump's legacy: the industry has successfully redefined
Annual rates of ice-melt and How ought we to respond? pandemic he walked away from, calling it the word “forest” to mean a sterile
warming now accelerate exponentially. In A Distant Mirror (1978), an account a hoax, massive unemployment, people monoculture plantation managed with
Science shows all the "forcing" factors of the Black Death during the Middle in line for food, businesses closing, dead poisons and synthetic fertilizers instead
increasing, at much greater rates. So Ages, historian Barbara Tuchman people. And that is the way you Make of a vastly complex, self-sustaining
to stop or reverse ice-melt and average insists, with an eye to the Holocaust as America Great Again! He seems to be multi-species community of mosses,
sea-level increase, sane policy would well, “An event of great agony is bearable the only person that had COVID-19 for lichens, fungi, ferns, insects, worms,
increase cover-crops, reforestation, de- only in the belief that it will bring about four days and is healthy again. Really! birds, fish, mammals and, oh, yes, trees
desertification and habitat restoration a better world,” and if “it does not,” she I call it a hoax and his way of diverting in great and glorious variety.
at an accelerating rate. argues, then “disillusion is deep and attention away from the first horrible A sop to enabling legislators, the
Yes, enjoying simplicity is a great moves on to self-doubt and self-disgust.” debate. accord’s much-touted buffer zones are
idea. Yet addictions to energy/water- The great agony of the 2020 fires I'm guessing that the 74 million as unenforceable as the wind that carries
wasting habits, buildings, vehicles, will be bearable only if we Oregonians people voting for him are working aerially sprayed poisons for miles, with
appliances, toys, consumer goods, believe somehow the wildfires will bring and eating and have no one that they no monitoring required. Furthermore,
amusements and, increasingly, crypto- about a better world. know of with the virus and have either the accord’s preposterous “state-of-
currencies are worse than heroin. That means we must change a way of recovered or died. And, of course, the the-art” system to notify victims of
If we want a sustainable civilization, life that produces both global warming, election whereby he became a loser. nearby poison spraying simply gives
we need mass-rehab and a change of according to a strong scientific Instead of showing some class and being industry license to kill and injure people
heart enabling changing minds — about consensus, and the conditions of Floyd’s an upstanding person, he needs to be so long as they notify them first.
reality, real possibilities, the future and death. down and dirty and fight it until the end, This is far more than an
appropriate response. Yale sociologist Jeffrey Alexander and he will still lose. Good riddance! environmental issue: The destruction of
Michael Monterey writes, “It’s what Hegel called ‘the Marlene Pearson real forests is a major driver of ongoing
Eugene cunning of history.’ It’s a tragedy that Eugene climate change, and the poisons used
George Floyd was murdered. But it’s to manage monocultures are known to
LET’S MAKE 2020 AN
almost like the killing of Jesus Christ. weaken our immune systems, making us
INSPIRATION TO LIVE BETTER WE CAN GROW REAL
A death can become an opportunity more vulnerable to COVID-19 and other
FORESTS WITHOUT POISON
2020: a year of pandemic, George for a revelation about inclusion, pandemics that will surely follow. For the
Floyd’s murder followed by sustained, incorporation and transcendence.” Predictably, the timber industry sake of our climate as well as for public
sometimes violent protests in Portland, May the 2020 wildfires sings the praises of the Private health, our governor and legislators
and the worst wildfires in Oregon’s history. inspire environmental legislation Forest Accord (SB 1602), which allows and so-called environmental groups
2020 also includes the death of one corresponding to the sublime if not virtually unchecked the continued vast should be championing real forest
Oregon’s greatest writers, Barry Lopez. divine value of the natural environment clearcutting/strip-mining, aerial poison preservation instead of profiteering
Lopez lived near the McKenzie River, Lopez’s work did so much to articulate. spraying, road-making, erosion and timber management schemes.
an environmental icon. Ironically, the Sam Porter pollution of entire Oregon watersheds. Carol Van Strum
fires that destroyed Lopez’s original Eugene With the blessing of complicit Five Rivers
THE THREAT OF
THE VIRUS
The fight with COVID in prison is not only physical but mental as well
BY WILL
D
ead three times. Blown up. Three plane crashes. Ninety-one firefights. Introduce COVID-19.
Shot, stabbed, run over, 115 para jumps, hundreds of hand-to-hand John believes that he is protected against the virus because of his close
encounters. Drowned. A 7.62 mm attack at 2,500 feet per second, a relationship with President Donald Trump. He believes masks are disloyal.
“tango” 20 feet in three seconds, and a virus at three feet per second. Jamal is a member of the prison population which is rejected. His mental health
Virus? issues are compounded by his past street experiences. I don’t know his life and
You can’t see the damned thing. Direct engagement is impossible. Skill is nullified; never will, but I am interested. He talks; I listen. It helps.
luck amplified. Luck is neither offensive or defensive. It’s frustrating and familiar. Alex is a gang member, macho, arrogant, uneducated and usually unapproachable
The Oregon State Penitentiary hides 2,100 men from the public, men who by an “outsider.” I am an outsider. His buddies cannot know that we talk. One day
cannot hide from the virus. Isolation is not sustainable. The shared breaths of he attacked me. I hugged him until he calmed down. An introduction to empathy.
line standers, shower sharers and mess hall sitters become the unbrushed wind The threat of the virus exacerbates all underlying thought processes and belief
of 2,100 cell-blocked men. systems. It triggers. It inflames. It is not merely about physical health. It is about
I am not accustomed to helplessness. I hide it. Fifteen clients and PTSD survivors mental health. I understand the present. It is the only reality. I don’t understand
depend on me. I am a mental health worker. Minds are my mission. I observe what the present will look like when it becomes the past.
anger, fear, violence, withdrawal and frustration. I listen to the unimaginable and
Will, an 80-year-old Vietnam vet and mental health worker, is serving a life sentence at Oregon State
ask (quietly), why? I offer calm, stability and presence. Interesting work, suffering Penitentiary. He is a member of Lauren Kessler’s writing group.
clients, challenging environment.
4 JANUARY 7, 2021 EUGENEWEEKLY.COM EUGENEWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 7, 2021 5
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Riding Into the Sunset
He ran against Congressman Peter DeFazio when the
longtime representative considered running for Senate.
In 2006, Sorenson ran against Gov. Ted Kuolongski in the
May primary but lost.
PETE SORENSON RETIRES FROM THE LANE COUNTY BOARD The only time Sorenson faced a tight race for re-election
for his seat was in 2012 when Andy Stahl ran against him.
OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AFTER REPRESENTING
“I was outspent two-to-one,” he says. Sorenson still won.
SOUTH EUGENE FOR 24 YEARS
Although Stahl is a progressive, that race does show how
south Eugene voters weren’t swayed by conservative
By Henry Houston political shifts of the past decades that influenced other
seats on the board, such as the Tea Party and Trumpism.
Before Sorenson was a commissioner,
A
grainy photo shows now retired Lane (now Davis). “Again, I was on he served two terms as a state senator but
County Commissioner Pete Soren- the losing side of that vote,” he couldn’t run for a third term because of
son riding on a horse, dressed as the says. “I pointed out that hiring voter-imposed term limits. The politics
“Lone Liberal” in the Eugene Celebra- someone without doing a back- of campaigning killed his law business, he
tion parade in the early 2000s. Just ground check or hiring someone says, and he was working full time in Salem
as the Lone Ranger traveled through without having a resume or hav- but only getting a part-time salary. Elected
the American West fighting bad guys, ing a competitive process could offices need to provide a reasonable wage
Sorenson spent much of his time on the board of county lead to mistakes.” to attract working people, he adds, “We
government debating conservatives. From 2011 to 2013, Sorenson cannot run them on an agrarian model
He decided not to seek re-election in 2020, and on Jan. says the hire resulted in a lot of of volunteerism that we might have been
4, Sorenson’s 24 years as a county commissioner came executive fighting and lawsuits, able to do in the 1800s.”
to an end when Laurie Trieger was sworn in to succeed all of which could have been Whether serving on a board of educa-
him. He endorsed Trieger, a fellow progressive who he avoided with better leadership tion or in the Legislature, it takes time,
says was one of the most prepared candidates for the from the county administrator. money and work to be elected and then
elected office. But if politics are to attract other qualified And some lawsuits are still be- serve, he says. For everyone to have a shot
candidates, it needs to offer a reasonable wage, he says. ing paid out by the county. In 2019, former county attorney at serving in politics, he says money needs to get out of
For nearly a quarter of a century, Sorenson sat on the Marc Kardell was awarded $228,000 after a federal jury the system. The Lane County Board of County Commis-
board as it flipped back and forth between conservative decided his free speech was violated by Richardson. sioners does at least offer a living wage, he adds.
and liberal majorities. He’d taken a stab at higher offices Richardson was fired in 2013, and Sorenson says the Sorenson announced he would not run again during
but in the end remained on the commission representing conservative commissioners listened to him when hiring his swearing-in ceremony in 2017 to give candidates a
south Eugene. There he says he governed well, provided her successor, Steve Mokrohisky, by having a competitive chance to prepare for the 2020 election, which Trieger
outreach to constituents no matter where they were hiring process. “I think the conservative commissioners won, beating Joel Iboa, in a November runoff. Sorenson
located and provided leadership during elections. listened to me because I was right about the unfortunate says his old seat is in good hands. “You judge leaders by
Before Sorenson was the Lone Liberal, he was one of a mistake of hiring Ms. Richardson,” Sorenson says. the kind of successors they leave, and I think it’s really
crowd of candidates hoping to succeed Jerry Rust, who Sorenson says he holds two records: He’s attended good that she’s going to be our commissioner for south
was on the board for 18 years. “That election was tough more than 10,000 hours of Lane County Board of County Eugene,” he says.
because there were nine candidates,” Sorenson says. “I Commissioner meetings and has been elected to the board During Sorenon’s final board meeting, Commissioner
finished first but not enough to avoid a runoff.” more times than anyone else. Jay Bozievich, who’s now basically the lone conservative,
During Sorenson’s first term on the board, he says But showing up is one-third of the job, he says. Another said he and Sorenson have been on the same side of issues
he was the lone dissenter in a lot of 4-1 votes where, important part of the job, he says, is to provide assistance at times because they look with a legal lens. “That’s the
which led to his Lone Liberal nickname. “A lot of people to constituents, and he’s proud to point out that he’s integrity we have,” Bozievich said.
who follow politics would say that was the high point of written more than 300,000 emails to them. “I’ve helped Sorenson says making himself a lameduck commis-
conservative control of the Board of Commissioners in constituents adopt a baby from India or I’ve helped con- sioner gave him time to ponder an exit strategy. So after
the late ’90s,” he says. stituents answer who’s going to pick up garbage on a road. nearly 50 years of work in the public policy world that
Being in the losing minority doesn’t mean Sorenson They don’t know which government it is. They just know began with a job in former Congressman Jim Weaver’s
has been on the wrong side of votes, though, and he says they’re reaching out to someone to try to help them, and office, the Lone Liberal will ride off into the sunset and
he made a lot of contributions when he wasn’t on the if they’re in my district I try to help,” he says. use his law degree to help Americans file federal public
winning side. As an elected official, he says he sees a need to provide records requests, as well as spend time with his family.
In 2011, the commissioners needed to hire a new county leadership on issues like promoting ballot measures or “I intend on doing Freedom of Information Act work
administrator. The board chose to not have any interviews supporting candidates. “I’ll write op-eds. I’ll speak out,” to help journalists, authors and nonprofits get records
to replace the administrator, Sorenson says, and the he says. important to them,” Sorenson says. “That work is
conservative majority decided to hire Liane Richardson While on the board, Sorenson did run for higher office. meaningful to me and needs to be done.” ■
slant • What the hell? Cristobal really deserves that $300,000 bonus at Washington/Jefferson Park on W. 1st Avenue.
As Eugene Weekly for attending the Fiesta Bowl at a time when the Because we can and need to do better.
went to press at University of Oregon will likely face another budget
noon Jan. 6, right- crunch (he’d also raked in $250,000 for collectively • When our aspiring president-for-life phoned
wing protesters winning by default the Pac-12 North Division and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and
were overrunning the U.S. Capitol, with reports beating USC for the conference championship). threatened criminal sanctions if he didn’t overturn
of clouds of gas and even guns drawn inside the But in good local football news, Kidsports and Duck the results of the presidential election in Georgia,
building. These are the seeds of fascism Donald alum Justin Herbert, who’s the quarterback for Raffensperger had the foresight to record their
Trump has sown. the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers, shattered multiple conversation. Then, when Donald Trump lied about
rookie records including most passing touchdowns, what he had said in the hour-long call, Raffensperger
• Count the days until January 20! And, as we made the NFL All-Rookie team and is a favorite for released the tape. Trump’s squalid behavior comes
go to press, the Democrats are closing the gap on the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year. as no surprise. The deeply shocking thing is that
taking control of the Senate with the election in well more than 100 Republican congressional reps
Georgia, meaning our new president might actually • Social service providers estimate that 35 and a dozen senators have publicly supported his
be allowed to govern the country. Let’s all practice homeless people died on the streets of Lane County attempts to end democracy in America. It’s time
using Mitch McConnell’s new title, “Senate minority in 2020. There is no mechanism in place to accurately for a new conservative party in the U.S., one that
leader.” reflect the count, but any number is a stain on actually embraces deep American values such as
the community. The Candlelight Vigil to Mourn integrity and the rule of law, that doesn’t tolerate
• Duck Football had an embarrassing loss to Death on the Streets in 2020, an opportunity radical extremists, and that isn’t afraid of free
Iowa State that makes us wonder whether Mario to reflect and honor these people, is 6 pm Jan. 8 elections.
6 JANUARY 7, 2021 EUGENEWEEKLY.COM EUGENEWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 7, 2021 7
news
Coffee Fervor
AT ONLY 25, SIERRA THOMAS TAKES THE REINS OF A LOCAL COFFEE
SHOP DURING A PANDEMIC
By Malachi Murphy
T
he past year was gracious and giving shop. At 23, she was already a young manager, but she
for very few. From the “show-stopping” wanted more. Sierra and Luke had worked out a plan with
pandemic to other various fits of mis- owners Melissa Clark and Seth Clark of Blue Valley Bistro
fortune, most people recognize 2020 (formerly Creswell Coffee). After five years, they would
as one to forget. This is not the case sell her the kiosk, Then COVID-19 changed some things.
for Sierra Thomas and her husband, After the virus that upended restaurants and local
Luke Thomas, the new owners of local businesses countrywide sank its teeth into the Lane
coffee kiosk Espresso 58. County area, Sierra knew she had an opportunity. This
Sierra Thomas was attending Lane Community College, new addition to the Clarks’ business was now a liability
working towards becoming a nurse, and found herself rather than an asset, and Sierra was willing to take it off
working at the Bean Hopper in Creswell to pay for it. She their hands. By July 16, Sierra and Luke Thomas were the
Photo courtesy instagram.com/espresso_58
reveled in coffee stand experience and left wanting more. new owners of a coffee kiosk right along Highway 58, in
“I was meeting new people, creating relationships the Pisgah Public Market. Espresso 58 was theirs, and to her pregnancy.
with customers, and I developed a real knack for talking they jumped straight in. Even though Sierra and Luke have a lot on their plate,
with people.” “Everyone was just really excited, we seemed busier, they say the community has been supportive.
During this time, she says her schooling and personal and I can’t even explain how it felt. At the end of the day I “It kinda feels surreal, the support we have had alone,
life left her feeling frustrated and unsure. But throughout would never take back what we did,” Sierra Thomas says. from customers or employees,” Sierra Thomas says.
everything she still had Luke. As high school sweethearts, Finally, one more curveball got thrown at the couple. Sierra and Luke Thomas’ daughter, Adair, was born
they’ve kept each other stable. After finalizing the purchase, they found out an addition Dec. 21, 2020. ■
After becoming manager of Blue Valley Bistro’s newest was on the way: Sierra Thomas was pregnant.
Espresso 58 is located at 35855 OR-58 in Pleasant Hill and is open from
coffee stand in Pleasant Hill, Sierra Thomas went all in. “This is totally our life. When things happen, they Monday to Friday 6 am to 6 pm; And 7 am to 5 pm on Saturday and
She had set her eyes on a new goal: owning her own coffee happen all at once,” Sierra Thomas says of Luke’s reaction Sunday.
HAPPENING
PEOPLE
by Paul Neevel
Jack McGaughey
“I was a few weeks short of being old enough to vote in 2016,” says Jack McGaughey,
who was then a senior at Marist High School. “I followed the election, but didn't feel
closely connected. Growing into adulthood during the Trump presidency showed me how
important good leadership is.” Born and raised in Eugene, McGaughey attended O'Hara
Catholic School for grades 1-8 and also studied theater and music with Rose Children's
Theatre, Oregon Children's Choir and Imagine That! summer camps, where he met his
musical mentor Scotty Perey. After high school, he moved to England for a three-year
course of study at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. In February of this year,
he joined The Bluejays, the UK's top 1950s vintage rock ‘n’ roll band, on keyboards. “I was
bummed out,” he says, after returning to Eugene in March because of COVID. “The band
was booked for upwards of 15 cruise ship gigs.” But soon he began to take an interest in
the 2020 election, in particular, a friend's Instagram post about Vote Forward, a nonprofit
that enables volunteers to write letters to Democratic voters who are unlikely to vote.
“I feel passionately about underrepresentation of young people,” he says. “I ended up
writing 220 letters ahead of the election.” Volunteers who sign up on the Vote Forward
website receive a template file to be printed for each recipient, with space for the sender's
handwritten message. “When they announced a campaign for the Georgia Senate runoff
election, I enlisted my girlfriend Madeleine Rowell and our roommate Hannah Davis,” he
notes. "We decided that we would write 3,000 letters. The letters ask Georgians to vote
without telling them how to vote.” The trio held a Facebook fundraiser to pay off the $1,650
that they have spent on stamps. Learn how more on the Jack McGaughey Facebook page,
where you can also find an Isolation Recording video of Jack on piano with the Bluejays Big
Band, performing Jackie Wilson's “Reet Petite.”
ssuuppppoorrtt..eeuuggeenneewweeeekkllyy..ccoomm
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SCENES FROM VICTOR FILIPE’S
FIRST 100 DAY CHALLENGE
the
challenger
Photos courtesy Victor Filipe
How 100 day challenges have changed the perspective of a Springfield gym owner, coach
BY HENRY HOUSTON
The first 100 days is the measuring stick for any to 2006 and transferred to Western Oregon University
recently inaugurated president. As people as a senior. In college he stood at six-foot four-inches and
look to New Year’s resolutions as a catalyst weighed 290 pounds — quite the presence on the football
for change, why not try 100 days before diving into the field, and a threat to quarterbacks. In 2008 he signed with
whole year? the Cincinnati Bengals NFL team, but was cut.
Victor Filipe is the owner of the Forever Strong Gym, So Filipe’s first 100-day challenge was to incorporate
where he trains the Thurston football team, college more endurance training into his routine. He capped the
athletes and everyday gym-goers. Filipe decided to un- first challenge with a 100-mile walk wearing a 47-pound
dergo a 100-day challenge to push his workouts. When he pack. His second challenge has incorporated more run-
noticed how the challenge was changing him, he started ning, walking and cycling. And with endurance activity,
encouraging others to make their own challenges. it allows the mind to reflect. Filipe says during his long
In late 2020, while in his second 100-day challenge, walks and runs, he’s tapped into emotions and thoughts
Filipe kept a journal of his thoughts from every day of his that have been dormant for a while.
challenge; the journal later became a book. “I just wanted He says he’s always been a person with a chip on his
to share what I was doing, but it wasn’t to create a new shoulder, angry in some way because of the obstacles he’s
thing,” he says. “But it ended up being like that and I was had to overcome. Life events such as getting cut from
happy about it, and I started encouraging others to try the NFL or when his gym had to adjust to the pandemic
their own version of it.” have led him to dark places, he says. But he’s found more
But the challenge isn’t just for athletes, as he says positivity after running and hiking.
in his book. It can be a way to build new habits to make “When I go on these runs, I don’t feel that anymore.
yourself a better person. When I go on these hikes, it’s just me and the mountain,”
Community interest in his 100-day challenge started he says. “I can just zone in the positives. I don’t think
when he announced it on Instagram. Filipe says some of I’ve had one negative thought.” Halfway through his
his followers messaged him about it right away. About a second 100-day challenge, he sums it up by saying he feels
month later, he recalls telling his social media followers: “unfuckwithable.” Things that would have upset him in
“I encourage you to try your own 100 days, create your the past don’t anymore, he adds.
own challenge,” whether small, like cutting out soda or But he says challenging yourself for 100 days doesn’t
reading to your child or doing workouts at home. have to be limited to physical fitness. It can be used for
As Filipe journalled his journey during the 100-day anything in your life. And changing how you see yourself
challenge, he says he saw his perspective change. “Every book was the raw energy from his personal vulnerability is a big piece of the puzzle.
day my thoughts got deeper and deeper because I was that the challenge brought out, he says. “Everyone thinks of a workout as a workout or how they
vulnerable and broken down from the challenge and Filipe says endurance activities like walks, runs and look in the mirror — which is all very important,” Filipe
everything going on around the world,” he says. “At day bike rides is what led him to the vulnerability needed to says. “But I hope people understand that if you take care
50, I said, ‘This is going to be my book.’” write the book. He says those are routine changes for of those things in the inside and do it for those reasons,
By the time his first 100-day challenge was completed, someone like himself who’s a regular with weight training the aesthetics will come and it won’t feel like a chore.” ■
he had written and self-published 100 Strong: Face Your and for someone of his size. Filipe played defensive tackle
100 Strong is available through Amazon or can be purchased at
Demons Head on Starting with Day 1. What fueled the for the University of Oregon’s football team from 2003 Forever Strong, located at 5250 Highbanks Road in Springfield.
8 JANUARY 7, 2021 EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
Health2021
New Year,
Same Yoga
Some used yoga in 2020 to maintain mind and body in a stressful year.
It’s not too late to hop on board for 2021.
BY JACK FORREST
Chelsea Duke and her husband, hasn’t been able to remain as faithful to her
Jon, have five kids. Duke is also practice of yoga since the studio shut down
remodeling her home — painting in-person classes, she has been able to create
her walls as she talks on her AirPods about a space in her home where she can be mindful
her passion for yoga. Like most parents these and connect virtually with her instructor and
days, she is also a part-time teacher. She also fellow students.
still teaches six days a week at the yoga studio She adds that as a gynecologist she is
Hard Core Yoga, which she opened in Eugene “acutely aware of the connection between
nine and a half years ago. mind and body,” and that in her specific studies
But Duke says yoga is the perfect escape of trauma in the hips and pelvis, yoga can be
from this stressful and busy life many have incredibly helpful in relieving the stored ten-
come to know. sion that gatheras there. Edwards says, “there
“All of the stress of the world melts away are few physical or mental health conditions
naturally when you set those things down and that can't benefit from practicing yoga on a
when you give your brain something to focus regular basis.”
on,” Duke says. “And in this case it's the physi- For those scared off by the Hard Core por-
cal movement of the practice, or steadiness tion of the studio’s name, Duke says that when
of your breath, or the way that your hips feel, she opened the location, it was intended to
or the way you ground your feet into the mat, dispel the myth that yoga was all “hippie dip-
like all of these little things that are simple pie and incense burning” but could actually
and pure.” be a great workout.
Hard Core Yoga on Willakenzie Road has Since opening the studio, she says she has
gone remote due to COVID-19 restrictions, since realized it has outgrown its name as it
but its owner and students say yoga is the pushes even those weary of mindfulness and
remedy to a chaotic existence that undoubt- meditation techniques into developing regular
edly remains in 2021. meditation practices. Those people are now
CHELSEA DUKE
When the first set of COVID lockdowns looking to dive even deeper into what yoga
came down on Oregon in March, Duke admits Photo courtesy Hard Core Yoga has to offer outside of just its physical merits.
closing down her studio of nine instructors was She adds that they received many new students because In 2021, Hard Core Yoga will probably see
a “dark time.” But within two days, she pivoted classes to “yoga is something that you can do anywhere without a name change, Duke said. That’s one of her New Year’s
a virtual format. Hard Core Yoga now offers 16 classes a equipment, and there's such beauty in that you don’t resolutions. Now Duke and Edwards hope you will make
week available live or to play back any time within 24 hours. have to wait for a spin bike. I mean, you just need a mat.” yoga one of yours. ■
Duke says this format allows people with busy sched- Melissa Edwards, a student at Hard Core Yoga and
Hard Core Yoga is located at 2508 Willakenzie Road. For more infor-
ules to tune in any time they need to workout or unwind. OB/GYN at Women’s Care in Eugene, says that while she mation visit YogaEugene.com.
EUGENE FAMILIES: See what our schools offer. FOLLOW THE FOUR
School Choice DON’T
INVITE
COVID.
January is school choice Virtual School Visits
season in Eugene School
Each school offers live virtual visits or
District 4J. Every school
info sessions with an opportunity to
offers an excellent education.
ask questions.
You can enroll in your
APPLY BY
neighborhood school at any
School Choice Jan.
time. To request enrollment
in a different school for Information
31
2021–22, apply online at Sessions
4j.lane.edu/choice between
Thursday, Jan. 7
Jan. 1–31. Requests will
12 p.m.
be accepted in an order
Tuesday, Jan. 12
determined by lottery.
5:30 p.m.
Eugene School
District 4J
4j.lane.edu/choice
541-790-7553
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EUGENEWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 7, 2021 9
Health2021
also key, Mayr says, because it helps to think why you
feel a certain way.
Many of these activities are also proven to benefit
those battling dementia or other cognitive decline. Heidi
Rowell is a program director with the Oregon and South-
west Washington chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
She says that brain health is an important piece of their
mission in providing resources to those with Alzheimer’s.
Though brain games aren’t proven to help brain health,
Rowell says that learning something new stimulates the
brain. Many people have taken free time during the pan-
demic to learn a new skill or to take a free online class.
Remember when everyone learned to make sourdough
bread?
“People who are living with dementia and their caregiv-
ers tend to be isolated anyway. And it’s been exacerbated
by the pandemic,” she explains.
She says the Alzheimer’s Association has resources and
support groups for families and caregivers of individuals
with dementia. Its website also has various blogs and
articles about the disease. Getting a diagnosis can be
pretty devastating, she says, and it’s tempting to say that
there is nothing that can be done.
“If people are staying active and getting regular exercise,
Photo courtesy Alzheimer’s Association it can help people with dementia. Also, finding challenging
activities for people to engage in.” Rowell says that even
Keeping
during the pandemic, there are fitness videos on YouTube
that people can stream from inside their home.
And sometimes cognitive stimulation can be as simple
Your Brain
as having a conversation with someone. Many caregivers,
she adds, are facilitating contact with the outside world in
activities like letter writing and virtual visits. Even smaller
In Shape
actions like eating healthy and getting enough sleep can
improve overall brain health.
Tips from experts on how to exercise your brain,
even during a pandemic

BY TAYLOR PERSE
2020 was a trainwreck: a global pandemic, “I think the perception of being connected is just as
wildfires, social isolation, political unrest. helpful as actual interactions,” he says.
During this time of exhaustion and loneli- An additional layer is to be prosocial, which is doing
ness, everyone has struggled to find ways to stay healthy good for others and knowing you are making a difference
physically and mentally. in someone’s life, Mayr says. These days, a little kindness
But as 2021 kicks off, experts say it’s important to ad- goes a long way.
dress brain health. Exercising the brain keeps memory He addresses misconception that brain games — such
sharp and improves thinking skills, which can increase as sudoku and crossword puzzles — are enough to train
long-term cognitive abilities, especially for people in an your brain. Mayr explains that through research he’s
older demographic or those who were diagnosed with learned it’s more hype than anything.
dementia. And unlike other muscles, a gym is not neces- Mayr also acknowledges the role mental health plays
sarily required to keep the brain fit. in overall brain function. Chronic stress, something
In a way, many activities that are good for your brain many people experienced over the past year, is bad for
are pretty obvious, says Ulrich Mayr, a professor of neu- the brain, he says. Photo courtesy Alzheimer’s Association
roscience at the University of Oregon who specializes “We do know that a lot of people are more lonely, and But some of these actions are still difficult for individuals
in researching lifespan changes in psychological and being lonely is not good for your brain,” he says, adding who are in the late stages of dementia.
cognitive functioning. Mayr says that with brain health, that loneliness needs to be combated actively. “To the “As someone progresses in their dementia, that may
there aren’t necessarily many “silver bullets” that can be degree that people face extreme chronic stress, there be more difficult to do.”
pointed to, but some activities can help. is no question that this will have an effect on people’s Though it can be tempting to create ambitious goals
Physical exercise is at the top of the list, he says. And it’s lives overall.” coming out of 2020, Rowell advises not to go crazy with
something you can do regardless of a global pandemic. The Essentially, mental health and cognition can go hand- healthy resolutions — people can’t go from never exercising
other aspect, Mayr says, is being in social and developing in-hand. Mayr says that keeping the mind active and to running marathons, she says. Instead, Rowell explains,
relationships. Though most hangouts take place virtually, busy engages it, which is a healthy alternative to sitting it's about taking a few small steps at a time.
they are still beneficial, Mayr says. around and letting bad thoughts stew. Being mindful is “Find some challenging activities and keep building.” ■
Eugene History Pub presents
JEWISH WOMEN, A CHINESE GAME, AND THE
PARADOXES OF POSTWAR DOMESTICITY
with ANNELISE HEINZ
January 11, 7–9 PM 541-868-2008
Live on Zoom (RSVP required)
HISTORY.UOREGON.EDU 4725 Village Plaza Loop
Ste 101
Eugene OR
COSPONSORED BY THE UO HISTORY DEPARTMENT, LANE COUNTY HISTORY MUSEUM, AND VIKING BRAGGOT CO
10 JANUARY 7, 2021 EUGENEWEEKLY.COM