Eugene's Virtues

Good morning, JK!

Back on January 18, one of the 3 beautiful things I wrote about was seeing Jane King on campus and I had the pleasure of seeing her again yesterday at the Dan O'Brien reading in the main theater of the Performing Arts building. She sat next to me and she reminded me that she reads my blog every morning, which thrilled me.

Jane told me that she enjoys reading my posts about Kellogg and the Silver Valley, but wondered why I don't write about Eugene. I told her he truth. I have lived here since 1979 and have never felt at home here.

I thought more about this conversation and decided I would write about what I enjoy here. I mean, I don't have to feel at home in Eugene to enjoy its virtues. So, here I go:

I love working at Lane Community College. When I began teaching at LCC in 1989, I remember that immediately I felt a deep satisfaction that I was exactly where I wanted to be working. The student body at LCC is made up largely of students who are making some kind of comeback. It's not true of every student, but a large proportion of my students have had difficult lives, whether they have lost jobs, suffered abuse at home, abused drugs, been in jail, suffered poverty, been on the outside of the cool kids in high school, been (or are) homeless, are transitioning out of an industry that's depressed or disappeared, or, well, the list would be long.

A majority of these students have intellectual gifts that have been ignored or that they have squandered. Discovering and using their gifts helps them turn their lives around.

Eugene's schools and its social structure has large cracks. Many people fall through these cracks. I teach at a college that catches them. LCC has cracks, too. I see students who go back to falling. My fellow teachers whom I spend the most time with and I do all we can to close the cracks and help our students tap into their intelligence and feelings and find purpose in their lives.

In other words, I am most drawn to places in or around Eugene where things are unpretentious. A large majority of my students are unpretentious; they are grateful; they work hard and try to juggle the demands of school, work, children, probation officers, and a number of other pressures away from LCC.

I appreciate that Eugene is a hospitable city for dogs. Snug and can go to one of three nearby dog parks where Snug runs unleashed and where the city maintains the grounds and where a large majority of the dog owners have control of their animals. Vet care is very good. I deeply appreciate "Suds 'Em Yourself", a clean, well-maintained self-service dog bath business.

I don't get to Mac Court very often, but when I do, it's the best place to watch basketball I've ever been. I love how ancient Mac Court is and even more, I love the big brassy sound of the U of O band and their music selection. They play 25 or 6 to 4, All Right Now, and other tunes perfect for their instrumentation and perfect for getting me excited for basketball.

If, or when, I move back to North Idaho, I'll miss LCC and my superb fellow instructors. I already miss many of my students because they move on and disappear. I'll miss the dog accomodations. I'll miss Mac Court. Even though I don't get there often, it was a romantic place for me before I moved to Eugene and I always think of how I loved Mac Court games on tv when I watched them in North Idaho and eastern Washington--I'm always, even to this day, dumbfounded that I'm actually seeing a game there!