KLCC s Elizabeth Gabriel reports on financial aid in Oregon.
Yoyo is a high school junior in Eugene. We’re not using her last name to protect her privacy. Although Yoyo still has another year of high school, she’s already concerned about how she’s going to afford college. The 17-year-old works at a local Subway shop and her mom has a full-time job. Still, it’s hard to make ends meet and she doesn’t have a college savings.
And Yoyo sometimes has to explain to her friends the challenges her family faces.
“They just think that, ‘Oh, like, my dad is where he is because he worked hard,’ bullcrap. Because my mom works her butt off all the time. So hard work has nothing to do with it,” she said. “And I think that s the biggest misconception that people think, oh, if you just work hard, you ll get there. No, that s not true at all. Because you see people working hard all the time, and still barely being able to provide for their families.”
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Eugene Concert Choir Artistic and Executive Director Diane Retallack says she’s tried to be as informed as possible about safety because singing, particularly in a choir, has proven to be risky in a pandemic. One of the earliest super spreader events in 2020 happened at a choir practice in Washington state.
“Here’s one of the most beautiful artforms in the history of the world, and it’s dangerous, it’s shocking, it’s a terrible thing to experience,” she said.
Most of their performances have been cancelled, but Retallack says they’ve been able utilize technology in new ways. They invested in equipment for singers to perform live without latency issues. And they started producing video content for YouTube, like last year’s Christmas performance.
• May 29, 2020
KLCC won first place in the “Best Coverage of Native America” category for Radio/Podcast for “Borders, Migration, and Belonging: Native Voices”. Supported by the University of Oregon’s Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, this in-depth series explored issues important to Indigenous communities in the state, including tribes’ timber practices, the return of Indian artifacts, cultivating interest in traditional foods, and the evolution of the Native American art scene. Reporters Brian Bull and Karen Richards were reporters for the series; Rachael McDonald was primary editor.
Richards also swept Associate Division III for Radio/Podcast, winning first, second, and third place awards for Best Feature Story. Her submissions were also from the Wayne Morse Series: “Indigenous Artists Work for Recognition and Change”; “Native Oregon History Goes Public”; and “Native Oregon Artifacts Coming Home.”
Alex Bryan aims and readies to cast his magnet into the Amazon Creek. He says he tries to look for shiny objects that might be metal.
Credit Melorie Begay/KLCC News
A local hobbyist is helping clean up rivers, creeks, and other bodies of water in the Eugene and Springfield area, one catch at a time.
On a breezy Sunday afternoon Alex Bryan stumbles up a flood plain next to Fir Butte Road just outside of Eugene. He’s carrying something heavy he fished out of Amazon Creek using a magnet and some rope.
“It is literally a safe, I cannot believe this, Brian said. Normally what we find is like rebar and like bottle caps and things and like tent poles.”
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KLCC s Melorie Begay reports on the growing number of vehicle campers who are considered homeless in Eugene.
Delayne Anson lost her father four years ago. After he died, she spent a year sorting out his belongings. Then she sold his estate and bought an RV, prepared for an adventure.
“Freedom, Ansen said while sitting in her 23 foot long travel trailer. You know I didn’t want to be tied to an apartment, and I knew I couldn’t live with somebody. I didn’t make enough money to get an apartment on my own, you know just disability, so I thought hey this would be perfect.”