Month: May 2021

By Benjamin Smith

May 25, 2021

EUGENE, Ore. — At 2:00 p.m. on May 10, 2021, the University of Oregon was one of the final dominos in a line of universities to tumble in requiring its students and staff to be vaccinated before returning to in-person instruction this fall. “We have concluded that to protect the health and safety of our university community and the communities we serve,” said UO President, Michael Schill, in the announcement, “[we] will require students, faculty, and staff who will be on campus to be vaccinated prior to the start of the fall 2021 academic term.”

This announcement has left many in relief and others in disbelief. Dan Morrison, a senior professor at the School of Journalism and Communications, believes that the mandate is no different than other safety precautions the government has taken in the past. Likening the vaccine requirement to the regulations that the federal government imposed with seatbelts in 1968, Morrison said, “This idea that people can say you have no ethical right to tell me what to do—well, I got news for you, the government does that on a regular basis!” However, some feel that this is a different ballgame.

The current vaccines being produced on mass that are widely available in the United States have been approved under the Emergency Use Authorization Act; not to be confused with FDA approval. Having been vaccinated himself, Alec Sapolin, a senior at the SOJC, feels for those who believe that’s cause for concern. “I will say that it is truly a shame that people are being forced to get a vaccine in fear of being removed from an institution when the vaccine isn’t even FDA approved,” he said in an exchange over instant messaging.

The matter is even more convoluted due to a single word in the UO’s announcement: philosophical. It’s provided in parentheses along with two other non-medical exemptions, “religious” and “other belief.” The ambiguous nature of philosophical and other beliefs has left many wondering if the mandate has any teeth at all. At this time, President Schill’s inbox volume did not allow for comment on the situation.

Looking to define philosophical exemptions, I reached out to James Crosswhite, a professor of rhetoric and philosophy at the UO. “I think it’s deliberately ambiguous, because religious exemptions are recognized,” he said on the subject.

“If there were some disagreements about the processes and procedures or the way they drew conclusions from the knowledge about the vaccine, I guess that could be philosophical belief,” he said from across an all-too-familiar Zoom lobby.

“That’s what I don’t understand and that’s what frustrates me. For me it feels like they were trying to please both sides in this weird way,” said Nika Bartoo-Smith, a third-year journalism student. “They felt pressured to make a stance on vaccines, but they also knew that there were [going to be] people who were not excited about it so that’s why they put this grey area.”

Providing another perspective on the exemptions, Professor Morrison feels it could be financial in nature. “They are desperately trying to figure out ways to get students to come back,” he said, “because the university is a business. They lost so much money this last year. Across the board.”

So as much as it may be to protect the community, it might be driven by the need to get the university operational again to stabilize revenues.

“There’s pressure coming from all directions [and] Schill is doing the best he can as far as I can tell. I still don’t think we’ve quite figured out how to handle this just yet,” Morrison said. “It’s an impossible spot. There’s no easy answer. I’m not even sure there is a right answer.”

Financial or not—deliberately required or not—the mandate has left the community desperately searching for a middle ground. With a nationwide chasm manifesting, Bartoo-Smith feels that a middle ground is achievable if people are just willing to empathize with one another.

“The biggest issue I see is this unwillingness to have a conversation and see each other’s side and have a real conversation,” she said. “We need to do a lot more empathizing with each other because we don’t do enough of that in society. We don’t hear each other’s concerns—valid concerns—on both sides.”

The need for a middle ground is essential—the need for understanding even more so. Flagship universities across the country have been hit hard, with the COVID pandemic eviscerating usually stable and rising revenues. Beyond finances, though, the nation longingly looks towards some semblance of normal, with vaccines being portrayed as a possible route.

“People are mature enough to look at the data, weigh the pros and cons, and make their own decisions,” said Sapolin. Having done so, the UO feels that decision should be clear, but ultimately has left it up to the individual. The impetus is now on us to come to a consensus on how to achieve a middle ground that favors everyone’s beliefs with safety in mind.

By Carson Colville

May 25, 2021

EUGENE, Ore. — “Ohh. Where do I start?” Lydia Fish, manager at Mountain Rose Herbs, said as she chuckled. Working at the shop, she has received a number of strange requests that she often cannot legally answer. Mountain Rose Herbs is tucked away near the 5th Place Market, just steps from downtown Eugene. The shop is stocked full of herbs, essential oils, spices, and teas. Working at Mountain Rose Herbs, Fish and her associates frequently encounter customers who are full of peculiar questions and in search of medical advice.

Lined with baskets full of herbs and adaptogenic roots and mushrooms on one side, and soaps and clays to craft DIY skincare products on the other, the shop attracts a wide variety of customers. Customers who frequent the store are typically in search of herbal and holistic remedies which makes education a pillar in Fish’s job description. New customers are often lost, as the store contains so many unfamiliar and unconventional products. Employees of Mountain Rose Herbs find it’s important to familiarize themselves with their customers’ needs and desires.

Fish explains that the majority of customers who have specific requests often tiptoe around their needs. These customers ask which products would be helpful to cure illnesses or prevent exposure to various environmental threats. While Fish and her associates cannot legally recommend herbs or essential oils in response, they can provide customers with products that are “known to be helpful,” said Fish.

Given the commonality of medical-related requests, Mountain Rose Herbs trains their employees to respond. It’s critical for them to react delicately, as customers often offer private details about their health and life. “We give a disclaimer that we can’t give any medical advice,” said Fish, then, “try to direct them towards an herb of something that is known to be supportive.” It’s important for employees to not entirely shut down a customer’s request, but instead politely suggest something that could have the medicinal properties they’re looking for. Fish said that they “use terms like ‘supportive, soothing, known to be helpful,’” and avoid suggesting that any product has the ability to cure or prevent an illness.

Offering medical advice to customers or suggesting that a product has certain medical properties is against FDA regulations and could create a plethora of problems for Mountain Rose Herbs. Employees of the shop are not allowed to “say anything that resembles medical advice,” said Fish. If they were to offer medical advice and a customer had a negative experience or reaction to a product as a result, Mountain Rose Herbs could be sued for damages. Instead, employees approach these interactions by “trying to find an herb that is known to support certain systems but from the perspective of general knowledge as opposed to this would work for you,” said Fish. While situations where customers are seeking medical advice happen frequently at Mountain Rose Herbs, it’s imperative that employees refrain from offering legitimate advice and remain sensitive.

Customers will often be in search of radical herbal remedies. Fish illustrated a particular incident, “This gentleman came in with Keen sandals and long hair,” she said. “This was at the peak of when 5G had just started to come out and he insisted on taking borax internally to fight radiation.” As per her job description and FDA regulations, she politely responded by saying she was unable to recommend that as a safe remedy.

Borax, a powdery white substance, is typically used in cosmetic or cleaning products and is generally considered to be unsafe to ingest. The shop suggests that customers might use Borax powder in a DIY bath salt blend and advise against any internal usage. Mountain Rose Herbs indicates a proper and suggested use on all of their products. The Borax packaging reads “Intended Use: Cosmetic use only.” This small, but very clear wording on the bottom of the crisp white packaging seems to have gone right over this customer’s head. Fish said that she was “startled” by such a request, and mentioned to the customer, once again, that she cannot recommend consuming Borax powder, or any other product to ward off radiation.

Although Fish advised against consuming Borax, this gentleman insisted on the benefits of using it internally, and purchased the Borax powder anyway. Fish remains perplexed by this experience, saying it was “incredibly strange, but not uncommon.” She said that she and her employees often deal with situations like these, where customers are persistent about using products incorrectly. While Mountain Rose Herbs cannot prevent customers from using their products how they wish, they strongly advise against improper use and reinforce that they cannot offer medical advice.

Many of the shop’s products are known to promote certain benefits, but employees must refrain from using terms like “cure” and “prevent.” FDA regulations prohibit Mountain Rose Herbs from using these terms, or offering anything that might come across as medical advice. Employees are trained extensively on how to respond in these situations, as it’s quite common for questions of the sort to be asked. “It’s something we deal with more often than you’d think,” said Fish. These encounters never cease to amaze Fish, despite her working with the company for many years.

By Mollie Herron

May 29, 2021

EUGENE, Ore. — A dimly lit basement decorated with periodic tables and pin up girl posters is the practice space of self-proclaimed garage-indie-punk band Hot Sheets. Chemistry professor Karen McFarlane Holman, life coach Jessica Amos, and horticulturist DJ Jamie Sloan joined forces in 2016 to create the powerful all female band that has played many shows in Salem. The group also go by the stage names Dropkick, Claw, and Bangz respectively to fit their edgy performance personas.

Holman had experience playing in bands that usually had some sort of punk influence in their music. She says the “huge distortion and fun, balls to the walls kind of music” that is punk rock is her favorite to play which is why it has had a heavy impact on her music career. Amos learned to play bass just before Hot Sheets was formed and says that her music taste is heavily influenced by her coming of age in the 90s. Sloan, like Holman, has been involved in music making for many years but learned to play the drums for Hot Sheets with a craigslist drum kit and the help of a teacher she still learns from. Sloan describes herself as “an audio file and this was just another beautiful opportunity to get deeper into music.”

The three women that make up the group each have their own careers outside of the band, but all have a similar idea of how they want to live their lives. Amos says that they no longer want “to suckle on the teat of the man” and create their own paths that don’t follow the expected norm of society. Amos’s work centers on self-acceptance and meditation practices, which others have questioned because of her involvement in punk music. She says that people give her criticism because she “couldn’t be mindful and meditative and also punk rock” but she hopes to prove through her work that people can focus on being mindful while still having edge in their lives. She says that she “feels more integrated in her work” due to her acceptance of the different sides of herself and using that to help others work on themselves.

Both Amos and Holman have children in their teens while Sloan has three cats that she claims as her own children after finding them abandoned on the street. Holman’s children have started to follow in her footsteps, and one of her sons has formed a band of his own. Dean, her son, says that he and his band, The Wolves of Church Street, “are thankful for all of the topnotch equipment readily available at their fingertips and he is personally honored to be the son of such a cool mom.” While Hot Sheets’ music consists of only a guitar, bass, and drums, their practice space is littered with keyboards and a piano that Dean and his bandmates can use.

The trio love to make music together and hope to be successful with their music but have found that the real reward is the connection they have formed with each other and the sense of solidarity they have. Even if they don’t practice every week like they plan to, the group says that their bandmates help them “step into their power” and gain confidence in situations that are not related to music at all. The main goal of Hot Sheets was not originally to make it big, but rather focused on making music they enjoyed. Now that they have seen some success from their work, Sloan has big plans for them in the future. Her dream at this point in time is to tour and play in France on Make Music Day where the worldwide celebration originated. Sloan says that while the success would be a great thing, they “are trying to conquer their lives” with the help of music and not relying on possible fame that comes with it. Amos agrees with Sloan’s opinion and says, “if Hot Sheets never becomes anything more than it already is they would feel deeply satisfied.”

If they are able to make it big Sloan has a special pair of pants that she has been saving for the big stage. She says has “one pair of pants that she bought for France, and she’s going to wear them in France.” Sloan has been holding onto her pants for the chance to wear them on the big stage while Holman and Amos live for the chance to dress up for their performances. Holman says, “the best part of being in a band is the whole separate closet for band outfits.” When going on stage the group aims for a “funky punky” type of look that engages the audience.

When performing in front of an audience Hot Sheets prefers to engage with the audience and have fun and not focus on the technicalities of the music. Holman says the studio “is the place to get everything on record and lets people have them when they’re not around,” but the stage is where they enjoy being more. On stage the music they play is completely determined by audience reaction, which means some songs will be dragged on longer than the original version is or sometimes sang with a more aggressive and energetic tone.

For the next year Hot Sheets will be recording their new songs for their upcoming album. Listeners can expect to hear nine new songs and eventually at least one new music video. The album title has not yet been determined but some cover art is in the works. They want to focus on what they have done in the last year and use photos of their most recent adventures to show that despite not being able to publicly perform they are still just as close as they were before the pandemic. Hot Sheets will be performing at Salem’s Make Music Day, which will be their first live performance in the past two years followed by another performance not even a week later. The live performances are just a small part of what the group loves about the band because they don’t, as Sloan says, “work for the man” and can do what they want to do in order to be happy.

By Hunter Nusz

May 29, 2021

Harley Hunt put seven hours a day into football Monday through Friday and he never got paid for it and he believes that he never should have gotten paid for it. Harley Hunt played for Methodist University from 2016-2018, he majored in athletic training, and sports management. Hunt played division 3 football and he never made a single cent due to the current NCAA rules about college athletes getting paid or making money off of their likeness.

Hunt said that he felt that he should not have been paid by the university but he should have been able to make money off of his likeness. This is coming from someone who put thousands of hours of their life into football. Hunt continued his football career after high school by attending Methodist University in North Carolina. He started working with the team in the summer of 2016 and one thing he said was “it never really stopped.” He said that they practiced in the summer and then during the season they practiced Monday through Friday, played every Saturday and their off day was Sunday. Hunt explained a regular practice day during the season, he says “Wake up and go to 6 a.m. workouts for two hours, then went to class, then went to team meetings to watch film for two hours and then we had practice for three hours until 6 p.m.” He went through all of this almost everyday for two years and yet he still believed that he should not have gotten paid by the university.

His main reason is that if he got paid as a division 3 football player, then everyone should get paid the same. He said “If they pay D1 players then D3 players should get paid.” He said that it would be hard for the NCAA to figure out who to pay and how much each player should get paid, he said “Do they pay the division 1 football players more than the division 3 players?” He also brought up the fact of who pays the players? Is it the NCAA or the university that pays the student athlete. He did say that if the NCAA were able to figure out a fair way to pay all student athletes then he would be in favor of the student athletes getting paid.

That being said Hunt did say that the student athletes should be able to make money off of their own likeness. Current NCAA rules will not allow a student athlete to sell their own jersey for money, this is what Hunt disagreed with. He said that if a student athlete wanted to sell their own jersey or sign a piece of merchandise for money then they should be able to without any repercussions from the NCAA. He said he strongly believes this for division 1 athletes because the school often makes money from a certain athlete so that said athlete should be able to make money using their own likeness.

One thing that Hunt mentioned was that most of his teammates in college never talked about if they should be paid. “We never really brought it up,” Hunt said. “I think we never got the chance to sit around and think about it, we started our day with 6 a.m. workouts and then ended our day at 6 p.m. after a 3 hour long practice.”

Hunt mentioned that he believed that eventually college athletes will be able to make money off of their own likeness and then they will eventually be paid. He still did not know who he thought would pay them though. One final thing that Hunt mentioned was when he was asked that if he would have gotten paid during his playing time, how much would he expect. “Enough to cover my living expenses, enough to cover my basic needs.” He could not come up with an exact amount but he mentioned “enough to live a comfortable life in college.”

Tyler Weber, a senior at the University of Delaware believes that college football players should be able to receive pay. Weber’s personal view is that he believes that college football players should get paid and be able to make money off of their own image. Weber said that each division should get a different amount of pay “D1 gets the most, and D3 gets the least but they should all be able to make something.”

He believes this because each school brings in a different amount of money off of their athletic teams. Weber also talked about players being able to make money off their likeness. Like Hunt, Weber believed that college athletes no matter the sport should be able to make money off of their own name. He said that they should be allowed to sign autographs and sell jerseys to make money.

Another thing that they both agreed on was the fact that soon, all college athletes, not just football players will be paid. Weber said “they won’t be paid by the time I graduate but by the time the current freshmen are about to graduate they probably will be.”

Isaiah Passmore, recent graduate of University of Iowa and current law student at University of Miami, also agreed that college athletes should not get paid by the university. But should be able to make money if the university uses an athlete’s name or image.

Passmore said that he believes no college athlete, football player or not should get paid by their respective university. Despite saying this he believes that the universities should not stop any attempts of college athletes getting paid by another source by using their image or likeness. Passmore said that he thinks that college football players should get paid by using their image or likeness because they are playing the most popular sport and making the most money for the university.

He also said “the best athletes in the country are usually football players.” One final thing about the future of college athletics that he said was that he thinks college athletes will eventually get paid. “In the next 5-10 years it will happen,” Passmore said.

By Alexis Allen

10 May, 2021

EUGENE, Ore. — It’s now been five months since the first COVID-19 vaccine was administered, a step that finally seemed like the light at the end of a perpetual tunnel. However, there is still a number of skeptical people who refuse to get the shots.

While the vaccine rollout in the United States has been relatively fast-paced, the United Kingdom is experiencing a bit of a slower process. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost half of the US population is fully vaccinated while barely 34% of the UK population is.

Connor Shrimpton, a student studying music production at the City of Liverpool College, is among the majority of people who have not yet gotten the vaccine in England—and he says he doesn’t plan on getting it at all.

Shrimpton believes the vaccine should only be given to older people with underlying health conditions. “Vaccinating healthy active people is just stupid in my opinion because you don’t need to fix what isn’t broken,” he says.

He says he is not afraid of the vaccine itself, but instead he fears for those who decide to get it. “There would be no chance you will ever see me line up and get one, even if there was a real pandemic,” he says.

Shrimpton says his reaction to the COVID vaccine is not different from other administered vaccines in the past. “Ever since a young age, when I first learned about vaccines, I was confused as to why people became dependent on them,” he says. “I used to talk to my dad about things like this and he had the exact same views as me.”

Shrimpton says that “it’s way too soon for a vaccine to come out” and he questions why health professionals “would risk vaccinating millions upon millions of people with an experimental vaccine when we don’t know the long-term side effects.”

Someone else who is concerned with the long-term health effects that the vaccine poses is Tatjana Mandic, a sophomore at the University of Oregon. She says she does not plan on getting the vaccine anytime soon and is extremely apprehensive “considering COVID has been around for about a year and vaccines typically take years to develop.”

Her main worry is that the vaccine will cause fertility issues in women. “They have zero research of the side effects from the vaccine!” she says. “I don’t know if it is true or not but it very well could cause younger generations to have fertility issues.”

She also says the recent reports of blood clots that people are experiencing as a result from the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a tell-tale sign of this vaccine’s trustworthiness.

Apart from the possible side effects regarding the vaccine, Shrimpton believes there’s a bigger purpose behind it. “I’m 100% sure this is a depopulation agenda and I hate to say this, but I think in the next few years we are going to see well over a billion people die,” he says.

When it comes to the media, Shrimpton says the problem is that it is intentionally “feeding us information about this so-called pandemic to promote fear.” He says that mask mandates and new variants of the virus circulating the media every day are only scaring people into getting the vaccine. He compares COVID to World War II when “Germany’s main form of propaganda was fear.” Despite the media’s attempts to instill worry, however, he says that the younger generations are not falling for it and “people are beginning to wake up to the fact that they have been controlled by the government.”

In England, there has been an outbreak of protests from people who don’t support the vaccine. “A few weeks ago there was a huge protest of over 700,000 people in London. I support the people who are fighting for our freedoms,” Shrimpton says. However, he says news outlets have not been covering the protests and that the government is purposely avoiding these events in order to gain the public’s trust.

Some citizens in the U.S. also believe that the media is deliberately hiding important information regarding the vaccine. Flor Harris, who works in the health care insurance business in the Bay Area, says the media does not want to show the bad aspects of the vaccine in hopes of getting as many people vaccinated as possible. “There’s been almost 4,000 people that have died just from taking the vaccine and they don’t want to bring too much attention to that,” she says. She believes nobody should be dying from the vaccine at all and that the government needs to take action.

Because the media plays such a big role in advocating for the COVID vaccine, young adults who are learning how to make health care decisions on their own for the first time say they are concerned with being judged by the public. Capri Macchiarella, a freshman at the College of Southern Nevada, believes that “no one should be shunned for any personal health choice they make.”

Harris also believes everyone should have the ability to get vaccinated or not without being shamed. “It seems like the current political climate doesn’t allow you to really speak your mind if you have any concerns…because so many people around you want to shut you down,” she says. She believes this judgmental mindset is unfair and that “everyone should have their own choice because it is their body.”

Apart from the vaccine itself, Shrimpton believes the most problematic aspect of the virus is the pandemic lockdowns that have occurred since last March. “The governments of the world locked us up in our homes for over a year, not getting sunlight, weakening our immune systems,” he says.

Shrimpton believes that health professionals and news outlets should instead promote alternatives to the vaccine, such as practicing good diet or using natural supplements and vitamins. “The medical industry today is a mess, and it’s all about making money. They don’t care about your health at all, they would rather inject you with vaccines and drugs than intentionally try to promote healthy eating or exercise. It is frustrating that a lot of people don’t see the truth,” he says.

Not everyone will agree with each other all the time. People will always have conflicting views about certain topics, especially when that topic affects all of humanity. This vaccine is an example of that—it can be supported by one person but rejected by the next.

“You might think I sound crazy but only time will tell,” Shrimpton says.

Secondhand stores move online with the rise of apps like Depop, Mercari and Poshmark.

By Makenzie Elliott

May 29, 2021

EUGENE, Ore. — Sitting on her couch with a freshly brewed cup of tea, Rosie Zbaracki prepares for a night of posting clothing on Poshmark. Using previously taken measurements and photos she took in her garage, Zbaracki crafts a description for her item. With one more click, she shares the product with her 48,829 Poshmark followers.

Zbaracki is the co-owner of Visibly Sold, a secondhand store in Eugene, Oregon. Zbaracki opened Visibly Sold as a physical store in 2018, but soon began using online selling platforms to boost sales.

Zbaracki currently sells on Poshmark, Etsy, Depop, Mercari and eBay under the brand of Visibly Sold. According to Zbaracki, about 50% of the store’s income comes from these platforms.

“I started selling online,” she said. “And I realized that you can make a sizable income if you work on it like it is a job, like it is a business.”

These platforms are not just for those wanting to start a business out of reselling, however. For some, these apps are just ways to shop sustainably or pass off items they no longer need.

Quynh-Nhi Tran, a second-year student at Northwestern University, began using secondhand websites in high school. She said she would use them to find business and formal clothing—pieces she wouldn’t wear very often.

When buying secondhand, she said, “I don’t have to pay as much money for something that I’m only going to wear once.” For buyers, apps like Poshmark and Depop can ease the process of hunting through the racks of the local thrift store. According to Tran, simply typing in the item she’s searching for on Depop is much easier than in-person thrift shopping.

“If there’s a specific jacket that I want,” Tran said. “I can just search the jacket name, and a lot of the time it’ll come up.”

Audrie Fox is a junior at Centennial High School in Gresham, Oregon. She began using Depop regularly about a year ago when she began selling jewelry and clothes she no longer wanted.

“I think it’s a good way for selling or buying sustainable stuff because it’s usually secondhand,” she said. “And you’re not contributing to fast fashion.”

“Fast fashion” describes clothing that was rapidly produced at a low cost, often under unethical working conditions. These clothes usually follow fast-evolving trend cycles, meaning pieces are bought and discarded quickly.

Liza Williams began selling on Depop about two years ago and now regularly sells items on the app. For Williams, selling on Depop allows her to give her clothing a second life. Most of her inventory comes from her own closet, she said.

“It’s just really important to me that any piece that I purchase and love gets extended to someone else who’s really going to love and cherish that piece as well,” Williams said. In a world where consumption is easier than ever, Williams urges people to start thinking more about the labor chain attached to each item. “It’s so easy for us, from clothing to anything really, to just consume, consume, consume,” Williams said. “I really encourage people to take a step back and understand where their products are coming from.”

While these online platforms can offer more accessible ways to shop sustainably, they aren’t always so glamorous, Fox said. Things like “dropshipping” and high prices plague the sites.

Dropshipping is when sellers list an item they bought on a cheap retail website, like AliExpress, and attempt to pass it off as vintage or secondhand. This allows them to charge a much higher price and gain a larger profit, Fox said.

Fox also said she’s noticed many sellers who try and sell anything they can for a profit. Children’s clothing is especially becoming a popular item, she said—but the target audience isn’t children.

Many sellers will buy children’s t-shirts or sweater vests from local thrift stores and list them online as crop tops or “baby tees” for adults, she said. Not only is this misleading for buyers but the process takes advantage of thrift store prices, Fox said.

“People will go into thrift stores and just buy stuff, like anything that they see that’s cute or they can make a profit on,” Fox said, which limits inventory for people genuinely needing to shop at thrift stores for financial reasons.

Fox said it can seem ridiculous for sellers to charge $40 for a used top, but Zbaracki said sometimes higher prices are necessary for sellers to turn a profit.

The buyer essentially pays for the labor that goes into finding, ironing, mending, photographing and promoting the item, Zbaracki said. After breaking down the amount of time she spends finding and preparing a piece, Zbaracki said it translates to making around $7 an hour.

“Would you do a job for $6.80 an hour? No, that’s a crappy job,” she said. “A lot of people don’t think of it in those kinds of terms.” While the high prices are sometimes necessary, Zbaracki still said that people abuse these platforms. Along with dropshipping, some sellers buy high-end brands from retail discount stores, like Ross, but cut off the discount tag and list the item as full-price.

For Zbaracki, she hopes to use online platforms ethically. The money she makes from online orders allows her to give back to the community in other ways, she said. For instance, Visibly Sold has a “pay what you want” section in its physical store. Zbaracki explained that community members can self-select prices for pieces in this section.

“It’s important for me to make sure that people can get a top for 50 cents,” she said. “Because sometimes that’s all you have.”

Dylan A. Farinash

May 26, 2021

BEND, Ore. — Cathy Reich has lived here in Bend for the better part of two decades, migrating to Deschutes County after having spent time in Colorado. Reich was born in upstate New York to a father who instilled her with the work ethic she needed to thrive in the workplace at a young age. She has been the lead Client Service Representative for the cardiology department at Summit Health for the past 12 years, having taught herself the skills necessary for her to succeed there. While she likes that people are getting vaccinated, she admits that the initial vaccination push was disheveled at first. “Now I think it’s better, but when the vaccines first came out, it was a struggle,” said Reich, 64. “People were really struggling to find places to get vaccinated, especially older patients, which is who I work with.” She also recommends that those around her get vaccinated because on January 6th, 2021, she lost her father due to complications from COVID. Her father worked long hours in her youth, and they weren’t as close as she would’ve liked as a result but losing him was hard on her. She’s not alone in the efforts to encourage those who can get vaccinated to do so.

Dylan Clemonsis a currently a registered nurse who works at Bend Transitional Care. Wanting to relocate after completing college at what is now Linfield University, and taking part in a pandemic shortened residency at Emmanuel Hospital in Portland, the Pendleton native and his girlfriend, Courtney, made the move to Bend in the summer of 2020. Clemons wishes that some people would be less indifferent towards the vaccine because of his prior experience being enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Linfield, along with his experience at EmmanuelHospital, as well as his experience working at Bend Transitional Care. “I feel like administration is going well with the vaccines,” said Clemons, 22. “However, I always feel like more people could be open-minded and accepting to the idea of receiving the vaccine.” Herd immunity is the goal, but Clemons is skeptical of the United States’ ability to get there based on an article he found. “Recently, a New York Times article was published that stated the United States might never actually reach a herd immunity stage with the COVID vaccine,” said Clemons. “Unfortunately, I can’t force anyone to take it, that’s not what the medical profession is about, so we’d always like to see more people be vaccinated, but you do what you can.”

Gayla Brandow came to Deschutes County from Molalla, Oregon, and has lived in La Pine forthe past four years. She was born in Prineville, but she eventually found herself in Algona, Washington at the age of four, when her father secured a position working at Boeing. She and her family made their way back down to Oregon in 1972 and has resided there since. She was not only able to reestablish herself as an Oregonian, but she was able to thrive there: she was able to go to Clackamas Community College to get her teaching degree, and she participated in AWANA, a longer and more involved iteration of Vacation Bible School. She taught preschool in Mollala, and she wedded the love of her life on June 20th, 1981. She has since retired from teaching, leaving her more time to spend with her grandchildren. She is against herself and othersreceiving the vaccine because of the love she found for Christianity, her belief that life is precious and should be treated as such, and what she feels the vaccination efforts represent. “I choose what I believe because I am an American and this is the Land of the Free,” said Brandow, 64. “I make my own decisions.”

Daniel Brandow was also born in Oregon, having been conceived in Portland. After growing up in West Linn, Brandow decided to follow in his father’s footsteps in military service, so he enlisted in the Army, and was stationed in Germany for two years. After his time in the Army, Brandow went to work for Freightliner, working on their trucks. He would accompany his future wife on a blind date set up by his cousin, and the two will be celebrating 40 years of holy matrimony this June. He, too, has since retired. He is also strongly against the vaccine because of what he feels it represents to him and his beliefs, as well as his respect for life. “My thoughts are sad and sorry for those who got the shots,” said Brandow, 67. “These shots will make 40% of those who got them sterile.” “Strokes increased 400% in the elderly.” Brandow goes to JD Farag, a pastor based in Hawaii, and the two also get information from Rock Harbor Church Prophecy Updates, with physical locations and communities based in California.

Vaccinations have played a part in reducing the spread of the virus, and Kate Brown has announced via press conference and later following up on her verified Twitter account that Deschutes County is among the counties that have vaccinated enough people 16 and up to be placed on a permanent lower-risk status. While the news is encouraging to hear and read, the news regarding the vaccination efforts doesn’t informon the mental scars left by the pandemic. There’s the visible mental scars, like the ones on Reich and Clemons:sore feet, aching muscles, and heavy eyelids after a long day’s work spent consistently moving around. Then there’s the mental scars that very few will get to see; Clemons going home with patients having succumbed to COVID fresh on his mind, Reich privately mourning the loss of her father to COVID, and the Brandows privately dealing with the grief of family members who have suffered moderate to severe side effects from the vaccine.

By Hanlin Wang

May 8th, 2021

EUGENE, Ore. — Asian migrants aren’t just plagued by the ongoing pandemic. As they flee their homes due to safety concerns and financial hardship, they are encountering language barriers, cultural impediments and lack of service around the U.S.-Mexico border.

“There can definitely be a more humanitarian approach at the border,” said Michelle Celleri, a Human Rights Counsel at Alliance San Diego.

Celleri has been involved with the migrant community to promote diversity and collaborate with organizations.

Used by the Trump administration and continued by President Biden, provision of U.S. health law, section 265 of Title 42 has kept the asylum seekers out of the gate of the United States and left them at the gang-active Mexico border. It allows people to be denied entry into the United States if these people potentially pose a health risk.

It’s the international and non-government organizations that are working in Mexico with people to put together a pack for humanitarian exemption.

“But there is not a real formal process, and individuals at the border trying to seek entry don’t know the process.” Celleri said, “the Asian population, if they don’t speak English, or if they don’t speak Spanish, the chance of them getting access to an organization that is able to help them, it’s going to be very difficult.”

Language difficulty – “They don’t feel they have a community there.”

Reassuringly, there have been organizations that cross the language barrier to help the non-English or non-Spanish migrants getting the help they need.

“I was able to get a phone number of those individuals, and I’m looking for a translator or interpreter here in the U.S. side, and I’ll be calling them as soon as I get an interpreter.” Ian M. Seruelo said, a Labor Representative at the Asia Pacific American Labor Alliance at San Diego, who has been helping migrant families at the border to enter the U.S.

Migrants encounter many security problems on the Mexican side of the border.

“We already did for an intake of more than 100 families there,” Seruelo said, “and what’s common is that we see a lot of them have some form of interaction with the gang, either they were threatened, robbed, or raped.”

Seruelo talked with people from Haiti.

“They said it’s good that somehow there are a big number of them there, they were able to help each other,” he said. “But not those that are from Asia.”

When Seruelo talked to one Middle Eastern there, the person told him that because they don’t speak Spanish, they feel more vulnerable and don’t feel like they have a community there.

Along the U.S.-Mexico border, there is a lack of visibility for the Asian immigrant community. Juanita Molina, the Executive Director for Border Action Network, said, “There is a lack of discussion and acknowledgment of people coming and crossing this way.”

Death prevention – “That’s a humanitarian issue.”

Asian migrants from China, Korea, Vietnam, and India face the challenge of distance, it usually needs months or years of cover on their way to the U.S. border, making them incredibly vulnerable.

Molina said, “We see a lot of sick people come through, and we have experienced a very tragic loss.”

A six-year-old girl died after attempting to cross the U.S-Mexico border with her mother. Leaving from India, it took them about a year and a half to get to the border.

“She made it one mile into the United States,” said Molina. The little girl passed away due to sun exposure.

Molina said, “unfortunately, I don’t see much of a response from the federal government to prevent these deaths.”

The federal government has been putting a policy into force that pushes migrants to more and more dangerous areas.

In the last 15 years of death mapping and evaluation, Molina noticed people are dying closer to the international line at the Mexican border.

The extreme heat and cold of the desert cause life-threatening harm to the Asian migrants, who are malnourished, along with a lack of medical attention, and basic needs like water. Which has even been less accessible to them during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The primary responsibility in dealing with migrant death has been a voluntary response. Molina said, “so literally volunteers are going to the desert, packed with water, or creating water stations, to try to prevent death due to dehydration.

As the pandemic went on and intensified, these volunteers were quarantined, “there was even less service in that area,” said Molina.

“That’s a humanitarian issue,” Celleri said.

“So it’s not right or wrong, it’s a human thing, it’s fulfilling necessities of life,” she said, “you know, I don’t think anybody wants somebody to die from thirst, so the work is much needed. “What’s sad is people don’t always see it that way,” said Celleri.

The Border Angel, which is a non-profit organization that lets volunteers bring water to the isolated desert area where the migrants are likely to cross, told Celleri that they went out there and found their water container with holes in them, that was slid open by somebody else and they left the trash there, rather than letting the migrants receive the water.

Battling bias – Immigration as a privilege?

Molina said the perception for many Asian migrants is that there is some kind of ill intent in migrating to the United States to begin with.

Kate Shattuck, a 33 years old removal defense attorney at the Catholic Charity in Portland, Oregon, thinks that recently in the last four years, in particular, asylum seeking has been thought of or talked about as a privilege in the U.S. national conversation on immigration.

“Our experience has been, I think, a real counterpoint to that viewpoint,” Shattuck said, sigh after a sigh.

Shattuck has a case involving a family from the Middle East, who lived in a country with the majority of Muslims and have converted to a different faith.

“They have received threats from family members, and the police there have refused to protect them.” She said, “and they believe that they will be harmed.”

“It’s not a privilege to not be tortured,” said Professor Lynn Marcus at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, ”it’s a right.”

Shattuck said, “ I wish that people would realize that asylum seekers are not trying to take advantage of a privilege, cutting the line, or manipulating the immigration system.”

By Patrick McMahon

May 29, 2021

BEND, Ore — Rob Rastovich is a man who has been doing the work of two people every day for the past nine years. No, he isn’t Superman. Rob owns Rastovich Family Farms, located in Bend, Oregon since 1919, and he also is the chief technical officer for ThingLogix, a tech company that helps other companies adopt emerging technologies. However, since Rob is very highly invested in both companies, both of these positions take up a large amount of his time. “I usually get up between 4:30 and 5… I usually wrap up my tech day around 3-3:30,” said Rob. “Then I go back out to the ranch, so I’ll spend from 3:30 or so till 7-7:30 working.” All the family time Rob gets is at dinner after his work day, and that’s when he’s not traveling for ThingLogix. “Before COVID, I was gone three weeks out of every four,” said Rob.

For most people, the fact that these careers have nothing to do with each other would be a daunting thing, but Rob seems to relish this fact. “If I had to do nothing but ranching, it would drive me nuts, and if I had to do nothing but programming, it would drive me nuts,” said Rob with a laugh. He also finds it very useful to be able to switch between two careers that are in almost opposite fields of work. “I have solved more technical problems while changing irrigation or herding cows than I will have ever solved playing ping-pong or pool,” said Rob. “It takes you out of that realm, and gives you time to think and do things that are real.” He also adds that he’s not the only one who likes having something to take his mind off programming. “The best programmers I’ve ever worked with always have something on the side, that ability to actually do real, concrete things,” said Rob.

While it may seem like these two fields of work have absolutely nothing in common, Rob believes otherwise. “The number one industry for connected devices is agriculture,” said Rob. “ThingLogix actually has a customer in the San Joaquin Valley who is an agricultural consulting company.” People around Rob echoed this idea as well. “I think some of the root values and ideas are pretty similar,” said Levi Schwarz, the ranch manager at Rastovich Family Farm. “He transitions so smoothly from one to the other that there’s no way that he has to completely switch his way of thinking.”

Along with connections between the two industries of agriculture and programming, there are key skills that connect Rob’s two very different careers. “As a farmer who understands efficiency and technology, there are ways he’s made it possible to make enough money to keep the grass green,” said Colleen Rastovich, Rob’s wife. “Rob had to be very creative with marketing and efficiencies to be able to turn it into Barley Beef, so that made him an innovative, forward thinking farmer, which is an unusual combination.” Barley Beef is something that Rob started in 2012 as a way to bring in money by selling beef products, and has become simply another thing that is added to Rob’s already full plate of work. “He has to manage people similarly in both jobs,” said Sam Rastovich, Rob’s eldest son and a software engineer at ThingLogix. “He also really has to be innovative in both jobs, whether it’s creating new processes for the farm or a new technology.”

With Rob gone 75% out of every usual month, and working 15 hour days when he’s home, family time is often hard to come by. “Per week, dinnertime usually,” said Colleen. “That might be it. After dinner, if he’s not working, he will sit down and fall asleep.” This has been standard for the Rastovich family for quite some time, and has simply become something they are used to. “For the most part, I have not spent a ton of time with my dad,” said Max Rastovich, Rob’s youngest son. “He’s definitely a workaholic, and I respect him a lot for that.” Even with the large time commitment that having two jobs requires, Rob has clearly left an impact on his kids in the best way possible. “He’s a role model for me, just because of how hard he works, and how dedicated he is,” said Max.

Even with Rob’s long hours and loaded schedule, it is clear he still has passion and a love for both of his respective careers. “It’s that perfect dichotomy of when you’re ranching, it feels good to be away from the technology, and when you’re in technology, it feels good to be away from the ranching,” said Rob. “I can’t say I like one or the other better, I like the combination.” Rob’s son Max, however, had a different view on what his dad likes to do more. “Farming, he talks about it all the time. I’m sure he would love, in an ideal future, to only work on the farm, and to not deal with the programming side.” said Max with enthusiasm. “Don’t get me wrong, he loves the programming side. It’s just at this point, it’s more managing, and less of the fun part of the programming.” Rob echoed this sentiment about managing when bringing up things he didn’t like about his jobs. “I don’t like managing people,” said Rob. “I hate it.”

Both of these careers have had a strong impact on Rob’s journey through life thus far. “I couldn’t separate them out, they’ve both impacted it,” said Rob. “Technology obviously has a bigger financial impact, and I think ranching has a bigger character impact. They’re very different impacts.” One thing Rob didn’t have an answer to was when he would be ready to step away from both jobs. “Ask me that again next year,” said Rob with a smile on his face. “I’m getting tired, I’m getting old.”