Ethos Magazine Winter 2019

Stories within a Tiamo-Leste community

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ELLA T MORGAN Editor in Chief EDITORIAL

Managing Editor ZOE CRAIG Copy Editor SYDNEY PADGET Associate Editor AUSTIN WILLHOFT Writers Tiago Costa, Lida Ford, Renata S.

Geraldo, Maddie Horn, Shane Ng, Dante Pena, Alexxis Romo, Kenji Shiomura, Danika Taylor, Tyler Young PHOTOGRAPHY

Photo Editor MARIN STUART Asst. Photo Editor MEGHAN JACINTO Photojournalists Tiago Costa, Tanner Jacob

Dean, Jessica Smith, Austin Wilcroft CREATIVE

Art Director BROOKE HARMAN Artists Brenna Fox & Maddy Wignall Designers Whitney Marks, Alexxis Romo

Devin Roux, Allison Trujillo, Kacie Wilson

Ethos is a nationally recognized, award-winning independent student-run publication. Since its inception as Korean Ducks Magazine in 2005, Ethos has worked hard to share a multicultural spirit with its readership.

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CONTENTS Vol. 11 Issue 2 | Winter 2019

06 Climate

6 | Politics of a Pipeline

12

Features

12 | A Real Struggle: International Student Mental Health 14 | LGBTQ and YOU 16 | Hidden help

27 Opinion

27 | Seneca Mill 28 | The Body Complex

32 World

32 | This is Me: Inside Look Timor-Leste; Life, Culture & Identity

18

42

18 | Attack From Above: Jair Bolsonaro and The Fight Against the LGBTQ 22 | Winning the Lottery 24 | Ultraviolence

42 | Novacane

Focus

Arts

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From Canada to Coos Bay, the Politics of a Pipeline

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Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019 — Salem, Oregon. n the parking lot of the Veterans’ Affairs building, clusters of glowing faces watch a projected broadcast of the public hearing happening within. Pacing side to side and warming their hands with their breath, onlookers intermittently weigh in on the testimonies in hushed voices.

An eager line of people extends out from the building and mixes with the crowd outside. They are all waiting for the chance to either condemn or support the removal-fill permit proposal of the Jordan Cove Pipeline, a project belonging to the Canadian energy corporation, Pembina, which seeks to construct a 229 mile liquid natural gas pipeline (LNG) from Malin, to Coos Bay, Oregon.

Having been twice denied by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for failing to provide evidence for public benefit, the pipeline is now under the consideration of the Department of State Lands for the third time. Leading the charge against the pipeline are environmentalist organizations such as Our Children’s Trust (OCT), Rogue Climate, Cascadia Wildlands and 350 Eugene, a local chapter of 350.org.

Allie Rosenbluth, campaign director for Rogue Climate, says that in the wake of the hearings she and her team are taking a much needed rest while continuing to push for additional public comments through online outreach. “Communities have stopped it before,” Rosenbluth says, “we’ll continue to be the watch dogs.” Among those submitting comments at the hearings are plaintiffs from the historic Youth v. Gov. case in which youths between the ages of 11 and 22 have filed suit against the government for violating their rights by contributing to climate change. The case was first filed in 2015 and is lead by Eugene’s own Kelsey Juliana. Also part of the lawsuit is climate scientist James Hansen, the former director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Hansen’s famous saying, “the only safe level of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere is below 350 Parts per million,” he inspired the name for the environmental organization 350.org. The parties are suing several branches of the U.S. government, including the Departments of Energy, Commerce, and the Interior, for allowing excessive carbon emissions to be released into the atmosphere. Commonly known as the “Trial of the Century,” more pretrial briefs are due to be filed in February and March, 2019.

The effects of the Jordan Cove Pipeline would contrast with the ambitions put forth by the OCT plaintiffs, as the project would be Oregon’s largest investment in greenhouse gas infrastructure to date. Pembina claims that the construction would employ 6,000 people, and once completed, retain more than 200 workers to operate the terminal. Though other organizations like Citizens Against LNG and Counter Punch claim there would be only 100 permanent jobs, and most of them would not be filled by Oregon citizens. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has also previously cited this concern.

Despite this discrepancy, Pembina asserts that their pipeline would bring 10 billion dollars to the state and local economies. Many of the impacted communities, formerly beneficiaries of local investments from the timber industry, have been patiently waiting for such a project. Oregon’s elected officials and politicians who are consistently called upon to make public statements either for or against the project are caught between these two groups. There is no apparent middle ground solution on the horizon.

Scott Strickland, union organizer for Local 701 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, represents the interests of the 3,500 workers who build much of Oregon’s infrastructure.

“You know I think of myself as environmentally minded too,” he says. “We don’t want there to be leaks or pollution in our water either, but it’s a question of ‘is it going to be here or there?’”

While Strickland admits that there are alway risks that come with building a pipeline, he wonders if Oregon, with its various environmental protection laws, would be a safer place to have the LNG line than in a state without those protections.

According to Oregon.gov, Oregon’s Removal-Fill Law (ORS 196.795-990) “requires people who plan to remove or fill material in wetlands or waterways to obtain a permit from the Department of State Lands (DSL).” This requirement is the reason for the various public comment hearings that occurred throughout the state and ended in the capital on Jan. 15, 2019. The Jordan Cove Pipeline would go through more than 400 waterways, streams, lakes, rivers, and wetlands, like a scar across the landscape of Southern Oregon. Leaks are not only possible, but over time, practically inevitable.

In 2014, there was a major LNG leak in Plymouth, WA, along the Columbia river causing hundreds of people to evacuate. Officials claimed if rare conditions of oxygen mixture were met, and an ignition source were present, an explosion spanning three quarters of a mile could have ensued. However, it is important to note that according to Breaking Energy, contrary to popular belief, a “spill” of the liquid natural gas which the pipeline would be carrying will usually result in a quick boiling and evaporation of the gas into the atmosphere. That said, it would do very minor damage to the environment apart from the long term greenhouse gas emission effects. In other words, any leaks or spills from the Jordan Cove Pipeline, aside from something catastrophic, would evaporate quickly, and leave almost no trace on the immediate environment.

I

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The United States is the world’s largest producer of natural gas, currently supplying about one-third of all U.S. energy needs, and one-half of its household heating fuel. Natural gas, which is extracted from fracking, is roughly 600 times more dense in its liquid form than in its gaseous form. Cooling the gas down to a temperature of -260 degrees Fahrenheit allows it to be transported in specialized tanker ships to locations unreachable by pipelines. The Jordan Cove Connector Pipeline would cut the travel time of transporting the gas from the interior of the U.S. to the coastline, becoming a more efficient and profitable means of transport for Pembina.

The Pipeline, if approved, would transport LNG through a double-layered pipe made of reinforced stainless steel. The pipes are mostly placed underground and are often invisible from the surface after installment. On their website, Pembina has uploaded a beautiful photo of plush green farmland being replanted over a pipeline to indicate there would be minimal impact to the current landscape. In Oregon, however, where winters can be harsh, and rain is a given, underground pipes within a few feet of topsoil can easily disrupt the landscape. Moreover, even slight shifts in the pipeline, over time, can cause leaks.

Oil Change International (OCI), a nonprofit organization that seeks to expose the true costs of fossil fuels, conducted a thorough investigation on the Jordan Cove Pipeline. They reported it would emit 36 million metric tons of CO2, 15.4 times as much as Oregon’s last remaining coal fired power plant. According to BP Oil’s 2017 data, of the United State’s 5,087.7 million metric tons of annual CO2 emissions the pipeline would account for 0.71% of the United States carbon footprint. OCI calls for a reduction of fossil fuel emissions to zero by mid century. CO2 emissions are the largest contributor to climate change, accounting for 65% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Methane (CH4) is another greenhouse gas which is burned to power many of our household appliances, like stoves and water heaters. Methane itself is responsible for 16% of greenhouse gasses emitted, though when it is burned a chemical reaction takes place, which turns the methane into CO2 and gives off heat as a by product. The oil development fields around the country which are drilling, cracking, and fracking the earth for natural gas, are typically harvesting the CH4 which is piped to our stovetops.

The Jordan Cove pipeline is a connector pipeline, which would connect existing LNG infrastructure throughout the United States with Oregon, where it would be placed on tanker ships and exported to Asian markets. It would be the first LNG export terminal on the west coast of the continental United States. As of now, the existing LNG infrastructure across the nation is either being used for domestic consumption or being shipped to foreign markets through export terminals in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico.

It’s a long way to the Asian markets, and though LNG has a far better safety record than traditional crude oil, as documented by the U.S. Department of Transportation, there is an undeniable history of leaks and explosions which can happen in any number of ways, from the mining, to the storage, or in transport. A study conducted by Scientific American demonstrates that gas leaks are difficult to trace.

Some natural gas companies already in operation can give us a better understanding of what leakage rates might be.

The largest gas distribution company in the United States, Southern California Gas Co., states that their loss rate was 0.84% in 2011 and 0.87% in 2012. This is quite low when compared to Washington Gas Light Co., serving the Washington DC area, whose loss rates were 4.04% in 2011 and 3.65% in 2012. Some natural gas extraction sites in Russia, a large producer of global LNG, have loss rates as

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high as 7.0%. The gas companies themselves are careful to state that the gas is simply “unaccounted for,” which could mean a leak, an accounting error, or inconsistent conversion rates, among other explanations for the discrepancy.

Leakage rates above 3% could offset any benefits of a cleaner fossil fuel, reported that in Washington, D.C., the gas transport system had more than 6,000 leaks across 1,500 miles of pipeline — four leaks per mile. While that number includes pipes attached to households (which can be very old), any leak is potentially dangerous. They also found that in 12 locations, methane had accumulated to “explosive levels” (defined as between 50,000 and 500,000 PPM).

A similar study conducted in Boston found almost 3,400 leaks over 785 miles of pipeline, averaging 4.3 leaks per mile. While the 229 mile long Jordan Cove Pipeline is much shorter than pipelines elsewhere, and would not be connecting to households directly, the gas would eventually be piped through to local infrastructure, and into households or industrial machinery. Using the D.C. and Boston studies as reference, unless newer techniques emerge, there is a possibility of up to 936 to 1,010 leaks in total. An average of 4.15 leaks per mile.

Currently, the law does not require Pembina to consider the pipeline’s climatological effects, nor adhere to the concerns of Native tribal members, who have come out in opposition to the pipeline. Tribal Councils all over the state of Oregon have stated that Pembina gives no consideration to their upstream water rights and traditional burial grounds, which the pipeline could disrupt. They will however need to contend with required wetland restoration in correlation to the amount of construction they are doing on wetland ecosystems.

Don Gentry, Chairman of the Klamath Tribal Council, expressed his people’s worries about the pipeline numerous times over the years. “We are concerned about the economy, but we are also concerned with sustainability,” he said. “We lived off the land. We aren’t conservationists.”

Aside from the risks to fish and wildlife, which are important for spiritual ceremonies, and are part of the traditional diet of the Klamath people, Gentry says that the major excavation of lands for the pipeline will indefinitely unearth ancient burial grounds. “Once that damage is done, it’s done,” he said speaking from experience.

A 1993 article published by Herald and News, Klamath Falls’ local paper, reads as follows: “State highway engineers are redesigning a bridge under construction across the Klamath River south of Klamath Falls after crews uncovered remains of what are believed to be Native Americans of ancient origin. Work on the Highway 97 bridge was halted May 10 after workers discovered human bones strewn about in dirt that had been moved by heavy equipment.” Gentry attested to being present at the reburial of these ancestral remains, saying the experience was painful and traumatic. “It makes us feel like we aren’t as important as other people when our remains are disturbed,” he said concluding, “enough is enough.”

In an article originally published by Street Roots called, “Jordan Cove LNG pipeline ‘a never-ending nightmare,’” the author reports that any wetland mitigation that does not take place at the source of construction is hardly mitigating the effects at all. Restoration efforts elsewhere, which aim to offset the overall impact, would do little to help the local communities and wildlife that will actually be affected by the construction.

The Rogue Climate staf and ailiates: (left to right) back row: Allie Rosenbluth, Jasmine ZimmerStucky, Veronica Silva; front row: Caren Caldwell, and Hannah Sohl.

Above: Scott Strickland, union organizer for Local 701 of the International Union of Operating Engineers.

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Nonetheless, the efforts qualify as permitted mitigation. This scenario would be like the Flint, Michigan, municipality paying for watershed and wetland mitigation in Louisiana while their own river, and source of drinking water, continues to remain as polluted as it is today. The overall wetland acreage in the world remains the same, though people nearest to the project will continue to suffer the consequences of the pipeline.

This issue could present itself as the pipeline’s construction will need to remove, and displace large amounts of land, throughout the proposed route, and this could lead to disturbed soil, ecosystem damage, and the contamination of groundwater. Many organizations, like 350.org, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, have been instrumental in educating the public on the concerns of ecosystem function and climate change. More people than ever in the industrialized world are now concerned about the potentially catastrophic warming of two to eight degrees Celsius, which can result in a number of negative environmental impacts.

The problem, as many environmentalists put it, is the difficulty of curbing the greenhouse gas emissions of developing nations, especially the larger ones. China, India and Sub Saharan Africa, all with massively growing populations, are gearing up for large scale and rapid industrialization.

It’s not as simple as saying they must simply go through the industrialization process using 100% clean energy, largely due to the fact that it is still more expensive at this moment in time to do so. Using clean energy would slow their development, keeping their people in poverty longer, as widespread use of cheap energy is the driving factor behind developing nations economic growth.

Under the current economic system, it is often said that there is an inherent subsidization of any industry using fossil fuels for production and the externality of that cost will be paid by our children and our grandchildren. That’s is why the plaintiffs are suing the government in the Youth v.

Gov case.The public trust doctrine states that “public lands, waters and natural resources are to be held in trust for the benefit of the public.”

Currently, the federal government has no comprehensive plan in place to protect these resources. The Juliana plaintiffs claim that if we want our planet to remain under 2 degrees Celsius, it is going to be a battle.

Naomi Klein, a Canadian author and social activist, who has visited and spoke at the University of Oregon in the past, advocates for a carbon tax and divestment from the fossil fuel industry in her book “This Changes Everything, Capitalism vs. The Climate.” She writes that once large scale investments have been decided on, it is difficult to change course, and that as time goes on, more drastic mitigation efforts will be required. She also claims there is no shortage of options to equitably fund the lowering of carbon emissions. Among other things, Klein suggests a $50 tax per metric ton of CO2 emitted in developed countries, and the phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies. The revenue from this and additional measures, if implemented simultaneously, would amount to roughly $2 trillion annually, which she claims is the seed money for “a very healthy start to finance a Great Transition (and avoid a Great Depression).” The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s latest report on climate change states, “Limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society…limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared to 2°C could go hand in hand with ensuring a more sustainable and equitable society. Many politicians refer to the IPCC as an authority figure on climate data. Leaders are now looking to the panel for information as they make political decisions on these matters. The IPCC typically releases a climate report every six years and has recently released an important special report in 2018. In this most recent report, the IPCC has reiterated its intention to influence nations to make drastic and far reaching changes to infrastructure.

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The IPCC continues in the vein of Naomi Klein and the major environmental organizations, advising that if we do not act quickly and radically, unalterable damage to the climate will ensue. Still, it might be worth exploring alternative narratives like that of Bjorn Lomborg who has written on global welfare, and given an analysis of economics in climate change throughout his books, “How to spend $75 Billion to Make the World a Better Place,” “Cool It,” and “Prioritizing development.” Lomborg first indicates that the IPCC’s warming prediction has actually gone down in their recent reports when compared to 1990 data. He also notes that climate models have very wide margins of error, and that organizations like Greenpeace, 350.org, and the Sierra Club often lead with the highest estimates as they are interest groups who have members, subscribers, and lobbyists who all benefit when the climate predictions and stories told continue to get worse. This places them at the forefront of the climate movement, and on the front page of the news where “if it bleeds it leads.” As polar bears tend to do.

University of Sussex economist Richard Tol claims that a carbon tax is a terribly inefficient means of mitigating climate change. He says that drastic carbon cuts will do more harm than good, and that the effects of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions to achieve the 2 degrees celsius of warming mark by 2100 will be felt by developing nations most. Ambient air pollution

killed nearly 6 million people globally in 2010, more than alcohol and drugs combined, and many of these deaths were in developing nations and Southern Asia. These same markets, who cannot afford green energy, could cheaply reduce dangerous levels of ambient, and household 2.5 micron particulate matter air pollution by substituting the higher carbon footprint fuel used for cooking and heating; biomass and replacing it with natural gas.Lomborg suggests we count all humans, in all areas, as equal, prioritize human welfare, and bring as many people out of poverty, as fast as possible, as he claims this has been demonstrated to do the most overall good, both in maintaining equity between nations, and in reinforcing the climate’s relatively stable position.

The issue of climate economics is complicated, and with no one group having all the answers, the void left by uncertainty can leave room for convincing... Pembina has offered a lot of financial help to Oregon communities in need.

They helped the Egyptian Theater in Coos Bay purchase new curtain rigging equipment, helped fund Dillian’s Park, an all inclusive park in North Bend, purchased paint for the Winchester Bay Lighthouse, and commissioned several other community investments. But all this generosity makes you wonder if Pembina is attempting to buy popularity.

In addition to these donations, Pembina has also recently offered landowners in the

path of the pipeline $30,000 as a pre-approved payment with a deadline to accept their offer

by December 31, 2018. If the project does not go through, the homeowners would be able to keep this payment. This is in addition to any offers they have already made, and is likely a means of persuading FERC into approving their permits. When Pembina was previously denied, the board cited the fact that the company only had homeowner approval for a small portion of the proposed route.

On one hand, there’s an energy company with a lot of money, and on the other, there are activists with endless willpower who are gathering data to bring to the courts. Nonetheless, transparency and education are needed at every level. Rather than emotion and dollar signs influencing negotiations, knowledge and reason should be guiding inclusive and democratic decisions. Environmental solutions are not always black and white, but the fact remains that there are two paths forward. Either Pembina will be permitted to build a pipeline that will bring jobs to local economies and provide economic benefit along with pollution to the atmosphere, or the permits will be blocked by either Oregon’s officials or the Federal Energy Regulatory commission in favor of preserving the climate. Which side are you on?

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LGBTQ and YOU A budding relationship between Greek Life and the LGBTQ community.

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Targeting an

Identity The Brazilian LGBTQ community feels the effects of the far-right’s rise WORDS RENATA S. GERALDO ART MADDY WIGNALL CW: Homophobia and sexual assault.

Ever since Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil in late October 2018, Pedro Oliveira, who asked to remain in anonymity, fears for his life. LGBTQ pins, which once used to be on his backpack, remain hidden in a drawer. His social circle shrunk. And his feelings of loneliness outweigh his fear of being a gay man in Brazil.

Although fearful of what might happen in the next four years with Bolsonaro as Brazil’s president, Oliveira is no stranger to homophobia. On three instances in the past, he was targeted for *Pedro Oliveira asked not to use his real name 18 | ETHOS | Winter 2019

his identity and sexuality.

On the fi rst occasion, he was sitting with his now ex-boyfriend in a park when suddenly, a man spat in their direction while passing by with children. The man then told the couple that they should leave.

The second occasion involved him playfully wrestling with a friend in a park in São Paulo. “We weren’t doing anything,” said Oliveira. Multiple attempts at convincing security guards ended up unsuccessful, and they were soon kicked out.

On the last and most recent occasion, a man sexually assaulted Oliveira in an empty subway car when coming back from school. At fi rst, Oliveira’s perpetrator seemed like a “cute older man” to him. “He said it was his fi rst time riding the subway.” However, the friendly man quickly turned into a predator when he touched Oliveira’s groin without his consent. Oliveira was shocked and left the subway car as soon as it reached the next station.

His fi rst instinct was to inform law enforcement, but authorities didn’t believe such an incident could happen with a man. Since then, he feels discouraged on opening up to his family or friends about the story “because no one would believe.”

Although the three episodes transformed Oliveira into being more reclusive, Bolsonaro presents another challenge for him and others’ identity: How will the LGBTQ community be affected by his administration?

Bolsonaro’s presidency already had repercussions directed at the LGBTQ community. On January 2, 2019, a day after Bolsonaro took office, he signed a provisional measure detailing what agenda each ministry should follow. On the human rights ministry, however, the lack of an agenda regarding LGBTQ or gender identity rights sparked outrage within the community.

According to Thiago Amparo, a researcher on the LGBTQ community for the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, a law and business school in São Paulo, the provisional measure violates primary rights stated in Brazil’s Constitution.

“Removing LGBT rights from the national policy of human rights breaks international, regional and national commitments taken by Brazil as well as breaking with one of the fundamentals of the Brazilian republic, which is to promote welfare without prejudice,” he said.

Even before Bolsonaro took office, farright supporters of the President infl icted several attacks on the LGBTQ community. On October 16, 2018, a transsexual woman was murdered by a group of people who advocated for Bolsonaro. Between the fi rst and second round of elections, over 2.7 million people posted about their experience being attacked in Brazil.

Even before the election period, Brazil was already the deadliest country for the LGBTQ community. In 2017, there were over 445 LGBTQ individuals murdered,

with a 30 percent increase from 2016 to 2017, according to the Bahia Gay Group, an organization that collects data on LGBTQ crimes in Brazil. In 2018, the same group claimed in a study that every 19 hours, a LGBTQ person is either murdered or commits suicide.

But even violence against the LGBTQ community is part of a broader framework of terror occurring in Brazil.

The Bolsonaro phenomenon is a symptomatic response to government corruption, public safety crisis and economic recession, which many Brazilians blame on the former administrations.

The Workers’ Party (PT), which was in power from 2002 until 2016, brought Brazil many social reforms for the millions of people in poverty but was also marked by “Lava Jato” (or “car wash”), the biggest corruption scandal in Brazilian history.

Prosecutors lead investigations fi nding PT as the main culprit in the corruption scandal, and that coincided with the eco-

for the results of the second round of elections.

Bolsonaro was competing against Fernando Haddad, the PT candidate. However, due to increased violence during the economic recession, Freire still felt afraid if Haddad won the presidential election.

“If PT wins the election, I will buy a handgun,” said Freire before fi nding out Bolsonaro was the new president-elect.

But as results would later show, Bolsonaro would win the election with 55.7 percent of the votes and become, for minorities, a threat to their rights. For others, however, Bolsonaro represents hope for a safer and less corrupt country. Both Freire and Sandro Rocha, a pastor who voted for Bolsonaro, would describe the President as a savior who would steer Brazil away from a dark hole of violence, economic crisis and loss of family values to make Brazil’s skies “indigo blue again.”

In order to address the issue of public safety, Bolsonaro gloated that he would legalize the use of handguns and celebrating police officers who kill people in the Favelas, Brazilian slums, regardless of the deceased person’s innocence. His rhetoric of violence worked with many people, as results later revealed, but allowed people to use it as an excuse for more violence, especially against the LGBTQ community.

Bolsonaro supporters created a game called “Bolsonaro 2k18,” in which the president-elect would physically attack women, homosexuals and black people. Although Bolsonaro never attacked anyone, his supporters did. One of the victims is Guilherme Souza.

Souza was traveling in the Brazilian Northeast with his boyfriend when they were stopped by a car in the street. The man inside made Souza and his boyfriend scared by saying, “Bolsonaro is coming.”

“Our trip changed a 100 percent,” said Souza.

Both became overflowed with fear and shock. They weren’t holding hands or doing something romantic, which would suggest homosexuality. The strategy is common for homosexual couples in Brazil in order to protect themselves from homophobic attacks.

In the case of an attack against the LGBTQ community, whether during the elections or in general, justice rarely wins.

According to Amparo, the LGBTQ community remains a vulnerable target due to the limited legal resources tied to a lack of constitutional rights.

“It’s a fierce environment, but they’re isolated cases that we’re sorry about and hope they don’t happen.” nomic recession during Dilma Rousseff ’s government. She was later impeached, and the levels of violence rose. According to the Brazilian Forum of Public Safety in 2018, 175 people die every day in Brazil.

Assassinations are a common type of violence in the country. In 2018, 63,808 people were killed, and around 50 million adults know at least one person who was murdered, according to the Brazilian Forum of Public Safety (FBSP.) What makes Brazilians even more fearful and frustrated is that justice is hardly ever served. According to the United Nations, less than 20 percent of the murders are solved and 90 percent of murderers escape conviction.

For the entrepreneur Fernanda Freire, violence sits right around the corner. Her neighbor got mugged in front of his house, and the incident made her wary of even going out for a few drinks on the weekend with her family. Still, she was scared

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But for him, the elections were an especially inflamed period. Bolsonaro’s rhetoric encouraged “authorization for these kinds of attacks,” said Amparo.

“Throughout this election period, there was a huge propagation of hate speech, especially on social media, which was also hooded by the president-elect.”

Social media acted as an effective campaign tool for Bolsonaro. He claimed his campaign was the cheapest in Brazilian history, but his efforts and communications were centered on Twitter and Facebook, especially after he was stabbed during a rally in early September. Claiming an injured state weeks after the stabbing attack, Bolsonaro stopped going to televised debates. Although it’s protocol for any presidential candidate to stop attending televised debates near the election, Bolsnaro’s claim coincided with the incident and propelled his strategy of speaking unmediated to audience members. In Brazil, with a population over 209 million, over 125 million individuals use Facebook daily. His advantage of connecting with the people over social media draws parallels to President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on Twitter.

Freire claims the opposition’s buzz “helped Bolsonaro grow by sharing news about him. It was free publicity.”

At the same time, social media was also heavily used by his opposition and minorities to expose targeted attacks during the elections, for example, the Instagram page “Ele Não Vai Nos Matar” (or He’s Not Going to Kill Us.) The stylist Felipe Lago shared his story of an attack during a lunch break and became one of the 2.7 million people who shared their experience on social media.

While walking to a restaurant, a group of three men followed Lago while praising Bolsonaro. One of the men then said, “that right in front of us will end because Bolsonaro will kill faggots,” according to Lago.

Lago’s fi rst instinct was to go inside a random restaurant near him until he eventually pulled out his phone. “I was scared and posted on Facebook,” he said.

“Then a lot of friends of mine said they had experienced similar things.”

With what he saw online, Lago says he created a form of resistance with the Instagram page. He published stories from different people all over the country who 20 | ETHOS | Winter 2019

had similar experiences and still does despite Bolsnaro’s election victory. The page now has over 103,000 followers. The publications drew attention, prompting Bolsonaro to comment about the page. A Brazilian news website, UOL, reported him publicly apologizing and pleading how he possesses no “control over millions and millions of people that support me. It’s a fierce environment, but they’re isolated cases that we’re sorry about and hope they don’t happen.”

For victims, however, his speech wasn’t

enough for ending the one-sided violence.

Nor did he offer solutions, such as institutional aid for this specific population that has little access to justice, according to Amparo.

Because LGBTQ phobia does not violate any laws in Brazil, it’s hard to make legal cases to the judiciary. The Constitution, however, states public welfare regardless of age, race, sex and “any other forms of discrimination” is an inviolable right. That said, more than a decade ago the proposed legislation criminalizing homophobia was archived for pending in Congress for more than eight years.

Due to the murkiness in legislation regarding intolerance, impunity is often the case. Simultaneously, according to Amparo, local law enforcement is unprepared to handle these situations. Although Brazil’s biggest cities, such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, contain specialized bureaus to

deal with human rights violations, “LGBTQ phobia is often the appendix,” he said.

Despite 2.7 million posts on social media about people in the community exposing their homophobic-attack experiences, defi nite data on the attacks remains unaccounted for, according to Amparo. An independent news website, Apublica, reported on 50 attacks in 10 days in Brazil, but the researcher says this number could be higher. Still, there is no telling how these accurate statistics look like.

“The lack of institutional mechanisms and a database comes from the fact that there is no federal legislation for that,” said Amparo.

Going to the police for institutional support was never a choice for Souza or Lago after each of their incidents. Oliveira eventually sought the police after the assault but was met with a brick wall.

Besides the inefficiency, another factor hindering Souza’s decision of informing police pertains to the officers’ own political bias. Since Bolsonaro promised to invest in law enforcement on the campaign trail, police are usually on his side. It’s still a duty for police to serve the needs of the public, according to Amparo, and offer institutional support aside from previously implemented projects, such as Homophobia Watchdog.

Created by the General Attorney’s office, the Homophobia Watchdog is an online service for people who have been attacked to access justice.

Because of sensitive political and social circumstances, some LGBTQ community members assist each other, either in legal or psychological support.

For this reason, Gabriel Mantelli cocreated Acode, a non-profit that offers pro-bono services for LGBTQ individuals across the country who have been victims of LGBTQ phobic attacks.

What’s problematic for Acode is the weak rule of law in Brazil, especially towards minorities. Still, Mantelli sees this field as a work that needs to be done. Although challenging, Acode assisted 45 victims from all over the country in a span of three weeks, according to Mantelli.

Besides the non-profit work, Mantelli is also a researcher for the Getúlio Vargas Foundation. He correlates the rise of politically targeted violence as a result of Bolsonaro’s extreme rhetoric against mi-

norities.

“The danger that we see happens from the ascension of intolerance and its symbolic legitimization through Congress – we just elected a really conservative Congress – as well as through the executive power with Bolsonaro,” said Mantelli.

“It’s not morally bad anymore to assault an LGBTQ.” In Mantelli’s eyes, if approved by Congress, the provisional measure removing LGBTQ rights from the government’s agenda symbolizes a manifestation of what the next four years will bring for the community. “It’s very symptomatic and really worrying that the LGBT issue stops being explicit in the government; stops being explicit in Brazil’s federal structure,” he said.

According to Mantelli, Bolsonaro’s rhetoric permitted the LGBTQ phobia attacks in the fi rst place. Yet, Bolsonaro himself suffered the consequences for his hate speech in the past. A contestant sued him for moral damages during a TV show in 2011, forcing him to compensate the equivalent to $37,500 to the Fund for the Defense of Diffuse Rights. During the show, Bolsonaro said his sons would not be gay because all four had a present father figure and access to quality education. He also refused to participate in an annual gay parade held in São Paulo because he believes in God and the preservation of family values. In 2011, Bolsonaro said in an interview to Playboy that “I would be incapable of loving a homosexual son. I’m not going to be a hypocrite: I would prefer that a son of mine die in an accident than coming around with a bearded man.” He did not suffer legal consequences for the interview.

Still, according to Oliveira, most of Bolsonaro’s supporters don’t hold LGBTQ phobic thoughts or ideas. Otherwise, he would consider not leaving his home.

Both Freire and Rocha, who voted for Bolsonaro, said they have nothing personal against the LGBTQ community, and rather feel empathetic for their struggles.

“The LGBT [community] is increasingly worse, is suffering even more,” Freire said. When asked if the social condition improved with PT’s reforms, she said that “the social disparity is very imminent, people are miserable, so I don’t know what got better.”

Rocha, who works within his church to help vulnerable LGBTQ people, said that Bolsonaro supporters who attack LGBTQ people are “idiots who exist everywhere.” According to him, the attacks

are not isolated, since members of the LGBTQ community “have always been, and are and always will be murdered violently due to the life they have and where and how they live.”

Rather, the extremism and intolerance in speeches like Bolsonaro’s demonstrate the propensity to socially accept authoritarian policies. According to Datafolha in 2017, approximately 80 percent of the population is open to authoritarian positions. This number varies according to different regions, but critics argue that it is due to the low levels of scholarship and grim socioeconomic conditions in a country where over 50 million people fall under the poverty line.

Yet, having 80 percent of the population embracing authoritarianism does not mean that the Brazilian society stands resolute and united. Instead, political polarization is a recurring theme that existed before Brazil’s military coup in 1964, and

“The danger that we see happens from the ascension of intolerance...” persists today – a country divided in left and right.

Polarization became an advantage for Bolsonaro’s campaign. During the campaign, Bolsonaro stated that the people who were against him should leave Brazil.

On the last day before the second round of elections, however, he published a video on social media urging unity for the country.

For Oliveira, however, polarization runs deep into social relations, meaning it’s not a symptom that can be easily remedied. His godmother, who always supported his identity, voted for Bolsonaro, thus making Oliveira feel betrayed. With everything that Bolsonaro had said about the LGBTQ community, he couldn’t understand how an ally could vote for the new President.

Besides his godmother, Oliveira’s exboyfriend also voted for Bolsonaro. For him, the decision to support a candidate as homophobic as Bolsonaro is a direct attempt against his own life.

“That hurt me a lot,” he said. “Not

voting for him is basic for supporting someone in the LGBTQ community.”

Due to the increase in politically targeted attacks, the LGBTQ community in Brazil is scared, according to Amparo.

Because the actual number of attacks is murky due to institutional inefficiency, bad communication with authorities and the lack of a database, the size of the problem is still unclear.

Souza, for example, has been considering leaving the country with his boyfriend if things get worse in Brazil.

But in a country where most of the population does not have the resources to leave, Acode and “Ele Não Vai Nos Matar” are on the frontline to offer protection and to expose attacks that are happening all over Brazil.

The LGBTQ community is especially fragile in rural areas which compose most of the fi fth largest country in the world.

In those areas, conservatism especially thrives due to the lack of scholarship and poor socioeconomic conditions.

Still, even in the largest city in Latin America, Oliveira feels lonely. People whom he could once trust are no longer part of his list of friends and allies because they voted for Bolsonaro, a president sued for his homophobic rhetoric.

While many people, like Rocha, who voted for Bolsonaro sees him as Moses, the leader who will free the oppressed and the scared from the years of PT’s government to a more united and developed Brazil, Oliveira sees him as a threat. “I really hope he doesn’t do what he says he is going to do,” he said.

After being a victim of three attacks, and having his close friends and family show their support for Bolsonaro, Oliveira fears what might happen in the next four years. For him, there’s no telling what the future looks like.

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the

Body Complex

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WORDS DANIKA TAYLOR PHOTOS AUSTIN WILLHOFT

I

stare down at my thighs, they stare back. What is most glaring is the gap that no longer exists. My heart drops and my fingers begin to tingle, a slow pounding filling my ears. Pressing harshly on my inner thighs I think: Am I about to have a panic attack over this newfound discovery?

I send pictures to my friends in horror. They respond with the typical “You’re not fat!!” and “OMG if you think you’re fat than what am I?” These texts never calm my body anxiety. I can be the skinniest person in the room, but will feel like the elephant. What I can’t recognize in myself I envy in others: the cute, flat tummies, skinny legs and rounded butts.

I can’t look at others without comparing myself to them and subsequently feeling bad about myself. I have had, and still have, what is hard to recognize in oneself: body dysmorphic disorder.

There isn’t a definitive answer to exactly how body dysmorphia can start.

Many begin to show signs of it as early as six years old, but it most often occurs when they enter their adolescent years, especially teenage. Research from the American Psychiatric Association in 2013 reveals that it affects men and women equally. In the United States, it affects 2.5% of males and 2.2% of females. There are a multitude of factors that can contribute to its development, and it varies case to case. Body dysmorphic disorder can occur because of a biological predisposition, other neurological factors such as a hormonal imbalance or outside environmental trauma.

Body dysmorphic disorder is a mental illness. It is difficult to diagnose because it is easy to hide and many are already hiding their compulsions and obsessions from the general public. However, once diagnosed there are two common options for treatment: cognitive-behavioral therapy and medication. Antidepressants (specifically selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) can be prescribed because of the brain’s chemical imbalance. In therapy, one can be instructed to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. According to Dr. Arnold Lieber, “Exposure and response prevention are two key processes involved in cognitivebehavioral therapy.” Response prevention can help teach an individual to resist the urges of covering up with clothes or makeup, seeking affirmation about one’s appearance and spending time in front of a mirror.

I find myself asking often, was it sudden or gradual? Did I ever see myself normally in the mirror? I know I am already hard on myself, unbelievably so, but felt

no one else could get to me. Eventually, the words seeped in, filled the cracks I created in myself and expanded them until I was left with gaping holes.

When we are young, we latch onto the silliest of phrases and words. I remember when a child said “shit” as he knocked over his juice cup, taking after his mother’s everyday mouthy vernacular.

I laughed in the moment, but the amount children unconsciously absorb from their surroundings is insane. Unnerving, really.

There was a time when I was about ten when a phrase stuck. It was nonsensical really, but has affected my life in a way that still plays out today.

I remember it was drizzling outside, probably winter. I was wearing a Tinkerbell shirt-- a staple item of my fifth-grade closet. Its base was white with a colorful checkered pattern taking up most of the front and Tinkerbell overlayed in black.

She was an icon, a fierce little thing. Oh, how I wished to be her, to be her in body and soul. She was petite, with a slim waist and perfect blond hair. Everything I wished to be, even as a fifth grader. At that age, I know I shouldn’t have been so focused on my looks, but rather having fun with my friends or spending time

“Oh, how I wished to be her, to be her in body and soul. She was petite, with a slim waist and perfect blond hair.” with my family. Looking back, I wish I had enjoyed more of the trivial aspects of middle school like getting an extra pudding cup for lunch or who I was going to sit next to in choir, rather than if anyone was going to make fun of my new bangs or how much I weighed.

But the world gets to everyone at some point. I guess fifth grade was just my time.

I was in class, just before the bell would ring to signal its beginning with the familiar double ding. There was light conversation in the room. Students were mostly in their seats, but some crowded around a boy with a Nintendo DS while others were rushing in the last minute. My teacher was looking over the lesson at the front of the room by her desk. Everything felt normal, a typical morning.

The class was math, I already hated math. Now I hate it more, but I doubt this fact actually has anything to do with what she had said. It’s just an abomina-

tion of a subject.

Anyway, the bell rang and the teacher started to speak. The “hello’s” and “welcome to class’s” were tossed out. She was already in a place of absent-mindedness.

Then, out of nowhere, she nonchalantly said one phrase that sticks with me today, crossed my mind yesterday and will resurface tomorrow: “If you can pinch an inch, you better get yourself to the gym.”

It made me look down at my stomach, conscious, aware. I grabbed it and pinched my belly, unsure what an inch looked like in skin, but the ability to grab anything at all horrified my sensitive, innocent soul. I must have thought I was fat, and although there are numerous pictures to prove I was not, I already knew I was larger than the average fifth grader-- at least in height. I was tallest in my class and very proud of the fact. I was not proud to be fat, but I wasn’t fat. I only thought I was.

Until recently, my thighs have never touched. Now the unfamiliar and uncomfortable rubbing of my thighs as I walk to class is a giant burden. With that one phrase from my fifth grade teacher, I became hyper aware of every last inch of fat, cellulite and unwanted leg muscle that left my legs feeling bigger than they actually were. I was just a child still growing into my body, but instead of growing up I was afraid of growing out. As I got older, my body dysmorphia began to encompass more than my general stature.

It became a list of flaws and thoughtless obsessions.

A common misconception about body dysmorphia is that it only affects how a person views his or her body shape, but in reality, body dysmorphia embodies more: It can include compulsive behavior regarding looks and grooming, social anxiety induced from one ’s appearance and constant comparison to others to a point of complete consumption. Often people attempt to ‘fix’ their perceived flaws and can sometimes be satisfied with the results. However, eventually the temporary fix no longer suffices and they fixate again, on the same thing or something new.

When I was young, I would often grow tired of how my hair looked, then beg my mother to take me to the salon to get it cut or dyed. One instant at 13 centered around my mother’s friend who had flippantly mentioned my hair looked darker than it used to as a child. From that, I gleaned I looked odd.

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people attempt to ‘fix’ their perceived flaws and can sometimes be satisfied with the results. However, eventually the temporary fix no longer suffices and they fixate again, on the same thing or something new.

When I was young, I would often grow tired of how my hair looked, then beg my mother to take me to the salon to get it cut or dyed. One instant at 13 centered around my mother’s friend who had flippantly mentioned my hair looked darker than it used to as a child. From that, I gleaned I looked odd. The next day I was in a salon bleaching my hair back to its ‘natural’ platinum blond. I never saw it as destructive, merely a fun cosmetic choice that many people make. It wasn’t until my hair started breaking and falling out by my senior year of high school that I became worried, but even then I deemed it as stress and came to the conclusion that my obsessive behavior with bleached hair wasn’t the catalyst of my hair loss, but rather an unhelpful sidenote.

There was also a time in high school I became so obsessed with looking in mirrors that I ran into a wall while looking at myself. At the time, I laughed about it, thinking I was so dumb and typically self-absorbed. I didn’t equate it to the tedious hours I’d spend at night staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, qualifying it as only grooming.

There were days I’d dread leaving my room because of an unexpected breakout, and days I’d never leave the house because of it. Even now, I’m filled with an overwhelming sense of fear when I have to leave my room sans an adequate appearance. Every pimple feels like an insurmountable mountain. I find myself coveting the flawless, practically poreless skin of the girls I see on social media and feel lesser because it isn’t me.

A dichotomy astronomically messes with my head: I know I don’t need to conform to a narrow beauty standard, yet I always feel depressed when I don’t look like the other girls on my Instagram feed. It makes me want to crawl under my covers and never leave my bed and sometimes, that’s what I do.

There are good days too, and I’ve made progress. I try to go to the gym as often as possible (even though I’m basically crying on the inside every time I enter the student recreation center), and I know I’m healthy which is what matters most. While there is a frequent voice in the back of my mind taunting me with the phrase I picked up in fifth grade, the people I surround myself with now are a huge support. Encouragement and affirmation, while seemingly small notions, can go a long way, even if they don’t eradicate the anxiety. However, I can’t rely on an outside source of affirmation; I try to change negative thoughts into positive ones, too. At times, it’s subdued, which is all I can ask.

I stopped putting on makeup every day in an attempt to take control of my body dysmorphia and have become used to not wearing it. However, I am careful about falling back into patterns. While I do enjoy dressing up and doing my makeup, it’s really easy to fall back into an obsession of looking perfect. The more often I wear it, the less inclined I am to stop and the more anxious I start to feel without it. It becomes a vicious cycle that I prefer to avoid.

I don’t blame my fifth-grade math teacher for what she said; my body dysmorphia would have happened whether 30 | ETHOS | Winter 2019

she said it or not. Maybe I would have fixated on something else spoken a year later or gradually would have begun to hate my body due to the influx of social media.

Before, my decisions in my everyday media consumption were unconsciously influencing my perception of myself, and while the media isn’t completely off the hook for how it can inaccurately present the world, I have learned to become more aware of what’s real, and when I watch shows like America’s Next Top Model or The Bachelor, I take it with a grain of salt.

I do try not to care-- and it’s possible, but it’s hard. The easiest thing to remember is that everyone’s body is beautiful. It’s also the hardest thing to believe.

“I don’t blame my fifth-grade math teacher for what she said; my body dysmorphia would have happened whether she said it or not.”

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“I FOUND IN HER SOMETHING WHICH I DON’T HAVE”

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1.

2.

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3.

4.

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W

e’re gonna be the fi rst band to do it right”.

It’s unclear what exactly, Dylan Latimer, Novacane’s frontman, means by “it”, but I have an inclination to believe him. Looking sharp in a teal suit bassist Oliver Lester agrees. Novacane’s drummer, Rhen Winona just quietly nods. There’s something about the group – whether their 70s hipster aesthetics, tight brotherhood or relaxed self-awareness – that points to something bigger.

And despite spending the last few hours with them and attending countless shows.

I can’t seem to put my fi nger on it.

Perhaps I am biased, as a Eugene local I have a soft spot for any fellow Eugene natives. But ask their highly charged and drunk, crowds of fans and they would most likely agree.

Riding on the wave of “Summer of Love” nostalgia it’s easy to lump in No-

vacane as a “throwback” indie bands.

But their sound is edgier, funkier than many of their contemporaries., Novacane also mixes classic rock, blues, and a bit of punk. It brings the best from the past, without sounding boring.

“The Blues is cool,” says Latimer, “and classic rock is cool because it’s very elementary – it’s hitting a bucket with a stick.

But you have that wiggle room to defi ne it for yourself. We’re part of a movement of kids who want to grab at the golden era of rock and roll and continue to extend it to their own I idea of what music should be.”

“I think a renaissance is happening” agrees Lester.

Their music is a wonderful combination of edgy, heartfelt and fun to mosh too – which is a common occurrence at their shows.

Novacane got their start young. The three “banded together over their love

of pop punk”. Their fi rst gig was at their middle school talent show, and incidentally the fi rst time Lester had picked up an instrument. It’s one of Lester’s favorite moment in the band. “It was the farthest thing from quality”, Lester says with a laugh, “but it was a good time.”

Winona joined the band that next spring, when Novacane needed a drummer for Guitar Center’s, Battle of the Bands in 2012. They wrote four original songs for the competition, that Latimer describes as “really, really, bad.”

As the band grew and improved, so did their venues. They spent many nights performing at the now-closed Boreal, a Eugene music venue catered towards minors. While the crowd at Boreal was small and composed of mostly families the impact on Novacane was huge. “Even getting a small show at a shitty DIY place was monumental to us,” said Latimer. It was during that time that Novacane musically and literally grew up.

Listening to the boys reminisce about their roots is surprisingly endearing. Lester and Latimer’s give and take come naturally, like siblings. They both tease drummer Winona on his silence during the interview, but you can tell the jokes are kind-hearted. The band recognizes this as well. When I ask them about it they make jokes, but they all choke up and sentiment is clear. “These guys are like my brothers,” says Lester. It’s one of the things I like most about Novacane. For aspiring rock stars, they’re not afraid to have a bit of a soft side.

These days Novacane are regulars in the “house show circuit” of bands. Along similar indie sounds, such as Laundry and The Macks, Novacane spends most weekend nights playing to hoards of collegeaged hipsters, crammed into a various collection of living rooms around Eugene.

The community is surprisingly organized, each venue (in other words backyard, basement, or the occasional sweaty bedroom) is given an ironic name such as “Camelot,” or “The Emerald Palace” and is organized into various collectives. BluePlant, the most prominent organizer, was featured by in the Oregon Daily Emerald last October. The community is important to them, both as a source of support and of competition; especially The Macks, who Latimer describes as “some of our best friends”.

“Playing at these massive packed out shows is incredible,” says Lester. “The people in the crowd are absolutely loving it, the band is loving it – everyone is just

44 | ETHOS | Winter 2019

on the sort of on the same page right now.

I don’t know – just really fucking cool being a part of it.”

But Novacane is a house show staple, and as they gain popularity, their opportunities grow. Whether in the form of their fi rst album “Pretty Colors”, which came out in 2018, and an increasing amount of shows, or their upcoming tour with The Macks, Novacane is on the rise.

“In the past year we’ve been snowballing”, says Latimer. “The more we figure out who we are – the steps just keep on getting bigger and bigger and faster and faster.”

And Novacane is committed to taking it all the way. “It’s what always set us apart”, says Lester. “The majority of bands in the scene have college and will graduate with all these expectations. We don’t go to college. We just work and play music. Whether or not that makes us lesser people to society but I feel like as long as we have music – and it’s the only thing we have – that’s what’s going to separate us.”

It’s Latimer who sums it up; “I think we’re riding that come up to something glorious.”

Left: Members of Novacane flip through posters in Lazars Bazaar.

Top: Dylan Latimer, lead guitaris and vocalistt, lines up next to legend Frank Zappa.

Middle: Rhen Winona, the psych–pop trio’s drummer, among the likes of Jack and Meg White.

Bottom: Oliver Lester, bassist, pensively contemplating John Lennon.

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MORE THAN AN ARTIST. David Placencia’s journey as an artist started out the way of many others. He grew up watching his mother create something from nothing and has been doing the same since. Through his time as a Eugene-based artist, he has seen the significance art has had on the community.

In addition to being a veteran team member at the Flagship Campus Duck Store’s Art & School Supplies Department, David works with the 20x21 EUG Mural Project — which aims to create outdoor murals around Eugene before the year 2021 — as well as instructing art classes at the Emerald Art Center.

What do stories offer? There are the ones that educate or entertain. Those we see parts of ourselves in, and others that help us imagine what we could accomplish.

In what we do, we are surrounded by these types of stories, and we want to share them with you. The purpose of this goes back to the why behind what we do.

We believe that everyone has the potential to Be more.

Through every interaction — with our team members, partners and customers — our mission is providing whatever it takes to get them there.

With almost 100 years behind us, what you’ll learn is just a snapshot. But a snapshot we hope will educate, entertain and inspire.

Visit Bemore.UODuckStore.com to watch David and others share their stories.

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