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D A I LY E M E R A L D . C O M
⚙ MONDAY
Reclaiming Pride EUGENE’S LGBTQ COMMUNITY CONFRONTS FEAR brought on by the Orlando
shooting earlier this year. This week’s Pride Festival provides opportunities for community growth and expression of a renewed solidarity.
U O D R O P O U T S TA R T S B I O F U E L C O M PA N Y
Q & A W I T H F O R M E R U O B A S E B A L L P L AY E R N O W I N M L B
SOLUTIONS: THEFT IN DINING HALLS
đ&#x;”Ś NEWS UO DROPOUT TURNS COLLEGE’S COOKING OIL INTO BIOFUEL
Photo by Cam Christensen
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Ian Hill pours fuel into a beaker at SeQuential. (Will Campbell)
When a column of black smoke rose from Ian Hill’s burning pickup truck on the side of the Sacramento highway, the former University of Oregon student had a sudden realization. The sight of the flaming fossil fuel backdropped by the agricultural scenery made him think, “I’m going to start my own company.â€? Hill is the co-founder and managing partner of SeQuential Biofuel in Eugene. SeQuential collects used cooking oil from hundreds of locations, including UO, to be processed into biodiesel fuel - a non-fossil fuel that burns 75 percent cleaner than traditional gasoline, according to Hill. Producing about 5.5 million gallons of biofuel a year, SeQuential is Oregon’s only biodiesel processing plant and it also sells biodiesel at two retail locations in Eugene. Hill had been considering starting his biofuel company long before the moment his truck began to smoke. He discovered biodiesel at UO while studying environmental sciences — a major that Hill says was un-optimistic and depressing. “I came out of it desperately wanting there to be some concrete thing I could get my hands around that was moving toward positive change,â€? Hill said. He eventually dropped out in 2000. He found that concrete solution when working as a librarian in college. The job gave Hill enough free time to study biodiesel on forums. “It meant I had many hours to sit in front of the Internet with nothing to do,â€? Hill said. Hill used online forums to collaborate with likeminded biofuel visionaries in Japan, Africa, Europe and South America about how people were making their own fuel. The simplicity of creating biofuel was intriguing to Hill and his friends. The process involves filtering the oil, adding a chemical catalyst and the oil separates into gasoline and methane. “A villager in the remote ‌ Himalayas could make fuel for a diesel generator by doing a simple chemical reaction
with their animal fat,� Hill said. Hill’s garage held his first fuel processing operations, making enough to fuel six cars. They were not selling it yet. “It was enough to prove to us that it was very doable, and that the technology was simple and it worked,� he said. Now, UO sells all their used cooking oil to SeQuential, which then drives it to Salem and processes it into gasoline, according to Tom Driscoll, director of dining services at UO. “[SeQuential] had come to us some years ago interested in what we were doing with our used frying oil,� Driscoll said. “We ended up making a deal with them.� Six kitchens at UO sell their used frying oil to SeQuential for about $200 a year, according to Driscoll. Driscoll said that the UO used to have to pay to remove their used cooking oil before arranging the deal with SeQuential, making the current situation a win-win. SeQuential sells its processed fuel to Chevron, BP, Texaco or to retail stations, according to Hill. UO was interested in building its own biodiesel converter last year at their new kitchen, located at the corner Columbia Street and 17th Avenue, when it opened last spring. The idea fell apart when Driscoll realized the scope of the operation would be too big and too dangerous because it would require housing 55 gallons of flammable methane gas on campus. At the time that Hill began looking to sell his product, biofuel wasn’t commercially available in Oregon. The lack of competition and the opportunity to provide consumers with an environmentally friendlier option contributed to SeQuential’s success, according to Hill. “We were kind of right at the beginning of biodiesel,� Hill said. “Our timing was just right.�
BY WILL CAMPBELL, @ W T C A M P B E L L
đ&#x;“… CALENDAR THIS WEEK IN THURSDAY, AUGUST 11TH
MONDAY, AUGUST 8TH Lindsey Stirling at the Hult Center (1 Eugene Center) — doors open at 7 p.m. — tickets starting at $29.95
➥ BRAEDON
La Luz, Snow White, and Egotones at WOW Hall (291 W. 8th Ave.) — 9 p.m. – tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door
K W I E C I E N , @ B R A E D AW G _ K W I
Lindsey Stirling is a classically trained violinist who has gained popularity by morphing classic sounds with modern electronic beats and animations to go with the music. She plays the strings with finesse and beautiful technique but with a twist. The innovative choice of mixing the old with the new makes this artist unique and unexpected in the EDM scene.
The four-woman Seattle band La Luz is playing at this year’s Pickathon music festival and will immediately come to Eugene to headline this surf-rock style concert. Opening for La Luz will be Eugene’s own Snow White. Snow White’s psych rock style will seamlessly follow the first opener Egotones, which claims to create Japanese Cowboy Surf Spy Rock from Mars. All three bands feature real instruments, alternative rock styles and are known for their electric stage presence.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 9TH
FRIDAY, AUGUST 12TH
Ride Oregon at REI Eugene – REI Eugene (306 Lawrence St.) — 7 - 8:30 p.m. — Free
The Dandy Warhols at WOW Hall (291 W. 8th Ave.) doors open at 8 p.m. – tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door
Want to learn how to mountain bike and find good trails without traveling to remote destinations around the world? REI’s seminar will give you the chance to learn to ride or get to know great local mountain biking trails. At this event, rookies can learn about the basics of gear, nearby trails, rentals and how to start biking, while experts can get to know the rigors that Eugene has to offer and hang out with other like-minded cyclists. For some great destinations, the Emerald has compiled a list of bike trails online at dailyemerald.com.
Portland based band The Dandy Warhols are known for their world tours, hit singles such as “Bohemian Like You� and being a bunch of hipsters who put Andy Warhol’s art on their records. The 2016 album Distortland is the band’s latest release and the name of their 2016 tour that brings them to Eugene. Dandy fans have waited four years for this new album that holds more distorted sounds of their euphoric and melodic rock.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 13TH
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10TH Open Figurative Drawing – Emerald Art Center (500 Main St.) – 6:30 - 9 p.m. — $6 All artists are welcome to this two-anda-half-hour workshop. There will be a model at this event to practice life drawing, but there’s a twist. At the end of the session, the model will pick their favorite drawing to exhibit in the center’s gallery for a week. The theme of the session is figurative drawing; all interpretations are welcome and creative license is encouraged.
The Emerald is published by Emerald Media Group, Inc., the independent nonprofit media company at the University of Oregon. Formerly the Oregon Daily Emerald, the news organization was founded in 1900. VO L . 1 1 8 , I S S U E N O. 8
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Antony Duibouti, fabulously known as Diva-Someone Slaughter, celebrates Pride Week at HiFi Music Hall in Downtown Eugene. (Christopher Trotchie)
SUNDAY, AUGUST 13TH
Oregon Festival of American Music 2016 – at the John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts (868 High St.) – 1:30 - 10 p.m. tickets starting at $18
Eugene/Springfield Pride Festival — Alton Baker Park (100 Day Island Rd.) – noon - 6 p.m. — suggested $5 donation This year’s Pride Festival will feature dancing, musical performances, drag shows, facilitated discussions on LGBTQ themes and spoken word poetry and comedy, all on two different stages. This is the 25th annual celebration hosted by the Eugene Pride Day Equality Project. See page four for more information on Eugene’s Pride Festival, the Downtown Pride Block Party and some of the LGBTQ community’s reaction to the tragic shooting in Orlando.
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Sam Thrower, the very first Quing of the Eugene/Sprinfield Quing Pageant, performs on stage at HiFI Music Hall.
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đ&#x;“– COVER
From left: Joelle Goodwin, Sam Thrower and Camille Vanden celebrate Pride Week at HiFi Music Hall in Downtown Eugene. (Christopher Trotchie)
After Orlando, Pride means something different in Eugene ➥
EMERSON MALONE, @ALLMALONE & CHRISTOPHER TROCHIE, @CHRISTOPHER999
After the mass shooting earlier this summer in Orlando’s Pulse nightclub that left 49 people dead and 53 injured, Bill Sullivan had “flashbacks.� Sullivan, a Eugene resident and LGBTQ activist, said he recalled when a New Orleans bar called the UpStairs Lounge was attacked by an arsonist in a massacre that killed 32 people in 1973. It was the deadliest attack on the LGBTQ community — until earlier this summer. “Orlando was a wake up for a lot of people,� said Sullivan, who serves on the board of directors for the Eugene PRIDE Day Equality project, the organizers behind this weekend’s 25th annual Eugene/Springfield Pride Festival. “It’s still happening. It’s not just a onetime event.� Other members of the LGBTQ community are feeling this sentiment as Eugene prepares to host several pride events this week. Despite June being LGBT Pride Month, many pride events around the country are shuffled around the summer due to the fact that availability is scarce in June. Because Oregon has several pride events around the state — in Portland, Salem, Bend, Southern Oregon, Coastal Oregon, Corvallis and Eugene to name several — it’s hard to fit them all into one month, Sullivan said. PA G E 4
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Sullivan coordinated the second annual Eugene/ Springfield Quing — queen and king — Pride Pageant at HiFi Music Hall on Saturday night. That night, the Eugene LGBTQ community kicked off a week of festivities to celebrate one of Eugene’s more vibrant communities. Standing in platform high heels, skyscraper-sized wigs and bright flowing dresses, a collection of drag queens towered over the crowd, shouting cat calls at each other from across the outdoor patio. One of those people is Morgan Andersen, a local who’s made a name for himself by his drag queen persona Angelica D’Vil. Andersen said friends of his asked if he still wanted to host events as D’Vil, which puts him in the limelight as queer. He said yes. “The biggest mistake we can make as a community is to stay quiet and pretend these things didn’t happen,� Andersen said. “I’m not going to dumb down who I am or what I believe in just because of living in a state of fear that people don’t like who I am or what I stand for.� “Eugene Pride, this year, will definitely be more powerful,� said Sam Thrower, who was crowned the first ever Quing in 2015 and performed at Saturday’s
Pageant. “People just want to be more together now.� One onlooker at HiFi was Camille Vanden. Vanden was a drag queen himself for thirty years, and the scene on Saturday was something he could only dream of when he was growing up in Las Vegas in the 1970s. “Now it is a little easier for people,� Vanden said. “I think we are strong enough in our number to not let that fear overtake us.� This weekend’s Pride Festival will take place from noon to 6 p.m. in Alton Baker Park on Saturday, Aug. 13. The event is all ages and free, though there is a $5 suggested donation. This Friday, The Wayward Lamb pub will host the Downtown Pride Block Party, which will block off Broadway from Charnelton street to Olive street from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. D’Vil will host both the block party and the subsequent after-party in the Lamb from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. UO graduate student Jesse Quinn has attended many Pride Festivals in Eugene and Springfield since he was a student at Pleasant Hill High School. Quinn created a Gay Straight Alliance at his high school after attending the Eugene/Springfield Pride Festival. “It was pretty instrumental in my coming out,�
events happening
this weekend:
Downtown Pride Block Party – Friday, Aug. 12
Hosted by: The Wayward Lamb pub and Angelica D’Vil Location: (on Broadway between Charnelton and Olive streets) Time: 6 -10 p.m. Age restrictions: 21+. Admission: $5 cover ($3 if you show your wristband from the block party) What to expect: food trucks, including Lani Moku Grill, Sammitch Food Cart and Truck, Viva! Vegetarian Grill. After the block party, the Pride Dance Party will continue in the Den in the Wayward Lamb from 10:30 p.m. - 2:30 a.m. The dance party, hosted by Angelica D’Vil, will feature DJ Sassy Mouff as well as performances from drag queens and burlesque dancers. Eugene/Springfield Pride Festival – Saturday, Aug. 13 Hosted by: Eugene PRIDE Day Equality Project Location: Alton Baker Park (632 Day Island Rd.) noon - 6 p.m. Age restrictions: All ages. Admission: Free, but there’s a $5 suggested donation. What to expect: Live music and performances including Up, Happy Pride, Jeremiah Clark Trio, Work Dance Company, Soulicious, the Imperial Court and Friends Drag Show, The Essentials and many speakers, poets and comics.
How to get involved with LGBTQA community at the UO: said Quinn, program assistant for the UO LGBT Education Support Services. “Having an event here in Eugene that’s open to the community was extremely beneficial, at least to my own self-discovery.” After attending Portland Pride in the days following the Orlando tragedy, Quinn said he felt a lingering sense of fear in the air — but it was therapeutic at the same time. “We could process these emotions together,” Quinn said. Quinn attends the annual festival every year representing the LGBT Education and Support Services, as well as community groups such as the Queer Community Center of Eugene. He says he’s excited for this year, given the balance between the family-friendly festival in the park and the more party-oriented downtown block party. “Seeing youth involved at these events is always encouraging because I feel like we’re making the next wave of LGBT activists,” he said. Andersen is from Pomona, California, outside Los Angeles, where the queer scene is focused on a long strip of gay bars. Eugene’s pride events are different than most. It’s more about community here, Andersen said. “Most pride events don’t make me feel proud as a gay person,” he said. “I don’t necessarily see the point of being proud of being belligerently drunk on the street.” When Andersen first attended Eugene’s pride festival last year, he saw something totally different. “It’s so much more about a community getting together and supporting each other,” Andersen said. “That really spoke volumes, to me, about what the real LGBTQ community is, and what it means to have pride.”
LGBTQA3 students’ union (located in the EMU ground floor) Coming out week (in October) LGBTQ Education and Support Services (located in Office of Dean of Students)
Antony Duibouti makes a fashion statement on the patio of HiFi Music Hall. (Christopher Trotchie)
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đ&#x;“Ł OPINION
SOLUTIONS:
THE IMAGINARY COST OF DINING HALL THEFT
Photo by Taylor Wilder
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The New York Times reported that students from Columbia University stole $5,000 in Nutella over just one week in March 2013. At Duke, swiping goods with the aid of hidden containers is so prevalent that USA Today termed it “tupping.� Here at University of Oregon, where 4500 Ducks eat an average of 10,000 meals a day, it’s hard to believe that food, utensils and an assortment of dining hall inventory don’t disappear regularly. It’s an established rumor that UO Housing and Dining responds by padding meal plan rates — by $50, one student speculated. That means charging every diner up front, even though they may not steal. If that were true, it’d be a problem, an unfair penalty given the fiscal burden meal plans already pose. I’m here to set the record straight: That’s not the problem. When I asked the director of dining services, Tom Driscoll, about a theft budget, he told me it was the first he’d ever heard of it. Dining hall petty theft, “isn’t a major issue,� he said. “People steal stuff, and when we catch them, we call UOPD,� which happens four to six times in a typical year. Let’s not deny that Ducks are just as ingenious as students at Columbia or Duke. Inevitably, some swiping goes uncaught. Like with any business, Dining must consider theft when calculating the cost of products. It’s just not done directly. Meal plan rates are partially determined by how much food and supplies (utensils, cups, condiment bottles etc.) Dining has to reorder every year. Almost all reordering is due to natural causes: “Staff dropping things, things getting broken. Things just wear out,� Driscoll said. Some reordering is due to theft, but there is no system in place to track
the quantity of items stolen; Driscoll said theft rates are so low there’s no need. That means the theft-related cost added to meal plans is incalculable and “insignificant,� Driscoll said. Because UO Housing is not-forprofit, any end-of-term budget surplus goes right back to students. Extra money upgrades big projects, like next year’s plans to renovate Bean Hall, Driscoll said. He added that some surplus goes into reserve for “unforeseen expenses like a broken pipe or a leaky roof.� To get back to the recordstraightening, the problem isn’t administration imposing unfair charges, wasting money or allowing rampant dining hall thievery. The real problem is believing that to be true and letting it influence our actions. For some students, dining hall pilfering is an unofficial tradition. It’s a sport where the prize is spice to an otherwise droll meal, Twitter-worthy stories and shared amusement. But for another portion of students— albeit a minority—the decision to steal comes from the belief that they’re entitled. Isn’t it right that we steal our fair share if administration charges us for crimes we may not commit? Or if they blatantly overcharge for meal plans? Or if everyone we know is doing it? Even if those things were true, the answer would still be tentative at best. I know it’s prudish, but petty theft is still theft. The true solution for the imaginary theft-charge problem is this: Don’t steal. Don’t justify theft with high prices when all the money goes to you. Be honest, be mature and leave the ketchup bottle, well-worn spoon and extra cookie where they belong.
B Y E M I LY O L S O N . @ E M I L Y O L S O N 9 5 1
⚡ SPORTS
Q&A
Ryon Healy (48) hits his first career homerun against the Toronto Blue Jays at Oakland Coliseum. (Photo credit Oakland Athletics)
➡ GUS
FORMER DUCK RYON HEALY DISCUSSES EARLY SUCCESS WITH THE OAKLAND A’S
MORRIS, @JUSTGUSMORRIS
In 2013, Oregon said farewell to one of the best hitters in program history, Ryon Healy. Now, three years later, Healy is an up-and-coming rookie for the Oakland A’s, the team that drafted him in the third round of the 2013 MLB Draft. Throughout in his short stint in the pros, Healy has already hit two home runs — his first was also his first major league hit, while the other was a walkoff against Tampa Bay. He also played in the MLB All-Start Futures Game on July 10. Healy talked to the Emerald about his experience so far. The Emerald: “You’ve only been in the bigs a couple weeks, but how has this experience been so far?” Ryon Healy: “It’s been a blast. Kind of a constant learning experience, to be honest. Being a rookie, there’s a lot of things that you don’t know coming up where you have to rely on some of the more available veterans to help you. I’ve been really fortunate to be close with Josh Reddick for the last couple of years. When I got called up, he was nice enough to take me under his wing and show me the ropes and a lot of other guys have offered advice and helpful things that have made that transition a lot easier.” E: “As you rose the ranks of the minor league teams, when did you realize that you could actually make it to the pros?” R: “I don’t think that I really sat down and thought that it was close. Obviously, you dream and have
hopes and you think, ‘Oh, it could happen this year,’ but you also have no idea. I would catch myself daydreaming sometimes and snap back to reality and say ‘You know what, focus on this right now; don’t worry about that.’ So when I got the call it made it that much more of a surprise. It made the experience that much more exciting because I wasn’t expecting it. So it was that much more rewarding in a sense.” E: “Take me through that first day showing up to the ballpark in Oakland.” R: “I just remember asking a ton of questions the night before I flew out from El Paso to some of the coaching staff and training staff there just for little pieces of advice to help me get through the introduction portion of it. Luckily I knew quite a few guys on the team already and the ones that I didn’t told me just make sure to show respect to the veterans, talk to them, introduce yourself. Put your bags down and go straight to [A’s manager] Bob Melvin’s office and have a conversation with him. Introduce yourself to the coaching staff, training staff, everyone. Once I got done with all that, then I had to go about my daily routine of getting myself ready for the ballgame. It was a lot to handle, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” E: “What was better: your first hit, or your walk-off against the Rays?” R: “Oof, I think I have to go with the walk-off. I
don’t think there’s any better feeling in the world than hitting a walk-off homerun.” E: “You mentioned that Josh Reddick has taken you under his wing since you arrived in Oakland. Are there any other players who have lent any advice or is the dynamic different with others since you’re the new guy trying to take other guys spots? Basically, how have you been received since your arrival?” R: “I can name pretty much everyone on that team who has had some kind of impact whether big or small so far. But everyone’s been great helping me with baseball scenarios, what pitchers might do to you, situational defensive schemes. Marcus [Semien] always shifts me. So everyone has been awesome with that, just making me feel comfortable with the game at this level.” E: “Is there anybody that you’re really looking forward to facing? Do you have any games circled yet on your calendar?” R: “No. To be honest, I haven’t really looked too far ahead. I’ve been pretty fortunate so far to have seen three of the best third basemen in the league with [Josh] Donaldson, [Evan] Longoria and now [Adrian] Beltre. So definitely watching them, how they go about their business defensively, just trying to learn everything I can from watching from a distance. It’s been a lot of fun watching those guys play and also competing against them and trying to beat them on the field.”
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đ&#x;”Ś NEWS
WORKING ON THE SUN: UO RESEARCHERS PIONEERING SOLAR ENERGY ➥ MAX
T H O R N B E R R Y, @ M A X _ T H O R N B E R R Y
(Creative Commons Archive)
Groundbreaking energy research is taking place at the University of Oregon. When UO President Michael Schill announced that research is a top priority under his leadership, Shannon Boettcher and a team of graduate students took up the call. Their work on the production of low-cost, highperformance solar panel cells could change the solar energy business as it’s currently known. Dr. Boettcher and his team received a $225,000 grant from SunShot – an initiative set up by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. SunShot’s main goal is to make solar energy less expensive than electricity from coal by 2020, Boettcher said. The project that Boettcher and his team are working on has been in place for the last six years. The beginning of the program took place under a grant from the Bridging Research Interactions through collaborative Development Grants in Energy funding program. “It’s motivated by a big need in solar technology,� Boettcher said about the project. “We are running up against the efficiency [of] performance limits of the current technology we use.�
Annie Greenaway, a graduate student in the chemistry department, latched on to the program because of her interest in making science beneficial and relevant to society. “I wanted to do this particular work,� Greenaway said. “It was something that was very interesting to me.� Greenaway was drawn to this particular science because she feels that renewable energy is a way to make science socially relevant. The semiconductors that the team are working on potentially boost the efficiency of solar cells by 50 percent. They will cut costs, improve safety and reduce waste during production. The current widely-used method makes the crystals in solar cells with gaseous metals. This process creates high volumes of waste as a “significant fraction� of the gas is lost, Boettcher said. Efficiency is only one item on the list. The gases are also highly toxic and have resulted in deaths in the past, before safety methods surrounding production were refined. Those safety precautions also add to the costs of an already expensive account.
Boettcher’s team is developing a new method that doesn’t use a gas or liquid precursor and instead uses solids, growing the same crystals with significantly less waste. Jason Boucher, a PhD student in the Physics department, has been working on this project since it was awarded its first grant. While he was an undergraduate at Seattle Pacific University, a course in alternative energy sparked his interest. An internship at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado sent him to Boettcher’s lab. “I thought it was one of the most important problems that we are facing -- the way that we generate energy that is clean and sustainable,� Boucher said. That attitude runs throughout the team. Each member is passionate about the work they are doing and the effect it is having. “I choose the research projects I work on because I think, ‘if we can get them to work, will it make a difference?’ � Boettcher said. “If this works out the way we want it to, will the world care? And in this case in particular, yeah, it will be a big deal.�
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