The Shortcut - Events in Oregon

Please join the Willamette Valley Hardy Plant Group on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, at 7:00 PM in the Unitarian Universalist Church, 1685 W 13th Avenue, Eugene, OR, for our guest speaker program presented by Whitey Lueck. This month’s topic is “Horticulture – Then and Now.”
A lot has changed since Whitey Lueck in 1974 received the L. C. Chadwick Award from the American Society for Horticultural Science as the outstanding horticulture student in the United States. Along the way, Whitey’s “gardening” philosophy changed from a human-oriented approach—where the focus is almost exclusively on visual beauty—to a much broader nature-based approach where visual beauty and ecological function are of equal value.

In this presentation, Whitey will briefly review his own horticultural background—with fun photos from the family archives—before focusing on the nature-friendly approaches to contemporary horticulture he saw when he returned to visit places where he’d lived and worked many years before.

Whitey Lueck is a teacher, horticulturist, ecologist, naturalist, landscape designer, and writer who lives in Eugene, Oregon. (He was also employed at one time as a “male cocktail waitress” at the Oregon Moose Lodge in Corvallis.) Before his retirement in 2023, he taught in the School of Architecture and Environment at the University of Oregon.

For more information about the group or this event, visit our website at www.thehardyplantgroup.org/events or email us at info@thehardyplantgroup.org.

This in-person meeting will also be broadcast live over Zoom to members who are unable to attend in person. The Zoom broadcast will also be recorded, and a viewing link will be sent to members to access within two weeks of receiving it. If you are interested in watching our Zoom broadcast and are not a member, please see the “About” page on our website at www.thehardyplantgroup.org/about to download our membership form to join.

Doors on the east side of the building open at 6:30 PM for refreshments, browsing botanical samples, and socializing. Admission is free for members and $5 for non-members. Membership in the Hardy Plant Group is open to all and is only $30 annually. There is ample parking in the parking lot, accessible from both Chambers Street and W 13th Avenue, with additional parking in the adjacent Looking Glass Center parking lot to the north, but please do not park under their covered entryway. Overflow parking is also available in the first 20 spaces on the east and south side of Redeemer Fellowship Church, just across Chambers Street to the west. View parking map at www.thehardyplantgroup.org/contact.

The Willamette Valley Hardy Plant Group is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) volunteer organization for gardeners of all experience levels. The Group is dedicated to educating the community about perennials, shrubs, and other plants for use in the garden, sharing each other’s gardens, and fostering a love of gardening. For more information, visit www.thehardyplantgroup.org.

This is the third concert of the 2026 Murdock International Piano Series, featuring Steven Spooner, a faculty member of the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University and an internationally renowned performer and recording artist. He will perform works by Scarlatti, Chopin, Schubert, Wagner and Kurtág as well as his own compositions.

Preschool Storytime at the Newport Public Library, 35 NW Nye St., on Wednesdays all school year long!

Enjoy engaging stories followed by a fun, themed craft designed for little hands and big imaginations.

This program is perfect for preschoolers and their caregivers, offering a weekly opportunity to explore creativity, practice early literacy skills, and enjoy quality time together.

All supplies are provided—just bring your curiosity and excitement. We can’t wait to see you at the library!

$25 includes entrance fee to the Lounge for 90 minutes, one Bingo card, and a drink or snack. Extra Bingo cards $2 each. Come join us for fun and games in the Lounge with cats! Reserve your spot online!

Trivia night at The Garden on Friendly hosted by quality trivia, every Wednesday starting at 6:00PM. Free to play, great prizes, bring a team or play solo!

You are invited to the Windfall Reading Series on Wednesday, April 15 at 6:00 PM at the Downtown Eugene Public Library. The event is live at the Eugene Library. Our featured readers are writers Mimi German, John Brehm, and Ingrid Wendt. The Windfall Reading Series is sponsored by the Emerald Literary Guild (ELG) and the Eugene Public Library.

Everyone’s tango journey has to start somewhere. It’s time to take your first step.

On April 15th, Eugene’s Argentine Tango dancing community invites you to an evening dedicated to new dancers. At this very special event, there will be no need to feel self-conscious or out of place as the only new person in the room. Not only will you be surrounded by people just like you, our community of experienced dancers is excited to introduce you to this magical dance.

Argentine Tango is an experience like no other. It provides a lovely opportunity to share a connection, engage in safe and mutually respected physical closeness, and express musicality through the simple art of walking.

What’s in store for this event: We’ll start the evening with a beginner lesson with local instructor Noah Brenner to give you the building blocks you need to get started. No partner or prior experience necessary! This will be followed by a tango game to ensure everyone has a partner to start the evening with.

Then the most important part of the evening: the dancing! Our experienced dancers will be prioritizing and seeking out beginners to dance with to ensure everyone gets a chance on the dance floor. In our community, we enjoy dancing to a mixture of traditional tango music and modern music, including some songs you may even recognize! If after your first lesson, you still have lots of questions, don't worry! For the remainder of the evening, there will be a handful of instructors available for questions and one-on-one practice off the main dance floor.

And the best part? Not only is all of this is available to you for just $5, but every single attendant of our “Jump Into Tango” event will receive a free pass to a future Wednesday Tango event of their choice. We will also provide resources for next steps to continue your tango journey as tonight is truly only the beginning.

For more information on Argentine tango and what you can expect at our event, check out our FAQ:
https://www.bailonga.org/faq/

Check out a sample playlist of the music we play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UH1iS-BLQQ&list=PLVpgUjor78gaVzkCStEgvBwUK_J11eo9f&index=1

And a video of what Argentine Tango dancing looks like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPO8qtOFkU4&list=PL3kNUWsdGzRIlxtxdPrwmqVgmk0nsiDKU&index=3

Notes:
• Masking is not required but encouraged, and there will always be masks and hand sanitizer available at the front desk.
• For shoes, all that matters is that you are stable when you walk, you can pivot on the ball of your foot, and it has a closed back. Ballroom/jazz/salsa shoes without rubber bottoms all work for this purpose. You can even wear socks if you want!
• For attire, casual to semi-formal is typical for our community, and you'll want clothing that allows you to move freely without getting under foot.
• Please avoid fragrances/perfumes. Some of us are allergic. Thank you!

Schedule:
• 7:00PM - Beginner Lesson
• 8:00–10:00PM - Open Dancing

Lesson Instructor: Noah Brenner
DJ: Kella
Music: 50/50 Alternative & Traditional Tango

Location: Upstairs Ballroom at the Vet’s Club
Cost: $5 (Cash, check, Venmo, PayPal)
— No one will be turned away due to lack of funds —

Parking: To the left of Vet’s club building or nearby street parking.
Accessibility: The Vet’s club’s ramp is on the front-right corner of the building. There is an elevator directly to the right once inside the main entrance.

Photo credit: Quentin Furrow

The League of Women Voters of Lincoln County will hold its next meeting on Thursday, April 16, from 12:30 to 3:00pm, in the McEntee Room of the Newport Public Library, 34 NW Nye Street. Barbara Keirnes-Young will present a consensus study on K-12/Exceptional Students.

The program will also continue planning for our April 28 Candidate Forum. LWV is dedicated to providing unbiased voter information, and the upcoming election will be very important for the future of our county—all three of our County Commissioner positions will be on the ballot, and there are 12 candidates to choose from!

Come and work with us to promote an informed electorate. All League meetings are open to the public. For more information, go to lwvlincolncounty.org.

Fine art photographers Kim Cuc Tran and Ted Crego will share their extensive knowledge of travel photography during this month's Coastal Arts Guild Talk About Art, Thursday, April 16 from 2:00-3:30 p.m. at the Newport Visual Arts Center, 2nd Floor Classroom. This presentation, entitled "Travel Photography," will focus on criteria for creating compelling photos and how to evaluate them, post-processing enhancements, latest software advancements, details about their travels and a slide show of award winning photos. This event is free and all are welcome! For more information contact coastalartsguild@gmail.com.

A six-month revision cohort to take your draft to reader-ready—step by step, with support and accountability.

You wrote THE END. You did it. You climbed the mountain, planted the flag, ate the victory snack.

Now you’re staring at your draft like: Cool. So… how do I turn this lovable chaos into an actual book?

Most writers know revision is necessary. Fewer know what revision is, exactly—let alone how to do it without accidentally making things worse. Letting the manuscript “rest” and re-reading can show you what’s not working, but it rarely tells you how to fix it. And sentence-level tinkering—tightening, polishing, typo-hunting—can make the pages cleaner without making the story stronger.

Revision gets overwhelming because it asks you to hold an entire book in your head (and heart) and figure out what it needs: structure, plot, character, voice, point of view, scene logic, pacing, clarity—then revise strategically instead of randomly.

Revise Your Novel is a six-month class and cohort that teaches you a repeatable, step-by-step revision process—from big-picture story work down to technical and line-level polish—so you can transform your messy manuscript into a draft that’s ready for readers.

What revision problems we’ll tackle

Many draft manuscripts struggle with things like:
-Structural issues: too many subplots, starting too early, a final act that isn’t set up to land
-Point-of-view issues: head-hopping, characters knowing more than they should
-Voice issues: characters who sound alike, unrealistic dialogue, choppy narrative
-Technical issues: overused words, misused dialogue tags, scenes that start in the wrong spot, too much summary

The goal isn’t perfection overnight. The goal is a repeatable, sane process for diagnosing what’s happening in your book—and revising with confidence.

Dates: Every other Thursday, April 16-Sept 17, 2026 (12 sessions)

Time: 3-5 pm

Price: $749
Pricing info: Our classes and events are priced at their actual cost to run.

If paying the full price would keep you from joining us, use the code ACCESS at checkout to reduce your registration amount by 20%—no questions asked. If you’re a Wordcrafters member, use code MEMBERACCESS.

If the full price is within your means, please leave the ACCESS code for those who truly need it.

If you’re able, you can add a donation during registration to support our scholarship fund.

Scholarship info: We want everyone to have access to our writing programs. If you need additional support, please complete our scholarship request form: https://wordcrafters.org/scholarships/

Your instructor
Jeaux Bartlett (they/them or xe/xem) is a writer and teacher living in Eugene, Oregon. Jeaux has published several books and online courses focused on personal growth, and their work has appeared in the Register Guard, Lane Monthly, Rochester insider, and Nature’s Wisdom, among other publications.

Jeaux is a certified Grief Recovery Method specialist, a National Spiritualist Teacher, and a Reiki Master Teacher. Jeaux enjoys writing about overcoming loss and adversity, and learning to trust yourself again.

Jeaux is currently working on Unintentional Community, their third autofiction novel. They’re a genre-bending writer whose work explores nature, healing, and the body, and they believe, deeply, in the power of story to transform and connect.