Program date: Dec. 13, 2024
Air date: Dec. 16, 2024
From The City Club of Eugene:
“If you had a magic wand and the mandate to use it to create a gift that would make Eugene an even better place to live, work, and/or play, what would your gift be?”
Every year since its beginnings in the early 1990’s, City Club of Eugene has posed this question to a broad selection of community members and asked them to share their answers in just three to four minutes each. The gift might be whimsical, serious, offbeat, ironic, amusing, challenging – whatever they would give if they had this magical power.
This year’s abundance of many kinds is reflected in this program, where 13 Eugeneans from many corners of the community will share 11 gift ideas, based on their unique experiences and perspectives. As is customary, the program opens with gifts from recent SLUG Queens, who occupy one of the most distinctive roles in our town. Dan Bryant is our returning emcee.
Speakers:
Dan Bryant is an ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and soon-to-be retiring Executive Director of SquareOne Villages in Eugene, Oregon. He has served churches in Oklahoma, Indiana, California, and Germany, and from 1991 to 2020 filled the pulpit at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Eugene. Dan’s ministry and preaching are known for his passion for social justice. He is a frequent contributor to the Eugene Weekly.
Denise Thomas is the owner of Let’s Move Fitness. She recruited the help of local school leaders to create a path to help local kids get healthier. She gathered fitness instructors, coaches, retired teachers, University of Oregon students and athletes, students from Lane Community College’s Fitness Specialist program, and people who have had experience with youth in physical activities into the Healthy Moves program. She earned a bachelor’s degree in dance from the University of Oregon. After college, she studied dance in New York at the Alvin Ailey Dance School and Steps on Broadway and taught aerobics at Molly Fox Studio and at Crunch. She pioneered Double Funk, a cardio-intense workout set to funk music, and she is currently a fitness instructor and a practitioner of the Alexander Technique.
Chris Wig is Executive Director at Emergence Addiction and Behavioral Therapies in Eugene, Oregon. He is an active community volunteer, serving as an elected member of the Board of Directors for Willamalane Park and Recreation District and as Treasurer of the Oregon Council for Behavioral Health. He earned a BA in cultural anthropology from the University of Toronto and an MA from the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. Chris and his wife Celine love living in Springfield, and on the weekends, they can be found enjoying coffee at the Washburne Café or walking Willamalane’s 29 miles of paths and trails.
John Winquist has served on the Board and volunteered for the Eugene Parks Foundation for 25 years, always on the lookout for opportunities to expand and connect the Ridgeline Parks and trail system. He and his wife Pem have been quietly giving tours of future parkland and trail opportunities to potential donors. (Please ask them for a tour.) John and his family are high-level consumers of parks and open spaces. John and Pem are honored to support the Eugene Exceptional Parks vision. The Eugene Parks Foundation is part of their shared commitment to “pay it forward” for parks.
Talicia Brown is the Executive Director at Black Cultural Initiative (BCI), the founder and producer of Black Cultural Festival, and the owner of Harmony Massage. The BCI’s community center, The People’s Collective, houses a Black business incubator and offers year-round cultural and educational programming for youth and adults, and a wide range of self-sufficiency programs including: financial literacy workshops, workforce/vocation training, internship pipelines, nutrition counseling and meal planning, urban gardening, and family cooking courses. The BCI also is an active promoter of cultural arts locally. Talicia came to Oregon to attend Reed College in Portland, then moved to Eugene in 2000. She has staffed rites-of-passage for Black folks in Memphis and built a successful business, Harmony Massage, for over 20 years.
Talicia Brown is the Executive Director at Black Cultural Initiative (BCI), the founder and producer of Black Cultural Festival, and the owner of Harmony Massage. The BCI’s community center, The People’s Collective, houses a Black business incubator and offers year-round cultural and educational programming for youth and adults, and a wide range of self-sufficiency programs including: financial literacy workshops, workforce/vocation training, internship pipelines, nutrition counseling and meal planning, urban gardening, and family cooking courses. The BCI also is an active promoter of cultural arts locally. Talicia came to Oregon to attend Reed College in Portland, then moved to Eugene in 2000. She has staffed rites-of-passage for Black folks in Memphis and built a successful business, Harmony Massage, for over 20 years.
Charlie Conrad is the soon-to-be former State Representative for HD12. He considers himself fortunate to continue advocating for people by bringing his 26 years of public service experience and passion for connecting people to government, through participating on multiple local and state boards including Options Family Services and Counseling, the Oregon Lottery Commission, United Way of Lane County, and the McKenzie Valley Long Term Recovery Group. Charlie joined with former Idaho State Rep. Chenele Dixon to form Common Ground – United We Stand, a non-partisan coalition of current and former state legislators focused on countering extremism by advocating for functioning state legislatures and supporting legislators who advocate for and represent their constituents, not political parties. For him, people and country come first.
Kevin Cronin is the Director of Policy and Advocacy at Housing Oregon, a statewide nonprofit association representing over 120 affordable housing and community development organizations. Based in Eugene, Kevin is an experienced organizer with a background in tenant, labor, and political advocacy. He is passionate about gardening and history and is a proud University of Oregon alum.
Larissa Ennis is a Washingtonian by birth and an Oregonian by choice. She moved to Eugene in 2002 to earn a PhD in Film and Literature at University of Oregon. Larissa then spent 16 years in administration at UO, and is now seeking her next professional adventure, perhaps in housing-related work. She serves on the ACT Now Lane steering committee, the LCC Budget Committee, and is an appointed commissioner on the board of Homes for Good.
SLUG Queens Glorious Gastropause, aka Leigh Anne Jasheway, and Holly Go Slugly, aka Debbie Williamson-Smith, have been bringing slimeshine to our fair city for many years. Queen Glo was crowned in 2007 and Queen Holly in 2011. SLUG Queens are the unofficial ambassadors of Eugene, supporting local non-profits, city programs, and special events meant to bring us together and to remind us to celebrate our quirkiness. Queens open art shows, plan and march in parades, read stories to kids at the library, emcee special events, help with food drives, make appearances at fundraising events, and get out-of-towners to dance. Queen Glo is known for her love of and support for animal welfare – she volunteers at Greenhill Humane Society and helps raise money for local farmed animal sanctuaries. Queen Holly is well-known in the local art scene – she works at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and can often be found guiding tours of murals. They are pictured with Mayor-Elect Kaarin Knudson (center).
Kris McAlister is the Executive Director of Carry It Forward, which works on behalf of unhoused and food insecure neighbors.He was born in Springfield and spent mostof his life there. He experienced homelessness as a youth and has served 25 years in social justice and service-oriented boards and organizations that focus on homelessness, medical access, poverty intervention, disability, and youth. In addition to his work in the nonprofit, he has chaired the Lane County Poverty and Homelessness Board and currently has been the Chair for the Springfield Utility Board Budget Committee. Kris also served on the board for Square One Villages and Escudo Latino.
Along this journey, he has earned the rank of Life Scout and the Kirsten Frohnmayer Award, United Way’s Community Voice Award, Springfield Alliance for Equity and Respect’s Human Rights Award, and most recently the Eugene Human Rights Commission’s Leadership Award.
Melissa Scholz has spent 15 years as principal attorney/owner of Scholz Nonprofit Law LLC, where she has represented hundreds of nonprofit organizations throughout the country. Originally from California, Melissa earned a BA in History from Stanford University and a JD. from University of Wisconsin Law School.. She serves as the co-chair of the Board of Directors of March for Our Lives. Melissa and her husband, Karl Scholz, the President of the University of Oregon, are the proud parents of three daughters. When Melissa isn’t practicing law or working on a community issue, she enjoys UO sport and other activities, being outdoors, hearing live music, cooking or eating good food, and being with family and friends, being outdoors, hearing live music, cooking or eating good food, and being with family and friends.
About the City Club of Eugene:
The mission of the City Club of Eugene is to build community vision through open inquiry. The Club explores a wide range of significant local, state, and national issues and helps to formulate new approaches and solutions to problems. Membership is open to all, and Club members have a direct influence on public policy by discussing issues of concern with elected officials and other policy makers. The City Club’s mailing address is PO Box 12084, Eugene, OR 97440, and its website is cityclubofeugene.org.
Video and Broadcast
This program will be live streamed, and the videotape will be made available on the City Club of Eugene’s Facebook page and You Tube Channel, in addition to our website. It will be broadcast on Monday, Dec. 16 at 7:00 p.m., on KLCC 89.7 FM.
Contact: For more information, visit CityClubOfEugene.org.