The Art of Recovery

photos by trask bedortha In theater as in life, timing is everything, though just showing up is a good start. And at the Healing Trauma Project on Coburg Road, where performers have been rehearsing in anticipation of its Feb. 7 show at Wildish Theater, the cast of Transformational Personal Theatre has definitely shown up, in itself a small miracle. These are people who, all things being equal, might not have shown up at all. Continue reading 

Let Them Eat

Young women in Eugene talk body image and the pressure to be perfect

“Gaining weight was the worst possible thing that could happen,” says 17-year-old South Eugene High School senior Sophie Kreitzberg. Returning from a 500-mile walk along Spain’s Camino de Santiago, Kreitzberg had never been so thin. “I got so much attention,” she remembers, noting that she experienced her first romance, was cast in plays and that social interaction was just easier as a thin woman.  “My grandmother cried because I was so beautiful,” Kreitzberg recalls. Continue reading 

Bloody Hell

Alternative period products for the adventurous among us

It has always struck me as one of the great injustices of womanhood — the monthly bloodbath from a body part that is normally reserved for sexytime (not a baby corridor just yet, thank you very much). I try to tell myself that it’s some great honor, an ancient rite of femininity that brings me closer to nature and the goddess within us all.  But that kind of bullshit isn’t terribly reassuring when you’ve bled through your pants and flushed your last tampon down the toilet. Continue reading 

Who, What, Where and Y

A beginner’s guide to working out at the Y

The latest trends in workout equipment are an uptick in ellipticals and amts and a decline in stairmasters

When a fellow EW staffer and I decided to take advantage of our YMCA memberships last December, we experienced the smug satisfaction of being ahead of the New Year’s resolution crowd; however, neither of us were particularly familiar with gym etiquette or protocol, and on our first day we hopped onto a few elliptical machines, pressing buttons and uncertainly moving the pedals as the panel instructed us.  Continue reading