1-25-21 Emerald Media - Monday Edition

JAN. 25, 2021

Monday Edition

Emerald Media

A Hollywood Tragedy Local cinemas struggle during COVID-19 NEWS: APPROVAL FOR DANCE BFA PROGRAM P. 3

A&C: UO THEATRE REIGNITES WITH SHOWCASE P. 8

OPINION: OTHER OPTIONS FOR EXERCISE P. 9

SPORTS: STEVE PREFONTAINE HOMETOWN DOCUMENTARY P. 10 M O N D AY, J A N U A R Y 2 5 , 2 0 2 1

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UO DANCE DEPARTMENT AWAITS FINAL APPROVAL FOR BFA PROGRAM VOL. 122, ISSUE NO. 30

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If approved, this would be the first Bachelor of Fine Arts dance program in the state of Oregon and first program in the country to put equal emphasis on dance of Eurocentric forms and African Diaspora forms.

BY JOANNA MANN • TWITTER @JOANNA_MANN_ The University of Oregon dance department is awaiting final approval from the state for its Bachelor of Fine Arts program. The decision will be made public by April and, if approved, the BFA will take in its first-year cohort in fall 2021. This will be the first BFA dance program in the state of Oregon, and the first in the country to have equal emphasis on dance of Eurocentric forms and African Diaspora forms.

Dance Instructor Sarah Ebert said the benefit of a BFA is that students are able to spend the maximum amount of credit hours in a dance program, rather than spread their time across the university in a more general education. The BFA curriculum provides a rigorous technical and theoretical study, and Ebert said it is something that has been on the dance department’s collective mind for years.

“I think that the dance students in Oregon are seeking opportunities to immerse themselves in a degree program that features dance performance, choreography, pedagogy, production and so on,” Ebert said. “I just think our BFA candidates are going to be the ones to reshape the landscape of dance globally after the pandemic. A BFA is the perfect incubator for that process.”

Dance Department Head Brad Garner submitted the program proposal last June, which was vetted and approved by the UO Senate, UO Curriculum Committee and UO Board of Trustees.

“There are fine arts degrees across this campus and there are similar equivalences in the sciences, meaning there are more focused undergraduate degrees where students can delve in much deeper. Music has the equivalent of a BFA, arts, theater... dance just never has,” Garner

said. “It benefits by attracting students that are more focused on this field and will just spend that much more time in the studio honing their craft.”

Garner and Ebert said there has been an African program in the dance department for decades, but it was something students could take as an elective. With the BFA program, the African classes, such as jazz and hip hop, will be of equal requirement and credit value to the Eurocentric ballet and modern dance classes.

“When I think about the faculty, we have all benefited from the labor of Black dancers, and I see the global influence of Black dancers,” Ebert said. “To ignore that is to perpetuate white privilege in the dance department at the University of Oregon. It means so much to go through this process and to not just honor in words but in our actions.”

Garner said the dance department will begin efforts to recruit students to the program the minute they get approval from the state.

Incoming dance students will be able to interview for the program, and first year students will be able to join as well. But since approval from the state will come only months before the launch, Ebert said the first year will most likely be a “soft rollout.”

“The BFA is activism in bringing underrepresented voices forward, supporting underrepresented students and faculty in curricular changes,” Ebert said. “We’re on the precipice of a lot of things around the world right now, and my hope is that this is a huge leap in a new direction that students both in the state and nationally can get excited about and come experience here in Oregon.”

REGIONAL AND STATE NEWS NE PORTLAND’S LLOYD CENTER MALL RAPIDLY DECLINES TOWARD CLOSURE: The Lloyd Center mall in Northeast Portland is on the brink of going down for good. The mall began losing brand name stores such as Nordstrom, Sears and Marshalls a few years ago, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only intensified the closures. The 23-acre mall, which first opened its doors in 1960, used to be the largest mall in America.

However, in recent years, the neighborhood in which the mall is located has become a hub for crime and failed redevelopment plans.

– JOANNA MANN OREGON FOOTBALL FINDS NEW DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR: After losing defensive coordinator Andy Avalos to his alma mater, Boise State, the Ducks found his replacement. Tim DeRuyter, Cal’s co-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach, will now be calling the plays on defense.

DeRuyter helped turn the Golden Bears defense around in the four seasons he was there. In 2020, Cal ranked third in the Pac-12 in total defense and fifth in scoring defense despite only playing four games.

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ON THE COVER

Edward Schiessl sits in a chair inside the empty theatre.

Schiessl is the co-owner of Broadway Metro on Willamette St. in Eugene, Ore. Broadway Metro rented out their theatres for private sessions until Gov. Kate Brown extended a state of emergency declaration to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

(Kevin Wang/Daily Emerald) The dance department, headquartered in Gerlinger Annex, is awaiting final approval for its Bachelor of Fine Arts program. Once approved, the University of Oregon will have the first BFA dance program in the state of Oregon. (Summer Surgent-Gough/Emerald)

LAN SU CHINESE GARDEN: The Lunar New Year of 2021 is just around the corner, and as the year of the ox is rung in Feb. 12, the Lan Su Chinese Garden will be hosting a two-week celebration including a contactless scavenger hunt, audio tour, cultural displays and more.

Guests visiting day of will receive a hong bao, the traditional lucky red envelope. This celebration will go from Feb. 12-28. – EM CHAN

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NEWS

ASUO WILL NO LONGER PAY FOR STUDENT TICKETS

ASUO’S ATHLETICS AND CONTRACTS FINANCE COMMITTEE PLANS TO REDISTRIBUTE THE $1.7 MILLION USED FOR TICKETS ACROSS SEVEN NEW ASUO PROGRAMS.

BY LEO BAUDHUIN • TWITTER @NOTALEOBUTLEO

Autzen Stadium remained closed to fans throughout the 2020 Pac-12 season. (Maddie Knight/Emerald)

ASUO’s Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee voted against renewing its athletics ticketing agreement at a Jan. 19 budget hearing. This means the student ticket subsidy will not be funded for the 2021-22 academic year, with the money reallocated to a handful of new programs that ACFC believes will more equitably serve the University of Oregon student body.

Under the prior agreement, ACFC paid the athletics department 80% of the market price for football and men’s basketball tickets out of the incidental fee — a mandatory student registration fee that goes towards ASUO programming, including student organizations, legal services and programs through the Erb Memorial Union.

The UO athletics department declined to speak with the Daily Emerald for this story.

According to the 2020-21 contract, ACFC and athletics had mutually agreed upon this markdown rate beginning with fiscal year 2016-17.

For the 2020-21 fiscal year, ACFC was paying over $1.7 million in student

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fees for the ticketing contract. The work, an across-the-board 20% wage agreement stood at 50% of market increase for students employed at value prior to the 2016 deal.

UO, an emergency housing subsidy This price allowed I-fee paying fund and a redistribution of roughly members to attend any Ducks $400,000 to other finance committees sporting event with a student ID — — which will allow ASUO to decrease with the exception of football and or maintain the current I-fee for the men’s basketball, 2021-22 fiscal year. which was run “The reality is through a lottery not everyone gets system that a football ticket,” students had to ACFC chair Annika register for.

Mayne said, “and a In place of football ticket is not the athletics going to pay your contract, ACFC rent or help you is allocating with legal trouble or the $1.7 million increase your wage.” to seven new At the hearing, programs: Deputy Athletic menstrual Director Eric product Roedl said roughly ANNIKA MAYNE ACFC chair accessibility 65% of the UO in the EMU, undergraduate a tiered textbook subsidy program population will make use of the for students with financial need, a contract between athletics and ACFC basic needs coordinator who will to attend a sports game in a typical help students apply to programs like year.

SNAP, a student advocacy coordinator “We felt like it was a really huge for ASUO’s peer-to-peer advocacy inequity that every student was paying

“We felt like it was really a huge inequity that every student was paying for tickets for games they weren’t attending.”

for tickets for games they weren’t attending,” Mayne said.

ASUO allocated money for the athletics contract — like all ASUOfunded programs — a fiscal year in advance, meaning ASUO had already approved the 2020-21 budget before ACFC knew the university wouldn’t allow fans into sporting events.

Although athletics isn’t getting paid for their services this year because it isn’t selling tickets, ACFC allocated over $1.7 million to the agreement for the 2020-21 academic year — roughly 10% of ASUO’s total budget. This number matches that of the 2019-20 fiscal year and is a slight increase from 2018-19.

Since the current I-fee breaks down to $271.75 per person per term, every student enrolled at UO this year would be paying about $27 every term for athletics tickets — whether or not they actually attend sporting events.

Instead, the money will remain in ASUO’s general fund, where it will help its finance committees fill any deficit parts of their budgets.

Though ACFC has discussed reducing the ticket subsidy in years

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past, ACFC member Jon Laus said the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement last summer cemented that call to action for him.

“There are programs that we simply can’t ignore anymore,” Laus said at the hearing. He listed textbook subsidies and free menstrual products as a few of those priorities. “We feel they are so important that the contract in its current form is outdated, especially with the other responsibilities we have as ASUO student members.”

At the budget hearing, Mayne emphasized ACFC’s appreciation for its contract with athletics, but said the opportunity to reallocate I-fee funding to all UO students — not just those attending Ducks games — was something the committee wanted to take advantage of.

“We greatly appreciate this agreement we’ve held,” Mayne said at the hearing, “but the reality is access to food, access to getting a paid job that would allow students to stay enrolled at the university is, at this time and always, significantly more important than access to a game.”

From the hearing, ACFC’s budget

proposal will go to the ASUO senate, Mayne said. Pending the senate’s approval, it will make its way to ASUO President Isaiah Boyd before going to UO President Michael Schill. Both Boyd and ASUO Senate President Claire O’Connor voiced their support for the plan during the public comment section of the budget hearing.

“There are some populations of students that I’m sure aren’t going to be happy about this,” said Laus. “But by and large, it’s a university, it’s not a sports team.”

Even though choosing not to invest in the athletics contract next year means ticket costs for students are up in the air, both Mayne and Laus said they’re excited about the new programs ASUO is launching by reallocating the athletics funding. Mayne pointed to the student salary increase as one of the major talking points of the agreement.

The 20% raise means students who currently hold minimum wage positions will earn $15.30 per hour beginning next year.

Joanna Mann contributed reporting to this story.

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COVER

Edward Schiessl sits in a chair inside the empty theatre. Schiessl is the co-owner of Broadway Metro on Willamette Street in Eugene, Ore. Broadway Metro rented out their theatres for private sessions until Oregon Gov. Kate Brown extended a state of emergency declaration to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. (Kevin Wang/ Daily Emerald)

3 INDEPENDENT MOVIE THEATERS

GRAPPLE WITH THE PANDEMIC Theaters have closed their doors due to COVID-19 regulations. The independent cinemas near the UO and OSU campuses are struggling to get by.

BY SAMMUEL ANTHONY Buying a ticket from the person behind the glass screen. Lining up for popcorn and a drink. Trying to snag a seat in the middle of the theater before the lights turn off.

The memory of going to the movies with friends seems like something from long, long ago in a completely different world from our own. For local, independent movie theater owners, the monumental task of keeping their doors open during a pandemic has felt like an eternity too.

No one knows the struggle of trying to keep a small theater open during a pandemic better than Josh Goldfarb, the owner of what used to be the David Minor Theater in downtown Eugene.

“At the beginning of the pandemic we were taking a wait and see approach,” Goldfarb said. “When we saw that the COVID numbers weren’t coming down and people weren’t wearing masks or following the rules, it became clear that this was going to take a very long time.”

The David Minor Theater, named

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after David Minor, a close friend of Josh Goldfarb’s who died in a tragic bicycle accident, is a community landmark. Known for its quirky and couch-laden atmosphere, a hybrid bicycle shop and beer served up to moviegoers on tap, the theater is a destination in Eugene for its showings of cult classics and indie movies.

But when COVID-19 restrictions went into place in March, the theater was forced to close its doors permanently after an 11-year stretch on 5th and Pearl.

Worst of all, Goldfarb said, the pandemic interrupted a massive expansion that was in the works. He and his business partner were part way through expanding to a brand new facility with luxury seating and a beer garden that now likely will never host a moviegoer.

“It was going to be the dream movie theater I always wanted,” Goldfarb said. “We were in the final stages of the reviews of the permits, and then the pandemic happened.”

Goldfarb said he and his business

partner had upwards of $300,000 invested into the new location near 13th and Willamette, the gateway to campus. Their hope was to capture more of the UO community by bringing a theater to campus so that students living in the dorms or coming from class could conveniently go see a movie with friends.

When the pandemic hit, banks immediately cut off loans to all hospitality businesses, leaving Goldfarb and his partner dead in the water.

“Without funding we couldn’t move forward; without permits we couldn’t build; and without business at the old theater we couldn’t survive long enough to find out what would happen,” he said.

Goldfarb emphasized that when catastrophes like pandemics hit, it almost always affects small businesses the worst. While big conglomerates can pool their resources and weather the storm, small theaters don’t have that luxury.

“It’s like a Hollywood tragedy.

What’s bizarre is being so committed and dedicated for so many years of my young adult life and not having a lot to show for it,” he said. “The silver lining for us is that the pandemic didn’t happen two weeks later — from what I understand, we would’ve been on the hook for all the expansion loans.”

While repairing and selling bicycles had never been the true function of the David Minor Theater, the makeshift bike shop behind the building has always been a side hustle for Goldfarb. Now, he’s decided to turn it into a full time job.

His new shop, 360 Cycles, is located on West First Avenue, but he hasn’t fully given up on the dream of once again running a movie theater.

“We’re optimistic that there’s going to be a place for us in Eugene, Oregon, but it might take a while,” Goldfarb said. “We haven’t lost our interest or our enthusiasm, and we still think we’re relevant in the Eugene scene.”

Heading north to Corvallis, Darkside Cinema is the primary indie theater near Oregon State University campus.

COVER

Edward Schiessl is the co-owner of Broadway Metro on Willamette Street in Eugene, Ore. Broadway Metro rented out their theatres for private sessions until Oregon Gov. Kate Brown extended a state of emergency declaration to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. (Kevin Wang/ Daily Emerald)

Owner Paul Turner — known among Corvallis moviegoers for his sarcasm and wit — is someone who has truly seen the ups and downs of the small movie theater industry and knows what it takes to survive.

“Cinemas have been around for a long time,” Turner said. “Something like this is a blip compared to 2008.”

While he recognizes the gravity of the situation, he is confident that Darkside Cinema will come out on the other side mostly intact.

“We are relying on loans, grants and donations to keep from having to close and give up our space,” Turner said. “We’re very lucky our landlord is cool and gets that we are all in this shit together.”

While theaters are still shut down, Darkside Cinema has switched to a “virtual cinema” format where people can stream movies from the theater listings. However, Turner said that there just isn’t enough money in it to support the business.

“It keeps our flag flying, but it is not profitable,” he said. “There is really no way to make money on the scale that we operate upon. Netflix works because of volume.”

With new leadership of the country, Turner said that he’s hopeful President Joe Biden’s more serious COVID-19 response will lead to a quicker end to the pandemic. He said that he’s optimistic that cinemas will reopen by fall and that Darkside Cinema will still

be around when the dust settles.

“It’s either that, or we all have to get real jobs. So, we are heavily invested in getting open again,” he said.

Turner believes that while things may seem bleak right now, support from the community post-lockdown will undoubtedly return to prepandemic levels.

“Cinemas rock because they are a destination,” he said. “As much as the introverts rally around lockdown, we will have the door coming off the hinges once we can show movies safely again. I’m old. I’ve seen this shit before.”

The last cinema is one every UO student should visit before they graduate (sorry seniors) — the Broadway Metro.

The Broadway Metro is Eugene’s largest independent movie theater, and they show everything from cult classics to indie movies to blockbuster films.

Edward Schiessl, the managing director and co-owner of the theater, said that the pandemic couldn’t have come at a worse time. Unlike the David Minor Theater’s silver lining, the Broadway Metro did recently expand.

“Our overhead is unusually high right now — we just expanded last year, so we are servicing a huge amount of loans in addition to the lease payments on a sizable downtown footprint spanning two addresses,” Schiessl said. “We’ve been

Edward Schiessl stands in front of a large film camera. Schiessl is the co-owner of Broadway Metro on Willamette Street in Eugene, Ore. Broadway Metro rented out their theatres for private sessions until Oregon Gov. Kate Brown extended a state of emergency declaration to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. (Kevin Wang/ Daily Emerald)

essentially surviving on loans, grants and credit cards so far, and it’s been a real scramble.”

While Eugene movie theaters were allowed to open when Lane county went into Phase 2 in June, Schiessl said that it simply didn’t make sense financially to show movies at all.

While the Broadway Metro did open for eight weeks in September and October, guidelines restricting them to 15% capacity and half as many showings per day didn’t allow enough ticket sales for it to be a financially viable option.

“Ultimately it was more costly to be open for the public shows than not, so we phased them out in early November,” he said. “For public shows to be profitable, we need to be able to operate at roughly 75% capacity on the weekends and evenings, and that just isn’t going to be a realistic or safe option for quite a while.”

Up until the current freeze, Schiessl said that the Broadway Metro was renting out its theater for private showings of new and classic films for as little as $100, which included a $50 concessions credit. They plan to continue this as soon as Lane County moves out of the “extreme risk” rating.

The theater has also been offering curbside pickup and contactless doorstep delivery of popcorn and growlers. In addition, they’ve started a DVD and Blu-ray video rental library similar to Netflix’s mail-in model

where people can trade out movies from their library of over 7,000 choices. Broadway Metro has been wanting to offer these services for a long time and hopes to continue them even after COVID-19 passes, Schiessl said.

But even with these services, the theater isn’t bringing in the kind of revenue it needs to remain profitable.

Schiessl said that even between the three streams of revenue, it’s only a fraction of what the theater needs to stay open.

“We’ll limp through one way or another, but it’s going to be a long, brutal road back to being a sustainable business.”

Schiessl said that while he believes that the small theaters in Eugene will recover, they’ll need the full support of the community to do so.

“We’ve been really fortunate so far to have had such strong support from students and other community members that have subscribed to the video library or rented auditoriums for private screenings,” he said.

While these services don’t cover all of the theater’s costs, Schiessl said he was still grateful to the community for helping them get through this difficult time.

“Failure isn’t really an option for us,” Schiessl said. “The path forward remains unclear, but we’ll keep rolling with the punches till we can make our comeback.”

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A&C

UO THEATRE REIGNITES WITH ROLE PLAY-INSPIRED SHOWCASE “PERSONAL GAME” IS A UNIQUE THEATRICAL EXPERIMENT THAT COULD ONLY BE CONCEIVED IN THE TIME OF COVID-19.

BY JENNAH PENDLETON • TWITTER @JENNAHPEN For the first time since March, the UO theatre department is buzzing in preparation for a new production.

After almost a year of exclusively live-streamed performances, the department will present “Personal Game,” a live theater experience directed by John Schmor and centered around MFA candidate Ashley Baker’s costume designs.

“It changed the department this year because we were expecting to have nothing,” Baker said. “But instead, we have people in the costume shop. I hear the seam shop working below me right now.

It’s almost like there’s a sense of normalcy.”

The showcase, set to original music by Orchestra Next, will feature eight performers wearing costumes inspired by the relationship between player and character in role-playing games.

Baker’s designs were inspired by the work of scholar Sarah Lynn Bowman, who theorized that there are eight different types of relationships that players of roleplaying games have with their characters. Baker aimed to represent these types of intrapersonal dynamics in a fantastical way without defaulting to traditional fantasy genre imagery. Instead, the costumes are dreamy abstractions of these ideas. One costume adorned with jagged, abrupt edges represents the concept of “fragmentation,” while “devoid” appears to be amorphous, without any harsh lines at all.

“I didn’t want people to see fantasy archetypes when they looked at this,” Baker said. “I wanted them to see the essence of these ideas.”

The showcase is a part of Baker’s capstone project for her master’s in costume design. Typically MFA candidates design costumes for a show in the UO theatre department’s season, but because the original season was canceled, Baker and her mentor, professor Jeanette deJong, developed an alternate way for her to present her capstone project.

They approached Professor John Schmor, who specializes in avantPA G E 8

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garde theater, to direct. He proposed that the project be a sequence of short presentations for a small group of people to ensure the safety of the audience members and performers.

“Personal Game” runs only 15 minutes and will be presented for a group of no more than 12 people at a time in Hope Theatre. There are no lines and there is no plot. Every component of the project serves to highlight the costumes.

“It’s a very unusual theater performance, because all of the emphasis is on design — not just Ashley’s costume design, but also set design and video projection design,” Schmor said.

Schmor worked with music professor Brian McWhorter and Orchestra Next musicians to produce music based on each costume.

Since March, the theatre department has performed exclusively over livestream.

“Personal Game” is the first project that will be presented live. Baker said that students coming back to the department have told her that it feels so good to have something to do. The project had more of an effect on the department than she anticipated.

“I’m really proud of everyone who’s been involved in this project. I didn’t expect it to go as far as it did, and to reverberate in this department the way that it did,” Baker said.

The production of “Personal Game” may be one of the final steps for Baker to complete her MFA, but it is also a representation of the way an artistic community can overcome prohibitive circumstances to collaborate and share their art.

The performing arts are likely to continue to be challenged until the pandemic is over, but projects like this demonstrate the resilience of artists.

“Because of this project I was able to bring a little bit of hope back to this department. And I’m really glad I did that,” Baker said.

“Personal Game” runs Jan. 29 through Feb. 6, and tickets are free.

Ashley Baker poses with a portion of a costume she designed, “Fragmented,” for the new presentation “Personal Game” at the University of Oregon. The University of Oregon’s Theater program is showing a new presentation entitled “Personal Game.” (Will Geschke/Emerald)

OPINION

NO GYM REQUIRED

With the closing of gyms in Eugene, the UO community is left with fewer ways to exercise, and it may be negatively affecting students’ mental health. Luckily, we have other options.

BY BELLA ZUROWSKI • TWITTER @BELLAZUROWSKI Eugene gyms, including the Student Rec Center, remain closed due to spiking COVID-19 numbers. In November, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown ordered all indoor gym and recreation facilities to close with hopes of controlling the ever-increasing numbers and to keep the hospitals from being overwhelmed. These precautions, though necessary, have left the UO community with fewer options for physical activity.

The combination of the pandemic, winter term, and closed gyms may be leaving students struggling with their mental health and self-esteem.

Working out has become a very common coping mechanism during 2020 and although gyms are closed, there are still many options for physical activity in Eugene.

The Student Rec Center created a new tented workout space called The Playground, which is open to UO

students and requires a reservation for a 45-minute time slot ahead of time. In addition to a strength and cardio space, Group X classes and intramurals are taking place there as well.

Though this new workout space is innovative and making the best of the situation at hand, there are pros and cons to the space.

“I feel more comfortable in the weight section because creepy guys don’t stare as much,” said UO sophomore Samantha Harris. “It’s also nice to be outside and [I] felt overall safer with the virus. However, it’s very cold, and there is definitely less equipment. The only cardio machines available are bikes and rowing machines. It’s also awkwardly quiet.”

If The Playground doesn’t seem like your thing, you still have other options. Lucky for you, Eugene is nestled in the beautiful Willamette

Valley, which provides plentiful opportunities for trails, hikes and walks. With gyms closed, it’s time to bundle up and get outside this winter.

Spencer Butte Trail is Eugene’s most famous hike and a fantastic workout that can be done in an hour. Henricks Park contains a multitude of trails, all beginner level, and all covered with lush greenery. Wherever you choose to explore in Eugene, you can’t go wrong.

The National Center for Biotechnology Information published a study that found moods increased with physical exercise and anxiety decreased. The study states that the World Health Organization recommends “regular moderate physical activities must be performed, if possible, for 30 minutes a day and 150 minutes a week.” The study also states “PAL [physical activity level] is an important factor in developing

good mental health, correlating primarily with mood state, anxiety and health-related quality of life.”

Exercise not only affects moods but also self-esteem. NCBI published another study on the effects of physical activity and mood. The results were similar to the previous study, finding that “both the scientific community and lay people claim that regular PA impacts positively on selfesteem.”

With everything going on in the world right now, it’s also okay if you are struggling to find the motivation to exercise. I know that I for one have had many days, weeks and months where I just can’t find it in me to move my body. And that’s okay. Whether you choose to work out or choose not to, you are worthy and acceptable. At the end of the day, we have one life on this Earth, so let’s be gentle and kind with ourselves.

The Rec Center located on the University of Oregon’s campus opened an outdoor facility due to indoor recreation being prohibited in compliance with Oregon’s Risk and Protection Framework guidelines. Current fee-paying UO students are eligible to make reservations at the newly opened outdoor facility called “The Playground.” (Kevin Wang/ Daily Emerald)

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SPORTS

“PRE’S PEOPLE”

IS A DOCUMENTARY OUT OF STEVE PREFONTAINE’S HOMETOWN On what would have been his 70th birthday, Steve Prefontaine’s legacy lives on in new documentary

BY MOJO HILL • TWITTER @MOJOHILL22

(Jack Brewer)

(Mike Kobelin)

Travis Johnson and Brad Jenkins first met in Coos Bay as preschoolers in the early 1960s. Now, they’re sharing a passion project that has been in production for almost 10 years.

Johnson and Jenkins’ documentary, “Pre’s People,” will be publicly released on Vimeo on Jan. 25, what would have been Oregon runner Steve Prefontaine’s 70th birthday. Part of the proceeds from the film will go to the running programs at Prefontaine’s alma mater, Marshfield High School, in Coos Bay, Oregon.

In 1975, just three weeks before Prefontaine died in a crash at the age of 24, Jenkins saw Prefontaine run in a track meet at Marshfield High School, where Johnson and Jenkins also attended.

“I didn’t know who Pre was until that race,” Jenkins said. “[My dad] takes me down there, and Pre’s got this cool long hair, he’s got these cool red sweats, and he’s sprinting on that track; it was like the biggest event

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we’ve ever had at that track … Three Marshfield, and he knew everybody weeks later, he died, and I rode my that we needed to interview,” Jenkins bike from my elementary school to his said. funeral.”

Over the course of several years, Jenkins had been they spoke with a Prefontaine fan for almost anybody only three weeks at “It was like going back who had some sort the time of his death of connection to in a time machine. There Prefontaine, whether but has remained a Prefontaine fan ever be teammate, were so many stories we itcoach, since. friend or even He dug up the rival. hadn’t heard in previous poster from that “It was like track meet in 2011 documentaries and the going back in a and got the idea to time machine,” two films that were show it to people Johnson said. “There and to hear the were so many made of Pre.” stories they had stories we hadn’t about Prefontaine. heard in previous TRAVIS JOHNSON He started recording documentaries and Documentary producer these stories, and the two films that eventually decided to team up with his were made of Pre.” old friend, Travis Johnson. They ended While countless stories have been up traveling across the West Coast made about Prefontaine that highlight together while interviewing more than his career at the University of Oregon, 50 people. or in the 1972 Summer Olympics, or “My dad was the athletic director at about his tragically premature death,

“Pre’s People” focuses on the impact that he still has on people today.

The film features people of all ages, who repeatedly chant one common solidarity in unison: “Pre lives.”

One of the many interviews featured in the documentary is Prefontaine’s high school coach Walt McClure, conducted before he passed away in 2016. Johnson and Jenkins were both lucky enough to have him as a coach when they attended summer youth track programs and were able to feel some of the influence that he had on Prefontaine.

“The summer track meets were a big deal … and it was a really cool program for the kids in Coos Bay,” Jenkins said.

“And I remember everybody got an award.”

As a student at Marshfield, Johnson was also coached by Prefontaine’s assistant coach Phil Pursian. Johnson explained that once McClure recognized Prefontaine’s talents, he gave the end of the baton to Pursian.

Coach Pursian then started leading

SPORTS

(Eugene Register-Guard)

(Coos County Historical Museum)

Prefontaine in workouts separate from the rest of the Marshfield track team. “[Pre] was at a different level,” Johnson said.

Johnson was not alone in this thinking; all of the interview subjects, young and old, attested to Prefontaine’s dominance. Many described Prefontaine as having “a clock built into his head.”

Despite the filmmakers’ influx of personal connections and good fortune that aided the filming process, getting the project off the ground didn’t come nearly as easily.

“Making the film, all things considered, is the easy part,” Johnson said. “The funding is the hard part — and this stage, getting the word out.”

The filmmakers hope to use this film to inspire a new generation of runners, specifically kids around middle school and high school age. The hope is that it will help them become passionate about running and to live out their dreams.

“To reach out to the new generation,” Johnson said of what he wants to accomplish with this film. “The kids that aren’t big enough to play football, the kids that get bullied or picked on. The kids that don’t think they’re athletic, but want to give their all to some sort of activity or team sport.”

This mentality that they want the film to instill in kids embodies the mentality that Prefontaine had.

“Pre really put in the work,” Johnson said. “And if you put in the work, good things will come.”

In addition to inspiring younger generations, they also felt that it would be a good way to give back to the small Oregon town they originated from.

“Coos Bay’s gone through some hard times, and I wanted to give back to the community,” Jenkins said. “This is my gift back to the community.”

Johnson echoed that statement, describing the project as a way of giving thanks to the people who have shaped him and Jenkins into who they are today.

“This project was never meant to be anything more than giving back to our community, saying thanks to all the teachers and coaches that we grew up with that gave us our opportunity,” Johnson said.

And now, after nearly a decade of interviewing, traveling and funding, Johnson and Jenkins are finally releasing their baby into the world.

“It’s been a marathon, to put it in running terms,” Johnson said. “But we’re at the finish line, and we hope that all of our efforts will inspire a new generation in Pre’s honor.”

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