Ducks @ Oregon - University of Oregon

Philosophical Super Bowl Musings

Peter E.

February 7, 2010 - 10:47 PM

Who dat? How can one not enjoy a Saints Super Bowl win?! The Super Bowl is a quintessentially American holiday, and I celebrate it accordingly. This is a post about the Man Cave.

 

Our house has something we fondly refer to as "The Man Cave" (e.g. the basement). Somewhat ironically, our one female roommate, Margo, lives in the Man Cave; nonetheless, the label has endured. One may call it the Margo Cavern in the Man Cave, but I won't get too much into semantics. The bottom line is that there is a chicken and egg type relationship with the Super Bowl and the Man Cave: do they have the Super Bowl because there's the Man Cave, or do they have the Man Cave because there's the Super Bowl? I would definitely put this philosophical quandary up there with the likes of Descartes and Aristotle.

 

Anyway, the Man Cave is made for the Super Bowl . We packed friends and roommates in the Cave, gorged ourselves on snacks, and watched the Saints beat the Colts. It was a fun affair, but we did note the deep seeded misogyny that exists in our culture, especially in the commercials this year. A Dove commercial had to convince men that it's not too feminine and it's okay to be hygienic, GoDaddy.com succeeded as always to perpetuate objectification of women with Danica Patrick, Bud Light commercials hail masculinity and drunken stereotypes of men, and Dodge Charger basically said, "screw women, I'm going to drive whatever car I want." Maybe it was my bias, but I thought the commercials were pretty weak this year (and not for just the misogyny factor).

 

Nonetheless, we drank beer, ate some charred mammal flesh, and watched grown men hit each other for three and a half hours. It was a great game, but why do we do this? It's more than just a game; it's a cultural emblem. Millions of Americans, men and women, follow the NFL and sports, and it's surely more than a game. I know I'll wake up tomorrow morning a little depressed that I have to wait nine months before football begins again. But what do I do? I look forward to the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Maybe it's obsession, but sports provides drama, happiness, depression, joy, and myriad other emotions year round. The Saints winning the Super Bowl for the city of New Orleans illustrates those emotions because it transcends the playing field to represent the emotional and cultural revival of a city destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Personally, some of my fondest memories are at games with my mom and dad or with my friends at Ducks games.

 

As for the misogyny, I don't know what we do about that other than stop perpetuating it as a culture, corporations, and individuals. Perhaps we can start by renaming the Man Cave.

 

 

XX BONUS QUESTIONS XX

 

Were you rooting for the Colts or Saints?

 

Should we rename the Man Cave?

 

What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial?

 

What's your best Ducks sports memory?

 

Is the Super Bowl just representative of mass media perpetuating misogyny and consumerism as American ideals?

 

Does The Who still have it? Or did their awesome set just cover up for the fact that Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry have kinda 'lost it'?

 

 

 

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Turkey Trots

Peter E.

February 6, 2010 - 12:34 PM

One of the many benefits to running in Eugene is the wildlife that is to be found all over the town. I've seen ground squirrels, deer, nutria, robins, osprey, and many other species while running, and this week I added another to the list: wild turkey.

 

My roommate Jeff and I ran through Hendricks Park twice this week, and on both occasions we were startled by turkeys (I think we were more taken aback than they were). These turkeys are definitely not shy to people, and I'm sure take advantage of people's gardens and the many chicken coops near the park; these were some pretty well fed birds. Nonetheless, I was curious to learn more about the birds: are they native? What do they eat? What kind of turkeys are they?

 

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I am continuing my sustainability studies this term, so I have recently gained a better appreciation for my Willamette Valley bioregion. A bioregion is essentially a region typically defined by a watershed that has unique physiographic and climatic limits with discernible but dynamic boundaries. The bioregion also includes cultures, and therefore history of humans, plants, animals, and soil are important to understanding humans' place in the region. Thus, I have found a stronger sense of place and community within the Willamette Valley because I'm beginning to reconsider human settlements and cities within the context of the natural environment. This conceptualization is outside of the modernist construct that often asserts an anthropocentric dominance over nature (i.e. extraction of resources, leveling of rainforest, no urban growth boundaries). At any rate, I've had these ideas floating in my consciousness, so that mixed with my natural inquisitiveness led me to learn more about these turkeys.

 

I did some research and learned that my Hendricks neighbors are Rio Grande wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo intermedia). Rio Grande Turkeys are native to the Plains States, but have been introduced to western states, including Oregon. They are visibly different from eastern varieties of the bird because they have longer legs. The Rio Grandes are also supposedly very "gregarious" (these certainly weren't people shy). Finally, I learned that they are opportunistic omnivores, and the majority of their diet is plant based (so they probably enjoy the many gardens around Hendricks).

 

In conclusion, this little research exercise has brought me a little bit closer to understanding my bioregion. My turkeys and I are not too dissimilar: neither of us are native to the bioregion, we're omnivores, gregarious, have long legs, and love Hendricks Park. I wonder how they are at blogging? Surely they could write a better post than rambling about turkeys for five paragraphs.

 

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Pretty in Pink

Peter E.

January 31, 2010 - 4:43 PM

Jeremy Jacob played the lead roll this weekend lifting the Ducks over UCLA and USC, improving the Ducks' Pac-10 record to 4-5 with 30 points in the two games. Jacob and his fellow Ducks really were "pretty in pink." This weekend was the annual "Coaches vs. Cancer" weekend to raise awareness about breast cancer, so coaches dressed casually in sneakers and the team wore white jerseys with pink numbers and pink shoes. Though effeminate, the Ducks snapped a five game losing streak with back-to-back wins wearing pink-- I think they should stick to the alternate color combination.

 

Jacob lead the Ducks with 19 points yesterday over USC, and Tajuan Porter and Matt Humphrey hit clutch three pointers on Thursday to boost the Ducks over UCLA in overtime. Oregon's offense finally came to life this weekend with some great shooting and ball movement, and they spread the ball around feeding the big men and rediscovering the three point shot. When they click, this basketball team can be hard to beat.

 

From a fan's perspective, this weekend also saw the Pit Crew come alive. Perhaps it was Ernie Kent's master plan to simultaneously motivate both his players and the Pit Crew when he called us into the locker room for the pre-game huddle Thursday night. In my three years of Pit Crew I'd never been in the locker room, but it was a cool new experience to surprise the team (and ourselves) with the clever idea to storm the locker room and get the team pumped for the game. The energy carried through the UCLA game to a win, and it continued Sunday with clever signage and cheers. For instance, Pit Crew members brought tombstones to mourn the death of USC's basketball program (they've banned themselves from any post-season play because of rules violations when ex-coach Tim Floyd paying former USC player O.J. Mayo). In addition, there was a sign that read "USC Rules Violations Counter:" followed by many fans holding up red "X's"to represent the many violations. It was a good spirited, clever attack against an athletic department that can't play by the rules-- great to see.

 

The Ducks will travel to Corvallis next weekend to play Oregon State, and look to move up in the standings in the Pac-10. I'll leave the Xs and Os to the coaching staff, but if I may put my two cents in: I recommend we stick with the pink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Brewin'

Peter E.

January 30, 2010 - 8:03 PM

With my twenty-first birthday right around the corner, I've grown impatient and decided to take matters into my own hands: I'm brewing my own beer. My interest in home brewing has been growing over the last year, and I finally decided to pull the trigger and buy a beer making kit.

 

I preface this post to explain that my desire to brew goes beyond my bestial appetite for beer. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I enjoy cooking, so brewing is a great way to broaden my culinary expertise while gaining an appreciation for the art of brewing. In addition, the sustainability classes I'm taking instill in me a desire to understand my transportation, consumption, consumer habits, etc. Thus, brewing my own beer requires less transportation for materials, reuses bottles, and utilizes locally grown hops. For this reason, it has ecological benefits as well because I reduce my carbon footprint while learning about local agriculture and culture (microbrews are huge in Oregon). Finally, brewing my own beer is cost effective; now that I have the equipment, it only costs about $25-30 for the ingredients per brew. In other words, my beers will be about the half the price compared to buying six packs of microbrews from the store. For these reasons, brewing has many personal benefits, not to mention it's a fun, stress relieving activity.

 

Hence, I made my way down to Valley Vintner & Brewer  today to pick up my supplies. Valley Vintner is located on 13th and specializes in home brewing and winemaking equipment and ingredients. My roommate Jeff and I browsed their recipes and settled on "Quaker's Revenge Oatmeal Stout." An employee helped us assemble the ingredients, and I was set to brew.

 

Once we returned home, I read some of the "Joy of Home Brewing" book that came with my kit, and figured out the steps needed to make my beer. I discovered that it's a fairly simple process that requires some careful attention. Essentially, the steps are as follows:

 

1. Steep the oatmeal and grains to bring out the sugars.

 

2. Add the "tea" of sorts (known as a wort) to water and the malt extracts and stir until dissolved.

 

3. Bring that all to a boil and add hops throughout the boil.

 

4. Let the wort cool and then put it into a sanitized fermenter.

 

5. Add yeast to the fermenter. The yeast goes to work eating the sugars and producing the alcohol.

 

6. Cap the fermenter with a sanitized blow-off tube to allow excess carbonation and fermentation to release.

 

I'll now let the beer ferment for a week or two, add sugar, and then bottle. The remaining yeast eats the sugar to give carbonation to each bottle, and then the beer is ready to drink after about two weeks. In other words, I will have beer in about three to four weeks; conveniently, just after my 21st birthday. I'll keep you posted as to how it turns out. Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

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Turned Inside-Out, Again

Peter E.

January 25, 2010 - 2:14 PM

What a morning! Nothing gets the week started like a nice meeting with Department of Corrections people. No, I wasn't in trouble with the law this time, I was meeting with Inside-Out professors, alumni, and Corrections research people to discuss plans for the national organization and the Oregon division of Inside-Out. In a nutshell, the Inside-Out program is a nationwide organization that builds bonds between universities and prisons to have an exchange in which university students take classes in prisons with inmates. The class is in no way a mentorship or test of the inmates; rather, students (of which I was one) learn with and from our fellow classmates both college students and inmates. My fellow blogger and friend Katie Dwyer both experienced the Inside-Out class together, and she's put together a conference in which top Inside-Out representatives, including founder Lori Pompa, are in attendance. The conference also includes one of the preeminent anti-death penalty activists Sister Helen Prejean. I have yet to meet Sister Helen, but I am anxiously awaiting her talk tonight.

 

 

 

 

The meeting this morning was really enlightening to learn more about the penal system through different avenues of education, research, and government. It was encouraging to see the positive changes, programs, and research that is being done. Before the Inside-Out class I never really considered prisons or inmates too much in any respect, and it's easy to forget about them if you do not know anyone incarcerated. However, the class was a real eye opener for how bleak the prison system really is. Although prison is a form of rehabilitation for individuals back into society, it is a shame that they do not have the opportunities to learn or further their education because our nation has taken a "tough on crime" attitude that neglects inmates' intellectual capacity. Twenty years ago many prisons offered grants for inmates to work on university degrees and had full programs, but this is no longer the case thanks to legislation and political campaigns that play on voters' fears of crime to perpetuate a nonpartisan travesty against inmates. In this respect, education in prisons is somewhat disheartening.

 

Despite the odds, the Inside-Out program has given me new hope. I am part of a new focus group that hopes to form a national network of outside alumni, inside alumni that our now released from prison, and inside students as well to work together to address increasing educational opportunities in prisons. Furthermore, the Inside-Out program is testament to the positive impact education has in the prisons, and they are making a difference nationwide by educating people both inside and outside prisons. Perhaps the most positive takeaway from today came from Department of Corrections researchers that feel the same way. It was reassuring that government wants to work with us to affect positive change. One woman from Corrections explained that in their department it's easy to take a "business as usual approach," but she assured us that that is "not good enough for me." We may be headed in the right direction.

 

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