Right at the start of this edition of the Weekend Reader, here’s this weekend’s long read: If you’re wondering why it is that politicians (Republicans, in particular) have become such critics of the Housing First approach to battle homelessness, you may not need to look much further than the Cicero Institute, founded by billionaire (of course) Joe Lonsdale. A New York Times story examines how the institute’s approach became the Trump administration’s policy on homelessness. 

The Atlantic’s Nancy Walecki takes stock of this record-shattering year for wildfires in Oregon, with more than 2 million acres already burned. (This, with at least six more weeks of fire season ahead in Oregon.) Most of the acreage burned this summer is in eastern Oregon, which in many ways is still recovering from 2024 wildfires. With the exception of the fires in Spokane, the blazes haven’t yet made much of a mark nationally, because they’ve been burning in relatively remote areas. But Walecki reports how the fire season has put rangeland fire protection associations – groups of volunteers who often are the first to respond to blazes – under unusual stress.

Western Oregon has been fortunate so far this fire season, but Eugene got a scare this week, due to a fast-moving fire on Skinner Butte overlooking downtown. Authorities think a discarded cigarette butt might have started the fire. 

Randy Stapilus has a new column in the Oregon Capital Chronicle where he makes a point about this year’s gubernatorial campaign: For all intents and purposes, there’s a third candidate on the ballot, and he doesn’t even live in Oregon. Doesn’t even like Oregon that much, it seems.

Corvallis city councilors and officials are talking about ways to close the city’s $8.1 million biennial budget gap, but don’t worry – they’re also talking about making sure that you, the Corvallis taxpayer, are fully engaged in the process. One proposal that appears to be gaining traction involves some sort of payroll or income tax to be put in front of voters. Such a proposal could have a tough time on the ballot unless it comes hand-in-hand with substantial budget cuts – but, even so, voters across Oregon have been skittish lately about increasing their taxes.  Also unclear now is how all of this would impact plans for a new civic campus, with a potential price tag of $200 million or so. The council met for a work session Thursday, and it didn’t look as if a Gazette-Times story about that meeting had been posted as of early Saturday afternoon, but relax: Here’s a link to a video of the two-hour meeting. 

The 2022 edition of the Sight and Sound poll of the best movies ever made lists Buster Keaton’s 1926 silent classic “The General” at No. 95. I bet you had forgotten that the movie, now celebrating its 100th anniversary, was shot in large part in the Cottage Grove area. Well, Jamie Hale at The Oregonian/OregonLive hasn’t – and in this story, he reports that the Cottage Theatre is planning to show the movie Aug. 29.  

Are you weary of the ability to instantaneously send messages via your smartphone to anyone in the world? Would you be more comfortable sending messages at a slower pace, say, at the speed a carrier pigeon would have delivered it? The Times reports about a new app, Carrier Pidge, which will send your message at a top speed of 110 mph (the app’s founder says that’s the fastest recorded speed for a carrier pigeon). Of course, there’s a chance – just as with real pigeons – that the message will get lost along the way. Still too fast for you? The app offers other delivery animals, including a snail that moves at about 1 mph. That actually seems pretty fast for a snail, now that I think about it.  

If I had managed this year to put together my annual list of summer movies suitable for adults (Two rules: No sequels! No superhero movies!), chances would have been good that “Coyote vs. Acme” would not have made the list. The movie, which blends Looney Tunes characters like Wile E. Coyote with live action, is based on a classic Ian Frazier New Yorker piece in which hapless Mr. Coyote sues the Acme Corp. for selling him a never-ending stream of defective products in his never-ending pursuit of that pesky (but presumably so delicious) Road Runner. 

The $70 million production made news three years ago when Warner Bros. decided to just shelve the finished project, along with two other movies, and take a tax write-off. But the picture was picked up by an independent studio, and it’s finally getting released into theaters next weekend. I’m thinking chances are good that “Coyote vs. Acme” isn’t a great movie – it won’t be mentioned on anybody’s Sight and Sound ballot – but I’m also betting it will make me laugh hard at least a half-dozen times, and that seems like a good investment. Here’s Jake Coyle of The Associated Press on “Coyote vs. Acme’s” tortured path to the megaplex. 

If you don’t see the movie, you should still check out Frazier’s original piece – it’s not an exaggeration to say, as I did above, that it’s a classic. And here’s a fun New York Times piece about Frazier himself that includes a reference to Missoula, Montana. 

Aug. 25 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Paul Simon’s “Graceland.” A new book, “Days of Miracle and Wonder,” by Ashley Kahn, a music historian who was a member of the “Graceland” tour production team, takes a clear-eyed look at the album and the controversy surrounding it. I’ve taken the liberty of asking our excellent Corvallis-Benton County Public Library if it would consider buying the book (after a week of cleaning out the garage, I regret to report that I have lost interest for the time being in buying more books). As a bonus, the library tells me if it decides to buy the book, I’m No. 1 on the hold list! 

These may be the days of miracle and wonder, but my days of attempting to clean out my garage have ended with an incomplete grade – although there have been visible signs of progress. (My previous serious attempt at cleaning the garage, the blog series “365 Boxes,” ended with nothing to show for the effort other than an aggravated hernia.) But this week, I have cleared out parts of the garage to open a workable space on the west end, complete with table, banker’s lamp and an old (but still comfortable) couch that had been buried under boxes. The east side of the garage is still a mess, but you can now exit the garage in two different ways, if you know how to do it. During the week of work, I uncovered a dozen boxes of books – but not the book I was looking for, W.G. Sebald’s “Austerlitz.” I know it’s here. Somewhere. In the meantime, selected titles will be making their way to our Very Little Free Library. (And perhaps a bin right underneath the Very Little Free Library.)

Speaking of books, I’m reading “Mother Mary Comes to Me,” Arundhati Roy’s memoir about her very complicated relationship with her formidable mother. And you’ll see me this weekend at the Darkside for “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.” Next weekend, of course, “Coyote vs. Acme.”