October 2020
Joe Basey
An Oregon alum who strengthens the local community.
Joe Basey
October 2020
Jan 2020
Photograp
Capturing the essence of people and places through the lens.
Jun 2021
Productio
Creating immersive visual experiences through meticulous attention to
Sep 2022
Documenta
Shedding light on untold stories and amplifying marginalized voices.
Few things are more nostalgic than joining Autzen Stadium’s third quarter “Shout”. Seats swarmed with locals, students and alumni; everyone knew the chant. One specific alumnus stood in the stands with his friends. He watched the twinkling lights and sea of green, while reminiscing about his days as a student. Joe Basey is Eugene-raised and educated, and now working for the city as an adaptive recreational instructor. Yet, he’s not only a Black man who loves Star Trek and Oregon football games. Basey has Cerebral Palsy and takes pride in eliminating the bridge between abled and disabled people. Basey said, “It shouldn’t be them and us; it should just be us.”
Basey is often asked if he’s discriminated against because of his ethnicity. According to the 2020 Census, 1.4% of Eugene is Black. Basey said, “Disabilities impact me more than my color or race.” The 2020 Census concluded that 10.2% of Eugene citizens have disabilities. Basey isn’t surprised by the numbers. He said, “And that’s just the people that acknowledge it.” Basey earned his degree in Family and Human Services with a minor in Special Education.
At 13-years-old, Basey and his adoptive parents moved from Portland to Eugene. Basey said that getting bullied in middle school was particularly tough. He said the young kids “didn’t know any better”. Whether he liked school or not, his mother always said that college was never a question; he was going. He moved from Lane Community College to University of Oregon and graduated in 2003 and was hired two years later.
Basey said, “Sponsoring the development of our patrons is so fun to watch.” He’s now going into year 17 at the Adaptive Recreation Services at Hilyard. Emily Overly, a receptionist at the Adaptive Recreation Services at Hilyard, has been working with Basey for five months. Overly said, “Anytime he sees you stressed, he will look at you and say, ‘hey, remember you’re a badass.’”
Besides his work in recreation, Basey is a member of the Consumer Advocacy Council at Health & Science University. Basey is an advocate for disabled communities on a local, county and state level. He said he loves this job because he can take new ideas and bring them back to his programming at Adaptive Recreation Services. Basey said, “My whole idea is to make life easier for the people that come after me.”
It was about ten degrees cooler in the rink room than in the lobby of The Rink Exchange on the night of Jan 26. Ania Kirkas’ cheeks were rosy as she exited the rink. “I’m a grandma. I’m a grandma,” said Kirkas with two thumbs pointed back at herself. Kirkas has a one-year-old granddaughter and very proudly let anyone within earshot know as she pranced from the rink with her skates. Kirkas grabbed her finishers medal and posed with it before returning to the ice for more laps around the rink. “I have been so psyched to do this, I could not wait,” said Kirkas. “I do not like running, but this I can do all day.”
The Eugene Figure Skating Club put on its first Frozen 5K. It was all smiles as Denise Beban, the clubs’ president of three years, gave a pep talk to Mikayla Goodi. Goodi was hesitant to wear the mascot costume of Snowplow Sam — a seven-foot-tall ice-skating brown bear. She is a university student and EFSC instructor and she says that she “knows how to fall,” but that it’s different with a giant bear costume on. The club’s team of instructors and coordinators decked The Rink Exchange lobby out with a mix of white and baby blue balloons. The snack table showcased Oreos, Sugar Cookies, and pretzels. Beban said that all the proceeds go toward reserving the ice for lessons and for shows during Christmas and springtime.
“Ice time is very expensive,” said Morgan Williams. “We definitely need the money to host the lessons.” Williams is a student at the University of Oregon and an instructor for EFSC. “It can be challenging, especially with limited ice time. We have so many different abilities on the same sheet of ice.” Williams instructs kids as young as six and adults far older than herself all of whom are at different skill levels on the ice.
Once most families and kids had had time to get their skates on, Beban thanked their sponsors — The Rink Exchange and Gass Orthopedics — and everyone who came. Beban explained that 38 laps around the rink is five kilometers. “If you finish, come on up and get your medal, and then go back down and keep going,” said Beban. Beban is all about using the time they’ve reserved the ice, to be on the ice as much as possible. The skaters all had a blank bib on their back. With each lap, people on the ice that Beban called “bib counters,” marked a tally.
With the EFSC, Beban plans to further the sport of skating in the community. She says it’s for kids and adults to hone their figure skating or hockey fundamentals. Christy McCaslin, Vice President of the EFSC, helped organize the 5K alongside Beban. McCaslin said the event was going really well. “We were hoping for 50, and we closed registration, but we still ended with 70 skaters,” said McCaslin. McCaslin’s husband and son play hockey and her daughter is a skate coach, so she finds herself at The Rink Exchange almost seven days a week.
Skaters danced on the ice to classic ABBA, the YMCA, and Justin Timberlake all the while making those left turns.
Mikayla Goodi, wearing the Snowplow Sam costume, was on the ice all night, taking pictures with the skaters and encouraging them with a wave here and sprinkler dance move there. Goodi moved to Eugene for college and has been an instructor at EFSC for the past year. Goodi says that the whole board at EFSC works so well together which allows them to throw great events together in such a short time. She says they have such a knack for welcoming the community. She’s thankful that they took her in with “open arms.”