Eugene Weekly has come to Salem. I’m cool with that.

Whoa… where am I?… could it be… that Salem has become Eugene?… 

The new paper box on the corner of Liberty and Court in downtown Salem disoriented me. Eugene Weekly, an alternative publication, was beckoning me to grasp a free copy. What gives? 

I wondered if there had been an Alternative Paper Coup.

Maybe those hippie radicals in Eugene had taken over our very own Salem Weekly, deposing publisher A.P. Walther and imprisoning him in the Eugene Weekly print room, where, I assume, bicycles pedaled by indentured vegans provide the power to make the presses roll.

But then I glanced to the left and saw that all was well. Salem Weekly still lived! (Albeit in a less vivid paper box.) I realized that instead of diminishing our town's alternative paper offerings, Eugene Weekly had expanded them.

So… welcome to Salem, Eugene Weekly! Live long and prosper. 

Curious about what brought Eugene Weekly here, I emailed its editor, Ted Taylor.

Yesterday I noticed a Eugene Weekly box in downtown Salem. It was empty but still, welcome! Maybe your Eugenian presence will inoculate Salem with an added dose of coolness.

Kind of like when the cool kids at high school come over to your table in the cafeteria. If you’re nerdy, it feels good to be noticed by them. Eugene Weekly has noticed Salem! Maybe we’re a little bit cool!

What brings you to Salem? Do you have plans to make Salem into Very North Eugene? (I can only hope…)

Stopping at LifeSource Natural Foods on my way home, I saw that Eugene Weekly also has a presence there. Again, right next to the usual resting place of Salem Weekly.

I think the two alternative papers are going to be best friends. I certainly feel close to each of them. Salem and Eugene both need options to the daily newspapers that aren't doing a good job of informing their communities.