Farewell Oregon!

I feel like my yearbook quote for the Mount Adams Center sums up how I feel right now:

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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,

committed people can change the world.
Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
~Margaret Mead

That was the quote I chose to represent why I became an AmeriCorps volunteer on that freezing cold Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Day trip to the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center. Little did I know how much we would change the world, and how much we ourselves would change in these short ten months.

We converged on a snow-buried Mt. Adams Center in January for snow shoeing and hiking, star gazing and caving. But after we departed to our service sites… me to the desolate and foggy southern Oregon coast… the stories and adventures continued in full force.

My accomplishments at work and new skills acquired will certainly go with me, but it is the other less tangible, more spiritual experiences that I have had here in the magical Pacific Northwest, that have really changed my life forever. In ten months I have snow shoed, skied, and caved in the Cascades, swam in the Umpqua River, rafted the Rogue River, explored Crater Lake, Oregon Caves, the California Redwoods, and dozens of state parks, climbed Mt. Adams (well, most of it), adventured in Seattle, Portland, and Victoria, seen marine creatures great and small, from gray whales to sea splurge, hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls and Beacon Rock in the Columbia Gorge, made friendships that are guaranteed to survive distance and time, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, Court Appointed Special Advocates, South Coast Food Share, and Star of Hope, started a recycling program at the local county fair, and so much more.

I would like to think Oregon will remember me as long as I will remember her, but that’s not likely. Like the iconic bumper sticker on my water bottle; Oregon will always have a special place in my heart.

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Now I am off on a cross-country adventure that should bring me home for Thanksgiving. I will be travelling through Oregon-Idaho-Utah-Colorado-Kansas-Missouri-Illinois-Indiana-Ohio-West Virginia-and-Pennsylvania. I've never been to several of those states and think I should eat pancakes at least once.

See you on the other side of the country!

Atlantic Ocean, Marley is coming home!

So Pretty (when you speak your mind)

So, I finally sat down and transcribed the lyrics on the back of one of my third eye blind concert t-shirts. I had never read them before because they are written in tiny cursive in light green ink on a green t-shirt. I just knew I liked what the front of the shirt said ("So Pretty (when you speak your mind)") when I bought it. But I like the rest of the lyrics too. It’s not on any of their better-known albums; it came out on a 3-song EP a year ago. Interesting…

the police high-beam froze her pretty face
in white glow for a while
the politic bureau’s on high alert and
her name showed up on file
there’s trouble with the war effort
and she’s been speaking out
check point charlie’s radio-ed in
she’s compromised in doubt
there’s trouble with the war effort and she’s crossed the party line
you were so pretty in the days you spoke your mind

you were so pretty hiding out
the files have been filled
the regime won’t be undermined
you were so pretty in the days you spoke your mind

quiet now don’t make a sound
the system shut us down now we find each other in the underground
she had the voice once of the people
now she’s timid as a mouse
I would kiss you on the mouth in a safe house
cause you were so pretty hiding out
so walk on by, you’re a red star

tell me how did you let them in
we were silent secret agents
but the resistance is wearing thin
dissent is now illegal
she must pay the consequence
in the thriller mystery baby
you are my suspense
cause you were so pretty hiding out
you’re a red star

My November 3rd

Last night, I (as the effective face of the Friends of the Coos Watershed group) hosted a permitting workshop that brought together seven federal, state, and tribal agencies to discuss their permitting processes and the importance of permitting programs to protect the natural resources of this unique part of Oregon. The event was a great success (35 people filled the room) but not without some goofy mishaps on my part.

Firstly, I forgot my grocery shopping list, so I was wandering around Grocery Outlet chanting “chips… salsa… bread… cheese… veggies… juice…” and probably getting some weird looks. Then, even though I got to the meeting place 40 minutes early, people started pouring in before I could set up the tables, food, projector, and get the coffee made. Needless to say, I ruined the first batch of decaf coffee by (1) not knowing how to make coffee because I don’t drink it myself and (2) not reading the directions that were right in front of me. Later, I was notified that I had made a typo in someone’s phone number on the agenda, but not before I had scattered all 51 plastic spoons, knives, and forks out of a bag that exploded in my face when I tried to retrieve one spoon. Then, after all that, only seven people filled out my evaluation.

So, that was my November 3rd. How was yours?