And I'm definitely not going to be letting them fall off now that the book has come out. I've got lots more writers waiting in the wings. Including library director Colin Rea. Here's an excerpt from his essay in the just-sprung Pacific Northwest Reader:
"In 1971, then Governor Tom McCall famously told Terry Drinkwater on CBS News 'Come visit us again and again. This is a state of excitement. But for heaven's sake, don't come here to live.' Conventional wisdom says Oregonians fancy themselves as New Englanders do. They take pride in the roots that they put down and slap 'Oregon Native' bumper stickers on their Subaru's and Hybrid Hondas (yes, the greening of America has pushed aside the Volkswagen in favor of trendy Japanese bubble cars. Never mind that the new diesel VWs get better mileage...). And yet, seemingly everyone in the state moved here from somewhere else, especially from the somewhere else known as the upper Midwest. Badgers, Gophers, Buckeyes, Wolverines; all are well represented in the Willamette (rhymes with dammit!) valley and beyond. Travel south and you'll meet Californians who cashed out 3 bedroom houses in order to buy
bigger homes for half the price near our beloved Shakespeare festival. Up north, Portland attracts the young hipsters from colleges across the country who know that Seattle went limp when Cobain blew the lid off the grunge movement."
[Being a former Californian Oregonian who got here by way of that somewhere else known as the upper Midwest, I'd say Colin knows what he's talking about...]
Colin Rea is the Director of the Fern Ridge Library District in Veneta, Oregon. A former bookseller and PNBA Board member, he may be the only Oregonian to dislike the Grateful Dead. His favorite foods are
scotch and sandwiches.
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