Thoughts of Oregon

I was born in Oregon. And although there have been times that I have moved away from my beloved state, I have continued to come back time after time. Recently, I have heard a lot of people in my JSchool (what we call the U of O's School of Journalism and Communication) classes talk about how unique and almost arrogant Oregon is. I'm not sure how I feel about what they are saying. Yes, Oregon is a fantastic state. It's beautiful. There are tons of things to do here. We have mountains, the ocean, great sports, and interesting and "weird" cities to explore. I enjoy the fact that people are starting to recognize this, but I don't want my state taken over by a people wanting to exploit Oregon for all its greatness. This is what my colleagues were referring to when they speak about Oregon's arrogance. I suppose we like our independence here. We like to be relatively unknown. Although I like that new people move here and fall in love with the Oregon culture, I don't want EVERYONE to know about it. I mean, wouldn't it be horrible if Oregon became completely overpopulated? I sure think it would be terrible.

But on a lighter note, in May, I drove through my birth city. LaGrande, Oregon is a pretty cute city. It's dry. The lack of green is quite disturbing, but other than that it's a pretty great city. And I was born there. Hmm...that might make it one of Oregon's greatest cities!