Portland, OR

Sometimes, I really need to remember that not everyone is interested in “what we do in Portland…”

Not only am I a proud Portlandian, but I tend to talk about it too much when I visit people in my home state of Michigan. I need to learn to just shut up, but it’s not like I am bragging per se, but instead, I see many things that Portland does as neat and cool and that most of the people I know would really like Portland. But, most people I know in Michigan are stuck there, for lack of a better term. I just happen to be one of those people that has no qualms about moving across a continent, but most people like living close to home and family and friends — or at least that is what they say. Not that I think that anyone is envious of my nomadic lifestyle, but I remember when I was stuck in Michigan and how eager I was to get the heck out.

Not that Michigan or any home state is a bad place, but some people, like myself, feel a need to explore other lands and experience different lifestyles. We need to move away from home. We are not running away, like my uncle accused me of, but rather we are not content staying in one spot our whole lives.

However, not everyone is impressed with what we Communists and Hippies are doing out West. Most people are polite about it, and simply look bored when I bring up Portland’s propensity for gardening, our city’s incoming gay mayor, our many farmers markets and how everything is organic and local, how I can go to the store in my pyjamas and slippers and no one even bats an eyelash, how I can ride my bike almost everywhere, and how polite everyone is on our bio-diesel buses and our electric streetcars…

Yeah, I’d probably get annoyed with me, too. And since I am in Brighton, Michigan (outside of Detroit), I stand the risk of getting a ticket for annoying people with my incessant “in Portland” sentences.

I try to keep my fondness for Portland in check, but it is hard because I am and have been a little eco-nazi for years, and with Portland being such a green city (in more ways that one), I usually point out that Portland is a good place for someone like me, and then I try to work in an environmental lecture into my conversation. I would find that annoying, so I really need to find other ways to answer the question, “How’s Portland?”

From now on, I will politely say, “Come see for yourself.”

Portland, Oregon, Michigan, Brighton, Detroit, farmers markets, organic, biodiesel, environmentalists, communists, hippies

I wrote last week about how much I was crying for the last few minutes of Barack Obama’s 30-minute ad/special/info-mercial/whatever. Well, let’s just say I went through a lot of tissue Tuesday night.

I meant to go out. When I got done with my class, I planned on heading out to the Gladstone pub to be around others for such a momentous occasion, but after sitting down and turning on CNN, then MSNBC, then Fox News (I like things fair and balanced afterall), then NBC — you see where this is going, don’t you? I got sucked into switching between the channels, being the political and news junkie that I am, and never left the house.

A friend called my from RonTom’s and said that they had a huge screen for the television coverage. She was heading over to Doug Fir, and though I was tempted, I was already crying after Ohio went Democratic, so decided to keep my tears and my overwhelming emotions private. Not to say that I would have been embarrassed to shed tears of joy and relief, but I get really snotty when I cry, so for the good of those around me, I stayed home.

I did, however, crack a bottle of bubbly and toasted my boyfriend when Obama took the stage in Grant Park.

And watching the celebration in Chicago was equally emotional for me, as I left Chicago and Senator Obama for Oregon. I totally missed Sweet Home Chicago that night. And I was a little jealous of all those who were there to witness history in person.

During my class on Tuesday, my students asked who I voted for. I said Obama, and careful to not inject politics too much into a class of grade-schoolers, I said that Obama had been my senator in Illinois and he had done a really good job. I didn’t feel the need to explain the larger picture, and as a few little girls had mentioned that they had voted (aw, it’s so cute when little kids vote in their classes) for John McCain, I wouldn’t want to make those little girls feel badly for supporting whomever they supported.

And that brings me to today’s point — finally, I know — the Obama presidency will not be about making anyone feel badly for thinking one way or another. A hypothetical McCain presidency was definitely showing indications of division. This nation has been divided enough. This world has been divided enough.

Bring us together, President Obama.

Barack Obama, election, Oregon, Chicago, Portland, Illinois, McCain, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, NBC, RonToms, Doug Fir, Gladstone, Ohio

I just finished watching the Barack Obama 30-minute campaign “special” — not really sure what to call it, but I know how it made me feel.

Of course, I had heard most of it before, but tonight, I spent the last five minutes of the what would you call it, a “simul-mentary”(?) crying. Actually, crying. Sure, the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics made me cry, too, but very few things make me cry like I did tonight.

It was tears of fear. It was during that last little excerpt (about 6:30 into the clip) from the speech Obama made at the Democratic National Convention, about being imperfect, but he will let us know where he stands and he will be honest with us…well, it was at that moment that the crushing frustration suffered over the last eight years of my life all came back to me and welled up inside like hastily-eaten soup.

I am so …startled.

No, but seriously, I am scared. That another republican can win the White House. It would really kill me. It would kill that beautiful optimistic side of me that keeps giving my pessimistic side such a hard time.

For those of you that have always lived in Portland or another fairly liberal city, you don’t know what it is like to live under the oppression of a dominant political party like the Republican Party. I’m sure there is a bad side to living in a super-liberal town, too…I just cannot think of one. But I grew up in the Republican Stronghold of Western Michigan. My older-than-most-kids parents were moderates from Detroit (which meant overall they were rather conservative by my Marxist standards), and upon moving west to Grand Rapids, even they were shocked (and awed) by the ultra-conservative nature of the area. It was uber-religious and the religion of all was the Christian Reformed Church, a very churchy group.

Now, please, don’t misunderstand, I have no gripe against religious people. I know great people of every creed, but what I do have a gripe about is how certain “conservatives” are so keen on imposing religious rules on those who are not of that particular faith. Nor do I have problems with Republicans, either. What I do have a problem with is a tendency to rule by fear. Very Orwellian with a strong Machiavellian undercurrent.

My tears tonight were shed for a frustrated childhood in a conservative city, where anyone who thinks a little differently is a threat. Other schools of thought and points of view are not respected, and we are seeing that in this Presidential election.

My tears tonight showed me just how hopeful I really am.

Please vote… for America.

Obama, 30 minute, special, campaign, ad, commercial, simul-mentary, Barack, presidential, election, vote, America, conservative, liberal, Detroit