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While I agree with scottmil's direction, I will sail on a different tack. I want to be color-blind too, but I stick out as a bi-racial, native-born Portlander.

I worked for a company that had nearly a thousand employees and there were always fewer than 10 "minority race" employees.

I've often been the lone "minority" where I've worked. I've wondered, ?I sure as hell am not the only qualified minority employee so why aren't there more of us here??

But I don't live in Oregon for its cultural diversity. Every few years I compile a pro and con list to rediscover why I do. I like many of the people I know here. I like the weather and the outdoors. But I don't expect Oregon to be something it isn't. If you don't like Oregon's lack of cultural diversity (at the present time) perhaps you should live elsewhere.

When I want an infusion of "otherness" I go traveling. I don't have to go far. Vancouver, B.C. has a large Asian population. San Francisco is culturally diverse too. I get a dose of "otherness" and return to Portland somewhat mollified, but deep down something is missing.

Oh well, I've been willing to pay that price for living in Portland thus far. Everywhere you go, there you are. By that I mean Portland is fine; maybe I'm not connecting with it.

In agreement with scottmil I've embarked on a journey of letting go the labels used to define me. I can use my racial identity label as a crutch or an excuse not to develop fully as a human. I strive to understand the causes of suffering so I can eliminate them.

But overdue attention to race, not dealing with race, arguing about race in ways that don't create a better life leads to more suffering.

Unfortunately there are people in Oregon, of all races, who are not color blind and who are not focused on reaching a higher state of awareness. They point fingers, swear at, or attack those who are not like them.

Since I'm considered black by the naive and inexperienced, I watch my step. I've got to be aware of where I am. I have to know my place. As much as I want to be color blind, I find myself looking over my shoulder and that is tiresome.

It's also hard to ignore that my inter-racial parents couldn't get married in Oregon in the 1950s. I've read that black families couldn't buy houses in Raleigh Hills in the early 1960s. I've been threatened in the work place by people who were intolerant of my ?race? in the 1980s. One guy proclaimed, ?I'm not going to work with a nigger.? Fortunately, there were witnesses so it wasn't just my word against his. Hey, I've got no control over my racial composition, leave me alone!

You might say, ?Trurl9, all that bogus crap happened yesterday.? Yes, I agree with you, but the underlying problems still exist today and that's why race problems remain intransigent.

But every day I strive to understand and eliminate the causes of suffering. I work around, and seek to forgive those who haven't found the enlightenment or color blindness I strive for.

I've been to other countries and hung out with foreign cultures to better understand that we're all trying to make it through the Universe.

Whites in Oregon don't have a vocabulary for being in the minority. They may become frustrated when race pops up and slaps them when they feel they've done nothing to provoke it. However, sometimes the mere presence of white people is considered a provocation, and that saddens me.

But consider that minority groups tend to be oppressed in numerous ways. In the case of blacks who bear the stigma of 400+ years of unequal and destructive oppression, could there be deep psychological issues that keep blacks and whites from living together effectively? I think that is the case.

Our culture has an untreated psychosis affecting blacks and whites.
Blacks and whites don't trust each other. Blacks and whites are afraid of each other. So far we've brokered a tense tolerance bounded by positive results from the civil rights movement. But we are not close to being integrated or as effective as we can be.

Over time I've learned that I'm neither black nor white. Like Obama I've been in situations where I haven't been white or black enough. I've learned to extract myself from such limitations but they tediously crop up occasionally.

What most people don't realize or discuss is that race is not only a condition of appearance, more importantly, it's a state of mind.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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Question for both candidates:

Why do so many Americans abuse legal/illegal drugs? How will your policies help solve this problem?

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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Question for candidates:

Are you willing to tell Americans they must conserve energy and other resources to help stem the rapid rise of food, fuel, health care costs, etc.?

Alternately:

Too many Americans borrow too much or buy what they can't afford on credit. How are your policies going to help remedy these issues?

Alternately:

Why does 20 percent of the U.S. population own 84 percent of the collective wealth? How will your policies redistribute wealth more equitably?

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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Question for candidates:

1) Are you going to redirect taxpayer money from military operations to repair and improve education, food, health care, jobs, global climate change solutions, alternative energy solutions, and transportation infrastructure?

In 2007 $440 Billion was budgeted for U.S. Military according to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States

I'm not as concerned with terrorism as I am with America's rotting infrastructures. I ride my bike around Portland and see overpasses and bridges with broken concrete and exposed rusty rebar. I see dangerous pot holes and cracked pavement. Portland's water and sewer systems are old and require updating, especially as the population increases.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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Fat, obese, overweight, large boned, chubby, cherubic, Rubinesque - who cares about the term used if when we don't address the associated issues? How come so many Americans are unhealthfully large? Do they work in stressful, unsatisfying jobs? Do they eat too much processed food? Are they too sedentary? Do they lack self esteem from growing up in a society where compassion and concern for others takes second place to climbing the ladder in tunnel-visioned pursuit of the "American Dream"?

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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Have you seen Super Size Me? Amazing film. American food is too processed with too much fat, salt and chemicals. Left my sedentary job and went to New Zealand to get some much needed exercise. Got more than I bargained for. Lost about 50 pounds and didn't know it. Even though I felt starved and I was eye-balling my mates as cuisine options, I loved that the food we ate wasn't processed. We had to cut and peel our potatoes, some of which had bugs. For a month I had a much healthier life style and much better quality food.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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Why did you become larger? Are their qualities of marriage that makes one or both mates gain weight?

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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Have you ever stopped to consider that many people have problems with their head when it comes to their excess weight? It's not as simple as counting calories and getting more exercise. They may have psychological issues they need to address. Please be less absolutist and more understanding. Most of the large people I hear don't want to be overweight and unhealthy. They are making excuses perhaps. Why? It's not so simple as you claim or there would be fewer large people don't you think?

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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You might also want a psychologist/therapist/motivational person on the team. Your friend's problems may be more in his head. he could reduce food consumption, exercise like a freak, but if he doesn't fix his head the weight might return with a vengeance. More insight is required into his issues. Thank you for being his friend and helping.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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Do you ride long distances in Portland? I started riding up to 40 miles and after a month of this I was coughing fur balls. Wonder whether riding a bike in Portland is actually that healthy. Yes, you might get exercise on one hand, but you might be irreparably damaging your lungs on the other. I lived in Hood River for several years and the air quality "seemed" a lot better. Of course I wondered about pesticide drift and cow farts from the desert, but that's another issue isn't it? Good luck, stay on your bike.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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What does 5.5% unemployment mean? Sounds like a low rate of unemployment but the shift from good to poorer paying jobs needs to be factored. When I hear that people are working two or more lesser paying jobs, the unemployment number provides a false positive statistic. Also, with the cost of everything rising, the insecurity and poor pay of today's jobs doesn't inspire confidence. Where will the next good-paying jobs for Lane County come from? What concessions will Lane County make to secure those jobs? Good luck ex-Hynix employees.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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I use "Open Sourcery" and "Linux" fairly interchangeably to describe
my interaction with the Open Source philosophy. Open Source has changed the way I use and think about technology.

I've used Linux since 2002 so I'm broadly a part of the Open Sourcery
movement. I like calling it Open Sourcery because to the uninitiated Linux looks like complicated and dangerous magic, but it isn't. Linux has a long and rich history that requires significant effort to master.

Currently I use Linux us to get personal and professional stuff done. I've replaced Micro$oft with Linux at home and I haven't looked back. Frankly, if Micro$oft doesn't become more collaborative, I think Micro$oft's influence on software development will continue to diminish.

Once upon a time I provided Micro$oft support for a Portland-based
professional services firm, but over time I became disenchanted with
Window$ proprietary, buggy and bloated nature. Under Window$ things often broke, and sometimes they were hard to fix without resorting to drastic magic like reinstalling Window$ and it's applications with a digital sledge hammer.

The "$" in Micro$oft Window$ euphemistically refers to how expensive
Window$ can be to buy, use, upgrade and repair. Under Linux the philosophy of "co$t" is closely associated with words like "free" and "freedom".

You can download Linux for "free". It doesn't have to "cost" you dollars
though it can. Under Linux You have "freedom" to modify and distribute the applications you download as long as the source and its derivative works are free to others under the conditions spelled out in the GPL (General Public License).

The GPL is an important philosophical tenet of Open Sourcery which has
great implications for future research, democracy, capitalism, etc. I
relate the GPL to the philosophy that there is abundance in this world.
So-called "Scarcity" is created by greedy and short-sighted humans more
concerned with enriching themselves than making the world better for
everybody. The GPL represents empowerment of the group as well as the
individual. Closed source software commodities are locked down with
patents designed to enrich individuals and shareholders first. Everybody
else be damned. Well, that's overly cynical but you get the idea.

You can find more information than you want about the philosophy of Open
Source on the Internet. It's way too large a topic for this already bloaty post. Suffice it to say that many hate Linux because they haven't figured out how to make money from it. Perhaps the frustrated are stuck in conventional patterns of thought. Step outside the box into the Open Sourcerer's Realm....

Linux was created by Linus Torvalds who was a college student who wanted a UNIX-like operating system that wasn't so darned expensive. Back in the day UNIX cost thousands of dollars and wasn't generally affordable to individuals. Linus soon invited others to participate in fleshing out his fledging operating system and I think he's succeeded beyond our dreams. 3.14 cheers for Linus Torvalds.

Ubuntu Linux claims to have some 20,000 applications in their repository
and that means I can do just about anything I can imagine. Possibilities
for using Open Sourcery tools are limited primarily by one's imagination. If an application doesn't exist to do your task, code it yourself, or contract it out on the Internet.

While Linux is as easy to use as ever, it's still not ready for prime time or the timid. Using Linux is like attaching a fricken' laser beam to a shark's head so you can shoot the wings off a fly: Linux offers as much or as little power as a user demands, and this sophistication can be challenging and time-consuming to master.

But with great power comes great responsibility. It's up to the rookie
Open Sourcerer to learn how their system works and how to take advantage
of everything Linux offers that Window$ does not. For the intrepid, the
journey into Open Sourcery is far more interesting than the destination.

My greatest appreciation of Linux is that there are millions of eyeballs
coding and debugging Linux-based applications. Evolution constantly
occurs. Old programs are relegated to the binary bit bucket while new and better applications take their place.

Bugs are reported and fixed quickly for the most part. And because Linux
is a world-wide phenomenon, everybody can pitch in to make it better. For the first time in history we have a collaborative technology that everybody can use and contribute to without undue restriction. The ongoing improvement of Linux accrues to all.

While Linux is based on UNIX which is 40-some years old, Linux is still an infant. Linux has lots of room to evolve and improve. Over the next few years the Linux desktop will become as beautiful, cool and easy to use as Apple's. But Linux will always retain its heritage of offering the computer user complete control over their computing environment. Linux will be improved or degraded by the quality of the collaboration used to evolve it.

As far as People in Portland making money of Open Source, I don't have any facts to verify my feeling that the Bay Area has attracted the most aggressive and entrepreneurial Open Source advocates. The Bay Area is a hot bed of activity that thrives on competition and constant evolution. The Bay Area is a primary node while Portland might be a secondary node, but that's just a gut feeling.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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More important than Spotted or Barred owls is the fact that humans are poor stewards of Earth's complex and interconnected natural ecosystems. Native Americans sought to live in harmony with nature. Industrial Americans rape Nature to acquire whatever they want without a complete understanding of the short and long term costs of their actions. Industrial Americans have no respect for Nature; they seek to dominate and bend it to their will. As the effects of climate change become more apparent, it seems clear that humans are Earth's number one threat. It is obvious that humans must change their behavior if Earth is to survive. Humans are the invasive species, not Barred Owls. How do we improve human behavior such that we're not a continuous cancer to Earth? In 2001 we were hiking in the Columbia Gorge in Washington, across the river from Mosier, when we came across a pair of huge owls sitting in a tree. They flew by us silently and they were as big as small suitcases.

posted 4 years, 11 months ago
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I like how Emily talks to her guests on a first name basis. Reduces formality. Allows Emily to squeeze more into her hour. Guests appear more accessible. As long as Emily is respectful toward her guests I don't mind if she changes the old-school journalism habit of using formal titles. We live in an age of accelerated information and contact with our representatives. I desire transparency over obfuscatory or insincere kowtow. Get to the point. We are people talking to other people.

posted 4 years, 12 months ago
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I spend more time outside than my parents did. I use computers too much so I break up butt time with frequent bouts of "hanging out with trees". I try to hike or bike three or four times a week. Day trips mostly. Don't camp so much because I've been spoiled. Tramped and camped in New Zealand on a turquoise lake with a view of Mt. Cook. That was nice. I can still see the view in my mind.

Don't care for state campgrounds because the few I've been to have had the sites too close together or they were overrun by obnoxious unwashed hordes. My idea of being outdoors is to be quiet with virtually no technology. I feel sad when I see people talking on their cell phones as they hike. But hey, I encourage people to enjoy the outdoors their way, especially if they're mindful of others.

I give a shout out to two state parks in particular: Viento and Rowena in the Columbia River Gorge. These parks are used by windsurfers and I love them dearly. Spectacular Gorge views and I love the river that runs through them. I've enjoyed volunteering on work crews to keep these parks maintained. It's too bad we have to pay access fees, volunteer, etc. to keep these parks open. What happened to our ability to pay for these places/services with our tax dollars? In the 60s and 70s it seems like access/camping was free or minimally expensive. Gas was between 25 and 50 cents a gallon too.

Another credit I give to Oregon State Parks: I really like the shiny, clean, new concrete bunker long drops (toilets) at Viento and Columbia River South Jetty. There's nothing more discouraging than having to use a porta-potty that is disgustingly befouled beyond words. Uggghhh!

Do you native Oregonians remember Austin and Bagby hot springs in the days when you could be at these places for days without seeing anybody else? Wow, I was little then but the memories hang with me like best friends.

We are lucky in Oregon to have desert, sea, mountains, forests and snow, all easily within reach. If Oregon isn't fairly heavenly (the clear cuts are awfully ugly) where is? Let's take care of this place and make it better, yall.

posted 4 years, 12 months ago
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Remember, we are voting for president. Which candidate has the best chance of bringing together disparate groups? Which candidate has the ethics and integrity to represent the U.S. best? Which candidate is most aware of the conditions and challenges that face U.S. citizens? Which candidate will propose the best solutions to these challenges? Sexism and racism are alive and well so let's not lose sight of the job at hand. Which candidate will be the best commander in chief?

posted 5 years, 1 month ago
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Lived and worked in Hood River from 2001 to 2007. Wrote Gorge Commission opposing more development in the scenic area. What is the point of having a scenic designation when the area is no longer scenic? The houses that can be seen from Oregon hiking trails are eye sores. The casino and resort owners seek to make lots of money in a self serving way, and it won't serve the scenic Gorge and it's residents well. Save the Hatch windsurfing site. No resort.

posted 5 years, 2 months ago
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