Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Oregon legislature starting to look giddy

Hanging around the Oregon capitol building, waiting to testify at a legislative hearing, isn't my idea of fun. But the two hours I spent there this afternoon gave me some interesting insights into a political world that I observe rather rarely. I arrived at Hearing Room C, where the House Agriculture and Natural Resources committee was to meet at 3 pm, about twenty minutes early -- wanting to be one of the first to sign up to testify on House Bill 2871. (It has to do with how Metro deals with urban growth boundary expansion in the Portland area. I…
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Posted inSalem

Scared male: the question I didn’t ask of two feminists

Feminists usually aren't all that scary to me. But tonight I wimped out on asking a question of two who teach at the Oregon State University Women Studies program. We were into the Q &A and guest speaker portion of the Salem Progressive Film Series showing of "Killing Us Softly 4," a documentary about advertising's image of women. Sexy, skinny, silent, and childish is, of course, promoted over sexless, fat, assertive, and mature. The movie showed the filmmaker, Jean Kilbourne, giving a talk. As she made a point, we saw photos and videos illustrating how advertisers present an image of…
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Posted inHome life Salem

“Salemia” video starts shooting in Oregon’s capital

Hah! Deal with this, Portland, you snooty we're-so-much-better neighbor city to our north. You may have super greenness, nightlife, great restaurants, a thriving music scene, and Mt. Hood in your backyard, but as of today Salem -- yes, boring Salem -- has its own cinematic rival of the much-admired (also, reviled) "Portlandia." Well, more accurately "Salemia" is on its way, filming having started today. (If you're not familiar with the fascinating history of Salemia, all two months of it, I've bloggishly recorded it here, here, here, and here.) Having landed my dream role in this production, the Crusty Transient character,…
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Posted inSalem Sustainability

Salem getting closer to being a sustainable city

I've lived in, and around, Salem, Oregon for thirty-four years. LIke most long time residents, I run hot and cold with our semi-fair city. There's a lot to like, but Salem's reputation for being boring, lackluster, passionless, and uncreative is well-deserved. Part of our problem is proximity to Portland and Eugene, each about one hour driving time away. These cities are much more vibrant, green, quirky, exciting. Plunk Salem down in Nebraska and I bet lots of jaded people there would respond with This is a cool town. Agreed. But we could be a lot cooler. Which is why I…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

“Salemia” could be a lot funnier than “Portlandia”

Yesterday I survived -- no, thrived -- my audition for a part in "Salemia," Salem's answer to "Portlandia" -- an Independent Film Channel series that casts a quirky eye on lifestyles in the city that is an hour drive to the north and lightyears distant on a Hipness Distance Scale. After the casting call went out, I got excited about appearing in a video series that will poke both gentle and finger-in-the-eye fun at our excessively boring city. (There's some controversy over how to pronounce "Salemia." To me, it has to be Sa-lame-ia.") But then I remembered all the times…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Photos of pro-union rally at Oregon capitol

Wow, I'm energized! Today's Rally to Save the American Dream in Salem, a.k.a. "We are WI," got me fired up to defend truth, justice, & the American way against any and all enemies -- notably Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his Republican cronies, the Koch brothers. Here's some photos of the event, which was mirrored in every state capitol across the United States. There was a lot of love expressed toward Wisconsin from Oregonians. Looks like your best chance of getting interviewed by a media type is to wear an attention-getting outfit. Many stout-hearted, hard-working union guys and gals were…
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Posted inHumor Salem

“Salemia” casting call gets my Inner Actor excited

Oh, man, I want it so bad -- a role in the "Salemia" series that local filmmaker Michael Perron and his posse are planning to make as our city's answer to the Independent Film Channel's "Portlandia." The Salemia notion started off as a Twitter craze, but is morphing into something more. What that turns out to be is limited only by Perron's wonderful creativity and sense of humor, which is on full display at his You Tube home. As alluded to below, my top strategy for getting a part in Salemia isn't my acting ability, but my fawning ability. Along…
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Posted inHumor Salem

Meet the talented (and funny) guys behind #Salemia

I hope the fawning title of this blog post gets me a role in a "Salemia" production being planned by Twitter-meme founders Mike Perron and David Jenkins -- even if it just appears on You Tube. (The competing "Portlandia" is on the IFC cable channel, which isn't exactly highly watched either.) Gino Corridori, a local cameraman for Portland's KATU, put up a well-done, entertaining interview with Mike and David on, where else, You Tube. Check out hIs "#Salemia: What's it all about?" blog post on the Salem KATU site. I was thrilled to see one of my OregonBrian #Salemia tweets…
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Posted inHumor Salem

“#Salemia” sets off capital city Twitter frenzy

Wow, something exciting finally is happening in Salem! Twitter aficionados are tweeting about how un-exciting Oregon's capital is, using the "#Salemia" tag. I first caught sight of #Salemia on my Twitter feed without knowing what it meant. When I read the tweets, I wasn't sure whether they were for real, or a joke -- which, of course, speaks volumes about Salem's well deserved reputation for being a blandburger sandwiched between spicy Portland and Eugene. Later in the day I came across Salem blogger Emily Grosvenor's post, "The rise of the #Salemia meme." Thanks to her, I learned what this is…
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Posted inSalem

Feds are looking into Salem’s Courthouse Square scandal

A front page headline in today's Salem Statesman Journal blared in big letters: Courthouse SquareMillion$ in Federal Money:Pay It Back? Appropriately, federal officials are wondering what happened to the $9.8 million in grants that Salem-Keizer Transit used to pay for its portion of the now completely unusable Courthouse Square project. The feds are asking the local transit district this question: What will become of federal investments in the Salem bus mall? The 10-year-old Courthouse Square bus mall and office building are so poorly designed that engineers say they're dangerous. And a sizable chunk of the $34 million used to build…
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Posted inSalem

Beautiful sight: “Trader Joe’s coming soon to Salem, Oregon”

It warms my Trader Joe's longing-for heart to see a building on south Commercial Street here in Salem being remodeled for a store opening this year. This visual evidence reassures me that last September wasn't a dream -- when a liquor license application on the old Albertson's door alerted Salemites that their healthy-shopping starved city (no Whole Foods either) was about to be fed with a Trader Joe's. But I wanted additional solid evidence. A beautiful sight of which I found on the TJ website under "see where TJ's is opening soon." Ah, almost as intoxicating as Two-Buck Chuck.
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

“Portlandia” makes this Salemite envious

Last night my wife and I watched the first episode of IFC's Portlandia with more than a little city-envy. Portland is just way hipper, greener, progressive, and energetic than our sleepy Salem. I can't begin to imagine what a comparable Salemandia TV series would be like. All I know is that it'd be boring. Comparatively, I have to admit. Meaning, Salem has the geographical misfortune of being located between two of the most interesting cities in the United States, Portland and Eugene. So the yawn with which we Salemites describe our town is a relative evaluation, not absolute. Case in…
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Posted inSalem

Pineapple Express brings Hawaii to Oregon, sort of

My wife and I enjoy our Hawaii vacations. But they're kind of expensive. So it's nice when Hawaii makes an effort to come to us. Some of its weather, at least. This is today's satellite image from a free Mac app, Swackett, that I installed when Apple unveiled the new App Store feature. It shows the Northwest being hit by a stream of warm watery weather that is bubbling out of the vicinity of the Hawaiian islands. That explains why the temperature is a relatively balmy 55 degrees at this afternoon moment. I can almost pretend I'm in Hawaii. On…
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Posted inSalem

Real men (and women) don’t always watch sports

Kristen Grainger, a Willamette University vice-president, wrote a terrific editorial for the Salem Statesman Journal. In "Game day is just another day for many" she talked about the Most Important Thing happening in Oregon today: the U of O vs. OSU football game, which determines whether Oregon plays for the national championship. A terrific writer, Grainger managed to entertainingly weave together cooking classes, the history of tamales, sex roles, and misplaced machismo in a paint store. This morning I emailed her, saying I wished she could write all of the Statesman Journal editorials. Have a read. Download Game day is…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

“Aquitania” — a great Willamette U theatre production

Until last night I'd never been to a play at Willamette University. After seeing "Aquitania," I'm pretty sure I'll be returning to the university's terrific remodeled theatre. Download Willamette University Theatre story I've bemoaned the lack of support for the arts here in sleepy Salem, Oregon, but I guess I need to do more moaning at the guy I look at in the mirror every day, since my wife and I haven't been taking much advantage of Willamette U's cultural opportunities. For a long time we had season tickets to Pentacle Theatre. Then we gave those up and started going…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Why Jason Freilinger out-debated Patti Milne

I just got back from a League of Woman Voters' debate between Jason Freilinger and Patti Milne, candidates for a Marion County Board of Commissioners position. In my utterly biased opinion, Freilinger won by a mile. Maybe even a light year. Why? Because he didn't shy away from tough questions like Milne did. Milne is a professional politician seeking a third term in office. Freilinger has a business degree and works in the private sector, where problems have to be tackled head-on or you don't succeed in the long run. I said that I was utterly biased because I am.…
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Posted inSalem

Salem arts/culture scene shakily supported

It'd be a stretch to call the way Laurel and I dance "artistic." But, hey, it's a form of creative expression, as evidenced by our dance instructor often saying to me, "Brian, what the heck were you doing with that move? That's not the way it's done in ..." [choose any dance style; I can screw it up creatively]. We've been enjoying going to the dances of the Salem Social Dance Club, a group organized by Robert -- whose last name I don't know. One Friday a month there'd be a get-together at the Salem Senior Center. Good music. Nice…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Salem

Jason Freilinger vs. Patti Milne for Marion County commissioner: a clear choice

County commissioner elections often get about as much attention from voters as an “exciting” (using that word in its most ironic sense) race for county assessor. Yawn... But in Marion County, as elsewhere in Oregon, November’s election is going to determine who will play a big part in running county government for the next four years. Marion County’s budget is $350 million, affecting 315,000 county residents. That’s a big deal.Currently Marion County’s three commissioners are all Republicans. Two are running for re-election this year, Patti Milne and Janet Carlson. Carlson is unopposed, while Milne has a strong Democratic challenger: Jason…
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Posted inSalem

Trader Joe’s coming to south Salem. For real!

When it comes to a Salem Trader Joe's, it sure looks like The Who was right: "Won't be fooled again." Every sign, including the one below that I took a photo of this afternoon, points to Trader Joe's opening a store on south Commercial Street. So even though we Salemites were fooled by the Trader Joe's false alarm in June, when the Statesman Journal had a front page story about an apparent store opening at Keizer Station in north Salem that turned out to be wrong, this time the evidence is much stronger. I was alerted to this marvelous bit…
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Posted inCurrent affairs Measure 37 Salem

Judge slaps down Marion County Commissioner Patti Milne

Ooh, I love it! A judge gets into a slapdown. Not literally, of course, but judicially. A front page story in today's Statesman Journal tells the tale: "Judge blocks 43-lot subdivision in south Salem." Download SJArticle-Laack subdivision I had the news here first, in my Circuit Court reverses Marion County commissioners post. This was hugely reassuring for our neighborhood, which has been fighting the Ridge View Estates development (a.k.a. Laack subdivision) for almost five years. Repeatedly, the Keep Our Water Safe committee formed to protect our property rights and senior water rights came out on the short end of 2-1…
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