Posted inSalem

Salem: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Last night we talked about a favorite subject, Why Salem Sucks, during the monthly meeting of our Salon discussion group. While we found some good things to say about Salem, at least two-thirds of the conversation involved the bad and the ugly. The meeting was up in Portland, actually—at the home of Mark and Lynda, group members who recently moved to a beautiful condo on the Willamette River (see “Salem escapees head for Sellwood area”). So we had put some distance between us and Salem, which perhaps produced a clearer perspective on the town long-time residents adore and revile in…
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Posted inDogs Salem

Images of the 2005 Salem Dog Parade

Caution: if your heart palpitates at the sight of cute dogs, do not look at any more of this post without a cardiologist’s permission. But if you’re feeling adventurous, here’s some photos that I took yesterday at downtown Salem’s “Dog Days of Summer” First Wednesday celebration. Our dog, Serena, took part in the dog parade along with lots of other canines. The parade formed on State Street next to Jonathan’s Oyster Bar. These cute puppies got lots of attention from some equally cute girls. This golden retriever, Jake Beebe, got the award for best costume, masquerading as a black cat.…
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Posted inPhilosophy Salem

Faithless Universist group started in Salem

Christians are going too far when they start banning good-hearted atheists, agnostics, and other questioners from coffee houses. That’s outrageous. Why, you’ll have to pry my grande latte from my cold dead hand—and my copy of the Bhagavad Gita from my other one. When I heard about this discrimination against the faithless via a Universist email, I was inspired to sign up today as a Salem (Oregon) sponsor of a Universism discussion group. So far I’m the only member. But I just started the group this afternoon and I’m pretty sure I can talk my wife into joining, which will…
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Posted inEntertainment Salem

My view of the 2005 Salem Art Fair

Yesterday Laurel and I went to the always-wonderful Salem Art Fair & Festival in Bush Park. It’s fairing through the weekend, closing Sunday at 6, so if you live around here, don’t miss it. Per usual, most of the time my view of the fair looked like this. And, for variety, this. Then, for a real change of scenery, I got to watch Laurel buy a jacket instead of earrings. My artistic goal this year was to buy a coffee cup. I found that there are many more artists who sell earrings and women’s clothes than coffee cups. I finally…
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Posted inSalem

Images of 2005 Marion County Fair

This year Laurel volunteered to serve a stint at the Friends of Marion County booth at the Marion County Fair. There wasn’t a whole lot of action going on at the booth last Thursday afternoon, but I still was deathly afraid that someone would stop and talk to me while I sat in Laurel’s chair as she was taking a restroom break. No one did. Laurel herself ended up spending more time talking to the friendly folks at the Democratic Party booth next door than to fairgoers interested in learning more about Measure 37 and land use planning. Underwhelmed with…
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