In Search of Perfection
Whatever makes you feel beautiful is right
High cheekbones, even tans, long hair, perfect teeth, small feet, long eyelashes. The list goes on and on. What comes to your mind when I say beauty? Continue reading
Viewpoint: Page 82
Next Generation American
The shifting identity politics of multiculturalism
“I really should’ve packed a lunch.” The woman with the tightly wrapped bun on the top of her head is impatiently attempting to explain to me that the information on my birth certificate doesn’t match my mother’s. She hands me back my mom’s quadruple stamped, handwritten, Salvadoran civil war-era birth certificate, which looks as if it had been lost in Wes Anderson’s prop closet. Continue reading
Raising the TAG Bar
As Eugene School District 4J works to meet a June deadline to comply with a corrective order regarding gifted education issued by the Oregon Department of Education, a second complaint has been filed against the district, according to the parent who filed the complaints and the education department. Continue reading
Of Bankruptcies and Turkeys
How to keep local governments afloat
Looking back in my legislative rearview mirror, it’s amazing to think about issues facing the 2013 legislative session that weren’t even imagined in 2003. Facebook and social media protection for workers, for example, or protecting human placentas from overzealous right wingnut hospital administrators, or drones. Ah, did I mention a collapse of the housing market? This 77th edition of Salem’s Hot Air Society will have to consider another daunting problem: local government bankruptcies in Oregon. Continue reading
Of Deadlines and Decals
Both sides hunker down with unfinished business
Deadlines come and go in Oregon’s legislative cycle. The deadline for most committees to post notice of action on bills that have cleared the other chamber is May 20, and the deadline to complete action on those bills is May 31. The legal deadline for session adjournment is July 13. Continue reading
My Mother’s Garden
Nurturing the flowers of love and service
My mother, Virginia Eivers Gorton, was raised in The Rose City amid Portland’s lush beauty, but her garden was always more of a dream. While she delighted in the natural beauty of flowers, that love never extended to actual hands in the soil. If truth be told, perhaps the interest in gardens was more my interest and although I championed the joys of gardening through the years, she was always otherwise engaged. In 1917, Mother was born into a family of hard-working and accomplished women. Gardens, tea parties and the like were not the customary pastimes of these women. Continue reading
Sustaining the County Jail
Business as usual will become even more costly
Having worked in two jails and one federal prison, I understand the importance of adequate institutional staffing for safety, security and efficiency. But in conjunction with deliberations about whether to support a tax levy to increase jail funding, I believe citizens would do well to contact their county commissioners about how any short-term funding solution should be coupled with a plan to rein in correctional costs that otherwise will undoubtedly only increase over time. Continue reading
Difficult Choices
How do we fill a real and immediate need?
The proposed city fee is the subject of much debate in our community. Many community members remain undecided. Voters deserve some clarity about the proposed fee and a response to the critics who say it is not needed. Continue reading
In Defense of Men
Let’s not feed hatred and fear
Recently I volunteered at the Lane Peace Center’s annual Peace Symposium, “Rise to End Gender Violence!” Women's empowerment is essential to cultural progress. And violence toward or objectification of women impedes progress. Yet, I also feel compelled to stand up for that other gender, men. Continue reading
Here’s to Bad People
Hacking up my current hairballs of the week
Oregon daily newspapers are hardly worth reading anymore. The bias against public employees, the woeful reporting/analysis of the current legislative session by both The Oregonian and The Register-Guard is bloodthirsty and pathetic. Reporting last Wednesday, the most significant votes of this session — PERS reform and a $275 million tax plan — in their zeal to blast Democrats and Speaker Kotek, both papers lost sight of the pyrrhic nature of the victory the Republicans won in the opening skirmish. Continue reading