Postcard from Oregon: A nation of wanderers (Printed Jan. 25, 2008)
By Dick Bernard
Special to the Sentry
If the Internet is universal, worldwide and nanoseconds away, why shouldn’t personal communication over vast distances be just as all encompassing and engrossing as a one-to-one conversation over the back fence? Many of us have traversed the United States by jet in just six hours, wondering just what is going on down there from our perch at 40,000 feet. We could swoop down and try to sort out another culture, lifestyle, in its historical context, but the time lapse would be too daunting for real understanding.
I offer instead a glimpse of my life in Oregon superimposed on my very real and vivid memory of six years in South Portland as well as the environs of Maine as I saw and experienced them. The net result is a transcontinental conversation superimposing Grants Pass (where I live now) on South Portland and glimpses of Portland, Oregon (through newspaper and TV accounts) placed on similar scenes and events in Maine.
I start out by contrasting my new neighborhood in Grants Pass with my old one in Knightville. I can’t walk to the post office or to Hannafords or to local eateries as you do. I am forced to use the car. But in a few minutes I am in the proximity of what must be an addiction in Grants Pass: huge box stores. You have the Mall. I have Wal-Mart, Fred Meyer, Sears and a bustling downtown that South Portland has yet to coordinate. I miss the walking, but my consumer needs (and wants!) get satisfied more. On the other hand, neighborliness here is not conducive. Houses and lots are large and distant. Knightville was much more tightly knit.
And, of course, there’s the weather. Grant’s Pass is in a valley, dominated by the Rogue River. Temperatures are warmer; snows are infrequent, but rain persists. I hear reports from South Portland that snow has fallen in huge amounts. I don’t miss the shoveling. The mountains nearby (Cascades and Siskiyous) are spectacular but the Winslow Homer painting of the Lighthouse at Portland Headland in my living room gives me strong vibes of my former home’s dramatic setting and Maine’s rugged coast.
Geographic orientation is another sharp contrast. Television weather reports start me out with a slice of southwest Oregon and the top of northern California. The camera turns westward to a broad view of the Pacific and the rest of Oregon and Washington State. I have to shake my head and remind myself that I’m not looking at greater Portland, Maine, New Hampshire and French-speaking Canada! But local TV weathermen are not as skilled as those you see nightly at home. The forecasts are much more sketchy and incomplete.
I close with this small observation. At the gas station, you sit, they pump! At the last filling ($3.05 per gallon) in a pelting drizzle, I said to the attendant that he must be having a bad time in the rain. “No,” he shouted. “I love this. I’m from Oklahoma. Back there I’d be freezing!”
We are a nation of wanderers, travelers, for one reason or another. Oregon is growing. By 2010 the state will qualify for another member of the House of Representatives, making it six in all. Maine’s slower growth will not project an additional congressman. That’s fodder for another postcard. See you next time.
Dick Bernard is a former South Portland resident who now makes his home in Oregon.
Special to the Sentry
If the Internet is universal, worldwide and nanoseconds away, why shouldn’t personal communication over vast distances be just as all encompassing and engrossing as a one-to-one conversation over the back fence? Many of us have traversed the United States by jet in just six hours, wondering just what is going on down there from our perch at 40,000 feet. We could swoop down and try to sort out another culture, lifestyle, in its historical context, but the time lapse would be too daunting for real understanding.
I offer instead a glimpse of my life in Oregon superimposed on my very real and vivid memory of six years in South Portland as well as the environs of Maine as I saw and experienced them. The net result is a transcontinental conversation superimposing Grants Pass (where I live now) on South Portland and glimpses of Portland, Oregon (through newspaper and TV accounts) placed on similar scenes and events in Maine.
I start out by contrasting my new neighborhood in Grants Pass with my old one in Knightville. I can’t walk to the post office or to Hannafords or to local eateries as you do. I am forced to use the car. But in a few minutes I am in the proximity of what must be an addiction in Grants Pass: huge box stores. You have the Mall. I have Wal-Mart, Fred Meyer, Sears and a bustling downtown that South Portland has yet to coordinate. I miss the walking, but my consumer needs (and wants!) get satisfied more. On the other hand, neighborliness here is not conducive. Houses and lots are large and distant. Knightville was much more tightly knit.
And, of course, there’s the weather. Grant’s Pass is in a valley, dominated by the Rogue River. Temperatures are warmer; snows are infrequent, but rain persists. I hear reports from South Portland that snow has fallen in huge amounts. I don’t miss the shoveling. The mountains nearby (Cascades and Siskiyous) are spectacular but the Winslow Homer painting of the Lighthouse at Portland Headland in my living room gives me strong vibes of my former home’s dramatic setting and Maine’s rugged coast.
Geographic orientation is another sharp contrast. Television weather reports start me out with a slice of southwest Oregon and the top of northern California. The camera turns westward to a broad view of the Pacific and the rest of Oregon and Washington State. I have to shake my head and remind myself that I’m not looking at greater Portland, Maine, New Hampshire and French-speaking Canada! But local TV weathermen are not as skilled as those you see nightly at home. The forecasts are much more sketchy and incomplete.
I close with this small observation. At the gas station, you sit, they pump! At the last filling ($3.05 per gallon) in a pelting drizzle, I said to the attendant that he must be having a bad time in the rain. “No,” he shouted. “I love this. I’m from Oklahoma. Back there I’d be freezing!”
We are a nation of wanderers, travelers, for one reason or another. Oregon is growing. By 2010 the state will qualify for another member of the House of Representatives, making it six in all. Maine’s slower growth will not project an additional congressman. That’s fodder for another postcard. See you next time.
Dick Bernard is a former South Portland resident who now makes his home in Oregon.
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