The Way: Iannarone on Transportation, Davis on trust, Moore on campaign finance
PLUS Rich Vial on partisanship and Kevin Frazier reflecting on lessons shared by Gov. Kitzhaber
Did you miss “The Liftoff”?
Read the latest version here
You shouldn’t have to be an “Insider” to be in the know.
Editor’s Note:
Sometimes you find yourself in an unexpected spot. My train was apparently moving slowly. I was walking quickly. The speed differential meant I had 45 minutes to spend outside of Porter Station in Cambridge. If you’ve been to this part of the Boston area, you’d know that it’s generally like any other part of the university-dense community: students and their parents milling about from nice shop to nice restaurant to ever nice campus. Occasionally, though, you find yourself in a spot frozen in time – before the Millennials took over Cambridge, before Big (bio) Tech was the biggest thing in the area, and before the incessant drive to develop every plot kicked local institutions out of their haunts.
I spent my 45 minutes in a dive bar a few steps away from the station. The patrons were anything but posh Harvard students.
“Of course, I’m watching the Bruins game. Are you kidding me? I’m from Boston, I can’t not watch the game,” declared the gentleman to my left.
To my right, “This is the best fu*king salad of my life. I didn’t know this place had salad.”
From somewhere along the bar, “What’s the booster? I got my J&J in Rhodes Island – that’s enough, right? Why’s Biden trying to make me get something extra?”
Three minutes had passed and I settled in for the remaining forty-two. The conversations continued to hit on these general topics. One individual wondered why politics has to be a part of ads airing during college football games. Another laughed at the guy cheering for Michigan – “Doesn’t he know they suck?” (They won.) The man next to me tried to buy the woman down the bar a shot. She declined. He wasn’t pleased. He then tried to buy me a shot. I also declined (I was taking the train to see family…a beer was plenty).
I don’t know how much any of these folks had to drink before I arrived. I don’t care. They didn’t do anything wrong or right. They simply made clear that even in a place as liberal, intellectual, and scientifically-oriented as Cambridge, there’s still a gulf between Left and Right. This crowd would not have responded well to a Harvard student walking in and reminding them about White Privilege.
What I do know was that I needed the reminder that even in the bluest areas, there’s disagreement and there’s individuals who are anything but on the same page as the voting majority in that area.
You shouldn’t have to be early (or late) for a train to encounter individuals with different views. We ought to be much more deliberate about encountering and conversing with people (ideally, when sober) that support other candidates, question your deeply-held beliefs, and scoff at your assumptions.
I had to catch a train, so I left without pulling up a stool next to the crowd at the bar. Part of me wishes my train had been even slower. Though, I’m not sure the patrons would have remembered our conversation the next day, I wish I could share a drink with them. Throw some ideas their way. Learn more about their own stories.
You’re probably thinking, “Wow. All this rambling just to say you wish we shared a drink with strangers more frequently…”
Well, you’d be right. Go have a pint at a bar you’ve never been to in an another you’ve never stopped in and tell me about your experience. If you don’t learn something about yourself and your community, then the next round is on me.
Here’s to a better Oregon,
Kevin
To look forward to:
Our #GovernorGoals series. Learn more about how you can help shape the future of our state here.
Rep. Wilde on higher education goals in Oregon.
To read:
Sarah Iannarone examines what sort of infrastructure investments and priorities Oregonians should focus on.
Read more here
Rich Vial calls out recent political maneuvers as further evidence of partisanship, rather than progress, dominating Oregon politics
Read more here
Adam Davis ponders what it would take for more of us to feel comfortable talking about controversial topics with others and listening to others as well.
Read more here
Tam Moore reviews the elephant in Oregon’s political front room: campaign finance reform.
Read more here
Kevin Frazier reflects on the importance of three lessons offered by Governor Kitzhaber as part of Kevin’s special Thanksgiving day post.
Read more here
To do:
Share The Oregon Way with three friends
Join our editorial team or nominate someone to join
Tell us how we can improve!
Photo credit: "Barn south of Forest Grove, Oregon" by theslowlane is licensed under CC BY 2.0