tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189482.post2464475825369137791..comments2024-03-26T21:46:56.291-07:00Comments on The ZehnKatzen Times: [zeitgeist] I am all Oregon, Baby!Samuel John Kleinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00514541030057763303noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189482.post-68534622581996238012007-07-09T20:37:00.000-07:002007-07-09T20:37:00.000-07:00Wow. Now THAT'S a list. It's so thorough I think t...<I>Wow. Now THAT'S a list. It's so thorough I think there must be 5 or 6 Oregonians in the state.<BR/></I><BR/><BR/><I>And</I> I got them all from a lifetime growing up here. Impressive, no?<BR/><BR/><I>Seriously though...your list requires people to have grown up here. Do you believe one can become an Oregonian or does it require living your whole life?</I><BR/><BR/>Fair question–my smug attitude about being native-born (hey, I know it–no shame in my game) would make you think that.<BR/><BR/>But there is, in my opinion, a certain <I>je nais sais quoi</I> that separated the real Oregonian from the poser. And I think you <I>don't</I> have to be a native born to be a real Oregonian.<BR/><BR/>I also don't think there's necessarily a time-limit on being there before you can be thought of as a local. I may not have made it clear, but to me what makes the "real" Oregonian is the recognition of what makes Oregon such a desierable, cool, kind of offbeat place to be, and the willingness to be as committed as me and many locals are to keeping Oregon special and not allowing it to evolve into some place that pretty much looks like every other place.<BR/><BR/>Of course, you do have to be born here to be <I>native</I> Oregonian. Being a native allows you to occasionally adopt an insufferably smug attitude about being born here and not having to apologize about lording it–be we natives try not to be <I>too</I> snotty about it. B-)<BR/><BR/><I>My other half says to become an Oregonian you have to have lived more of you life in Oregon than elsewhere. If that's the case, I have about about 7 more years to go. Sigh.</I><BR/><BR/>Well, like I said, I think it's more of an attitude and state of mind than a period of years.<BR/><BR/>For instance, I wasn't born in Portland, but in Silverton, even though I've been in the Portland media market all my life. This means that there are native Portlanders than are better at that than I am. However, there is a point after which you call yourself Portlander instead of "originally from Silverton" (or Molalla, or Scotts Mills, or whatever), and I think I passed that an awful long time ago.<BR/><BR/>Moreover, the feeling of living in the northern Willamette Valley means that every town–even one as big as Portland–is just the next burg down the road, so I feel like I never really left the place I grew up in (the hospital I was born in is only about an hour away by car, anyway–through some of the most beautiful farmland you ever saw).<BR/><BR/>My wife was born in Ohio but she loves Portland more fiercely than I do sometimes, so, hey, as far as I'm concerned, she's Oregonian enough for me.Samuel John Kleinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00514541030057763303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7189482.post-58317532533495538992007-07-09T18:40:00.000-07:002007-07-09T18:40:00.000-07:00Wow. Now THAT'S a list. It's so thorough I think t...Wow. Now THAT'S a list. It's so thorough I think there must be 5 or 6 Oregonians in the state. <BR/><BR/>Seriously though...your list requires people to have grown up here. Do you believe one can become an Oregonian or does it require living your whole life?<BR/><BR/>My other half says to become an Oregonian you have to have lived more of you life in Oregon than elsewhere. If that's the case, I have about about 7 more years to go. Sigh.LeLohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15073317400749817075noreply@blogger.com