Oregon150

Why I Write

Tison stoner
Oregon City

by Tison Stoner
Oregon City, OR
I write to show the inside of who I am, when in need to. I write to say everything, when it feels like my lips are sewn shut. I write to make a place that’s better than where I’m at. I write to show girls that I have a soft [...]

Hillwriting, Grande Ronde Valley: A Poem

Sandra Ellston
La Grande

by Sandra Ellston
Seal Rock, OR
Melt away the excess.
Make invisible what cannot signify.
Leave canyons of plenitude and
gullies of mystical metaphor.
Tattoo arcana, kabbalah,
on slopes of papyrus-to-be.
Make readers of walkers,
new-fangled pilgrims, eyes raised,
parsing your truth with awe.
On these hills that cradle
us, valley of peace, soon
to be cherry-stained, mint-
washed, odorous sweetness
swathing still-pioneers in
Hot Lake mists, now just
waking to words [...]

A History Lesson

Helen Caster
Colton

Helen Caster
The year was 1937, and I was a teacher in the tiny, rural town of Colton. I was an inexperienced, new teacher, trying to make Oregon history come “alive” to my students. I dramatically described my own recent visit to one of Portland’s large parks where I had seen the statue of Sacajawea. I [...]

The Oregon Story of Jean F. Branson

Sue Rawlings
Hart Mountain

A Sweet Home, Oregon Story

Glenda Hopkins
Sweet Home, OR

Pioneering in Oregon

Gynn O. Deaton
Canyonville

Why Do I Love Oregon?

Marie Arnold
Coos Bay

By Marie Arnold
Coos Bay, Oregon

Mabel’s Journal

Alison Mae Lasher
Oregon

MABEL’S JOURNAL
A short story by Alison Mae Lasher, age 10, inspired by the diaries of her great-
grandmother’s aunt, Mabel F. O’Brian, who immigrated to Oregon in 1892.
February 12, 1892, Leon, Kansas
Dear Journal,
Pa got home from Oregon. It’s a wonderful land. Ma said, “I suppose we have to
pack. We’re going west.” I’m excited to go on [...]

Oregon at First Glance

Jhana McCullum
Roseburg, Oregon

Jhana McCullum
Roseburg, Oregon
When I first traveled through Oregon, I was totally amazed at its beauty. Even along I-5, its splendor overwhelmed me. I saw hawks floating on air waves high above rugged peaks, a clean blue sky and trees that stood tall and proud testifying of greatness. The air was cleaner than any I could [...]

On the Farm in Mid 20th Century

Robert Mumby
Roseburg, OR

Robert Mumby
During World War II my father sold his Farmer’s Market drug store in Los Angeles and brought my mother, brother and I to Roseburg. Shortly thereafter we moved to a ranch some 16 miles of paved, gravel and dirt road west of Roseburg at the base the Coast Range.
Two brothers, immigrants from Sweden, sold [...]

An Accidental Oregonian

Susan Castillo, State Superintendent of Public Instruction

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Susan Castillo, State Superintendent of Public Instruction
I moved to Oregon from southern California when I was in my 20s. I didn’t plan on making the move permanent; I just sort of wandered here the way many young people did in the 1970s. I am an accidental Oregonian.
It may surprise some people to know that [...]