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SHARED MUSEUM DREAM

A museum dream from MAC’s big window. Regulars at Portland’s Multnomah Athletic Club walk in with the same stride they have walking into a grocery store. Just another door. But if you haven’t been a regular, as in never been inside, only seen the big window and balcony from the stadium stands, it feels like […]

NEIL GOLDSCHMIDT HISTORY CLUB

From Salem To An Unknown Location, Neil Goldschmidt’s Long Strange Trip. The first thing you learn about the History Club is you never talk about it. Replace History Club with museum storage and you still don’t talk about it. Those were rules broken only if you wanted to be an ex-employee of the Oregon Historical […]

OREGON SPORTS HALL OF FAME

When You Finally Make The Oregon Sports Hall Of Fame Team, What’s Next? How do you make it to the Oregon Sports Hall Of Fame? The same way you make it to Carnegie Hall, you practice. No one gets there accidentally. Just like it takes more than a few words to write a sports column, […]

THE SPORTS DREAM

What Happens To Sports Dreams? Dreams never die. They don’t fall over. The don’t sit down and never get up. Dreams don’t stop breathing. Too often it’s us. We give up, try to forget, or redirect. The worst is trying to  pretend you never had the dream that won’t stop haunting your sleep. Drive by […]

MUSEUM DAY LIVE. WORTH IT?

This Saturday Opens The Door To A Free Museum Day Live. Will You Go? Of all the free things in the world, Museum Day Live looks like a steal. Two free tickets await you upon registering with Smithsonian Magazine. Name, email, the usual. Aside from balking at joining yet another list that may or may […]

SUICIDE WALL BY ALEX PAUL

You know a Vietnam Veteran who knows someone on the wall. They all know someone. It’s a teammate or high school friend who never made the Christmas letter list. The men who adjusted to a post-Vietnam War life have friends who remind them of a missing someone. If you talk to them long enough you’ll discover […]

NPR AMERICAN HISTORY FAILS

Is There A Future For American History? NPR Says Maybe. A history joke: “This is George Washington’s Ax, the one he used to chop down the cherry tree. The head’s been replaced five time, the handle eight, but it represents the same space.” After you stop laughing you’ll see the history problem: the ax isn’t […]

PORTLAND’S FARM TRIP

How Far Away Is Portland’s Farm, Portland’s Midwest? Not Far At All. Do you ever imagine golden waves of grain while sweating it out in your hotbox apartment? You wait for a breeze to blow through the crops in your mind while heat mirages rise off the asphalt beach parking lot. Or you’re standing in […]

SOUTHERN HISTORY THE RIGHT WAY

A New Southern History Flag For The South? History is like a cat. Once it’s out of the bag, it won’t back. Andrew Jackson won’t fit under anyone’s hat and if he did you’d probably have a lot less hair. The uproar over the Confederate battle flag throws the South for a loop, but not […]

YOUR NAME, YOUR TRUTH

In a time not so long ago your name wasn’t good enough. Hard to believe in the land of straight shooters and honor, but John Wayne didn’t start out as John Wayne. Neither did Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis. It was a different time. Benedict Cumberbatch says those days are long gone. Still, there’s something […]