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PORTLAND DIRT IS JUST LIKE YOUR DIRTY TOWN

September 7, 2022 by

To know Portland Oregon you better like dirt. I’m not talking about pioneering farmers, either. It started with the first native canoe stopping on the Willamette. Paddling against the current takes as much energy now as it did then, so if you’re into historical reenactment you’d better be in shape.

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TAKING TIME: EXPLAIN OREGON HISTORY TO YOUTHS

August 6, 2022 by

Taking time to explain history to younger people is a gift that keeps on giving. What if it’s someone from another country asking about a place like Oregon? Oregon? Who cares about Oregon? I know a young man from another country who cares.

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FOLLOWING FOOTSTEPS ACROSS ANCIENT LANDS

May 22, 2022 by

Travelers specialize in following footsteps laid down before them. It’s unavoidable. Sometimes it’s part of a larger plan and sometimes we don’t realize we’re treading ancient paths walked for thousands of years. Take a stroll down unknown history with a walk along any river bank. A travel plan for ancient land should include Paris because […]

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FEELINGS MATTER, A REVIEW OF WHY ON SAUVIE ISLAND

October 9, 2021 by

Feelings matter when you see yourself in a forty year old reflection. In the image I’m looking through a window with another window shining on the other side. Every year for decades a crew would go to Sauvie Island and prepare a historical house for the upcoming season. Every room was cleaned, inventoried, and filled […]

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BEST JOB STARTS WELL, STAYS STRONG, ENDS IN SADNESS

September 26, 2021 by

My best job lasted a couple of decades. It was an insight into human nature for what it was. When I decided to move back to Oregon after a short time away, I decided I wanted to do things only done in Oregon. I’d already spent a summer sliming fish in Hallmarks Fisheries in Charleston […]

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EVIL HISTORY IS TOO PAINFUL FOR STUDENT READING?

July 11, 2021 by

Evil history includes a list of everything you wish you’d never heard of. It’s the story of man’s injustice to his fellow man, and woman, and non-binary person. If you’ve lived long enough, you’ve heard some evil history; add a few more years and you’ve lived some of it, and the aftermath. Everyone has a […]

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HISTORY MATTERS WHEN YOU’RE NOT LOOKING

June 2, 2021 by

History matters more to history majors? We like to think so, but history matters to everyone else, too. It matters with personal history, house history, town history, business history, and the big history between nations. The key to remember is that it always starts small. And it starts with one question: What happened?

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BROKEN STAIRWAY? HOW TO REPLACE IT

October 15, 2020 by

My mother in law walked down a broken stairway for sixteen years. I’d replaced treads and firmed up the handrails, but we still joked about it. “An independent observer might think my son in law is trying to kill me by falling through these steps,” she laughed. “If the fall doesn’t kill you, my snake […]

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TWITTER TALK DONE RIGHT

October 13, 2020 by

Twitter talk quoted: replying to @DavidGillaspie Museums are shit places to gain an understanding of history because colonizers build and fund them. T. Roosevelt is famous for that “Only good Indian is a dead Indian” quote, but apparently not famous enough. You are an old white man with a colonizer perspective. Some nerve. Me: Hey […]

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HISTORY LESSONS? WHO SKIPPED THAT CLASS

October 13, 2020 by

History lessons come the hard way. All the dates and names pile up. We give up on history, and stop paying attention when history reads like a phone book. But once the connections hit and we start linking names, dates, and places, we seek out history lessons. I walked between the Portland Art Museum and […]

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