Happy Birthday, Oregon
The Daily Emerald ran an article yesterday with the headline “Oregon celebrates 150th birthday,” but when I read it, I was greeted by this lead:
Walking through the aisles at gift shops, students may become overwhelmed with cards containing pictures of hearts and messages of love. However, students won’t find Hallmark cards depicting working settlers sweating over fields, Native Americans being forced into reservations or freed slaves being banned from Oregon on the front of cards, as Feb. 14 celebrates another important holiday: Oregon’s admission into the union.
What the hell, ODE? Oh, I get it. It’s the ol’ “you can’t celebrate things because they used to be bad” angle. Congratulations on jumping the shark there. Anyways, in honor of Oregon’s sesquicentennial and the ODE’s douchebaggery, I thought I’d list some of the really cool things about Oregon:
- The beaches are public: I know, I know. It’s heresy for me to support public ownership, but it’s not like you can build anything on sand anyways (or so that Jesus guy said). Just south of Florence there is 50 miles of unbroken public beach and dunes. And that’s pretty cool. Thanks, Tom McCall.
- Speaking of which, we had one of the coolest governors ever, Tom McCall. He once said in an interview (no doubt addressing the state of California): “Come visit us again and again. This is a state of excitement. But for heaven’s sake, don’t move here to live.”
- Oregon held the only state-sponsored rock festival in U.S. history in 1970. Thanks again, Tom McCall.
- Oregon drinks more Pabst Blue Ribbon than any other state. And we’re talking pure volume, not per capita.
- Portland has more breweries than any other city on earth. Up yours, Cologne!
- Portland has more strip clubs per capita than any other city in the U.S.
- We have the only ski lodge in North America that is open year-round.
- We have Crater Lake, which is a lake on top of a mountain. That’s pretty cool.
- And let’s not forget the Oregon Vortex!
- We’re not California.
