StoryHelix

The Legare Series: Misael, Part 4

StoryHelix, Misa Legare, Wordcrafters in Eugene, Leah Velez, Intro and Outro Music by Otis McDonald Season 1 Episode 17

In this episode, Misa Legare talks about his Oregon Origin Story. He is being interviewed by his partner, Serenity, whose story is showcased in previous episodes.

You can read more about the project, about Wordcrafters in Eugene, about our sponsors and community partners, and send in your own Lane County, Oregon stories at StoryHelix.Wordcrafters.Org.

Thanks for listening!

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 You're listening to StoryHelix,
 intertwining stories past, present and not yet
 
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 imagined, in Lane County, Oregon.
 What's up, earthlings. I'm Leah Velez
 
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 and I'll be your host. The
 story we're about to hear was recorded at
 
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 Oakshire Brewing Company in the Whittaker neighborhood
 of Eugene, Oregon in early 2022. Let's open
 
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 up our ear nuggets and give it
 a listen. I'm Misa. I am
 
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 thirty, Latino, Hispanic, White,
 a little bit of everything. Come from
 
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 LA, Los Angeles area,
 Pasadena, I believe. I was adopted by
 
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 my grandparents because my mom-- mother, is involved in some bad stuff.
 
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 Um, she went to prison eventually, but I was snatched up off the
 
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 ground and I kind of have like
 a faint memory of it. I feel
 
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 like I don't know if it's just
 like something my brains made up, but
 
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 like I feel like I remember I
 must have been like three, four ish,
 
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 being snatched up by my grandparents and
 I was like sleeping on the floor
 
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 of like a hotel room. Um. So I lived with them for a
 
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 really long time, but we came
 to live here because my great-grandma,
 
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 my grandpa's mother, lived up here
 with her like eighteenth husband or something, lived
 
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 in North North-- North Coos Coos Bay,
 Oregon, and her husband just died and
 
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 she was, you know, getting
 old and we had to move up here
 
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 to help take care of her.
 So we packed up our things and moved
 
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 to Coos Bay. And my grandparents wanted
 me to grow up, move out of
 
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 California to get away from the Los
 Angeles, I don't know, life and
 
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 moved to like a tiny little town
 Um. But yeah, moved there when
 
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 I was like it was '98. So actually I
 was seven. Grew up here in Oregon
 
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 most of my life. I was
 it was a great place to grow up
 
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 back then. I mean all I
 did was like moved in the house,
 
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 like the third, third house from
 the main the main street over there near
 
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 Walmart, and both houses to my right
 had kids and so it was actually really
 
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 great. Like I just Um,
 most of my childhood playing with, you
 
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 know, my friends that I live
 right next to me, and you know,
 
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 my living with my grandparents and they
 were old and you know, they
 
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 weren't necessarily like we wanting a child, but they, you know, they
 
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 took me on and so I did
 a lot of like the younger parents took
 
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 me a lot of camping trips.
 And you know to Scottsburgh. I
 
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 remember going to the Scottsburgh a lot
 and going camping over there and they had
 
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 a cabin over there. They would
 ride our boats right riding his about the
 
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 my friends Dad's, and he would
 take us like inner tubing and knee boarding,
 
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 and I have my friend had a
 big, a big backyard. So
 
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 we' just like would just always be
 in the backyard, like playing, doing
 
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 something. Being in a small town, you definitely get like a small world
 
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 mentality. And so, you know, I mean, you know, we've
 
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 been here plenty of times because this
 is like we'll always go shopping every before
 
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 school started. So, like I
 was familiar with egene bowling, a lot
 
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 of bowling tournaments up here. So
 I've been up here a lot. And
 
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 me and I guess I would really
 like explore much of the town or the
 
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 people. You know, we just
 came here to do a thing, bowling
 
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 or go shopping and then go home. I was just ready to get out
 
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 of Coos Bay, North Bend at that point
 and after graduating high school, I just
 
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 I just wanted out because there's not
 much to do down there unless you own,
 
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 you know, four wheeler, motorcycle
 be like shooting guns and, I
 
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 don't know, just being a Redneck, I guess, but I mean it's
 
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 don't get me right. I like
 doing a lot of stuff too, but
 
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 other than that there's nothing to do. I just feel like home. First
 
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 I felt huge. So they felt
 like a huge town, coming from,
 
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 you know, a little coastal town. I just honestly Texas and just like
 
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 flying over to Texas and I hate
 to land. It's just like so flat
 
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 and brown and just being they're just
 like I guess it really like, yeah,
 
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 I brought it home to me,
 like Oh yeah, this, this
 
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 is home over here in the Pacific
 northwest. I mean, yeah, Eugene
 
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 area, but more specifically the Pacific
 northwest. It doesn't have to be Eugene,
 
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 but it does feel like home here
 this you know, despite being a
 
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 minority here, it does. I
 mean I am a minority, but also
 
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 I grew up here in Oregon my
 whole life and I don't know, it's
 
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 kind of like in this in between
 place where you don't really fit in with
 
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 either side. You know, I'm
 like, I'm too white for you know,
 
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 my my family members. It might
 see me as white and white people
 
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 usually see me as Hispanic. Latino. I don't speak Spanish, so that's
 
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 definitely another barrier there. So I
 don't know. Fitting in is weird for
 
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 me. Thanks for listening. You
 can find us wherever you listen to your
 
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 podcasts. If you've got your own
 Lane County story to tell, we'd love
 
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 to hear it at StoryHelix Dot
 Wordcrafters Dot Org.
 
  

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