East of the Cascades VS West of the Cascades

This community member talks about her family's origin story in Oregon, and the sharp distinction that the changes in the environment had on her, when crossing to this side of the Cascades.

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Transcript

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 You're listening to StoryHelix, intertwining
 stories past, present and not yet imagined
 
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 in Lane County, Oregon. What's
 up, earthlings? I'm Leah Velez and
 
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 I'll be your host. The stories that
 follow our raw footage. So let's open
 
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 up our ear nuggets and give these
 community submitted stories listen. 
 
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I was born in Flagstaff, Arizona. My Mom
 was raised in Idaho and then moved to
 
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 Flagstaff, and then my dad was
 raised in Oregon in like Myrtle Creek,
 
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 at tiny town south of Roseberg, but
 they met at college and so I suspect
 
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 that that's how we ended up back
 in Oregon, as my dad was from
 
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 here. So I was born in
 Flagstaff, Arizona because my dad was going
 
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 to school and he would have been
 really perfectly happy, just like coming back
 
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 to Myrtle Creek. I'm working in
 like a mill. But my mom was
 
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 the one that was like no,
 you have to go to college, you
 
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 know. So he got his first
 job as a high school counselor? Maybe not
 
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 his first job. I think maybe
 he taught in Arizona for a little while,
 
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 while too, but he got a
 job in Klamath Falls, Oregon,
 
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 and the funny thing about it is
 like Klamath Falls is so different from where
 
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 he grew up. It's like east
 side of the cascades versus west side of
 
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 the cascades. It's like he grew
 up in like green, luscious, wet,
 
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 you know, Oregon, and then
 they moved to like this desert that's
 
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 just like brown, but they stayed
 there the rest of their lives. That's
 
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 how I ended up in Oregon.
 How I ended up in Eugene was my
 
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 younger sister moved here. My sister
 is still here. She was the first
 
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 one to get married and start having
 kids, and so it was my first
 
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 experience of being an aunt and I
 really wanted to be around my nephew
 
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 when he was born. I had
 visited Eugene in high school with my high
 
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 school choir teacher because I was part
 of a music competition thing, and when
 
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 I came here, I remember we
 went to Fifth Street Market and I just
 
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 remember being like blown away, like
 there's all these restaurants with food from all
 
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 over the world and there was just
 like nothing like that in my little hometown.
 
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 So I just kind of remember tucking
 that away of like, Oh, this
 
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 place! It just felt like so
 like cultured or something compared to like Klamath
 
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 Falls. I was happy to move
 here and I ended up finishing getting my
 
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 masters at the U of O, but
 only because my sister lived here and I
 
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 wanted to be close to my nephew. And so coming to Eugene, I
 
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 don't know, I just felt like
 I could be outside here.
 
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 And I also struggle with the rain, I think like everybody else, struggles
 
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 with the rain to some extent,
 but I don't know. The Green.
 
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 The thing that strikes me about the
 green over here as it almost becomes like
 
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 gray. It almost becomes like the
 neutral color or something until spring, and
 
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 then when spring comes, there's like
 a brand new color of green that comes
 
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 up that's like brighter and lighter,
 and then you're like, Oh, green!
 
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 Even though you've been seeing green all
 winter. You know what I mean?
 
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 It just becomes like this kind of
 neutral palette. I love the green.
 
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 It makes the rain worth it.
 I don't feel so attached to Eugene.
 
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 I've lived in like a handful of
 places and I've loved them all, and
 
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 so I don't at all feel like
 I'm going to live here the rest of
 
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 my life. It makes sense to
 live here because I love my job so
 
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 much, but my husband works in
 Portland. So two to three days a
 
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 week he's driving up to Portland and
 so there's times when I think like I
 
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 could live somewhere else and be happy. Thanks for listening. You can find
 
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 us wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you've got your own Lane County
 
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 Story to tell, we'd love to
 hear it at StoryHelix Dot WordCrafters Dot Org