TAKE OFF YOUR HATS in respect for Barbara Ross. She came to Corvallis in 1970 and changed things as a school board member and a county commissioner turned mentor and fundraiser turned State Representative. When we talked to one of her many, many friends, we saw that she will be sorely missed by all.
TAKE OUT YOUR POCKETBOOKS to help others and bring home a special piece of art. Local artist Earl Newman made 200 copies of a screen-printed piece of art to support our Ukrainian sister city, Uzhhorod [and, no, we do not know how to pronounce that]. The artwork is titled “With People” and can be found two places – at the Sister Cities Website if you want a signed, framed, $1,000 copy, and at the Corvallis Art Center if you want an unsigned, frame-it-yourself, $100 copy. No matter how much you spend, the proceeds all go to refugees from Uzhhorod [and we still don’t know how to pronounce it but we’re getting better at spelling it].
CHEERS for Oregon State University and the High School Journalism Institute. Journalism is actually an important field of study meant to keep the populous informed. You might be thinking ‘Yeah, yeah, you’re a newspaper, you have to say that’ but there’s been research done into it, and towns that lose their local newspaper tend to be poorly informed and consequently see an erosion of general civic engagement and an increase in misinformation. We need people to tell other people what’s happening. [But no, seriously, we at The Advocate also need more people to write stories and tell other people what’s happening. Let us know if you’re interested…]
CHEERS for science! [Really! We love science around here – especially that potato clock thingy… can you still eat the potato afterwards? We’ve always wondered that…] Anyway, tomorrow there’s going to be a Science Day for the Hatfield Marine Science Center, including a live shark dissection. [They’ll actually be dissecting a dead shark though… we checked.] It’s a free event, so gather up the kiddies around the computer screen [yes, it is virtual for the safety of all] and learn about whales from Lisa Balance and shark innards from Taylor Chapple and PCR test genetics from Debbie Steel and Marine Science from Drummond Biles. Then you can watch Lindsay Carroll and Cait Goodwin play with the sea creatures [it’s gonna be a busy but nifty experience].
LOUD BOISTEROUS CHEERS for Keith Moses, Kelsey Hibbert, Elton Kikuta, Nancy Hausen, and Chris Hawkins. These five remarkable people do excellent work for our Corvallis schools, and they got what they deserved – a Golden Apple Award! [Here, at The Advocate, we love our schools and our school teachers and staff. Therefore, we love being able to have five specific names to cheer over. Let’s all give’em a Woot Woot!]
LOUD BOISTEROUS CHEERS AGAIN for Katherine Holden – the Ashland, Oregon assistant principal named the nation’s best of 2022. She got creative when wildfire destroyed student homes – she made students feel safe and staff feel supported – she basically rocked the joint when the people who needed her needed rocking. [And let’s face it, between Covid and the fires, lots of people needed a rock or two. So let’s give it up for Ms. Holden with another Woot Woot!]
HEAD TILT AND A HMMM over the Alsea School District principal suing over a hostile work environment. Turns out she and other female employees found Marc Thielman’s system of management a bit too “boys clubby” and decided to sue about it. On the good side of things, Thielman resigned as Alsea Superintendent. On the not-so-good side of things, he now wants to run Oregon.
Speaking of the governor’s race…
FURROWED BROWS for Tina Kotek. Many saw the Representative and long-time-now-stepped-down House Speaker as the “Heir Apparent” to Gov. Kate Brown. But former-Govs Kitzhaber and Roberts are standing behind Tobias Read, and other big names that would be helpful for endorsements [Kulongoski, Brown, various lobbyists and politicians] seem to be holding their collective tongues perhaps due to a love-hate-fear response to this formidable woman?
PLUS one Oregonian voice is staunchly behind unaffiliated Betsy Johnson. Phil Knight [who apparently has something to do with Nike…] has endorsed Johnson to the tune of a million buckaroonioes [$250,000 earlier, $750,000 recently]. Maybe this Representative has the answer to avoiding the pile up on May 17 by foregoing the primary and going directly to November [Do not pass go… Collect $1,000,000…]
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