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LEARNING FROM WHERE YOU LIVE, PT.1: NORTH BEND

    Ask the North Bend question. In a reflective moment that soon passed, I asked my Dad which of us grew up in a rougher town. I felt certain he’d say his town, Ryderwood. Ryderwood was a logging camp town, a company town with a company store. The one thing all logging company towns […]

ALL DOGS MATTER, NORTH BEND BULLDOGS MATTER MORE

  Of all mascots, North Bend Bulldogs rise to the top.   You probably heard this before? “You may forget names and faces, but you’ll never forget how you felt being there.” North Bend is where the ‘there’ is. It started early. Those lucky enough to finish their primary and secondary education in one place […]

NORTH BEND BULLDOGS WIN BIGGER THAN FOOTBALL

A win for North Bend Bulldogs reaches across decades. A hundred years from now North Bend Bulldogs will remember the first football championship. Two guys more than forty years out of uniform explain: “This is a big deal?” “A huge deal. Yes. That big.”

SMALL TOWN CITY LIFE

Your small town isn’t as small as you think. I told a new friend where I came from, how big it was. He said where he comes from, everyone in towns as small as mine were hillbillies. What he didn’t know was where he came from everyone’s a hillbilly. Like it’s a secret. Leaving North […]

KING OF THE HILL IN NORTH BEND, OREGON

People know the place when you say you’re from North Bend. Ask someone where there from and you expect one answer, one place. Then you get this: “I grew up all over the place.” Hear that and know you’ve got someone ashamed of where they’re from. They know the name of their town, they just […]

PODUNK TOWN, OR YOUR HOMETOWN

Nothing Explains Feelings For A Hometown, Your Hometown, Than Traveling Though Others. Drive down I-5, Highway 99, 101 down the coast, or 97 east of the Cascades, and you roll through one podunk town after another. You don’t even have to go far off the road to see them. Just drive by, take a look, […]

YOUR NAME, YOUR TRUTH

In a time not so long ago your name wasn’t good enough. Hard to believe in the land of straight shooters and honor, but John Wayne didn’t start out as John Wayne. Neither did Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis. It was a different time. Benedict Cumberbatch says those days are long gone. Still, there’s something […]

SIXTY @ SIXTY IN THREE PARTS

1. Know your roots. Remember where you came from. Turning 60 means you’ve met lots of people. You’ve had time to meet people; if you haven’t, get started. More than once you’ve had someone give this answer when asked, “Where are you from?” “Lot’s of places.” If you’ve given that answer it’s time to stop. […]

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL FROM THE BOOMER SIDE OF THE FIELD

The North Bend Bulldogs and Tigard Tigers. The 4A Bulldogs climbed into the Oregon state finals for 2014 after their 41-40 squeaker in the semi-finals. A win is a win, we can all agree, but a one point win isn’t defining any football program as much as it tells who’s in favor with the football […]

SUMMERTIME AND THE TEACHERS RECHARGE

On the surface a teaching gig looks like a cakewalk. From the classroom, to the teachers’ lounge, the time off, it makes people jealous, as if they could do the job. Here’s a message to the good people who went to school in classrooms with teachers, but aren’t teachers themselves. (Before continuing, this blogger is […]