Naturally, I get pretty excited when Oregon comes up in the national news arena. I'm always so pleased when I see my home state portrayed as something other than a land of meth addicts and crazies. However, things appear to have gone to crap since I left. (Okay, me leaving and moving to Boston clearly has no impact on the behavior of the citizens of the Beaver State. I recognize this... Just go with it.)
First off, there's the scandal business with Portland's newest mayor, Sam Adams. The local news stations have been buzzing about it for a while, and it's now made several appearances on the New York Times website.
"The Great Gay Hope" - Timothy Egan Blog
What it boils down to is this: Adams lied about his relationship with a significantly younger male in his campaign for the mayoral seat (the issue is not that this relationship was with a male - Portland is the largest city with an openly gay mayor in the US - it's the age differences). He's since come clean about it, and a large number of his former supporters are calling for his resignation (they can't recall just yet - Portland has a law that you can't recall a mayor for the first six months they are in office), which he has refused to do. In my opinion, Adams has done the right thing. Honestly, I don't think it's impairing his ability to lead the city in any way, and there are politicians out there that have committed far more egregious acts and we've allowed them to remain in office. Obviously we shouldn't be letting this slide, because it could be seen as a condonation of behavior we don't really want to see from a mayor, but if the man can actually do a good job of leading the Rose City, then I think we should let him.
Secondly, there's some crazy CIA stuff going on. Apparently, a man and his son from Eugene have been caught committing espionage and selling information to the Russians.
CIA Spy Enlisted Son to Collect Espionage Debts, Feds Say
I think the father is held at the Federal Correction Institution in Sheridan, judging from the article. Which is kind of weird. That's definitely only about ten miles away from my house. I guess this article isn't as interesting or controversial as the ones about Sam Adams, but it's interesting in that it went on so close to where I lived...
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Back here in Boston, things are going quite well. IAP is swiftly coming to an end (Registration Day is Monday! AH!) and spring semester is starting next Tuesday. Things I have to worry about are shifting from dividing time between sleeping, hanging out, what movie to watch next, studying and eating, to class schedules, study habits, studying, eating, and more studying. IAP has been a lot of fun, but I think I'm (sort of) ready for the semester to begin. I just want to get it over with. Then there's the problem of figuring out what to do with my summer. And camp is no longer an option, for a number of reasons. Hopefully I'll get something figured out...
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