1 On Mar 8, 11:44 am, THartill wrote:

A comment on “Looping”, that is only a true Astorian word. If you say it to someone from out of the area, they say “What is Looping?”...you’re like “Duh…drinking and Driving!”

And I’d like to add and few.

41. If you never notice the cargo ships until its foggy out.
42. If you went to the Pacific Rim at least once a week.
43. You can say things like meet me at “Goat Trail” “The Lagoon” “The Falls” “Stinky Beach” “Five-Y” “Strawberry Knoll” and people know exactly what you are talking about.

Add your own if you would like.

3 On Mar 8, 04:04 pm, Pierce wrote:

I got a few, you say Regaatta never Regotta,

You’ve peeled chittem bark to make extra $$ You have yet to use your turn signals. You know which mushrooms are the “right” ones When you drive to Seaside you usually take the beach route Your folks used to buy eggs from the Hartills You know most of the Astoria clowns You know how to get from Knappa to Jewell without touching a county road. You used to go sucker fishing with a pitchfork Hitting the Friday night sauna bullpen never made you feel the least bit gay. You know what Finnish girls put behind their ears to attract men.

5 On Mar 8, 04:13 pm, Glenn wrote:

You slid down the bannister at Central
You took “the trail” to middle school
You have 44 inch ground hawgs on your truck
You like rain
You wear romeo’s
You played basketball for Mike Goin

7 On Mar 8, 05:33 pm, Pierce wrote:

If you vote, you vote no
You’re afraid if you paint your house, they’ll raise your taxes.
If you’re female you were told to avoid guys in bars with the names Polk, Pierce and Rod.
You thought it was cool when Shanghaied was in the lobby at the Astor.
You know the protocol for a looper is; on as rural roads as possible and never over 20 mph. Throwing empties at signs is poor form unless the Fisherman lose to Seaside.

9 On Mar 8, 07:02 pm, Robin Hillard wrote:

You forgot about 4-y, clearcut, apple orchard or “fox creek”, the mansion, simmons ridge, simmons field, ODR, goat road, the powerlines behind L&C school, pig pen X-ing behind the big spruce, or my all time favorite meet at the big pickle on the hill, them was the days.Lower classmen,” keg raids” Heck as drunk as we use to get just getting close to the sign was a cause to celebrate, or you think shanghaied was GAY!!!!!!! and on the hill, where all the stoners hung out, or the carps in freshman hall, or a “bush pilot” can anyone remember that one

11 On Mar 9, 08:29 am, Glenn wrote:

Just to clear the looping protocol up, it was common to hit the signs regardless of who won or lost.

Glenn – Looper class of ‘85

13 On Mar 10, 02:29 pm, scott wrote:

I would submit to you that a “True Astorian” is simply someone who chooses to live here. In other words, it’s the commitment that’s important.

That means either you were born here and chose to stay, or you came here, met TH, and chose to move here anyway. (You all must admit that the latter group must be judged to be courageous, as we did not grow up with TH, and were therefore not able to accustom ourselves to him over time as you lifers have.)

At any rate, I’m glad to be sharing Astoria with all of you, and as I just became a certified CERT team member today, I’ll be happy to help any of you in a disaster, whether you’re True Astorians or False Astorians. (Or would that be Untrue Astorians?)

15 On Mar 14, 09:40 am, scott wrote:

That definition still works for me. I don’t like myself that much.

I know Astorians who moved here when they were one year old, have been here all of their lives, some for over forty years, and if you ask them if they are a “native” Astorian (meaning born here) they say no because of just that one year when they weren’t here as a baby.

Your “True Astorian” club is perhaps a little too exclusive if these people aren’t able to join, don’t you think?

This reminds me of the sad case of The Oregon Pioneer club that sadly and eventually dissolved because they refused to allow their own children into the club due to their strict definition of who was a pioneer. That club is now found only in the history books, and I just saw one of their last meeting programs in the history section at Powells Books a few weeks ago. It was a little sad, reading the part in the meeting minutes where they said that they would continue to meet until none were left. Very sad.

The whole idea of “true Astorians” is pretty laughable when you think about it. Go ahead, call yourself true Astorians, I don’t mind. I’m still happy to be here, and I’ll settle for being considered among the New Astorians (Even though we’ve been here for six years.).

It’s sort of like the old Groucho Marx line – I wouldn’t want to join a club that would have me as a member.

Still let’s all be good neighbors, OK? If I show up after a disaster to help you (it’s mostly us “untrue” Astorians on the CERT team right now), please don’t refuse my help just because my ancestors didn’t come around the horn or over the Oregon Trail, alright?

And I’ll hope that maybe some day one of you Truebies will let me in on your favorite secret blackberry picking spot.

17 On Mar 15, 12:51 am, THartill wrote:

I intended this to be more of a fun deal than anything else. I think what we all got out of this was that everyone has their own definition of what being a “True Astorian” is.

Scott

You have probably lived in Astoria longer than me. I lived closer to Seaside for 19 years and actually lived in Seaside for a year, Bend for a year and Longview for 2.

19 On Mar 15, 06:07 pm, Robin Hillard wrote:

Hey Scott,I was never Mocking the katrina Victims,during the disaster, I thought it was horrible. But I am angry about how most of the victims reacted after the fact, instead of rebuilding they relied on government funds and housing and pissed and moaned about how they were treated. Hey knowbody forced them to live there in the first place. And every year I go through disaster after disaster , flooding every year at my house not even a 1/10 what had happened during Katrina, but I fully understand that it could happen and I did choose to live here and choose to live with it for the past 28 years as my parents ,grandparents and great grand parents did before me, in this same spot. I did intend this to get arise out of you on this subject and now I know a little more about you and how pasionate you are about helping others. As for the LNG I hope like hell it comes in with full force and creates a few jobs, something that is lacking in this area. I still do not know you very well but as with most people in this area if you were to just plainly ask if you might pick berries on there land, they would probably give you a bucket and tell you to knock yourself out and you are more than welcome to pick berries at my house you have my name my # is in the book.

21 On Mar 19, 03:15 am, Carrie wrote:

[Oh for God’s Sake, you really don’t have a clue, do you? “Secret Blackberry picking spot”? Only a blind or misguided idiot could miss finding all the blackberries he or she could use with a minimum of effort. They arent hard to find at all. They are everywhere and are a nusiance first and foremost]

Whatever! A “real” astorian knows the difference between a common blackberry and an eaten/pie blackberry, the little ones that come on for one week at the fourth of July. Very particular berries with particular spots to grow.

“Real” Astorians remember when all of the signs in town were written in three languages to accomodate all of the people in the area with their diverse, North European, tongues.

“Real” Astorians remember when a few people, in fear of those who were “others”, put sheets over their heads and kept minorities in line.

23 On Mar 19, 08:53 am, scott wrote:

barney said:
“It’s about having some appreciation and respect for the multigenerational culture here. What shaped this this community- the hardships, lifestyles, political values, economics, etc.. The newcomers straggle in here and have no idea what the families here have endured or struggled through for the past 100 years or so. This is almost a unique place with a very different cultural history than other places in Oregon. New people havnt a clue, yet they bombard us with their outsider’s perspectives like it supposed to mean something locally.”

There are plenty of us newcomers (we’ve had a house here for six years, lived here on and off for that long, now making the move permanent) who study and think about history – including World, American, Oregonian, Clatsop, Astorian, Neighborhood and local, right down to who lived in my Jerome Avenue house, when, and what they did. (Jim Hope was the most famous owner of our house I suppose, an Astoria city attorney who stood up to and helped throw the KKK out of town in the nineteen twenties.)

So please, I ask that before you go yelling that newcomers don’t have a clue, it seems that you should talk with more newcomers than you have so far. Maybe this forum will give us a chance to do that. Unless of course you are just here to rant, in which case there’s no need for this forum, where we can engage in dialogue.

And concerning the uniqueness of local history goes, you are both right and wrong.

There is a local and regional history anywhere you go that goes down to the intensely personal histories of families. There are the histories of industry and business, like fur, logging and the canneries, there are stories of the streets (and why they don’t match up in town – the Shively/McClure feud!), the history of counties, streets, cities, townships.

But there is also a larger overall history that shows a story that is repeated around the country over and over. Some of us also choose to study that. More on that later.

What I’m trying to say is who are you to decide at what point history starts and stops? You are to be afforded some respect for your family history, I agree, but how did your family treat the thousands of years of local history that came before, and how are you treating the concept of history now, and for the future generations?

I’m not asking just to be a smart-a**, I truly want to know. Even though I’m a newcomer. Everyone here has someone in their past that was a newcomer – supposedly you honor them as your most exalted ancestors, yet you call the current newcomers “blind,” or “misguided idiots?”

Tell me, what you think your ancestors would say to that – I’d really like to know.

I think maybe you’re saying what right do we, as newcomers, have to have a say about the future of this town?

If that’s the question, I’ll tell you. We have the same right that your ancestors had. Like them, we actually choose to move here, choose to buy property here, to move our lives here. I concede that I’m not arriving by ship or covered wagon, but I’m moving here nonetheless, and hopefully we can be good neighbors.

(Let’s have a conversation about those wild strawberries.)