Street roots., October 16, 2009, Image 1

OCTOBER 16, 2009
WWW.
i roots
xbecaoe
or
‘NORMAL
BLUE-COLLAR
AMERICANS’
Education ♦ Dialogue ♦ Independence
Where
grass
IS always
greener
World travel host Rick Steves talks
about traveling as a political act
and how it reflects on his views o f
the country he calls home
BY ROSETTE ROYALE
.S T R E E T N E W S S E R V IC E
’ve been to paradise,” a line from an ’80s pop
song goes, “but I’ve never been to me.” In a •*
strange way, travel guru Rick Steves has been to
a paradise, too, but he’s found that the best places
fo'vi'sif^'tH'éones w fiereyòifleàm tbem ost about
Ì
yourself, are those*wbere you connect with the
locals.
Steves should know. For decades, he’s been
bopping around the globe r- Spain, Italy, France,
Turkey — having adventures that have led him
outside the bubble of resort hotels and into a
deeper understanding of the world we inhabit And
while most people know him through his PBS show,
“Rick Steves: Europe through thè Back Door,” his
globetrotting isn’t merely Eurocentric..He’s not
afraid to step foot in non-touristy, non-Western
locales, such as E Ì Salvador or Nicaragua. He
ventures to these destinations — the opes that travel
companies rarely recommend — because he behéves
that within the travel experience, there exists a
chance to become politically engaged with the
world. It’s a notion reflected on his blog, “Travehas
a Political A ct”
' His political side extends past the borders of
international travel. An unrepentant social activist,
Steves, who was born m Edmonds, Wash., has
worked to bring attention to homelessness and is an
outspoken proponent of marijuana reform. All of
which means he’s a busy man with a lot of opinions,
P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F R IC K S T E V E S .C O M .
R ic k Steves, shown here in Great B ritain, has documented, his travels fo r 3 0 years with both entertainm ent a n d political intentions.
Steves, in between travels, spoke about what travel
can offer, his observations of some Iranian girls, th e
rise of the megalopolis, his very first trip and the
first time he got high. .
Rosette Boyade'. First question, really basic: Why
do people travel?
Rick Steves: Well, the famous quote is: “Living
on tins planet and not traveling is like having a great
book and never turning the page.” Travel carbonates
your life; it challenges truths you were raised
thinking were God-given; it lets you empathize
better with people’s struggles; and it lets you know
there are other ways of thinking, so you’re less self-
assured in the way you look at life. And I find -that
humbling and exciting.
R.R.: Do you think ifs the same to travel across
town or across the state, as opposed to going to another
country?
R.S.: Well, in a sense, traveling is meeting
people. So you cantravel around the world and not
meet people and you haven’t done much traveling.
„ Or you can travel across town and talk to people you
wouldn’t otherwise, and you could argue that that’s
valuable travel. I just really like the people aspect of
travel.
" I like to
travel In a
way that
makes me a.
better
citizen of
the planet."
R.R.: I guess it’s a Western perception that you
See GRASS, page 12
Two honored for work to end domestic violence
City moves
closer to
consolidating
victim services
into one-stop
center
BY A M A N D A WALDROUPE
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R '
Read the interview with Janet Buckmaster, one of
two recipients of the Judge Herreil Award for
Outstanding Collaborative Efforts to End Family
Violence, on page 7.
hen the City Council m eets Oct. 21, it is
expected to approve an agreement with
Multnomah County that will be one of the
last hurdles to creating a “one stop” center for
victims of domestic violence.
The City Council is expected to approve an
and transitional services for victims of domestic
intergovernmental agreement between the city and
violence.
Multnomah County to lease a building owned by
On Oct. 9, during th e awarding of the Judge
Multnomah County that will be the location for the
Herreil
Award for Outstanding Collaborative
center.
Efforts to End Family Violence, Billhardt looked
Now being dubbed “the Gateway Center” by
forward to the opening of the Gateway Center in
domestic-violence service workers and advocates,
2010, while also not forgetting the effect the
because it will be located near 122nd Avenue and
recession has had on people who try to stop
East Burnside, the center will offer an array of
domestic violence, as well as those who suffer from
services, including shelter, emergency food and
it
clothing, child care and legal resources.
“How many stayed in abusive homes because
“It’s the realization of a long vision,” says Kris -
they lost their jobs? How many experienced an
Billhardt, the director of Volunteers of America’s
escalation of violence because the abuser lost his
Home Free program, which provides emergency
»
job?” Billhardt asked during her keynote speech.
According to figures collected by the Portland
Police Bureau, the city .received 5,378 incident
reports related to domestic violence this year. In
2006, there were a total of 6,000. Domestic
violence accounts for 49 percent of all simple
assaults in Portland. -
The Judge Herreil Award is named in honor of
Judge Herreil, who was a family-law judge in
Multnomah County in the 1980s and an advocate
for victims of domestic violence and their Children.
This year, th e award was given to Rachel Payton,
an advocacy coordinator with Volunteer of
America’s Home Free program, and Janet
Buckmaster, a .paralegal at Legal Aid Services of
Portland, and the Safe Start Team, a Gresham-
based multidisciplinary group working directly with
the Gresham Child Welfare Office.
Street Roots talked to Payton and Buckmaster
See TWO HONORED, page 3