4A | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2019 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
Cottage Grove Sentinel
116 N. Sixth St.
Cottage Grove, Ore. 97424
NED HICKSON , MANAGING EDITOR |
Opinion
541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ CGSENTINEL . COM
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A whisper rooted in thankfulness
you came to being in a se- It wasn’t until returning
rious accident. Or when that summer to visit my
the gas attendant asks if father in L.A. that I re-
you want to use your .50- alized something that
cent gas reward when you changed my life: Every-
thought you only had 20. thing I thought I knew
“What? Yesss.”
wasn’t nearly as import-
Though it’s been some
Oregon changed my ant as how I’d come to
35 years since I arrived in life for the better.
know myself thanks to
Oregon as a high school
Twice, actually.
the life I was experienc-
sophomore, when people
ask where I moved from,
I still whisper when I say,
From the Editor’s Desk
“California.”
Ned Hickson
I do so in jest (most-
ly), secure in the knowl-
edge that revealing my
First as a 15-year-old ing in Oregon.
California roots — how- with my family, then
Returning home at the
ever withered — won’t again when I moved back end of that summer, I still
suddenly bring nearby as a 37-year-old with my remember stepping out
conversations to an em- own family.
of the car and onto our
barrassing halt, leaving
In the first instance, dirt driveway in a new
cricket chirps in its place. it was culture shock just pair of Nikes, realizing
Part of the reason is short of defibrillation as how those shoes — and
because, more often than I went from the concrete that life — just didn’t fit
not, those around me are jungle of Los Angeles to anymore.
also originally from Cal- the blackberry hillsides
This is home, I whis-
ifornia.
of the Willamette Valley. pered.
Seriously, folks. I’ve
Instead of riding my
Mostly because I didn’t
heard you whispering.
Schwinn to school and want my parents to hear
But recently, I’ve come spending afternoons run- and know they had been
to realize there’s a dif- ning around the streets in right. I was still a teenag-
ferent reason I whisper my Nikes, I was canoeing er, after all.
when it comes to explain- over a flooded dike to
The lessons learned
ing where I was in rela- meet my school bus and and perspectives gained
tion to where I am now.
returning home to stack from life as an Oregonian
It’s a whisper rooted in wood or dig post holes.
were things I carried with
thankfulness.
Usually in mud boots. me after graduating from
It’s the whisper that
I hated Oregon be- Siuslaw High School in
escapes you the moment cause it was the opposite Florence, Ore., and be-
after realizing how close of everything I’d known. coming a regional chef
in Atlanta for the next 10
years.
But during all of that
time, the thought of re-
turning to Oregon stayed
with me, particularly as
the gains in my career
began costing something
far more important:
Time with my family.
So when, in 1998, the
opportunity was present-
ed to begin a new career
as a journalist, my be-
loved Oregon changed
my life for the second
time.
This past Thanksgiv-
ing Day, those were the
things I was thinking
about and quietly giving
thanks for as my fami-
ly gathered around the
dinner table which, if not
for Oregon’s surreptitious
intervention in my life, I
may not have been bless-
ed to be sitting at.
As we continue through
the holiday season — and
the busy weeks ahead —
I plan to make time for
the many reasons to be
thankful.
Not the least of which
is being managing editor
of this newspaper, work-
ing with our terrific news
team and entire staff, and
covering this incredible
community.
HOW TO CONTACT YOUR REPS
Oregon state
representatives
Oregon federal
representatives
• Sen. Floyd Prozanski
• Rep. Peter DeFazio
District 4 State Senator
PO Box 11511
Eugene, Ore. 97440
Phone: 541-342-2447
Email : sen.fl oydprozanski@
state.or.us
(House of Representatives)
405 East 8th Ave.
#2030
Eugene, Ore. 97401
Email: defazio.house.gov/
contact/email-peter
Phone: 541-465-6732
• Rep. Cedric Hayden
Republican District 7 State
Representative
900 Court St. NE
Salem, Ore. 97301
Phone: 503-986-1407
Website: www.leg.state.or.
us/hayden
Email: rep.cedrichayden@
state.or.us
• Sen. Ron Wyden
405 East 8th Ave., Suite
2020
Eugene, Ore. 97401
Email: wyden.senate.gov
Phone: (541) 431-0229
• Sen. Jeff Merkley
Email: merkley.senate.gov
Phone: 541-465-6750
S entinel
C ottage G rove
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