MAY 24 -29

I started this week calling Bingo Sunday at American Legion Post 12.

There aren’t many things that scream Americana louder than Bingo at the American Legion, except maybe a bald eagle eating apple pie while arguing about property taxes, and I have two bald eagles circuling my house lately. Tom Jenkins and I called the afternoon together. I called the balls, and between games Tom called the winners of the meat raffle. It was simple, local, and exactly the kind of community gathering that reminds me why showing up matters.

That has been a theme for me lately: showing up.

On Monday, I had the honor of serving as Master of Ceremonies for American Legion Post 12’s Memorial Day event. A group of us veterans spent much of the rainy and cold weekend setting up flags, working with the Scouts, and getting everything ready. Memorial Day is not just a ceremony. It is labor. It is memory. It is community coming together to honor those who did not come home.

I was grateful to see Mayor Fitzpatrick there, along with City Councilor Andy Davis, County Commissioners Mike Brosius and Anthony Huacuja, and many others from our community. Rachel Armitage, a candidate for Oregon’s 16th Senate District, sang Amazing Grace! After the ceremony, my daughter and I headed down to the Maritime Memorial under the Megler Bridge. It was a full day of remembrance, and I was proud to be part of it.

On Tuesday, I attended the City Council work session and listened to the upcoming Parks Master Plan discussion, as well as the Arts & Culture report that was a year in the making. Art matters deeply to me. I believe art reflects the character and soul of a community. I also credit art with helping save my life after the war. Writing and painting helped pull me out of depression and survivor’s guilt when very little else could.

That is why I support the idea of Astoria embracing its identity as an arts community. I would love to see our whole town recognized as an official Arts District. But I also believe we have to be realistic about our budget. Right now, I don’t think we can afford to create a new city-employed Arts Liaison position or add another $100,000 in art grants without a larger conversation about priorities and funding, but I’m interested in seeing what the council says.

I recently joined the Arts & Culture Committee under the ADHDA, which oversees the monthly Art Walk, and I would love to see Art Walk expand in a way that includes more artists, not just galleries. Painters, writers, musicians, performers, makers, weird little poets hiding in coffee shops. Astoria has them all. Our arts scene should reflect that.

Speaking of those types, yesterday, I met with Vicki “Vee” Lind and asked if she would serve as guest editor for the next issue of Ataraxia Quarterly, the literary magazine I started. If you are interested in the magazine, you can pick up a copy at Astoria Art Mart, which just won North County’s Best New Business at the CEDR Awards. You can also come to Ric’s Open Mic this coming Tuesday at WineKraft on Pier 11. I will be there, and copies of the magazine will be available.

Today, I started my first day of Peer Support Specialist training with NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. It is a 40-hour training, and I intend to use what I learn to better support veterans through Rogue Cell, the nonprofit I co-founded with Brad Pietzyk. Rogue Cell’s mission is to fight veteran suicide by building community, purpose, and connection. Training like this gives us more tools to do that work responsibly and effectively.

Tomorrow is day two of the training.

I also just finished a meeting with Jack Frickin, the head of MAPS Credit Union. I believe that if I want to understand this town, I need to keep sitting down with the people who help shape it: business owners, nonprofit leaders, volunteers, workers, artists, veterans, and neighbors. Jack is also on the Clatsop Community Action Board, and he is doing meaningful work in the community.

That is the job as I see it: listen, learn, show up, and do the work.

This week started with Bingo at the American Legion and moved through Memorial Day, city planning, arts and culture, mental health training, veterans’ work, local business, and community leadership. Next week, it all starts again.

And honestly, I love it.

I love this work. I love getting to know this community more deeply. I love seeing the moving parts of Astoria up close: the ceremonies, the meetings, the open mics, the volunteers, the artists, the veterans, the business owners, the people who keep showing up even when it rains, which in Astoria is less a weather event and more a lifestyle contract.

This is what public service should be.

Not just talking about community.

Being part of it.