We gathered near my truck, 40 seniors, my English students, on the last Monday of their high school careers. The First Annual Newport High School Senior Walk was about to begin. We would take to the holy sand and freely recreate on what former Oregon Governor Oswald West called "our great birthright" — Oregon's publicly owned beaches. These students might have paid $3.50 for latte on their way here but they didn't have to pay a cent to walk on an ocean beach.
They knew the story. They knew how decades ago West and other politicians steered Oregon on a different course, a better course, to protect beaches from privatization. And here these Oregonians were, most of them half asleep, primed to exercise their great birthright.
- Matt Love, Newport High School English teacher, in a lovely Powell's Blog entry about gathering his seniors together at 5:30 in the morning to celebrate their impending graduation (and, of course, Oregon beaches)
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