Alia has not been in Eugene long but apparently it's long enough to have her writing published alongside other pieces in the cover story of the New Year's issue in the Eugene Weekly.The Eugene Weekly is one of my favorite free community papers, and in my various comings and goings through Eugene I always pick up a copy. Alia and I also have a lot of personal history in Eugene.
It goes without saying I'm pretty proud and that it's a published piece in the Eugene Weekly makes it especially sweet. Here's wishing Alia much success and more publishing kudos in the future!
To read Alia's story as well as all the other entries it's available here:
Why I love Eugene; WHY BE HERE NOW? Readers write what made them arrive (and stay)
Scroll down the page for Alia's story: Procrastination Destination. If you don't feel like hopping over to the Eugene Weekly's site I've also posted it below in this blog entry.
PROCRASTINATION DESTINATION
I'm not as far south as I'd like to be, but like a migratory bird, I'm making my way down. I just crossed the state line from Washington and came into Oregon, on a train with a drunken conductor talking over the loudspeaker about the good old days when he was a "hog head pre-1980," which he underscored just so we all knew he wasn't some newbie poseur "hog head," but the real deal, and he welcomed all the transients riding on the train bound for Portland in a slurry tone that made me afraid for my life until he stumbled into the aisle, and I was consoled that it was someone else's job to drive the train (I hoped).
I've taken many train rides in my life, crossing the varying climates of this diverse country with the undiagnosed schizophrenics and sweet grandmas knitting baby clothes and transient hippies seeking out long-lost friends across the country. Now I'm seated next to a friendly gray-haired good-old-boy-seen-it-all former Amtrak employee with a card in his wallet allowing him free passage and informed with a smile and look of remembrance that where I'm headed is, in his opinion, "the number-one procrastination destination" — Eugene, Oregon.
Really my goal is to move south on a journey that will take me to a more desirable climate for the winter. I have a theory that there's no good reason to be cold when I can be warm, and I'm headed for the sunshine and warmth of southern Arizona.
I will be delayed on this journey; maybe I won't even make it to the desert before the last chill of winter. Or, as my seat-mate informs me, "You think you're just passing through Eugene? Ha ha! I bet you'll stay longer than you think." And as I look out the window of this train moving swiftly along the water going down along the Pacific Northwest coast, I know. – Alia DuMonde
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