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aAPks
<br /> NiceGuy . ' • hard to say
<br /> lfdoparks are
<br /> r) is nothing more aesthetically gratifying than a 17-year- g
<br /> fic, old skinny boy with multiple tattoos and piercings and
<br /> wh„..d no shirt and his pants around mid-bottom, except for a mean-t for pets
<br /> ;est in 50-year-old fat man with a three-day-beard and a pony-
<br /> to this tail and no shirt and his pants around mid-bottom.
<br /> o Ber- John Walker Lindh, your father says that you are it
<br /> Inron, "a really good kid,” who "loves America." Right-o, or th all epeople
<br /> Global isfoohn Henry Williamsdon't listen to
<br /> lrthur the critics. There is nothing shabby about freezing
<br /> e that your dad and selling off his DNA. By MELISSA HART 7-Zit-02-,-
<br /> rich of Simple filial piety,in my opinion. N THE DAYS OF Tupperware parties and
<br /> irding Mr. Disgraced and Impeached Former President — - bridge clubs, people welcomed new neighbors
<br /> .. You there.I go again; I mean, simply and respectfully, Mr. with a potted begonia. Now they hand you a
<br /> - but, President — I got a fund-raising letter from you last plastic poop bag.
<br /> inves- week in which you said that you were proud of what It's difficult to make friends in a new town when
<br /> so on you had done for the country. Let me second that. one works at home. In Eugene, where I moved two
<br /> ateful Proud is exactly the word that comes to mind when I years ago, I know my neighbors' names, but not
<br /> tit for . think of you. Also, honest, sincere, selfless, modest, whattheydo for love or for a living.
<br /> great mature and classy.Especially classy. I could join clubs or attend tin s in an effort
<br /> your Finally, Jack, you were quite right to dump the 10 meeg
<br /> e left gallons of bird seed on the driveway and to say, "That's to forge a sense of community, but I work two jobs .
<br /> h you OK, Daddy, you can clean it up." Tom, on reflection, I and am reluctant to get involved with nighttime
<br /> commitments that don't involve cookies or a bottle
<br /> agree that you should stay up as late as you want every
<br /> vested single night. Both of you are"entirely correct in your of Riesling. Armed with a backgammon board, I
<br /> could go in search of coffee and conversation. But
<br /> U.her theory that ice cream sandwiches are the ideal break-
<br /> about fast food,and so it shall be from now on: even the coffeehouse scene is surrendering to DVD
<br /> man- By God,I feel good! players and satellite TV.
<br /> every A girl like me is'left with one option: the dog
<br /> pular park`
<br /> and I Michael Kelly is editor of The Atlantic magazine. I'd never seen a dog park before moving to the
<br /> . Northwest. Eugene has three. Before I bought a
<br /> house,my real estate agent said, "It's acceptable not
<br /> --;(166., to have children here, but if you don't have a dog,
<br /> people will think there's something wrong with
<br /> •
<br /> you." Every gas station and drive-through coffee-
<br /> house is stocked with dog. biscuits. Anticipating a
<br /> warm welcome, I drove into town with my shepherd
<br /> mutts,Marley and Kawliga.
<br /> Our favorite dog park quickly became a white-
<br /> fenced three acres of summertime grass and winter- -
<br /> . time swamp, surrounded by oaks. Established in
<br /> 1991, it's part of the 27-acre Wayne Morse Ranch.
<br /> • Because of his ear- -
<br /> ly opposition to the =...mVietnam War, Sen-
<br /> ator Morse was My real estate agent
<br /> called "the loneli- ' said, "It's
<br /> est man in Wash- acceptable not to
<br /> ington."Had wash have children here,
<br /> ington a dog park,
<br /> HOW Morse would have but if you don't have
<br /> AE0UT been less lonely. a dog, people will
<br /> SPLAT? i At first I was think there's
<br /> unsure of the pro- something wrong
<br /> tocol. I smiled too with you."
<br /> )4,
<br /> broadly. My dogs
<br /> smiled too broadly,
<br /> A.• ' 7. all trying to show
<br /> ' 4',,.
<br /> that although our tans and license plates might
<br /> •11L4 �1� show us .to be from California, we were easy-going
<br /> l41<k�"``�=: " Northwesterners at heart.
<br /> p DA \ .. ;l We needn't have worried about being judged by
<br /> f:
<br /> locals. There are no locals. Everyone in Eugene is
<br /> from somewhere else. My friends and their dogs hail
<br /> '"" fi from New York, Minnesota, Idaho, Arcadia and Aus-
<br /> tralia. Our dog park, with its influx of immigrants,
<br /> !nu- In '96, there were 12 big companies in the field — is a living,panting representation of the ideals upon
<br /> and it's now down to six and dropping like a stone. Prices which our nation was founded. We gather once a
<br /> iwn are up, service is worse, AND the '96 act opened the day,united by a common language.
<br /> iwn ddor for precisely the sleazy, rotten behavior we have
<br /> Fetch the ball, Marley!" — or, more often, "Get
<br /> witnessed with Global Crossing and Worrdenrn. Tint out of the mud!"
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