Hello all ,

Our first week of research in Salem and Woodburn, OR is about to begin! JoJo, John, Stefan and I met at the Portland airport today, and drove out to Salem, where Tim joined us. For the week, we are staying in the basement of Salem’s United Church of Christ. It’s a wonderful location: directly underneath Francisco’s CAUSA office, and within sight of the Oregon Capitol building. We talked briefly with Francisco about the upcoming week. We also met his student intern Ted Richardson, who will be accompanying us to our meetings this week and will be part of the delegation to Oaxaca next fall.

Tonight we settled in and prepared for our meetings. I am so excited to meet with Julie Samples, Santiago Ventura, and Valentin Sanchez of the Oregon Law Center tomorrow. Hopefully, all of the reading and research we have done will begin to pay off, as we meet the people whose projects have inspired our own.

Peace,

Kristen