So, my youngest was having some days  camping with his grand parents and my twins had said they have never been to Seattle. We were trying to find a place to go, an adventure, with just the twins and me.  I was feeling a bit sad that summer is close to over and I wanted to get away on an adventure farther than we had been this summer, which had  been Timothy Lake.

After looking into places three to four hours away in Oregon, I also got my twins involved in the search. I had a few things to finish for the classes I begin teaching at Multnomah Monday, but I needed this  time with my twins. I needed the adventure. I had promised them a get away  and I was  really looking forward to time  with my sweet boys.

It was just a mention by Mickael Josef that he had never been to 
Seattle before that sparked my encouragement of that idea. One  of the  twins’  friends is  moving to Seattle this summer   and the city intrigued him. That was all it took.  As I was working on some last minute items for my class preparation at  Multnomah, I encouraged my twins to look up places  to stay near Seattle.  Jacuzzi was one for sure amenity. Our cousin was not in town.

Tuesday we took off mid day on our Seattle  adventure, and it was so much fun to hang with my sweet 12 year olds. To see them navigating me on the roads, to see them find the hotel they had discovered online. To hear them tell me things they wanted to do on our  Seattle adventure. One thing was clear-visit Safeco Baseball stadium, which surprised me since we are not a big baseball family.
But.  First things  first. The Space Needle.

At  Sunset. First   off, having   my  twins  help  plan the two days we would be away. And getting the hotel room first was important  to them. Then, it was the Space  Needle, but I missed a turn off. We did make it just after sunset.

Wow,  the view of Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula. The many people there from so many countries. The time with just my boys, who will be in seventh grade this fall.

The next day we had a whirlwind of a day touring Seattle and what was especially neat was my boys  helping make the decisions as to what new experience in Seattle they wanted to live out. They noted Safeco baseball field so we made the effort to get there for a tour of where the Seattle Mariners play. I wanted to be sure to go to Pikes Place Market and the Science Fiction Museum intrigued my boys. And, riding the shuttle was a hit.

The trip marked the almost end of summer, the almost end of them being children before they turn teenagers, the continued adventure with my kids this summer. When I told my daughter about the adventure to Seattle, she noted that normally I do not do cities for adventures. I have emphasized outdoors and nature a lot when it comes to adventure but in the end it is about discovering something new, having time together away from the ordinary, and being together. That is adventure, which I  love to be deliberate about with my kids.

 http://www.cityofseattle.net/html/visitor/

But those values fly in the face of the recent news story about a JetBlue flight attendant who quit on the job, literally, by sliding down the chute of the airplane after spouting profanity at a passenger he was fed up with.

Now, pop culture America is calling him a hero? For representing the working class? That is not a hero in my books.

It goes back to our general trend in society where people have to always be right and their pride gets in the way. This flight attendant has to realize that he is in a customer service field, and dealing with passengers who are grumpy is part of the job. Sure, it cannot be easy, but neither are hundreds of other jobs out there.

 Other people are not sliding down an escape chute to get away from their work situations. Instead, they work day in and day out to support their families. They are the real heros.  

In ouI am not sure what is worse. His actions, or that he is being called a hero for what he did.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100810/bs_yblog_upshot/rogue-jetblue-flight-attendant-being-hailed-as-a-modern-american-working-class-hero

My 7-year-old over the phone, his darling pitched voiced, “Hi Mommy,” melts my heart. I can picture him there in our home, with his part-toothless and part grown-up-teeth smile and his piercing deep brown eyes and his brown somewhat sun-bleached hair,  uttering those most beautiful words in the world, ”Mommy.“ I  think about returning home  tomorrow and opening the front door and my brown-eyed almost second grader melting into my arms saying, “Mommy’s home. Mommy’s home!”

I think about that little voice, that voice that changes at some point in the growing up process of our children. There is a certain moment, and you cannot pinpoint when that will happen, but one day you just realize that the voice is not so little any more. It has altered. It is more grown up. It is not a little 7-year-old anymore. Maybe it is at the same time that they do not dash as quickly to the door when you return home as they used to.

My kids leave me messages on my voicemail on my cell phone, and I just do not have the heart to erase their sweet little voices. So, I keep their little messages on my voicemail, and when my cell phone asks me if I want to save the messages in the archives or erase them, I always press the number 9, which means to save it. I do not have the heart to erase their sweet voices. And I will hear again, over and over, the most beautiful word, “Mommy.”

It is a reminder that indeed, right now, I am their world.

And they are mine.

And it is a record of the gift of motherhood and parenting.

And I am blessed.

How about Huckleberry Milkshakes to start off the Week 3 Adventure at Trout Lake, Washington. By the rushing creek. With the breathtaking view of Mt. Adams in the background.Before going off to Missions Camp at Jonah Ministries, where the focus is on the ultimate adventure of life.http://www.campjonah.com/ 

I had heard about Jonah Ministries from the Reavely family. Lauren and Leslie attended the Missions Camp a few years ago and were inspired to form a non-profit organization, H20, http://www.h2obags.com/ after attending the camp. I had written about them in an Oregonian story.

Something about Jonah Ministries seems so simple, so back to basics.  Worship, for example, features no large performing band. Just an acoustic guitar and a singer.

A family run ministry, Jonah Ministries started from the seed of an idea by a Grandmother. Her entire family gave up the lives they formerly lived to help run the year round Christian ministry center, which features theme camps each week, one of which is the Missions camp my twins and their friend Jonas attended. During the 4-day camp, the kids experienced what it is like to be a missionary in a simulated situation. Going through customs and security checks. And getting their bibles taken away from them.

My twins really enjoyed the camp, and already want to return next year. And possibly attend the High Adventure camp held there in two weeks. The drive up there along the Columbia Gorge is amazing and the little town of Trout Lake is quaint. I missed my sunshine boys and I am not sure about the next camp. I want to do adventures with them separate from these camps, and only  getting to drive them to camp, and perhaps put our feet in rushing creeks while sipping hand-dipped milkshakes.

By Cornelia Seigneur

During a good-bye party at Pastor Dale and Linda Ebel’s for a Bible study member who is leaving for Germany with her family, I met a gentleman who said he had been reading my story of the Police/Red and Black situation, and told me that it inspired him to a particular action: When he was at a Subway getting lunch, a police officer walked in to also order a sandwich; and, as a small token of gratitude for the work that police do, this gentleman decided to purchase the police officer his lunch.

When I later told my husband about what this gentleman shared with me, my husband suggested I begin collecting these tales of acts of gratitude and kindness toward police as part of the Blue Ribbon Campaign that we launched on Facebook http://www.corneliaseigneur.com/blue-ribbon-campaign-police-deserve-a-cup-of-coffee-facebook-page/ 

Since my original blog post story “Where’s a Police Officer to Get a Cup of Coffee?” http://www.corneliaseigneur.com/where%e2%80%99s-a-portland-police-officer-to-get-a-cup-of-coffee/ appeared, people have e-mailed me their stories of how they have thanked police officers, many by purchasing a cup of coffee for an officer. And police officers have shared with me that random people have come up to them and handed them Starbucks gift cards to get that cup of coffee. They have also received thank you notes.

With today’s sad news of the Monday shooting death in North Portland of  17-year-old Billy Moore  (who was not involved in a gang) http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/06/billy_moores_family_absorbs_do.html  where police have in custody the alleged perpetrator of the crime, we are once again reminded of how police are such a vital part of our  society. Though it is still under investivation whether the shooting of Billy Moore was gang related, it is clear that gang-related crime has increased in Portland, which makes the job of the Portland Police Force that much more difficult. It is their job, and they put their lives on the line daily as they investigate crime and work to keep our communities safe; perhaps we can once in a while make it our job to thank them for that hard work. 

So, that is what I am offering in this space. A place to collect words, to gather stories, to hear tales of how people have appreciated the work that police do. I have tried to turn the focus of my original post in a positive direction, which is what the Blue Ribbon Facebook page was about. Along the same lines, the idea behind this post is to gather  what I would like to call Blue Ribbon Stories, of how the police (who wear blue uniforms) have made a difference in your community. And perhaps what you have done to show gratitude to them in the past few weeks. Sent a card? Purchased a coffee? Thanked an officer personally? We’d like to hear your stories.

The Red & Black Cafe in Middletown, Connecticut makes it clear that they

Red and Black Cafe in Connecticut

The Red & Black Cafe in Middletown, Connecticut notes on its website that: 

“We pride ourselves for being a cafe that is open to everyone.  To act differently is not simply bad business, it’s just mean. We obviously have a special respect and gratitude for our local officers who helped us through a tragic event.  To be on the receiving end of many angry misguided emails is a bitter irony.”

And, to show their support of the work that police do, they will offer a free cup of coffee to local police officers who stop by. So, here’s another place for police officers to get a cup of coffee.

http://www.corneliaseigneur.com/red-and-black-and-blue-in-need-of-dialogue-on-police-relations-guest-column-in-todays-oregonian/

http://www.redblackcafe.com/

By Cornelia Seigneur

There have been so many interesting developments and comments and ideas over the past 10 days  that my original post, “Where’s a police officer to get a cup of coffee?” went viral. It is amazing the power of the pen in sharing a story. And people are running with it.

Officer Crooker and I spoke today for the first time since we met May 18, and said the support has been amazing, from both Portlanders and beyond. People have donated coffee cards to him and fellow policemen, and he is grateful for the encouragement. He is getting calls from the East Coast to speak of his experience. Everyday folks are striking up conversations with police which they might not have happened in the past. The dialogue. The conversation. That is what I am liking to hear. People have asked me for links to national coverage and other media outlets which have covered the story so I am writing this blog post as a quick reflection. Here are some highlights and links as well as featured comments on my original blog and follow up worth talking about:

 ** An independent film maker made a documentary of his experience dressing as a Police officer and walking into the Red and Black to get coffee. They did not serve him.  It will be featured this Saturday.  You have got to see this clip – I am hoping to do a story on him. SUNDAY June 13 UPDATE – A segment of his experience was on YouTube as you may have seen on this blog post,  but was removed by the creator, so I removed the link.  I am looking to find out why. 

** CNN covered the story.http://www.cnn.com/search/?query=red+and+black+cafe+kicks+out+cop&primaryType=mixed&x=27&y=6 

** Fox news covered  http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/04/police-officer-asked-leave-portland-coffee-shop/

** The Oregonian has covered various developments of the story,  including this week’s press conference with the red and black trying to explain its anarchist views. http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/06/red_black_cafe_shows_portland.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/06/red_and_black_and_blue_in_need.htmlnnels

** All the major news channels in Portland have covered it and came out to interview me for the story.

** The Red and Black had a news conference to explain what they believe:

http://southeastportland.katu.com/content/cafe-owner-explains-why-he-booted-cop

http://www.kgw.com/home/Restaurant-that-kicked-out-cop-claims-it-boosted-business-

http://www.koinlocal6.com/mostpopular/story/Cafe-Owners-Support-Anarchists-Deplore-Police/PxSFB2UbW0GzW-yLknbXWQ.cspx

 ** Other local news outlets have written about the incident and/or posted links to the story. 

** Radio programs have made the topic a part of their shows, including national ones. The local ones I was interviewed for include: Paul Linnman, Bob Miller, Mark and Dave, and Victoria Taft.

** AP has picked up the story as has Roseburg news.

As I have been stating all along, my hope in writing my original blog post and consecutive ones is to keep the dialogue open on all sides. I want to move the conversation forward, to educating the public on what the police do as well as to listening to the public’s concerns about misuse of police power. There are obvious strong opinions on both sides, and we need to listen to one another and quit name calling. That is a problem on a blog which allows anonymous comments. I should have asked people to give me their names and cities. I bet they would be more careful as I know I am if people know me.

Since we are getting close to 300 comments from across the country on just the first blog post, it is hard to sift through them for readers. So, I thought I would highlight a few of them, people who have written very interesting notes, and that are moving the dialogue to actual open minded discussion.

One note: Not all vegans hate police. In fact, someone pointed out that the red and black is first and foremost anarchist, second vegan.

Here is a sampling of a few comments that I appreciated:

POLICE OFFICER IN SAN ANTONIO:“…As a vegan of 12 years, I find the story particularly interesting. I live in San Antonio, where there is only one vegetarian restaurant. If they asked me to leave where would I eat?? Fortunately, the staff there is very friendly and I can’t imagine being asked to leave! I go there on duty and off duty and they all know what I do. On particularly busy days, they’ll even pack a lunch for me =)  It’s called Green. If you or your daughter ever find yourselves in San Antonio, the food there is pretty good and they are officer friendly. Of course, the sad truth is that there are officers who are mirror images of this business owner. Officer Crooker was right in that education is the only way to solve the problem. A lot of officer comments have been defensive (“let’s see what happens if they should ever need our services”…) but the only way to start bridging the gap is to educate ourselves also. We should go out of our way to provide everyone with exceptional customer service – especially those who have a negative opinion of us.”

ATS COMMENT: “Both sides have valid points, and I know that this can be a heated discussion. Simple fact is that the guy did have the right to throw the officer out. I disagree with his opinion, and I think that he grossly generalized a group of people, but he does have the right. I also agree that it promotes an atmosphere of misunderstanding to lump this officer in with the bad occurrences that have happened recently and that many people today do not understand just what these officers go through. Also I find many of the comments written here to be very ignorant of the human condition. Corruption and abuse of power is something that this country was built to fight against. It is our duty to be vigilant against power-happy public officials. But to take the shootings and simply cry “we need anarchy” is school-yard mentality. History shows that any time there was anarchy; it wasn’t long before the people BEGGED for a dictatorship. That’s how bad it gets when people realize that they have no security. To think that we don’t need the police is idealistic nonsense and has no place in the universal truths of cause and effect. Get your nose out of the books and see what real life is like. Also, you’re too hateful with some of your comments. If you can’t filter your prejudice, than your point is moot and you should shut up and sit down so the grownups can talk.”

 FROM S. WELLS:  “The conversation here for Portlanders is what do you stand for?  Do you stand for  acceptance, diversity,  justice, kindness, and all the other phrases that come to mind when thinking about a progressive, modern city which is known as being “different”…or  better yet “weird”?  Do we want to be weird because we discriminate, are mean spirited,  hateful, and do not embrace all peoples, or do we want to be different because we epitomize acceptance…no matter who or what you are?    
My personal opinion of most policeman…and I have lived in many large and small cities, have traveled extensively, is that most are your friends.  Of course that is the way I approach everyone,  no matter how they are dressed, what color they are, what profession they have, or what nationality.  I don’t just talk the talk of non-discrimination, I actually live it.    That’s what I loved about Portland…we are committed to the practice of what we preach in the area of diversity.  Hopefully, this will instill in everyone a new perspective on that commitment.

By Cornelia Seigneur

I have had  19,000 visits onto my website from 56 countries/territories of the world in the past week. From New Zealand and South Korea and Ireland and Mexico and South Africa and Sudan.  Even a reader from Iraq. The traffic shut down my website for a while.

Who would have dreamed?  Interestingly, I have always found stat counters depressing because I never had a lot of visitors, but something told me this May 18 Red and Black Blog post story could turn big when I began getting many comments on my post and when the media began calling; so I had my web guy add a stat counter, which I thought I already had. I am so glad I did because it is fun to know where visitors come from.

My website was so overloaded with “hits” to find my original blog post, “Where’s a Police Officer to Get a Cup of Coffee?” that the server had gone down several times the past two days. I had to upgrade to the next level yesterday (which will cost me), and still there were issues with people being able to find my site and leave comments for a while today. My web guy is a genius.  

I am just so amazed how this story has gone national and international. The interest and cultural dialogue that this has created astounds me. And that was the reason I wrote, to begin a conversation and to share my story and to show another side of police which is not as often seen in the media.

I have received phone calls and emails and Facebook comments from people saying they saw the story on Fox, CNN, The Oregonian, Channel 6 and 8 and 2, and 12. And they heard my interviews on the radio with Paul Linnman and Bob Miller and Victoria Taft. Someone said that Rush even spoke of this red and black café issue.

What my hope has been for writing this, and continues to be, is an open and honest dialogue. There are police tensions in this city and across this country. There is a divide.  Comments on my blog regarding this topic include total support for the police to how dare I even one good thing. I have had comments from both sides that I have not been able to approve as they are just name calling and foul language. That is what I was trying to avoid, name calling.

Bottom line though. How hard a job must be when the very ones you are trying to protect kick you out of a café? And, say they’d do it again, but this time sans serving coffee. To that end, someone started a Boycott the Red and Black Café page and I know they are well meaning, but I have an idea to move this on to a different level that is positive. Give attention to those doing the work. Move the conversation toward the original reason for my post — to show that there many, many, many people who honor Police.

So, in my attempt to keep things positive, I have launched a “Blue Ribbon Campaign-Police Deserve a Cup of Coffee” on Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-Ribbon-Campaign-Police-Deserve-a-Cup-of-Coffee/109371342442292?ref=ts#!/pages/Blue-Ribbon-Campaign-Police-Deserve-a-Cup-of-Coffee/109371342442292

Launching this on Facebook makes sense, since that is how my blog went viral. I posted it May 22, but did not link it on my Facebook till May 29, a week ago, and that is when the comments started pouring in. My husband was brainstorming about a way to show support before I was to be interviewed on the Paul Linnman radio show, and  the thought of the Blue Ribbon for the Men and Women in Blue came up. I will meet with the Police next week regarding other ideas (but there are issues that get sticky). So, for now, the idea is to join the Facebook page and TIE A BLUE RIBBON ON YOUR CAR REVIEW MIRROR inside your car or on your antenna. I need to find Blue Ribbons. . . This Facebook Page is a start and a way to move this dialogue in a new, positive direction.

 When I asked the original question, regarding where a policeman can get a cup of coffee, I noted that there was a café a few blocks away called Palio Dessert House which my daughter and I visited after our red and black situation. And police are welcome there – which I made sure to ask.

Well, a blog reader sent me a photo today of a police at that Palio café!

 Wow fun. This is an example of what I am speaking about, about when I say I want to keep this positive.

Keep sending in those photos, and I will post them on the Blue Ribbon Campaign- Police Deserve a Cup of Coffee Facebook Page.

 And, here is a link on a current story about a police officer saving a life at a local eatery.

http://www.kgw.com/video/featured-videos/Off-duty-officer-saves-a-life-at-local-eatery-95662429.html

Also, in Saturday’s Oregonian’s editorial was nicely written –

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/06/post_66.html

Note: here  is the Fox story – http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/04/police-officer-asked-leave-portland-coffee-shop/#content  The reporter tried looking for my phone number. 

 http://www.corneliaseigneur.com/red-and-black-and-blue-in-need-of-dialogue-on-police-relations-guest-column-in-todays-oregonian/

6-23-10 UPDATE: Gathering Blue Ribbon Stories: http://www.corneliaseigneur.com/gathering-blue-ribbon-stories/

By Cornelia Seigneur

When I blogged about the experience I had at a local café in Portland where my daughter and I were having a quiet conversation with a Portland Police officer before we were interrupted by the café owner, who asked the police officer to leave, I never dreamed that the response would be so passionate or so numerous — to be honest, I don’t receive a lot of comments on my blog. I suppose I have not written about such an emotional issue before. I surely did not intend any controversy or to bash an establishment. I merely wanted to share my story. (I had actually gone to the Red and Black out of curiosity as I was working on a story for The Oregonian about Matt Mikalatos, the author of the book Imaginary Jesus,   http://imaginaryjesus.com/   whose story is set at the Red and Black.)

I just had to write about it.

I write because that is how I process life. I write because I have to put my heart on paper. I write because I like to share stories. I write to bring light to the world. I write to share good things people are doing. And, as a believer, I write for justice.

I write because I have to write. It is what I do. It is who I am.

As I read through the comments, I am amazed at the amount of support that the Police enjoys in this city. I am intrigued with the many articulate thought provoking comments people made about the good that the police do. I was moved by the comments from the families of Police, Fire or EMT who serve tirelessly without a lot of fanfare or recognition.

I think of the comments from supporters of the decision of the café to ask the police officer to leave its establishment. I was surprised at how volatile people were toward the Police in general, and not just Portland Police. One comment implied that I had not taken the time to find out what the café owner believed and why they felt “unsafe” with the officer there. I did speak at length with the café co-owner, and we just did not get very far as he spoke of this notion how, in the case of a robbery, he would call his friends rather than the police. What does that look like practically, I wondered?

One reader commented that I was simply a white, suburbanite who has no idea what it is like in North Portland. And I answer that the very point of what I was trying to talk to the police officer at the café about, was our Sudan refugee friends who lived in North Portland, one of whom – a 14 year old — the Police saved.

As I spoke with the café owner, I really never got a direct answer as to why he personally felt unsafe with a police officer in his establishment. 

Bottom line, I think especially of the policeman I met at the red and black, Officer James Crooker, a human being who should be treated with respect and honor, like all human beings. I think of how humiliating it must have been to be asked to leave a café for no other reason than your profession. It was pure and simple discrimination. Yet, he handled it with such class and dignity. I was sad for him. My point was not to start a dialogue of whether people felt Police was necessary in America, but instead to simply ask why was a police officer asked to leave a café?

I wanted the police officer to know that so many people support what they do to try to keep the rest of us safe. He kept talking about the importance of education. What the officer wants is to start a dialogue in this city, to talk reasonably about issues, to let them know he will always respond with kindness to people even if they are unkind. He is there to do his job.

What I did not want to happen in my original blog post was for it to become a place for meanness and finger pointing and name calling. I just wanted to share my story, to bring light to what happened. There were several blog comments that I just did not want to publish as they used profanity and speculation and labeling. From both sides of the issue.

My hope is the same as what the officer hopes for — open conversation, honest dialogue, without name calling. For justice on all sides.

Exactly the reason why I write.

http://www.corneliaseigneur.com/where%e2%80%99s-a-portland-police-officer-to-get-a-cup-of-coffee/

http://www.corneliaseigneur.com/blue-ribbon-campaign-police-deserve-a-cup-of-coffee-facebook-page/

http://www.koinlocal6.com/content/news/topstories/story/Cafe-Owners-Support-Anarchists-Deplore-Police/PxSFB2UbW0GzW-yLknbXWQ.cspx?rss=2442

dropped off my daughter at the airport on Thursday as she returns to Germany, and it was sad and it was hard and it was life and it was beauty seeing the way she adores her brothers and she is deliberate about reaching out to them and I love the way she is kind and simple and loving and fun and adventuresome and I love her perspective on life and God and I just am so grateful to have my daughter.

I got teary eyed as I hugged her and prayed for her just before she went through the check point and I turned away and I know she does not like me to cry and the night before I was hugging her and just telling her how much she means to me and I got teary eyed then as well and she said, mom do not cry, and it made me think about how children look to their parents for strength and comfort and protection and they want to know it will all be okay and it will all be all right and so that is what I want to show my kids.

But it is also okay and good to show emotion and I do so in so many settings, letting my children know how much they mean to me, that they are the world to me and now that my daughter is going back to Germany, a world away, until Christmas, I got sad a bit.

My husband tells me that I should not be sad because our daughter is going after her dreams and I know this in my mind but I am a mom and some things you just cannot explain away with rational thoughts and the mind and knowledge. I love to have my daughter near me, that is just how it  is.

Yes, of course I am grateful that my daughter is going after her dreams and that she has goals to make a difference in this life, for that is what  I  talk to all of my children about all the time, to pray about what God has for them in this life, to dream big dreams and to go after those dreams and to live and to go on adventures, and Rachel is doing that and she talks about frolicking in the fields and she talks about going on adventures and reaching out to hurting people and picking wildflowers in open spaces and bicycle riding on cobblestone streets and sipping cappuccinos in cafes and I just miss doing all of those things with her when she is gone.