Debate 19: Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR.

The West Coast

We left to Texas for colder and reputedly more liberal climes – arriving in Portland late in the evening. We then drove the hour and a half to Corvallis, in central Oregon. Next morning Amanda one of the Graduate Assistants drove us to Newport on the coast where we could throw rocks in the Pacific Ocean and truly say we had travelled ‘from sea to shining sea’. Whilst in Newport we took the chance to sample the local chowder and marine science centre (octopus ahoy). Our last visit of the day was to the Rouge Nation brewery – one of Oregon’s best-known local beers. We resisted the temptation to become members of the rouge nation but Alex did invest in a rather fetching lobster hat. (More about that later..)

The evening debate was on the motion ‘This house believes that religion is responsible for modern day terrorism’. It was an interesting debate and one from opposition that we were ultimately able to carry the audience for another British victory. The debate was well attended for a Sunday night and as has been the case on a number of occasions we were both impressed with the quality of the floor debate. One former solider who had served in Iraq in the first Gulf War gave an especially memorable plea for people to understand how important religion is to people who feel that they have no way of improving their material lot and how manipulative terrorist groups have been at exploiting this human suffering.

We were given Monday off so it seemed prudent to go wine tasting as Oregon has a burgeoning reputation for producing some excellent wines. We piled into Amanda’s car and set off with Travis (another Grad student) at the wheel and one of his friends James (who didn’t drink but came along to provide moral support) completing our foursome. We had all seen the film ‘Sideways’ and were looking forward to a day of self-discovery and high jinks. Our first winery was a small family operated affair called Red Hawk. As we worked our way through their wine list (Pinot Gris to Merlot, with a charming Dessert Wine to finish) and looked out across the vineyards, we thought of friends and family at home (and at work/school/lectures!). Amanda beautifully captured the “Kodak moment” below…


The next stop was rather different. Gone were the panoramic views, replaced instead with an enormous gift shop. Although the wines here were more expensive by the bottle (and we had to pay for samples) it was hard to take them seriously given the assortment of tacky wine coolers and CD’s featuring soothing Whale calls that surrounded us. The nice lady at the tasting counter (also the gift shop till) seemed rather proud of the fact that the winery was now making most of its money by exporting tropical fruit wines to Japan, but we declined the chance to sample the garish looking bottles and instead headed to our next stop, a downtown winery that had one numerous awards for its berry wines. After much deliberation we decided to sample the Triple Berry, which although flavoursome, probably wouldn’t find it’s way onto a dinner table in Islington or Edinburgh… Our final winery of the day was one of the most famous in Oregon and certainly the most serious. From the comfort of the outdoor viewing deck we toasted our hosts and agreed that wine tasting actually involves rather a lot of wine drinking. By 5pm Alex tasted toast and cranberries in almost everything that passed his lips…

That evening we were taken for dinner with the Communications Faculty and the Debate Team before some of the students foolishly challenged us to pool and table football in a trendy bar downtown. Although we had certainly picked up a very liberal vibe in Oregon it was fascinating to hear from the students that in fact in the rural East of the state there is a great deal of social conservatism – so much so that the state constitution was amended in 2006 banning Gay Marriage. We headed to Portland intrigued and still slightly tipsy…