The Legare Series: Misael, Part 4

In this episode, Misa Legare talks about his Oregon Origin Story. He is being interviewed by his partner, Serenity, whose story is showcased in previous episodes.

You can read more about the project, about Wordcrafters in Eugene, about our sponsors and community partners, and send in your own Lane County, Oregon stories at StoryHelix.Wordcrafters.Org.

Thanks for listening!

Transcript

1
 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:14.640
 You're listening to StoryHelix,
 intertwining stories past, present and not yet
 
 2
 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:19.480
 imagined, in Lane County, Oregon.
 What's up, earthlings. I'm Leah Velez
 
 3
 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:24.199
 and I'll be your host. The
 story we're about to hear was recorded at
 
 4
 00:00:24.199 --> 00:00:30.199
 Oakshire Brewing Company in the Whittaker neighborhood
 of Eugene, Oregon in early 2022. Let's open
 
 5
 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:44.320
 up our ear nuggets and give it
 a listen. I'm Misa. I am
 
 6
 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:52.119
 thirty, Latino, Hispanic, White,
 a little bit of everything. Come from
 
 7
 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:57.399
 LA, Los Angeles area,
 Pasadena, I believe. I was adopted by
 
 8
 00:00:57.399 --> 00:01:03.159
 my grandparents because my mom-- mother, is involved in some bad stuff.
 
 9
 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:11.799
 Um, she went to prison eventually, but I was snatched up off the
 
 10
 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:15.439
 ground and I kind of have like
 a faint memory of it. I feel
 
 11
 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:19.760
 like I don't know if it's just
 like something my brains made up, but
 
 12
 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:26.599
 like I feel like I remember I
 must have been like three, four ish,
 
 13
 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:30.719
 being snatched up by my grandparents and
 I was like sleeping on the floor
 
 14
 00:01:30.760 --> 00:01:36.879
 of like a hotel room. Um. So I lived with them for a
 
 15
 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:41.519
 really long time, but we came
 to live here because my great-grandma,
 
 16
 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:49.200
 my grandpa's mother, lived up here
 with her like eighteenth husband or something, lived
 
 17
 00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:57.159
 in North North-- North Coos Coos Bay,
 Oregon, and her husband just died and
 
 18
 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:00.400
 she was, you know, getting
 old and we had to move up here
 
 19
 00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:07.280
 to help take care of her.
 So we packed up our things and moved
 
 20
 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:13.360
 to Coos Bay. And my grandparents wanted
 me to grow up, move out of
 
 21
 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:22.639
 California to get away from the Los
 Angeles, I don't know, life and
 
 22
 00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:29.360
 moved to like a tiny little town
 Um. But yeah, moved there when
 
 23
 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:35.479
 I was like it was '98. So actually I
 was seven. Grew up here in Oregon
 
 24
 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.560
 most of my life. I was
 it was a great place to grow up
 
 25
 00:02:39.159 --> 00:02:45.800
 back then. I mean all I
 did was like moved in the house,
 
 26
 00:02:45.159 --> 00:02:50.639
 like the third, third house from
 the main the main street over there near
 
 27
 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:59.800
 Walmart, and both houses to my right
 had kids and so it was actually really
 
 28
 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:01.759
 great. Like I just Um,
 most of my childhood playing with, you
 
 29
 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:06.520
 know, my friends that I live
 right next to me, and you know,
 
 30
 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:10.000
 my living with my grandparents and they
 were old and you know, they
 
 31
 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.639
 weren't necessarily like we wanting a child, but they, you know, they
 
 32
 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:17.800
 took me on and so I did
 a lot of like the younger parents took
 
 33
 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:24.599
 me a lot of camping trips.
 And you know to Scottsburgh. I
 
 34
 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:30.360
 remember going to the Scottsburgh a lot
 and going camping over there and they had
 
 35
 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:35.199
 a cabin over there. They would
 ride our boats right riding his about the
 
 36
 00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:39.639
 my friends Dad's, and he would
 take us like inner tubing and knee boarding,
 
 37
 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:44.199
 and I have my friend had a
 big, a big backyard. So
 
 38
 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:46.400
 we' just like would just always be
 in the backyard, like playing, doing
 
 39
 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:52.439
 something. Being in a small town, you definitely get like a small world
 
 40
 00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:57.719
 mentality. And so, you know, I mean, you know, we've
 
 41
 00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:01.800
 been here plenty of times because this
 is like we'll always go shopping every before
 
 42
 00:04:01.879 --> 00:04:05.639
 school started. So, like I
 was familiar with egene bowling, a lot
 
 43
 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:10.520
 of bowling tournaments up here. So
 I've been up here a lot. And
 
 44
 00:04:11.319 --> 00:04:15.400
 me and I guess I would really
 like explore much of the town or the
 
 45
 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:18.790
 people. You know, we just
 came here to do a thing, bowling
 
 46
 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:21.920
 or go shopping and then go home. I was just ready to get out
 
 47
 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:29.759
 of Coos Bay, North Bend at that point
 and after graduating high school, I just
 
 48
 00:04:29.959 --> 00:04:32.800
 I just wanted out because there's not
 much to do down there unless you own,
 
 49
 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:40.560
 you know, four wheeler, motorcycle
 be like shooting guns and, I
 
 50
 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:44.400
 don't know, just being a Redneck, I guess, but I mean it's
 
 51
 00:04:44.790 --> 00:04:47.279
 don't get me right. I like
 doing a lot of stuff too, but
 
 52
 00:04:47.319 --> 00:04:51.519
 other than that there's nothing to do. I just feel like home. First
 
 53
 00:04:51.560 --> 00:04:58.160
 I felt huge. So they felt
 like a huge town, coming from,
 
 54
 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:03.160
 you know, a little coastal town. I just honestly Texas and just like
 
 55
 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:08.560
 flying over to Texas and I hate
 to land. It's just like so flat
 
 56
 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:14.959
 and brown and just being they're just
 like I guess it really like, yeah,
 
 57
 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:16.790
 I brought it home to me,
 like Oh yeah, this, this
 
 58
 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:20.839
 is home over here in the Pacific
 northwest. I mean, yeah, Eugene
 
 59
 00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:27.360
 area, but more specifically the Pacific
 northwest. It doesn't have to be Eugene,
 
 60
 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:30.800
 but it does feel like home here
 this you know, despite being a
 
 61
 00:05:30.839 --> 00:05:36.720
 minority here, it does. I
 mean I am a minority, but also
 
 62
 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:45.790
 I grew up here in Oregon my
 whole life and I don't know, it's
 
 63
 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:50.439
 kind of like in this in between
 place where you don't really fit in with
 
 64
 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:56.399
 either side. You know, I'm
 like, I'm too white for you know,
 
 65
 00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:00.790
 my my family members. It might
 see me as white and white people
 
 66
 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:05.959
 usually see me as Hispanic. Latino. I don't speak Spanish, so that's
 
 67
 00:06:05.959 --> 00:06:12.480
 definitely another barrier there. So I
 don't know. Fitting in is weird for
 
 68
 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:24.560
 me. Thanks for listening. You
 can find us wherever you listen to your
 
 69
 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:29.680
 podcasts. If you've got your own
 Lane County story to tell, we'd love
 
 70
 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:32.360
 to hear it at StoryHelix Dot
 Wordcrafters Dot Org.