Mission Statement for Musings from Machigonne

"Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light."- Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911)

Coming soon...

I was lucky enough to meet a group of amazing organ players this past week. They gave me two tours of the historic Kotzschmar Organ, located in Portland's Merrill Auditorium. In the next few days I'll post a story of my time with them. Life can really take you by surprise sometimes, as soon as I have the time I'll share this awesomely surprising occasion.

OP piece to the Portland Daily Sun

I am writing this in the hope that at least one of the 28 hoity toity, self involved, economically/socially delusional ingrates who offered their hurtful opinions of my beloved City to Michael Tobin in Monument Square last week will read it. At the risk of averting off into some long winded, venomous rant on the complete lack of merit behind this Tobin clown's "reporting" I'll just leave him out of it. He's clearly a complete simpleton with too much time on his hands, let's leave it at that. Now, as for the 28 "interviewees", if you are reading please pay close attention. Portland is a fantastically colorful city, with rich history dating back hundreds of years. Our City has the ability not just to please or entertain, but to inspire with Her beautiful Colonial and Victorian architecture, Her serene parks, Her breathtaking vistas and landscapes, Her fascinating past and Her ability to Rise from the Ashes (as our City motto, Resurgam, translates to from Latin) time and again after extreme devastation. Through it all; from the Tucker and Cleeve families who settled the area, to the Battle of Fort Loyal when citizens were massacred by Abenakis, to the British bombardment and subsequent burning of the town in the days leading to the Revolutionary Way, to the Great Fire of 1866, through the depression, the demolition of Union Station, and right through to today Portland's greatest asset has always been and forever will be Her Citizens. So when I picked up a copy of the Daily Sun the other day and read the piece entitled "A Monument of Malcontent?", I was, for lack of better words, "Wicked Bummed Guy". To read the quotes from these tourists who we, as a City, go great lengths to to entertain, was what it must have felt like to stand on Munjoy Hill on July 4th, 1866 and watch Portland helplessly disintegrate to ash and rubble. To the 28 people who offered their negative opinions please know this; you're ignorant comments towards my City were hurtful, but not as hurtful as the fact that you didn't even give Portland a chance. You got off the cruise ship, or the tour bus, or the rental car and you saw a cite that is more and more common in every city all over America. Homelessness and poverty are not surface problems, the solution is not to sweep these people away into some less traveled part of town. Monument Square is the Heart of Portland, the fact that the Occupy Maine people picked this site to launch their protest speaks volumes about the visibility and social awareness of the place. To me, a proud Portland native, the Square's diversity and energy bring a vibrancy to downtown that might not be appreciated by tourists who shoot their nose to the sky at the sight of "undesirables" or "dirty people". The most sickening part about the article was that these snotty, out of touch people don't even realize that this is a national, even worldwide issue, and that by writing those less fortunate off with such despicably inexorable elitism they are not helping the problem through constructive criticism. They are perpetuating it through their own delusional denial.

So to the 28 people, I hope at least 1 of you reads this. Portland is a truly special place to live, visit and explore. The locals that gave comments should be ashamed of themselves, take some pride in the City that you grew up in and raised your children in! And as for the tourists who gave comments, you do realize that even though you're old and wealthy it's still quite likely that you're a bad person when you cast such harsh judgment without even looking around first, right? Like the lady from West Palm Beach who stopped just a block shy of the Arts District and a few hundred yards away from the Maine Historical Society and Longfellow's boyhood home to say, "That Old Port was nice, but where's the museums? Where's all that history that they were telling us about? I should have stayed on the boat." LADY! The museums and history were right in front of your face. You were too focused on Portland's imperfections through your own miserable, mundane scope of the world. Discovering Portland is a privilege enjoyed by those lucky enough to live here, those lucky enough to move here, and those lucky enough to visit here.  But hey, Lady, at least you were right about one thing, you should have stayed on the boat. Though not for your own good, for Portland's.

-Chris Shorr, 28 year old lifelong resident of Portland.

My first Blog, an endorsement for Brennan as Mayor

Seeing as how I officially have a blog, I figured I'd get a post on here to get things rolling. There will be a decent amount of content on this sight in regards to the Portland political scene. For starters I'd like to say that Musings from Machigonne gives its full endorsement to Candidate Michael Brennan in Portland's first Mayoral Election in 9 decades. Brennan not only brings the experience, but also the integrity and guts needed for this new position. With 15 candidates running, only one can win. It's nice to read some of the ideas that various candidates are offering, but many of them (particularly those without political experience) sound like they would be better suited serving on the city council. Charles Bragdon, Jodie Lapchick,  Hamza Haadoow and John Eder to name a few appear to have some really fresh ideas. Maybe with some time served on the City Council they will be viable Mayoral Candidates in the future. As for now though, I urge all Portlanders to get to the polls and ignore the 14 other choices you have. Vote for the one candidate who you want to see running our Great City. My ballot will have #1 Michael Brennan.