Ryland Bickley – Class Blog

Housed in a 138-year-old building, the Albany Regional Museum fits right into the city’s historic downtown. In fact, it blends in so well that it’s easy to miss its Southeast Lyons Street location when headed north toward the Willamette River.  But once you find the “Albany Regional Museum” signage and enter the storied building, you’ll be treated to a collection of local history and exhibits, open five days a week, Tuesday-Saturday.  And the first person you’ll probably meet is Sean Kinsey.  Often manning the front desk as part of his “many hats” job at the museum, Kinsey, an LBCC graduate and soon-to-be Oregon State alumnus, stands as a ready resource to community members with a passionate interest in all things history. A nontraditional student, he enrolled at Linn-Benton as a history major to change careers after working a warehouse job that he hated.  His career goal? Museums.  “It’s all about helping,” he said of his job in an interview that ranged from h...

Growing up as a Steelers fan on the West Coast, Pittsburgh was always out of reach.  I was the only fan in my family; growing up, I made it to the East Coast twice for vacations, but never visited the Steel City. Instead, I watched Steelers games on TV and read about how electric it was in-person the day after.  That finally changed when my dad surprised me with tickets to the Steelers’ 2022 home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a gift after I graduated high school. A few months later on a sunny, mid-October Pennsylvania weekend, my dad and I touched down in the city I had seen hundreds of times, but never met.  Pittsburgh, coming from the airport, is a bit underwhelming at first. Outside of the famous Franco Harris “immaculate reception” wax figure by the departing escalator, Pittsburgh International Airport and the surrounding area is just fine, but not an immediately obvious tourist destination.  But that makes downtown even better – you never see it comi...