Found Deceased OR - Owen Klinger, 18, University of Portland, 6 Oct 2019

[daydreamingbraindoc]

Interesting!

Poetry is so subjective, and interpretations can vary.

Having said that, I read a lot of ambivalence about the family unit in OK's poem.

The phrases that jumped out at me were "From extra credit is mandatory" and "times spent together are captured...sitting on the shelves."

Yep. I'm seeing a lot of ambivalence expressed there.

But again, that's just me, and poetry, like all art, is subjective.

JMO.

I think he was more so talking about the scrapbooks, that came the line before.

It should be noted that he chose to write his speech in a class about his dad, and at the end said he could say all the same things about his mom but it would be even longer. So he was in a good place with his parents while in college, IMO.

 

[GordianKnot]

I think he was more so talking about the scrapbooks, that came the line before.

It should be noted that he chose to write his speech in a class about his dad, and at the end said he could say all the same things about his mom but it would be even longer. So he was in a good place with his parents while in college, IMO.

Feeling ambivalent about one's family does not mean you're in a negative place with family.
One can love one's family members dearly and still not embrace the same beliefs and values.
Feelings of ambivalence are normal...nobody's family is perfect.

You always need to dive beneath the surface of a poem to find the meaning.

Poetry uses metaphor, and symbolism.

OK wasn't talking about scrapbooks when he talked about scrapbooks.

JMO.

 

[happyday]

Wow I cannot even imagine if a poem I wrote for class in freshman year was being analyzed online by strangers! Lol.

But honestly anything that could help find him....

So what stuck out to me right away— “From extra credit is mandatory”

 

[GordianKnot]

Wow I cannot even imagine if a poem I wrote for class in freshman year was being analyzed online by strangers! Lol.

But honestly anything that could help find him....

So what stuck out to me right away— “From extra credit is mandatory”

BBM:

^^^^^^^^THIS RIGHT HERE^^^^^^^^

It's the central line in the poem.

Translation: OK was feeling pressured.

JMO.

 

[Pseudonymph]

That poem sounds like something a freshman wrote quickly for an assignment to me. There’s a remove to it, but it’s probably for some sort of “Who am I?” themed unit. It sounds totally normal for your typical upper middle-class privileged kid from an educated family. I see no red flags.

 

[happyday]

BBM:

^^^^^^^^THIS RIGHT HERE^^^^^^^^

It's the central line in the poem.

Translation: OK was feeling pressured.

JMO.

That’s sure what I get from it.

 

[Paulette]

Aside from poems and parents pressure to excel - the important bit is searching from the point of last seen. That would be the corner when he disappeared from view. Maybe LE can find something in his phone records, maybe not. We know he lied and took $150 - so what! If no one comes forth with info on why he left, then the only lead is the area he was last seen. I'm so sorry for him - if only he knew what a bad area he was walking into, he might have not gone.

 

[rustbeltrose]

That poem sounds like something a freshman wrote quickly for an assignment to me. There’s a remove to it, but it’s probably for some sort of “Who am I?” themed unit. It sounds totally normal for your typical upper middle-class privileged kid from an educated family. I see no red flags.

Can confirm we did similar if not the same assignment when I was at UP in the freshman orientation class.

 

[Cybrtygrr]

Owen’s Poem for one of his class assignments has been published.

Could he possibly be fed up with the weather?

 

[happyday]

Aside from poems and parents pressure to excel - the important bit is searching from the point of last seen. That would be the corner when he disappeared from view. Maybe LE can find something in his phone records, maybe not. We know he lied and took $150 - so what! If no one comes forth with info on why he left, then the only lead is the area he was last seen. I'm so sorry for him - if only he knew what a bad area he was walking into, he might have not gone.

I think he did know the area he was walking into though. He is from there and lived in the city limits—not even the suburbs.
But of course something bad still could have happened to him.

 

[momrids6]

My young adults have done some really stupid things, gone to so many bad places, met weird people and certainly did things they won't ever do again.
They were lucky- period.

This is a nightmare for all involved, imo.

 

[rustbeltrose]

Once LE gets the phone numbers of those in the group chat they'll be able to trace them to the account owners, unless they were all burners. Guessing they are linked to people who the Klinger fam doesn't know, or else they would have come forward by now.

Also, he had plans to study after he got back and it was the night before midterms, maybe he went to buy adderall.

 

[88GlavineRC]

Freight-train riding has a reputation of being very dangerous and, to some degree, is in fact so. According to author and journalist Ted Conover,

come

Ted Conover wrote a a great book called Rolling Nowhere, highly reccomended.

 

[88GlavineRC]

Meeting an adderall dealer makes sense to me, great point and not until the 22nd page of this thread. good thinkin
RE: train hopping perspective, maybe the puffiness of the small backpack is because it contains a down jacket. Could be some misguided notion of travelling with only the "clothes on my back".
Have not read poem yet but scrapbook/sketchbook/blackbook is what a graffiti artist would practice their artwork in. Artwork meant for the side of freight trains. Very far out speculation, very very far out.

 

[10ofRods]

Feeling ambivalent about one's family does not mean you're in a negative place with family.
One can love one's family members dearly and still not embrace the same beliefs and values.
Feelings of ambivalence are normal...nobody's family is perfect.

You always need to dive beneath the surface of a poem to find the meaning.

Poetry uses metaphor, and symbolism.

OK wasn't talking about scrapbooks when he talked about scrapbooks.

JMO.

Depends on the poetic ability of the poet. To me, his poem starts out with more allegorical references (and poetic rhythm) but by the end, is less free verse and more just insightful wriing.

We have no idea what he meant when he mentioned scrapbooks. We have no idea how good a poet he might be, at 18.

 

[Bree1950]

Owen’s Poem for one of his class assignments has been published.

This was beautiful!

Aside from poems and parents pressure to excel - the important bit is searching from the point of last seen. That would be the corner when he disappeared from view. Maybe LE can find something in his phone records, maybe not. We know he lied and took $150 - so what! If no one comes forth with info on why he left, then the only lead is the area he was last seen. I'm so sorry for him - if only he knew what a bad area he was walking into, he might have not gone.

Im thinking the same thing!

 

[bykerladi]

We know he lied and took $150 - so what! If no one comes forth with info on why he left, then the only lead is the area he was last seen. I'm so sorry for him - if only he knew what a bad area he was walking into, he might have not gone.

How do we know he lied? I thought I read there actually WAS a lacrosse meeting so perhaps he was still planning on attending. Or are you referring to something else?

 

[Bree1950]

Once LE gets the phone numbers of those in the group chat they'll be able to trace them to the account owners, unless they were all burners. Guessing they are linked to people who the Klinger fam doesn't know, or else they would have come forward by now.

Also, he had plans to study after he got back and it was the night before midterms, maybe he went to buy adderall.

Also, group texts don’t always display the name-sometimes it is just the number! I really feel LE tracking down the group chat numbers and google being involved that this will be solved! I’m praying for a good outcome.

 

[rustbeltrose]

Once LE gets the phone numbers of those in the group chat they'll be able to trace them to the account owners, unless they were all burners. Guessing they are linked to people who the Klinger fam doesn't know, or else they would have come forward by now.

Also, he had plans to study after he got back and it was the night before midterms, maybe he went to buy adderall.

I didn't know much about how adderall exchanges work so looked it up. One article said this, which makes sense why they would not be able to find it on email/computer:
"Another student, Nicole, advises against even bringing it up over electronic communication. “[Don’t] talk about Addy on any social media, text, nothing. I mean, that’s hard, but if anyone messages you on Insta, Twitter, anything, don’t reply, you’re just setting yourself up. SnapChat is alright. Basically, you don’t want any black and white evidence laying around.”

According to streetrx.com one pill of varying dosages in Oregon in the last week has sold for anywhere from $4-12. A bottle could easily have been around $150.

Alright, stopping with this theory now because I hate the thought of it. Holding out hope they get some answers this week!

 

[10ofRods]

I also thought that was interesting. Along with “explore all your options”

That's a good example of where the poem seems to be concrete, not metaphorical. The word 'options' combined with "explore all your" is right off of motivational memes. Options doesn't have a lot of metaphorical meanings, to me. It's an optimistic piece of writing, though, with lots of reflection on his roots.