Dreamer’s Emblem

Oregon is the land of the dreamer and you are encouraged to find and live your dream. This is the dreamer's emblem.  I look at this symbol everyday and it reminds me to follow my heart and live my dream.  Being scared is natural, being full of fear is paralyzing, and to always protect what holds my heart.

You are encouraged and empowered to find, chase and ride that dream.  Be not afraid and worry not if you are scared.  You will have failures along the way, they are necessary to be successful.
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Sticker History

Unemployed, exhausted of benefits, zero job prospects, I sat outside on a cold, wet morning in Portland Oregon enjoying a hot cup of coffee.  I pondered my future and wondered what the hell I was going to do.   10 years since I migrated west, I rode a wave made of silicate, software, and IP packets; but wave had crashed and for the first time I wondered if I would have to return home, my parents home.

"What? What the hell am I saying? Oregon is my home.  I'm not going anywhere.  I love it here, my heart is here.  My heart is in Oregon."

I am like an Oregon pioneer.  Heck, I am an Oregon pioneer, a modern day one.  I lift my family, I set out west to find my life, and I'm not about to tuck tail and run cause I don't have a job.  Like the pioneers before me, I will survive.  I'll do what it takes.  I will live this Oregon dream.

Then a stranger approached and offered to sell me a sticker.  He said they were going to help fuel his non-profit efforts.  Skeptical of his "non-profit" efforts, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and visions of volunteers building a home came to mind.  I bought 3.  I felt great. 

The sticker read, "I (heart) Portland."  I turned to my friend and told her, "Yea, but I love Oregon, all of Oregon.  My heart is in Oregon, not just Portland."  Always being a sticker freak, I told my friend I wanted to create the coolest sticker EVER.

That night, I designed the, "My heart is in Oregon" sticker.  I placed a heart in the middle of the state of Oregon.  I tore out the door to share my masterpiece with my friend.  "Look, Look," I said, "This is going to be the coolest sticker ever."  My friend was the first of many to suggest the heart should be green.  After much research and questioning, I had been convinced the heart should indeed be green and not red.  You see, the first design had a red heart,  red because it was a heart.

When the 1500 5x4" rectangular green heart Oregon stickers arrived, it was time to sell, time to survive.  I sold exactly zero.  People were not only uninterested, I could not even give them away.  That was until the day a friend told me to cut out the extra white stuff around the boarder.  "Cut it in the shape of Oregon that would be cool."

That night, I did just that.  Now Oregon's sticker was complete.

Moral: Success required failure.
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Here we are today

Remember the dream? To continue the tradition of making Oregon beautiful and the greatest place I can. Here how we are living this dream.

1. Creating a local sustainable Oregon business that benefits Oregon, Oregonians and Oregon culture.
   
2. 10% of our sales for 2007-2008 are being donated to Oregon non-profits that promote or support Oregon, Oregonians, or Oregon culture. Briefly, Pets, Art, and People have been benefited. I think of it as Oregonians taking care of Oregon.
   
3. Talking to and listing to as many as possible who love Oregon like I do.
4. Really see just how far we can push this whole thing.
   
5. Support others with their dreams.

Our Oregon Future

This is Oregon, the land of dreamers. I am a dreamer, Oregon is my home, I am an Oregonian. I'm formulating the big dream now. It will be spectacular and I and the people of Oregon will be stoked. I would rather fail by trying then by staying idle. All we are going to try to do is to get people to look over here, get their attention for just one moment. When enough do, we'll all start walking that way.
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Stuck on Oregon, From the Oregonian Staff

Chris Bucci loves our state so much he decided to make it a very public (and worldwide) affair

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 NANCY HAUGHT

Chris Bucci insists on meeting in a locally owned cafe tucked away in the Pearl. The Acorn serves coffee roasted in Oregon and delivered by a guy on a bike.

Bucci's all Oregon, all the time.

He's the brains behind the green-heart-in-Oregon stickers showing up on car bumpers, water bottles and backpacks on college campuses and in neighborhoods from the Northwest to Maine, even turning up in Turkey. Bucci, 39, figures about 30,000 of his stickers are proudly displayed by people who love Oregon as much as he does.
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