I've made up my mind - Salem, OR it is. Now I need some info, please.

Patheral, I was going to suggest, then, that perhaps you consider the Portland metropolitan area more generally. Portland is a liberal town (it's not in-your-face to me, but I'm a liberal gal, so, you know, take that with a grain of salt), and one of the advantages of this liberalism is a lot of investment into transit infrastructure. So you can probably rely on public transportation and not live right in town. Beaverton and Lake Oswego are not liberal bastions by any means. You can also go a bit east of Portland and consider Mt. Hood Community College. There are other colleges in the area that hire folks with MAs (right?) to teach, at least on an adjunct basis, including Clark College and Portland State University. I'm also guessing some cc folks might not look too closely at out-of-state applicants. Oregon's economy has taken a beating in the past few years, like everywhere, and I don't know that any town here has a lot of jobs right now. Bend is a lovely town. I tend to think of it as being very pricey because it relies so much on tourism and many people have vacation homes in the area. It also attracts a lot of seasonal workers in the winter, to work at Mt. Bachelor. I don't know if you'd have to compete with those folks for smaller apartments. Maybe someone else will chime in with information about that. I agree if you're trying to avoid a very liberal place, Eugene isn't going to be a whole lot different from Portland. It's a college town, after all. Good luck with your applications and decisions.

Does anyone have any experience with the temp companies in either Eugene or Portland? I have a list of the temp agencies but knowing which companies are out there is no substitute for knowing if they're competent or not. For example, I've worked with Manpower in many states, and some are heads and tails over their sister companies. I'm going to spend a good part of Friday (my day off from school and work) sending out applications to the Community Colleges in both places and see what I can dig up on the literacy programs out there as well.

My family all grew up in Keizer, north of Salem, and I've lived in Eugene for over 20 years. I much prefer Eugene, and have chosen not to pursue some promotional opportunities at work because they all require moving to Salem. Public transit and bike trails are great in Eugene. Food is better, if that matters to you. We finally have a decent library-Salem was way ahead there for a long time. And LCC is expanding into a new downtown site, right across from said library.

I just looked at the rent prices in Portland on craigslist, and... ouch! They're twice what I found in Salem. That cuts my window to find work down by half if I move there. Eugene is about the same as Salem so there's that... Of course there are more temp companies and CC's up in Portland. *sigh* I'm awful with these things. Can't I just throw a dart at the map and move there? ;)

I grew up in Eugene, but haven't lived there for a few years, so things may have changed a bit. But I thought I would share to give you more opinions to consider. My impression of the bus system was that it was not great (mostly, a bit slow), but perfectly usable. And it sounds like there have been some improvements since I left, so I think it would meet your needs. Lane Community College seemed well regarded when I was growing up, and I took one class there, which I enjoyed. I was always impressed by how much community involvement they have. They do have satellite campuses, including one in downtown Eugene, but the main campus is a bit far, though with good bus service. If you would be spending a lot of time at the main LCC campus, I would recommend looking at living near a bus line that heads out that direction to save you time. (Plus, being a student qualifies you for a http://www.lanecc.edu/facilities/transportation/lccbuspass.html!) Eugene does tend to be pretty liberal. I have a hard time judging how annoying it might be to someone more middle-of-the-road as I am liberal. However, I certainly know people in Eugene who are more moderate, so I don't think you would be alone. Or, you could try living in Springfield. Springfield has quite a different reputation and feel from Eugene. More gritty, and less hippy. Any follow-up questions, feel free to memail me.

You could also consider Southwest Washington/Vancouver, Wash., which is a more conservative/moderate suburb of Oregon and has its own http://www.clark.edu

I may have to reconsider Portland... If Salem's transportation system isn't all that great. I honestly cannot afford a car at this point and will need to rely on public transport until I get settled. I'm not worried about scraping a living because I survived working temp for a very long time, and my needs aren't much. If I can't find work as an instructor right away, I have options. I'm looking at Oregon because most of my maternal family hails from OR. They're scattered about all over the place up there with the exception of my mom - the rebel. She lives up in WA, but we moved around a bit when I was a kid. I get my traveling ways from her. I'm getting too old (45) and decrepit (see previous posts) to keep be-bopping around and want to settle down for a bit. Anyway, I figure OR is a nice state. I've visited a few times and I like it. I'm cool with WA too, but something's calling me to OR. I'll have to see how much snow Bend gets (snow + no car = bad situation) because it's east of the mountains, but I'll definitely look into Bend, Eugene, and Portland.

Yeah, I wouldn't rely on public transit in Bend. It's better than it used to be (which is to say it exists at all now), but nobody has ever mistaken it for good. Otherwise, it sounds like Bend meets your criteria. OTOH, Portland does too (as long as you don't live in SE Portland or NW Portland). Reputations and reality are not always the same thing. If you're looking to avoid liberal folks, either Bend or Portland will serve you better than Eugene.

Chiming in for Bend here, yes, the rental market is a bit competitive right now, but it seems there are good studios/temporary furnished options. COCC is pretty well regarded. Again, I'm biased since I left Salem to move here, but as a lifelong Oregonian, I feel pretty strongly that Portland, Eugene, and Bend would all be better fits for your situation. I personally adore Bend and definitely agree that it's less liberal, but I don't know how great the job market is, and the public transportation again leaves something to be desired. Basically though, if you're moving to Oregon, you're heading in the right direction!