Portlanders

Going back to the MOOC one more time, in Scott Snyder's interview he talked a little about the creation of Harper Row. There was the question of why people stay in Gotham when it is clearly such a dangerous and depressing place to live. As true as that was, the city could also make something out of you, and reveal you, if you stuck with it. I'm not quoting this right, but ultimately it came down to the city having rewards for those who stuck with it, and there would be people who would respond to that.

So, getting back to dank, missing person Portland, what are Portlanders like? It was starting to talk about the people that turned the discussion around. It was difficult to find the right descriptor. Sincerity came up, and wasn't quite right, but then someone mentioned earnestness, and that seemed to be it.

The comparisons were Los Angeles, where at least one person always felt like he was being lied to, though I would guess it was more of a glossy, hyping kind of deception, rather than malevolence, and New York, where there was always this sort of ironic detachment. (Also, in North Carolina there is a lot of murder and unwillingness to be sociable about the weather.)

With earnestness, you really can't do any of that, because you are too invested, and too busy, to waste time with that. Someone repeated hearing that with people here, they have three lives: their work, their passion, and where they volunteer. That kind of sounds right. Therefore, Portland is a hub of human trafficking, but also of fighting it.

I suspect that we both shape our environment, and our environment shapes us. In Portland, you have people who care a lot about organic foods and buying locally, but also, we have an area where there is a lot of agriculture, and it is reasonable to find those things.

People can afford houses here that can't afford them other places. I'd read recently that one reason Portland under-performs economically is that people come here who don't make money a priority, so they will take jobs that pay less, but are what they really want to do. Well, it's nice that they want to, but also nice that it's possible.

Frankly, some of that is probably due to the weather. In terms of having a lot of land available, that is partly due to being out west, but California is too, and yet property values are much higher. Some of that may have been put into place during the Gold Rush, but maybe some of that is the sunshine. And our weather could be way worse.

And that nature? Maybe it is impersonal towards us, but I know that it is common for people here to develop personal affection for it. We can feel passionately connected to the land, and inspired by it. You don't have to go very far to be surrounded by it. So yes, Forest Park is an amazing wild space in the city, where you can jog and possibly spot some native animals, and it is also a reasonable place to dump a body.

There are people here who raise alpacas and make beautiful things with their wool, and there are people who make meth. Sometimes they are neighbors. There are sculptors and welders, and there are thieves who will steal the artwork for scrap metal. Maybe that sort of dualism is normal, or maybe we are lucky to have so many who fall on the gentle and creative side.

Thinking about the things that might make people move, most of the threats seem like things that could happen anywhere, like if Portland loses what makes it special, there may not be a lot of other places to find it. That's why we'll be moving towards what makes a community, and how, for next week.