it reminds me of that SNL skit about the new Brooklyn; the dude's on the corner with his hat and parka and toughly talking to someone on the phone about his posse of bitches, and the camera pans out to his fancily groomed dogs on leashes.
Portland, Oregon: I know the cliches. the whiteness. the earnestness. the NIMBYness. the flowing skirts and tattoos and ironic facial hair and pet ferrets and kids named Caulfield and organics and sustainability and expensiveness and ever so smugness. it's like Seattle, but more grotesque, right? but I hadn't been there in years until today.
it's pretty. it's got a cool layout, lacerated by bridges and relatively low-slung. there's some older buildings downtown that remind me of the Midwest. external fire escapes, water tanks on rooftops, old billboards and great neon; narrow leafy streets and blocks of food trucks and obviously superior public transit.
and lots of homeless people. lots of drugs. I saw a woman with legs as big around as my wrist stagger in front of me and swipe an aerosol can that was laying beside a dude who was passed out on the curb. this trait of the city is no different than my neighborhood: glassy-eyed people sitting a block away from brand-new million-dollar fucking condos. I actually passed a fucking "popcorn boutique" today; how nice for their city, but what sort of infrastructure is going towards helping the actual people who live there?
"gentrification" is just a multisyllabic synonym for "band-aidy bullshit."
so many filters! taken from the sidewalk over a freeway.
it occurred to me once I arrived that I'd never been to Portland alone. it was weird to walk by places I'd been with other people- Hung Far Low, the Lotus Room, the Goodwill on Burnside. and nothing had really changed after all.
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