Keep Portland Weird
On the MAX
A sincere compliment that might sound like underhanded, but honestly isn't: No one would confuse greater Portland for Europe, but it does feel more like a European city (more specifically some mid-sized former industrial town in East Germany, for example) than most other places in the US of A.
Having a well-thought out, easy-to-use metro and bus network and a bunch of walkable neighbourhoods is a big part of that. These photos were all taken on the MAX (light rail/tram) between Milwaukie (a suburb to the south of the city proper) and Killingsworth (a major residential and commercial street in the north).
Spencer Sprocket
In keeping with the 'Portland really has a bit of a (hipster Central) European feel to it' theme of the day, this photo could have easily been taken in Berlin, but was instead just another near perfect autumn find in North Portland the other day....
#spencersprocket #plumberlife #autumn #portland
Nadia & Yola: Staring Competition Champions
Meet Nadia and Yola. Sisters from another litter. If sitting and staring were an Olympic sport, and cats were allowed to compete in the Olympics (and why not, after that kangaroo breakdance lady?), these two would have a puncher's chance at medalling in LA in 2028....
Childless Cat People Against Christian Nationalism
Not sure if it's wholly accurate, but gonna file this one away under 'Only in Portland' anyway. Seeing it on a Subaru was the deciding factor....
Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya
Some more incredible ramen - this time at a Japanese chain place in Portland, after the first couple choices were closed or located across too much gridlocked traffic. A serendipitous outcome though. Plus they had a free mouthwash dispensing machine in the loo, which was a noteworthy novelty in itself....
Positive Signs
Another random thing to like about Portland: The 'don't let your dog do their business here' signs are incredibly polite, positive and community centric, especially compared to the ones spotted recently in NYC and LA.
Ironically, this wheel cactus (Opuntia robusta) in the background looks like something that would be more at home in southern desert climes, but seems to be doing just fine here in the Pacific Northwest....
Unsolicited Autumn Music Recommendation: Dead Pioneers
Denver-based punk and spoke word band fronted by a Native American guy with a good sense of humour. Or as their bio on Bandcamp says:
“Rooted in the Punk aesthetic, Dead Pioneers is not afraid to tackle hard political and social issues From original songs to spoken word with punk riffs, Dead Pioneers was created with a love of music, a love of art and the DIY disposition of just figuring it out and seeing what happens.”
Good Lord! That's a lotta money!
Seven weeks back in the US, still not used to seeing crazy prices for everything....
On a related note: Since touching down in NYC in early October, this old In Living Color skit has popped into my head on a fairly frequent basis:
NB: A lot of the comments on this post on Facebook pointed out how this garbage isn't really food, and shouldn't be eaten anyway, which I couldn't agree with more. Coincidentally, a couple days after posting this I was reading Diane di Prima's Revolutionary Letters before bed, and came across this one, which seems applicable here:
REVOLUTIONARY LETTER #55
It takes courage to say no
No to canned corn & instant
mashed potatoes. No to rice krispies.
No to special K. No to margarine
mono- & di-glycerides, NSDA
for coloring, causing cancer. No to
white bread, bleached w/nerve gas (wonder
bread). No to everything fried
in hardened oil w/silicates. No to
once-so-delicious salami, now red
w/sodium nitrate.
No to processed cheeses. No
no again to irradiated bacon, pink
phosphorescent ham, dead plastic
pasteurized milk. No to chocolate pudding
like grandma never made. No thanx
to coca-cola. No to freshness preservers,
dough conditioners, no
potassium sorbate, no
aluminum silicate, NO
BHA, BHT, NO
di-ethyl-propyl-glycerate.
No more ice cream? not w/embalming fluid.
Goodbye potato chips, peanut butter, jelly, jolly
white sugar! No more DES
all-American steaks or hamburgers either!
Goodbye, frozen fish! (dipped & coated w/
aureomycin) Fried eggs over easy w/
hormones, penicillin & speed.
Carnation Instant Breakfast, Nestle’s Quik.
Fritos, goodbye! your labels are very confusing.
All I can say
is what my daughter age six once said to me :
‘if I can’t pronounce it
maybe I shouldn’t eat it.’
or, Dick Gregory
coming out of a 20-day fast :
‘the people of America are controlled
by the food they eat’
No Karens Allowed
Another one for the 'Only in Portland' file. Although before you laugh or share this, do take a moment to feel just a bit of sympathy for all the women out there named Karen.
Prior to 2017 or thereabouts they had perfectly fine names, but now, through absolutely no fault of their own, are inextricably with "upper middle-class white American women who are perceived as entitled or excessively demanding."
Stay strong Karens! Life can really seem unfair sometimes, but everything happens for a reason....
Karens aren't the only people who've unfairly had their names ruined - just ask anyone named Chad, or Michael Bolton:
Love isn't real? 😭😭😭
Bad news for any romantics out there. The straight dope from the mean (and presumably heartbroken) streets of North Portland....
Sunday morning in autumn vibes
Powell's: A Portland institution
It's not a visit to Portland without a stop at the legendary Powell's Books, which is arguably the city's most famous single attraction - a distinction that not too many bookshops in the world can boast.
In fact, the lure is so strong, that one might end up stopping by three times in three days, and buying some nine books (and a dozen postcards), despite always travelling extremely light and having almost no room in their below average sized carry on backpack....
The personal, no nonsense staff recommendations are one of the best things about Powell's:
Fur Coat Salad
Had extremely high expectations for a nice dinner out with friends at a well-regarded Russian restaurant in East Portland, so disappointment was all but guaranteed. This shuba (ie 'fur coat salad') held up its end of the bargain though - in appearance if not flavour....
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
Avoiding the news has been an extremely cromulent strategy for maintaining one's sanity in recent years, and will likely be even more so in the years ahead. But absolutes are a fool's game and exceptions can always be made - exceptions like The Asian Reporter's groundbreaking baby hippo meme coverage, for instance....
Covering the Couch-Fucker
While censorship generally isn't something to be applauded, in this case, whoever took the liberty of covering up this contemporary couch-fucker pulp fiction - presumably as a small act of largely symbolic defiance - is all right in our book....
Portland alley rats say the darndest things
On the other side of this wall is a bougie pet store chain, which is totally unrelated, but for some reason still seems vaguely ironic....
Shameless
Cats are notoriously shameless. Case in point, here's Nadia trying to do all she can to get an endorsement deal with major online pet supply retailer, despite living in North Portland, where the 'buy local' ethos is pervasive and the sense of community strong.
If the youth are our only hope for the future, the future is looking quite bleak....
La Isla Bonita
The Alberta neighbourhood of north Portland is full of cool little restaurants, bars and shops. Didn't actually patronise this one, but did appreciate the cool lighting and signage....
Two words: Dog gelato 🐶🍨
[Insert your own rant about late capitalism here. I just don't have the energy today.]
Lire est sexy
Reading is sexy! And so are hot pink little free libraries, especially when they're in walkable, community-centric neighbourhoods.
Hot pink and green houses on the other hand.... Perhaps a bit garish and unseemly in a vacuum, but somehow also fit the North Portland aesthetic just fine....
Taking (hypothetical) votes for granted
Have always been a big fan of alliteration, so kudos for that. But surely the folks who made these are aware that animals can't vote, right? And even if they could, they'd obviously throw their collective weight behind a third party candidate who actually has a spine and a soul, rather than a shameless, empty (pant)suit puppet of the oligarchs. Just sayin'....
Cats, mushrooms and invisible lines
If you hypothetically knew anyone who liked both cats and mushrooms, this might just about be the Platonic ideal of a postcard to send them.
Also, funny story, these days if you step over an invisible line ('pictured' below) whilst waiting your turn at the post office and/or start approaching the counter before the previous customer has completely vacated the area, you'll not only get reprimanded by a stressed out yet still good humoured postal worker, but also get a brief lesson in how the current Postmaster General is purposely and very openly destroying the US Postal Service from within.
The more you know! 👍
Greetings from Portland
Nadia sends her greetings from Portland, Oregon aka the Rose City, which is apparently a moniker shared by Petra in Jordan and Tyler, Texas of all places. Although I guess being surprised about that is just Pacific Northwest bias, since according to Wikipedia:
"Tyler is known as the "Rose Capital of America" (also the "Rose City" and the "Rose Capital of the World"), a nickname it earned from a long history of rose production, cultivation, and processing. It is home to the largest rose garden in the United States, a 14-acre public garden complex that has over 38,000 rose bushes of at least 500 different varieties. The Tyler Rose Garden Center is also home to the annual Texas Rose Festival which attracts thousands of tourists each October.“
Fair enough…
Keep Portland Weird
Only time will tell if Portland is kept weird. But this concludes our brief foray into Stumptown….