p e n g u i n d e v i l

Why is there always so much to think about? I mean, I enjoy thinking about the things that are just there for thinking… History, the places beyond our atmosphere, movies… It’s those things that actually can have an effect, that’s where the trickiness lies.

In our 3 year quest to move to Vermont, I feel repeatedly psychologically tripped up by the decision making process. As someone who has never lived outside of this one city, the thought of relocating 3000 miles away is an interesting quandary. Add to that the thought of moving to a small town, when I’ve never spent much time in a small town. That’s a whole other angle. Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea. I’m sick of the city thing. Even though Portland isn’t that big of a city, this 15 year run of being one of the hippest places to move to has lead to endless changes (I think they call it progress, development, maybe cashing in, even) that I find unacceptable. And I don’t just mean house prices tripling in that time. I feel like people moved here with a vision in mind of what this city is and have proceeded to remake it into that. Which, while it is hip and urban and (sort of) cultural and prosperous (maybe too much so), it’s not the place I picture from my 40 years of memories. To add insult to injury, my place of employment, Powell’s City of Books, is indeed a loved icon of old Portland past, yet it is right next to the greatest blight on the cities face: the loathed “Pearl District”. It is a disturbing thing to sit and enjoy this store which I have been visiting for nigh on 25 years (though yes, it has changed quite a bit too), but to have to witness the yuppiefied hip zone of overpriced condominium’s and arrogant strangers right out the window where before was nothing but warehouses and our beloved Henry Wienhard’s Brewery (forever, the I-405/I-5 trip from here to Seattle was graced by four classic beer icons: Weinhard’s in Portland, Lucky in Vancouver, Olympia in Tumwater and Rainier in Seattle. In under 10 years, they were all gone)… It is too much.

All of these $200 faded jean wearing, latte sipping, lap dog carrying, fake tan wearing folks who feel like they are relishing the “Portland thing” when in fact they are relishing some other thing that they brought here and used to squash what was here already. It always makes me think of those silly “keep Portland weird” bumper stickers. Honey, Portland hasn’t been weird since 1990-92, when what was going on here was genuine. I don’t think natives even bother going outside anymore.