Portland. (Just venting, what will read like a rant from an angsty teen or something)

[Creative Destruction]

man, this place really isn't that great.

my wife and i have lived here for about a year now and i can't see any appreciable difference in the attitudes of the people here vs. back in Austin (except maybe the people in Austin were a bit more homely, i guess is the word?) i knew a couple of people here before we moved and they made a lot of hay out of Portland being "The People's Republic" or whatever, but it's just wall-to-wall ridiculousness and not really the good kind. it's kind of weird here but not really playful or light-hearted, except in some circumstances. people just aren't that great to be around, it's incredibly difficult to make friends if you're not "Portland-ish" i guess. it's just one big clique it seems. and the politics are absurd. there's barely any serious radicalism afaict, and i still can't get over how fucking stupid the fluoride fight was last summer. it was just idiots on parade.

it's sort of like the worst of the country's arrogant, white liberals got together and formed their own little town. there's a huge lack of diversity here, and a lot of the white people whom i've talked to about it really do not know too much about it other than Portland just had a really racist past.

oh, and the food fucking sucks and so do the roads. my wife and i make every opportunity we can to go hit up the coast and go out into the west Oregon forests. something to stay out of this city. i think we're making maneuvers toward moving out that way. at least the roads would be better and we could chill on the beach when we wanted to.

i dunno. i don't like nightlife, so maybe that's my issue? i'm just too dour? not hipster-ish enough? but hey. it's still better than Texas, at least the weather and the environment. those are huge plusses.

one other odd thing we noticed, is that in our jobs, people are extremely protective of their positions. of all the places i've ever worked, i was typically trained on a variety of things to do just in case we needed to back each other up or if someone was gone on vacation. but both of our jobs, the people working there are very unwilling to share tasks and knowledge, like there's a very rigid division of labor. the work culture here is very individualist. and maybe it's just that we landed jobs that were just like that, but everywhere else is fine, but it's never something i've experienced on this level before.

but, if there's anyone on these forums who do live or have lived in Portland, is there something i'm missing here? i wasn't really expecting anything huge or life changing and it certainly hasn't been that, but even with my low expectations, it's sort of fallen way below them. we're trying to find ways to move already and we've spent a fair amount of time in the locations that we're thinking about going to. (cheaper rents, too!)

[Creative Destruction]

lol @ the tags.

[Decolonize The Left]

Hmm.. we should meet up? I know of two other folks from the forum who live in town - PDX revleft meetup? We'd need two more to top the SF meet from a couple years back...

[BIXX]

Honestly, I think you've got it about right. But if you love in portland it might be a good idea to attend some protests to try and network amongst other radicals.

Also a fair number of revlefters love here, so that's kinda cool.

[Creative Destruction]

perhaps a revleft meetup would be good.

[Creative Destruction]

Honestly, I think you've got it about right. But if you love in portland it might be a good idea to attend some protests to try and network amongst other radicals.

Also a fair number of revlefters love here, so that's kinda cool.

i'm actually just a bit outside of Portland and we mainly stay in this area, but we venture over the river ever so often to the milwaukee area.

[synthesis]

my wife and i have lived here for about a year now and i can't see any appreciable difference in the attitudes of the people here vs. back in Austin (except maybe the people in Austin were a bit more homely, i guess is the word?) i knew a couple of people here before we moved and they made a lot of hay out of Portland being "The People's Republic" or whatever.


it's sort of like the worst of the country's arrogant, white liberals got together and formed their own little town.

Are you being intentionally ironic here? There are very few things I hate more than white people who move to Portland and then complain about how white it is. You're part of the problem.

[Creative Destruction]

Are you being intentionally ironic here? There are very few things I hate more than white people who move to Portland and then complain about how white it is. You're part of the problem.

i am part of the problem. i wasn't trying to be ironic, but i suppose it is. my primary issue is that there doesn't seem to be awareness or knowledge around it or much around the history, but i could certainly be wrong. maybe portlanders are more aware of this fact than i'm giving credit for.

[synthesis]

i am. i wasn't trying to be ironic, but i suppose it is. my primary issue is that there doesn't seem to be awareness or knowledge around it or much around the history, but i could certainly be wrong. maybe portlanders are more aware of this fact than i'm giving credit for.

I get the impression you're hanging around too many fellow expats, but those mentalities you mentioned in the OP have infected some of the local population as well, so who knows.

[BIXX]

i am. i wasn't trying to be ironic, but i suppose it is. my primary issue is that there doesn't seem to be awareness or knowledge around it or much around the history, but i could certainly be wrong. maybe portlanders are more aware of this fact than i'm giving credit for.


In my experience they are not aware of it- they don't realize that there is a massive amount of racism here.

One thing I hate is the way portlanders parade around with their progressivism. Holy fuck that makes me angry. Cause most of the time it's bullshit. Like they try so hard to show how not racist they are, but in many ways they are just as racist, but quieter about it. Or homophobic, sexist, classist, what have you.

[Creative Destruction]

I get the impression you're hanging around too many fellow expats, but those mentalities you mentioned in the OP have infected some of the local population as well, so who knows.

well, i've been paying attention to this controversy around Trader Joe's in NE Portland and how gentrification has been affecting the residents there. listening to some of the people who have been involved in this issue for a long time, i get the impression that Portlanders in general do not recognize this issue. reading and hearing things from people like:

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/03/gentrification_in_portland_as.html


“We have both some bad history and limited history,” said State Rep. Lew Frederick, a Democrat who represents some of the Northeast Portland neighborhoods most changed or in the process of changing. “Most of the folks in Portland, the white folks, really do not interact with African Americans at all. When you start talking about this as a problem they go, ‘Where?’ because they don’t see it. They have no clue.”

[Creative Destruction]

In my experience they are not aware of it- they don't realize that there is a massive amount of racism here.

One thing I hate is the way portlanders parade around with their progressivism. Holy fuck that makes me angry. Cause most of the time it's bullshit. Like they try so hard to show how not racist they are, but in many ways they are just as racist, but quieter about it. Or homophobic, sexist, classist, what have you.

yeah. we've run into this, as well. we've been exposed to some of the same kind of anti-latino shit up here as we saw in many parts of texas.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Overall I have mixed feelings about Portland. On the one hand, I saw the Jesus Lizard in the Crystal Ballroom and that show was awesome. Best live performance I've ever seen pretty much. I also scored some pretty good hashish off a completely random & unexpected street buy. But, on the other hand, the one acquaintance I knew in the city was kind of a dick & another potential contact in the city never hooked me up with a place to stay while I was in the city, so that kind of irritated me.

I also turned 21 in Portland. Left about a day later and headed to Salt Lake City, and after that to LA, though, so I never really explored "all that Portland had to offer". If you want to take a cool drive, take highway 20 from just south of Salem to Bend. I've driven all over the entire USA and that's one of my favorite drives, a really cool winding drive through Willamette National Forest.

[Ele'ill]

I would probably like portland if I was traveling through, like a temporary stay kind of thing. I think the coast down into cali is some of the most gorgeous mixed terrain I've ever seen. I still remember one trip with a friend running low on gas and just beginning to hit the lost coast highway area. I've been a lot of places (I think) but this was a few hours of views that didn't seem real and if it weren't for photographs I would have a hard time remembering them.

[Creative Destruction]

yeah, 101 is gorgeous. but driving down 26 toward the coast, and when it's foggy or misting is pretty damn amazing, as well.

[Creative Destruction]

Overall I have mixed feelings about Portland. On the one hand, I saw the Jesus Lizard in the Crystal Ballroom and that show was awesome. Best live performance I've ever seen pretty much. I also scored some pretty good hashish off a completely random & unexpected street buy. But, on the other hand, the one acquaintance I knew in the city was kind of a dick & another potential contact in the city never hooked me up with a place to stay while I was in the city, so that kind of irritated me.

I also turned 21 in Portland. Left about a day later and headed to Salt Lake City, and after that to LA, though, so I never really explored "all that Portland had to offer". If you want to take a cool drive, take highway 20 from just south of Salem to Bend. I've driven all over the entire USA and that's one of my favorite drives, a really cool winding drive through Willamette National Forest.

i think you'd get an awesome Jesus Lizard show wherever you went. i saw them in Austin and it was one of the funnest shows i've ever been to. i wanted to see Scratch Acid when they reunited, but work blocked me from doing this. :(

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Have you read anything about the history of how Portland got totally white-washed? Dig this (http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/kiran-herbert-portland-and-portlandia-two-worlds-of-whiteness/). Portland ain't nearly so far from the Jim Crow South as the long drive would make you think.

[Creative Destruction]

thanks for the article! i saw a lecture by a PSU professor, Walidah Imarisha, that went over the history. it's pretty horrific.

also, just found this: http://browninpdx.tumblr.com/

[BIXX]

Some of the scenery here is beautiful, but having grown up here I think I am less appreciative of it (not totally devoid of appreciation, just less). For me, some of the shit in New Mexico blew me away. It was seeing New Mexico that made me realize that once I'm on my own I want to travel and never stop.

Thank you for the article, TGDU, and the tumblr, rednoise.

[Art Vandelay]

Never been, but I kinda just assume the place is like the show portlandia.

[BIXX]

Never been, but I kinda just assume the place is like the show portlandia.


Some parts of the show are horridly accurate, but only because folks try to emulate that godawful program.

[Art Vandelay]

Some parts of the show are horridly accurate, but only because folks try to emulate that godawful program.

Heh I find it insanely funny that its accurate in anyway. Sounds like the place to be for hipsters. I've seen some cool looking food carts on eat street from Portland. If I was there and ate meat, I'd probably go to 'big ass sandwich' alot.

[DasFapital]

I prefer Eugene. You can chill with John Zerzan.

[Creative Destruction]

when we first came into Oregon, we were basically homeless and trying to figure out where to settle down as our meager funds were running out. we had chosen four places to visit: Eugene, Portland, Seattle and Bellingham. at first, our goal was to be some place we could stand long enough to save up and move out of the country (this is still our goal, except we changed the destination.)

Seattle was too expensive and a little bit too big. Bellingham was just too expensive. Portland and Eugene were toss-ups and, although, at first, I was preferring Portland. i guess that just shows that Portland is good for tourism, but not really that great to live, but i also got a job here first before i heard anything back from places in Eugene. school was also slightly cheaper in Portland.

eta. also, i don't really like John Zerzan, so..

[BIXX]

I like certain things about Zerzan, but he's not like, my favorite.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

when we first came into Oregon, we were basically homeless and trying to figure out where to settle down as our meager funds were running out. we had chosen four places to visit: Eugene, Portland, Seattle and Bellingham. at first, our goal was to be some place we could stand long enough to save up and move out of the country (this is still our goal, except we changed the destination.)

Seattle was too expensive and a little bit too big. Bellingham was just too expensive. Portland and Eugene were toss-ups and, although, at first, I was preferring Portland. i guess that just shows that Portland is good for tourism, but not really that great to live, but i also got a job here first before i heard anything back from places in Eugene. school was also slightly cheaper in Portland.

eta. also, i don't really like John Zerzan, so..

Council Communists who want to move out of America?

Hrm. Are you familiar with Halifax, Nova Scotia?

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

Hrm. Are you familiar with Halifax, Nova Scotia?

Who isn't?

Trailer Park Boys ofc.

[Creative Destruction]

Council Communists who want to move out of America?

Hrm. Are you familiar with Halifax, Nova Scotia?

Canada was our original destination. we were going to try for Vancouver, Calgary or Montreal. Halifax actually came up but we decided against it...i can't remember why, though.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Vancouver is too expensive.
Calgary would be like moving back to Texas.
Montreal is great, but Quebec =/= Canada. Parlez vous francais?

Halifax!
Or, like, I confess the job market here is bleak, the city has an intense history of anti-black racism and segregation, housing on the peninsula is overpriced . . . but . . . uh . . .
It's cheaper than Van, has more life and culture than Calgary, and it isn't in Quebec.