Sunday 24 July 2016

RIP City, the place of lines

Everywhere you go is a lineup here in Portland. You line up for brunch, for donuts, for the bookstore at Powell's, for dinner, just about everywhere.

There are street signs that say "This neighborhood is within 1000 feet of a school" and many streets are one-way streets that split off into two or three directions after a certain intersection that takes you through many a winding road.

The hard rain here is more like a misty drizzle and there are dogs and dog owners everywhere.

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Now, for some things:
a) There is gentrification in which the downtown is increasingly owned by whiter/richer people moving in and people of colour and poor people being pushed out to the suburbs
b) The hip zones of Mississippi and Alberta used to be populated by black people and artists until the city kicked them out and set up their own brand of ultra-cool
c) There are probably more Asian-styled restaurants and stores with Totoro paraphenila owned and operated by white people than anywhere else (while in Phuket I heard that there are more burger joints than anything else)
d) There were sundown laws excluding non-white people for the longest time
e) There's this article and Kamau Bell's expose/interview with Portlanders.

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