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Fecal Contamination Report | 07/25/2009 3:09 pm

In the case of our city it's the Portland Business Alliance that's behind much of the decline in homeless-friendliness of our city: it wants to turn downtown Portland — along with some of the yuppies that moved here because of cheap real estate do in their neighborhoods — into a ******** Epcot Center so they can make money. That means no litter, no loitering, and no public restrooms unless you buy a ******** latté. No family. They exist, but I haven't spoken to any of them in years and have no desire to have anything to do with any of them, good or bad. I'll give you something less depressing to read.

http://wolkenkaiser.netfirms.com/

Fecal Contamination Report | 07/25/2009 2:52 pm

We've grown more hostile against the homeless and are growing more so increasingly it seems. It's actually hard to get off the streets: one group wants to just enable us, keep us fed and clothed; another group wants us the hell out of here so they can lure shoppers away from suburbia; and another wants to get us counseling and treatment and whatever we may need but has its hands tied by funding and the stipulations that come with it when there's any available. I may leave if I go through another winter here with nothing to show for my efforts but VIP Street Roots vendor status and a Columbia Sportswear jacket. *glowers* Thanks, though, for the kind words

Fecal Contamination Report | 07/25/2009 2:15 pm

Oh, you can't see the link to my blog because that profile customization of yours is lame and boldfaces links instead of underlines them and changes the text color.

http://wolkenkaiser.wordpress.com/

Fecal Contamination Report | 07/25/2009 2:02 pm

That's why I sent you a link to my blog. Let's just say I made some lousy mistakes and am a bit problematic and not the most functional person.

Fecal Contamination Report | 07/25/2009 1:57 pm

Well, good luck. Tammy and I made if for four years before we fell apart. Fortunately we're best friends still and ... well, yeah, I still love her very much and probably always will.

I'm far from a college student. I'm an unemployed college drop-out who lives beneath an overpass. sad No, I don't say that with pride.

Fecal Contamination Report | 07/25/2009 1:43 pm

Must've been together for a while if you guys travel together. I'm guessing that the two of you live together? I did that with my last girlfriend: we both shared a one-bedroom apartment and worked part-time while attending community college full-time. Heh, the good ol' days. I don't do group things either and don't even go to concerts because of crowds and the noise. Not sure if it's not being socially adept of if it's because of a combination of misanthropy with a mild social anxiety.

Fecal Contamination Report | 07/25/2009 1:27 pm

Looking to get out of there, eh? Well, for all of Portland's flaws, they being primarily the pretentious and cliquish social scene and the high unemployment rate combined with low wages compared to the national average (unless you're making minimum), it's a lovely, pleasant, livable, liberal, artistic city that boasts one of the mildest climates and liberal political climates in the nation.

You in college, or working, or both? And, if you do come to take a trip, is it going to be a van-load of friends and beaus or a quick Frontier Airlines hop by yourself?

Fecal Contamination Report | 07/25/2009 12:30 pm

God, there are so many damn indie musicians and artists, and some writers, it's annoying. No offense, but I find most indie/hipster types to be very obnoxiously elitist and cliquish. But, there is their music and art to view, at least. It seem ethnically we mostly have Asians, Latinos, and Slavs, all of which are mostly in outer-Southeast; we have black people, but they seem to be out in North, Northeast, and outer-Eastside; inner Portland's pretty white, for the most part. This city is a very literate, artsy, musicky, folksy and craftsy, foodie town with a lot of gardening and drinking and being ecologically and politically saavy.

You'll totally love it, I'm more convinced as I answer your questions.

Fecal Contamination Report | 07/25/2009 12:15 pm

Okay, Portland is good for shopping and dining, but we like malls and chains about as much as the average person likes crapping his or her pants while speaking in public for the first time, so we have a lot of independent local businesses instead of franchises. The city is beautiful, with a lot of verdance and parks and public gardens and is practically an explosion of color because of all the flowers. We have the Rose Test Garden, a Japanese Garden considered the equal to the best in Japan, a classical Chinese garden, a river running next to downtown, a downtown that's pleasantly small, more strip bars per capita than any other city in the country, more microbreweries in the city than there are in Köln, are considered the most literate urban population in the nation with a public library system that has more books in circulation per capita than New York City's does, and ... well, that's to start with. Also, we're a hour's drive from waterfalls, from mountains and forests, and a little over an hour's drive from the fabled Oregon coast.

Fecal Contamination Report | 07/25/2009 12:02 pm

We Portlanders and Seattlites are very civilized. We can be rather pretentious and passive-aggressive, even cold in our demeanor, but we're always polite and are generally considerate, and consider such gauche behavior to belong to benighted white trash and Latino burroughs and hamlets. You ought to come visit one day. Oh, and, well ... from what little I've seen at least, you ARE very pretty. Now all we need is a brain and you'll be a Dream Girl candidate!