If the motto of the East Coast is "If you got time to lean, you got time to clean" then the motto of this place seems to be "If it's yellow, let it mellow."

There is a huge amount of strip clubs, apparently the highest concentration in any American city.  It seems to me though that more strip clubs doesn't mean better.  Like Major League Baseball, the expansion teams have made for less quality.

Each house here is unique and allowed to flow in whatever direction it wants.  The flower gardens overflow the front yards and onto the sidewalks and there is no sense or worry that any of it will be vandalized.  There is no sense anywhere that anything will be vandalized and that feeling permeates the city.  People aren't afraid of each other.

There is no struggle for resources here, none of the hoarding and hiding that would accompany such a lack.  The population density is perfect and there isn't that sense that they're trying to cram another million people in here to make more money from them.

The civic and governemental aspect seems to work here.  The government is on the side of the people.  The Social Contract is working.  The corporations are at bay.

There are public bathrooms here.  They don't fear the homeless here, they look after them.  As I read somewhere "if public urination is illegal then you have to provide a place where going to the bathroom is legal."

Portland is talking right to me.  The trace minerals of the conversations I hear and the articles I read speak right to me.  The New York Times and The New Yorker make me feel like a stranger in my own home.  The trickle down sense of "if we write enough article about what rich people do maybe the swarming mass of cretins will get their ass in gear" is not present here.

Portland reminds me of the feeling I had during the blackout in August of 2003.  Left to their own devices the "People" can behave just fine.  They don't need to be monitored or regulated or policed or treated like children.  The state isn't up their ass like a childless woman and everything functions just fine.

You can drink the tap water here.

Portland feels like the car of friends in front of you that is leading you to a party.  it isn't going so fast that you can't keep up with it.  New York City is your dick friend who thinks it's funny to race through the yellow lights so you get stranded.  Portland is the cool friend who's also nice and knows he's helping you out.

It's like the '50's (but with a nose ring) here, it's like a Blind Melon video here, it's like buying a car and having every feature you want on it check off on the paperwork.  Bucket seats, leather interior, hiking, great food, fresh air.

The food is amazingly fresh here.

The music scene is great.  Dr John and Patti Smith have played a couple of festivals here in the past week.  We played a show at a house party.  It was twenty people sitting, eating, and interested in music.