Portland is Awesome

Portland is indeed awesome.

I say this mostly because of the communities I have become a part of here. I’ve lived in various cities around the world throughout my life, and I’ve never felt more at home and more a sense of community than I do here in Portland.

I am involved in several communities; my analogy is that each community is a luscious fruit, which is glazed with the heart of Portland, which in turn makes me the tart I am today.

But let’s look at the places I’ve lived besides Portland.

Places I’ve lived, in order:

• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Bellingham, WA
• Denver, CO
• Boulder, CO
• Reservation near Flagstaff, AZ
• Ashland, OR
• Eugene, OR
• Lancaster, PA
• Portland, OR
• Seattle, WA
• Portishead, England
• Whitefish, MT
• Rhododendron, OR
• Portland, OR

I’ve had amazing offers for wonderful career paths outside of Portland since moving back in 2003, but I just can’t seem to take them and move away; I feel like I have found home here in Portland within my various communities.

My Communities.

Many of my communities overlap, and each of them tend to have their own medium of communication or central place of interaction. I would consider myself a part of a few communities (in no particular order):

• Geek
• Jewish
• High School Friends
• Neighborhood
• Gay

The geek community I feel is those who have geekishness in their lives and talk about social networking web applications or tech companies or new hardware products or Red Dwarf on British television.

I love hanging with my Heebs. As g-d is an important part of my live, as is my cultural heritage, it’s great have my Jewy friends beside me either drinking at a bar, dancing in a club, playing dodgeball, or at shul.

My high school friends are my close inner circle of friends, my main set of homies; I love them, their spouses, their kids. From backyard bbq’s to working on each other’s houses to being there for each other emotional on the roller coaster of life, these friends in our little community mean the world to me.

Even though I have only lived in the S.E. neighborhood where I bought my home for two years now, I feel really connected to this community; I care about the businesses here and the schools and the crime, and I endeavor to help create a positive difference. (Can I get a ‘what, what?!’ for multi-block garage sales?)

I try to stay connected to knowing what’s going on in the queer community by either hanging at Crush, or reading Byron Beck, or supporting the Cascade Aids Project or reading Just Out every now and then or going to the PDX Lesbian and Gay Film Fest. While the community is not an integral part of my life, and tends to overlap into other communities (PICA, music scene, etc.) being a lesbian is integral to who I am (hello ladies!) and so, I am connected to the community.

How are you Tart-ish?

Now, one could say ‘You could have all of those communities in any other city. I hear there are Jews in New York and gays in Philly!” Thanks for the incredible insight, Snarky McSnarkerston. But see, here’s the thing:

None of these communities would be what they are without being a part of my overall Portland community.

Each of my communities have the wonderful Portland feel to them – they are painted lightly with a warm Portland tone, like a glaze upon a tart. A glaze which binds everything together, holds each entity together as one and puts a shine on my whole life.

What are some of your communities in Portland? Are they replicable elsewhere or are they Portland specific?

Next week: why Portland strip clubs are like submarine sandwiches.