Tag: Portland

I’m a member!

Have I found more of my people?

From their website: (http://dillpickleclub.com)
The Dill Pickle Club organizes educational projects that help us understand the place in which we live. Through tours, public programs and publications, we create nontraditional and interactive learning environments where all forms of knowledge are valued and made readily accessible. Founded in 2009, we are a volunteer-driven organization, with a shared belief in the vitality of community education and democracy.

I’ve become a member (and received a publication already!.) I can’t wait for my first event.

Wind eddies and leaves

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays I take two buses to far North Portland to volunteer at a Middle School. My bus stop is right next to “Big Pink” which is the tallest building in Portland. I think Big Pink messes with the air currents a bit, because today the wind was swirling all the leaves into a tidy pile.

Probably the last place I would want to eat breakfast.

The Dancin‘ Bare is what I see when I stand at my Max stop. It’s one of those neighborhood institutions that I don’t want to get all huffy and protest-y and start petitions and force it to close, but I would be quite happy if it ceased to exist. (Portland International Raceway is the other one.) I can tell you, though that I will not be eating any meal there, even if they are offering a plate of eggs and hash browns to go along with their strippers.

An important notice from Director Park.

I checked in with Director Park back in a cold month. Now, of course, I can’t find that post to link to. Suffice to say, I wasn’t thrilled with the scale of the architecture or the sterile nature of the park. The Oregonian had an article about the park on 9/9/10 “A year after Director Park opens in Portland, visitors consider it a hit” which coincided with this picture I snapped the day before.

According to the article, “as many as 500 [people] visit on a nice day during lunch” with July’s total tally being 30,000 people. The article goes on to say that this park is the only park which has a full time event programmer and it also has part-time hosts who staff the plaza twelve hours per day.

Well. I’m sure if the much-neglected O’Bryant Square a few blocks north had someone scheduling festivals, art shows, lectures and classes, it too would be a popular park. The article closes with the following:
“Though Director has been popular in balmy weather, what happens in the rainy months ahead is uncertain.

But Rouse is so proud of the way the park has been embraced that she’s convinced Portlanders will enjoy it in winter.

“Come back in January,” she said, “and I bet you there’ll be someone sitting under the awning with a latte.”

I’m sure if the full time event planner is still planning things, there will be people about. I don’t begrudge Portland a successful park. However, I still think the scale of the park is “off” and I’m wondering why focus so much money and attention on just one block when there are other parks in the vicinity without such resources.

I can’t look away.

This photo doesn’t accurately capture the object of my fascination and for this you should thank me. This gentleman, who I sat behind on the train, clearly had trouble shaving all the hair from his head. The hair caught in the fat rolls was rather long, and you could see how the clippers and razor missed them. As he would turn his head, different hairy patches were exposed. I tried hard to concentrate on the newspaper, but I kept getting distracted.

Last day of school

Just like the other days of our cold and rainy spring, the last day of school arrived with children bundled up in winter coats, feet in solid, warm shoes. I spent the last recess of the 2009-2010 school year bundled up against the cold and wearing a wool hat. It started to pour about ten minutes before the last recess ended, which was also the end of the school day. Because the trees in the North Park blocks had leafed out, most of the children didn’t notice how hard it was raining. But just as I was about to blow the whistle to end the recess, lightning flashed and thunder cracked nearby. We ended our soggy, rainy spring and our soggy rainy school year by escorting a bunch of cold but excited 2/3 students inside.

“Why do we have to come inside just because of a little lightening?” asked more than one child. They are such Portlanders. They think hail is snow and because lightening rarely strikes the Portland metro area, they don’t know to be afraid of it.