Facing It

I don't want to kick a man when he's down and I'm far from passing judgment on others, but is the best response to a public scandal really to engage in a funny-face contest for the press? And that's all I have to say about that.

Speaking of funny faces, this one apparently has appeared near my Atlanta home. I received an email from a neighbor forwarding this picture and deducing, "The vandal was probably aged around 15, either new to graffiti or a poor artist, not from the neighborhood, and was either walking alone or with others after dark. Such individuals are too afraid of being seen scrawling their tag during the daylight." The interloper was either alone or with others? Thanks for the brilliant police work, Sherlock.

"I say this because I am a former British police officer who has dealt with vandals in a London suburb," Sherlock's email continued. "Could you please ask our neighbors who are outside in the evening to look out for people kneeling or bending over? The sound of the spray can is a huge giveaway. Sometimes these individuals are incredibly rude, may be armed with a knife, and are not worth approaching."

I actually don't have much of a problem with graffiti. Instead of finding it threatening, I see it as evidence of disenfranchised persons trying to make some impression on their surroundings, some testament to their existence. "I stencil, therefore I am." I won't go so far as to call it "art" - although there is such a thing as "graffiti art," all graffiti isn't art (just as all art isn't graffiti).

I observed "Invaders" and "Rude" above on the sides of buildings as I walked this weekend through Portland's Pearl District. I don't think these stenciling appreciably detracted from the aesthetics of the marked buildings, and I'm sympathetic to the stencilers, who seem to be saying, "Hey! I'm here!" It's a protest against anonymity.

The weekend's walk was part of my search for a new home. There are so many neighborhoods and so many options (apartments, lofts, condos, bungalows, houses, etc.) that the search becomes a little overwhelming. Where to start? What do I really want? Bourgeois comfort in the suburbs? A bohemian in-town lifestyle? Something in between? Something else altogether? How does one choose?

Pragmatically, it makes sense to live close to the Portland office, so that I could walk to work (like I do now from the Pearl), or at least bike in. If I move further out, it makes sense to live somewhere near Portland's great public transportation system, but between light rail, the streetcar and the bus lines, that doesn't narrow the field down much. The Zen Center is located in the Southeast in an interesting neighborhood, and a case could be made that for convenience I should live somewhere in SE Portland between the Center and the office.

But I keep finding myself drawn not to the Southeast but to the Northwest and the Portland Hills, with their great views of Portland and Mount Hood, like this one from E Burnside Ave. at the base of the Hills:

Or this one from aptly-named Vista Avenue:

Or this one from some condominiums up on the Hill:

For what it's worth, my office is located next to that big, tall building, the US Bankcorp Building. But the Zen Center is located all the way out on the far side of town (but well within bicycling or even walking distance on an ambitious day).

But I'm not the only one to notice the charms of the Portland Hills. Many of the houses up there are very large and ornate, appear to be very expensive, and are probably owned by doctors, lawyers, and Portland's business elite. It was not uncommon to see plaques noting that houses were on the US Registry of Historic Places. Way out of my price range and far from my goal for a less materialistic life.

I'm down to my last week here in Portland before I return home. In theory, I will be gone until I sell my house in Atlanta, although I suspect that something not yet known may call me back here before the sale is completed. I don't expect to select a new home her in Portland before I leave, but at least I know the city and its neighborhoods a whole lot better now than I did before.