Portland, I love you.  But I can’t blame you for wanting to see other people.  And I want to see them too!  Diversity, the spice of life, gives us the opportunity to realize how much we’re actually alike.  No matter what culture, from no matter what place, we have all common needs in the ultimate common place.

Might as well welcome growth!  All my life, they’ve been moving here in droves.  It’s an stunningly beautiful place.  Pity the fools who think we can stave off the flow of masses by grounding our heels in the sand.  Seas of change will wash over us, make it’s way across the land.  Swim surf, sail, coast, drift, float – just don’t fight the tide. So be my neighbor.  I’ll take it in stride.

Sure, Portland’s made some mistakes.  Tearing out the wonderful web of trolleys serving the area over 100 years ago is one of them.  Rumor has it we had one of the best streetcar systems in the world!  I bet we could be getting use out of our Shanghai Tunnels too.  We muddle through.

It’s modest.  You won’t get big city lights around here.  The night life’s often seen as lacking if they’re used to dense places like LA or New York.  There’s no big hurry, not everyone is slammed.  People make eye contact, they smile.  Some even shake your hand.

Our fashion scene might be quaint too.  I’ll leave that one up to you.  But first be sure you understand the fairy tale of life in this gorgeous land.  The trend is less for chasing bucks than being healthy, happy, with family, harvesting luck, living with just enough.

Last week, on the evening of 9.9.09 the producers of Portland’s fashion week made “the most anticipated announcement of the season,” revealing their hush-hushed Sauvie Island location for the fall shows.  It was a perfect excuse to party at the Nines Hotel downtown.  Familiar fashionably minded locals mingled amongst well-dressed mannequins as other patrons and guests of the hotel wondered what they had stumbled into.  Before long, the thin crowd piddled out.

Beam yourself across the river (and perhaps backwards through time) and you’ll find a whole other patch of the local fashion scene, flowering on the other side.  In Montavilla, the Portland Garment Factory threw open their doors just last week! Founder Britt Howard has done us well with her creation, a local production outlet, complete with a bright showroom featuring a talented array of local designers. Must…resist…feathery…earrings!

There’s no shortage of talk about Portland fashion (on being green, on DIY-style, and more).  Indie designers and various local coops have been popping up for years.  Remember PFI?  While some sail, others flop and new crops come up to fill thier spots. Of course there’s some drama and animosity, but that’s dwarfed by the mutual support of a webby, inter-woven mesh of self-driven creatives, with no top. What would we be without variety?