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NEW YORK, NEW YORK? COME ON NEW YORK

Doing the right thing in New York is the same as doing the right thing in Oregon: Stay home, keep a social distance. My social distance from NYC is 3000 miles away, but it wasn’t always that way. Frank said it best:

OLD PORTLAND BECAME NEW PORTLAND RIGHT AFTER I MOVED THERE

The term Old Portland usually applies to the city with pictures of a flood, like the flood of 1861, or the floods of 1894, 1948, 1996. By the way, it rains in Oregon, sometimes a lot. Will that ever change? No, but attitudes will change, have changed. But that’s not the Old Portland on boomerpdx.

THE HISTORY WRITER YOU NEED, THE STORY YOU GET

Every history writer has a To Be Read stack of books. I like to think most people have the same stack. The difference for a writer is most of their books To Be Read explain how to write. I’m finally able to say they helped me. How? Thank you for asking.

CORONAVIRUS SAFETY: PSA FOR THE VIGILANT

A boomerpdx fan asked about Coronavirus safety, and how this platform could help. “Have you written a Public Service Announcement on Coronavirus safety,” he asked. I said I had not; he said I should. I agreed. Here are a few Coronavirus safety ideas to pass around. First, for Men:

PORTLAND WAY ON A CLEAR SUNDAY: WHAT DID YOUR TOWN LOOK LIKE

The Portland way means something different to everyone who crosses the city line. But the Portland way is the same thing for everyone who lived here and left. People miss Portland more than they thought they would. Why is that? Please proceed.

LOVE RULES ON PORTLAND PARK BLOCKS AND BLACK HEARTS

It was a dark and stormy night for love rules? No, not stormy, but dark, and I was in a certain space somewhere between regret and remorse. So maybe it was stormy after all, my own little shower of despair. It started with a conversation inside a Willamette Writers meeting, which is always a challenge. […]

SUPPLY CHAIN BLUES ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY

A supply chain brings the stuff, the things we can’t live without. Large and small, long and short, it’s stuff that is researched and designed, approved and produced, then boxed and shipped. A strong chain delivers quality on time; then there’s the other supply chains.

SYLVIA PLATH JOINS WILLAMETTE WRITERS WITH KATE GRAY

Kate Gray explained Sylvia Plath in the best way possible: she wants the world to know ‘the girl’ Plath was before her junior year in college. I sat in the full-house crowd at Willamette Writers monthly meeting in downtown Portland, marveling that anyone could give such a thorough breakdown of a real person; that anyone […]

BEST OK BOOMER CITIES TO AVOID

According to a Brookings Institute study using Census data,Huffington Post shows the top ten cities with the greatest population growth for 45 – 66 year olds. Baby boomers are called ‘pre-seniors.’ Isn’t that nice? Since Portland falls into the tenth spot, and Beaverton is listed as a Washington city, boomerpdx takes offense. This ‘aging city’ Brookings Institute list […]

BOOMER TRAFFIC SCHOOL

INSPIRED BY When you move to the suburbs, remember this: You’re not the first. You’ll find long-term residents in your new town whose parents and grandparents all went to the schools your kids will attend. They’re not used to new people. When you tell them you moved from Portland’s inner-eastside, they’ll look at you like […]