This Week in the Mercury
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Portland Portland in the Atlantic. Again.
Posted by Alison Hallett on Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 5:45 PM
The days of cheerful, unsoliticed blowjobs from the national media might be drawing to an end. Sandra Tsing Loh, a woman whose writing makes me want to have a child just so I can move to LA and enroll it in the public school system (that is a compliment), gets a little grumpy with us in the new Atlantic, in an article about the class system:
It’s not just that Romantic Selfhood—Walter Pater’s notion of burning with a “hard, gemlike flame,” which is the true emotional underpinning of bohemia—has become commodified. Fairly harmless is the $4 venti soy latte purchased amid Starbucks’s track lighting, Nina Simone crooning, and a story about Costa Rican beans that have sailed around the world just to see YOU! It’s that Selfhood has its own berth now in the psychiatrist Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs,” a generational shift presaged by American sociologists who, as early as the 1970s, posited that, while hungry people are concerned about survival, those who grow up in abundance will hunger for self-expression. In the relatively affluent post—Cold War era, the search for self-expression has evolved into a desire to not have that self-expression challenged, which in turn necessitates living among people who think and feel just as you do. It’s why so many bohemians flee gritty Los Angeles for verdant Portland, where left-leaning citizens pride themselves on their uniform, monotonously progressive culture—the Zipcars, the organic gardens, the funky graphic-novel stores, and the thriving alternative-music scene. (In the meantime, I’ve also noticed that Portland is much whiter than Los Angeles, disconcertingly white.)
Monotonously progressive! Well I never... She also shouts out Pimps Up, Hos Down, digresses at some length about a prized Ramones T-shirt, and blames the creative class (read: us again!) for the collapse of capitalism. It kind of sounds like she's having a very articulate nervous breakdown. Read it, it's fun.
3
Yeah, I hate being around all these stupid white people. If more of them weren't white, things would be better. Like in LA.
4
"Yeah, I hate being around all these stupid white people. If more of them weren't white, things would be better."
The food sure would be better.
The food sure would be better.
5
Well:
1) I don't see what's "wrong" about that article - it's actually fairly well written, and dead-on. *
2) I don't see what's "wrong" about the MEANING of that article. Portland a "lifestyle city"? Well...yeah, it mostly is, now. Why is that bad? It seems more like the author is decrying the loss of the mystical "classless 'Class X'" from most of the country, as they are moving geographically to areas that can still sustain those ideals. And that's a problem....why? *
* Both true once you accept that the author has complete confused "the creative class" with "yuppies who like the vibe the 'creative class' puts out and try to emulate it...poorly". I mean, really, bottled water flown in from Fiji? Does anyone know someone actually IN 'the creative class' who *ever* drank bottled water over tap?
1) I don't see what's "wrong" about that article - it's actually fairly well written, and dead-on. *
2) I don't see what's "wrong" about the MEANING of that article. Portland a "lifestyle city"? Well...yeah, it mostly is, now. Why is that bad? It seems more like the author is decrying the loss of the mystical "classless 'Class X'" from most of the country, as they are moving geographically to areas that can still sustain those ideals. And that's a problem....why? *
* Both true once you accept that the author has complete confused "the creative class" with "yuppies who like the vibe the 'creative class' puts out and try to emulate it...poorly". I mean, really, bottled water flown in from Fiji? Does anyone know someone actually IN 'the creative class' who *ever* drank bottled water over tap?
6
While there might be some points to be made here, I'm sick of people picking on markers of sustainable lifestyle as elitist. I've seen it done with vegetarianism/veganism countless times and it's so unproductive.
The fact of the matter is that our zipcars and organic gardens are better for the world as a whole than SUV's and pesticides. They might seem "elitist" from one point of view, but I think it's much more elitist in action to guzzle gas and spray chemicals all over everything, because in the end, when the environmental shit hits the fan, it will always be the poorest citizens of the world who are most affected by environmental devestation.
As to the graphic novel stores and alternative music scene - are those so bad? Do they really produce a monotonous culture to the extent that Borders and Top 40 might?
I find these kinds of arguments really tiresome, as if one type of American culture really is more "authentic" somehow. I think the new cultural ideals being built in Portland right now are just as authentic as any other movement, and though they might be borne out of privilege, at least they are seeking to use privilege to build something more valuable than a 2-car garage and a large cut lawn to be watered.
The fact of the matter is that our zipcars and organic gardens are better for the world as a whole than SUV's and pesticides. They might seem "elitist" from one point of view, but I think it's much more elitist in action to guzzle gas and spray chemicals all over everything, because in the end, when the environmental shit hits the fan, it will always be the poorest citizens of the world who are most affected by environmental devestation.
As to the graphic novel stores and alternative music scene - are those so bad? Do they really produce a monotonous culture to the extent that Borders and Top 40 might?
I find these kinds of arguments really tiresome, as if one type of American culture really is more "authentic" somehow. I think the new cultural ideals being built in Portland right now are just as authentic as any other movement, and though they might be borne out of privilege, at least they are seeking to use privilege to build something more valuable than a 2-car garage and a large cut lawn to be watered.
7
One of the very worst things you could do to anyone is enroll them in the LA Unified School District, generally speaking. And that was before the $40 billion bankrupting deficit.
And, yes, Portland is less diverse than Los Angeles. There are not many places in the world that aren't. But to call the demographic constitution of a city ("disconcertingly white") into question in vaguely normative terms is a really weird thing to do.
There is some truth, I think, in Tsing Loh's diagnosis of why some people come to Portland, but this kind of broad-stroke characterization of what a city is about is the very thing that always raises my ire when I - a native Angeleno and unabashed supporter of that much maligned metropolis - hear Los Angeles discussed as if the only people who lived there were actors.
And, yes, Portland is less diverse than Los Angeles. There are not many places in the world that aren't. But to call the demographic constitution of a city ("disconcertingly white") into question in vaguely normative terms is a really weird thing to do.
There is some truth, I think, in Tsing Loh's diagnosis of why some people come to Portland, but this kind of broad-stroke characterization of what a city is about is the very thing that always raises my ire when I - a native Angeleno and unabashed supporter of that much maligned metropolis - hear Los Angeles discussed as if the only people who lived there were actors.
8
I hear that Hong Kong is "disconcertingly Chinese". I mean, come on, 95%! Where's the diversity, Hong Kong?
9
"where left-leaning citizens pride themselves on their uniform, monotonously progressive culture"
Aaaaaaaaaa-men.
Aaaaaaaaaa-men.
10
I wish journalists from outside the city would stop writing about us as a monoculture. Whether they like it or not, it's just not true. If they ever traveled past 60th avenue, they'd see. But of course they don't, because they are themselves part of the pseudo-bohemian class that they either praise or disparage.
11
"This economic catastrophe is teaching the Xers that their prized self-expression and their embrace of personal choice leads to … the collapse of capitalism."
Kind of ironic coming from someone who makes their living as a writer. Way to collapse capitalism for us!
And what the hell is a "graphic novel store"? Does she mean comic book shops?
Kind of ironic coming from someone who makes their living as a writer. Way to collapse capitalism for us!
And what the hell is a "graphic novel store"? Does she mean comic book shops?
13
This is a pretty common tribal gesture for Los Angelenos. To excuse the flaws in their life they find flaws in more sustainable ways of being. They might find some dirt but they never realize they're cleaning a mirror; the world they hate is their own. Since when is it a bad thing to be happy with yourself? I thought that's why California was founded!
14
This article pained me because it rang true. I've lived here for almost ten years and she put her finger on the one thing that really, really bothers me about Portland. Portland has always felt like a tiny little snowglobe of perfect progressive values and for all the things I love, this really sticks in my craw.
I didn't really take away from the article that Portland or X/boho people are so bad, just naive and starry-eyed. Which certainly describes me when I moved to Portland. I absolutely moved out here as a way to make a stand -- a move away from the stodgy, cornfed midwest, to ocean and adventure and some vague ideal of romantic, indie freedom -- but it has been more complicated than I thought, and as I grow up I realize you can't separate yourself from society and class and boring things like making a living. I am a product of my upbringing and all of my friends here come from similar class/racial backgrounds. It doesn't make us evil or horrible but it is good to identify a pattern when you see it. Makes me want to pick up and move to Austin... or Oakland... or Brooklyn... ahhh wait, I can't help it, I'm just a boho and I'm only drawn to indie oases!
I didn't really take away from the article that Portland or X/boho people are so bad, just naive and starry-eyed. Which certainly describes me when I moved to Portland. I absolutely moved out here as a way to make a stand -- a move away from the stodgy, cornfed midwest, to ocean and adventure and some vague ideal of romantic, indie freedom -- but it has been more complicated than I thought, and as I grow up I realize you can't separate yourself from society and class and boring things like making a living. I am a product of my upbringing and all of my friends here come from similar class/racial backgrounds. It doesn't make us evil or horrible but it is good to identify a pattern when you see it. Makes me want to pick up and move to Austin... or Oakland... or Brooklyn... ahhh wait, I can't help it, I'm just a boho and I'm only drawn to indie oases!
15
What is "disconcertingly white" supposed to imply, exactly? That we're somehow racist for living here?
17
It seems like either you're a big fish from a little pond, or a big fish that moved to a big pond like NYC and got all butthurt when you didn't get the regognition you expected. Oh, you had to work a job and buy your own groceries? Pity. You should move to Portland! Where the rent's cheap and everybody works at Voodoo Doughnuts for Pabst change.
Indie rock! Bicycles! Wilderness!
But the music scene turned out to be as bland and predictable as anything else, just bigger. Factions don't talk to other factions, unless you're at some overwhelmingly "Portland" thing like a "house show" and you're buying some underager a six pack from Plaid.
The bike culture? Alternately self-styled, overgrown gutter punks on "freak bikes" or yuppie parents schlepping compost in a $3000 dutch cargo bike. On weekends, both groups attempt to make something "fun" by dressing up in "wacky" outfits and parading around. Gag.
And the wilderness is out there somewhere, but it's fucking cold and wet and overrun by trail runners in $800 worth of gore-tex. Yeah, the Pacific Northwest seems benign when you visit, but there's some wickedly tough country out there. And apart from, say Seattle (and to a lesser extent, Vancouver BC)-- we're geographically isolated.
The longer I live here the more I seek out the native Portlanders. It seems they've fled to the margins, cursing all the way.
And to the hipsters: without squares, you're nothing. What have you got? You define yourself against each other... and begin eating your own. Here's where the factions come in: it's hipster cannibalism. It's monoculture, sure, but more importantly it's a bunch of twats trying to out-douchebag each other without much else going on in the background. All Portland's substance has been chased off by gentrification and greenwashing, and the hipster facade on top is built on a rickety foundation of popsicle sticks. I'd predict a mass migration of the "creative class" away from Portland, but I don't know where else they'd go. Detroit? I hear the slum's got so much soul...
More...
Indie rock! Bicycles! Wilderness!
But the music scene turned out to be as bland and predictable as anything else, just bigger. Factions don't talk to other factions, unless you're at some overwhelmingly "Portland" thing like a "house show" and you're buying some underager a six pack from Plaid.
The bike culture? Alternately self-styled, overgrown gutter punks on "freak bikes" or yuppie parents schlepping compost in a $3000 dutch cargo bike. On weekends, both groups attempt to make something "fun" by dressing up in "wacky" outfits and parading around. Gag.
And the wilderness is out there somewhere, but it's fucking cold and wet and overrun by trail runners in $800 worth of gore-tex. Yeah, the Pacific Northwest seems benign when you visit, but there's some wickedly tough country out there. And apart from, say Seattle (and to a lesser extent, Vancouver BC)-- we're geographically isolated.
The longer I live here the more I seek out the native Portlanders. It seems they've fled to the margins, cursing all the way.
And to the hipsters: without squares, you're nothing. What have you got? You define yourself against each other... and begin eating your own. Here's where the factions come in: it's hipster cannibalism. It's monoculture, sure, but more importantly it's a bunch of twats trying to out-douchebag each other without much else going on in the background. All Portland's substance has been chased off by gentrification and greenwashing, and the hipster facade on top is built on a rickety foundation of popsicle sticks. I'd predict a mass migration of the "creative class" away from Portland, but I don't know where else they'd go. Detroit? I hear the slum's got so much soul...
18
There's no question Portland is very white. But only an idiot of the highest order (or a racist) thinks that diversity is judged purely by skin color. Portland's population is more diverse than a great many US cities, in terms of attitudes, opinions, backgrounds, interests, even nationalities; and the fact that a greater proportion are Caucasian here doesn't change that.
19
"Portland's population is more diverse than a great many US cities, in terms of attitudes, opinions, backgrounds, interests, even nationalities."
Portland is extremely conformist. Distended earlobes are not "diverse" when every other idiot has them.
I'm a progressive for the most part, but watching the conformist liberal zombies who increasingly populate this town drives me up the wall. You think you're punks? I see very very few real punks in this town.
Being a green leftie bike nut is not a bold stance. It's conformity.
Portland is extremely conformist. Distended earlobes are not "diverse" when every other idiot has them.
I'm a progressive for the most part, but watching the conformist liberal zombies who increasingly populate this town drives me up the wall. You think you're punks? I see very very few real punks in this town.
Being a green leftie bike nut is not a bold stance. It's conformity.
20
What if the idiot with the distended earlobes is a Kenyan tribesman? Is that still conformist or is it now diversity because of his cultural background? And isn't mocking the people of Portland with broad stereotypes about fixies and ironic t-shirts a conformity all its own? Because I hear a lot more about these stereotypes than I see in the wild.
21
There's nothing ironic about a T-shirt. Mis-use of the term "irony" is part and parcel of what this article was talking about.
22
It's got multiple definitions; in this case, "an objectively or humorously sardonic utterance, disposition, quality, etc." is the appropriate one.
23
The whole debate about bobos and hipsters is completely tedious. This there anything more bourgeois than fretting about minute demarcations in status? When people begin to talk about these things all sense of proportion flies out the window. Suddenly the snot nosed rich kid down the street is the harbinger of the apocalypse, and your aunt's neurotic obsession with her carbon foot-print is downfall of western civilization. Who decided these things were important? Tsing Loh is no better. Her entire state is going bankrupt and the issue that presses on her mind are the man children in Silver Lake. The student loan market is in crisis and she talks about the fake prols at Harvard Lampoon. Again, where is the sense of proportion?
Lets get real. Unemployment is at a decades level high. We're fighting two wars (remember them?). State governments are out of money. Charity and social services are in the same situation. And we're here debating the importance of distressed jeans and bike culture. I say fuck all that. We have more pressing, more adult issues to tackle.
Lets get real. Unemployment is at a decades level high. We're fighting two wars (remember them?). State governments are out of money. Charity and social services are in the same situation. And we're here debating the importance of distressed jeans and bike culture. I say fuck all that. We have more pressing, more adult issues to tackle.
24
The woman who wrote this article has clearly never been east of 82nd Avenue, or spent any time in the neighborhoods off Foster. There's a whole world out there, people, of 2nd and 3rd generation Portlanders who did not move here in search of some boho ideal, who work regular jobs, own trucker caps unironically and share city blocks with first generation immigrants from every continent in the world. They're more likely to hang out at the Tik Tok than the Tube and they are every bit as much a part of the fabric of Portland as the stereotypes you throw at each other.
25
Tsing Loh's piece is white guilt/liberal guilt about a (her) collective stereotype. Stereotypes rarely fit individuals. This article says more about Tsing Loh's conflicts than the stereotype she is railing against.
She can fill a page with words but it's just drivel.
She can fill a page with words but it's just drivel.
26
"As to the graphic novel stores and alternative music scene - are those so bad? Do they really produce a monotonous culture to the extent that Borders and Top 40 might?"
Are you serious? The answers are no and absolutely.
Are you serious? The answers are no and absolutely.
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