THIS IS WHAT WE CAME HOME TO!!!!

TAKE ME BACK TO PORTLAND!!!!

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN

Well, unfortunately, the day finally came for me to fly back to Bemidji after this magical fall season in Portland. It will be hard to leave my UP students, my new colleagues and, of course, the #1 Grandson and his parents. But it will be good to see the Minnesota family and friends again. It's been quite an adventure and I look forward to my next trip out here. But for now, I need to pack my bags, clean my rental house and say good-bye.

MR. T VISITS SANTA

Kent and I took Truman to the Lloyd Center Mall to see Santa. He was a champ! He walked right up to Santa himself, got on his lap and told him (with his head bowed) that he wanted some toy called a Mighty Mac. (I think it's a train that's part of the Thomas the Train series.) Unfortunately, they had a rather punitive policy of not letting people take photos and they charged $20 for their photos. So Kent had to take photos from a hiding spot. This was the best he could do. This was an impressive Santa -- his beard was even real. He was very kind to Truman, and gave him a sucker. Thanks, Santa!

GUEST SPEAKER FOR REPORTING CLASS: CORNELIUS SWART

My afternoon reporting class had the privilege of hearing from another impressive journalist. Cornelius Swart is the editor and publisher of The Sentinel, a monthly newspaper serving North and parts of Northeast Portland. It's a diverse are of the city that has gone through a painful past when it was the only area of the city where African-Americans could live in to now when it's becoming gentrified. He is filled with passion, wisdom and stories. Lots of stories. He actually has a degree in filmmaking, and has done a documentary film on the neighborhood. The paper is has a circulation of 26,000 and it's in multimedia format online also. Cornelius is involved in an important project called the Portland Media Lab. Here's what it says on their Website: "Over the past six months Portland Media Lab has conducted a series of in- person, online, and group discussions and “salons” aimed at developing a needs-assessment study for the “journalist community” in the Portland, Ore. media market. The following projects represent services, resources and support that PML believes the media market needs in order to sustain robust public-benefit reporting and journalism."

GUEST SPEAKER FOR MY REPORTING CLASS: JULIE SULLIVAN

Julie Sullivan, a Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter with The Oregonian, was kind enough to speak to my morning writing and reporting class. She not only had wonderful advice about how to be a good reporter and writer, but she had a very dramatic life story herself. She told us about growing up in Butte, Montana, which boasts the most polluted Superfund site on earth, due to now-defunct copper mines. She also was involved in a terrible car accident while a young college student. She almost died; her legs were crushed and her nose needed to be reconstructed. (She looks fine now and walks normally.)

She was very passionate about giving people time to tell their stories when you interview them. It's about respect. She told us all about people telling her about growing up in state institutions and being forcibly sterilized and how important it was to report those experiences. It's the job of a journalist to be a witness, she said. Societies need people who see. These days, Julie covers veterans issues and their families.

MY PHYSICAL THERAPY ENDS -- AT LAST!

You may remember that I fell of my bicycle and broke my elbow about the first of October. Here it is the first of December, and I've completed about 10 physical therapy sessions with my buddy Doug at Rebound Orthopedic Physical Therapy, located in the Rose Center (home of the Trailblazers). He was very patient and helped me go from about 50% use of my left arm to 90%. It may never be perfect, but it will work just fine. His colleague, Mark, takes measurements of my improved condition for the report to my doctor. Many thanks to Doug and Mark!

MR. T'S FIRST HAIRCUT: AGE 2 YEARS, 10 MOS.

This place was amazing. Little Clippers had it all -- playhouses, vehicles, a video list longer than Blockbuster, a recumbent hair-washing bed. Truman freaked out when Alex tried to deposit him in a Steve McQueen race car for his cut. He ended up sitting on her lap and watched "The Brave Little Toaster" while St. Melissa did a great job of cutting off his beautiful blonde locks. Good boy, Truman!

BREAKFAST WITH A NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER

The University of Portland bought a table of tickets for a breakfast speech by New York Times environment reporter Andrew Revkin recently. I was offered two tickets, I negotiated for one more so I could take the two students who waned to attend with me. He gave a wonderful "armchair interview" while we ate our bacon and eggs. I was most impressed with his wit and wisdom. "I'm passionate about reality," he told us. He keeps a blog and thinks it's an "unavoidable responsibility" of 21st-century journalists to educate their readership and interact with them. He thinks the old days of a journalist's "concrete authority" is over, and that their job is to help lead us on an exploration of a "question" rather than a "beat."

PORTLAND'S FAMOUS STUMPTOWN COFFEE SHOPS

Stumptown Coffee Company is the most well-known coffee in this city of coffee. The baristas all make these designs like magic when they make our coffee. Rhonda hesitated to drink hers because she didn't want to mess up the design. I want to learn how to do it. I Googled it, and it's called "latte art." I think it may take me awhile.

THE BIGGEST FLATBREAD IN THE WORLD

We ate lunch with our Minneapolis visitors at a hole-in-the-wall Lebanese restaurant (Nicholas Restaurant). Customers are crammed together at tiny tables, and the bread just about takes over, as you can see! Rhonda is dwarfed by it! However, the place is always packed because you can get a delicious, fresh mezza platter for under $10 that easily feeds two. It includes falafel, hummus, cucumber yogurt sauce, kafta kabob, rice and lentils with grilled onions and tabouli salad. Excellent bargain!

WAFFLES TO GO AT BREAD AND INK

We went to brunch one morning with Rhonda and Kim at a wonderful little restaurant in the Hawthorne District called Bread and Ink Cafe. All our food was outstanding, even the homemade ketchup. Mine was the oddest (although delicious) -- an apple, bacon, onion omelet. But Rhonda's was the prizewinner -- banana caramel waffles. And she ate the whole thing! You can also buy waffles to go from their take-out window.

A VISIT TO THE JAPANESE GARDEN

This is probably the least exciting time of year to visit this remarkable Japanese garden, and yet it was still dramatic and enjoyable. It sits on the hillside next to the zoo and the Portland Rose Garden just on the edge of downtown.

A VISIT TO MULTNOMAH FALLS

We had to make a visit to this icon of the Portland area while Rhonda and Kim were visiting. We all made the two-mile hike up to the top of Multnomah Falls, although Truman needed to ride on Uncle Nik's shoulders for awhile. The view was stunning and we felt pretty proud. It's the second-tallest waterfall in the country that flows all year -- 620 feet.

MINNESOTA VISITORS ARRIVE!

My sister-in-law, Rhonda, and my niece, Kim, both arrived recently for a whirlwind four-day visit to Portland. Neither of them had every been here. Nik came down from Olympia for the weekend and we all went out to dinner their first night here. It was also Norris's birthday, so we went to his favorite restaurant -- Toro Bravo, which specializes in tapas. Some were unusual, some were weird, and some were wonderful. My personal favorite was dates wrapped in bacon.

A WORD ABOUT THE HOMELESS

There seem to be an inordinate number of homeless people in this city. I've been panhandled many times in front of the Safeway, near the Lloyd Mall and downtown. Because there's so much competition, there's creative signage. Young women who admit to being broke and pregnant, men admitting they just want money for a beer and burger or money for their unhealthy looking dog or cat. They're almost all white and just as many young as old and they try to engage you by showing you a destination they need to get to or tell you a story about running out of gas. When I worked for a summer at the Seattle Times about 15 years ago, I had to do a story about all the panhandlers who hung out at Pioneer Square in the old district of the city, which had been recently gentrified. Every social worker and law enforcement person I talked to said people should absolutely not give them money. The problem would go away in one day if that happened, they all said. Furthermore, they said the money almost always went for alcohol or drugs and stopped them from getting the treatment they needed.

To a lot of people, that seems too mean-spirited, but, as anyone knows from psychology 101, intermittent reinforcement is even more effective than constant reinforcement. It's a gambler's life. A reporter from the Willamette Week Pulitzer-Prize winning newspaper in town, posed as a homeless person one time and was threatened with a beating from someone whose corner he had unknowingly laid claim to.

My half-baked theory on the issue is that liberal cities attract panhandlers because people are more tolerant of them. It quickly reaches a point of unsustainability in every way, including social services. I've included several photos, although I generally don't take any because it feels invasive unless I pay them, which I am hesitant to do. Note in the one photo the man sleeping in the doorway with his belongings in a cart next to him.

LET'S GO SKATING AT THE MALL!!

This is one of the oddest and nicest mall features I've ever seen. The Lloyd Mall is four short blocks from our rental home; it's always crowded and has some decent stores (Macy's, Barnes & Noble, Nordstrom's, two multiplex theatres, etc.). But this skating rink blows me away. You can rent skates for $3 and lessons are available. I've seen old people, toddlers, fat people, skinny people and people who look like they probably have trouble walking, let alone skating. I may have to try it myself. I have seen a Zamboni, which, I'm assuming, they use late at night to make sure the rink is in shape every day. I love it!

GENDER GAP AT THE UNIV. OF PORTLAND

The University of Portland, where I am working as a visiting professor this semester, is typical in its gender gap. The Oregonian reported the other day about how this gap is even wider at private colleges. UP is 61% female. The average of all universities nation-wide is 57%. UP is more balanced than many private colleges in the area: at Pacific University, women outnumber men 2 to 1! The solution proposed by some of these private colleges? Football! That's what men want, they argue, so they'll give it to them.

There's also a half-baked theory that private colleges don't offer programs most often wanted by men: engineering and other "career-preparation" majors. I don't buy it, and it still doesn't explain the significant gap even at public universities. (UP DOES have an engineering program and a business school.) Title IX has even been blamed, which required schools to offer equal athletic opportunities to women. (In other words, women have been taking away previously untouchable opportunities for men.) I think perhaps this statistic needs to be studied more before schools offer "solutions" to something that may not even be a long-term problem. Even if it is, do we really want football to be a solution? The reason football had been dropped from some schools in the first place had to do with high cost and dramatic (sometimes fatal) injuries. What about more "life sports" for everyone? Just a thought.

TRUMAN'S TOOTH

I'm sorry to report that Mr. Truman chipped his right front tooth by falling off his bicycle. (Maybe because his grandma set a bad example with her accident!) So we took him out to brunch at The Screen Door last weekend, which made him feel a bit better. The food at this neighborhood new-age southern cuisine restaurant was all excellent, but Alex's was the prize-winner: a praline bacon waffle with maple syrup and whipped cream. It's a head-buzzer for sure! They also had the fluffiest baking powder biscuits I've ever tasted. Other odd twists on southern cooking included fried chicken over a sweet potato waffle and a fried green tomato BLT. Yum!

A POT CAFE? ONLY IN PORTLAND!

After reading in The Oregonian that a "medicinal-marijuana smoke-easy" would soon open between my rental house and the university where I teach, I had to go see the site. If they're opening by Nov. 13, I'd say they'd better get busy. It will be in the left-hand storefront (currently called "Rumpspankers") in this rather shabby area of North Portland. According to the article, the Cannabis Cafe will be the second such spot in Portland, the first being Highway 420 in the back of a pipe shop in Southeast Portland. They decided it was safe to start opening these spots when it was announced that the federal government will no longer prosecute such businesses. Here's the interesting statistic: there are a total of almost 35,000 people in Portland who either have pot prescriptions, are "caregivers" or legal growers, all of whom can enter the cafe. This cafe will be operated by the well-known organization, NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws).

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE IN PORTLAND

I came home from work the other day to find the Gay and Lesbian Community Yellow Pages by my front door and this pamphlet entitled "Would you like to know more about the Bible?" sticking out of my mailbox. There's something for everyone in this city!

NEWSPAPERS IN PORTLAND: FREEDOM OF CHOICE

Although The Oregonian, Portland's mainstream newspaper, is struggling like so many others, I am amazed at the plethora of alternative and community newspapers available in this city. This row of vending boxes is typical of so many street corners, and they all have current, free newspapers available. One of them, Willamette Week, even won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005, for a series of investigative articles about Oregon's ex-governor Neil Goldschmidt's sexual abuse of a teenage girl in the 1970s. They also recently broke a story about another political scandal and scooped The Oregonian -- this time about Portland Mayor Sam Adams and his sexual relationship with a teenage legislative intern. (Is there a pattern here?) By the way, he's still mayor.

However, The Oregonian has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize nearly every year since 1993. They've won a total of five in the last ten years. I recently had my opinion writing students read the 2006 Pulitzer-Prize winning series of editorials called "Oregon's Forgotten Hospital." It's a horrifying and moving account of the state of affairs in the state hospital in Salem, formerly known as the Oregon Asylum for the Insane. You may know it as the setting for the 1975 movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

A FEW PHOTOS OF THE EVERGREEN COLLEGE'S ORGANIC GARDEN

NIK'S REALITY AT EVERGREEN REVISITED

We visited Nik again on the Evergreen State College campus one rainy day. He took us on a tour of the campus's organic community garden and showed us the inside of his "quad," which he shares with two other guys. He's already written an article for the alternative newspaper on campus, the Counterpoint Journal. It's about a "free" flea market in Olympia, where everyone brings stuff they don't want anymore and gives it away. One would think that Evergreen's own newspaper, the Cooper Point Journal, would be alternative enough, but I guess that's not the way it works. Some student wrote a wonderfully creative guide for new students, in which he reminded them that RAs (resident assistants) are agents of the state.

THE LILAC GARDEN OF ALL TIME

Kent knew of this curious place from a previous trip and so one day we stopped at the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland, Washington. I almost wept for how sad it was to be there out of season. Hulda emigrated from Germany in 1865 and became a lilac fanatic over the years. This quaint little farmhouse is the original 1889 home and the surrounding four acres is now a historic site. She herself developed 14 new varieties of lilacs, and they are all showcased in these gardens. If you're ever in the area during lilac season, it would be a sight to see.

The Trick-or-Treaters

Truman (Spiderman) joins his friends Julius (as a weird dragon) and Mailee (as Dora the Explorer) and Julius's baby sister Simone (as a darling zebra) for a night of excess.

PORTLAND GHOSTS, WITCHES AND SPIDERMAN

I accompanied Alex, Norris and some of their friends while they guided their toddlers (and a few babies) through the complex maze of trick-and-treating. The weather was mild and dry, a surprise ending to a day of intermittent showers. We did our business in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, a short distance from their home. It's a lovely area near Reed College -- winding streets, lots of gorgeous trees, and -- most important last night -- a determination to celebrate the night. I saw some of the most elaborate scary yards ever -- skeletons rising out of graves, eerie smoke rising everywhere, creepy music and selective lighting. It seemed that thousands of kids wandered around, everyone in a festive mood. One home had erected a party tent on their lawn and were sharing pizza and beer with their neighbors. One woman sat in a chair next to a portable fire pit in her driveway, drinking a glass of wine and tossing candy out to the costumed kids.

Truman and his friends lasted about an hour, but made a pretty good haul just in that time. By the time we arrived home to eat our pizza, he had crunched up a Tootsie Roll Pop, chomped down a stick of red licorice and was begging for more. The morning after report includes two candy bars before breakfast. (Apparently, he found the plastic pumpkin, even though it was hidden.) Alex and her young, diligent parents were shocked to hear what I told them about what my brother and I were directed to chant at the homes of Grandpa Ralph's friends and relatives: "Trick or treat, money or eats; beer or booze for Daddy." Then we'd stop for a visit at each of those homes. Different times!

THE JACKSONVILLE HISTORIC CEMETERY

We visited this fascinating cemetery here in Jacksonville, which included many graves almost 200 years old, including a "pauper" section. The landscape shot is taken from the edge of the cemetery. Looks very much like New England.