You see this bumper sticker all over, including on people's laptops in coffee shops: "Keep Portland Weird." And, indeed, it is, and struggling to remain so in an age of homogenized, corporatized reality. I'd say it's doing a pretty good job. It's hard to put in words, but I'll try with the help of a few photos as time goes on. One of the things I notice is how so many people express themselves artistically, which often ends up weird, like the guy in Centralia with the yard art. So many things are over-the-top, including their landscaping; their counter-culture styles of clothing, music, film; their public art. It's clear that people have fun with this expressiveness, and the power structure seems to have an appreciation for it -- a tolerance that's beyond the Midwest, but it doesn't feel as self-indulgent as California.
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