seriously

Was a wonderful trip. No roving gangs of anything. I had a great time and felt safe the whole time I was there.

Maybe this trip will open her eyes that she is being lied to?

I was worried about roving gangs of trump hoods.

the "no go zones" and horrible gang danger in Sweden. Apparently this is the idiocy Fox was pushing at the time.

Sweden was lovely. Everywhere.

I know. Faux and the orange messiah will say fake news

I was at a gathering for better teacher’s pay and I stood, as I do, next to the opposition.
Chatting he said his wife had wanted to join him, but he told her no!
Unions are violent, he said, and he didn’t want her to get hurt.

Teachers.
Violent.

He didn’t want to discuss, he was positive that he was right

It seems the only time they leave their homes is to vote for more Republicans.

The rest of the time they're glued to Fox News.

Tell her if she always wears her lanyard in public then she'll be excluded from all the thuggery

It's so beautiful up there. Great people, wonderful food, tons of creativity, and lots of trees/nature.

The only roving gangs were on bicycles. Some sort of fun group ride passed us during lunch.

… much of that time homeless (she’d gone there at the invitation of a lame online “friend,” who soon booted her out because she interfered with her sex cam biz *eyeroll*).

She reported that the homeless situation was insane, but even worse was the pre-MAGA hatemongers. She said on Saturdays, the KKK roamed around offering KKKandy bars (yes, that’s how they were labeled) to homeless kids and tried to lure them into their sphere. A little research showed that this area was heavily settled by KKK goons, which makes it especially weird that it’s more recently become a beacon to fringe-y, often very cool kids.

She loved the city, loved the public transit, but the place is insanely expensive and the racist underbelly scared the shit out of her.

Really liked Portland too.

Had an office in The American Bank Building that looked down on Pioneer Square 87-93; later lived and worked out of Corvallis 94-98.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powell%27s_Books

https://www.powells.com/

Last time in Portland was 2003, the only time in life ever arrested.

Was with a woman friend and her friend who had recently moved from California to Salem. We went to Portland, their first visit to Portland. Went to Powell's but thought they would be amused by nearby Elvis Museum first. They got bored at Powells and went drinking and I continued booking. Subsequently, I got pulled over on a Saturday night with California plates with two very intoxicated women hanging out windows, interacting with the crowd on 2nd Street, the downtown Portland party street. Soon there was a bevy of cops and a crowd watching the entertainment. Was cuffed and arrested and vehicle impounded. The cops decided I was on drugs after I blew 0%. Spent time in a cell and being questioned and given a blood and urine test and was released. Had a bulge in pocket was asked about and emptied my pockets. The bulge was a joke x-ray of Elvis's brain and other items were silly stuff from the museum.

Only knew Elvis Museum still existed because this Summer found a stash of t-shirts dating back to 70s on a frozen dresser drawer that had probably not been opened in 20 years. There was an Elvis Museum t-shirt, black cotton with day-glow neon never worn, that I wore to a local farmer's market. The young woman admired the t-shirt; she was home for Summer in Humboldt from college in Portland and told me it still existed. Why so quick to my mind today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hour_Church_of_Elvis

I've written on the wall at Graceland too.

Missed Portland's Elvis museum.

I could walk out my front door right now and find a homeless person in five or ten minutes at most.

When my wife and I have visited Portland I'm always struck by how many people are white. That goes back to when Oregon was a "Whites Only" territory.

I grew up in a city that was greater than 95% white but haven't lived in majority white places for more than forty years now.

My wife and I met teaching science in "urban" schools, urban being defined as "scary" by many of those who'd fled the cities to the white suburbs.

We haven't lived in "safe" white world since we married. Our choice to raise our children in environments very less homogeneous than the one I grew up in was very deliberate. We were successful too. As adults our children are not afraid of the "other" and comfortable in their own skins wherever life takes them. Even visiting cities like Portland Oregon.

I have a friend in her 70's that used to visit Portland alone but hasn't in years because she is afraid.

I also use to travel there to shop alone since I live in southern Oregon and haven't not sure of area.

I got the impression things are better but no one has really said.

from MD. Everyone told my parents how dangerous Atlanta was - don't even stop for gas there, they said.

My dad grew up in MI; my mom in DC area. They sent in DC, spent grown up time in Detroit when we were babies and mom loved NYC as a young woman.

But because of that misinformation, I was robbed of even the few cultural experiences Atlanta offered at the time and that continued until I moved there in my late 20s.