Portland.

Here’s our block(s):

And here’s where we live:

And if you start walking down Waverleigh (this street:
),
then you turn on 31st, here’s what you see:

And Powell(26)’s pretty ugly:

So is 30th:

But then you start walking through the neighborhood, and you see some beautiful houses.

And then you turn the corner, and there’s this:

Which, in case you didn’t recognize it, is where your grandma lives. Next to a trucker:

But sooner or later, you’ll come to the heart of your neighborhood. For us, that heart is Clinton St.

Division St. has some activity also. It’s a block to the north from Clinton.

So that’s our neighborhood. You walk around here and the pattern is pretty similar. A nice house, an ugly house, a really weird house, and then a jealousy-inspiring beautiful house. I mean, literally, a block from us, there’s this gorgeous 3-story house on the hill with a wrap-around porch. And then across the street, there’s an unkempt little shack with dead foliage and rusty sculptures in the yard. The whole city seems to have this sort of arrangement, which is nice because it’s not as segregated as Milwaukee or Madison, but which I fear (I don’t know yet) might give this illusion that all’s good; there are no ghettos, everyone gets along, etc.

From what I’m seeing so far, people here are really in love with this city. And for good reason. The neighborhoods are cool, there’s a lot of little festivals and park-gatherings, downtown is really attractive, the city is public-transportation and bike friendly, dogs are allowed all over the place (unlike Madison), and there’s a nice pro-weird vibe. Plus, people say hi to you on a regular basis.

On the other hand, schools aren’t so great. And one school (Jefferson High School) is 86% Black and 13% White, which is almost the opposite of the city at large. So obviously, there’s something strange going on here.

There’s also something strange going on here: