Category: News

I was reading an article from by Alan Ehrenhalt at The New Repulic titled Trading Places, about how over the past decade+ more affluent and wealthy folks have been moving into cities, and more poor folks have been moving away (or are being pushed away) to the suburbs. The article is fairly well researched, and mirrors some of what I’d learned in a “History of American Cities” course I took while in college… there is an ebb and flow to urban living in the US, due to a number of factors (economy, livability, quality of life, jobs, etc). My instructor during the class described a cycle and how it’s a pattern that can often be predicted by looking at the factors I mentioned, but that it’s happened before (urbanization, de-urbanization, and re-urbanization).

This re-urbanization pattern is something I am currently a part of. My family history is distinctly rural, in a time when cities (Portland included) were less desirable, and not particularly safe places to be. I grew up in a time when even Portland was rough (compared to how it is now); crime, dereliction, and an overall sense of decay. However, I was convinced at an early age that the rural life wasn’t for me. I became one of those who moved inward and shunned the rural existence. The idea of something to do and somewhere to go at all hours was too enticing to my relatively sheltered existence to resist. So I moved downtown, and later to the dreaded East side (when Kelly and I bought our house). It’s been fantastic, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I think back to my life in my hometown, 100% reliant on a car to go anywhere for anything, my sense of isolation, being disconnected from the activities of ‘everyone else’, and it seems somewhat foreign to me now. As much as I like (need?) to get away from it all for a while (read my post about the camping trip last weekend), I still value being in a place where I can, if I choose, to walk to a bar, or a grocery store, or a Thai restaurant.

However, reading the article mentioned above, I couldn’t help but get the feeling that all of the buzz around social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook, etc) wasn’t just an extension of the same phenomena… that modern life (with all it’s hectic buzz) has further seperated people from one another, and like the desire to “go urban” … connections in a virtual realm are a symptom of the same problem… modern life. Unlike a few decades ago, when things moved a bit slower and a real sense of community might have existed in smaller towns, people are being stretched thinner (to use a Tolkien quote “like butter, scraped over too much bread”), and people are eager for a sense of community, the kind that existed in a smaller more intimate scale before, but is rare to come by for most of us in this modern age. Perhaps we’re all meant to live a bit more close-knit and simple than we do, and the ‘social web’ is a direct result of how isolated we still feel, even those of us who live ‘in the midst of it all’, and are constantly surrounded by people. That is an isolation of it’s own kind, and maybe worse than living in the woods somewhere miles away from civilization.

Anyway, enough of this deep thoughts stuff, I’m enjoying a delicious beer in my yard. Heck with anything else. 🙂

Meet Henry, a.k.a. “Hank”, a.k.a. Bart. Henry was my grandfather’s name, though his nickname Hank was what virtually everyone in my home town knew him by. Bart (from the previous post) is my nickname for him, and though I’m not sure I’ll stick to it, it’s fun for now. Click on the photo to the left to see Henry/Hank/Bart and his proud dad Travis.

While I normally look at newborn babies and think “woah, that looks like some kind of strange human-alien hybrid thing” and look forward to escaping the hospital as quickly as I can… I must say that seeing a newborn relative is a very different experience. I dislike hospitals, and I’ve been in them many times to see friends newborn children, and each time I find myself looking for the nearest EXIT sign. However, seeing my sister-in-law in her dazed state and hearing her talk about her experience, while watching my brother hold his son, was very touching. I was glad to have skipped out on work to go visit and see my new nephew within a few hours of his entry into the world.

A few hours later we had friends over for a casual dinner (fondue) which was a lot of fun. The reason for this event was for another set of friends who are expecting to have their child in about two weeks. Had a great time hanging out, and naturally shared the photos I took while visiting my new nephew.

Check out the bonus photo I took while visiting the hospital. Travis… beware.

Yup, as of sometime around noon today, my brother Travis is a father, and Chad and I are uncles. Congrats to Mr. (and Mrs.) T.

I think Kelly is coming to pick me up and I’m going to be headed out to the hospital way out in Hillsboro for a quick visit before I return to work… so I can see the tiny pink squishy little man.

Yeah, it’s a boy. 🙂 I don’t know much else (because it seems that with guys, all the details about pounds, ounces, inches, and hours in labor sort of fall off the radar, heh) other than the little man is healthy.

I’m going to nickname him Bart… because today (in about a half hour from now) I was supposed to be going with coworkers to see the Simpsons movie, on the company dime. D’oh!