Word-of-mouth is the method of transmission in Portland, Oregon. It’s a long-standing practice, dating back to speakeasies and Shanghai Tunnels. It goes something like this:
Someone, maybe a friendly stranger at a bar or cafe, will tell you about a show on a particular night at an old warehouse or abandoned lot or under a freeway overpass. You go to the show, and it’s a band or burlesque or dance troupe or something multi-art and genre breaking. You chat with other people there, learn of other happenings, and have a fun and unexpected night.
That's Portland.
It’s a city where artists, writers, and musicians have flocked since the 1990s. It’s where they grow, hopefully to expand their talent and skills, with the understanding that not all attempts will work. Portland makes room for mistakes. The attempt is what matters. And when attempts do work, the audience is richly rewarded.
When someone proclaims that Portland lacks diversity, the reality refutes. Such proclaimers need reminder of Portland’s word-of-mouth credentials. Just because you don’t know of something happening doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. The diversity is out there plenty, whether cultural or style. The grapevine grows long, beyond the backyard.
THIS IS PORTLAND is a result of running along some of the grapevines.
A travel guide tells you where to go and what to eat. THIS IS PORTLAND goes further. By presenting the city’s acclaimed artists and writers, as well as its unique cultural innovators, this book conveys the soul and spirit of Portland like no other.
What’s in
This is Portland?
Contributors include Michelle Ruiz Keil (Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction Finalist) Pace Taylor (New Yorker), Chris Stuck (Pushcart Prize winner, Amistad/HarperCollins), Scott Korb (New Yorker), Lauren Yoshiko (Broccoli, Rolling Stone), Erin Nations (Eisner and Ignatz nominated), and many, many more.
Short stories. Essays. Comics. Poetry. Photos. Painting. Tarot. Illustrations. Mixed Art. Recipes. Presented in a GIANT paperback book (8.5 x 11 inches).
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