There’s a song in the show “Portlandia” with lyrics along the lines of “The Dream of the 90s is Alive in Portland.” While this very well might be true, I would have to say that the Liberal dream is alive and well in Portland as well. Last night, I met up with N at the Bagdad Theatre in SE Portland. It’s a second run movie theatre in an incredible old building with a brewpub attached run by McMenamins. McMenamins seems to be at the crosssection of beer and the Grateful Dead. We went to see a documentary and presentation about the proposed mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Bristol Bay is home to the largest salmon run in the world, and Pebble Consortium is trying to build a 15 sq mile mine in the area. The residents are, needless to say, fighting this mine as everyone is rightfully afraid that at some point there will be water contamination and that will be the end to the salmon run. There was a question and answer period after the film and as the MC talked about bringing the film and panel around the country they were sure they would get a good reception in Portland where “the dream is alive.” There were whistles and claps to this comment. The audience was filled with liberals, ever distrustful of the man, ever loyal to the cause, and who love to hear themselves speak. Have you ever heard of a Q&A session where the questions were more like…well, comments. Or diatribes? Yes, this was one of those. Actually, I exaggerate…but nevertheless I don’t think there’s any worry about Portland ever becoming a red city. Unless we’re talking commie red…
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