Portland, Oregon is experiencing its first legit snow storm this winter of 2023-24. Lexi was planning an early birthday party, but decided to postpone it. I'd planned to bus it, but there'd be some driving on her end.
Derek (@dekebridges) has been out checking on his peeps. He's been doing social work since before covid, living on and off the street himself, always at least with his own vehicle. His half bro, Darren, passed away unexpectedly and Deke, the only next of kin, moved in to tie off loose ends.
One girl he tracks was trying to tough it out under a tarp. He knew where she could find shelter and advised her accordingly. Upon swinging by later, she was gone, he hoped to said shelter. A lot of street people know him and he's trusted as a safe chaperone and chauffeur. He has his beat. He's been delivering food out of his trusty pickup for some years now, in collaboration with various churches and nonprofits. Yesterday he was part of the tented soup kitchen put together by Portland Saints Love.
Last night, as the storm was brewing, Dr D. and I went to see Poor Things at the The Laurelhurst, another take on the Frankenstein story, except this time the doctor (Willem DaFoe) is more monster-like, whereas his resurrected corpse, a grown woman, is more pleasant to look at. She has the mind of an infant however, when the movie opens, and needs to mature through experience.
The screenplay reminds us of how the original work by Mary Shelley pushed the envelope of what Victorian polite society would tolerate in a novel, by continuing to push the envelope in the context of contemporary culture, this time within the R-rated comedy-tinged-with-horror genre.
Given we both didn't want to walk very far in the windy cold, we convinced ourselves, as had others, that this "trucks only, all hours" rule was not enforced. Wishful thinking, duh. We'd fallen into a trap, likely one of the city's more profitable cash cows. I recall getting ticketed before in connection with movie watching.
Homeless Americans tend to be demonized as criminals, and left to fend for themselves, now that poor farms and mental hospitals have been closed to the indigent.
At one point during the Cold War, the USA seemed prepared to compete on the world stage on the basis of its higher living standards. Nowadays, the post-USA (or pseudo-USA) is content to compete on the basis of its mythical military superiority. Planet of the Apes Я us.
