[CDS] Day 14-17 Northern California and Oregon
Every new state comes from some other state's end
We have arrived in Portland, at last. Beaches and forests, we saw all the good biomes. As states go, southwest Oregon makes a fantastic first impression.
Current desk situation: arrived.
There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow1. I brought this desk placard along on a whim. It was a good idea! It’s a great sentiment, well displayed.
At this point, the optimism of Tomorrowland is retro-futurism, looking forward to a vision of life that was both easily surpassed and woefully undelivered. Despite a preponderance of evidence that we’re living in the best and worst of times, I’m unwilling to let go of the optimistic, futuristic sentiment. That’s sort of how we ended up in Portland.
Always moving forward: work, cars, homes, journeys, etc. Getting away from Austin summers, traffic, allergies, infrastructural stasis. Moving past Texas’ I-over-we state of mind, regressive politics, sprawl. Hoping to find new adventures, scenic roads, interesting people, a calm community, new weather patterns, a different “state” of mind (no pun intended). For better or worse, I’m wary of things that feel like backtracking or revisiting too-familiar ground.
And so, here I am, living for the first time outside of Texas. To use the idiom of the Texas poet Boomhauer, dang old, sometimes we move forward in life I tell you what.
Or, I’m reminded by my desk ornament, there’s a great big beautiful tomorrow.
In its own way, this newsletter, short as it was, is one of those new adventures, moving forward in life. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I found it rewarding to write. And, I hope you stick around for the next one. In the interim, there’s my personal web.
Thanks for reading!