Entries by TATIANA

Since I haven't been to the Justice Center area downtown Portland for a while, since the night of July 4th exactly (wow these last couple of weeks flew by) I decided it was time to go and see what's new down there. I mean even the mayor (Ted Wheeler) supposedly got teargassed the other night and I definitely do not want to miss out on any excitement. And exiting it was ! It was a party in Portland.....if this continues and from the size and looks of it I think it will, I can just get my bike out and pretend it's Burning Man in Portland this year! There is a ton of food if you are hungry, not for me but the majority are not vegetarian (SADLY). Live music.....which was awesome. And dancing. This was my favorite place because it was FUN and people were truly enjoying themselves. So whatever scary stuff you hear about Portland on the news.....ehhhhhh forget about it! I am inviting you to come here and partake in the festivities, I am offering you my services as your personal downtown tour guide. I can't guarantee it but chances are high that you will also see fireworks, hear loud bangs....it's only mortars being thrown around so nothing to worry about and you might also get a whiff of teargas and hear rubber bullets fly around. When I try to describe Burning Man to people, which is difficult to describe because you have to experience the event to understand all the beautiful and amazing qualities of Burning Man....but when I do try to describe it I usually say that it is like stepping into a Salvador Dali painting. To describe Portland I would say it is like stepping into a movie called "Escape from New York". If you haven't seen that one yet you should. I have been down to the Justice Center are in Portland several times now and I am still alive and unharmed.

It has been a hot week here in Portland. I volunteered today and it was fun as always but I had to seek shade, I don't like the sun burning me. I thought that I would go back to the area were the protests have been going on for 53 nights in a row tonight but I am way too tired and I have a meeting at 10 am. So no rioting for me tonight! I haven't been down there to watch it for I think almost two weeks.
If you have seen the picture by now of a naked woman, Naked Athena, facing the police, sorry to disappoint everybody but it wasn't me. Great idea though! I should had thought about that first. I wonder if more naked ladies will follow to line up to face the police? Or naked men? Perhaps it is a new trend on Instagram? I should probably go and check out the situation tomorrow night....I have been a bit lazy and I also don't want to get chased down, arrested or shot although I am "only" there as a observer but it kind of makes you guilty by association at this point cause things are getting pretty serious at night here in Portland.
Instead I am in bed enjoying some ice cream, this one is a favorite. Try it if you can get it where you live. And I am trying to decide on which foot massage machine to buy.....there are many and I want to pick the right one because I will stick my poor feet in it daily.

Today I had a super busy day but also a good productive day, one of those days when you feel like there are not enough hours in it. I am finally in bed and can do some reading and writing. I should make a living reading and writing already! Yesterday I had a calmer day and here are some snippets from it....First of all the weather has been so nice and I have been enjoying that. Felt an undeniable craving for a waffle at a place called Smaakens where I have been before, it's a food cart inside a food cart area located on the South East side of town. So I drove there from my part of town, the South West and had a delicious waffle with whipped cream and drank a hibiscus iced tea. So yummy! I like the recycling station at this food cart place. I am a fairly diligent recycler. Absolutely no littering. After my waffle I went on a looooong walk through the city, across two bridges. I love walking, exploring and seeing new things. Like this, I had never noticed this until yesterday, the Bill Naito Legacy Fountain. A beautiful poem is inscripted into the steps. FOR THE PEOPLES OF THE FIRST NATIONS WHO CAME TO FISH THE RIVERS AND INHABIT THE LAND – FOR LATE ARRIVING PACIFIC EXPLORERS AND TRAPPERS – HAILING PROUD FLAGS OF RUSSIA – BRITAIN – FRANCE – SPAIN FOR THOSE WHO BLAZED TRAILS OVER THE WIDE INTERIOR – AND FOR THE MULTITUDES WHO DROVE THOSE TRAILS IN A GREAT WESTERN MIGRATION – AMERICAN PIONEER ADVENTURERS – THE HEADSTRONG – THE HARD PRESSED – THE RESOURCEFUL – STAKING CLAIMS – FELLING TIMBER – TILLING SOIL – NAMING VILLAGES FOR THE IRISH – GERMAN – CHINESE – JAPANESE – JEWS FROM THE EASTERN PALE – SWEDES – FINNS – DANES – NORWEGIANS – ITALIANS – ROMA IN CARAVANS – GREEKS – MEXICANS – CHILDREN OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA – REFUGEES FROM WARS AND TYRANTS – BUILDERS OF BETTER FORTUNES – FOR THE HISTORIC WAVES OF MOVING PEOPLES WHO BECAME NEW NEIGHBORS NEAR THESE WILLAMETTE BANKS FOR MERCHANTS AND LABORERS – AND FOR THEIR FAMILIES – WORKING THE ROADS AND RAIL LINES – THE DOCKS AND SHIP YARDS – THE FACTORIES AND MILLS – PLANTING FARMS AND ORCHARDS – TENDING STORE COUNTERS – FILLING SCHOOL HOUSES AND LIBRARIES – GATHERING IN CIVIC CLUBS AND SOCIETIES – HOUSES OF WORSHIP – SALOONS – PARKS – MUSIC HALLS – RIVER LANDINGS – TRAIN STATIONS – STREET CORNERS – FLOWER GARDENS FOR ANCESTORS WHO TRAVELED COUNTLESS PATHS FROM OTHER LANDS TO THIS PLACE – WHO CAME BY TRAIL AND BY OCEAN – BY RIVER AND BY RAILROAD – BY HIGHWAY AND BY AIRWAY – IN COURSING HUMAN STREAMS – DREAMING IN MANY LANGUAGES – FOR THOSE WHOSE VOICES STILL ECHO TODAY AND FOR THOSE WHOSE LEGACIES ARE QUIET – A PORT CITY HARBORS THEIR HOPES – AND A FOUNTAIN FLOWS HERE IN THEIR MEMORY.

For 4th of July I went to Trillium lake and Mount Hood. I needed some nature. It was a gorgeous day and a full moon the night between the 4th and 5th as well. Mount Hood is an active volcano about a two hour drive from Portland, there is a historic lodge up there called Timberline Lodge. Well worth a visit if you are ever in the area. I watched the sun set and the moon rise.



That's Trillium lake in the background.



I really like this dragon door knocker.



Masks in public places are enforced in Oregon now.







I also went to downtown Portland last night and got all the fireworks I needed for the 4th. It sounded like bombs were going off although it was mortars randomly thrown around by "protesters", I am not sure what to call them anymore. That is not protesting, it is straight up disorder. There was a riot down there, quite intense.

Glad Midsommar or Happy Midsummer. This weekend is midsummer weekend in Sweden and that means celebration and old traditions like dancing around the Maypole. I was lucky to find a Swedish Maypole in Portland, much shorter than the ones usually raised in Sweden but that is perfectly fine. I am happy I was able to see some traditions. I feel a bit melancholic because it is June 20 today and as we say in Sweden, "sommaren är kort" meaning the summer is short. One more summer in my life.....and the years go by too fast.







Back in the day people believed that gnomes lived amongst us humans, I still believe in all that stuff.



The distance between Portland and Stockholm. Perhaps I will spend next midsummer in Sweden.

Welllllll.......today it was decided that Oregon's largest county, which is Multnomah county will stay closed for at least another week due to a spike in COVID-19 cases. Multnomah county was supposed to enter phase 1 today, most of Oregon's 36 counties are in phase 2 right now. The city of Portland is located in Multnomah county. And today Friday the protests/demonstrations in Portland are still going on, day/night 16 now. Of course I have been to downtown where the "action" takes place to see what is going on with my own eyes. I have been three times so far and I will most likely go again. I even got a whiff of teargas for the first time in my life (at least that I can remember). The crowd was not as large the last time I went (a few days ago) compared to the first time but there are still a lot of people that gather. I have mixed impressions. Most people protesting, participating in some way or just being there in person to watch are very friendly. There is also a presence of the mentally ill, the crazy and obnoxious acting, the ones trying to start problems mixed in with the crowd trying to engage in a peaceful protest. Of course the ones that are not being peaceful are the ones that stand out and of course the police will respond if attacked, which I do not blame them for and then in the end the police gets blamed for any issues that stem from confrontations. Let's take a look at some pictures.....the times I was there the crowd had gathered in front of the Multnomah Justice Center which holds four courtrooms and about 200-250 inmates. I saw bottles thrown (both plastic bottles with water and glass bottles) towards the police that stood guard in front of the Justice Center. I saw lasers pointed at the police. Here the police had retreated for a while and suddenly called the gathering an unlawful assembly and announced (via megaphone) that protesters were subject to arrest. Nobody left. Including myself. According to a few people that I talked to the police had shot a person in the forehead with a rubber bullet and after that they (the police) went either inside or behind the Justice Center. I did not see anybody injured by a rubber bullet or any other object while I was downtown. That doesn't mean it didn't happen. Painted on the boards that are put up to protect the stores. I like the Lady Justice. And then much of downtown Portland is covered in this.....Now I know what ACAB, Fuck 12 and other things like 88 mean. I guess you are never too old to learn new stuff. Some people are giving out free water and are trying to gather up trash. Some businesses are completely untouched and others got looted and damaged the first night of the protests, many places are boarded up. I saw a fire in a dumpster one night. I don't understand why people bring animals and children to events like these. It is a loud stressful situation that can escalate into something violent and scary within seconds. I think it is very irresponsible and foolish to subject a poor animal to this. Random scribble that I suspect don't mean anything really, people are just caught up in the moment. No thought behind it....more like, others do it so I will too. Part of the protest reminded me of the raves I used to go to back in the day, similar friendly vibe except no music and dancing. But then there were other destructive aspects of the crowd that were very un rave like. Here is what I think. I feel bad for the police, I saw them getting taunted and yelled at by people that perhaps one day will need the help and protection of the police. So I want to say THANK YOU to the police for being brave and helping people in need while often risking their own safety in the process. I am against police brutality and I do think that there needs to be some sort of reform to get rid of the negative aspects in the police force but to defund and get rid of the police in today's American society and let people do what they want? I don't see that as a possibility. Regular society is not like Burning Man where the majority of people get along and help each other. Regular society are places like Chicago and Detroit and burglaries, rapes, child molesters, murders, abductions, violence - you name it. I am not an innocent angel and I have never pretended to be either, I am guilty of crimes as well but nothing that comes close to a serious felony. I will watch how CHAZ is going to unfold, CHAZ or Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone that covers six blocks or so in Seattle since a few days now. I kind of want to take a trip there to see it for myself. Right away I thought about Freetown Christiania located in København (Copenhagen) Denmark when I heard of CHAZ. Christiania was created in 1971 and it still exists. But Denmark and the US are two very different countries. George Floyd's GoFundMe has amassed a large amount of money (over thirteen million dollars). To achieve real justice in my eyes some of the money should go towards David Dorn's family, as well as to the other people's families that had somebody die because of the protests in George Floyd's name and to the injured like Shay Mikalonis. The money should go to the business owners that got their places looted and destroyed and the money should go towards cleaning up and restoring all the destruction of public property. Also let's not forget the woman that George Floyd threatened and burglarized years ago, she too should get some for her pain, suffering and the trauma the he caused her. THAT would be justice. Floyd was a 46 year old father of five (supposedly) that was trying to turn his life around (supposedly). I am sure he was a nice man to the people that knew him but I do not think a responsible father should have meth and fentanyl in his system. Clearly he did absolutely not deserve to die the way he did. And I think that most people agree with that what happened was wrong. But I do not think that he is some sort of a hero. Who is protesting for and speaking up on David Dorn's behalf? Where are the large gatherings of outraged people shouting his name? He surely did not deserve to be shot and killed so that somebody (a 24 year old black guy) could loot a shop. What kind of a life did David Dorn live before he was shot dead at age 77? He left behind a wife, five children, 10 grandchildren and decades of service for the St.Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Although many of the people that I encountered downtown Portland were friendly, I also saw things that made me feel sad and got me thinking that hell is here on earth. Human beings are so messed up. We are the real virus that will kill everything eventually. I feel that the situation on this planet as a whole, all the ongoing problems and suffering that go on all over the world, much of it is beyond repair. I will try to do my part in what I believe in and I do believe in trying to make the world a better place, I do believe in helping others when I can and caring for animals and the environment but some people don't care about anything besides themselves. In the end we are all humans sharing the planet together and the more we can all somehow try to coexist the better off we will be. It makes perfect sense and it sounds easy but it sure is difficult to put into practice.