Feel good, feel awful?
Looking for glimmers of hope during somewhat discouraging times
These days, our collective mood is either sad, wrecked and trashed or so tender: like the dogs whose parents — I call them that with a straight face — put rubber booties on their paws to protect them from sidewalk glass, bits of plastic and fentanyl foil. Kai, at Nature’s Pet on NW 21st, sells thick rubber dog boots meant for serious hikes, and lighter balloon-style booties in red and blue to protect dogs from summer’s hot pavement. “We see a few more injuries from glass and heat lately,” Kai said.
The Wieden+Kennedy wallpaper wrapped around utility boxes on downtown street corners are like little pep talks reminding us: "Portland is What We Make It.” Meaning, do something positive to craft the city you want.
Do something cool: Just Make It. The stenciled red roses on the concrete barriers, for example. I reflexively didn’t like them at first, but they’ve grown on me. Adam, who waters the hanging plants on the light poles all the way from South Waterfront to the Pearl District every evening. “They will hang down almost down to the sidewalk soon,” he said.
The Fields Park is still a gutted hole in the ground and the project will take longer to complete than originally planned, but an area of the park not enclosed in fencing becomes an after 5 dog park.
There’s a walk-up falafel stand opening on the southwest corner of Northwest 21st Avenue’s Silver Dollar Pizza. If you can come up with a clever name you could win $500. I submitted one: Feel Good Falafel.
Feel good. Feel awful. That’s many of us right now.
