In Portland, it’s not uncommon to find a tattooed barista pulling espresso shots in between inspired poems. And for a lunch, a vegan eats a curried tofu dish made with fish sauce; he finds the detail easy to ignore. The world is full of people with nowhere to go but here. In kindergarten, kids color their skies grey. During the week, Shelley peddles pharmaceuticals and saves her commission checks to move back to Chicago. She’s sick of the rain. Brian lives in the Alberta Arts district and collects Japanese comics. He makes his own wine at custom crush facility downtown. Brian sells his private label, Toon-Out, to a few friends and gives most of it away to girls he meets on Craigslist. Skinny Steve makes short films on his handheld cam and edits them on his laptop at a microbrewery in the Pearle district. Benji grows lots of facial hair and roasts coffee for a living, writing songs every body dreams of. Meanwhile, for a nominal fee Brad will produce podcasts for eBay users. Katrina pretends she plays the piano and writes jingles; her heart is a worried thing. There is so much to do and she rushes through her day with hurry, hurry, and hurry. Let’s go. Go on and get along with your life because moppy-topped, funky-spec clad ladies named Kate but spell their name Cait work in health food co-ops and carry a hello-kitty lunch box and wear glittered nail polish. Cait turns thirty-eight next week and makes felt purses as a hobby. Her boyfriend drives an old Golf with a converted bio-diesel engine. They have a pet rabbit named Italo Calvino. There is so much to get done. And Eliza owns a vintage shop on S.E. Division and holds a monthly Betty Paige cabaret show for women only. Rick owns his own business building and repairing fences and drinks with his old Vietnam War buddies on Wednesday nights at the bar with familiar faces. Andy wears his red raincoat and his white helmet with a plastic face guard when he goes to the local coffee shop. His mom makes his a blow-up turkey balloon with a surgical glove. In Portland, a hoodie is not just a hoodie but an opportunity for an art piece with sewn on patches and decidedly disordered dangles strategically placed and even a vintage jacket can be tuned into a hoodie with a needle and thread. As seen in the Willamette Weekly, Hippiegoddess.com seeks female models for creative outdoor shots. Make sure to get a receipt! Some one at The Face Place calls them selves the Beaver Believer, offering a Brazilian Bikini for only $50. The world needs believers. There are no more sad times and advert words like green, sustainable and diversity run amok. Nothing is ever as it seems.