Moving To Oregon

We moved around in the last couple of decades. In 2004, we moved from Southern California to Washington state. In 2009, we moved to southeast Michigan and learned about the upper midwest. Last year, we moved back to the Northwest. I have some inane observations:

• Could it really be true that the Great and Good of Portland truly hate automobiles? There seems to be, at the best, neglect of streets and roads for autos - at the worst, an underlying hostility. It seems that the city elders of Portland believe that walking and bicycling, with some buses and streetcars, are all that is needed for a big city. Really, if you are between the ages of 15 and 45, or otherwise great health and can tackle those hills without a car or truck, you are Welcome in Portland
• Portland never seems to have embraced city planning or neighborhood zoning as did much of the rest of the country in the early to mid-20th century. Street alignments, building placement, road signage, and community development feel haphazard. A general, "eh, it's good enough" seems to have been the attitude at some key point in time. Today, lots of frustration for those who are trying to navigate the city
• There is a palpable failure of liberal compassion expressed in the "homeless problem." Recently, there was a documentary produced by a news program asking, "Seattle Is Dying" (https://komonews.com/news/local/komo-news-special-seattle-is-dying) And everything said in that program seems true in Portland. The issues are now out of hand and decisive leadership missing. There will be a conflict and the results will likely be violent and destructive
• Life is more expensive. That shouldn't be surprising. Portland is a busy and (currently) prosperous city - inflation is part of the city's structure. A dinner out with my wife in the suburbs in Michigan could be $40+; here that looks more like $70+
• I miss quality and accessible Mediterranean cuisine. Back in Michigan, even the run-of-the-mill, hole-in-the-wall Lebanese restaurant would easily compete with what-goes-for high-end Mediterranean cuisine in the Portland area. And the cost difference is staggering. Also, there seems to be a fixation on adding non-Mediterranean spices to "jazz up" the cuisine. Personally, not a fan of that
• Potholes exist in Portland - not as deep, but they are around and don't seem to get fixed as quickly
• Portland is a great place to live ... if you have money. There are some really pleasant neighborhoods, great restaurants and shopping, and the amenities of a big city. But for A Lot of people, Portland is a tough place to live
• Portland is a city working to cover over much. The city's history is not about genteel, liberal-minded, good souls basking in the natural wonder of the northwest. Portland was, until 20 years ago, a port-city with a full-on 'skid-row' (now decorously re-named The Pearl District), and a bustling sex-trade. Even today, I was told, there are more strip bars in Portland than Bankok ... and so forth

Michigan Transitions – D

Once I’d been here and observed people and the environment, I tried to engage in a little amateur anthropology. Sure, being in the upper mid-west and being in the northwest, or even being in southern California aren’t really big differences. It’s not like I found myself in Zaire, after all.

But that’s the challenge, isn’t it? There are differences, even though they are subtle, and it is important to attempt to understand them in order to determine how you will respond to the differences.

Much of what I learned came from people already here. People who were born and raised here, but had travelled and spend significant time in the places I was formed in, were able to give me a perspective. “Where you’re from, things seem to be like this …, but around here, it’s more like ….”

I’ve had to come to grips with my “sub-culture perspectivalism.” That is, my perceptions are shaped by my formative environment. I was born and raised in southern California. That, right there, is a sub-culture apart from most of the rest of the nation of the United States of America. I am a “SoCal boy” and my formative years were spent living a mile away from the Pacific Ocean. The rest of the country was about football or hockey; we were about surfing and volleyball. Southern California, because of the movie and television industry, became the media capital of the country. Though all the media money was in New York, much of the creative talent was in my neighborhood.

I grew up in suburban sprawl, pleasant weather, and was surrounded by people who came from somewhere else. In fact, that “somewhere else” was a subliminal message: “Where I came from was not good.” That is, the east coast, mid-west, and south were places that were bad. California was the land of “opportunity,” meaning that the rest of the country were places of stifling tradition, oppressive conflict, and narrow-minded bigotry. That was the worldview that formed me.

So here are a couple more differences:

• One of the natives here in Michigan says that they are not an optimistic people. Life is hard, the future is not always bright or hopeful, and it is entirely possible that things will get worse. This is in stark contrast to the “California mindset:” life is good, the future looks better, and we can have hope. I’m not really convinced that mid-westerners are pessimistic, but there is a mindset of “toughing it out.”
  
• Mid-westerners are rooted people. They frequently live within 10 to 20 miles of where they grew up. They are in weekly physical contact with family members. Their friends have been friends since elementary school. By contrast, the west coast is full of people who got there by up-rooting and travelling to a mostly unknown place. West-coasters are mobile people who will not find it hard to move from Portland to San Francisco because of job relocation. “Our real friends will keep in touch and we’ll make new friends when we get there.” Family ties are a bit looser in the west – it is not as important to visit mom and dad every weekend. In fact, because family and friends are more scattered, it gives an excuse to travel frequently to visit.

Michigan Transitions - A

Several of my friends have been asking and asking again about how are we adjusting to life in Michigan.

For Barb and me, this seems like such an odd kind of question. It is asked so frequently that it almost seems like some sort of group obsession. Right there, I’m trying to understand why people are so very interested.

The first thing is that some people just can’t understand moving such great distances. There are some people for whom great change is a very frightening prospect. I remember when we were living in Santa Maria, California in the late 1980’s and I’d made the decision to move to the Thousand Oaks area to attend law school at nearby Pepperdine University. One of our friends, who couldn’t have been 30 years old yet, was simply amazed that we would move “so far” to do something “so different.” This guy was so rooted to the area – even the valley – that he was born in that he couldn’t imagine relocating. I was struck by the thought that this 28 year old guy was already thinking like an old man.

Even when we candidated for this church, one of the questions that was asked was, “How can you move so far away from your friends and family??” That is, from Washington to Michigan. There are several answers to that question, but the primary one was that Jesus wanted us to. Beyond that, the reality is that real friends stay your friends. Our society is more connected over farther distances than at any other time in history. It is a relatively trivial thing for me to be in immediate contact with a friend in Southern California. Distance isn’t the issue. Actually, time zones present the greatest challenge!

Additionally, we are located nearer the bulk of our family now than when we were on the west coast. The hardest thing, in terms of family, is that both of our daughters are on the west coast. As parents, we can no longer respond as quickly or immediately as we were accustomed to. However, that separation has more to do with our daughters’ stage in life relative to our own. We are becoming empty-nesters.

Even more so, unlike my young old-man friend above, Barb and I have always had an adventurous streak in us. We have always relished travel and the challenge of adapting to new places and people. We’ve moved several times now and realize that, wherever we go, we’ll make new friends, keep the old ones, and enjoy the new place. We’re pretty resilient.

The other part of the insistent question, "how are you adjusting?" is just the nature of relationships here in Michigan. The vast majority of people that we know here are in our church – the church where I’m a pastor. They really can’t ask about my work because I can’t tell them that much. They can complain about the jerks and idiots who they work with. I can’t complain. (snicker) That last sentance is pretty ambiguous!

Additionally, lots of what I do can be confidential in nature and there’s only so much I can share. Even if I chat with people socially, they tend to steer away from talking about my ‘work.’ So what’s left to talk about? Well, I’m new to the area so … “How are you settling in?”

I’ll blog a bit more about our transition as time goes on.