Is Portland really as weird as everyone is making it out to be?

Yes and no. There really is a game called “hipster or home schooled”, and it really is a fine line these days between the high-waisted pants and awkward social skills. Also, I can count on one hand the number of friends I have who have real, career-type jobs. Most of us are living rather creatively, making do at terrible jobs while we pursue other things on the side. Or, people are making a living doing awesome things like starting organic prayer farms. So that seems pretty Portland-ish.

What?

Yeah, somebody at my church yesterday said they were starting an organic prayer farm. Pretty awesome, right? I also have friends who tour the country as an anarchist Christian punk-rock band, (they do taxes when they are not touring). I also know people who plan fancy dinners on farms in the middle of nowhere and charge people $200 bucks to drive out there and eat. Also, I hung out with a bunch of Bible college kids, so most of them are back in school working towards something a little more practical. But maybe they just like being perpetual students. Same thing goes for my liberal arts friends.

McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: Assimilate Or Go Home: Dispatches from the Stateless Wanderers: Ask An Evangelical.