eight

more than two decades i've been doing this town. i still don't feel i know it well enough. it's a town you have to live in to understand. it takes years spent on these sidewalks, in the bars and cafes, the churches and libraries and gathering places.

it takes years before you begin to hear the voice.

the people here make this voice. voices of portland’s living combine with voices of its dead, and we all tell the same story. for years i sensed them, yet i could never quite figure them out. i could see the people, but never hear their stories.

like evaluating a person’s character from their appearance can be misleading, this applies to portland even more so. i could capture new images of portland every day for the rest of my life, and still its story would not be told.