I’ve heard so much about our namesake, Portland Maine. From reports it is supposed to resemble Portland Oregon in that it is a liberal mid sized city, distrustfull of large corporations, entranced with local small business and natural agriculture, stuffed full of coffee shops, good restaurants and yoga studios. This all seems to be true. It shares with Portland also another charachteristic, large numbers of homeless people.

Susan was laid off from her full time job in 2013. She could not find further employment and gradually lost all stability in her life. Her son, who she showed me on her cell phone, would support her with cash from time to time. He tragically died of a heart attack that same year, in his late 20’s. She is too embarrased to confide her situation to the rest of her family and now lives in homeless shelters with money garnered from busking. She was born in Maine and has lived in the state her entire life.

Don was hanging out drinking coffee sitting on the sidewalk.

This guy was collecting bottles and was pushing his cart up the street at a good clip. I snapped a few photos quickly without asking for permission, something I normally do not do. As he passed I heard him mutter, “what’s this guy doing taking my picture? He’s with the F.B.I. watching me.” It was after this encounter that I began to notice men sitting quietly in public plazas holding signs reading, “I spent 90 days in an F.B.I. prison being raped daily.” Then again just days later in Chicago I saw the same signs.

This kids name I did not get. He just arrived from a rainbow festival. He is in Portland just for the summer before heading to the west coast.

Andy appearing to be in a Jesus Christ state of mind. He was literally walking down the street like this.

While taking photos of the distressed of Portland, one naturally begins snapping pictures of everyone else. This couple asked me to take of photo of them with their iPhone 4s. I did, and then whipped out my camera to snap a few pictures of them.

The local organic food purveyors, and their progeny. Eventide is where my friend had one of his wedding parties. It is a restaurant started by a protogé of Thomas Keller. When we ate there, the star dish was a Korean style steamed rice bun with lobster and brown butter sauce.

This man was looking relaxed and chill. I asked him if I could take his picture. He was suspicous and said, “why would you want to take a picture of such a bad looking fellow?” I said, “oh come on, you look pretty cool and tight.” Then he said, ok, you can take my picture I guess.

Finally, a version of me if I was actually a professional! Hehe. This guy is probably from the Portland Tribune. As I quickly snapped his photo he passed with nary a blink.