Following a Fashionista

I've seen her before waiting at the bus stop downtown. In a sea of black clothing, she stands out -- pinkish hair, an orange and pink swirly '70s polyester dress that's been ripped at the neck, sleeves and hem, shrill, cowboy boots, lots of makeup, very pale skin. Lots of leg and cleavage.

Summur in Portland
I was really curious about her story...so when I saw her again at the bus stop, I decided to ride her way on the #44. Her name is Summur (her mom liked the way the letters looked), from Ashland where her mom cleans houses; she moved up here to live with her dad in SE and go to PCC. She's 18, thinks Portland folks aren't so friendly, loves vintage clothing, not sure if she wants to stay here.

We talked all the way to PCC, way past my stop, and I told her to come over and look through my box of '60s clothes I was going to sell to a vintage store. (Actually, I went into the Red Light on Hawthorne and the guy's too-cool-for-this-planet 'tude convinced me I'd rather feed my clothes to my dog than sell them there...)

Bush, Fur and SUVs
Any city is hard at first - especially from a cocoon like Ashland. Portland is pretty loose, but it suffers from allowing folks to be hip only in certain ways, and being incredibly dogmatic about universal truths: George Bush is Satan--check. SUVs are evil--check. Wearing Fur is the same as having sex with Hitler--check. I didn't vote for Bush, I don't have an SUV nor do I wear fur -- but I'm always curious about those people who do things that are different from what I do...

My kids wore cloth diapers. I breastfed until they started algebra. I homebirthed and homeschooled. I've drummed, visited my midwife in prison, grown organic veggies, voted green, driven old Volvos, taken in homeless teens, wear cotton, rarely go to MDs, don't own a microwave or a TV, send money to needy friends and strangers, listen to Radio Tarifa and Rammstein and Hank Williams...

...and I still want to talk to people who are born-again Christians, voted for Bush, drive Ford 250s, own a gun, are on welfare, hunt and fish, are afraid of gay people, are afraid of black people, are afraid of white people, watch 8 hours of TV every day, take anti-depressants, send their sons to Iraq, hang out in malls, wear tons of make-up, eat Jello, drive low-riders--all those things I'm not and don't do. Because some of those "different" folks have also been kind, suffered terribly, given to others, tried their hardest. And they're human, too, bumping along on this planet just like the rest of us...

Damn, there I went on and on again...