A love letter to a less shiny city, and the teenagers, insomniacs,
and eccentrics who populated it. by Ben Coleman

It was December 25, 2013, and everyone in the gay steakhouse was getting amiably drunk.

It was one of those Portland winters that was cold and wet and absolutely miserable to be out in, and I had to work. But before that I was going to pre-spend my holiday pay on a fancy dinner—or at least the fanciest dinner I could afford working the graveyard shift for a bit more than minimum wage. Starky’s was what you’d affectionately call an “establishment.” It wasn’t a dive, but it was dive-adjacent: Formica tables, napkins for coasters, stately framed prints of drag queens and bodybuilders on the peach pink walls. In the summer they ran a raunchy charity car wash you could hear from blocks away. In the fall and spring, the iron-fenced patio always had a handful of elegant old swains sipping cocktails while they watched the world go by. In the winter they were open on Christmas Eve.

People who go to bars on major holidays often exist on the margins of society. Drunks, malcontents, lost souls estranged from religion or tradition, those who have no family or are burdened by what family they have. And folks who just can’t afford not to work. I didn’t take an inventory of my fellow travelers, but I’m sure there was the usual mix of those usual suspects, along with the clientele of a relaxed neighborhood gay bar: pretty Midwesterners with sad eyes, pairs of middle-aged husbands who didn’t want to cook, the aforementioned swains. Some were socializing like it was an office holiday party, others were lost in thought as we studied our mashed potatoes for clues to the human condition as freezing rain whipped against the windows. I’d like to say that “Fairytale of New York” came on the jukebox and we all got misty and sang along, but I suspect if anyone made a move to change the Britney Spears music video on the wall TV there’d have been a riot. But I still left feeling better about the world.

“Old Portland” is a moving target, but it’s not ephemeral. It began when you found somewhere in this city that welcomed you and ended when it was torn down to make way for a condo. Townies my age wax rhapsodic about all-ages music venues like La Luna and Meow Meow, about the Church of Elvis, the terrible service at The Roxy, stiff drinks at Club 21, late night LAN parties at Backspace. We like to talk about how you could smoke in bars, even though most of us have long since quit. But previous generations had their own haunts and hollows: jazz clubs and punk houses that lived and died and exist now only in memory. It’s not like they sold tickets to Old Portland and we’ve got the stubs in a shoebox somewhere.

What I suspect we’re all nostalgic for is the feeling, however subjective, that the margins of society were a bit wider, and more people could afford to exist in them. That Portland was not a precision machine. It had looser tolerances than today. There were poorly-optimized businesses in the service of teenagers, insomniacs, artists, and eccentrics, alongside the usual cadre of office workers and serious restaurateurs that all cities need to function. When those places went away they were rarely replaced. Willamette Week’s Aaron Mesh once wrote, “Every generation gets the ruining of Portland it deserves,” and it’s as true today as it was in 2015 when they tore down Starky’s to make way for the 46 modern apartment units that sit there now.

Cities change and culture shifts. Style moves from hard forms to soft, sarcasm makes way for sincerity, the rebels sell out and so on. But these cycles aren’t arbitrary. They are shaped by market forces and public policy. Coffee shops used to have couches so that people would hang out in them, fill those spaces with the sounds of awkward first dates and someone scribbling the first chapter of a terrible novel. Coffee shops aren’t soft anymore. They’re full of angular, industrial surfaces, because to make rent this month they need several hundred people to buy eight dollar macchiatos and fuck off somewhere else.

The Portland of today is shinier than the Portland of my youth. There are luxury retailers and well-moisturized influencers and futuristic cube houses with two-Cybertruck garages. Presumably this was done because the hippie granola markets and communist bookstores and neighborhood dives that were already here don’t pull the property taxes needed to fund a proper 21st Century metropolis. Our city fathers promised us prosperity if we’d only sacrifice a couple of eyesores on the altar of urban renewal and mixed-use development. It’s a bargain many willingly made, perhaps believing that for once in human history the rising tide would lift all boats. The bodies of the displaced lying in our streets seem to say otherwise.

Someday this city will be a vast and uniform sea of tasteful residential buildings named after the ugly and interesting places they replaced: the needle parks we walked past on the way to school, the cart pods where you could get a pretty good gyro, bars like Starky’s where neighbors gathered on holidays in defiance of the shitty weather. They’ll have large matte photos in the lobby of musicians who couldn’t afford to live there and gig work security guards to shoo away any indigents who get close to the property line. That’s progress, I suppose.

We miss Old Portland not because it was cheaper or somehow more authentic, but because of the people it once accommodated. We miss the sense of community that animated those old, demolished buildings, that warmed them in the way that only old buildings full of people talking can be warm. Every day we’re tested, and no more so than during the holidays, by how we welcome the strangers in our midst. I was a stranger once and found welcome in a neighborhood bar that’s not there anymore. I hope it can be found again somewhere new.

Actors Carla Gugino, Matthew Lillard and Sir Patrick Stewart pose at the "Match" screening during the Palm Springs International Film Festival on January 3, 2015 in Palm Springs, California. ; Credit: Chelsea Lauren/Getty Images for PSIFF

Is there a happier star in Hollywood than Patrick Stewart?

Certainly no one seems to be having more fun than the onetime Star Trek captain and current (and seemingly permanent) X-Man. And why shouldn't Sir Patrick be pleased with himself? He really has got it all: a thriving stage profile in both New York and London, the unconditional love of a vast and loyal fan base, and a film career that oscillates freely between franchise blockbusters and the small, character-driven chamber pieces Stewart so clearly relishes.

"Match" is about as small a movie as Stewart has ever appeared in: a well-intentioned three-character film studded with very funny dialogue courtesy of writer/director Stephen Belber, upon whose play "Match" is based.

Stewart plays an aging gay dance instructor named Tobi Powell, who may or may not have sired a child back in the swinging 60s – an era movies now take to have been 10 years of uninterrupted orgy punctuated by Beatles records and gunshots aimed at the Kennedy brothers.

As the saying goes, "If you can remember the '60s, you weren't there." Stewart's Tobi Powell was vibrantly there at the time, so it's perhaps natural that he can't seem to recall whether or not one of his rare couplings with a female partner might have had some unintended consequences.

Mincing slightly and speaking in an accent that sounds Midwestern by way of Wales, Stewart is an absolute blast to watch. His genuine (and usually underutilized) flair for comedy is roguishly on display, allowing "Match" to shift between pathos and farce with an assurance born more of the performer's bravado than the emotional contours of Belber's somewhat overeager text.

Though allegedly a bit of a shut-in, Tobi is a minor masterpiece of a lost and exuberant art form: the exaggerated star turn. It's unsurprising Frank Langella got a Tony nomination for playing him on Broadway a decade ago, and at least a bit unexpected that Stewart has gone completely unnoticed this awards season, even by the nomination-happy Golden Globes.

Belber's best writing is mostly his comedic stuff. One aria comparing cunnilingus to knitting may just be the best scene of its type since Meg Ryan faked an orgasm in "When Harry Met Sally" a quarter century ago.

Solid and believable supporting turns from Carla Gugino and Matthew Lillard add to the fun until Belber's script bogs down in the third act into the kind of paint-by-numbers epiphany shtick even TV has given up on at this point.

WATCH: The official trailer for "Match," starring Patrick Stewart

Everybody cries. Everybody changes. Everybody yawns.  Or I did anyway.

Still, go see this movie — or better yet, watch it on your phone, since it's shot almost entirely in close up — to see a grand and gracefully aging actor strut his stuff with contagious delight. You will definitely laugh, and, God, does this movie hope you'll also cry.

But if you do weep, don't be surprised if, like Tobi himself, you hate yourself in the morning.

Off-Ramp contributor R. H. Greene is covering the 26th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, where he recently saw the new comedy "Match" starring Patrick Stewart. "Match" comes to theaters and video-on-demand on Jan. 14.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Talent New Energy and Changan Automotive Released the World Premiere Separator-Free Solid-State Battery Technology  Business Wire

Preside este sábado un congreso con tipos y tipas que han cambiado el perfil del ganadero tradicional con su elevada formación universitaria y que trabajan en empresas privadas de relevancia: "Pocos ganaderos de la élite pueden vivir de la ganadería" Leer

Pombo explica en la RAE su relación con la lengua española, la filosofía, la ironía y la idea de fragilidad que intuye en Cervantes Leer

Los problemas tienen solución. Pero esa solución exige un cambio mental en la visión del mundo.

PlayList Management, LLC [PLM], a local talent management & development company, has joined forces with Scott Cooper, CEO & Founder of Talent Inc. and Evolution Management Company to host a Model and Talent Audition Workshop on Saturday, January 31st, 2015. PLM said, “Scott wants to see Bermuda’s talent and will offer industry insider advice on […]

PlayList Management, LLC [PLM], a local Talent Management & Development Company, through their Atlanta affiliate, Studio 27 Model and Talent, is sending eight talented Bermudians to Talent INC., a National Talent Showcase, held in Orlando, Florida next month [March 2015]. A spokesperson said, “Last summer, Studio27 Model and Talent, in conjunction with PLM, launched its […]

Edo Queens on Wednesday battled FC Masar of Egypt to a goalless draw in their second Group B match of the 2024 CAF Women’s Champions League in Morocco, leaving their chances of progressing to the semifinals in the balance, PUNCH Sports Extra reports. The Nigerian and West African champions still maintain their pole position on

Meanwhile, the losing Democrats have turned the rifles on each other, seeking blame, but ignoring the larger reasons and implications of their decisive defeat.

With the official launch of the 2025 Commercial Career Start Program — a strategic initiative to develop the next generation of commercial talent in the hospitality industry; We are proud to announce the program’s first two hotel partners; Marriott International and IHG Hotels & Resorts, reinforcing our shared dedication to fostering young talent in the hospitality industry. More partners will be announced in the months to come leading up to the Commercial Strategy Week in London in January.

Managing supply chains for a variety of distinct operations is complex and highly analytical yet often lacks the prestige of the rooms division, front office, F&B or spa. Still, it’s essential; if housekeeping represents the proverbial ‘heart of house’ then perhaps procurement is its ‘gastrointestinal tract’, the processing center for all raw goods ingesting.

Reyes, A V; Dillman, T; Kennedy, K; Froese, D; Beaudoin, A B; Paulen, R C. GSA 2020 Connects Online - Geological Society of America Annual Meeting; Geological Society of America, Abstracts With Programs vol. 52, no. 6, 2020 p. 1, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2020AM-360064
<a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/20200502.jpg"><img src="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/20200502.jpg" title="GSA 2020 Connects Online - Geological Society of America Annual Meeting; Geological Society of America, Abstracts With Programs vol. 52, no. 6, 2020 p. 1, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2020AM-360064" height="150" border="1" /></a>

1. Toptalent van Real zet op amper 19-jarige leeftijd punt achter carrière: "6 september 2022 veranderde mijn leven"  sporza.be
2. Real Madrid-talent (19) moet nu al stoppen met voetballen: ‘Ik ben bevoorrecht geweest’  AD
3. Zeer treurig nieuws uit Spanje: Real-talent (19) moet noodgedwongen stoppen  VoetbalPrimeur.be
4. Real Madrid-talent (19) gedwongen te stoppen: 'Ik heb alles gegeven'  Voetbal International

“Dit wordt echt het pretpark van oom Dagobert”: kritiek alom nu kerstparade in Disneyland Parijs plots (deels) betalend wordt  Het Laatste Nieuws

Paul Mascia's first book, "Nazar's Journey," tells the story of people in 2014 fleeing ISIS on the highway between Mosul and Erbil. Proceeds benefit Brooklyn-based Aid to the Church in Need-USA.

Frontline Source Group, Inc., a leading professional staffing firm with nationwide offices announced today that they have won Inavero's 2017 Best of Staffing® Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and job seekers.

Frontline Source Group, a principal employment agency in the staffing industry, announced today that they have received Inavero's Best of Staffing® Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and job seekers. Presented in partnership with CareerBuilder, Inavero's Best of Staffing winners have proven to be industry leaders in service quality. This award is based entirely on ratings by their clients and the employees for whom they've coordinated job placements.

How did the world and life come into being in all its diversity, what is the plan of the supernatural powers that determine destiny, what are the causes of evil, illness and death, and of what extraordinary deeds are there new insights? With its new major exhibition, Liechtenstein NationalMuseum is presenting the topics of fairy tales, myths, legends, fables, and sagas, which form a fundamentally important part of every culture and its collective memory.

How do you hire, onboard, and retain a great team?

You start by viewing your company through the EQ lens to discover your organizational obstacles―the elephants standing in the way of your company's success.

Attend this webinar, How to Attract, Hire, and Retain Unicorn-Level Talent, as headhunter and executive coach Caroline Stokes delivers a blend of recruiting and emotional intelligence strategies essential to helping you identify and tackle your elephants and acquire and retain key hires―those unicorns―that will help your company stand out, stay resilient, and drive growth.

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La partie continentale de la Chine a r�affirm� son engagement � promouvoir les �changes entre les jeunes � travers le d�troit de Taiwan et a demand� aux autorit�s du Parti d�mocrate progressiste (PDP) de lever les restrictions sur les voyages �...

Les consultations entre l'Association pour les relations entre les deux rives du d�troit de Taiwan (ARATS) et la Fondation pour les �changes entre les deux rives du d�troit de Taiwan (SEF) pourraient reprendre si les autorit�s de Taiwan...

La capacit� totale de production d'�nergie nucl�aire de la Chine, y compris les unit�s en fonctionnement, en construction et officiellement approuv�es, occupe la premi�re place mondiale, d'apr�s la Soci�t� de recherche �nerg�tique de Chine (China...

Une porte-parole de la partie continentale de la Chine a qualifi� les r�sultats et la puissance de la partie continentale dans les domaines de l'aviation, de l'a�rospatiale et de la d�fense nationale de protection "solide et immense" pour les...

Une porte-parole de la partie continentale de la Chine a vivement critiqu� mercredi les autorit�s du Parti d�mocrate progressiste (PDP) de Taiwan pour avoir cherch� � obtenir le soutien des Etats-Unis, d�clarant que plus leur d�pendance � l'�gard...

Joe Jones joins a network marketing company and says .
. .

"Wow this business looks great!

I can't believe how great this product is. I never knew
it existed until that day I luckily happened upon it
online, but ever sense that day I've been a different
person. The team I'm on is fantastic and I can't wait
to learn what they are going to teach me next.

This business is going to change my life and my sponsor
is teaching me things I never knew. I set a goal to
cover both my mortgage and car note with this business
and I gave my word not only to myself, but to my
sponsor as well, that it's happening and as far as I'm
concerned it's as good as done.

It's only a matter of time."

Bill Baxter joins the same network marketing company
and says . . .

"This Company looks pretty good, but the last time I
gave this a shot it didn't work. I'm only going to give
this go around two months and if I'm not making at
least $1000 a month I'm out of here. I think my sponsor
said something about a co-op. I'm gonna join and if
that doesn't grow my business then I'll know.

I think this stuff can work. I mean, I've seen it work
for so many other people, but they all get up on stage
and bring prospects to those business calls, I've done
that before and I'm not doing it again.

I've only got 4 hours to spare a week and if this
business doesn't grow with that sort of time you won't
see me around here in a month I can promise you that.
They say anyone can make it happen, yeah right . . ."

Six months later . . .

Joe is making double what he set out to as his goal and
Bill has moved on to three more network marketing
companies and hasn't made a dime yet.

I wonder why?

It's your belief system. It's a thermometer for you.
Where you set it is exactly where you go.

Where you go is exactly how people see you.

Believe big in you and bigger things than you thought
would happen will, but have little belief in yourself
and little to nothing happens.

It's your choice.

What do you believe about your business?

Are you going to make it happen or make sure it
doesn't? It all comes down to what you think.

And to be honest if you believe big you'll get there,
but you'll get there faster if you know a few secrets
to get you there faster.

Here is where you'll find them, the question is . . .
will you use them?



What if you could learn how to grow your network
marketing business the 2007 way, instead of having to
rely on what worked 30 years ago because your sponsor
doesn't know any better? Do you'd think you'd reach you
goals faster? Here's how to find out:

==> http://www.opportunity-waits.com

What parts do you think I would be wise to save and not sell since they will inevitably fail on my fit? keep in mind, the donor is automatic, the new one is manual, so the transmission won’t fit....

Masato, a son of the Tendo family, is meant to marry Hojo Ran, the daughter of a baron. There's just one problem: she's a fake. The real Ran...

Arcana Partners, a specialized recruitment firm, marks its first year of connecting top investment and capital-raising professionals with alternative investment firms across real estate, infrastructure and private credit. Founded with a vision of reshaping talent acquisition in alternative investments, Arcana has achieved significant milestones in matching firms with high-caliber professionals and fostering client growth. [PR.com]

BestFit PEO Solutions, a trusted name in Professional Employer Organization Solutions, is thrilled to announce the launch of BestFit Recruiting, a new recruiting arm powered by KOO Recruit. [PR.com]

La particularité de notre test, et on est les seuls au monde au moment de la levée de l'embargo de la presse mondiale, c'est que nous avons pu tester la PS5 Pro sur un télévis...

It happened during the World War at a small village in Dogon, Mali, about fifty kilometers to Timbuktu. Those years, Timbuktu witnessed a boom in salt trade, it was the major export via the river and the desert merchants coming from Niamey and Djibouti have had to reconsider their route, because export was faster using the river than Sahara desert. People came far and wide to trade in salt and millet.

Today, SAP SE announced the next step in its long-standing partnership with Microsoft, using the latest in enterprise-ready generative AI innovation to help solve customers' most fundamental business challenges. The companies will collaborate on integrating SAPamp;reg;SuccessFactorsamp;reg; solutions with Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot in Viva Learning, as well as Microsoft's AzureOpenAI Service to access powerful language models that analyze and generate natural language. The integrations will enable new experiences designed to improve how organizations attract, retain and skill their people.

Shop the clearance sale at P.S. from Aeropostale

Even before Israel finished the task of ethnically cleansing the Palestinian people during the Nakba, the nascent country almost immediately entered into a civil war.

Spotify heeft er in het derde kwartaal 14 miljoen maandelijks actieve gebruikers bijgekregen, waarmee het totale aantal luisteraars wereldwijd op 640 miljoen kwam, een stijging van 11 procent ten opzichte van een jaar eerder...

El estudio que considera 13 países de la región proporcionará información valiosa para la planificación, evaluación y comercialización de publicidad en medios y plataformas digitales.

Fr. John shares from 3 John 1:1-14.

Fr. John Whiteford encourages Christians to live up to our high calling in Christ Jesus, through the Parable of the Talents. (Matthew 25:14-30)

The two seas in the Holy Land are both fed by the Jordan River. One sea is alive with all kinds of fish and plants and birds, and the other is Dead! The reason why this is so is the same reason why some people become saints and some don't!

Michael offers thoughts and personal reflections of his recent experience with the miraculous icon of St. Anna at St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Waymart, PA, and the Kardiotisa, “The Tender Heart” myrrh-flowing, miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary at St. George Orthodox Church in Taylor, PA.

Fr. Andrew talks about Jesus' response to the rich young man on how to gain eternal life and connects it with a piece of 3rd century Church history and with our own lives.

Fr. John gives an instructive comparison of two divergent worldviews.

Elissa asks, "If the devil's goal is to isolate us from each other and to make us miserable, do you think he is for or against tattling?"

Fr. Michael addresses what the word "talent" means (and doesn't mean) in Christ's Parable of the Talents.

Fr. Philip LeMasters calls us to offer our lives in service of the Kingdom of God.