Well, if it wasn’t enough that those of us in Portland already suffer from a superiority complex based on our early adoption of biking, going “green” in nearly every way possible, high per capita college degree holding, and abundunt strip clubs (what?) …
It turns out we also read more than everyone else in the nation.
Multnomah County
has the highest collection turnover rate per capita — meaning its
books, CDs, DVDs and other materials are checked out at twice the rate
of the national average.
Seriously, Portland is a weirdo place. I can’t tell you how many coffee shop barristas I know who have masters degrees, but decided that they wanted a more mellow life. One of the coffee shops I frequent regularly is owned by a guy who will sit with me and talk about Foucault, neuroscience, and Quantum game theory (my masters-degree focus).
People here are freakishly well read. Now I know why: all that “liberal” access to libraries – Oh My!
As my friend, Tony, once said, “In every city, the strippers say
they are ‘working their way through college’. In Portland, it’s
true.”
