Searching for information on an Andrew Bird song, I came across RealFake, a blog that quoted this other blog, which the RealFake guy found via yet another blog. Entry is here. The quote, from blogger Paul Graham, is this:

"I find every ambitious town sends you a message. New York tells you 'you should make more money.' LA tells you 'you should be better looking.' Rome tells you 'you should dress better.' London tells you 'you should be hipper.' The Bay Area tells you 'you should live better.' And Cambridge tells you 'you should read some of those books you've been meaning to.'"

Assuming Portland qualifies as an "ambitious" town (though certainly not ambitious in the way NYC is ambitious) I think this city says something like, "you should drink more coffee." Or maybe it says, "hey, no need to try so hard." Or perhaps "you should get a dog." (Other suggestions welcome.)

It's strange having Portland be such a destination point for so many. I'm certainly not getting a big head about it, it's just strange having grown up here that anyone thinks it's "cool." However its coolness was recently highlighted by my sister-in-law and her husband who have moved back from Des Moines, Iowa. No good restaurants there, culture is tough to come by and - egads - no Trader Joe's.

Anyhoo, I like the idea of imagining what cities are saying. I think I'll add it on the to-do list anytime I go on vacation. Hey, wouldn't it be fun to have a whole web site where people say what they think their city says? (Um, did I just type a tongue twister?) I wonder what your city says?