[They still live in Portland, a Pacific Northwest city 150 miles south of Seattle.] Portland has pretensions to being culturally informed, ... I got enough to hire my cokehead friends to design it.

The richness of the rain made me feel safe and protected; I have always considered the rain to be healing—a blanket—the comfort of a friend. Without at least some rain in any given day, or at least a cloud or two on the horizon, I feel overwhelmed by the information of sunlight and yearn for the vital, muffling gift of falling water.

Portland hardly got to have an identity before that identity became a joke - I live in a joke. Seattle at least got to wear out its identity before it became a joke.

If you were to do things to Olathe East, Olathe South and Olathe Northwest to decrease their enrollment or increase their capacity then these things can be delayed.

The Pacific Northwest, and particularly Whidbey Island, is extremely suited to be a location in a novel.

I think either one of them would be a great coup for the city of Portland.