The New York Times has decided to have some fun at Portland’s expense in an article titled, “Can a City This Self-Serious Take a Joke?” which contains such big city literary observations as the following:
“For years, many residents here have reacted with practiced apathy and amusement toward the national fascination with Portland. Outsiders and media critics have glowed over everything from its restaurants to its ambitious transit system of streetcars and light rail. Yet with “Portlandia,” the flattery has given way to mockery, however gently executed, of this liberal city’s deliberate differentness.
“When it makes fun of the aggressive bicyclists and things like that, well, that’s stuff I complain about, too,” said Amber Rowland, 27. “But then I’m part of what it’s making fun of as well. There’s a kernel of truth in it, and it’s O.K. to roll with it.”
– New York Times – “Can a City This Self-Serious Take a Joke?”
