Chandra Bocci at Haze October 2004 (media: otter pops and mucho mustard packets)

Writing the word "perfect" is a nasty habit and a sloth inducing moniker. Yet today, Budget Travel published a no holds barred gushing review of Portland that used the consarned "P" word. It is pretty much all true but man is it positive… in fact, my fillings feel funny after reading it. Portland does have major challenges and chief among them is not being content with what it has already achieved.

Still, writer Kimberly Sevick was absolutely right about the food thing here and she even plugged one of our best artists Chandra Bocci. Some of the facts were off though, such as Bocci showing a pillow fight war at Haze. Actually, it was an amazing 70 ft looping rainbow of otter pops and a yellow brick road of mustard packets. The pillow fight was at ORLO.

What Sevick missed, (other than restaurants like Blue Hour, clarklewis, Mingo, Genoa and the specifics of gallery scene, like Liz Leach, PDX, Woolley, Pulliam Deffenbaugh, Froelick, Laura Russo and Savage among others) was the fact that the young artists of the scene have really helped change Portland's overall level of sophistication by staging a lot of high profile shows. It is a rare thing with a lot of history in a short time.