Update

I went to a 'Surrealists Metanational' meeting a few weeks ago, but no one was there and the bookstore was closed. I sat on the bench in the cold waiting for someone to arrive, but the only person who came by was in a sense looking for the wrong group. He called the phone number on the printout, but it rang inside of Laughing Horse books just on the other side of the window, which had a certain humor. After a while I went to a slightly pretentious cafe before enduring the bus ride home.

Some ways I've tried to engage the world lately involve moving found objects around the city during walks and bike rides, and exploring long overgrown alleyways in the north and northeast parts of Portland. The alleyways cut through backyards and there are various points of interest, whether it be overhanging tree limbs obscuring the path, a broken down car that may have been someone's bedroom, cats, rats, possums, racoons, interesting piles of rubble, someone's trash, graffiti, overgrown weeds and crumbling concrete mixed with hard dirt trails, and so on. Some spots offer a feeling of clandestine passage due to fences and walls being on either side, and the glare of streetlights does not always penetrate. Thus the impromptu life of the city is shown in some of its aspects when one strolls through the out of the way avenues.

This is by no means comprehensive but I wanted to add a note given the lack of any current collective projects on the local level other than the occasional noise/experimental collaboration and some conversations.