LETTER FROM YOUR FRIEND, THE EDITOR My name it is nothing, my age it means less. —Robert Zimmerman.
’m one of those who nods a good-day to strangers while strolling through the neighborhood. There used to be more of us, but our numbers are thinning. The theory behind this act of polite acknowledgement is simple and basic. We want a friendly community, peaceable and kind; all the aspects that exemplify the better side of human nature. These qualities do not arise from standoffish aloofness, attention buried in a phone. It’s how I met the actor Steve Buscemi, back in the mid-2000s, right here in the Buckman neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. He was walking out of the original Hal’s Tavern on SE Morrison, looking flummoxed, steps stuttering, right eye twitching. People often appeared in this state walking out of Hal’s, especially new-comers.
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