A quick story from the mean streets of Portland …
I have received solicitations in Portland from strangers seeking money for food, booze, and prostitutes. I usually reject their requests and they leave me alone. On the rare occasions I have forked over a quarter or two the beggar thanked me and without fail said “bless you” in a humble Judeo-Christian fashion – a blog topic for another day.
Last night as I left the El-P show a man with scraggly, long hair and a dust cloud reminiscent of Pigpen of Charlie Brown fame practically swirling around his being approached me with a new type of request presumably meant to shock and gag a dollar out of my pocket.
“Hey buddy, my girlfriend’s on her period and we don’t have money for tampons,” he shared, while standing in the shadows of a storefront on Hawthorne Avenue. “Can you spare some change?”
