I'm excited to see that people have been reading, writing, and thinking about these questions. Taking them to perform a little "State of the Union" mental diagnostic can be very helpful I think.

I wanted to briefly mention one other economic and political factor that has a strong impact on Portland's creative community. The fact that Oregon guarantees a non-tip-adjusted minimum wage to servers may be the single most important element in explaining why so many musicians and artists congregate here. Of course, there are many issues at play, but the fact that a musician or artist can reasonably live off of a few nights' work as a waiter each week makes Oregon an extremely feasible place for someone wanting to keep their creative endeavor primary in their lives. This, combined with all of the larger cultural proclivities of Portland, and the area's long tradition of DIY culture, go a long way to explaining This would obviously change if the miminum wage for servers were ever reduced to the non-liveable levels it is at in many other states.