White people love patios. As I drive around this new city of Portland (new in the sense that it's changing and the Portland I grew up in is slowly dying), I see patio after patio filled with white people. I find this odd. Does it have to do with the racial disparity in Portland? Or is there some primal urge to sit outdoors while one stuffs their face? Every time the sun comes out and I see a group of white folks walking around, I make the joke that they're in search of the nearest patio. I've never seen a patio filled with anyone other than caucasians and I find it mildly disturbing. It brings to light that this town is whiter than white, and the whitest of the white (those from the mid-west) have infested our streets, raised the cost of living, redefined what Portland is (weird, right?) and have made it into their personal playground. I'm sad that the Portland I knew is no longer, and I shall long lament this loss. There's nothing that can be done, I know this. More patios will be built, more lines for mediocre, non-threatening food will be formed, more "in your face" attitudes will make themselves known, yet ANOTHER increase in property taxes, more conformity defined as individualism and creativity and more labeling of "art" that really isn't art… like, at all. If only the rain could wash all of this away…