South Dak-Oregon

There is strange trend I’ve noticed since August of 2003: South Dakotans moving to Portland en masse. It wasn’t long ago on this very blog that I was welcoming a long-time friend to Portland, Billy. And now, not even four months later, I am welcoming two more old friends to this great city, Kari and James. Both are moving to Portland for reasons that many South Dakota expatiates share: to attend school, to pursue a fresh change in lifestyle, and to live among friends in a most “livable” city. While Portland is seething with twenty-something free spirits from all over, there is something uncanny about the high percentage of South Dakota’s youth moving specifically to Portland. South Dakota is a small state with a total population of roughly 650,000 people. If “people from South Dakota” was a somewhat normally distributed statistic, one would expect that I may run into one or two people in Portland that call South Dakota home. But by the end of this week, I will know twenty South Dakotans – by name – that live in the Portland area. That is not including the people I know in other parts of Oregon, or friends-of-friends that happen to be from South Dakota. So, assuming I know 200 people in South Dakota by name, that means 1/10 of those people now live in Portland. That is remarkable. The statistics are even more absurd considering that there are likely people here that I don’t know or know of that live in Portland. And then there are the people that have moved to other cities – Minneapolis, Minnesota, Austin, Texas, Denver, Colorado… There is clearly an exodus of people in their twenties moving out of South Dakota. There could be many reasons for this, reasons that I won’t contemplate here. But if I were a state politician, I would curious, if not concerned; I certainly haven’t met anyone that is moving to South Dakota.

Aside from making local pub visits seem like a high school reunion, it is a privilege to have so many old friends in a new city. I acknowledge the rare opportunity I have to continue friendships and experiences with people that have already contributed to my friendships and experiences; excuse the cliché, but it really is a new chapter in an old book. Furthermore, friendships can expand as people connect via a disparate network of scientists, musicians, baristas, lawyers, and significant others. If my personal network was mapped, the nexus would currently be in Portland, Oregon. Granted, there is some bias due to the type of company I’ve been fortunate enough to keep. As mentioned, my friends are a disparate group, but we share a penchant for travel, liberalism, music, and the outdoors, all of which make Portland an obvious stomping ground. Regardless, the world is a shrinking place, both metaphorically and literally – we are connected by our technology, by our shrinking global resources, and by our exploding population. Solutions to these problems require a special network of people with myriad ideas, expertise, and skill. While “saving the world” may not be a conscious agenda among our small network, we are a people that inject respect for one another and for the potential of the human “experience” (Ahhh, here I go again; I could write about my macchiato and somehow steam a cosmic muse into the foam!). For these reasons I'm confident that Portland will welcome you as it welcomed me: with open arms, challenges, and a nebulous slice of destiny. Welcome to your new home, Kari and James!