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Although it sometimes feels like the internet is a borderless soul-crushing echo chamber of conspiracy theories, thinly disguised advertising, and gambling promotions, there are plenty of local resources that can make your time online more pleasant and productive.
For instance, the best way to learn about what’s really happening in Portland (after reading WW) is to check in on the subreddit devoted to the Rose City, r/Portland. And while Nextdoor can veer into cranky busybodydom, many Facebook-based sites such as Buy Nothing Portland, where 23,000 users offer up items they aren’t using and are willing to give away, show the potential of anti-consumerism. There are also neighborhood-based sites such as BeingNeighborly: SE Hawthorne Area, on which people offer useful information, such as which stores stayed open during the January ice storm and what kind of strap-on ice spikes are best.
The neighborliness even extends down to the street level. In Northeast Portland, for instance, residents along 25th Avenue come together on a Gmail group called “The 25.” Kristen Welsh, who moved to 25th Avenue from Texas in 2022, arrived two weeks before her household belongings.
“You can find out about your house and your neighborhood before you move, but not really your neighbors,” Welsh says. Upon arrival, she says, she joined the list and asked for help. “People loaned us pots and pans and other kitchen stuff.”
Welsh says the list promotes a sense of cohesion and community she’s never experienced before: “It’s the friendliest street I’ve ever lived on, and ‘The 25′ is a big part of that.”