[/caption]Carol Forsloff - 50 years have passed, and Portland’s dramatic changes can be seen everywhere, from the downtown sections of the city to its sprawling suburbs, as a journalist reflected on Portland’s progress, while learning once again how some things never change in a melody, a mandolin and joy in simple things.
Her red hair glistened in the sunlight as she sat on a bench in the park area next to Portland State University. Her dress, her style, her way of strumming a mandolin was reminiscent of those college days in 1961 when young folks, in much the same way, looked hopefully at their lives and dreamed of a bright future in a world of simple things.
Hopes and dreams are part of youth that never change, despite the upsets, downsides and expansions in material ways, as our nation’s cities grow. Portland’s growth has brought it front and center from a lumber, port and fishing Northwest town to a place that assumes leadership in transportation progress, health and environmental gains. It is also a town that celebrates its art, music and cultural differences, as represented by the many events that are woven into the fabric of what Portland has become.
But it’s in the faces of the youth and music that one finds hope alive in this place on a Sunday in a park in Portland town. A young woman’s radiance as she gently shared her music remind one of the pleasures that stay with us in memories and dreams. Olivia Duffy, the lovely player of that mandolin, has her own dreams for sure; but her instrument only hints what they may be. The notes rise, hover in the air in moments, speak in whispers, then move on to touch the listener who dreams.
Dreams cement our lives, anchor who we are, as psychologists remind us. Dreams form our direction, purpose and our goals. Some see in dreams a spiritual significance in connecting with past lives or finding messages of truth for every day. For the young they give a vision of the journey that’s ahead. For the old they are fashioned memories that keep them still alive and turn back years to form reminders of one’s youth.
Portland State University stands like many college campuses, brimming with hope and youth and dreams. The memories of those dreams are encapsulated in a sunny day, a young woman’s pretty face and melodies that make a Sunday special, for the elder who listens and thinks about the past, while the young folks look ahead.
Simple Sunday pleasures can still be found in a world where pleasures are sometimes smothered in the news of human pain,, but music makes our dreams return and remind us how some good things never change.
