Hello from the Rose City

If you're new to the Cafe, please grab a seat by the potted palm, settle down with a nice big latte, and tell us a little bit about yourself. Please also look here for forum principles and rules.
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Pdxfashionpioneer
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Location: Portland, OR, USA

Hello from the Rose City

Post by Pdxfashionpioneer »

I know I got out of sequence here -- reading and posting and THEN Introducing myself -- but there's nothing new about that. I've always done things my own way often with spectacular results, Unfortunately not always spectacularly successful.
Professionally I am an accountant and have worked as a management consultant. I grew up in the New York City area, got my college degree in the Midwest and have lived on the West Coast since my early 20's. Nearly all of that time in Portland OR. I enjoy bicycling for exercise and studying history for mental exercise. I have also become active in my church. Like most people I enjoy movies and music. I also have a darling 2 year-old granddaughter whom I adore.
I turned 65 in August 2015. By that time I had been separated from my wife Susan for about a year and a half and decided to make skirts and dresses a part of my regular wardrobe. After going through the usual paranoid experiments of late-night forays and finding I not only didn't get any second looks, I didn't get many first looks.
I attribute that to:
1. People are too busy with their lives to worry about mine.
2. It is the 21st century.
3. I live in Portland OR. Like the rest of the state, it very much has a live and let live ethos and, unlike the rural portions of the state, is politically liberal and consequently people tend to be pretty tolerant of differences.
My church was the first place I wore a dress in public where people were likely to know me. Before I made that move I consulted with my pastor. I had in mind talking to the congregation first. My pastor, who's about half my age cut me off mid-sentence to say, "Just do it." The next two times I tried to throw out an alternative it was kind of humorous, "But don't you think I should" "Just do it." "But wouldn't it be better if I" "Just do it." "Well, I guess I'll just do it."
She knew whereof she spoke because she had been through something even bigger herself, she's a lesbian who was getting married soon and had convinced her parents, who still lived in the small rural town she'd grown up, in to come. Her Dad even gave her away.
The wedding turned out to be the first social event I went to in a dress. Even though it was in another rural town everyone was nice, accepting and gracious towards me.
When I went to church in a dress for the first time I almost didn't get out of my car, but after 3 deep breaths I decided taking another one wasn't going to change anything so I hopped out of my SUV and sashayed into church, where everyone was even more welcoming than I had ever known them to be.
Why? Because I presented my genuine self with poise, (somewhat faked) confidence, and the kind of humility that says, 'Hi. here I am. Nice to meet you too.'
I went into this depth on my coming out story to say, this is the model I believe in: Accept yourself, especially your unconventionality; Take whatever steps necessary to get comfortable with yourself, Be sure of your surroundings and do what you can to test the waters before you jump, and Then, just do it assertively and with confidence but without being defensive or aggressive about it.
And try to display good taste and present yourself well.
So hello there, thank you for accepting me in the café these last few months. I hope you appreciated my posts and photos and I look forward to my future visits.
David, the PDX Fashion Pioneer

Social norms aren't changed by Congress or Parliament; they're changed by a sufficient number of people ignoring the existing ones and publicly practicing new ones.
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Fred in Skirts
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Re: Hello from the Rose City

Post by Fred in Skirts »

So what if you are a little late in introducing your self. :lol: A lot of folks don't even bother and just start posting and never do a formal introduction. I myself did like you, posted for a while and then did my intro. :salut:

So belated as it is :welcome:

Fred :kiltdance:
"It is better to be hated for what you are than be loved for what you are not" Andre Gide: 1869 - 1951
Always be yourself because the people that matter don’t mind and the ones that mind don’t matter.
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moonshadow
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Re: Hello from the Rose City

Post by moonshadow »

Hello! And welcome to the boards.

My name is Moon Shadow! :lol:

Sounds like a pretty cool part of the globe you live on.
-Andrea
The old hillbilly from the coal fields of the Appalachian mountains currently living like there's no tomorrow on the west coast.
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Pdxfashionpioneer
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Re: Hello from the Rose City

Post by Pdxfashionpioneer »

Hello Fred & Moonshadow,

Thank you for the welcomes.

Yes, Moonshadow, Portland is a pretty cool place you may want to look into it as a possible place to move after Amber graduates from high school.
David, the PDX Fashion Pioneer

Social norms aren't changed by Congress or Parliament; they're changed by a sufficient number of people ignoring the existing ones and publicly practicing new ones.
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Kilted_John
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Re: Hello from the Rose City

Post by Kilted_John »

Welcome. ;-)

Other possible places in the PacNW:

Bellingham
Olympia (home of The Evergreen State College - design your own college degree)
Corvallis
Eugene
Ashland
Pullman
Moscow, ID
Boise
Missoula, MT (IIRC, we have one or two members who, when they were actively posting, lived there)
Seattle
Brookings, OR (nice in that the climate is mild most, if not all, of the year)
Eureka, CA
Arcata, CA
Redding
...etc...
Skirted since 2/2002, kilted 8/2002-8/2011, and dressed since 9/2013...
flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/245gt-turbo
skirted_in_SF
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Re: Hello from the Rose City

Post by skirted_in_SF »

Kilted_John wrote:Welcome. ;-)

Other possible places in the PacNW:
. . .
Pullman
I did my four years there from 1970 - 1974. Not sorry that I was there, but happy not to be there any more. :wink:
Stuart Gallion
No reason to hide my full name 8)
Back in my skirts in San Francisco
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Kilted_John
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Re: Hello from the Rose City

Post by Kilted_John »

skirted_in_SF wrote:
Kilted_John wrote:<snip>
. . .
Pullman
I did my four years there from 1970 - 1974. Not sorry that I was there, but happy not to be there any more. :wink:
lol, I bet. Frequently very chilly from November-early March...

-J
Skirted since 2/2002, kilted 8/2002-8/2011, and dressed since 9/2013...
flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/245gt-turbo
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skirtingtoday
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Re: Hello from the Rose City

Post by skirtingtoday »

Welcome Pdxfashionpioneer too from Scotland - the home of the kilt!

I have been to several weddings in my tartan (plaid) kilt - great fun too. Glad you've "Just done it!" Almost everyone is absolutely fine with men in skirts - which I still find surprising!

I also have been to one funeral (elderly aunt) in a black Utilitlkilt (also had white shirt, black tie and black kilt hose). That went down very well with the relatives - many of whom were from England and were delighted at it.

Ross
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on" - Winston Churchill.
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it" - Joseph Goebbels
skirted_in_SF
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Re: Hello from the Rose City

Post by skirted_in_SF »

Kilted_John wrote:
skirted_in_SF wrote:
Kilted_John wrote:<snip>
. . .
Pullman
I did my four years there from 1970 - 1974. Not sorry that I was there, but happy not to be there any more. :wink:
lol, I bet. Frequently very chilly from November-early March...

-J
That's for sure. In the four years I was there, it snowed twice on Halloween. And enough to to have snowball fights.
Stuart Gallion
No reason to hide my full name 8)
Back in my skirts in San Francisco
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