Portland Rules the Summer Fiction Issue of the New Yorker

The Summer Fiction issue of the New Yorker showed up in the mail box yesterday and the Pacific Northwest (ok, Portland, really, but so what) is well represented. Miranda July, of Portland, has two pieces; one a short story called "Roy Spivey" and the other a recollection of summer movies called "Atlanta." It starts:

From the stains on the mattress it was clear that people had died on this bed, slowly, over the course of a lifetime. How great, I thought. How wonderful to be a part of such a long history. What would I do in this bed? In this room? What fluids would I secrete? I looked for clues.

Charles D'Ambrosio, another Portland resident, also has something in the Summer Movies section. It begins:

As a kid, I rarely went to the movies. My one memory of a summer movie is of a movie about somebody else's summer, a nostalgic look back--way back!--to the "Summer of '42." I believe the movie is famous for a funny scene about buying condoms, but perhaps all summer movies feature some amusing scene with condoms. I wouldn't know.

Oh, and there's also what looks like a tiny Chuck Palahniuk profile, but is actually a Glenlivet ad.

That's the American Dream: to make your life into something you can sell.
- Chuck Palahniuk, Haunted