IT WAS A crisp Sunday morning in September when people began to file into the Javits Center for a dose of hope. The “You Can Heal Your Life” seminar is just the sort of optimistic approach these 2,000 women and men—mostly women—needed. And it almost seemed possible since personal finance superstar Suze Orman was there to shore up the more dubious self-help nostrums. Black women and white, Latin and Asian greeted each other like old friends. Many were middle-aged, and had been here before for the same lessons in bootstrap survivalism. A few twentysomethings and geriatrics filled out the sea of Talbots-style sweaters and relentlessly sensible shoes crowding the convention center. more

Wake up, New York! You’re supposed to be the city that doesn’t take any bullshit, the city that chews up the phonies and spits ‘em out! Are you really going to be bamboozled by a bunch of pseudo-hipsters from Portland, Oregon? Are you really going to fall for Stumptown Coffee? I’m an East Coast refugee myself, having just finished up four years of college here in Portland. I’ve been indoctrinated into its style and, more importantly, its most popular coffee roaster and chain of cafés, Stumptown. Since owner and self-styled coffee guru Duane Sorenson opened his first Portland roastery in 1999, he has overseen a massive expansion throughout the hipper zips of the Pacific Northwest. more