Praying for Paul Pintarich

I checked with Legacy Emanuel Hospital's Burn Center this afternoon about the condition of Paul Pintarich, who was severely burned in a kitchen fire in his apartment on Monday, August 8.

Sadly, he is still listed in critical condition. The center's receptionist said that while Paul can be visited he is heavily sedated, is on a ventilator and can't recognize his visitors.

Paul is the former, long-time book review editor at The Oregonian, but I got to know him as a regular columnist for the monthly newspaper I started here in Hillsdale back in the mid-Nineties. Paul grew up in Southwest Portland and shared vivid memories of his childhood with the readers of the Southwest Community Connection.

I wrote a Red Electric tribute to Paul and his writing back in April of 2007. You can read it HERE.

Paul is much on the minds of his many friends. As Quakers say: Friends, hold him in The Light.

Recent Allures

Consider this a compare-and-contrast post.

Then again, you might just let the images wash over you — separately.

They combine very different visual experiences from the past week.

The nature photographs are from the Wallowa Mountains of Northeastern Oregon.

The metal sculptures (I hesitate to call them automobiles) are on view at the Portland Art Museum in an exhibit called "The Allure of the Automobile."

The "Allure" exhibit ends Sunday, Sept. 11.

With luck, the Wallowas should be around a bit longer.