FOODIE FUNDS

RE: “The Merc Food Critic’s Personal Favorites” [Last Supper, Dec 28], Andrea Damewood’s rundown of the sometimes expensive restaurants where she eats on her own dime—including NE Alberta’s DarSalam Lazurdi, where she orders the $14 curried cauliflower.

Fourteen fucking dollars for cauliflower? Are you kidding? This is why I avoid so many restaurants in this town—especially the “small plate” restaurants. There are enough good restaurants that give me enough food so that I’m not both broke and still hungry when I leave.

Berny5


NEWSPAPERMAN

RE: “The Original Portland Challenger” [Feature, Dec 14], Santi Elijah Holley’s profile of William A. Hilliard, the former publisher of the Portland Challenger—a newspaper dedicated to Portland’s black community—and the first African American editor of the Oregonian.

Excellent article on a genuine gentleman! This is from a white 32-year former staff member under Hilliard when the newspaper was still a, well, newspaper.

Gregory Adams


READY TO RUMBLE

RE: “From Massive Sweeps to Legal Camping, No Portland Mayor Has Wrestled with Homelessness Like Charlie Hales” [News, Dec 21], Dirk VanderHart’s rundown of Hales’ attempts to cope with Portland’s homelessness crisis.

Hales’ refusal to actually deal with the problem invited out-of-state homeless people to move into Portland.

econoline

Hales helped create the problem, then didn’t acknowledge there was a problem until neighborhoods were going to sue the city. He was too busy traveling for climate change.

Krb

Our best mayor in decades. Face it, people in this city are just assholes.

Euphonius


ANARCHISTS: THEY HATE GLASS!

RE: “Alex Falcone’s Things Not Invited Back in 2017” [Feature, Dec 28], Alex Falcone’s list of... things not invited back in 2017. One of those things? Portland’s riots! “Look, anarchists, I know you hate glass,” Falcone wrote. “But transparent melted sand is everywhere and you can’t stop its reign.”

Yes, property damage is bad, because it hurts.... people? No, actually, it doesn’t. It hurts no one, except maybe an insurance company’s bottom line. Also, do we really think Portland’s post-election protests got all the media coverage because people wanted to come out and hear what Greg McKelvey has to say? I don’t think so. Media wants blood and guts, broken glass, and overwhelming populace force. Dave Chappelle didn’t get on SNL and say, “Hey, this election is so crazy that people in Portland are talking about things on megaphones.” Nope, just nope. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “A riot is the language of the unheard.”

Carlos Covarrubias


PLEASE STOP

RE: “Bands I Pretended to Like for Boys” [Music, Dec 28], Kathleen Tarrant’s catalog of bands she pretended to like for boys, including Wilco, the Doors, and Bob Dylan. “Yeah, Dylan is great,” wrote Tarrant. “JUST STOP TELLING ME HOW GREAT HE IS. THE BATTLE IS OVER. THE WHOLE WORLD IS AWARE.”

Had I ever tried to get into your panties through music, I would have informed you that Dylan pales when held up to Townes Van Zandt, and the ballad of “Pancho and Lefty” is every bit the rebel’s anthem as “Like a Rolling Stone.” Then I would’ve commented that the best songwriters are those that break genre boundaries, and put on Tom Waits’ Franks Wild Years and, assuming you hadn’t already run screaming out the room, would’ve attempted to snuggle up to you during “Innocent When You Dream.”

Which is to say I was every bit the sexist jerk and clueless shithead when it came to women as the boys you came across during your formative years, for which I owe many women apologies. But #NotAllMen like Dylan.

Sincerely,
Some Dude on the Internets

Some Dude on the Internets, we were going to give you the Mercury’s letter of the week, but we fell asleep somewhere in the middle of your second sentence. Whoops!


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