TO THE EDITOR: When I picked up last week's Mercury, I laughed and thought the cover story ["Is Your Husband a Killer?" Katie Shimer, July 18] was a joke. Much to my amazement, it was not. Among the traits that "wife killers" exhibit and you must beware of, according to this brilliant piece of journalism: 1) "Is he unemployed, controlling, or jealous?" 2) "We're concerned about men who use drugs and alcohol." 3) "We're also concerned about men who have access to guns." 4) "Depressed men are dangerous because their [world] view is not rational."
Well, shit on me. Based on those risk-factors, I would wager that 90% of Portland males are going to potentially kill their girlfriends/wives!
Imagine the Mercury printing an article that says: "Is your Arab neighbor a terrorist? How to tell if he's the next Osama bin Laden." Can't imagine it? That's because it would NEVER FUCKING HAPPEN. Katie Shimer's article makes me want to fucking vomit, and 99% of Portland is not going to even notice its sexist and inflammatory nature because sexism towards males is deemed to be A-OK.
Obviously some men kill their wives. Some Arabs blow shit up. However, I am 100% confident that an enlightened liberal magazine such as the Mercury would see the irrational fear, hate-mongering, and alienation that an article listing such generalized Arab terrorist traits would create, and this town would rightfully rail against it if it were printed. Katie's bullshit article, however, will be accepted without a second thought.
John "Potential Wife Killer" Pasaline
I'M STILL NOT A RAPIST
TO THE EDITOR: Today, I get to work, check my messages and soon get a call from my girlfriend. She called to say she saw my article in the "I, Anonymous" column [July 18]. Sure enough, there it was. "I Am Not A Rapist" was something I wrote after venting about the trial I had the day before with my girlfriend. I never expected it to actually be printed. The bad shitty thing is my girlfriend now was my girlfriend then. We got back together after having a long talk and realizing that third parties were feeding us lies about the other.
So now I've fallen in love with this woman. Spending lots of time together and finally getting to know someone that I misjudged by calling her a "fucking liar" and "rich bitch" in the article. The day after the hearing I even tattooed her full name on my arm with it saying, "Is A Liar!" below it. Now I can't explain how bad I feel about breaking this woman's heart from an action of anger. I just want to say to her, I'm so sorry. I didn't know what was really going on. I really do love you and hope that you'll be my schnookielumps forever.
Anonymous
THOSE WEREN'T BONGOS!
DEAR PHIL BUSSE: Your article about my announcement to run for City Council ["And They're Off!" News, July 18] got most of it right: Yes, our 'event' at Pioneer Courthouse Square was hindered by several unexpected technical glitches and ended up certainly being anything but the polished, highly expensive, and sensationalized media event that some may have wished for. I myself was more than a little disappointed. However, how about some credit for persevering under less than optimal circumstances, rather than bagging the announcement entirely?
Regardless, I did what I intended to do--I talked issues. NOT BS-ing and pandering, mind you, but sincere words from a green, compassionate, and progressive perspective, and NOT playing the "politics as usual" game. I'm sorry that a progressive paper such as yours had to report on the event's non-happenings, rather than the message, as the other print and television media that were there did.
And by the way: no disrespect to your personal tastes in Latin percussion music, but our campaign is PROUD to have enlisted the talents of the two men who you referred to, condescendingly, as merely "slapping bongo drums." Indeed, Luis Opaso and Toby Rodriquez are two of the most gifted percussion artists in the Northwest and we are HONORED they agreed to play on behalf of our campaign.
Our campaign will make every attempt in the future to present high-quality productions to the level of your tastes. What's more important, however is the fact that I PROMISE WITHOUT RESERVATION to continue to speak directly to the issues, as you yourself stated in your article, to NOT "play pretty politics" as usual.
Christian Gunther,
Candidate for Portland City Council Seat #4
CONGRATS TO CHRISTIAN GUNTHER for winning the Mercury "Letter of the Week!" Christian will receive two free passes to the Laurelhurst Theater (and hopefully your vote for City Council). Got a fuming complaint or a squealing message of love? Send us your letter and you could be our next winner!
