This weekend, Sarah Vowell will stand up in the seedy Roseland Theatre–a venue soaked in cigarette smoke and used almost exclusively for rock and rap shows–and, of all things, read. The fact that she’s not doing it as a guest speaker at a private college, and that Fasttixx can charge $15, is a good example […]
Katia Dunn
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The Year of Eating Dangerously
Sharing an Eating Disorder with My Best Friend
In high school, my best friend and I were inseparable. When we were two, Erin and I met in play-school, and we formed a friendship based on pushing the limits of everything. After scaling a building when we were seven, I watched as she fell and slit her chin open. She didn’t cry until she […]
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Eggcetra
Eggcetra 1501 NE Fremont 288-3766 I’m sad that I have to write this negative review, because the service at Eggcetra (I’m not even going to comment on the dumbness of the name) is stellar. You know when you meet one of those waitresses who seems like she is genuinely interested in being your friend, rather […]
Posted inNews
21 Drunk Street
Should Kids Be Used in Undercover Stings?
Two weeks ago, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) sent a press release announcing their intention to prosecute seven North Portland stores they had recently caught selling alcohol to minors. Yet, in spite of OLCC’s loud trumpeting of its successes, it seems like no one except the OLCC is cheering. What has everyone else up […]
Posted inMusic
Snap, Crackle, Hip Hop
The Buttery Lords are Three Funky Honky MCs
Have you seen those Sprite commercials “featuring real people kickin’ it on the street”? The MCs are actually pretty talented, showing just how far hip hop’s traveled from its origins in black culture. Not only is freestyling hip in the mainstream, but it’s also well known enough that it’s neither off-putting nor foreign to upper-class […]
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Too Many Needles
Homeless Youth Censored
Twenty-year-old Carly Laney has been clean for a year and a half now, and she’s recently begun a project to document drug culture; her collection of photos include graphic shots of people shooting up. But now that she’s finally able to expose the public to drug culture, she feels she’s been silenced. When she was […]
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SWEET BASIL
3135 NE Broadway, 281-8337 When I walked into Sweet Basil, the new Thai restaurant on Broadway, I opened the door into a woman and practically took off her right foot. She gathered her balance pretty well after that, but shot me one extremely nasty look. I smiled sheepishly. After fighting my way through a crowd […]
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Unwelcome Atheists
ACLU Prepares to File a Discrimination Case Against the Boy Scouts
When Nancy Powell’s son was in first grade, he was approached at his elementary school by Boy Scout recruiters. It is a ritual nearly as old as public schools themselves: They asked him and his friends to join. But that afternoon when he came home from school wearing a band placed around his arm by […]
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BREAKFAST AT BILLY REED’S
2808 NE MLK Blvd, 473-8127 It’s always a gamble to eat a lot of grease with an extreme hangover. It will either help tremendously, or, in unfortunate circumstances, make it much, much worse. But have you ever experienced the third option? You’re feeling well on your way to recovery, but you end up waiting in […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Monsters Within
What Happened One Day in September
On Valentine’s Day, 25 Jews stood quietly near Holon, Israel, waiting at a hitchhiking post while an Arab terrorist drove his bus straight into the group. He killed eight people instantly; 17 others were injured. Then last week, perhaps in retaliation, Israeli terrorists shot one Palestinian (in West Bank) and critically wounded another in Gaza. […]
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READY, OKAY! Mono, Broken Ankles, and Betrayal:
The Clackamas Varsity Cheerleading Team and the Rough Road to Excellence
There are 30 seconds left. 16 girls stand huddled together, waiting in silence. A kind of emotional electricity shoots through the team, as they file soberly into a single line and offer their hands to the judges. “OK! Fingers, fingers!” yells a blond woman, who walks down the line scrutinizing everyone for jewelry–fingers first, then […]
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Budget on the Rocks
OLCC Plans to Take Money From Liquor Store Owners
Bob Hesla owns Belmont Liquor, a small store in Southeast Portland. But even as an entrepreneur and small-business owner, he is legally required to be a state agent and, as such, is employed by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC). But Hesla is also president of Oregon Retail Liquor Association (ORLA), a grassroots organization whose […]