La La Land is up for 14 Oscars nominations this year—a record-tying accomplishment. Read our review of the film below. IN ANY GIVEN YEAR of reviewing movies, I spend a lot of time sitting through money-covered crap struggling to discern why it was greenlit in the first place. When the only good thing about my […]
Megan Burbank
Posted inResistance and Solidarity
Ask a Feminist: Help! What is “Vagina-Centric Feminism” and Why is it Bad?!
Uteruses before duderuses! Okay but also, let’s remember that sex and gender are two different things. istock / ioanmasay Since the Women’s March on Saturday, we’ve been hearing from people who want to be better feminists, but don’t know what intersectional feminism even is. I’m here to help. Please send your questions to mburbank@portlandmercury.com. For […]
Posted inResistance and Solidarity
Women’s March Participants: Today, the Real Work Begins
On Saturday, I saw the America I want to live in. Doug Brown Here’s how the Assaulter in Chief responded to the huge, inspiring, intersectional marches that took place throughout the country this weekend: He mocked participants by saying they didn’t vote, and today reinstated the global gag rule via executive order, pulling US aid […]
Posted inResistance and Solidarity
Women’s March on Portland: “You People… Give Me Hope!”
If you attended today’s Women’s March on Portland, please join me in shouting out the old man at the turn at Jefferson and Fourth who yelled gruffly from the sidelines, “YOU PEOPLE… GIVE ME HOPE!” That opener had me ready to tune out a lone Trump voter, and that beautiful segue was like praise from […]
Posted inResistance and Solidarity
Women’s March Organizer Margaret Jacobsen: “Marching Isn’t Comfortable. It’s So Much More Than That.”
Doug Brown Portland writer and photographer Margaret Jacobsen is one of the organizers of tomorrow’s Women’s March on Portland, the local sister march to the national Women’s March on Washington. Jacobsen spoke with me this week about the intersectional mission of the march, final logistics for a march of this size (it’ll likely be one […]
Posted inResistance and Solidarity
Fight Back Against the Misogynist-in-Chief with Birth Control Preparedness
Your birth control has a simple job: It should prevent pregnancy, treat any of the conditions that birth control is prescribed for, AND IT SHOULD BE RIGHT FOR YOU. Fiona Avocado Related: Portland’s Resistance & Solidarity Calendar From the late-night Senate vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act to attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions’ demonstrated […]
Posted inFeature
Donald Trump Is a Nightmare for Women
Fight Back with Birth Control Preparedness
Fight back with birth control preparedness.
Posted inArts
New Year, New Work at Fertile Ground
Check the Temperature of Portland Theater with the Annual Festival
Check the temperature of Portland theater with the annual festival.
Posted inResistance and Solidarity
The Abortion Rate is the Lowest It’s Been Since the ’70s. It’ll Probably Go Up Again with the GOP in Power
SAY IT WITH ME NOW: Birth control makes abortion rates go down. Birth control makes abortion rates go down. Birth control— istock / areeya_ann Here’s NPR: The report by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports legalized abortion, puts the rate at 14.6 abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age (ages 15-44) in 2014. […]
Posted inBooks
Megyn Kelly, Donald Trump, and Angry Men Who Don’t Understand Journalism
I read it so you don’t have to. Over the holidays, I read Megyn Kelly’s memoir, Settle for More. I’m not proud of this, and I felt weird reading Kelly’s book in public—like I should probably have donned Handmaid’s Tale lady-blinders, or Chloe Sevigny’s chaste outfits from Big Love, the better to signal the shitty […]
Posted inResistance and Solidarity
Wingnut Rep. Steve King Just Introduced a Congressional Bill to Ban Abortion Nationwide
istock / jcarillet First they came for our health insurance, and now they’re coming for our doctors. Here’s Rewire: Rep. Steve King (R-IA) on Thursday introduced the first federal “heartbeat bill” modeled on a failed Ohio attempt to end legal abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy—before many people know they’re pregnant. “Heartbeat […]
Posted inResistance and Solidarity
Want to Know What’s Going on with the Portland Women’s March? Listen to the Organizers
Doug Brown I’ve been hearing a lot about the Portland chapter of the Women’s March on Washington lately—first, because the event’s original organizers weren’t addressing concerns from queer participants and participants of color, and later, when a change in leadership brought folks of color on board to organize the whole thing, resulting in some tough, […]