While Matt packs his bags for his publicly-funded pan-America graffiti research trip, I want to memorialize my new favorite graffiti in the city, since it will soon be torn down. Experts agree that, “Eighty-five percent of graffiti is just tags and another 10 percent is gang communication” but there’s some art on the last remaining […]
Sarah Shay Mirk
Sarah Shay Mirk reported on transportation, sex and gender issues, and politics at the Mercury from 2008-2013. They have gone on to make many things, including countless comics and several books.
Posted inHomo
Cutest Photo of Sam Adams EVER
While commentors expressed some disappointment about the small size and nonexistent sound system of Portland’s Anti-Prop 8 rally this weekend, I think something happened that day which we can all be happy about: mayor-Elect Sam Adams posed for photos with a bunch of adorable old guys fighting “gnome-ahomophobia.” No civil rights march, but a definite […]
Posted inNeighborhoods
Cully Sidewalk Shortage
I was talking to city NE neighborhood planner Debbie Bischoff this week about the Cully-Concordia Community Assessment Plan (a big project that involved interviewing 70 or so people in the area about how their schools can help community life – check it out before the group presents to City Council next week) when she pulled […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning News!
Ditching the Day Job: Rumors are everywhere that Hillary Clinton might be in Obama’s cabinet, maybe as Secretary of State? Rumors rumors rumors. 206 votes: With a tiny margin between Republican Senator Norm “ethics investigation” Coleman and Air America’s Al Franken, Minnesota starts its lengthy recount. Uh… AIDS Cured? Doctors in Germany “cured” a man’s […]
Posted inCrime
Metal Scrappers
I know you’ve gotta make $20 for your next bag of speed – but really? Is nothing sacred?
Posted inBooks
Powell’s Unveils New “Art Cube” Design
Personally, I’ve always liked the plain entrance to the World’s Greatest Bookstore, but Powell’s is in the midst of revamping their Burnside and 10th entryway into an iconic “gateway to the Pearl District.” The architect of the redesign (Ernest Munch – who designed Powell’s sleek Beaverton and airport outlets) pitched a proposal to the Design […]
Posted inNews
House Poor
Foreclosure Auction Notices Bring Grim News for Renters
Foreclosed houses auctioned off, with renters still inside.
Posted inNews
Dirty Dancing
Powell Strip Club Promises to Clean up its Act
Safari Showclub promises to please its neighbors.
Posted inBikes
Getting Hit by a Car is Super Awkward.
So I was riding in the bike lane down Glisan, thinking mostly about lunch when all of a sudden I’m on the pavement, surrounded by Newman’s Own Organic Cinnamon Alphabet cookies. My glasses are on the ground, too – broken – and there’s people running frantically around me. My hands hurt and my legs hurt […]
Posted inPolitics
Bush and Obama Buddies? Bizarre.
Wow. The photo essay on the NYT’s home page was something I thought I’d never see: Bush and Obama strolling side by side! Bush and Obama chatting it up in the Oval Office! Obama slapping Bush on the back in a “Hey, we’re pals” kind of way and maybe complimenting their matching tie choice! I […]
Posted inCrime
Prostitution Pushed to Interstate?
One night in mid-October, I met up with the Montavilla in Action neighborhood patrol squad in a parking lot just off 82nd Ave. The group gets together a couple nights a week and wanders the streets in shiny orange vests, shining their flashlights into darkened parking lots and among shrubbery looking for prostitutes. I expected […]
Posted inPolitics
“Obama is a Gun Snatcher”
While jobs are down and luxury clothing sales have crashed, the Obama election boosted another part of the economy: gun sales! Handgun and rifle sales have increased 30 percent over the last year, according to an alarming article in the New York Times today. A lot of people are apparently stockpiling firearms believing that Obama’s […]