It may or may not come as a surprise to you that the physical pages of the Mercury are read not only by Portland residents who idly pick it up around town—in fact, there are people who have it shipped to them around the country (and not just prisons! okay, mostly to prisons.), and even the world! Take this loyal reader, currently serving in Iraq, who sent us this photo of himself reading the Mercury on what he claims is one of Saddam Hussein’s chairs. Oh… snap. I challenge any reader to produce a garden gnome-like Merc photo that can top this (we have a flickr account if you think you’ve got something that can compete). But really—sittin’ in Saddam’s chair? Good luck.

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Marjorie Skinner is the Portland Mercury's Managing Editor, author of the weekly Sold Out column chronicling the area's independent fashion and retail industry, and a frequent contributor to the film and...

8 replies on “Top This, Readers!”

  2. A detail to note, my new friend here mentioned that the chair he is sitting in once belonged to one Saddam Hussein.

    Maybe I’ll start asking our prison subscribers to send photos of themselves reading the Mercury!

  4. When I was hitch hiking from Bellingham to Portland about 4 years ago, I got picked up by some Homeland Security guy who had about 7 pairs of sunglasses on his dash. Turns out he was also a falconer and had been flown to Hussein’s residence after we had stormed it,to capture the falcons. We stopped at a rest stop and he opened a briefcase and took out an 8X10 of him dressed as a sheik with falcons in the castle. He had his falconer stick, and my dog went crazy smelling it. Then we continued on and told me he had to make a quick stop at the Fort Lewis base. As we were approaching the entry gate, he let out a huge sigh and said, “I feel safe again”. I had been biting my tongue through our trip, but I couldn’t hold back anymore. I said ,”What? You don’t feel safe unless you’re on a base?” This was a huge man driving a big truck who looked like he knew how to take care of himself. He said, “no..”

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