Simon & Schuster Rebecca Carroll didn’t meet another Black person in her tiny, rural New Hampshire town until she was eight years old. Carroll, a Black woman who was adopted by an all-white family as a child, remembers the experience vividly in her new memoir Surviving the White Gaze, which recounts her time as a […]
Books
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Comic Book Round-Up: So a Witch and a Werewolf Walk Into a Bar…
Love and death make strange bedfellows, but their union is central to some of the best comics released this week. Maybe that’s because both leave us awkwardly vulnerable; we are exposed as foolish, helpless fleshy vessels buffeted by the whims of hormones and steady inevitable decay. As the saying goes, from cradle to tomb it […]
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New Comics Roundup: Robot Dorks, Moon Giants, and Billionaires in Cages
This week’s new comic books touch on my favorite three time periods: The past, the present, and the future. We’ve got ancient British myths running amok; a capitalist critique in space that feels extremely timely; and a glimpse into the distant future when the world has finished ending and it’s time to pick up the […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
TBA:20 Begins This Weekend to Make Note of a Time We’ll Never Forget
Complete Works, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Forced Entertainment, Courtesy of Portland Insitute for Contemporary Art [UPDATE: Two in-person, outdoor events from this festival that the Mercury recommended have been postponed, due to hazardous wildfire air. Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr.’s Grandmother(s)’s Kitchen Presents: Bring Your Own Blanket Free Community Picnic, scheduled for Sunday, September 13th, and […]
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Reading List: Queer and Trans Black Authors Through the Decades
This article is part of the Mercury’s 2020 all-digital Queer Week coverage. Author Audre Lorde Spellman College archives In Notes of a Native Son, James Baldwin writes, “I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am, also, much more than that.” These words could be used to describe any LGBTQ+ […]
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Multnomah County Libraries to Start No-Contact Pickup Service on June 8
Multnomah County Library Multnomah County Library announced today that they will begin no-contact, appointment-only pickup of reserved materials starting on June 8. The rollout for this new service will start with just four library branches—Central, Gresham, Midland, and North Portland—before expanding out to other locations through the month. Also, on June 8, all Multnomah County […]
Posted inFood and Drink
The Best Things to Do While Staying Home and Staying Safe: Memorial Day!
Uncut GemsIt’s beyond bizarre to know for a fact this exhausting, nerve-jangling drama is going to be the most watched thing on Netflix for the next couple of weeks, considering it’s a low-budget arthouse flick directed by the Safdie Brothers, who specialize in choppy, frenetic, aggressively off-putting narratives about amoralistic assholes spiraling down into a […]
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Powell’s Books to Offer Contact-Free Store Pickup
Powell’s Books K marie Bibliophiles now have a new option to snag the latest Erik Larson novel in person, as beloved Portland institution Powell’s Books is finally offering customers the option of contact-free pickup at the store’s Burnside location, starting today. As the renowned bookseller announced on its website, you can now choose to stop […]
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The Best Things to Do While Staying Home and Staying Safe: Wed May 20
The Stranger‘s Silent Reading PartyEvery Wednesday at 6 pm we’re going to throw these parties, at least until stay-at-home is over. Attendees at the first Zoom silent-reading party included famous actors, writers, composers, artists, families, teenagers doing their homework, people staring into space listening to the music because it was just so beautiful, cats, and […]
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What We’re Enjoying: The Great, Little Fires Everywhere, Mary Tyler Moore, and More
The Great Ollie Upton/Hulu When we’re not working our tails off to bring you breaking news on the coronavirus and updates on the election, the Mercury editorial team is spending evenings and weekends much like you: filling our free time with whatever entertainment we can get our mitts on. So if you’re looking for some […]
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The Best Things to Do While Staying Home and Staying Safe: Thurs May 14
Beyond Now: A Virtual Fundraiser for PICAPICA is an absolute good for this community, and for anyone who values art in all its forms, and wants to make sure they’re supporting creative acts and local arts. With over 30 artists sharing new performance, video, and visual works, as well as conversations with creators, dance parties, […]
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The Best Things to Do (While Staying Home and Staying Safe) in Portland: Wed May 13
The Stranger‘s Silent Reading PartyEvery Wednesday at 6 pm we’re going to throw these parties, at least until stay-at-home is over. Attendees at the first Zoom silent-reading party included famous actors, writers, composers, artists, families, teenagers doing their homework, people staring into space listening to the music because it was just so beautiful, cats, and […]