A summer festival should, in theory, serve as a microcosm of everything we love about summer: warm weather, refreshing beers, smiling sunburned faces, the sound of kids screaming on a carnival ride in the distance, and a general sense of ease that, though fleeting, lets you believe for a moment you’re still that kid screaming […]
Feature
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“What’s Your Problem, Portland?” Being a “Liberal” (or “Selective Wokeness”)
Dear Portland liberals: You’re doing it wrong. (Pause for outrage.) As a so-called bastion of progressive ideals, Portland has quietly become the nation’s capital of selective wokeness. I’ve grown tired with the city’s passive progressives who claim to be wildly inclusive but put up walls when they feel at all uncomfortable. Call it “Portland Nice,” […]
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Mercury Readers: “Hey, Portland! You’re Doing It Wrong!”
Via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, the Mercury asked Portlanders what Portlanders are doing wrong.
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“What’s Your Problem, Portland?” You’re Recycling Wrong
From 1992 to 2018, China imported 106 million metric tons of plastic waste (or 45 percent of all recycled plastic). But because Americans are generally terrible at so many things, our recycling is filthy. Due to the enormous scale of plastic scrap, China, citing environmental hazards, is now refusing to buy our shitty, residue-coated materials. […]
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“What’s Your Problem, Portland?” Rude Baristas and Bar Keeps
Dig if you will this picture: You cozy up to the bar at one of Portland’s 9,563 coffee shops or liquor establishments with a mind toward that first blast of caffeine to help get you through your miserable day or that first sting of booze to help wash away the memories of your miserable day. […]
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“What’s Your Problem, Portland?” Reminder: If You’re Not Antifa, You’re Pro-fa
“Antifa” is short for “anti-fascist.” So what are you: anti-fascist or pro- fascist? I assume it’s the former. And yet too many Portlanders are buying into the narrative of the GOP, cops, and select media that antifa is just as bad (if not worse) than extreme right-wing, homophobic, and racist groups—such as Vancouver’s Patriot Prayer […]
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Beyond the Border
One Asylum-Seeker’s Journey Through America’s Strained Immigration System
Brayan Solís Mendoza’s life is unremarkable. On break from community college classes, the 21-year-old spends his days watching soccer on TV, texting his friends, babysitting his cousins, and wiping tables at his family’s restaurant. Mendoza lives with his grandfather and step-grandmother in Madras, a high desert town in Central Oregon that’s surrounded by sagebrush, farmland, […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Matta’s Richard Le on How Memories Brought His Vietnamese Cart to Life
It took a trauma and a triumph for Richard Le to pull his identity as a second-generation Vietnamese American into focus. In 2015, Le’s mother, who he says was his connection to Vietnamese culture, died. It was his mother who kept delicious omelets packed with shrimp, fresh herbs, tomato, and onion in the fridge for […]
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How Portland’s Brazilian Community Saved Brazilian House
Condos almost crushed the Brazilian House food cart—but Portland’s Brazilian community saved it.
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Immigrant-Run Food Carts Face Unknown Future in Downtown Portland
In late May, a Portland real estate company announced it would be replacing the decades-old downtown Alder Street food cart pod with a glitzy, 35-story skyscraper. The company gave food cart owners housed at Southeast Alder and 10th a month’s notice to vacate. To top it off, Portlanders learned on June 20 that a Ritz-Carlton […]
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In an Era of Giant Multinationals, Is There a Future for Independent Craft Beer?
DOMINIC DEVENUTA If there’s anything the Pacific Northwest loves—besides rain, flannel, and the satisfying sense of superiority—it’s craft beer, the unique, sturdy brew that reflects the history and agriculture of where it’s made and is painstakingly created at independently owned and operated breweries. In Portland, we’re lucky: As one of America’s first craft beer hotspots, […]
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Thinking of Our Future: Low-Calorie Craft Beer
The future of day drinking is light beer.