“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 […]
Feature
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“What’s Your Problem, Portland?” Let Us Answer That for You!
Recently a very angry out-of-state conservative wrote to the Mercury and asked a very compelling question: “What’s your problem, Portland?” He was specifically asking about why Portlanders are so openly hostile to random fascists who come into town to threaten minorities and act like jerkholes—and so we all laughed and ignored him. But! His question […]
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“What’s Your Problem, Portland?” Forming Lines at Bars When There Is No Need to Form Lines at Bars
Look, we all know that Portland is no stranger to lining up for things. Brunch, tacos, doughnuts… the list goes on. All of these places have their own systems to facilitate the waiting process, and that is fine. However, somewhere along the way our city’s obsession with queuing up started to spill over into bars—and […]
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“What’s Your Problem, Portland?” The Inappropriate Right of Way (Or, Cars Stopping for No Damn Reason)
If you are now or have ever been a pedestrian, this has happened to you: You’re walking. You stop at an intersection to wait for a break in traffic. Cars are coming and going. You observe, “It’s cool that they’re all taking the ‘20 Is Plenty’ yard signs seriously.” As the last car in the […]
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“What’s Your Problem, Portland?” Waterfront Summer Festivals: Hot, Crowded, Not Worth It
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 […]
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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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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, […]
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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 […]
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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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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1984: A Tale of Two Portland Breweries
Widmer and BridgePort set the pace for Portland’s craft beer movement.