RE: “A Note to Our Readers On A Day Without a Woman (Or, Why There Are No Men in This Issue)” [Letters, March 8], Senior Editor Megan Burbank’s introduction to our March 8 issue, which contained stories, art, and photographs exclusively by women and nonbinary contributors.
I moved to Portland in 2004—back when Division Street was still a ghost town and “FoPo” didn’t exist. I’ve had a love-hate relationship with your paper since day one. As an “alternative weekly,” your paper has been a sincere disappointment. I find the vapid hipsterdom posturing of most of the writers you publish vain and boring. (The one exception: “One Day at a Time,” as celebrity fuck-ups are always fascinating to mere mortals like me. Ann Romano is funny as hell!)
This week’s issue is the first in the 12 years I was compelled to read cover-to-cover. I am thankful that nonbinary and women writers are getting ALL the bylines. There has always been too much bro-energy in your rag—a shame in a town renowned for being a “hotbed” of feminist activism. That being said, this week’s issue rocked.
I am thankful that you finally realize that stories by men are boring, and that women and nonbinary writers deserve to have their voices amplified. I challenge you to keep the high-level of journalism going. The City of Roses is listening. Challenge us. We are listening!
Julia Laxer
