Tag Archives: Portland

Young Fascists Colonize Portland

She was a picture of Aryan perfection: Blonde hair, the color of straw. Creamy complexion. Pale eyes. Thin, colorless lips. Blonde on blonde on blonde. She followed me into the Saffron Colonial Cafe in North Portland where I had taken a seat for a late Sunday lunch. “I want you to know that what you said […]

Brainwashing a Terrorist

The prolonged adolescence of Mohamed O. Mohamud has ended with a guilty verdict. Now he can show he’s an adult by ordering his attorneys not to file an appeal on his behalf. It won’t be easy. Chief defense attorney Stephen Sady has already said there will be an appeal. Is this really what Mohamud wants? […]

Taking Care of Mother

What a beautiful bomb. That much is certain after FBI undercover agents showed Mohamed O. Mohamud the bomb he wanted to detonate in downtown Portland, Ore. Six 55-gallon barrels, supposedly filled with diesel fuel and nails (to act as shrapnel) were secured in the back of a van to be parked near Pioneer Courthouse Square. […]

Nickel and Dimed in Portland

Liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, left-wing or right-wing. It’s all about the money. In Portland, Ore., voters were especially generous with money this past Election Day. They approved three tax measures, including a record-setting, half-billion dollar school bond to renovate three high schools, a K-8 school, update eight science labs and make seismic improvements. But […]

A Well-Educated Rabble

What happens to a dream deferred? Langston Hughes said it explodes. That might explain the noise coming from the education bubble bursting all around us. Like the sounds inside Portland’s old Marshall High School auditorium a week ago. “You should all be ashamed for recommending this pile of crap!” shrieked a Beaverton woman who identified […]

Portland’s Walmart Future

It’s just as well that Walmart has been getting rid of its greeters, considering it’s the retail chain everyone loves to hate. Who needs a smile and a greeting from Walmart? Certainly not Steve Novick, the city commissioner-elect for Portland. He doesn’t take office until January, but he’s already got big plans for his city: […]

The Man With The Megaphone

When black men gathered at Self Enhancement Inc. to talk about Trayvon Martin and how to improve their families, it was a segregated affair. The men met in the auditorium. The dozen or so women who showed up were sent to a classroom. A woman leading the discussion for the females assured them that the […]

Troy and Tookie Live On

In the split-second eternity when the needle connected with his arm, Troy Davis may have appreciated at last what happened to Mark MacPhail. Perhaps Davis finally realized what death is: He wouldn’t be here to see the news about his own execution. Davis died a humane death with loved ones nearby. But because he was […]

In Portland, Life is a Cabaret

They’re here. They’re queer. They will not live in fear. But the gays who marched over the weekend in Portland should remain respectful of fear, instead of reducing it to a party chant. Rational fear can help them see things as they are, not as they want them to be. “There is nothing but good […]