This Week in the Mercury
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Books Virginia Quarterly Review Cancels Winter Issue After Editor's Suicide
Posted by Jacob Schraer on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 4:58 PM
Celebrated and award winning literary magazine the Virginia Quarterly Review has suspended publication of its winter issue in light of the July 30th suicide of its managing editor, Kevin Morrissey.
Morrissey's suicide has been the subject of scrutiny as his family accused Ted Genoways, Morrissey's boss, of bullying the depressed Morrissey. Genoways denies the accusation. In the meantime, the staff has removed their names from the masthead. The University of Virginia is investigating the allegations.
Coverage around the internet has focused on issues of workplace bullying as well as the Quarterly's esteemed history.
Charlottesville paper The Hook has more.
Politics Ron Wyden - Capitol Hill's 49th Richest
Posted by Andrew R Tonry on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 4:41 PM
Shuffling through the 50 wealthiest members on Capitol Hill, I figured no Oregonians would make the list. But lo and behold, one profile from the finish line, I came upon Ron Wyden, whose $5.4 million net worth popped him into 49th. A significant part comes from his wife's holdings, including a "famous" New York City bookstore. See below:
Despite Wyden's fat wallet, he still flys coach, where he's comfortable enough to take his shoes off, as I saw on a flight back from DC last year.
News Nickle and Dimed: TriMet Cuts Kick in Tomorrow
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 4:22 PM
Environmental justice group OPAL is organizing a protest at city hall in honor of the occasion. Meet up on city hall's steps at 4PM for a march or at 5PM for a rally.
Meanwhile, TriMet is heading to the ballot in November, banking on voters approving a property tax increase help TriMet fix up failing bus stops and replace old buses.
For those of you with a nickle to spare, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance's Bike Commute Challenge starts tomorrow, too.
Cops Chief Places Officer Who Shot Aaron Campbell on Leave
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 3:24 PM
The police officer who shot and killed Aaron Campbell with an assault rifle during a standoff in late January has been placed on unpaid leave, police officials confirmed this afternoon.
But Portland Police Bureau spokeswoman Lt. Kelli Sheffer wouldn't say whether Chief Mike Reese's decision to suspend Officer Ron Frashour last week was related to Campbell's death.
Sheffer did say, however, that the bureau's internal review of the case is ongoing and that Reese has received a report by the bureau's Use of Force Review Board. Frashour fired the shot that killed Campbell, although and he and three other officers involved in the incident were never charged criminally in Campbell's death.
- Jon Sperry
Sheffer also said there's no timetable for Reese to make a final decision on the fate of the four officers—Frashour along with Officer Ryan Lewton and Sgts. John Birkinbine and Liani Reyna. But while Sheffer declined to detail the board's recommendations, to "protect the integrity of the process," a Willamette Week report citing unnamed sources said the board recommended Frashour be fired. That story also said the board recommended 80 hours of unpaid leave for Lewton, 40 hours for Reyna, who was in charge of the scene initially, and 20 hours for Birkinbine.
Police arrived at Campbell’s house on the afternoon of January 29 after his girlfriend’s aunt called 911, alarmed that she was unable to reach her niece and telling police that Campbell was suicidal and had a gun. A hostage negotiator, Officer James Quackenbush, reached Campbell on his cell phone and talked with him about the pain he over the recent death of his brother. Campbell, complying with the negotiator, came out of the house walking backwards with his hands over his head when Officer Lewton shot him six times in the back with a beanbag gun. As Campbell reached down toward his lower back, Officer Frashour opened fire with his AR-15 rifle.
More on the review process and thoughts from Portland Cop Watch's Dan Handelman below the cut.
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Crafty / Events Crafty Wonderland's Super Colossal Holiday Sale: It's Back Already!
Posted by Marjorie Skinner on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 3:09 PM
If today's rain hasn't already driven you into a catatonic depression marked by the conviction that you'll probably never have a real summer again, ever, in your whole entire life, and you're still functional enough to absorb information off of a computer screen, good for you! Is it too early to talk about Christmas?
No, but seriously. Crafty Wonderland is already underway in its plans for this year's Super Colossal Holiday Sale (Set for Saturday and Sunday December 11th and 12th), and they're seeking both crafters to apply for participation and volunteers to help out during the (crowded, frantic) weekend. If you do it right (go in with an open mind and not a lot of specific items on your list) this massive event is a good way to check off every name on your list, and for vendors it's an inventory-clearing dream. Oh my god, okay. I'm going to need to book a couple warm-weather vacations this year. I feel as doomed as a patch of 2010 garden tomatoes.
SEX SL Letter of the Day: Predator and Prey
Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 2:49 PM
A few nights ago I got drunk and knocked on my roommate's door and confessed my attraction to him while he was lying in bed in nothing more than his skivvies. (It was dark and I stayed at the door so I didn't know that until after the fact.) And then I asked him if I could sleep in his room because our other roommate—whose bedroom is directly above mine—was having sex so loudly that I couldn't sleep. Which was true but it clearly didn't not make the roommate I was drunkenly confessing to's bed the appropriate alternative and makes me an asshole to the roommate who actually has a sex life. Not being able to sleep on work nights is sometimes a real problem, but one to be addressed with her, not used as drunken fodder to get into someone else's bed.I feel pathetic and embarrassed for having thrown myself at my roommate, completely freaked out that I got wasted enough to do something I have daydreamed about but wouldn't do sober, but much more importantly, I think my behavior did not reflect active consent, trashed my roommate's boundaries and was generally creepy—all characteristics of sexual assaulters.
I am biologically female and if the situation were reversed I would commit a huge double standard because I would back any woman who did not feel safe continuing to live with a dude who did what I did. I feel like I should be held accountable and move out immediately though my housemate has told me he doesn't feel threatened and that I should stay.
Help. I feel like a total piece of shit for having done this and can't stop wondering,
Am I A Sexual Predator?
My response after the jump...
Food / Music This Is What Pink Martini Must Taste Like
Posted by Patrick Alan Coleman on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 2:15 PM
Or maybe it's what their music tastes like? I'm not sure I understand it, but H50 has got the Pink Martini sushi roll ready for your consumption until September 30th:
The Pink Martini Roll features hand harvested sea scallops, honey cured ruby red grapefruit, fresh celery buds, black peppercorn and cardamom dust.
It's third in a line of "celebrity" sushi rolls (which began with the Leanne Marshall roll) at the downtown restaurant and lounge. The proceeds go to the charity of the celebrity's choice. In this instance, the dulcet flavors inspired by Thomas Lauderdale and Co. benefit Mercy Corps.
It's for a good cause. So why not? Right?
Books Amazon Keeps Making Smart Choices with E-Readers
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 1:44 PM
In other e-reader news, Borders has dropped the prices of two e-readers. The Aluratek reader will now sell for $99, and the Kobo Reader will go for $129, which is ten dollars less than the Wi-Fi only Kindle.
Several months ago, when Borders first announced they were going to sell the Kobo Reader in their stores, it looked like a great deal: It was a no-frills e-ink e-reader. Sure, it didn't have any Wi-Fi or 3G networking capabilities, but it stored a ton of books, and it looked comparable to the Kindle in terms of performance. That was back in the days when the Kindle was almost a hundred dollars more than the Kobo price. Nickel-and-dime fighting with the Kindle isn't going to convince anyone to pick up the Kobo Reader; the only way they could make a convincing case for the device now is to cut the price by half, but Borders probably can't afford to eat the profit margin on anything these days.
Name This Band Name This Band: Hipsters with Weapons Edition
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 1:20 PM
The citizens of Blogtown did an incredible job with last week's edition of Name This Band. Poor Doobie Brothers, they never saw it coming. We expect more great things for this unnamed band:
Is it okay to hate a band on sight without ever having heard their music? It is? Okay, great.
Best comment wins a handful of Laurelhurst tickets and the respect of your Blogtown neighbors.
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Events It's Happening Tonight!
Posted by Alison Hallett on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 11:43 AM
SMOOTH SAILING—Longing for summers spent sailing off the shore of Cape Cod before heading back to your Ivy League university? Vampire Weekend will help you reminisce—or imagine—those simpler, preppier times as summer winds down to a close. Don't forget to bring the horchata. SH
w/Beach House, Dum Dum Girls; Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey, Troutdale, 6 pm, $35, all ages
LITERARY HEAT—Two of Oregon's dreamiest authors (yes, that is an official designation of literary merit) join forces tonight: Matt Love explores his personal history as a teacher and an advocate for Oregon's public beaches with Gimme Refuge: The Education of a Caretaker, while Willy Vlautin investigates Portland's seamier sides with Lean on Pete, a coming-of-age story largely set at Portland Meadows. Swooooon. AH
Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, 7 pm, FREE
Some day I will write about Willy Vlautin without using the word "dreamy." More of this week's events at My, What a Busy Week!
News Two Letters Take Critical Shots at CRC
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 11:29 AM
Another letter written earlier this month takes a sharper shot at the CRC: the bridge's design advisory group wrote to the project sponsors complaining that the current CRC design is not the bridge they imagined at all. The design advisory group wrote up a list of design guidelines, but the CRC never used them, instead bringing on a "new and relatively inexperienced bridge designer" without any explanation. "In general, the CRC process was been opaque and reactive, leading to a project with a striking lack of coherent and compelling design," says the letter, before telling the project that it should reconvene the design group and hire a new designer. Read the whole letter here and here.
Luv / Cats / Games Kitty Plays Nintendo's Duck Hunt
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 11:12 AM
You're welcome.
That dog is totally laughing at you kitteh! Are you going to take that?
Film Arnold Is Still :-( in Terminator 2: The Opera.
Posted by Erik Henriksen on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 10:43 AM
The existential angst buried in each of Arnold Schwarzenegger's nuanced characters is explored once again in Terminator 2: The Opera, in which the T-800 ponders how far he's fallen—once a cold robotic assassin, he's now well aware that he's become little more than a glorified babysitter. It's no Total Recall: The Musical, but if the T-800's tragic tale doesn't bring even a small tear to your cheek, there's something deeply wrong with you.
Indeed—what is the point of a keeling machine who can feeeeeel? Via io9.
Transportation Sellwood Bridge: Choosing the Prettiest Bridge.
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 10:29 AM
The refrain I heard last night at the meeting to rate the designs for the new Sellwood Bridge was, "Anything is better than what's there now." The current bridge, with cracked cement and overburdened steel, is so close to collapse that it ranks a two out the federal infrastructure ratings that span 1-100. The two-lane bridge with a tiny four-foot wide sidewalk for bikes and pedestrians is doubling its width no matter which final design is chosen. Though it's keeping only two lanes for car travel, when the bridge breaks ground in July 2012, engineers will be laying down cement for shoulders (what a novelty!) as well as bike lanes on both sides of the bridge and 12-foot-wide sidewalks. The pricetag for all this is $330 million, with Multnomah County picking up its share of the tab beginning this week with a new $19 vehicle registration fee increase. If you're looking for someone to shake your fist at, drivers, it's Clackamas County commuters who will be paying only a $5 registration fee increase to fund the bridge.
Architect Ricardo Rabines sat in on the discussion last night where the bridge's citizen committee scored the 12 proposed designs for the bridge, using input from a 2400-person city-wide survey. The possible designs range from the cheap and strictly functional "Concrete Box Girder" to the iconic, highly-modern (and expensive) "Steel Extradosed." Though Rabines' has designed several very modern bridges in the past, the most screamingly contemporary bridge design went down in flames in the vote last night. Here's the design that scored the title of ugliest:
In the end, the design that ranked highest is a solid middle-of-the-road option. Not the cheapest, but within the budget constraints. Not the design that stands out the most, but the one most people liked. Here it is, the steel deck tied arch:
Update! Just as a refresher, here's a picture of the current bridge.
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Sports Nicolas Batum Hurts the Rim
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 10:11 AM
The start of the 2010-11 Trail Blazers season is only 56 days, 8 hours, and 43 minutes away, but hopefully this ridiculous Nicolas Batum dunk at the FIBA World Championships can hold you over. This rim-punishing dunk was against current, and possibly former, teammate Rudy Fernandez and his Spain team.
Mark it down, Batum has a huge year for the Blazers.
Politics Ducks Gather In Barrel
Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 10:10 AM
...and New Left Media can't resist shooting. (My favorite quote: "I've never heard Glenn Beck be disrespectful to the president.")
News Good Morning News!
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 9:05 AM
Mission Accomplished: Combat operations in Iraq are done, but gov't warns against “premature victory parades or self-congratulations”.
Eight Foot Tall Piles of Poop: Inspectors find gross violations at salmonella-spreading Iowa egg farms.
Um... Cue Freakout: Republicans have advantage leading into midterm elections.
California May Be First State to Ban the Bag: Go ahead, steal Oregon's "We're the greenest!" crown.
Yikes: Homelessness is up 50 percent in NYC.
Makeover! Obama redoes the Oval Office in kind of a beige Pottery Barn motif.
Sweet New Dinosaur: A Romanian Velociraptor named Balaur bondoc, which means "stocky dragon".
It's the Beer Popsicle: Like a push pop for people who like getting drunk.
Don't Use Your Cell Phone While Driving: Especially if you're driving around with two pounds of pot.
Oregon National Guard Vets Sue War Contractor: Local vets say contractor KBR exposed them to toxic hexavalent chromium.
Music KEXP Free Daytime Shows at MusicFest NW
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 8:26 AM
There is no better hidden gem to MusicFest NW than the afternoon KEXP shows at the Doug Fir. Let's face it, sometimes a MFNW wristband is just too much for your thin pockets to afford, or perhaps you are like me and just love the experience of sneaking out of the office midday for a concert. Either way, here is a list of the KEXP-sponsored shows at Doug Fir, all of which are totally free, totally all ages, and totally open to the public. Totally!
Thursday September 9
10:30am - Dan Mangan Laura Veirs
12:30pm - Phantogram
2:30pm - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
4:30pm - The Cave Singers
Friday September 10
10:30am - Blue Giant
12:30pm - Bobby Bare Jr
2:30pm - The Tallest Man on Earth
4:30pm - Thee Oh Sees
End Hits: The prospect of afternoon Ted Leo and The Tallest Man on Earth make me a very happy boy.
Monday, August 30, 2010
The Twitter OH on Twitter
Posted by Alison Hallett on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 4:43 PM
That is the rightest thing I have read all day.
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SEX Here Is What a Wildly Sucessful Kickstarter Project Looks Like: Punk Mathematics
Posted by Alison Hallett on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 4:26 PM
Local comedian/math teacher/Math for Primates podcaster Tom Henderson is raising money to write a book called Punk Mathematics, based on the principles laid out in an interview with Technocult:
1) People use the average Joe’s poor mathematics as a way to control, exploit, and numerically fuck him over.2) Mathematics is the subject in which, regardless of what the authorities tell you is true, you can verify every last iota of truth, with a minimum of equipment.
Therefore, if you are concerned with the empowerment of everyday people, and you believe that it’s probably a good idea to be skeptical of authority you could do worse than to develop your skills at being able to talk math in such a way that anyone can ask questions, can express curiosity, can imagine applying it in the most weird-ass off-the-wall ways possible.
It's really a great use of Kickstarter—a well-edited, polished video; clever prizes for donating (one of the pledge options—it's now sold out—offered access to a 24-hour "Math Emergency Hotline."), and of course, a solid concept.
So there are like a million nerdy time wasters contained within this blog post. (Me, I'm listening to this.) Have at it.
(via)
News Mary Volm Scooting Down Rough Legal Path
Posted by Denis C. Theriault on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 4:14 PM
The Oregonian today shed some light on what brand of legal troubles could be facing Mary Volm, the onetime Portland City Council candidate arrested over the weekend on suspicion of driving drunk. (After, police say, she fell off her Vespa downtown and attempted to scrum with passers-by.)
Court records show Volm was arrested more than six years earlier, in February 2004, on suspicion of DUII and reckless driving. She pleaded guilty to the latter charge but was allowed to enter a diversion program on the drunk driving charge instead of pleading guilty. Diversion programs provide a way for defendants to keep certain charges off their record, in exchange for attending classes, performing community service and sometimes making restitution.
Interestingly, especially to the O,her attorney at the time, Stephen Houze, is now representing the stepmother of missing Portland boy Kyron Horman. Houze's office told me he's not representing her this time.
Diversion was a good break for Volm back then, but it's not available this time. Legal changes that took effect this year require anyone with a drunk driving charge wait 10 years before they can participate in diversion again.
Now, Volm faces a series of more stringent penalties, from community service to a couple days of jail time, plus probation and the suspension of her driver's license for a year. She also will be fined based on her blood-alcohol content—the fine increases along with the alcohol levels in the blood.
Like a lot of news-types around town, I've got a message into Volm to hear her side of things. But no word back yet. Volm is used to reporters calling, as the former spokeswoman for the Transportation Bureau, but this is a bit different.
Media Mailbox Mixup: A Letter for the Willamette Week
Posted by Marjorie Skinner on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 4:01 PM
So this letter came in an envelope addressed to the Willamette Week, but with our street address. Maybe it's intended for both of us. Either way I don't think it's from anyone's "Grama."
Dear WW: You probably won't print this but I feel I have to interject. Young people are correct in having fun while they are young, while they still can, because once your body deteriorates with age, having fun is a find memory. Go for it. However, having fun by turning yourself into the most disgusting mediocre, pathetic caricature of a man or woman possible screams "mentally ill" to everyone else. Come on, we need you. The world is in trouble and doesn't need more flakes. Lighten up. You are alienating everyone who is still mentally well. You may need help from them someday and more importantly they need your help also. Could you please tone down the repulsiveness, get off the free ride, and take a real place of service in the community, instead of the daily most-ridiculous contest that saddens the mature and frightens pets and small children? You really are harming yourself and others instead of trying to help things get better for us all. If you really want to defeat corporate fascism stop announcing brainless conformity to all. I love you. —Grama
Whatever could it mean?
Homo / Media American Hate: Then and Now
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 1:46 PM
In a post titled "Our Classy History," Armagideon Time published a real letter that a real human being sent to Life Magazine on the topic of interracial marriage:
So what I'm wondering is: Is it progress that our most ignorant, small-minded citizens are no longer threatening murder-suicide in national publications, and that they choose to wear their awful, ignorant homophobic sentiments on t-shirts and wear them to Wal-Mart instead?
Drunk Suck It, Teetotaler!
Posted by Patrick Alan Coleman on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 1:22 PM
I was having an OK day until I found a Time magazine article on alcohol consumption... Suddenly, everything was brighter. Brace yourself, Blogtownies, for some of the best news you will receive all day. From the recent article:
...a new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that - for reasons that aren't entirely clear - abstaining from alcohol does actually tend to increase one's risk of dying even when you exclude former drinkers. The most shocking part? Abstainers' mortality rates are higher than those of heavy drinkers.
The article goes on to explain that researchers have no clue why this is. I for one think it's because I'm way more relaxed after two whiskey sodas than I was before I started imbibing them, and that can ONLY be healthy. Cheers, kids.
- She will outlive us all.
United Federation of Planets / Film Headline of the Day: "Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus vs. Urkel."
Posted by Erik Henriksen on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 12:56 PM
- Why yes, I am pretty awesome at photoshop.
Not content to just have in production Mega Python vs. Gatoroid starring '80s pop princesses Debbie Gibson and Tiffany, the Asylum is also pressing forward with Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus, and this time their stunt casting dips into 1990s pop culture with the announcement it will star none other than Jaleel White, best known to fans of Family Matters as that lovable nerd Steve Urkel.Joining Urkel will be Star Trek: Voyager's holographic doctor Robert Picardo, Gary Stretch (Alexander), and Sarah Lieving, who must really love goofy monster shark flicks since she'll also be seen soon co-starring in Fred Olen Ray's Super Shark Attack. (Via.)
That is all. Good day.
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