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Letting Go of the R-Word
I lost my sister-in-law yesterday. She was 56 and had Down syndrome ["The R Word," WW, Aug. 10, 2016]. When I was a teen, I was the kid at the fair that would point and laugh at the "retards." Then, I married into a family that had one of these persons as a member. Suddenly, a new world opened to me. My new SIL simply adored me; next to Hulk Hogan, I was her "hero." She loved it when she came to stay overnight. We always played a game the next morning for breakfast: I would ask, "What do you want to for breakfast?" "Um, what do you think?" she would answer. "You tell me. You're going to be the one eating it." "OK. Cheese omelet. With extra cheese!" This same conversation occurred every time she came over for 30 years. And neither one of us ever tired of it. When I hear people say, "what a retard," I simply shake my head. It's not my job to correct them, I can't save the world single-handedly. I simply chalk it up to a person that is intellectually lazy. They will never know.
—"Clayman"
I'm gonna use the word "stupid" here—but not in relation to [Amy Silverman's] daughter—because the whole concept of "bad" words is just a way for limited minds to try to protect themselves from stress. Let's look at the word "retard." The primary meaning is "to delay or hold back in terms of progress, development, or accomplishment: e.g., 'his progress was retarded by his limp.'" The way to deal with the problem is to publicly disparage those who use the word to denigrate or insult others, not to simply react like a 5-year-old: "Oh! Bad word!"
—"Mick Wagner"
Feds Drop Teen's Pot Case
Nice to see the little guy win for a change ["Unshakable," WW, Aug. 10, 2016]. Good for this kid to fight for what he believed in and not take some plea. Trying to imagine what sort of convoluted agenda that [prosecutor] had that he would think that's a good use of taxpayer dollars.
—"Gigantipithecus"
I love that Devontre Thomas wants to be a different kind of crazy that changes the craziness. Me too. I hope this unfortunate waste of court and law enforcement resources will be a learning opportunity on how to prevent anything like this from happening again in Oregon or anywhere in the future.
—"SarahDuff"
Nix Ye Olde Portland
Please stop posting the alleged "historical" articles written by your supposed "historian" Dr. Mitchell Millar [Ye Olde Portland]. Not only are they not funny, not well-written, and poorly Photoshopped, they add nothing to the already intricate history of Portland. Why not have an actual historian write about actual historic events here? At least have the decency to put "satire" or "humor" somewhere on the page. Because seriously, all these idiots moving here are going to believe this tripe, and before long we'll have people giving tours of this crap alleging it's true, just like fucking Michael P. Jones and the Shanghai Tunnels.
—Mary Reynolds
Northwest Portland
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Willamette Week