A Letter From Glendon Pullen, Friend of Willamette Week

“Local” matters because as they say “all politics is local,” and your stories about events that impact Portlanders we wouldn’t find elsewhere.

Glendon Pullen

I began reading WW while in college in 1975. A good friend and roommate of mine worked as a proofreader for WW from 1975 to 1976. When away at grad school, I would read WW as a way of keeping in touch with Portland. I’m a long time reader dating back to the days when one had to pay for it. My favorite part is the cover story, original reporting on matters of significant public interest.

So much of the internet is one big echo chamber, with news feeds and tweets passing along stories and information drawn from other sources. Somebody has to underwrite those original sources, journalists with boots on the ground doing the original reporting from which those replicated stories are drawn. I want to contribute to local news reporters getting paid to report on significant local events, which are ultimately connected to significant national and world events.

“Local” matters because as they say “all politics is local,” and your stories about events that impact Portlanders we wouldn’t find elsewhere. “Independent” matters because Americans’ daily information diet is so dominated by corporate media and political advocacy interests that there needs to be journalism not dependent on outside interests but answerable to its readers and the local community.

My father-in-law, Ed Rynerson, who will turn 100 in four months, spent his career as a wholesale news distributor. An acquaintance of Mr. Fred Meyer himself, he was instrumental in getting Willamette Week into Fred Meyer’s stores when the paper first started. He also included WW in his newspaper distribution runs to Salem and Eugene back in the 1970s. My wife and I make it a point to bring him a copy when we visit him each week. At age 99 and a half, he is still an avid reader.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.