The steady, downward spiral of Willamette Week continues unabated with last week's cover story. "Grow Up, Already!" attempts to offer helpful advice to 20-somethings coming to terms with "the real world." WW's solution to digging your way out of credit card debt, getting organized and becoming a responsible adult? $150-an-hour personal advisors, $90 tote bags and $450 memberships to Club Sport.

If you can find me a young adult, living in Portland, struggling with student loans that afford a personal advisor, I'll mix a stack of overdue Direct Loan statements with my nightly plate o’ Ramen.

The article comes on the heels of January 14th's abysmal "Urban Sprawl" cover story. In an attempt to expose the reason why Portlanders are more flabby than the national average, WW devotes 3,000 words to an obvious answer. Ask anyone. We don’t' exercise because the economy stinks, no one can afford health clubs and it rains 375,000 days out of the year. Who wants to jog or bike in monsoon conditions?

As The Oregon Blog pointed out a few weeks back, WW seems to be in the middle of an identity crisis. With the Mercury appealing to the kids and the Portland Tribune covering local news, what's left? Well, the same thing it's been so good at over the years: in-depth coverage of stories that have fallen through the cracks. "The Great White Hoax" (Jan. 7th) is a perfect example of this. Too bad it was followed by two weeks of filler that even WM Stephen Humphrey would refuse to print.

Lame attempts to pander to the Mercury's audience appeals to no one. Here's hoping WW can find its way again.