Past Issues :: 2006 June 1 :: Contents
[Cover Story]
The show must go on
Laura Witthans has an actor's face, capable of morphing from joy to worry in one seamless flow of emotion. Joy with talk of her new play, "A Wedding of the Shyrewood L'Avant Garde De Robyn Hood," and worry as she tries to raise money to keep it and herself afloat. One side of her buoyed by the muses, the other crushed under financial straits.
[News]
Mayor's SAFE initiative to examine 'street disorders' citywide
Despite the efforts of activists, the Portland City Council voted on May 31 to extend the "sit/lie ordinance" — officially, the Obstructions as Nuisances Ordinance — for another six months, until November. The ordinance is one of Portland's most controversial.
[Street Culture]
Rally spotlights need for affordable housing
Affordable housing advocates rallied outside Portland's City Hall to raise awareness about the lack of affordable housing across the state. The event featured Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams, Community Alliance of Tenants leaders, and Habitat for Humanity homeowner JD Spyker, who spoke against proposed federal policy that would cut programs that serve working families, veterans, seniors and people with disabilities.
[Poetry]
Street Poetry
[Column: Memoirs of a Vietnam Vet]
A Mexican by any other name just might be my brother
I went through the entire school system with the name Arthur. I joined the Marines and was honorably discharged in 1969 with that name. So what? My name is just one in a cloud of questions stirred up one day when I needed to get a copy of my birth certificate…
[Column: Mike Lujan]
Family Bridge program offers safe passage from the streets
Providing daytime and nighttime temporary housing to homeless families, Family Bridge, through its emergency shelter program, provides many with shelter from the storm.
[Column: Ruth Kovacs]
Funding priorities skewed toward war, while others suffer
Budget cuts: All cuts to state and federal programs for health, welfare and education are destructive, undemocratic and dehumanizing. The need for government funds to provide assistance in these areas has long been established and recognized as a basic function of government.
[Guest Column: Daniel Richards]
Searching for America, the beautiful
With our resources and work ethic, America has become a wealthy nation. With our technology, we became a world power. Some of our leaders have seen this as a great moral responsibility, and some have seen it as a way to gain more wealth and power.
[Editorial]
Let sit-lie die, and its lessons live on
[Vendors Corner]