Vendor Profiles
Street Roots vendor profile | Moving forward and learning from her past
Before Racheal Dulaney’s mother died of cancer, she made Racheal promise to leave her abusive marriage. If she didn’t, her mom said, she’d come back to haunt her. “And I very much believed her,” said Racheal, “because we’re an Irish family.” So six years ago, Racheal left her abusive husband, her two sons and a…
News
Financial literacy is key to food security
If you asked people to suggest how to tackle food insecurity, financial literacy might not be something they would mention. However, the findings of research conducted in part by Daniel Millimet, an economics professor at Southern Methodist University, indicates that financial literacy is a key tool in the fight against food insecurity. In 2014, Millimet…
Bill to make IDs free for unhoused Oregonians expected to have big impact for a low cost
Photo identification is required for everything from opening a bank account to cashing checks to applying for food stamps to getting a library card. Without a photo ID, people are barred from accessing critical services. For people experiencing homelessness, losing an ID can mean losing their ability to get into a job or housing. Take…
Remembering Jay Thiemeyer, one of Street Roots’ original poets
John “Jay” Samuel Thiemeyer III, 73, of St. Johns in Portland, died on Thursday, March 11, at Sunnyside Medical Center. He was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, where he attended medical school before leaving to make his way cross country, eventually calling Portland his home. Jay was an activist and poet who generously gave…
Culture
The art of listening in an era of shameless self-promotion
How are you visible? It was a question that at first perplexed contemporary artist Rebekah Modrak. “Can’t you see me? I’m right here beside you,” she thought. But the concept — of making one’s self “visible” — soon crept in and took hold of the artists and academics in the university circles in which Modrak…
Housing
Bill to make IDs free for unhoused Oregonians expected to have big impact for a low cost
Photo identification is required for everything from opening a bank account to cashing checks to applying for food stamps to getting a library card. Without a photo ID, people are barred from accessing critical services. For people experiencing homelessness, losing an ID can mean losing their ability to get into a job or housing. Take…
In the shadow of the Capitol: a housing crisis
As Oregon legislators grapple with homelessness, a woman living on the streets outside the state Capitol in Salem grapples with surviving one day to the next. “She developed the worst case of trench foot I’ve ever seen,” Jimmy Jones, the executive director of the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, told lawmakers Feb. 23. “The condition…
Opinion
Opinion | Defeat the prison system’s problems the way a vaccine defeats a virus
Ga lo Vann is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Eastern Oklahoma and a prisoner at Oregon State Correctional State Institution in Salem. A vaccine carries part of a virus or its blueprints into a body, and this prompts the body’s immune system to produce antibodies counteracting the virus. Taking a vaccine is receiving…
Kaia Sand | Hints of federal progress offer new hope for rectifying old failures
On cold concrete we lie on freezing rain and snow We hide behind our blankets, dirty tarps and tent The small and cruel can see we are weak and all alone For all our toys are sold and all our money spent Outcast and abandoned we cannot pay our rent —Peter Salzmann, Street Roots vendor…
