News
Land of Plenty: Talking Oregon farmworkers
Oregon employs between 90,000 and 150,000 farmworkers, not including their families. The precise numbers are difficult to establish year by year, because of the nature and diversity of the work. It includes not just those who work in with field crops, but people who do nursery work and tree farms, food processing, poultry farms and…
A pictorial on immigrant farmworkers housing in rural Oregon
Oregon is a bountiful state. We produce 220 crops and livestock commodities, a greater variety than any state except Florida and California. The value of these crops and commodities totaled more than $5 billion in 2011, a record high. As consumers, we can shop row upon row of premium produce, meats and other products, most…
Nick Fish: Losing housing bureau ‘bittersweet’
Few City Hall pairings have been as joined at the hip as Commissioner Nick Fish and the Portland Housing Bureau. In his tenure on the City Council, Fish has been the architect of the city’s current housing and homeless operations, a defender of the social service safety net and the champion of multiple affordable housing…
A haven in the storm
Black and blue, on a holiday no less, Jo knew of one place she could turn in a crisis. Rose Haven. She arrived at the hospitality center on Thanksgiving with dark bruises on her face. She was scared. On the streets she had faced odd looks and felt unsafe. “I had never been suicidal but…
Poverty’s power voice
According to the last census, there were 46 million Americans living in poverty — more than the entire population of California. But despite the large mass of people struggling to get by, they hold little political clout. Instead, these millions are often ignored or openly derided by politicians, who eagerly slash poverty-support programs. And in…
Finding peace, inside and out
By Sue Zalokar, Staff writer You can’t control what life throws at you, but you can control how you react to it.” That was the meditation for my second community yoga class at the Old Town Clinic, a health care clinic run by Central City Concern for people experiencing poverty. Like the affirmations shouted from…
Opinion
A few ghosts, a little chaos, the playground of a rich youth
This isn’t garbage. It’s totally useful,” says Marshall, the father of my child and my partner in crime, life, and everything. “It’s not garbage.” Our back gate is open to the alleyway, and a borrowed box truck full of lawn debris, rotten lumber, and sundry other trash is mostly full, mostly ready for a trip…
Unexpected revenue could be used to fix struggling services
We are now well past the halfway point of the Oregon Legislative Session. These final six weeks will be primarily focused on budgets and a few outstanding policy items. On Thursday, May 16, the Legislature received the final revenue forecast of the session. This is the last piece of information that Legislators need to make…
Dalai Lama’s teachings resonate with Street Roots vendor
I was a little manic several springs back on the streets of a small Texas town called Mansfield. The police and I had been through several run-ins, which resulted in me landing in a Fort Worth mental hospital. Being a ward of the state scared me a bit, because they were in charge of when…
Commentary: Pro-Israel event draws politicians and protest
by Peter Miller and Nancy Hedrick Portland area activists protested the annual Oregon State membership dinner of the leading pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or AIPAC, on Sunday May 19. As usual, a number of local, state, and Congressional public figures attended the event. Lobbies such as AIPAC continue to distort U.S.…
Poetry & Art
Soup Can Sam: May 24-June 6, 2013
Gemini (May 21–June 20) Observed the stars from the waterfront and bumped into a Park Ranger. Those are some friendly people. Soup Can sees this as a sign that change does bring good things. Cancer (June 21-July 22) Where did all of your dust bunnies come from? There are in the hall, closet, under the…
