News
Power of Creativity: Street Roots vendors and Write Around Portland
Since Feb. 12, a group of nearly 20 Street Roots vendors has been attending a creative writing workshop hosted by Write Around Portland, a nonprofit that has brought the healing power of writing to Portland’s most vulnerable for 15 years. Write Around’s philosophy of respect, writing and community has been taught to more than 4,400…
Tweedy: Spencer Tweedy on family, music, and legacy
Last year, at 18 years of age, Spencer Tweedy learned his mother had cancer. That sent him and the Tweedy family reeling. He decided to defer his acceptance to Wisconsin’s Lawrence University for a year to be with his family during his mother’s treatment. A year later, his mother is doing well — as well…
Cat craze! Internet cat videos spark festivals around the globe
YouTube’s 2014 list of most-watched clips featured not one single cat video — in fact, it was topped by a dog dressed as a spider. Have we reached peak-cat? As Grumpy Cat would say: NO. It’s simply spreading offline. A book of erudite essays on the phenomenon of cat videos, “Cat is Art Spelled Wrong,”…
Dispelling perceptions about the working poor
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was condemned to rolling a boulder to the top of a hill, an act that required the greatest exertion, only to have it roll down again. This pattern would repeat eternally, and he would never get to the top. Linda Tirado references Sisyphus in “Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America”…
Vendor Profiles
Street Roots vendor profile: Dirk Benson
When Dirk Benson sits down in the Street Roots office, his priority is to plug in his aging cellphone. There’s no electricity in his hut at Dignity Village, and the phone is a lifeline to the two most important things in his life: his faraway family and a search for a job. “I used to…
Opinion
Director’s Desk: Homelessness series packed with many lessons
Anna Griffin has been around the block. After spending 10 years at the Charlotte Observer, Griffin moved west to take a job at The Oregonian. Her first day on the job was Mayor Tom Potter’s inauguration. Since that time she’s been a City Hall beat reporter covering such topics as the Joint Terrorism Task Force,…
