News
Portland’s Judith Arcana
Judith Arcana is chewing on a pastry while she mulls over why it is that U.S. lawmakers politicize women’s bodies. But then a toddler one booth over in the small café pitches her voice into a giddy scream.“Well good,” Arcana laughs, “Let them exercise their lungs. They look like girls. They should know how to…
Emily Saliers: Keeping faith and the good fight
Emily Saliers has been one half of the iconic folk duo, Indigo Girls for more than 30 years. In that time, her lyrics and musicianship have touched the hearts of innumerable fans as she sings about life as she experiences it. In tandem with her musical partner, Amy Ray, Saliers has pioneered and paved a…
Seattle adopts Portland model for another go at public toilets
Seattle’s Larry Clum spends hours each week walking the streets of downtown Seattle. A mental health counselor for Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission, he meanders through Pioneer Square, down Alaskan Way, underneath the viaduct and into Westlake Park. Clum tries to plan his routes so he can stop at the public restroom at the Washington State…
Internet savvy nonprofits shoulder digital surveillance
Last month’s unveiling of the vast, multi-faceted efforts the National Security Agency has put into collecting private data — paired with the outing of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden — has left Internet users across the country feeling vulnerable, violated and begging for answers. As reality sets in for users small and large, one group of…
Vendor Profiles
Vendor Profile: Vendor finds strength by helping her family
Street Roots vendor Mary Starr has the kind of dedication to family that many of us only wish we had. After the death of her husband five years ago, she left work to take care of sick family members. For her, the decision was an easy one. “I’d do anything for them,” Mary says. And…
Opinion
Street Biography: Suzanne Smith
Suzanne Smith has a master’s degree in social work and is a certified teacher of English as a Second Language. She had just turned 60 when she returned to Portland after teaching English to high school students in Hungary for four months. She was unable to find another job, and unable to pay rent, and…
Neighborhoods are made of more than brick and mortar
At the turn of the 20th century, Portland’s small African-American community was clustered around lower Northwest Portland, close to Union Station where many people worked. As the community grew, it spread across the river into North/Inner Northeast Portland. The commercial district centered at North Williams Avenue and Russell Street formed the hub of African-American life…
Tomorrow’s solutions won’t rely on yesterday’s perspectives
What Portland needs is real leadership on the homeless and housing front to develop a permanent funding source to give people a safe place to call home. Many of us working in the trenches are working to make that dream a reality and looking at a variety of ways to develop those resources. The quickest…
Poetry & Art
Horoscopes: July 5-18, 2013
Cancer (June 21-July 22) My advice to you is to find someone this month to give you better advice. Seriously. Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) Tweet this horoscope @StreetRoots and bashful rainbow unicorns will appear in your dreams with a band full of prideful leprechauns singing Fleetwood Mac covers. Promise. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Just get…
