News
Street paper vendors, Greek Homeless Football Team bring joy to refugee camps
Outside the gates of an old paper towel factory in the northern Greek seaport of Thessaloniki, a group of Shedia street paper vendors waited patiently together with players of the Greek Homeless Football Team. The players were here for a football match with people living on the other side of the gates. Beyond them, they…
What Neil Gaiman would say to his younger self
Neil Gaiman is an English writer and film producer. This is what he would say to his 16-year-old self if he could go back in time: At 16 it was 1977 and I was a punk. I talked three school friends into forming a band called XXX – I was the singer and songwriter. I…
Undercurrents: A periodic look into Portland’s offbeat galleries
In Portland, a city teeming with artists, there remains a dearth of art galleries able to accommodate all the varied and often gutsy art work. Unique spaces such as cafés, churches, theaters and pot shops have stepped up to fill this gap. I have shown my work and curated printmaking exhibitions at a few of…
Young immigrants, refugees build cultural connections in Portland
The day after Donald Trump won the presidential election, 16-year-old Fowzia Ibrahim was riding a TriMet bus to school when an old woman tore the hijab off her head. The woman said, “Things are different now. You’re not allowed to wear that thing in our country,” Ibrahim recalled. The sophomore at northeast Portland’s Madison High…
Should we compare Trump’s America to Hitler’s Germany?
President Donald Trump exhibits the characteristics of a demagogue. His attacks on the media, fear mongering, overt lying and the way he plays on people’s prejudices and emotions all fit the mold. As such, more than a few memes and articles circulating on the internet compare him to one of the most recognizable demagogues in…
Stunned: Matt Klug’s saga with Portland police finally ends
Updated at 2:30 p.m. to include comments from Portland Copwatch. For the first time in 14 years, Portland City Council was called upon Wednesday to issue a decision in a citizen complaint against the Police Bureau. This only happens when the Citizen Review Committee and police cannot come to a consensus. The complaint stemmed…
Culture
What Neil Gaiman would say to his younger self
Neil Gaiman is an English writer and film producer. This is what he would say to his 16-year-old self if he could go back in time: At 16 it was 1977 and I was a punk. I talked three school friends into forming a band called XXX – I was the singer and songwriter. I…
Undercurrents: A periodic look into Portland’s offbeat galleries
In Portland, a city teeming with artists, there remains a dearth of art galleries able to accommodate all the varied and often gutsy art work. Unique spaces such as cafés, churches, theaters and pot shops have stepped up to fill this gap. I have shown my work and curated printmaking exhibitions at a few of…
Vendor Profiles
Street Roots vendor profile: A way to escape the chaos
When Tanetta moved to Portland in November, it didn’t take her long to spot someone selling Street Roots. As she tells it, “I stood there, and I watched him, and I’m going, ‘I can do this!’” By the time she had been in town for three weeks, Tanetta had attended an orientation and started selling…
Opinion
Director’s Desk: Right 2 Dream Too too valuable to lose
Right 2 Dream Too, the 5-year-old rest stop that serves more than 100 people experiencing homelessness, offers critical services in Portland’s Old Town/Chinatown. Some people don’t want to admit it, but the camp has offered a calm in a never-ending storm of mental health and homelessness. Prior to the camp in Old Town, hundreds of…
