Culture
I never looked back: Terry Gilliam was always drawn to Britain
Terry Gilliam, the filmmaker and “Monty Python” star, writes a letter to his younger self as part of a series for The Big Issue, Street Roots’ sister paper in the United Kingdom. When I was 16, the family moved from Minneapolis, Minn. — the countryside — to the dream, which was the San Fernando Valley…
News
Opinion | The real impact of universal preschool and a tax on the 5%
This fall, we could vote for free, year-round, high quality preschool for all 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds in Multnomah County, paid for with a county income tax on households with annual incomes over $200,000. With this single program, we can start to: • Give all our kids the start in life that they deserve; •…
Bill Bailey and the first American revolt against the Nazi flag | Book Review
An ancient symbol. It can be found in many cultures, known variously as the Fylfot, the Gammadion and Hakenkreuz. In China it’s called the Wan, in Japan the Manji. We know it as the Swastika, a term derived from Sanskrit. The figure is in the lore of the Navajo and in some Eastern faiths. Suggested…
She was raised to preach hate – until she broke free from Westboro Baptist Church
Megan Phelps-Roper was just a child when she joined her family in Westboro Baptist Church’s picket lines. The granddaughter of Westboro’s founding pastor, Fred Phelps, she was raised in a church that preached hate against homosexuality and held demonstrations displaying hate-filled signs outside of the funerals of members of the LGBTQ+ and Jewish communities. The…
Athletics Director Valerie Cleary stands out at Portland State
As Portland State University Athletics Director Valerie Cleary paced her way into the nearly 2-year-old Viking Pavilion, she had already tackled a couple of her obligations for the day. It started when she spoke with a sports psychology class on campus. “I speak with these classes every quarter,” she said. “I enjoy doing it. Plus,…
Vendor Profiles
Street Roots vendor profile: Rebuilding his livelihood once again
He was born at midnight during a hailstorm in Nashville, Tenn. In his 54 years, Ron Coulson has zigzagged across the country several times, working primarily as a carpenter in Wyoming and Montana, sometimes as a cannery worker in Alaska, once as a member of the maintenance crew in Yellowstone. He’s lost everything, not once…
Housing
Life on the Streets: Fear goes both ways
In a recent kickoff fundraiser for the Bybee Lakes Hope Center, a recovery program proposed for the never-used Wapato Jail, real estate magnate Jordan Schnitzer, who owns the controversial taxpayer boondoggle, claimed ticket sales have suffered at the downtown symphony that bears his mother’s name because “people are afraid to walk by all the homeless…
SR editorial: Fears about homelessness get in the way of opportunities
This week, in our latest installment of Life on the Streets, vendors share their thoughts about fear — being fearful and being feared. “People either respond with fear, apathy or they respond with kindness out there,” said vendor Daniel Cox, who has known years of homelessness. “I guess it’s wired somewhere in us to be fearful…
Opinion
SR editorial: Fears about homelessness get in the way of opportunities
This week, in our latest installment of Life on the Streets, vendors share their thoughts about fear — being fearful and being feared. “People either respond with fear, apathy or they respond with kindness out there,” said vendor Daniel Cox, who has known years of homelessness. “I guess it’s wired somewhere in us to be fearful…
