Kilong Ung survived hell before coming to Portland, where he realized his dream of becoming a Royal Rosarian When Kilong Ung strides past hundreds of thousands of Grand Floral and Starlight parade spectators this June, most onlookers won’t realize he surv ...
2 Jun 2017 - Emily Green
The musician from West Africa has a unique style of music and storytelling aimed at inspiring a better understanding of others Parfait Bassale is a local singer, songwriter and rap artist who, when he’s not at his day job, produces music out of the baseme ...
17 May 2017 - Emily Green
Since 2015, Street Roots has been publishing Planet Portland, a periodic series of articles on the personal journeys within Portland's immigrant communities. These are their stories. Meet Kilong Ung, who spent four years as a slave laborer in Cambod ...
2 Feb 2017 - Street Roots
When Colombian social worker Cristina Castaño Henao brought her talents to Portland, she learned how even in the land of plenty, there are needs Cristina Castaño Henao’s job as a social worker once took her to dizzyingly high altitudes amid Colombia’s act ...
22 Dec 2016 - Emily Green
Thuy Huyen is running for Ms. America on the platform of world poverty, something she knows firsthand It sat there smugly, seeming to exist for the sole purpose of taunting the little girl every time she meandered past it. Thuy Huyen (pronounced “Twee Wh ...
22 Jun 2016 - Emily Green
She grew up punk in conservative Tehran, but don't tell Dela Moradpour she was 'oppressed' With her labret, tongue and eyebrow piercings and jet-black, turquoise-streaked hair, Delaram Moradpour, known as “Dela,” might have blended seamless ...
21 Sep 2015 - Emily Green
Before emigrating from Liberia, Apala Barclay was targeted by authorities for his work The mere sight of the cartoon sent a shiver through Apala Barclay. He hadn’t laid eyes on it in decades. It was a black-and-white caricature of a Liberian man sitting a ...
6 Aug 2015 - Emily Green
For Cuban Geovani Rodriguez, freedom means many things Geovani Rodriguez was 21 when he sailed away from Cuba on a homemade raft. He wasn’t afraid of the voyage, he says, even though his younger brother, Herminio, died when he left the island nation on a ...
7 May 2015 - Emily Green