When I hear about inflation, all I want to think about is inflating my bike tires full of air and going on a nice ride on a breezy April afternoon….
The grim outlook of owning and renting
With the cost of living increases, insufficient wages, wealth inequality growth and continued gentrification of Portland and other urban areas, trying to keep a roof over one’s head is a…
The cult of celebrity must die
There have been countless think pieces and news broadcasts on local and cable stations about the impacts of social media, the 24-hour news cycle and our collective obsession with those…
The future of education
With colleges mostly back to in-person classes and lifted mask mandates, a sense of normalcy is somewhat present again within the classroom environment. Attending class through a variety of options,…
In defense of the essential worker
Since we entered the pandemic two years ago, much has been revealed about certain structures and institutions in our society—exposing the enormously toxic behavior and virtue-signaling aimed at retail and…
We don’t often speak of ghosts, but they are definitely there
It is no secret that in the startlingly recent past, the entire North American continent underwent an incomprehensibly massive and brutal cultural reconfiguring. According to the scholarship of Erin…
Fashion in skateboarding
Are skate shoes now more valued for their aesthetic appeal, or are they still primarily valued for their function? It’s complex—fashion in skateboard culture varies within a spectrum. Skateboarding is…
The disease plaguing this country
The hopeful and dismissive thinking that fascism isn’t spreading—or is being exaggerated—is both ignorant and dangerous. Looking at what is happening politically throughout the country right now, we only need…
The great unmasking
State officials made the decision to lift the mask mandate in Oregon on March 12, just as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is in decline. We’ve been here before. …
A hop and a skip into Jumptown
Many Portlanders do not realize that there were vibrant Black cultural and artistic movements here not too long ago. Part of the shameful and barbaric historical legacy of settler-colonialism and…
We are sick and tired of police violence
Minneapolis police shot and killed Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man, on Feb. 2 at about 6:48 a.m. while serving a no-knock warrant for the apartment where he was staying….