I first noticed it down the street from my apartment earlier this year—random planter boxes placed down on a corner where occasionally one to three houseless neighbors had tents set…
How safe are we on this city’s streets?
It feels like living in Portland has increasingly become less safe. Over the last few years gun violence in Portland has increased, making the city a less secure place to…
Texas is betraying its youth
Nobody wants to live a life of uncertainty. Despite the debate about nature versus nurture, it is all but certain that one’s origins play a role in shaping who one…
What’s the formula?
Families all across the United States are being left without the proper formula to feed their children, and keep them full and healthy. In the midst of the pandemic and…
Car theft is on the rise: are city officials helping?
Picture this scenario: you just got off work and walked down to the parking garage where you left your car this morning. When you got there, much to your dismay,…
Portland’s staggering mental health crisis
Imagine you’re waiting for the train on the south end of Pioneer Square. A houseless man sitting on the curb to your right starts yelling about how the government is…
The invisible power of labor activism
These days it can be hard to feel hopeful in any sense of the word. We are living through a myriad of crises—devastating climate collapse, a global pandemic, massive income…
The other green American Dream
For decades, the vibrant green patch of grass has been a staple of the American Dream and suburbia. Success and a big swath of maintained grass are one and the…
The Western US is drying up
As a human being on this Earth, you might be concerned about the health of our planet. How much more time do we have until large cities become deserts and…
Democracy is dying by tribunal
This summer it is widely expected that the Supreme Court will issue a ruling on the Mississippi 15-week abortion ban that will overturn almost 50 years of settled abortion law…
Complacency, apathy and the failure to act
You see it on the news with increasing consistency—the highest recorded global temperatures on record for June, followed the next month by the highest recorded global temperatures ever recorded for…