Think Out Loud

If you’re dining out in Portland to celebrate a special occasion, there’s a good chance you might end up at Nostrana. The Italian restaurant has been in business for 20 years with six-time James Beard award nominee Cathy Whims in charge. Whims has just released her first cookbook, “The Italian Summer Kitchen,” and joins us to talk about Portland’s food scene, her role in it, and simple Italian recipes for the good life.

Portland has been operating with a 12-member city council and district representation for more than 100 days now. Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney is responsible for setting council meeting agendas and referring items proposed by the mayor or city auditor to votes. Among other things, the council has wrestled with the city’s noise code, the permit for Zenith energy, rent pricing software and when exactly public testimony should be heard. Pirtle-Guiney joins us to talk about the challenges and successes of the new city council so far.

Children who experience trauma in childhood are far more likely to experience negative health and well-being outcomes later in life. Dr. Nadine Burke Harris has helped to develop a screening tool for childhood trauma in San Francisco. RJ Gillespie, Amy Stoeber, Sue Skinner, Ellen Baltus, and Fariborz Pakeresht all work with children in Oregon. We spoke to all of them in front of an audience in 2018.

Like Oregon, Washington state is what’s known as a sanctuary state. The Keep Washington Working act prohibits local law enforcement agencies from using county jails for immigrant detention and from interviewing or detaining those suspected of not having permanent legal status. Washington’s attorney general is suing Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner for allegedly sharing inmate information with federal immigration agents and holding people in jail solely based on immigration status. Sheriff Wagner says he is defending the constitution. Jazmine Ulloa wrote about this for the New York Times and joins us with the story.

A team of researchers led by Oregon’s Department of Geology and Mineral Industries recently lasers surveys of the area burned by the Eagle Creek fire in 2017 to better understand how frequent and severe landslides can be after severe wildfires. Much of the landslide research that has been done previously is in dryer desert climates. This new research will help communities understand landslide dangers after severe wildfires in wetter, forested ecosystems like Western Oregon. Bull Burns, engineering geologist for DOGAMI, joins us to expand on why the research matters.  

A growing number of international artists have been rethinking, or even cancelling, their U.S. tours amid rising costs and visa issues. Late last week, Canadian band Shred Kelly cancelled their U.S. shows, including a stop in Portland. British singer FKA Twigs also announced in April they would not be making an appearance at Coachella and canceled their American tour. Both artists cited ongoing visa issues as the reason for not performing in the states. Alex Ashley is a journalist and musician who reported on this story for Rolling Stone. He joins us to share about the challenges artists face when wanting to tour the U.S. and more.

Students at the University of Oregon are calling for university administrators to take more action to protect international students amid an immigration crackdown on college campuses across the country. At least four international students at UO have had their visas revoked, along with 13 at Oregon State University and two at Portland State. At a rally on UO’s campus last week, students demanded that the university not comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, notify students of ICE activity on campus and allow students whose visas have been revoked to remain enrolled, among other things. Jess Fisher is a steering committee member for the UO Young Democratic Socialists of America, which organized the rally. She joins us with more details on student demands and how ICE actions are changing the mood on campus.

Emily Wilson’s name on the cover of a book is a likely sign that it will be a bestseller. But she isn’t an author, and the books are unlikely fan favorites. Wilson has made a name for herself translating classic Greek texts - most notably Homer’s "The Odyssey" in 2017 and "The Iliad" in 2023. Wilson’s translations have gained a cult following and opened up these classics to a new generation of readers. She joins us in front of an audience of Lincoln High School students.

Portland’s Third Angle New Music will debut a new commissioned piece at its upcoming show on April 16 at OMSI’s Kendall Planetarium. The composition, called “Spheres,” was written for percussion quartet and three American Sign Language performers. Deaf and hard of hearing audience members can experience the program through haptic vests that translate the sound from the instruments music into physical vibrations. The vests were developed by local nonprofit CymaSpace, which aims to make arts and culture performances accessible to Portlanders who are deaf or hard of hearing. Sarah Tiedemann is the artistic director of Third Angle. She joins us to talk about the new show and accessibility in the arts. 

 It’s been 20 years since Nancy Sullivan, a media specialist at Portland’s McDaniel High School, organized a poetry slam for students in the school’s library. That one slam eventually evolved into Verselandia, the citywide youth poetry competition now sponsored by Literary Arts. The slam allows students from across Portland to bring their original spoken word poetry to the stage of the Arlene Schitzer Concert Hall to be scored by a panel of judges.  Alex Dang competed in the first Verselandia back in 2012. Qiana Woods won last year’s Verselandia and is set to compete again this year. They both join us, along with Sullivan, to talk about the history of the competition and the importance of slam poetry as a creative outlet.