Think Out Loud

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland is celebrating its 90th season. It’s long been one of the most prestigious professional theatres in the nation. But in recent years, it’s faced slings and arrows - from declining audiences and funding to wildfires and the pandemic. Executive Director Gabriella Calicchio began last fall after more than 25 years leading arts organizations in California and elsewhere. She joins us to talk about what OSF will do to appeal to audiences and regain financial footing - in the short and long term future.   

Teams from two Oregon high schools will soon put their hospitality and culinary skills to the test at the National ProStart Invitational. At the statewide competition last month, Crook County High School took the top prize in the culinary competition, while the Salem-Keizer Career Technical Education Center won the restaurant management category. Both teams will compete against schools from across the country at the national invitational in Baltimore next month.  Riley McCartney is a member of the restaurant management competition team at Salem-Keizer CTEC. Tayah Hagensee mentored the culinary team at Crook County High School after competing for two years. She was also named this year’s Oregon ProStart Student of the Year. They join us with more details about what it’s like to pitch a restaurant or cook a three-course meal in front of a panel of judges.

Students from Sprague High School in Salem and Lincoln High School in Portland are co-champions of a national civics competition that tests students’ knowledge and understanding of the U.S. Constitution. But it’s how they won that has made this year’s “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution National Finals” one for the history books.  Sprague High School’s team consisted of just two members, seniors Matthew Meyers and Colin Williams. They won a spot at the national finals in Washington, D.C. after winning second place in the state competition in January, behind Lincoln High School.  At the finals, Meyers and Williams faced off against teams with 20 or more players in the 3-day competition, fielding questions about constitutional law and Supreme Court cases from a panel of judges and legal experts. When the scores of all 32 teams were tallied, the duo from Salem were initially declared winners on April 11, with the Lincoln team finishing in third place. But according to reporting by The Oregonian and New York Times, Patrick Magee-Jenks, who teaches social studies at Lincoln High and coaches its constitution team, found what appeared to be a mistake in his team’s score. That prompted officials at The Center for Civic Competition, which organizes the annual competition, to investigate and correct the scoring results, with both Sprague and Lincoln High School prevailing as this year’s national champions.   Meyers and Williams join us to talk about this remarkable outcome, along with Magee-Jenks and Audrey Farrimond, a junior at Lincoln High School and member of its constitution team.

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.