Think Out Loud

Portland’s Time Based Art Festival brings performers from all over the world for 10 days of performances, exhibitions, music and movement. This year the Portland-based musician Erika M. Anderson, who has performed internationally under the name EMA, will present a piece of music, video and storytelling that she hopes will be like nothing audiences have seen before. We talk to Anderson about the piece and about the arc of her career from fronting punk bands in Montana to touring giant stadiums to returning to experimental noise.

Upward Bound is a faith-based camp that opened in 1978 for pre-teens and adults with disabilities to experience traditional camp activities, from making s’mores around a campfire to hiking, fishing or playing outdoor games. In 2014, the camp bought an 18-acre property in Gates in Linn County that included an elementary school, a gymnasium and high school building. Classrooms were converted into bunks for campers to stay in, along with other modifications made to allow for year-round programming and activities.    Although the camp was able to successfully pivot when the pandemic broke out with individual tents for campers to stay in and other precautions taken, tragedy struck on Labor Day in 2020. As the Beachie Creek fire tore through the Santiam Canyon, Upward Bound executive director Diane Turnbull and her staff evacuated the camp. When Turnbull returned two weeks later, many of the structures had burned, including the elementary school where campers stayed.    Turnbull, with the support of Upward Bound’s board, decided to keep the camp going, with outdoor bell tents that counselors and campers now stay in. The camp recently ended its summer session and has since expanded its programming to include activities like archery, theater and music performances. Turnbull joins us to talk about the camp’s recovery efforts, including working with FEMA to rebuild structures lost in the fire that would allow the camp to expand access to people who are visually impaired or require other physical accommodations. Also joining us is Misael Pujols, a camp counselor from the Dominican Republic who recently completed his third summer working at Upward Bound.   

Tribal health clinics often provide healthcare to tribal members and non-tribal members in their area. The providers can also be the only accessible healthcare option for people in rural communities. The Ko-Kwel Wellness Centers serve Coos Bay and Eugene.  The clinics are grappling with looming changes to Medicaid and gaps in funding. Lyric Aquino, an indigenous affairs reporter and Report for America corps member, has covered this issue for Underscore Native News. She joins us with details. 

Scott Kalama is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. He works as a certified prevention specialist at the Warm Springs Indian Reservation to mentor youth and raise awareness about the risks associated with drug and alcohol use. Growing up on the reservation, his older brother handed down CDs and mixtapes of Tupac and other hip hop artists which sparked Kalama’s own musical calling and journey. Performing under the name “Blue Flamez,” he raps about life on the reservation, celebrates pride in being Native American and the teachings he learned from tribal elders, while acknowledging how violence and substance use have scarred his family and community. We spoke to Kalama in 2024 when he was awarded $150,000 for winning a 2024-2026 Fields Artist Fellowship from Oregon Humanities and Oregon Communities Foundation. He joined us in the studio for a performance and to share how he plans to use this fellowship to reach a wider audience.

Day use fees for some state parks went from $5 to $10 dollars at the beginning of the year, and the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department will be applying those same fees in locations where there were none previously. According to the department website, the agency manages 259 properties, which include camping at 52 parks as well as the entire ocean shore along 362 miles of the Oregon coast. The parks and recreation department is also raising camping and other fees to close its budget gap, which it says stems from rising costs and decreased contributions from the Oregon Lottery. State parks receive no operating money from Oregon’s general fund.  We’re joined by Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Director Lisa Sumption to tell us more about how the agency balances access to facilities in the state’s parks and shoreline with maintaining those public resources as costs continue to rise.

The cities of Gresham, Troutdale, Fairview and Wood Village are rethinking what fire service might look like in East Multnomah County. For decades, Gresham’s fire department has contracted with the other cities to provide service. But the cities have grown, and funds for firefighters have not kept up. Now, the cities are considering a new option: a fire district. Instead of Gresham having primary control of services, the municipalities would work together to offer fire support for the area. Holly Bartholomew is an OPB reporter covering Portland’s suburban communities as a Report for America Corps member. She joins us with more on how the cities plan to move forward.

 Stella-Jones, a Canadian wood products company, recently pleaded guilty to exceeding legal limits of pentachlorophenol in water discharged from its plant near Sheridan, Oregon. The chemical is used to protect wood from insects and fungi and poses a number of health concerns, including an increased risk of cancer.    According to a recent investigation from the journalism nonprofit InvestigateWest, regulators have known about Stella-Jones’s history of pollution for years. On Sep. 8, after InvestigateWest reported on this issue, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued a $1 million civil penalty against Stella-Jones for “numerous violations of environmental regulations” at their wood treating facility.  Kaylee Tornay is a reporter for InvestigateWest. Aspen Ford is a reporter and the Roy W. Howard Fellow at the outlet. They join us with more details on their reporting. Ruth Hyde, Western Region Administrator at the DEQ, also joins us to explain the agency’s response to Stella-Jones’s release of contaminated stormwater into the South Yamhill River.

Since 1994, the Washington Department of Transportation has operated a roadside memorial program that allows for the creation and installation of signs along state highways in honor of victims of fatal collisions. Washington was the first state in the nation to start a roadside memorial program, and there are now more than 1,000 signs posted along state highways bearing a message such as “Reckless Driving Costs Lives” or “Please Don’t Drink and Drive” above the name of a crash victim. Nearly 70% of the roughly 500 signs installed in the first 15 years of the program are still standing.   The Columbian recently reported on WSDOT’s current efforts to collect public feedback  about the future of its roadside memorial program and possible changes to it, such as limiting how long the signs can be up for and how often they can be renewed by family members. Kelly Moyer, a staff reporter at The Columbian, joins us for more details, including concerns that family members who had paid for memorial signs shared with her.  We also hear from Sarah Risser, the treasurer and board member of the Portland chapter of the national nonprofit Families for Safe Streets. In 2019, while Risser was driving with her 18 year-old son in Wisconsin, a motorist crashed into the vehicle, killing her son and leaving her injured. Last year, Risser placed a sign honoring victims at every fatal crash site in Portland, and she has also created  bike memorials at the request of families of cyclists killed on Portland roads.

Since it broke out two weeks ago, the Flat Fire burning two miles northeast of Sisters has burned more than 23,000 acres. The wildfire destroyed five homes, threatened hundreds of others and prompted evacuation orders that have since been lifted or reduced in Jefferson and Deschutes Counties.       Although the fire isn’t yet fully contained, the focus in the Sisters community has shifted to recovery. Those efforts are being coordinated by Citizens4Community, a nonprofit that aims to build community in Sisters by convening opportunities for civic engagement, collaboration and social connection among residents, including helping them become more fire-wise. This past spring, the nonprofit organized community forums to educate residents about fire insurance and wildfire preparedness. The nonprofit has recently created a list of resources for how to help fire victims, emergency responders, local businesses and other nonprofits impacted by the Flat Fire. It also helped another Central Oregon nonprofit, NeighborImpact, set up a Flat Fire relief fund and reached out to other nonprofits to learn from their experiences leading long-term recovery needs for communities devastated by wildfires.    Citizens4Community Executive Director Kellen Klein joins us to share more details about community building in Sisters and its recovery needs.  

 Portland Mayor Keith Wilson made ending unsheltered homelessness central to his policy agenda. He’s leaned into one kind of shelter to do that, overnight-only shelters. And he’s successfully opened five of these this year, as part of his plan to provide an additional 1,500 beds by Dec. 1. Last month, the mayor announced plans to open what will eventually be four centers where homeless Portlanders can access services during the day. But Multnomah County estimates the number of people who are unsheltered in the county - most of them in Portland - to be more than 7,500. Mayor Wilson is also facing skepticism and concerns among homeless service providers, neighborhood associations and Portland city councilors about his plan to end unsheltered homelessness as his December deadline approaches.  This week, the mayor sent out a plea to an email list of approximately 17,000 people, urging them to donate to or volunteer their time at one of the city’s shelters - and seemed to warn that the Trump administration might choose to send in National Guard Troops as it did in Washington D.C. if Portland did not “address the humanitarian crisis on our streets.” Reporter Lillian Mongeau Hughes covers homelessness and mental health for The Oregonian/OregonLive. She joins us to share more about the recent opening of another overnight-only shelter despite opposition from a Pearl District neighborhood association, and the progress the city has made toward the goal of ending unsheltered homelessness.