Recently, Oregon’s Chief Education Officer (CEO) Rudy Crew wrote an editorial in the Portland Tribune purportedly distancing his plans for education “reform” from the much-maligned standardized testing regime being foisted upon our youth. Here are some comments on his editorial I made in an email exchange that I’ve chosen to publish as a free standing...
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What does it mean to have a sustainable city? While I am still tentatively certain that this concept will forever remain an impossibility in the strict sense (see William E. Rees, “Is ‘sustainable city’ an oxymoron?” 1997), I’m equally sure that we must begin moving toward this imperative with cities that are at least...
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By Portland Teacher (writing anonymously out of fear of reprisal) Just months after angry parents, students, and teachers forced Portland Public Schools (PPS) officials to back down from closing several neighborhood schools, PPS has found a new target: teachers. Negotiations between the school district and Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) began this month...
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By now you’ve likely received your special election ballot in the mail, and if you’ve been focused on the issue of adding fluorosilicic acid, (aka fluoride) into our drinking water, you’ve likely already voted and mailed your ballot. If you’re one of the thousands of Portlanders who haven’t yet voted and are undecided, well,...
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On Tuesday, April 30th 2013, a semi rig hauling a massive trailer collided with the CL line streetcar on Martin Luthur King Jr. boulevard at Market street. There were no injuries. The massive truck was attempting a left-hand turn and swung wide across all four lanes of moving traffic before slamming into the streetcar, completely...
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You might call it the world’s shortest march. You might call it a real-life trolling of the police state. Both the police and the corporate media had learned of this event via social media… just as we had intended. Unfortunately, we weren’t there to sate their desire for tragedy, but rather, to have a...
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• The following three essays were written by local PDX bicycle writer Elly Blue. Please be prepared to discuss the following articles at our next class. • ‘More and more of us have less and less money these days. Fortunately, there are a lot of things you don’t need money to do, and bicycling...
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Friday, April 26 • Portland, Oregon Alberta Street saw upwards of 700 clean water lovers take to the streets Thursday in opposition to fluoridation chemicals being added to fresh Bull Run tap water. The heated campaigns for and against fluoridation have been waging an all out war, though the pro-fluoride side has received far...
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Earth Day, 2013 • Portland, Oregon In what has become an ongoing series of cycling tours aimed at shaming corporate polluters and exposing the greenwashing going on in our city, Monday, April 22nd, saw scores of activists gather in Holladay park for the Portland’s Worst Polluters Tour: Earth Day Edition. Like previously themed bike...
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By Sasha Ross If you live in Oregon, you are familiar with the spectacle of greenwashing at the highest levels of political theater. As Portland gears up to host the UN’s World Environment Day, the international attention almost obscures the plans for multiple freeway expansions, a Nestle water bottling plant, huge timber sales (whispers...
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Like with the Sandy Hook shootings this winter, I awoke late Monday morning to read headlines of massacred Americans. Once again, out East, all hell had broken loose. Somebody had bombed the world famous Boston Marathon at the finish line. Two bombs. Three dead. Hundreds injured. Dozens lost limbs, mostly legs, as the bombs...
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Class from last week: This week we’ve got Alexander Baretich coming in to facilitate a conversation on bioregionalism. In preparation, we haven’t much (as I’ve dropped the ball), but skim over the following: A working definition A geographical area described in terms of its unique combination of plants, animals, geology, climate and water...
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