At the peak of his popularity in the 1950s, no one was bigger than Oregon musician Johnnie Ray. A decade later, Portland’s The Kingsmen recorded one of the greatest rock songs of all time. Both groups helped make rock-and-roll what it is today. What was it about Oregon in the middle of the century that made it so musically innovative? And why don’t we get any credit?

You can read more and see the Oregon Experience Documentary about Johnnie Ray produced by Kami Horton here.

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What does it mean for community members to have access to foods from their culture? What is it like to take care of an urban forest and hit the trail for your day at the office? How can fitness prioritize strength and community building over weight loss?

Once again, we’ve got questions about all the interesting jobs Pacific Northwesterners have, and so do you. So we’re back with the latest installments of our ‘At Work With’ series, where interview people from different lines of work about what it’s like to do what they do. This time, we meet a worker at a market-style food pantry specializing in Latino cultural foods, a park ranger at Oregon’s Tryon Creek State Natural Area, and a coach focused on making fitness more welcoming and inclusive for everyone.

We’re always open to new ideas for jobs — or volunteer positions — that we can learn about next! If you’ve got a suggestion, email us at [email protected].

For more audio postcards about what makes us feel at home in the Pacific Northwest like the one included in this week’s show, check out our very first episode.

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For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our show page.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:
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Renée Watson grew up in Northeast Portland and attended Vernon Elementary. When she was in the second grade, in Ms. Tupper’s class, she wrote a 21-page story. 

“I brought it to school, and Ms. Tupper was like, ‘wow, I think you're gonna be a writer one day’.” she said. 

Watson is now a New York Times bestselling author and winner of the prestigious 2026 Newbery Medal for her children’s book, “All the Blues in the Sky.” That medal is the nation’s top prize for children’s literature.

She mostly writes for young readers, but she doesn’t hold back for her audience. She’s written books that range from themes of grief, identity, race, to friendship, art and hope. 

Watson says sometimes the world we live in is not the world we want, but she can right those wrongs when she’s writing. 

“I can change the ending, and ask us to be better,” she said. “I feel very powerful as a writer, to push us to dream and to be better.”

In this week’s episode of The Evergreen: how the remarkable writer Renee Watson inspires young Black readers to step into their power. 

Watch OPB’s Oregon Art Beat documentary on Renée Watson here.

For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:

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Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now

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And many more! Check out our full show list here.

The history of logging is full of tales of lumber barons and lumberjacks. Think flannel-clad men with double-bit axes doing manly things in the woods. But in the forests of Eastern Oregon, new research into daily life in a once-bustling mill town tells a more nuanced story about the extractive timber industry that once dominated the Northwest: one that elevates women and families.

Archaeologists and citizen scientists unearthed thousands of artifacts at the site of the former Baker White Pine Mill, which operated from 1910 to 1918 in the Blue Mountains. What they found provided clues about the role of women in the mill community, and an opportunity to recognize their important contributions to the lumber industry, long absent from the documentary record.

Historical archaeologist Chelsea Rose joins us for the next installment in our special series in collaboration with OPB’s “Oregon Experience,” the Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology, and Jefferson Public Radio about unearthing Oregon history — the real stuff.

Listen to the first installment of our series, about efforts to reclaim the histories of Chinese cowboys at the historic ranches of Eastern Oregon.
And learn more about Oregon’s early logging industry from our episode about the multi-racial community of Maxville

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For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our show page.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:
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Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars
Politics Now
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And many more! Check out our full show list here.

In the early hours of November 13, 1988, Mulugeta Seraw was coming home from a going-away party. He had work early the next morning. 

Two of his friends, who were also Ethiopian, drove him home. When they arrived at Mulugeta’s apartment complex, they stayed in the car, talking for a bit. 

But then a group of racist skinheads pulled up, reportedly chanting racial slurs. It quickly got physical. 

One of the skinheads, Ken Mieske, hit Seraw in the head from behind with a bat at least twice.

Mulugeta Seraw was pronounced dead at the hospital a few hours later. He was 28 years old. 

OPB producers Nora Colie and Dan Evans join us to tell the story of Mulugeta Seraw: a young Ethiopian immigrant who changed Portland. His murder inspired a wave of anti-racist activism and led to a requirement for police to report hate crimes. In the first episode of a two-part series, we learn more about Mulugeta's life from the person who knew him best: his uncle, Engedaw Berhanu.

Watch Nora and Dan’s documentary for OPB’s “Oregon Experience,” “Remembering Mulugeta: Confronting Hate in Portland,” here.

For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:

Hush 

Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now 

Think Out Loud

And many more! Check out our full show list here.

In the early hours of November 13, 1988, Mulugeta Seraw was coming home from a going-away party. He had work early the next morning. 

Two of his friends, who were also Ethiopian, drove him home. When they arrived at Mulugeta’s apartment complex, they stayed in the car, talking for a bit. 

But then a group of racist skinheads pulled up, reportedly chanting racial slurs. It quickly got physical. 

One of the skinheads, Ken Mieske, hit Seraw in the head from behind with a bat at least twice.

Mulugeta Seraw was pronounced dead at the hospital a few hours later. He was 28 years old. 

OPB producers Nora Colie and Dan Evans join us to tell the story of Mulugeta Seraw: a young Ethiopian immigrant who changed Portland. His murder inspired a wave of anti-racist activism and led to a requirement for police to report hate crimes. In the first episode of a two-part series, we learn more about Mulugeta's life from the person who knew him best: his uncle, Engedaw Berhanu.

Watch Nora and Dan’s documentary for OPB’s “Oregon Experience,” "Remember Mulugeta: Confronting Hate in Portland," here.

For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:

Hush 

Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now

Think Out Loud 

And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Nestled among the old growth trees in Oregon’s Mt. Hood National Forest, a winding trail leads to the historic bathhouses and hand-carved tubs of Bagby Hot Springs. People have been visiting the springs to soak and commune with nature since time immemorial.

But this beloved place also has a complicated history. Over the years, crowds, misuse, vandalism and other problems have caused it to repeatedly fall into disrepair. And teams of volunteers have repeatedly banded together to restore Bagby to its former glory.

This week on the show: how do we love a place without loving it to death? How do we reckon with the impact our presence has on the natural spaces we feel connected to? And can a place like Bagby Hot Springs be saved for good?

We consider these big questions with OPB “Oregon Field Guide” producer Ian McCluskey, who first visited and fell in love with the springs as a small child.

Watch Ian’s documentary for Oregon Field Guide, “Bagby Hot Springs: Ruin and Redemption” on March 19th on OPB’s YouTube channel and at opb.org.

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For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our show page.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:
Hush
Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars
Politics Now
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And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Oregon state lawmakers packed a lot into the 2026 short session before it adjourned last week. It's also been years since lawmakers, lobbyists, the public and the press have worked together in the State Capitol building. The building has been under construction for the past three years and it has only been partially open during that time. Before the construction project, the COVID-19 pandemic made pretty much everything virtual. The short session that just wrapped up brought everyone back together under one roof to work on a range of policies — from transportation funding to foster care — in just 35 days. 

Evergreen producer Julie Sabatier tagged along with OPB politics reporter Lauren Dake just before the session adjourned to hear what it was like in the Capitol building. 

To keep up with everything our politics team is doing, be sure to subscribe to the OPB Politics Now podcast. 

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:

Hush

Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now

Think Out Loud

And many more! Check out our full show list here.

When Gwen Trice dug into her family history, she learned that her father had come to Oregon from Arkansas in a boxcar to live and work in the logging town of Maxville. 

Maxville was once one of the largest towns in the county. It had a post office, hotel, roundhouse and many homes. Nine decades later, a broken down railroad trestle and one building are the only remaining evidence of this company town. The Missouri-based Bowman-Hicks Lumber Company created it in 1923 to house loggers and their families. The company recruited experienced loggers, including immigrants, Native Americans, and Black men from southern states. This was at a time when Oregon’s constitution explicitly banned Black people from the state. Housing and schools were segregated in Maxville, but the workforce was integrated. Even after the town essentially closed down in 1933, some Black families, like Gwen’s, remained in Oregon.

You can watch the Oregon Experience documentary focused on Gwen Trice called “The Logger’s Daughter” here and find recent coverage of the archeology dig at Maxville here.

And there’s a new multimedia exhibit called “Maxville & Vanport: Hidden Histories of Everyday Life” at the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts on the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis February 27 through April 11, 2026. 

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:

Hush

Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now

Think Out Loud

And many more! Check out our full show list here.

A defining feature of the second Trump administration has been its treatment of immigrants. President Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations has been a top priority since his inauguration, and in the year since, it’s been hard to keep up with all the escalating news stories related to the targeting of immigrants: arrests, detentions, surveillance, even shootings. At the same time, mutual aid and community defense efforts have been growing. And like elsewhere in the country, it’s all been happening here in the Pacific Northwest.

So this week, we’re collaborating with the Northwest News Network to bring together three reporters who cover immigration in Oregon and Washington to help us get a sense of how immigrants are being affected across our region. Joining us to share their reporting are Holly Bartholomew, OPB’s suburban communities reporter and a Report for America corps member, Gustavo Sagrero, KUOW’s race, identity and immigration reporter, and Johanna Bejarano, a freelance reporter for the Northwest News Network and former Northwest Public Broadcasting reporter.

For links to stories discussed in this episode, and an extended video version of this conversation, visit our show page.

This episode was produced in partnership with the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.

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For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our show page.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:
Hush
Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars
Politics Now
Think Out Loud

And many more! Check out our full show list here.