The 1930s were a golden age of aviation, as famous pilots like Amelia Earhart made flights once thought impossible and inspired new curiosity about the skies. At the time, more and more women were learning to fly in the Pacific Northwest. In fact, some of the first Chinese American women ever to earn pilots licenses grew up in the same tight-knit Chinese community in Portland.

On this week’s show, we learn about two of these barrier-breaking pilots: Hazel Ying Lee and Leah Hing. Their passion for flying cemented their roles in the history of a country which sought to exclude them. We’ll hear how they’re remembered today - by their loved ones, by Portlanders, by Americans - at a time when so much history is intentionally being forgotten.

Watch the OPB “Oregon Experience” video about Hazel Ying Lee, “Her Name Means ‘Hero.’”

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Where do you go to find community when you’re older? 

That’s a question OPB’s Winston Szeto wanted to answer, specifically for senior communities of color. 

The Yat Sing Music Club was founded in 1942 by Chinese immigrants in Portland, Oregon. The club was started to raise funds for China’s defense against Japan during World War II. 

Over 80 years later, Yat Sing preserves Cantonese opera through ongoing rehearsals and community outreach. The club is particularly important for the older generation. This is a space where they can be themselves and celebrate their culture. 

There’s a similar experience at Ikoi no Kai, a senior meal program in Portland that opened in 1979. It offers a space for local Japanese Americans coming together over food and connection. 

In Oregon, the need for social connection is more important than ever. The latest census data says the state ranks among the highest in the country for residents who report feeling lonely. 

OPB’s Winston Szeto researched this topic by looking into these two groups — and why it's important to focus on those rarely covered in the media: seniors. 

Check out OPB’s Oregon Experience documentary on the Yat Sing Music Club and story on Ikoi no Kai. 

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

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If you’re drinking a beer anywhere in the Pacific Northwest, chances are it’s an IPA. Whether you’re grabbing something from the cooler at your local convenience store or choosing a pint at a pub, you’re sure to find a wide selection of this hoppy, crisp style of beer. The letters stand for India Pale Ale, but the IPAs widely available today actually have a strong connection to Oregon. Author and journalist Jeff Alworth brings us the story of how a specific variety of hops grown by breeders in Oregon changed America’s beer scene almost by accident. Also, watch the Superabundant video about Pacific Northwest hops!

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

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Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now

Think Out Loud

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

This episode involves sexual abuse. Please keep that in mind in choosing when and where to listen. And if you or someone you know may be a victim of sexual abuse, confidential support, information and advice are available at the National Sexual Assault Hotline by calling 800-656-4673.

Description:  In November of 2024 protests erupted in the small Oregon city of St. Helens. Students and parents called for more accountability after two teachers were arrested for allegedly abusing students. A police investigation led to the arrests of choir teacher Eric Stearns and recently retired math teacher Mark Collins, who were charged with sexually abusing multiple students between 2015 and 2024. This is not the first time that a teacher at St. Helens High School has been accused of abusing students. 

OPB reporter Joni Auden Land covered the upheaval in St Helens as it unfolded late last year. Around that same time, they got an email from someone who graduated from high school there in 1988. The email was from Jodie Westing, and she said that when she was a 17-year-old senior at St Helens High School, a 31-year-old teacher groomed and manipulated her into a sexual relationship with him. The teacher Westing says abused her was Gene Evans, who later became a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Education and the Department of Human Services. Westing’s email launched a months-long investigation by OPB. Joni joins us to tell the story and give us a window into their reporting process. 

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

Follow OPB on Instagram, host Jenn Chávez and Oregon Field Guide.

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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

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

At the Oregon Country Fair, there are fairies and gnomes walking around in colorful costumes. A 40-person marching band also bursts out of nowhere and plays down a path. 

“Feels like you stepped into a wonderland or something magical,” one fairgoer told OPB in 2024. 

The fair grew out of a 1960s vision of a better world: a paradise for hippies. But the history of the fair is complex. It takes place on a native ancestral gathering site. 

“I think there's a part of hippie culture that thinks that they can take any culture from any part of the world and make whatever they want of it,” said David Lewis, PhD, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Indigenous Studies at Oregon State University and a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

In this week’s episode, we sit down with OPB’s Oregon Art Beat producer Eric Slade and freelance producer Kunu Bearchum to talk about the Oregon Country Fair and how it houses hundreds of artists every year – and its history, from hippies to Native belonging. 

Check out OPB’s hour-long documentary on the Oregon Country Fair. 

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

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

At the Oregon Country Fair, there are fairies and gnomes walking around in colorful costumes. A 40-person marching band also bursts out of nowhere and plays down a path. 

“Feels like you stepped into a wonderland or something magical,” one fairgoer told OPB in 2024. 

The fair grew out of a 1960s vision of a better world: a paradise for hippies. But the history of the fair is complex. It takes place on a native ancestral gathering site. 

“I think there's a part of hippie culture that thinks that they can take any culture from any part of the world and make whatever they want of it,” said David Lewis, PhD, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Indigenous Studies at Oregon State University and a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

In this week’s episode, we sit down with OPB’s Oregon Art Beat producer Eric Slade and freelance producer Kunu Bearchum to talk about the Oregon Country Fair and how it houses hundreds of artists every year – and its history, from hippies to Native belonging. 

Check out OPB’s hour-long documentary on the Oregon Country Fair. 

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

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

In 1988, Deborah Atrops was reported missing to police by her husband Robert. When she was found dead, police quickly honed in on her husband as the prime suspect, but without enough evidence to charge him, the case went cold. Until more than three decades later, when Washington County prosecutors declared they’d finally solved the case, and charged Robert Atrops with Deborah Atrops’ murder — thanks, in part, to DNA.

Since its introduction, DNA has been considered the “gold standard” of evidence. And advances in DNA testing over the years have sometimes provided the opportunity for a second look at decades-old cases like this one. But DNA evidence isn’t always as simple as it seems on television. Sometimes what it tells us isn’t so clear.

OPB legal affairs reporter Conrad Wilson and public safety and health editor Michelle Wiley have been closely following the Atrops case for months, and join us to explain.

For more episodes of The Evergreen, 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
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When Rodger Kennedy was 17 years old, he dropped out of high school. He worked to survive on his own.  

Over a decade later, right before Rodger turned 30, he decided to get his GED. He wanted to prove a point to his son Sam. 

“I did it to show them that it's never too late to follow through and finish that goal,” Rodger said.

In this week’s episode, we finish our three-part series on OPB’s “Class of 2025.” It’s a project we created back in 2012 when former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber declared the ambitious goal of one-hundred percent graduation by 2025. 

That’s when OPB decided to document the stories of a kindergarten class on their journey all the way through high school: to capture what it’s like to grow up in the Oregon education system, and all the other life experiences that make us who we are along the way. Thirteen years after Kitzhaber’s State of the State address, one-hundred percent high school graduation is no longer the goal. 

Today, we tell the stories of the unsung heroes we’ve met along the way: the parents and guardians of the class of 2025 students. 

Education reporter Elizabeth Miller tells us the story of Rodger and his son Sam, plus all the other ways parents have impacted their kids in the project. 

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

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“High school didn't really go the way I expected it,” said Leyna, who didn’t graduate with her high school class in early June. 

Leyna’s dad died right before her freshman year. Since then, she’s struggled to complete her work, and she switched to online school her senior year. She was dealing with some health issues and helping her mom take care of her little sister. 

School wasn’t her main priority.

In this week’s episode, we continue to tell the stories of OPB’s “Class of 2025.” It’s a project we created back in 2012 when former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber declared the ambitious goal of one-hundred percent graduation by 2025. 

That’s when OPB decided to document the stories of a kindergarten class on their journey all the way through high school: to capture what it’s like to grow up in the Oregon education system, and all the other life experiences that make us who we are along the way. Thirteen years after Kitzhaber’s State of the State address, one-hundred percent high school graduation is no longer the goal. 

Today, we tell the stories of two students who aren’t graduating. Education reporter Elizabeth Miller gives us insight into their lives. 

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

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

In 2012, former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber declared an ambitious goal in his State of the State Address. 

“Next year’s class of kindergarten students is a benchmark,” he said. “They are the class of 2025. And 2025 is the year we’ve set to have 100 percent high school graduation in the state of Oregon.”

OPB decided to document the stories of a kindergarten class on their journey all the way through high school; to capture what it’s like to grow up in the Oregon education system, and all the other life experiences that make us who we are along the way. 

Thirteen years after Kitzhaber’s State of the State address, that once tall order of a one-hundred percent high school graduation rate is no longer the goal. 

“We’re not gonna meet it,” Kitzhaber said. 

Now, it’s both the Class of 2025’s last year of high school and OPB’s last year of this long-term project. 

In the next few weeks, we’ll hear three unique stories from the class of 2025 students we’ve been following. 

In this episode, we present the story of two cousins: Anna and Austin. As little kids, they lived in the same neighborhood and went to the same elementary school. But now they go to different high schools, in two different zip codes.

How did Austin and Anna’s high schools affect their decisions about college? Education reporter Elizabeth Miller finds out. 

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.