The Evergreen

In 2023 and 2024, four out of six dams on the Klamath River were taken out, in the largest dam removal project in US history. Tribes in the Klamath Basin had been fighting for dam removal for more than a century. This summer, a group of Indigenous youth from multiple tribes made the first descent of the river from its headwaters in Southern Oregon to the Pacific Ocean in Northern California since the dams came out — by kayak. Many of the kayakers had trained for over two years with the program Paddle Tribal Waters.

Jessie Sears, Karuk tribal member and OPB “Oregon Field Guide” producer for Indigenous communities, was there for part of the 300-plus mile, 30-day journey to help document this historic moment. She joins us to talk about the First Descent, how the river has changed, and what it all meant to the Indigenous youth carrying on their ancestors’ work.

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Mark Rothko is known for his colorful abstract paintings of stacked rectangles with billowy borders and layered textures. His art has been auctioned for up to $186 million, but he once turned down a commission at a fancy restaurant because he felt his work wouldn’t be appreciated by the wealthy patrons there. He was raised in Portland and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1921. His first ever solo exhibition was at the Portland Art Museum, which is opening its Rothko Pavilion on November 20th.

OPB Oregon Art Beat producer Eric Slade made a documentary about Rothko, and he joins us to explore what makes his work so special.

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.

Every American city — including Portland — is divided by crumbling old highways, and every city is trying to figure out what to do with them. "The Big Dig" podcast from Boston came to town for a conversation with OPB’s Lillian Karabaic, whose “Stop Requested” project looked into public transit across Oregon, about Portland’s own attempts to solve that puzzle and undo the harms of the past. 

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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:
Hush
Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars
Politics Now
Think Out Loud

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

From 1819 through the 1970s, the U.S. government removed Native American children from their homes. Tens of thousands of kids, preschoolers to teenagers, from tribes across the country, grew up in boarding schools, including several in the Pacific Northwest. The institutions were part of a colonialist project of forced assimilation to white culture, where expressions of Indigeneity were forbidden and punished.

The true stories of these schools and what happened there have long been obscured. Klamath tribal member Gabriann “Abby” Hall is working hard to change that. As part of a yearslong research project about Oregon’s Native American boarding school history, she documented how generations of her own relatives, and more than 500 Klamath tribal members, had attended boarding schools. In collaboration with OPB’s “Oregon Experience” writer and producer Kami Horton, Hall uncovered dark histories of boarding school experiences that affected so many Native American families. Within them, she sees stories of strength, resistance and survival that she hopes can empower younger generations working to keep their Indigenous culture alive today.

Watch Kami Horton’s documentary for OPB’s “Oregon Experience,” “Uncovering Boarding Schools: Stories of Resistance and Resilience,” on the PBS app and website.

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For 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:
Hush
Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars
Politics Now
Think Out Loud

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

Who was the badass woman who became the namesake for Portland’s only lesbian bar? Dr. Marie Equi was born in 1872 and came to Oregon at the age of 20. She became known as a radical and lived an extraordinary life. She was a fierce advocate for women’s rights and reproductive freedom as well as an activist for workers’ rights. She staged a one-woman anti-war protest during World War I. She was also a physician and lived openly as a lesbian. 

You can watch the full Oregon Experience episode on Marie Equi on the PBS app.

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:

Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now

Think Out Loud

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

Love it or hate it, Artificial Intelligence is here and poised to change just about everything about the way we learn, remember, and think. Last year, Oregon became the first state to release guidance on integrating AI in schools. This week, we go inside Oregon classrooms to see how students and teachers are using the technology—for better and worse. How do students resist the urge to cheat on assignments? How do teachers teach something they’re just learning themselves?

In March 2019, in the wooded hills above the rural river town of Rainier, Oregon, 18-year-old Sarah Zuber was found dead 400 feet from her front door. Six years later, her family still has no clue what happened to their daughter.

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.

At Fiesta Mexicana in Woodburn, joint Mexican and American flags fly in the air. Colorfully dressed Aztec dancers take the stage. And elote is everywhere. 

It’s a celebration, but this year it’s become something more: an act of resistance. 

“We have to continue to do this despite everything, despite the harm, despite the oppression, despite the discrimination. We must persevere because that’s la lucha (the fight), that’s what it's about,” said Juan Cervantes Morales, a Fiesta Mexicana Vendor, in Spanish. 

Despite several cultural events being cancelled around the state and country, Fiesta Mexicana decided to carry on and provide a space for community members to be together and celebrate their culture. 

“It is critical that our new generations learn about these cultural practices, because it is through these same practices that they will inherit so many of the cultural values that will strengthen their lives,” said Eduardo Cruz Torres Amictlan of Huehca Omeyocan in Spanish. 

On this week’s episode, OPB’S Jenn Chávez and Alicia Avila share the story of Fiesta Mexicana — its history, how it represents cultura, resilencia y resistencia today, and what it means to Mexicans around Oregon. 

A thank you to Alicia Avila, who produced a documentary for OPB Oregon Experience called “Fiesta y Resistencia.” 

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 October 1923, three brothers held up a train headed south from Ashland. Instead of making off with the loot, however, they killed four people and led police on a worldwide manhunt. Newspapers called it “the crime of the century.” It came to be known as “The Last Great American Train Robbery.” But it was actually a total failure. So why do people still talk and write songs about it? What was so great about this heist?

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:

Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now

Think Out Loud

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

On September 5th, 2023, Jesse Johnson walked out of jail a free man. He’d spent a quarter century incarcerated, including 17 years on death row, for a crime he always insisted he didn’t commit: the 1998 murder of Harriet Thompson in Salem, Oregon.
Two years after his release, Johnson is suing the state of Oregon and the Salem police detectives who locked him up for much of his life. The lawsuit argues that flagrant racism played a key role in the investigation into Johnson that led to his imprisonment.
The case against Johnson was the focus of the first season of OPB’s investigative podcast series “Hush,” reported by Leah Sottile and Ryan Haas. Today, Ryan joins us for an update.