Think Out Loud

Whether you attended Taylor Swift's Eras Tour or took a trip to a Disney park this summer, you may not realize there is an Oregon connection between the two. Michael Curry Design is a creative studio in Scappoose that has crafted puppets, stage pieces and more for a variety of venues. From artist tours to theatrical productions, the creatives at MCD have left their mark on stages and performances not just across the country, but around the world. Michael Curry is the founder, president and owner of MCD. Charles Babbage is the lead art director. They join us to share more on their work.

The Great Oregon Steam-Up in Brooks has been showcasing antique machinery every summer since 1969. The machines on display can be as large as a crane or as small as a coffee grinder. Visitors can also watch demonstrations of sawmilling and threshing equipment, participate in a parade of steam-powered vehicles and ride miniature trains and trolleys.

Michelle Duchateau is the president of Powerland Heritage Park, which organizes the Steam-Up. She joins us to talk about this year’s festival and what’s kept visitors coming back for more than 50 years.

Low-head dams likely wouldn't catch the attention of a person floating down a river on a paddle board or inner tube. The unassuming structures can have drops as low as 1 foot, appearing as little more than a smooth bump in otherwise calm waters. But the continuous motion of water over the top of the dam creates a dangerous vortex at its base. As recently reported in the Register Guard, the churn can trap swimmers, kayakers and others recreating in the water, earning them the nickname “drowning machines.”

Haleigh Kochanski covers breaking news and public safety for the Register-Guard. She joins us with more details about these dams and the dangers they present.

“Herding cats” may be shorthand for an impossible task, but according to Monique Udell, Director of the  Human-Animal Interaction Lab at Oregon State University, cats can be trained. We’ll hear what she’s learning about the relationship between cats and people, and how they can each improve each other’s lives.

The Portland based-book company “A Kids Co.,” which has created books such as “A Kids Book About Racism” and “A Kids Book About Empathy,” was recently acquired by the British publisher DK. The partnership establishes DK’s first U.S.-based children’s creative team. A Kids Co. began in 2018 when founder Jelani Memory wrote “A Kids Book About Racism” for his six children. Now, A Kids Co. has published over 30 books featuring authors such as Billie Jean King, Jessica Biel and Ashley Graham. The company now also produces podcasts and television shows in addition to books. Memory joins us to talk more about his entrepreneurial journey.

Kids can get free lunches through the Central Curry School District in Gold Beach even during the summer. But workers at the Curry Public Library noticed that some kids were missing out and decided to step in. Throughout the summer, the library offers free sack lunches to children. The program began last year and recently has expanded. We learn more about the service and why it’s needed from Bronwyn Greathead, a library employee and program coordinator for ASCEND, a collaboration between the library and the Central Curry School District.

Last spring, a dozen horses died on the track at Churchill Downs, including two during the world’s most famous horseracing event, the Kentucky Derby. A report later released by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority found no single cause for the deaths but made several recommendations, including expanding the use of wearable technology to detect potentially fatal injuries. 

Washington State University has been at the forefront to refine this technology through its partnership for the past four years with a company that makes a wearable sensor for horses that weighs less than a deck of cards. A team of WSU researchers recently published the results of a study that tested how that sensor performed while analyzing the strides of hundreds of horses competing at Churchill Downs and another track in Kentucky last year. Abnormal stride movements revealed bone and muscle damage hidden to the naked eye that had a high risk of developing into a fatal injury. Denise McSweeney, the lead author of the study and an equine surgery resident at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, joins us to share her findings.   

For many years now, medical schools around the country have ceased using live animals to perform procedures as part of the curriculum. But in a minority of surgical residencies, residents operate on animals – often pigs – to practice techniques to be used on human patients. Oregon Health & Science University is in that minority. For years, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has been waging a campaign to get OHSU’s OB/GYN residency program to stop using pigs for doctors in training to practice reproductive surgeries on. At the same time, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is asking the hospital to stop using the animals in all of its surgical residencies in all branches of the hospital. 

OHSU declined to participate in this conversation, but Dr. Kerry Foley, a retired emergency medical doctor who volunteers for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, joins us to share her views on best practices for surgical training and why those do not include using animals. 

Portland State University has been awarded nearly $2 million in federal funding to continue work tackling microplastic pollution in Oregon’s coastal communities and the Pacific ocean.  The money will go to a collaborative three-year effort to reduce microplastic pollution with groups from a wide range of academic, community, municipal and tribal partners, and will focus on filtering microplastics primarily out of hotels, restaurants, and laundromats. Elise Granek, project lead and professor at Portland State, joins us to share more.

For nearly 40 years, the DoveLewis Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Hospital in Portland has operated a blood bank for cats and dogs in need of blood transfusions for life-threatening injuries and illnesses. According to blood bank coordinator Kelsey Reinauer, it’s the largest such facility in Oregon and possibly now the entire West Coast. Last year, DoveLewis performed nearly 500 transfusions in-house and shipped more than 200 units of blood products to hospitals as far away as Tennessee and Florida. 

As with human blood donations, the need is often greater than the supply, and recruiting new donors can be challenging. The New York Times recently reported on DoveLewis’ efforts to grow a community of “superhero” donors. Their owners bring their cats and dogs to the hospital for regular blood donations which are incentivized with perks such as free treats and toys and personalized trading cards featuring their pets’ photos and interests. Reinauer joins us to talk about the blood donation program, along with Debi Hays, a volunteer at DoveLewis whose dog, Kasha, donates blood four times a year. Her other dog, Kiev, retired from the program earlier this year.