Think Out Loud

Talking to people we disagree with can be difficult, but it’s also unavoidable. A group of students at Willamette University is learning to facilitate and engage in those conversations to foster understanding and connection. The Conversation Project is a two-semester course that aims to teach students listening, grounding and compassion skills. Students then partner with community organizations in Salem and Portland to help them engage in dialogue work.

The professors that run the Conversation Project are: David Gutterman, a politics, policy, law and ethics professor; and Wendy Petersen-Boring, an associate history professor. Senior Mira Karthik completed the program and now serves as its research associate. They all join us to talk more about the project and why it’s important for students to learn these facilitation skills.

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has voted to ban hunting contests for coyotes and other mammals on public lands in the state.  This new ban however does not prohibit these contests on private land and doesn’t restrict hunters and ranchers from killing predatory animals like coyotes. Collette Adkins is the carnivore conservation program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. She joins us to share the impact of this decision and the role coyotes play in Oregon environments. 

This month, Oregon became the latest state to start paying out benefits under its new paid leave program. Workers can take up to 12 weeks of paid leave for family, medical or safe leave, which is available to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment. Workers applying to take paid leave for pregnancy may be eligible for an additional two weeks of benefits. Although self-employed people or independent contractors are not automatically covered under the program, they can make quarterly contributions to participate, depending on eligibility. We’ll hear from Karen Humelbaugh, director of Paid Leave Oregon about how the program is going, its impact so far and the online application process, which is available for English and Spanish speakers. 

The United Auto Workers are the latest group to join what’s been called the “summer of strikes.” Members of the Writer’s Guild of America continue their monthslong strike, along with the actor’s union SAG-AFTRA. Several Pacific Northwest organizations have gone on strike this summer as well, from teachers to nurses to bookstore employees. Meanwhile, Oregon’s unemployment rate is as low as it’s ever been at 3.4%. Joining us to talk about the myriad factors affecting Oregon’s labor force is Mark Brenner, co-director of the Labor Education and Research Center at the University of Oregon.

When Oregon became the first state in the country to legalize the supervised use of psilocybin, thousands of people from all across the country expressed interest in the service. One of them was an 88-year-old woman in Woodburn. Vivian Anderson has been living with PTSD that resulted from childhood abuse when she was 13 years old. Over the decades, she has tried many forms of therapy, but none of them provided the healing she was looking for. She hoped psilocybin would be different. We talked to her before and after her psychedelic session to find out what the experience was like.  

If you’re a parent of a music-loving toddler or grade schooler in the Portland metro area, you may not have heard of Andy Furgeson. You may, however, have heard of Red Yarn, the musical persona that Furgeson has embodied for more than a decade with his signature red beard, acoustic guitar and family-friendly puppets in tow. By his estimation, he performs 200 to 300 shows a year, most of which take place at community events, daycare centers, schools, and the occasional music festival, including Pickathon, the long-running festival at which he’s performed for the past seven years. Furgeson’s 10th and latest studio album, “The Get-Together,” is being released this Friday. It was inspired by his love of ‘50s and ‘60s music when artists like Roy Orbison, The Ronettes, Ritchie Valens and The Drifters mingled on the radio, but reimagined to explore themes like friendship and reading, aimed at appealing to younger audiences. 

Furgeson joins us in the studio for a live performance and conversation about his musical journey, new album and why he feels like he’s found his calling as Red Yarn.  

Wildfires, extreme heat events, and other environmental disasters can have an extreme impact on those who are already living close to the edge. For people in addiction or recovery, these kinds of events can disrupt whatever stability they may have found. We talk to Robin Buller, who wrote about the connection between climate change and addiction for High Country News.

The housing and homelessness crisis in Portland was a key reason city officials pledged in 2019 to crack down on unpermitted short term rentals on Airbnb. Four years later, an investigation into the city’s regulatory efforts finds a near complete breakdown. Those who should be enforcing regulations say they are understaffed, can’t get access to the data they need and don’t have access to the technology to get the job done. Meanwhile, safety inspections of properties are rarely done. The Oregonian’s Ted Sickinger shares with us his reporting and what the city is likely to do next. 

Black mothers experience higher maternal death rates than any other racial or ethnic group in the U.S. In Multnomah County, the Healthy Birth Initiatives program provides those moms with case management, respite care, breastfeeding support and access to community health nurses and other resources to support healthy outcomes for babies and families. Desha Reed-Holden, a senior program specialist, says the only requirements are that families are Black, live in the county and are having a baby. Roberta Suzette Hunte had both of her children with the support of the program. She says the culturally specific wrap around care she received was invaluable. She particularly valued the home visits and more broadly, having a buffer between herself and the rest of the maternal healthcare system. Hunte and Reed-Holden join us to talk about the need for the program and the results it delivers to clients.

It’s been more than a year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively ending the right to abortion, which had existed for nearly 50 years. The decision has led to a wave of laws to restrict abortion access in about half the states in the nation. Not only have patients had to cross state lines to end pregnancies which pose a risk to their health, some doctors have also fled states like Idaho where performing abortions could result in imprisonment.

Dr. Stella Dantas is an obstetrician and gynecologist in Hillsboro, and the president-elect of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. She joins us to explain the ripple effect that restricting abortion access is having on reproductive healthcare, especially for underserved communities.