Think Out Loud

After a nationwide search, Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) has hired longtime nonprofit leader Paul Lumley as its new CEO. Currently the CEO for the Portland-based Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), and the former Executive Director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Lumley will be CAP’s first Native American CEO. Lumley joins us to talk about the future of Cascade AIDS Project, and his legacy with NAYA and CRITFC.

Cities in Oregon are finalizing their budgets. They’re juggling shrinking funding streams and increasing costs – especially from inflation. Twylla Miller is the chief financial officer for the city of Eugene. Robby Hammond is the city manager for Hillsboro. 
They join us with more on how cities are managing priorities and navigating tough financial decisions.

Today nurses at Providence Portland, Seaside and Home Health and Hospice will end a strike that began on Monday. Both sides expect talks about higher wages to resume, although no date is set. Kara Hayden, a speech and language pathologist with Providence Home Health and Hospice joins us to talk about what’s next.

Portland author Joshua James Amberson has a rare genetic condition that may eventually lead to blindness. His new book Staring Contest: Essays About Eyes, is a deep meditation on eyes, vision, and what we see.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival has suffered the same pandemic setbacks as many other big theatres in the country. Seasons have shrunk, as has the staff. Earlier this year, former Artistic Director and Interim Executive Director Nataki Garrett stepped away after a staff shakeup and an emergency $2.5 million funding campaign. Shortly thereafter, the company announced it would need in excess of $7 million in order to finish the current season.

OSF is unique in the nation, says American Theatre Editor-in-Chief Rob Weinert-Kendt. There are plenty of other big theatres in urban centers, but Ashland is not in an urban center. It’s the main cultural draw in Southern Oregon, and the scope and depth of its offerings appeal to a national audience. Despite its name, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival has been known for decades for its commitment to creating new plays and supporting groundbreaking work. Weinert-Kendt joins us to discuss some of the slings and arrows American theatre and OSF are facing.

Since 2020, two schools in the Eugene 4J School District have shared one building. The Yujin Gakuen Japanese Immersion School began sharing space with Eugene’s Kelly Middle School when the district decided to demolish the Silver Lea building. Over the years, the collocation has created tension between the two schools’ teachers, parents and students as they both now deal with limited classroom space. 

The school district is currently reviewing options for the future of the shared building. Miranda Cyr is the education reporter for the Register Guard. She joins us to share more on what’s happening inside the two schools and their potential futures.

Pride Month is here and across the country LGBTQ+ communities are celebrating. At the same time, The Human Rights Campaign, one of the largest gay rights organizations in the U.S., has issued a state of emergency because of anti-LGBTQ legislation passing in states across America. We talk to three LGBTQ organizers from around the state about why celebrating pride is important and what it means to celebrate these events in some of Oregon’s rural parts of the state. Nik Portela is the program manager for the Columbia Gorge Pride Alliance. Laura Erceg is the director of Southern Oregon Coast Pride. Juliet Rutter is the board secretary with Umpqua Valley Rainbow Collective. 

When the gates on The Dalles Dam closed in 1957, Celilo Falls was flooded and a vital salmon fishery for Yakama and Warm Springs tribal people was forever changed. Warm Springs Tribal Elder Linda Meanus was a young girl at the time, being raised by her grandparents, Flora Thompson and Chief Tommy Thompson, in nearby Celilo Village. In that bustling community along the Columbia River where salmon provided sustenance and a way of life, she learned about the importance of first foods, and gained an abiding reverence for her Indigenous culture and language. More than six decades later, Meanus has written “My Name is LaMoosh,” a chronicle of her early life in Celilo Village and a tribute to the legacy of her grandmother to whom the book is dedicated. Meanus joins us to talk about her new book which was published by OSU Press in collaboration with Confluence and historian Katy Barber. 

The FDA has approved three medications to treat opioid dependence. But only one – buprenorphine – is approved for patients under age 18. The Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine recommends the medication as a “critical component” of treating addiction in teens, especially with adolescent overdose deaths on the rise. However, a new study from Oregon Health & Science University found that only one in four adolescent treatment facilities offers the drug. 

Caroline King led the study as a medical student at OHSU. She joins us with more details on the findings.  

Thirty years ago, a movement called riot grrrl started in the Pacific Northwest. It wasn't just music – it was politics, feminism, culture and zines. And we're still feeling its effects today. This podcast tells the history of riot grrrl: why it started here in the Pacific Northwest, and what its lasting impact has been. And it focuses on the stories that haven’t really been told as part of the history of the movement. We’ll hear from people on the margins, people who felt left out, and the people who insisted on being part of the conversation anyway.