Think Out Loud

As artificial intelligence becomes ubiquitous, artists and writers are creating their own guiding principles for where and how they use the technology in their creative practices and their work. Tracy Hoagland is the chair of the Portland chapter of Willamette Writers, and by day, she works in the tech industry with AI. She says she doesn’t use AI in her writing practice, but has to consciously separate the two areas of her life. Jessie Kwak is an author and ghost writer based in Portland, who uses AI to supplement her writing work. They both join us to discuss their own ethos around AI in the world of creative writing.

In 1991, James Hall joined the Umatilla Tribal Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Eastern Oregon. Today, Hall is the fire chief of the agency, leading its response to structural fires, wildland fires and calls for ambulance transportation services in a coverage area spanning hundreds of square miles. 

In February, Hall was appointed by Governor Tina Kotek’s Office to serve a three-year term on the Governor’s Fire Service Policy Council, making him the first tribal representative to serve on the council in its history. A bill passed by the Oregon Legislature last year made changes to the council’s membership, including a requirement that one of its members be a fire agency representative from one of Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes. 

Hall shares his recent work on the council and efforts to advocate for all tribal fire agencies in the state.

With music so readily available on streaming platforms these days, it’s easy to put a playlist on in the background and go about the day. The Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble is asking audiences to put a little more thought into their listening.

The group aims to “expand the definition of what music can be and what music is capable of achieving, as well as who is capable of achieving it.” They commission and perform experimental works from underrepresented artists in showcases such as the New Music Festival and Ambient Ecology, which is taking place over the next two weekends. Recent performances have included vocal meditations that ask for audience participation and an instrument petting zoo for children.

JP Lempke is the executive director of EDME, and Adrian Cervantes Mendez is the group’s secretary. They both join us to talk about difficult music in the age of easy listening.

Clyde Best became one of England’s first Black soccer superstars when he played for West Ham United from 1968 to 1976. Best scored 58 goals in his 218 appearances as a striker for West Ham. He later 

went on to play for the Portland Timbers from 1977 to 1981, helping build the foundation for professional soccer in the U.S. 

The documentary “Transforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story” showcases Best’s life and career, including the racism he had to contend with on and off the pitch. The film will play at the Aladdin Theater on June 4 and 5, followed by a Q&A with Best and other interviewees in the film. 

Clyde Best joins us for a conversation ahead of those screenings.

 For the third year in a row, the Cascade Booksellers Association has thrown a kind of huge book party for book lovers in the Portland metro area. The idea is to highlight the huge variety of book shops and get people out to visit as many of them as they can. More than 80 bookstores are participating in Portland Book Week this year, including the White Rabbit Book Cafe in Oregon City, Maggie Mae’s Bookshop in Gresham and Lost & Bound Books, a mobile bookshop based in Portland. We sit down with owners Danielle Walsh, Sho Roberts and Desirai Vuylsteke to hear more about what led them to start their independent shops, how they see their role in their communities and their fondest hopes for the week.

After the deadly chemical tank rupture that killed 11 people last Tuesday at a paper mill in Longview, questions continue to loom over the community — including what environmental impacts the chemical spill could have on the city and nearby Columbia River, as well as the potential cause of this disaster. It’s Washington’s deadliest workplace incident in nearly a century.

Officials from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board arrived in Longview last Wednesday to investigate the cause of the chemical disaster. The future of the board has been uncertain in recent months after a proposed budget from President Trump would have defunded the federal agency, and a recent house bill restored the board's funding by $8.2 million. But yesterday afternoon, the House Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment brought by U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez to add over $5 million to preserve the full funding for the CSB.

We’ll hear more from Gluesenkamp Perez, whose congressional district includes Longview, for more on the investigation and its impact on the Longview community.

For more than 20 years, British author and Cambridge University professor Robert Macfarlane has garnered international acclaim for his writings on nature and our relationships to it, from awe-inspiring wonder and life-giving sustenance to relentless extraction and exploitation. For his book, “Is a River Alive?”, Macfarlane explored the idea of rivers as animate beings, a concept that is connected to the Rights of Nature movement that has spurred a novel legal framework to protect imperiled waterways, animals and ecosystems around the world.

To find out, Macfarlane embarked on a journey that spanned continents and topographies. He trekked through a cloud forest in Ecuador, visited dying and polluted waterways in southeastern India and kayaked down a river in northeastern Canada that was granted legal personhood in 2021 to save it from being dammed. Along the way, Macfarlane introduces us to the people fighting to defend these rivers, creeks and basins while bearing witness to the assaults and threats the waterways constantly face.

Macfarlane joined us on June 11, 2025 to discuss “Is A River Alive?” and the ideas it explores.

In 2017, 96-year-old Mary Armington took a trip from her home in Florida to Astoria to visit her son, Dr. William Armington. As a radiologist at the time at Columbia Memorial Hospital, Dr. Armington had diagnosed cancer in hundreds of patients, some of whom had delayed getting care because of financial hardships. 

So Mary decided to help by donating $50,000 to start a fund for cancer patients in the North Coast region to pay for expenses like transportation, utility bills, lodging and rent. Nine years later, the Arm-in-Arm Fund has nearly tripled in size and has given grants to dozens of patients at the CMH-OHSU Knight Cancer Collaborative in Astoria. 

This year, the Columbia Memorial Hospital Foundation increased to $2,000 the grant money a team of social workers can award to an individual to help them, for example, replace a broken refrigerator or repair a home furnace. Money from the fund has also been used to provide Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday meals for patients and their families. Joining us to discuss the fund and its impact are Mary Armington and William Armington, who is now retired and has also donated to the fund. Mark Kujala, foundation director of Columbia Memorial Hospital also joins us.

 The Pacific Northwest chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture hosts an annual regional tree climbing competition in a Portland park, where arborists can compete for the chance to showcase their skills at a national and international level. This year, 35 climbers will compete in five events over two days.

Terry Flanagan is the chair of the Tree Climbing Competition Committee at the PNWISA. He competed in his first tree climbing competition in 1981 and has been working in arboriculture for 49 years. Kyle Thomas is the regional coordinator for the tree climbing competition, as well as the operations supervisor for the Urban Forestry Division of Portland Parks and Recreation. They both join us to share more ahead of the upcoming competition in Portland, which will take place June 6 and 7 at Farragut Park.

 Last week, Portland City Councilors passed a new policy barring law enforcement of all kinds from wearing masks. The policy itself would also direct the Portland Police Bureau to investigate someone who engages in law-enforcement activity, such as detaining someone, and doesn’t show proper credentials.

The ordinance passed in an 8-4 vote, and was introduced by Councilor Sameer Kanal and co-sponsored by Councilor Elena Pirtle-Guiney and Angelita Morillo. Opponents of the law say the policy raises concerns around labor laws and workload for PPB officers. Joining us to share more on the policy and its impacts are PPB Chief Bob Day and Councilor Morillo.