Think Out Loud

Last week, Portland State University hosted its first ever Indigenous Foods Summit. Across two days, presenters taught a host of workshops sharing place-based knowledge focused around food sovereignty.

Emma Johnson, Cowlitz, is the program coordinator of the Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge Program at PSU, and Isabel Lacourse is a Colville descendant and on the planning team for the Northwest Indigenous Food Sovereignty Alliance. They both organized the summit and join us to share their takeaways from the inaugural event.

9/16 Portland State University hosted their first ever Indigenous Foods Summit last week, with presenters who taught a host of workshops on topics sharing place-based knowledge focused on food sovereignty. We’ll hear from two of the organizers and presenters about some takeaways from the inaugural event. 

PassinArt began in 1982 and is the oldest continuously operating Black theatre in Oregon. Based in Portland, its mission is to “entertain, educate, and inspire artists and audiences while addressing critical issues facing our community.” The name is a nod to its vision of passing on art, history and culture from one generation to another. The company doesn’t just mount full scale theatrical productions, it also holds free monthly readings, festivals of new works, and other events. 

And this weekend, PassinArt is inviting the whole Portland community to its Open House & Block Party. Artistic Director Jerry Foster says they want to introduce people to the new headquarters at the Albina Arts Center on NE  Killingsworth, along with all the different kinds of work PassinArt offers. We talk with Foster to learn about the kinds of plays the company stages, the new work it supports, and the community events it hosts.

Ralph Bloemers has spent over two decades working in and around wildfire science and technology. He’s used documentary filmmaking as a vehicle for probing and documenting wildfires across the American West and contends that while wildfires are inevitable in Oregon, catastrophic community loss doesn’t have to be.

He makes a case for wildfire readiness techniques that homeowners can employ to reduce the risk of community conflagration or urban wildfire, like Spokane communities endured earlier this summer. We’ll speak to Bloemers about his recommendations for how homeowners can assist firefighters through wildfire readiness techniques and how his work documenting wildfires has informed his perspective on wildfire management.