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Tanner Todd
BRING BACK THE SNOW DAY
SATIRE: OREGON SCORES TRIUMPH AS IDAHO LIFTS BOISE BLOCKADE
11
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Vanguard’s mission is to serve the Portland State community with timely, accurate, comprehensive and critical content while upholding high journalistic standards. In the process, we aim to enrich our staff with quality, hands-on journalism education and a number of skills highly valued in today’s job market.
ABOUT Vanguard, established in 1946, is published weekly as an independent student newspaper governed by the PSU Student Media Board. Views and editorial content expressed herein are those of the staff, contributors and readers and do not necessarily represent the PSU student body, faculty, staff or administration. Find us in print Wednesdays and online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com.
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We have revived our “Letters to the Editor,” a recurring Opinion feature that publishes and spotlights voices from around PSU, as well as the larger community of Portland, Oregon. This is a section devoted to spotlighting the opinions and feelings of our readsers, rather than the writers and contributors in our newsroom, and we welcome submissions from anyone. We’re particularly interested in perspectives related to current Portland events and community issues, as well as circumstances that impact the Pacific Northwest overall. We’d also love to hear your thoughts on stories we’ve covered—if you have a strong opinion about something we’ve reported, write us! We’ll happily read your submissions.
To share your letters for publishing consideration, email your thoughts to opinion@psuvanguard. com with the heading LETTER TO THE EDITOR, followed by your subject line.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely, The Vanguard Editorial Staff
TriMet is proposing an increase to daily ticket fares. Portland’s public transportation system has avoided increasing the bulk of the cost to ride since 2012, despite spiking inflation, fluctuating gas prices and tight budgets of the COVID-19 lockdown.
TriMet’s work also extends beyond transit routes. It engages in the community by contributing to affordable housing development, green technology initiatives and improving walkability of urban spaces, boosting equity intracity.
Yet the increase may place marginalized populations at a disadvantage.
In the proposal, prices would increase by between 15 cents and 60 cents depending on the type of ticket—with the exception of monthly and annual passes, which would not change. One general adult day pass would increase by 60 cents, from $5 to $5.60, and one honored citizen day pass would increase by 30 cents, from $2.50 to $2.80.
TriMet’s grounds for the proposal stem from the necessity for additional revenue to mitigate the system’s current financial deficit, which was caused by increasing inflation and decreased ridership as a consequence of COVID-19. The funds would be used to maintain transit operations, and to prevent otherwise inevitable layoffs.
The TriMet board of directors is scheduled to vote on the proposal in May 2023. If approved, the new prices would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. During the winter, they hosted open houses and opened up an online survey portal for community
feedback about the proposal.
Specific demographics utilize United States public transit systems at disproportionately higher rates: those who are low-income, people of color and people under the age of 35, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Pew Research Center. Here in Portland, students make up a large portion of public transit commuters, with the most serviced transit stations concentrated near or on campus. According to a 2022 survey conducted by Portland State’s Transportation & Parking Services, 34.2% of students used TriMet to commute to campus.
Riley Woodruff, a junior computer science major, is one of these students.
“I use TriMet almost every day,” Woodruff said. “I think TriMet is an incredibly valuable resource and if it needs to have an increase in rates, then it should happen.”
Woodruff considered an alternative approach. “As someone who pays every time that I go, I think a better solution would be to probably crack down on people who aren’t paying,” they said. “I see a lot of people who don’t pay.”
Camron Baugh, a freshman environmental science major, agreed that the price increase may be a suboptimal but necessary reform.
“If it was a more drastic price increase, I would probably have a problem with it,” Baugh said. “But an extra 30 cents for a whole day, I don’t feel is too drastic for most people… I begrudgingly succumb to the way things are—our public
services are severely underfunded and I’m fine paying the extra cents to keep those services running.”
Not all PSU students find the increases manageable, however. Samantha, a freshman biology major, said that for her and her family the increase would be noticeable.
“We are low income and we can’t really afford food half the time, so having to pay for transportation to get to school is already hard,” she said. “It’s pretty expensive just for every day, and to find more—even 60 cents—that kinda sucks.”
Many members of the community face financial barriers. PSU’s Transportation & Parking Services works to promote solutions to alleviate this burden for students. Firstly, all students enrolled in at least three credits can qualify for PSU’s Student Viking Pass, a discounted TriMet card that costs students $150 per term, as opposed to TriMet’s adult pass with a cost of $100 for one month. Secondly, any person whose income is less than $29,160 qualifies for TriMet’s reduced fare program, also called the Honored Citizen Fare This pass costs $28 a month, and students can easily apply at the PSU Transportation office by showing proof of income. While these programs do offer significantly discounted rates, Ian Stude—director of PSU Transportation & Parking Services—explained that it’s not a perfect system.
“I am concerned about the fact that the reduced fare programs require people to pay for their pass in advance,” he said. “I think a lot of folks who do pay casually for those services are really in that situation where ‘this [paying per
ride] is the only way I can afford right now...’ I know folks who really can’t take that up-front cost on.”
The other issue is that many students and community members simply don’t know about these discounts.
“The folks who participate in those programs only make up a fraction of the number of commuter students who are eligible,” Stude said. Issues often arise due to inaccessibility of information, a frequent obstruction that tends to impact exactly those communities which need those services the most.
The fare increase comes with a potential detriment to the most vulnerable populations, and certainly a large group of citizens who earn above the designated income amount. Is there a better alternative?
“In the bigger scheme of things, in returning to normalcy the fare increase makes sense,” Stude said. “But it also makes sense that this is an opportune time to make a large change. I think it’s an important question to ask—is this the time to consider a fareless system?”
The logic that public transportation only functions when it’s paid for by individual riders falters quickly when examining agency budgets and outside transit systems. Corvallis is one pioneering example. In 2011, Corvallis saw a whopping 37.9% increase in ridership when the system became completely free to use. The city now funds the transit services by adding a small fee to the utility bill of residents, institutions and businesses. Fees range from two to four
dollars per month for an average family. Many other cities have also found ways to make various systems of public transportation free: Provo, UT; Ellensburg, WA; and Boone, NC, to name a few.
“It’s a public service and I think it’s well known knowledge now that public services such as transportation should be free,” said Alejandro Segura, IT equipment and system specialist at PSU’s Transportation & Parking Services. Segura is also the president of PSU’s Service Employees International Union Local 89. Segura advocated for a restructuring of the system instead of a fare increase.
“[Free transportation] helps the folks on the lowest tier of the socio-economic ladder,” Segura said. “Why are we not working towards that? Why is TriMet not working towards lobbying for more money to make things free? How did we get into the opposite place, like ‘oh actually we’re gonna charge more money.’”
As a municipal corporation of the state of Oregon, TriMet’s budget is public information. Their 2023 expected financial requirements amount to $1.8 billion. Among other various sources of revenue, including a large, one-time influx from COVID-19 federal relief-aid funds, the agency’s budget outlines the following significant capital: $470 million from tax revenue, $164 million from federal grants, $32 million from state and local grants and $60 million from passenger fares. The 2024 fare increase is estimated to bring in an additional five to six million dollars per year.
As an institution, public transportation yields massive social benefits: it reduces urban sprawl, environmental degradation, pollution, road congestion and rates of vehicle accidents; is cost effective for commuters as well as urban development (lessens expenditures for road and parking facilities); generates more walkable cities and is an equitable resource for those who don’t or can’t drive. Why does government money continue to evade the infrastructures that would benefit us all, and instead compound as a burden borne by the least privileged?
Maja Birdwell, administrative coordinator at PSU’s Transportation & Parking Services provided an explanation. “Really, the problem isn’t that they can’t pay their employees and offer low prices, the problem is that other departments are getting that money,” Birdwell said. “There is money in the community and in Portland, so why is it always transportation and community services that are the ones fighting for those resources?”
While TriMet has closed the survey and moved onto the next phase, its website encourages those who would still like to comment on the proposal to email hello@trimet.org , or sign up to speak at one of the public forums being held during board meetings on April 23 and May 24.
More information about the board meetings can be found online at https://trimet.org/meetings/board/index.htm
On March 3, 2023, President Stephen Percy held a press conference addressing several important issues facing Portland State. The topics for discussion ranged from diversity to remote learning and advice for the next president.
One of the issues discussed was on the matter of whether or not students prefer remote learning to in-person classes. “We’re really trying to figure out what’s the right mix of online classes versus in-person classes,” Percy said. “We get different signals from different things and so we’re doing a lot of thinking about that, and I don’t mind the students knowing that we’re thinking about that because we want to try to understand their needs. We know that for some people it’s easier to balance their lives. If they don’t have to come they can save the time they’re coming to campus…they don’t have to pay for parking.”
With transportation and convenience discussed, President Percy mentioned the effects of safety concerns.
“We think some people might have been somewhat concerned about the status of Portland,” Percy said. “Maybe concerned of our safety. I think we’re pretty safe. Some people think it’s really important in your first year to come to campus, because how are you gonna know your friends and learn the
campus and be a part of the campus community?”
“We’d like to have a lot of people here because of vital campuses,” Percy said. “It’s really an interesting place to be. And so there’s a flexibility dimension to it, but there’s also another thing we’re looking at: How well the students learn maybe some kinds of courses are better taught in-person…than online. We have these attend anywhere classes…you could either go online or do it synchronous at the same time. You could even come to the classroom to take the class, or you could do it from a remote location. It didn’t matter you had the choice…we’re trying to think very carefully, trying to listen to students to figure out.”
On the topic of diversity, the president noted the growing number of minorities at PSU. “It’s quite clear that we are becoming a majority minority institution,” he said. “Part of what we have started to think about, will need to think about: what does it mean to be a minority-prevalent institution? Out of our programs, do we have the right cultural sensitivity? The right cultural dimensions of our curriculum? How are we treating students that might have different needs? That’s totally new to us, but it’s an interesting thing that the new president will have is an institution that’s diversity has grown to such that it really is becoming more diverse, and how do we do that well?”
On the topic of diversity, when asked if international students are a valuable addition to the PSU community, President Percy replied by saying, “Yes, absolutely. I would like to have more international students we had more, but then with COVID and then some of the political dynamics fewer students come, but we’re trying to figure out a way to blend that.”
International student enrollment had been at a decline, with COVID-19 being a major factor that heavily affected enrollment, as well as political barriers to entry into the United States. The number of international students is lower today than it was before the COVID-19 shutdown. “I think the international students bring an amazing, other sense of knowledge and experience and life course that all can be very positive,” Percy said. “So we’re trying to figure out a way to recruit more students.”
Portland State Vanguard asked President Percy if he knew of any other barriers that international students face when deciding to come to PSU, aside from barriers to entry into the country.
“There can be financial barriers for example, we have a scholarship program in Vietnam but I don’t think many students still, even with a scholarship, are able to come,” Percy replied. “So that can be a challenge.”
Vanguard also asked Percy for advice for whoever will fill his role as president after he leaves the position in summer 2023.
“I would tell the new president that I love this institution dearly and I believe in its mission,” Percy said. “I spent my career at these kinds of institutions that are embedded in their own communities that believe that interacting, learning, cocreating knowledge with their communities and that allow people the opportunity to really unleash their intellectual power and their power as leaders and their power as people to be very successful in their lives, and we call it creating social mobility that means… having more access to opportunity, more wealth and more good things in life, because we’ve let that talent come through and that talent also creates a wonderful workforce in our area.”
“The workforce means everywhere non-profits, doctors, leaders, social workers,” Percy continued. “I very much hope that the new president will find a way to sustain our commitment to racial justice and equity…I believe fervently in it, I believe we’ve only just begun, we have just begun to get some good things in place. It will take a long time for that work to do, but I would like us to be a leader in being a racially just institution.”
Spoiler Alert: Brief novel narrative described, and some book quotes included.
Hazel Jane Plante, writer, musician and podcast host, is close to publishing her second novel, a trans femme fictional, double-sided memoir of the life and times of Tracy St. Cyr.
Plante has an MA in English, has studied experimental poetry and enjoys taking chances and doing things differently. She described her novel as a palimpsest, writing over the top of distant and recent trauma. “[It is] much less vulnerable to have it couched in fiction,” Plante said.
Plante is innovative in her ability to evoke emotional resonance, how it feels to be in a body and be conscious and present. The book shows how sometimes we only show people what we want them to see, but there is much more complexity beyond the external façade of a person.
In her novel, Any Other City, set to be released on April 18, 2023, the past and present selves ripple into each other, interwoven like fabric. The cover seeks to highlight this element. Plante described the book cover art as overlapping lives, layered with snakeskin, bird feathers, leopard skin and cobblestones having openings—a labyrinth and a maze of layers, like our lives, woven together.
In terms of style, the book is notably un-traditional. It has no narrative arc, no antagonist and no dénouement. Some might say it is more like an Oulipo, a French literary movement focused on constrained writing styles, than a traditional novel—cerebral, surprising and sometimes uncomfortable.
One distinctive feature of the book is its musical and lyrical focus. Most of the bands and music in the novel are fictional, but like many authors, Plante drew on her own life and past for inspiration. For example, the band name Lubricated Sagan in the book is derived from Plante’s high school band’s name.
Moreover, Plante is currently a member of a band called Certain Women , and they perform at least one of the songs mentioned in her book, “All the Pretty Ghosts,” which reiterates the message of love. One of the fascinating features of the novel is hearing how Tracy constructed the lyrics and music for her songs. For example, Tracy detailed the song-smithing process while composing a song expressing her feelings after a recent breakup.
“I shifted back and forth between C7 and C major, creating some tension,” Plante wrote. “Then, I did the same thing with D7 and D major. I repeated that a couple of times. Jay added a sheen of shimmer with his cymbals and revved up the backbeat. His playing underscored the tension that was building as I toggled between those seventh and major chords…I sang the line with more abandon and more freedom.”
A nod to the musical components and connection in the story, Any Other City is presented like a two-sided vinyl LP with many musical phrases intertwined.
Side A takes us on a journey through Tracy’s life in 1993. Tracy is just 20 years old and ram-bling about in an unnamed city of alleyways. She has recently left her lover, Astrid, and is looking to start a new career in art, but she is adrift.
Tracy then meets visual artist Sadie Tang, who helps Tracy explore her artistic personification and teaches her how to eat oysters. As Sadie says in Any Other City , “they don’t feel weird in my mouth, but I know what you mean. They’re an acquired taste.
Like avocados or cock and ball torture. Sorry. That was strange of me to say.”
The author’s personal life was more traumatizing during her youth. “From the age of six to about 26, I was just angry having been born,” Plante said. “Like I was a really angry, anxious and afraid kid…I was just trying to keep myself alive in the life that I was living.” However, in the same stage in life, Plante’s character Tracy has already met some trans women and has begun her journey of self-exploration and acceptance.
Plante explained similarities between herself and the protagonist of her novel. “I think our lives are very capacious,” she said.
“I think towards the end, Tracy starts talking about all the different roles that she plays in her life, sometimes Åat the same time. I am a heartbreaker, and I’m a good girl. I’m a tiger, and I’m a deer, and I’m a capacious creature.” Plante explores what it means to belong. She describes Tracy as her idealized doppelganger—smarter and funnier.
Plante explained that some have considered her novel to be a map of her sexual desires, but she said that is not the case. “Like I’ve
definitely had people read this book and see it as a cartography, for example, of my desire,” Plante said. “Like sexually. I was like, not exactly.”
Side B of the book has much more give and take and is multilayered. Tracy is now a semi-famous musician, 46 years old, and finds herself back in the same city, again recovering from a breakup, this time with Johnny.
Tracy’s facial feminization surgery precipitates her and Johnny’s breakup. Plante mused that perhaps being less visibly trans is what Johnny rejected—“you don’t know how any sort of intervention in a relationship is going to ripple out.” The focus in Side B is more on queer kinship, enjoyment of physical pleasures and love.
Plante explained that moving toward femininity can feel like the gulf between how you look and how you want to look. “[It] can feel just really difficult and punishing,” she said.
We see this dynamic in the book when Algy, a trans femme character in the novel, introduces Tracy to a different way of being. Algy wants to apply makeup to Tracy, but Tracy gets very upset by this. As Tracy remembers in Any Other City, “I often think of Algy informing me that
trans women are witchy. She’s right. We have power. We can transform things, including ourselves. We can muster magic.”
Plante explained what it is like to not feel comfortable as you are. “What’s in your head?” Plante said. “You have an idea of what you look like, and then you actually look in the mirror, and you’re like, oh yeah, no, I’m not there. And it’s true also [for] cis women as well, but I think for trans women especially, that moving towards femininity can feel like just the gulf between how you wanna look and how you look.”
When asked what she hopes readers will take away from the novel, Plante said, “[that] readers are reminded that trans femmes are smart, hilarious, messy and hot as fuck.” And, maybe, you will put the book down pondering whether or not this world deserves trans women.
After the book is published in April, Plante will be on a book tour starting in Toronto and going to New York, Baltimore, Chicago and Wisconsin. Plante also said she would love to do a reading in Portland and is looking into it as a future possibility.
Last Wednesday, Portland braved a historic snowstorm with a 10.8 inch snowfall that broke the daily and monthly record, according to the Portland climate book published by the National Weather Service’s Portland office. Portlanders confronted perilous icy roads; fallen phone lines and trees; and power outages that caused widespread closures of businesses, public transit and schools. In response, Portland State enacted a campus closure from Feb. 22–24—during which, per PSU’s inclement weather policy, classes “held on the PSU campus” were canceled while online classes carried on via Zoom and Canvas.
In a post-2020 world, the separation between our lives at home and our lives at work or school has become blurred.
The COVID-19 pandemic required us to establish structures to continue on with our obligations and learn and work from anywhere. But must we always embrace the constant connectivity of the digital world, even when it comes to the rare and precious Portland snow day? PSU should maintain traditional snow days and cancel classes—online as well as inperson—when physical buildings are shut down.
To start, in-person instruction and Zoom courses do not offer equal educational value. One study from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University shows there is a significant correlation between extended online learning and negative outcomes in course persistence and grades. The study’s authors found that “the shift to virtual instruction [in Spring 2020] resulted in a 6.7 percentage point decrease in course completion, driven by increases in both course withdrawal and failure.” This evidence suggests that virtual learning is not an effective substitute for traditional classes. Not to mention, in the case of snow days, the classes were not developed with an online setting in mind.
In one of my virtual-adapted classes last week, our professor
had intended for our class to participate in an activity that required us to physically be together in the same space. Instead, we met on Zoom for an impromptu discussion and ended class early. It was an all-too-familiar experience as a student who was in school during the lockdown days of fully online learning: the sea of turned-off cameras, the breakout rooms that fell silent after a minute of half-hearted conversation, the palpable lack of motivation of all parties involved. It reminded me that virtual classes come with an inherent sense of isolation and disconnection from one’s learning community that make it challenging to really engage with peers and professors or focus on the course at hand.
This impaired focus is only exacerbated for students with children of their own. Many PSU students rely on our on-campus daycare services—without access to childcare, they’re forced to juggle their school day with parenting. The result is an impeded capacity to do either job well—that of a parent or a student.
The Portland Public Schools’ (PPS) policy for the 2022–2023 school year is to maintain traditional snow days, meaning when facilities are closed due to weather, students and educators are not expected to learn or work remotely. PPS adopted this policy after experiencing challenges in holding successful inclement weather remote learning days last year, citing the limited opportunities to have the advance notice necessary to execute meaningful virtual learning. This challenge is not specific to K–12 schooling, and universities like PSU would be wise to update their inclement weather policies to reflect this reality.
Online classes during snow days create additional disparities for people with limited access to technology or irregular internet access.
According to a Pew Research Center survey, 13% of adults at the lowest income level don’t have access to broadband services or a desktop or laptop computer. PSU has a significant population of students who fall under this category, as 25.4% of students have experienced basic need insecurity—housing or food insecurity and/or homelessness. For these individuals, attending virtual classes may not be an option.
The final and perhaps most overlooked argument for maintaining traditional snow days is simply for the sake of preserving a beloved tradition. Snow days in Portland are a rare but often much-needed opportunity to slow down and take a break when the natural world encourages us to do so. The modern age requires us to constantly remain plugged into an increasingly digital world that takes a toll on our mental health. We should lean in when nature offers us a moment to disconnect and appreciate its wonder, whether that’s through making snow angels or meeting neighbors shoveling out on the street. The benefits of stepping away from the relentless grind of student life once or twice a year far outweigh the last minute switch to thrown-together and inaccessible virtual classes.
Boise, Idaho (AP)—After an 11-month standoff between the Oregon and Idaho state governments, Idaho is backing down on its blockade of Boise to allow Oregon residents and agricultural products to once again pass freely through the city.
Since mid-June 2024, Oregon and Washington air forces have engaged in a months-long supply airlift mission to Idaho’s former capital city, now Oregon territory, in what has been called the “Boise Blockade.” With the city deprived of all land-based supply routes, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek coordinated with Washington Governor Jay Inslee to supply the beleaguered city of Boise with necessary rations, most notably Oregon-grown potatoes.
As of the end of the blockade in May 2025, Oregon and Washington allied forces have flown over the city more than 250,000 times, with daily deliveries peaking at 12,941 tons. The supply planes, affectionately known to Boise residents as “spud shooters,” ensured a steady stream of Oregon potatoes in the besieged city.
The crisis began as an escalation of the so-called Potato Wars, a trade dispute between Oregon and Idaho regarding the sale of potatoes grown in counties formerly part of eastern Oregon under the “Grown in Idaho ® ” seal. The Idaho Potato Commission, shortly after the state merger, unilaterally chose to approve use of the seal in all new Idaho counties.
Oregon appealed the decision to the Federal Trade Commission, which ultimately decided in favor of Idaho. Facing the loss of national potato prestige with potatoes still
grown in Oregon, Gov. Kotek instituted on June 15, 2024 a punitive protectionist potato policy mandating the sale of Oregon-grown potatoes in all Oregon territories—including Boise, an Oregon exclave surrounded on all sides by Idaho— and banning the importation of Idaho-grown potatoes and potato products into Oregon.
In response, Idaho sued in federal court to dissolve and reconstitute the famous Ore-Ida company, located in Ontario, Idaho (formerly Oregon), as the Idaho Potato Company, further cementing the state’s monopoly on United States potato production.
Oregon then introduced a form of state-specific currency, the Beaver Buck, to Boise. This currency was only accepted as legal tender for Oregon-produced foodstuffs, most notably potatoes. The purpose of the currency reform, according to Oregon officials, was to wrest economic control of the city from Idaho, enable the introduction of Oregon-grown potato subsidies, and curb the city’s potato black market.
This brought the situation to a breaking point. Besides issuing their own currency, the Spudmark, Idaho blocked all major road, rail and canal links to Boise, thus starving it of electricity as well as a steady supply of essential food and gasoline.
On June 13, 2024, mere days before the start of the blockade, Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan reported to Salem that “there is no practicability in maintaining our position in Boise and it must not be evaluated on that basis.... We are
convinced that our remaining in Boise is essential to our prestige in the 50 states. Whether for good or bad, it has become a symbol of the Oregonian intent.”
Boise has been a point of contention between the two states since the historic Greater Idaho agreement of 2023. The territorial swap—which proved decisive in convincing Oregon to back the plan—was spurred by U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), who suggested in February of that year that he “would entertain a trade [of eastern Oregon] for Boise and Sun Valley.”
Blumenauer was a key figure in bridging the divide between the states, co-hosting talks with Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Ida.) between key figures from the Oregon and Idaho delegations, resulting in what were later dubbed the “Camp Sherman Accords.” These negotiations, held in remote Jefferson County and shielded from public view, became the impetus for the historic joint Oregon-Idaho vote on border agreements, followed by the successful vote in the U.S. Congress to pass the ORE-IDA (Oregon Reduction for Expanding Idaho’s Demographic Affluence) Act.
One Portland resident noted his opposition to the border change. “It just kinda looks weird on a map now, you know?” he said. “Washington’s still the same size and everything, but Oregon’s just this little thin strip on the coast, like New Jersey or Delaware or something. I mean, look at it. It’s like a long streak of nothing.”
MILO LOZA
CREATIVE CLUB SELLWOOD COMMUNITY HOUSE
MIX OF ART SKILLS INSTRUCTION AND STORY CIRCLE, FEATURING CREATIVE SKILLS WATER MEDIA JURIED SHOW OREGON SOCIETY OF ARTISTS 10 A.M.
AN ART EXHIBIT THAT SHOWCASES ALL FORMS OF WATER-SOLUBLE MEDIA
PAINT: KISS THE GIRL CHAN’S STEAKERY 6 P.M.
$35 ADD COLOR TO YOUR NIGHT OUT WITH MASTER ARTIST VALERIE ROWTON
SPECTRUM SPRING MARKET ADX PORTLAND 12 P.M. FREE
SHOWCASE OF LGBTQ+ ARTISTS AND THEIR PRINT ART, ZINES, APPAREL, ACCESSORIES AND CERAMICS
SKETCHBOOK WORKSHOP GALLERY GOGO 1 P.M.
$30
LEARN NEW EXERCISES AND EXPERIMENTS THAT HELP YOU FILL YOUR SKETCHBOOK AND IMPROVE YOUR DRAWING SKILLS
KIDS STORY & ART CLASSES
AWAKE COFFEE & ART 10 A.M.
$5
CRAFTS INCLUDE PLAY DOUGH, WATER COLORS, PAPER CRAFTS AND PAINTING ON CARDBOARD. AGES 1–4
VIEWS FROM PITTOCK BOTTLE & BOTTEGA 6 P.M.
$44
LEARN FROM KATIE BLYSTONE HOW TO PAINT A SUNSET VIEW
OPEN MUSIC ALBERTA ROSE THEATRE
7:30 P.M.
$20
NATHALIE JOACHIM, GABRIELA MONTERO AND OREGON SYMPHONY IN A THOUGHTPROVOKING CONCERT AND CONVERSATION
SHOW ME THE BODY REVOLUTION HALL
7:30 P.M.
$25
A NYC-BASED HARDCORE PUNK BAND WITH A GLOBAL PRESENCE, PROMOTING SOCIAL CHANGE
BEN RECTOR KELLER AUDITORIUM
7:30 P.M.
$40+
SINGER-SONGWRITER WITH RELATABLE PIANO-POP ANTHEMS ABOUT FAMILY, FAME AND FRIENDSHIP
TROVE STYRKE DOUG FIR
9 P.M.
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SWEDISH SINGER-SONGWRITER WITH INDIE POP AND ELECTROPOP SOUND, KNOWN FOR POWERFUL VOCALS AND LYRICS
CHAPPELL ROAN DOUG FIR
8 P.M.
$91
A YOUNG SINGER-SONGWRITER WITH A UNIQUE VOICE AND EMOTIONALLY CHARGED LYRICS
KIMBRA WONDER BALLROOM
8:30 P.M.
$28+
MUSICIAN WHO BLENDS ELEMENTS OF POP, ROCK, JAZZ AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC
ELLE KING REVOLUTION HALL
8 P.M.
$42+
BANJO-PLAYING SONGWRITER TO GRAMMYNOMINATED POP SENSATION, FUELED BY A TOUGH SOUTHERN OHIO UPBRINGING
CASABLANCA CENTURY 16 EASTPORT PLAZA
7 P.M.
$12.50
A CLASSIC ROMANTIC DRAMA SET IN WWII MOROCCO ON THE BIG SCREEN
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: CORTEO MODA CENTER
7:30 P.M.
$54+
A VIBRANT CARNIVAL OF CLOWNS, ACROBATS AND MUSIC CELEBRATING THE ESSENCE OF CIRCUS
HUMP! FILM FESTIVAL REVOLUTION HALL
6:30 P.M.
$84
EROTIC SHORT FILMS MADE BY REAL PEOPLE, CELEBRATING DIVERSE BODY TYPES, KINKS AND SEXUALITIES
EVERYBODY HATES YOU FUNHOUSE LOUNGE
10 P.M.
$10
WITNESS EGO DEATH AS THE BEST COMEDIANS IN PORTLAND BATTLE WITH HILARIOUSLY CUTTING INSULTS
SOUND OF METAL
5TH AVENUE CINEMA
6 P.M.
STUDENTS: FREE
GENERAL: $7
A DRUMMER LOSES HIS HEARING, FORCING HIM TO CONFRONT HIS NEW REALITY IN THIS EMOTIONAL DRAMA
COMEDY OPEN MIC CHEERFUL TORTOISE
9 P.M.
FREE
SEE LOCAL COMEDIANS IN FIVE-MINUTE SETS ON PORTLAND STATE CAMPUS
PARIS CALLIGRAMMES
CLINTON STREET THEATER
7 P.M.
$8
ULRIKE OTTINGER’S FILM IS A POETIC REFLECTION ON HER EXPERIENCES LIVING IN PARIS IN THE 1960S
SPEAK UP
PCC COMMUNITY HALL
5 P.M.
FREE
LEGAL ADVOCATE GUEST SPEAKERS FROM WASHINGTON COUNTY. HOSTED BY VICTIMS OF CRIME ADVOCACY.
65TH ANNUAL SPRING RV SHOW PORTLAND EXPO CENTER
10 A.M.
$15
LEARN ABOUT THE RV LIFESTYLE AT A PORTLAND METRO RV DEALERS ASSOCIATION EVENT
SAINT PATRICK’S IRISH FESTIVAL KELLS IRISH RESTAURANT & PUB
7 P.M.
$35
LIVE MUSIC, IRISH DANCING, VENDORS AND MORE AT A NEW VENUE BY THE WATERFRONT
ROSE CITY SNEAKERFEST LEFTBANK ANNEX
12 P.M.
$10+
CELEBRATING SNEAKERHEADS WHILE PAYING HOMAGE TO THE CITY’S INFLUENCE ON THE GLOBAL SNEAKER SCENE
PICKLEBALL
653 NW CULPEPPER TERRACE
1 P.M.
$12
PICKLEBALL PLAYERS CAN MEET UP AND PLAY, WITH LIMITED SUPPLIES PROVIDED. BEGINNERS WELCOME.
GEEKS WHO DRINK TRIVIA THE TRIPLE LINDY
7:30 P.M.
FREE
PUT YOUR USELESS KNOWLEDGE TO USE AND WIN BAR CASH AND PRIZES IN THIS AUTHENTIC TRIVIA QUIZ
A BORDERLINE STUDY LITERARY ARTS
6 P.M.
$240
THIS SEMINAR WILL INTERROGATE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE BORDER AS A STATIC ENTITY
