Willamette Week, August 12, 2020 - Volume 46, Issue 42 - "Hot Wheels"

“WE’D SPRAY AND VACUUM, BUT NOTHING’S PERFECT.’’ P. 28 WWEEK.COM

VOL 46/42 08.12.2020

WILLAMETTE WEEK PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY

NEWS

FEDS VS. A FIRESTARTER. page 9

OUTDOORS

THE MAGIC IS IN MEL’S HOLE. page 22

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*Source: https://reversemortgagedaily.com/2019/12/17/senior-housing-wealth-reaches-record-high-of-7-19-trillion Reverse mortgage loan terms include occupying the home as your primary residence, maintaining the home, paying property taxes and homeowners insurance. Although these costs may be substantial, AAG does not establish an escrow account for these payments. However, a set-aside account can be set up for taxes and insurance, and in some cases may be required. Not all interest on a reverse mortgage is tax-deductible and to the extent that it is, such deduction is not available until the loan is partially or fully repaid.

AAG charges an origination fee, mortgage insurance premium (where required by HUD), closing costs and servicing fees, rolled into the balance of the loan. AAG charges interest on the balance, which grows over time. When the last borrower or eligible non-borrowing spouse dies, sells the home, permanently moves out, or fails to comply with the loan terms, the loan becomes due and payable (and the property may become subject to foreclosure). When this happens, some or all of the equity in the property no longer belongs to the borrowers, who may need to sell the home or otherwise repay the loan balance. V2020.06.30 NMLS# 9392 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). American Advisors Group (AAG) is headquartered at 3800 W. Chapman Ave., 3rd & 7th Floors, Orange CA, 92868. Licensed in 49 states.

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2

Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

ANNIE SCHUTZ

FINDINGS

ESK8 PDX, PAGE 16

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 46, ISSUE 42 Spyce Gentlemen’s Club closed

after a workplace COVID-19 outbreak. 6

President Trump says Portlanders carry Molotov cocktails in their knapsacks and say it’s “to have a good time.” 7 It takes 12 years for a newly planted tree to grow larger than a shrub. 8 A Portland man charged with starting a courthouse fire had his own name tattooed on his back. 9 Diphtheria vaccinations fell 20% in the first half of 2020. 10

Nationwide interest in adult leisure bikes is up 203% compared with last year. 12 Someone left a skateboard at comic Jake Silberman’s apartment that just says “Fucko” on the bottom. 13 The pandemic has caused a national roller skate shortage. 14 An e-skater in Vancouver nearly blew up his apartment trying to

outfit his board with 108 lithiumion batteries. 17 A Canadian airline gave Drake a $185 million Boeing 767 for free.

20

The PDX Shoebox Derby will feature a quarantine-themed car with “sourdough starter, Netflix, a pandemic puppy, and family snuggles.” 21 A man in Central Washington once claimed to have a “bottomless pit” on his property that possessed “paranormal powers.” 22 A new food cart serves “Mexicajun” fusion, including a “crunchwrap” stuffed with red beans and dirty rice. 24

Visit our website to make an appointment 717 SW 10th Ave Portland, OR 97205 503.223.4720 www.maloys.com

Go there Maloy’s is now OPEN BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. Book online to shop our collection of fine antique jewelry, or for custom or repair work. We also buy.

A live piano concert features

cocktail recipes tailored to the performance. 26

When X-rated moviehouse Oregon Theater replaced its seats with couches, there was a rush of people willing to buy the old chairs, stains and all. 28

ON THE COVER:

OUR MOST TRAFFICKED STORY ONLINE THIS WEEK:

Chelsey Christian (@chelxo.c) on wheels, photo by Joseph Blake Jr. (@pdxwulf_)

NW Film Center canceled an outdoor screening of Kindergarten Cop after complaints.

MASTHEAD EDITOR & PUBLISHER

Mark Zusman

EDITORIAL

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JUSTICE

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2020 STATEWIDE MEMBERSHIP CONFERENCE

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DIALOGUE In an Aug. 6 press conference, Mayor Ted Wheeler said the city is considering reinstating parts of the Portland Police Bureau’s Gun Violence Reduction Team. Wheeler agreed to defund the unit in June, following protests against police brutality and long-standing criticism that the unit targeted young Black men. His shift comes after 15 homicides in July, the largest number of homicides in one month the city has seen in 30 years. City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty challenged Wheeler’s claim that disbanding the unit caused the spike in homicides.

“Gun violence is a symptom of social ills,” she told WW, “and the one thing that is clear is that police are not social workers, and policing will not replace the need for investments and resources for our community.” WW reported the debate on wweek.com.

Here’s what our readers had to say: Ryan McKenzie via Facebook: “Ted has no spine. He has refused to show any leadership.

Props on Jo Ann Hardesty for at least coming with some data and some real talk.”

Dustin Kight via Facebook: “Where’s the proof that the GVRT has anything to do with the uptick in violence? I mean, it’s not like there’s a pandemic that’s causing massive upheaval, job loss, anxiety, etc. But, sure, a small unit recently disbanded is obviously the more logical drive.” @writeo via Facebook: “Do they believe there was a pent-up demand for murders, unleashed when the team dissolved?”

James Robert via Facebook: “Agree that correlation does not equal causation. However, it could have something to do with the City Council ‘demagoguing’ the police and the police having to deal with riots instead of normal calls. Tends to embolden the criminals as they fill the void that’s left by the police.”

Dr. Know

TK via wweek.com: “Yeah, Ted, it’s magic…guns just appeared in our hands like ‘poof ’ when the task force was disbanded. If only the omnipotent pre-cog cops were there to stop this!”

Big Biscuit via wweek.com: “Why is it so hard to understand that there are bad people in the world and law enforcement is how they are dealt with? I guess Wheeler and Hardesty think a ‘social worker’ can magically appear at the point of the shooting and talk the shooter out of their crime?” @FecklessBoomers via Twitter: “It was literally defunded because police on the special unit were being racist, racially profiling, and/or dissolving goodwill in the BIPOC communities. In 2019, PPB was still disproportionately arresting and endangering the BIPOC community. How does reinstating racists help?” @lechuga_joseph via Twitter: “Gun violence is on the rise in all major cities. I don’t think they all cut funding on gun violence task forces. Also, poverty and eviction rates are up. Maybe that’s a connection, just sayin’.”

Josh Henderson via Facebook: “There is some evidence to suggest that more police on patrol reduces instances of crime. The problem is that police are paid bonuses per head to destroy lives and feed people into the prison industrial complex.” @thomas_traciee via Twitter: “Stop putting a Band-Aid on an issue that requires surgical intervention. The disparities in this town need addressing, not a damn racially profiling, devoid-of-compassion police task force.”

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification.

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Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210.

Email: mzusman@wweek.com

BY MART Y SMITH @martysmithxxx

How can we find out whether the Department of Homeland Security spy plane spotted on the tarmac at PDX is equipped with surveillance electronics to spy on Black Lives Matter protesters? Is DHS assembling a list of “terrorists” for future targets? —Inga W. Come, come, Inga; you can’t just say “DHS spy plane” and expect me to know what you’re talking about.

Do you mean the Cessna Caravan that circled downtown Portland for three hours on June 13? Or one of the two Beechcraft Super King Air 350s that did the same on July 22, 28, and 29?

Then again, maybe you mean the U.S. Air Force Dornier 328 surveillance plane than made five flights over Portland from July 21 to 23. Or perhaps you’re talking about the Lockheed P-3 AWACS plane (as seen in Iraq Wars I and II!) that turned up at PDX on July 23?

In any case, as reported in WW on Aug. 5, the flight patterns of at least the first three planes above are consistent with an electronic surveillance technology called “dirtboxing.”

A dirtbox is a high-tech wireless transmitter, sometimes mounted in a small plane, that pretends to be a cellphone tower. When your phone (and every other phone in the vicinity) tries to connect to this fake tower, the box collects its electronic serial number, its approximate location, and the time and duration of calls it makes. It can do this even if you’re using a cellphone privacy app like Signal that encrypts your calls and texts. If you’re not, it may get those as well.

Sure, the authorities might need a subpoena to connect that raw cell data to a name and address, but it doesn’t matter. Say an ESN harvested at a Portland protest on June 29 turns up at a protest in Chicago on Sept. 5. That’s suspicious enough to get that subpoena, no problem. Nice try, Osama!

Or, if they’re in a hurry, they can just use the proximity-tracking function on a second dirtbox—in an unmarked van, say—to hunt your terrorist ass down in person.

The whole thing is extremely creepy, and it’s probably only the staggering incompetence of the Trump administration that’s keeping it from being even worse. In the meantime, protesters might consider picking up a cheap burner—or even, God forbid, leaving the phone at home.

QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com

4

Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

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8/5/20 3:28 PM

MURMURS BRUCE POINSETTE

PROTEST: Bruce Poinsette (right) has for several years led demonstrations against racism in Lake Oswego.

SOME OREGON STUDENTS CAN RETURN TO CLASS: Oregon kids and parents are preparing for distance learning this fall, with few signs that a return to classrooms is imminent. In the past week, the most high-profile symbols of student life—high school and college football—surrendered to the pandemic, with the Oregon School Activities Association and the Pac-12 both delaying their fall sports seasons until spring.

But a few kids may be allowed to return to class.

The Oregon Department of Education released new school guidelines Aug. 11 that will allow in-person classes for students with disabilities, English language learners, and students in career technical education even as the pandemic continues. The new guidelines also allow small districts and schools located in rural areas more latitude to open fully, by working with their local public health authority. “We all want to get our students back in school as quickly as possible,” said Gov. Kate Brown. “What’s so key, though, is we all work to make sure our children and teachers and staff are safe.”

LAKE OSWEGO RIFT WIDENS: On Aug. 4, after a story went national about a Lake Oswego resident urging a neighbor to take down signs supporting Black Lives Matter, Lake Oswego city manager Martha Bennett hurriedly issued a statement on the city’s behalf: “The city of Lake Oswego is committed to making Lake Oswego a welcoming community for everyone.” That statement displeased John LaMotte, a city councilor running for mayor in November. “Why was this sent to press???,” LaMotte wrote to Bennett in an Aug. 5 email obtained by WW. “Why the rush to judgment?” LaMotte says he was not upset by the content of the statement but because the LO council had recently approved a policy giving councilors 12 hours to review statements before release. “The message was just fine,” LaMotte says. “I’m just a stickler for protocol.”

PROSPER PLANS TO EXTEND DIRECTOR’S SEVERANCE: On Aug. 12, the board of Prosper Portland, the city’s economic development agency, proposes to extend the time horizon during which director Kimberly Branam would be 6

Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

eligible for severance if dismissed. When Branam was hired in August 2016, her offer provided for six months’ severance if she got fired within three years. (Branam, like all city bureau directors, is an at-will employee, meaning she can be fired at any time.) Now she would automatically get severance if she’s fired—no matter when it happens.

The city’s policy of giving bureau chiefs big severance payments generated controversy in 2017, after heavy turnover at the top of bureaus following the election of Commissioner Chloe Eudaly and Mayor Ted Wheeler. A city spokeswoman said Wheeler’s office had no information about the proposed change. Prosper board chair Gustavo Cruz Jr. says says the board is “very happy” with Branam and is making the change to bring her into parity with other bureau directors.

COVID HITS THE CLUB: Oregon health officials have traced a small outbreak of COVID-19 to a Portland strip club. Spyce Gentlemen’s Club in Old Town has been linked to five cases of the virus. The first infection traced to the club was diagnosed on July 16, state records say. Spyce had closed the day before, but announced a reopening kickoff party for July 31: “Masks on, clothes off!!!” It then canceled the party, and owner Matt Doss says he’s adding new safety precautions. The outbreak at Spyce appears to be Oregon’s first cluster of COVID-19 infections traced to a strip club. The largest outbreaks continue to be traced to prisons, food processing plants and shipping warehouses. Hermiston frozen potato packer Lamb Weston has 167 cases; an Amazon warehouse in Troutdale now has 48.

HEALTHY TURNOUT SEEN FOR SPECIAL ELECTION: The special election to replace late Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish drew strong voter turnout. The race to succeed Fish—between Loretta Smith and Dan Ryan—was the only item on the ballot. As of late morning Aug. 11, 33% of registered voters in the city had returned their ballots, a somewhat surprisingly strong showing for an off-cycle special election in the middle of a chaotic summer. Read the results at wweek.com.

MAPPED

Red State

The White House is quietly asking Oregon to lock down some virusravaged rural counties.

BY R AC H E L M O N A H A N

rmonahan@wweek.com

Every week since July 14, the White House Coronavirus Task Force has made specific recommendations to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown that included closing bars and gyms in three counties hammered by COVID-19: Umatilla, Morrow and Malheur.

On July 31, Brown returned Umatilla County to a stayat-home order, effectively following through on the White House recommendation. But she hasn’t done the same in Morrow and Malheur counties.

Those decisions show Brown’s continued aversion to conflict in the deep red counties ravaged by the virus at Oregon’s eastern border—even when the White House suggests it.

Last week, WW revealed on wweek.com that the White House advised Brown for the past three weeks to close night spots in Portland. The latest documents show she’s still ignoring that advice in the heart of Trump Country.

“For weeks, the Trump administration has been issuing these cookie-cutter reports based on little or no review of existing regulations or conditions on the ground,” says Brown spokesman Charles Boyle, “while failing to pull together a national strategy for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, and response.”

Some disagree with Brown’s approach to the federal recommendations.

“That response is shameful,” says Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran, an emergency room physician who has consistently pushed for a more aggressive response to COVID-19.

The state reports, which began June 23, provide detailed looks at the number of cases and the percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive, and tailor recommendations based on conditions in specific counties.

On July 19, Multnomah County made the report’s “yellow zone” list for the first time. (This week it was removed, amid declining case numbers.) Also in the yellow zone—counties that should close bars and dining rooms— in the Aug. 10 report were Marion, Yamhill, Jefferson and Wasco. The red zone counties, which the White House wants locked down completely, were Umatilla, Morrow and Malheur.

The White House has kept its recommendations secret from the public, to the consternation of public health officials, and so has the governor’s office.

But the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit newsroom, first published a copy of the July 14 recommendations for all states last month. The Malheur Enterprise first reported on the recommendations for Malheur County on July 17.

Experts praised the concepts in the recommendations, when first obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, which reported, “Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said he thought the information and recommendations were mostly good.”

Most U.S. governors had set their COVID-19 policies well in advance of receiving White House guidance. Given that the guidance has largely been kept secret, it’s not clear whether it’s impacted state policies.

But Gov. Brown disagrees with the recommendations, with her office pointing to flaws that it says have ham-

THE BIG NUMBER pered the federal government’s response.

Boyle says the federal recommendations also don’t take into account the health protections Brown has already ordered, such as requiring masks in most public spaces.

“The Trump Administration’s reports contain onesize-fits-all recommendations with little justification for why one type of business should be closed in one county over another,” says Boyle. “County-level decisions are made based on the advice of doctors and health experts, with input from local leaders and public health officials about the data and conditions they are seeing on the ground.”

To be sure, the Trump administration response to the pandemic has been political. Trump attacked mask wearing, before reversing course to sometimes support it, while continuing to downplay the virus’s outsized death toll.

The task force would not respond to the Center for Public Integrity on why the recommendations were not made public.

“Information about the coronavirus is still very tightly controlled by the White House,” Center for Public Integrity reporter Liz Essley Whyte tells WW. “It would be helpful to people from all walks of life to know what the White House Coronavirus Task Force recommends leaders do about it.”

Meieran says it’s possible to criticize President Trump and also seek to exceed his administration’s safety recommendations.

“The federal administration, and the president himself, is the most culpable in how the pandemic has been mishandled and is responsible for the dysfunction throughout the country, not to mention tens of thousands of deaths,” she says. “That being said, whether it’s cookie cutter or not, a number of these recommendations make absolute sense and jibe with what public health experts and epidemiologists are telling us. To dismiss it out of hand is a non-answer, and I would expect better from our state leadership.”

Brown faces renewed calls to close bars and restaurants, including from a group of 150 physicians who are also mothers, who on Aug. 5 asked the governor to do just that in hopes of lowering the case count to reopen schools.

This map shows the counties where the White House is advising closures, and the places Brown says she’s watching closely.

Counties Brown is watching closely Counties that should close bars and limit gym capacity, according to the White House Counties that should close bars and gyms, according to the White House

WESLEY LAPOINTE

NEWS

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK

SPECIAL DELIVERY: Oregon senators wore masks to their first special session.

$750,000 On Aug. 10, in a whirlwind one-day special session, Oregon lawmakers balanced the state budget, tweaked the unemployment system, and provided much-needed funding for drinking water infrastructure in Salem and on the Warm Springs Reservation.

What they didn’t do was resolve a pesky problem that has burned around the edges of the Capitol since 2017 like the embers of a campfire that just can’t be extinguished. Jessica Knieling, manager of employee services for the Legislature, says the issue will probably cost about three-quarters of a million dollars annually to fix, a sliver of the money lawmakers handled this week.

The issue: In 2017, the Legislature passed a pay equity law intended to make sure women and people of color get paid as much as white men. Two years later, lawmakers crafted rules on how to fit the Legislature’s 800 or so staff members into the new law.

Those rules pleased almost no one. A new compensation study produced for the Legislature last week, for example, showed that as many of half of the building’s employees were underpaid. If lawmakers were to adopt the adjustments the consultant suggested, senior aides could see their salaries rise from $51,516 to $72,058.

But fixing the inequity has complications. Hundreds of staffers only work when the Legislature meets, many lawmakers employ family members as legislative staff, and all 90 members are accustomed to making their own decisions how much to pay staff.

Staffers are unhappy. Some have sued over perceived inequities in pay; many are due retroactive payments going back two years. A group of staffers submitted written testimony for an Aug. 6 meeting of the Legislative Administration Committee, calling the current system “untenable and unsustainable.”

And although lawmakers have dealt expeditiously with billion-dollar decisions related to COVID-19 in recent weeks and made major policy changes, they will not fix their staff’s pay scale until after the November election.

One staff member, speaking on background, suggests the delay is political: The optics of lawmakers raising staff pay while cutting the state’s budget amid a pandemic-induced recession could be disastrous.

Danny Moran, a spokesman for House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland), says it’s a matter of gathering the necessary information to make sure a new classification and compensation system can go into effect.

“Employees still need to update their information,” Moran says, “so we won’t have the data to make a cost estimate until later this year, for a planned implementation

by February 2021.” NIGEL JAQUISS. Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

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NEWS WESLEY LAPOINTE

BLACK AND WHITE IN OREGON

EAST AND WEST

Who Has a Healthy Pregnancy?

Portland is not immune to racial disparities in pregnancy-related complications and deaths.

On Aug. 9, Oregon Center for Public Policy released an analysis revealing that half of all single mothers of color, including Latina, Black and Native American moms in Oregon, are living in poverty amid COVID-19.

The pandemic is poised to make an existing inequity worse.

Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women in the U.S., says a 2015 report by Oregon Health & Science University. In Oregon and Multnomah County, the inequalities are the same.

About one third of Black moms in Multnomah County reported symptoms of depression while pregnant—the highest rate—while less than half that proportion of white moms experienced depression, according to a 2014 report from the Multnomah County Health Department.

Black women delivered the most children with a low birth weight and the most babies born prematurely. Black and Native American moms had the highest number of infant deaths, at 10.1%, nearly double the percentage of all other racial demographics.

Part of the reason for this disparity? The health care and education that expectant mothers received throughout pregnancy.

Black and Latina mothers were the least likely of all racial and ethnic demographics to receive early and adequate prenatal care, and they also took the least amount of daily vitamins or folic acid during their pregnancy term.

Not only do mothers of color face the harshest complications before, during and after birth, but they also have the highest rates of poverty, limiting their options for quality reproductive health care. LATISHA JENSEN.

TRUMPLANDIA

Portland Presidential Rage-O-Meter “These are really sick, disturbed people.”

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Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

LORAX WANTED: Northeast 82nd Avenue marks the border where trees start to thin out.

No Shade

at 13%. These neighborhoods also have a high population of low-income residents and people of color.

East of 82nd Avenue, Portlanders are covered by far fewer trees.

Nik Desai, an urban forester with Portland Parks & Recreation, says trees should be considered essential services.

“They have a way of helping us cope with stress,” Desai says. “There have been studies that show that students who can see a tree outside of their classroom window are more likely to score higher on their tests. Even just seeing a tree has a calming effect on us.”

Whitney Dorer, interim executive director of Friends of Trees, says her nonprofit only plants trees on the city’s eastside because of the significantly higher need.

“You see the discrepancy with communities that have access to trees and those that don’t have the same infrastructure,” she says. “There are differences in air quality and heat.”

Anjeanette Brown, 38, can feel the difference. She’s lived in outer East Portland for 12 years in the Centennial neighborhood. Last year, trees were cut down outside her home.

“It’s the first year we’ve used our air conditioner,” Brown said. “It’s definitely hotter inside our house.”

Multnomah County’s 2015 Climate Action Plan made a goal to increase forest canopy to at least 33% of the city, but that doesn’t guarantee an equitable distribution across all neighborhoods.

Also, it takes about 12 years for a newly planted tree to grow to a size that’s recognizable as a tree rather than a shrub.

“It’s vital for low-income, low-canopy neighborhoods [to have trees] because often in those situations residents don’t have the means to get out to a park,” Desai says. “So if you can step outside your door and be near a tree, that’s the next best thing.” LATISHA JENSEN.

Geoffrey Donovan says trees can help Portland fight crime.

He realizes that might sound peculiar. But with the city locked in debates over police funding and gripped by a wave of gun violence, any relief would be welcome.

And Donovan, a Portland research forester with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has conducted several studies showing a correlation between a neighborhood’s tree canopy and its crime rates.

“Trees signal that a neighborhood is well cared for,” Donovan tells WW. “Neighborhoods that show signs of disorder send a subliminal signal. Buildings that had more trees around them had less crime.”

And guess what East Portland lacks? Trees.

Citywide, about one third of Portland is covered with trees. More specifically: 30.7% of the city has what experts call canopy coverage. This is measured by looking down from a bird’s-eye view at the top of the tree and measuring how far the leaves span out in all directions.

But this canopy coverage is not distributed equally.

Between 2010 and 2016, Portland Parks & Recreation conducted an inventory of streetside and park trees in most Portland neighborhoods.

Outside of natural areas like Powell Butte, not a single neighborhood listed in the inventory report east of 82nd Avenue meets the 30.7% average citywide canopy coverage.

The East Portland neighborhood with the highest percentage of canopy coverage is Powellhurst-Gilbert at 27%. The lowest in outer East Portland is Argay Terrace, Since President Donald Trump deployed federal police to Portland, he can talk of little else. Perhaps that’s because he sees the images of civil unrest in our streets as a winning issue for his reelection campaign. It could signal his eagerness to “send in the National Guard,” as he’s previously threatened. Maybe he just really likes saying “Portland.” Whatever the reason, at most of his press briefings—at the Trump National Golf Course or a Whirlpool washing machine factory—he discusses our city.

How fixated is he? We decided to conduct a regular review of his official remarks, as compiled by the White House Press Office, to ascertain how angry the president is with Portland this week. AARON MESH.

How many times did the president say the word “Portland” in official remarks last week? 14 What was his harshest appraisal? “Portland is a disaster.

It’s been a disaster for many, many years,” Trump said on Aug. 8. “Brave federal law enforcement officers single-handedly saved the federal courthouse in Portland from lawless rioters and agitators and anarchists—and that’s what they are. You know, when you find Molotov cocktails in somebody’s knapsack, and they say, ‘No, I’m just here to have a good time.’ These are really sick, disturbed people.”

How hot does his anger burn? Hotter than a dumpster set on fire outside the Portland Police Association.

NEWS

ALEX WITTWER

BIG NIGHT OUT: On May 29, Edward Thomas Schinzing marched with protesters to the Multnomah County Justice Center, where he allegedly set fires.

Fire Extinguishers Federal prosecutors aren’t waiting to find out if a progressive DA will charge protesters. They’re doing it themselves.

BY TE SS R I SK I

tess@wweek.com

It wasn’t hard for prosecutors to identify Edward Thomas Schinzing.

On May 29, 2020—the first night of civil unrest in Portland following the killing of George Floyd—about 30 people entered the Multnomah County Justice Center through smashed windows.

One of them was a 5-foot-8 white man who prosecutors say set fire to an office cubicle. Shirtless and sporting a backward orange baseball cap, the man was easily identifiable by a large tattoo inked across his upper back in large letters: “SCHINZING,” it read—his last name.

Multiple video cameras inside the Justice Center recorded Schinzing, 32, as he “spread a fire near the front of the office by lighting additional papers on fire and moving flaming papers into a drawer of a separate cubicle,” prosecutors say.

It was a slam-dunk case for the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office: the destruction of county property caught on camera. And county prosecutors are pursuing indictments for 47 people on felony charges related to protests this year.

Schinzing was indicted July 28 on arson charges. But the county isn’t bringing the charges.

Instead, he’s being prosecuted by the U.S. attorney for Oregon—that is, the feds. He’s one of at least two protesters whose cases originated in the district attorney’s office that have now been taken up in federal court, according to Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Nathan Vasquez.

That’s remarkable because the destruction occurred on property owned by Multnomah County and the city of Portland. And the state of Oregon has harsher criminal penalties for arson than those levied by the federal government (the minimum sentence for arson is seven and a half years in state court and five years in federal court).

What also raises eyebrows among Portland lawyers is the feds’ rationale for claiming jurisdiction: Because Portland and Multnomah County are recipients of federal aid, including COVID relief funding, the federal government has authority to prosecute crimes on those properties.

Charging Edward Schinzing in federal court isn’t as dramatic as federal police seizing protesters in unmarked rental vans. But it marks an intrusion into the local criminal justice system that longtime observers say may prove even more consequential—

because federal prosecutors may seek to make an example of more Portland protesters amid President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.

“I believe that Portland is Trump’s petri dish,” says Sean Riddell, a former Multnomah County prosecutor. “His people know, ‘When we test a controversial policy out, we test it in Portland and see how it plays.’ I think they’re gonna see how this plays.”

Members of the criminal justice bar say Schinzing’s prosecution by the feds also reflects a schism in the local law enforcement community as newly elected Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt takes office.

When Schmidt ran against Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight in the first contested DA’s race in Multnomah County in more than 30 years, it was a referendum on criminal justice reform.

Knight got $25,000 from the Multnomah County Prosecuting Attorneys Association, which added a withering attack on Schmidt, saying “because he has never personally tried to a court or jury any felony-level assault, sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse or homicide case, he will be ill-equipped to set policies on how these offenses should be handled.”

The region’s law-and-order prosecutors and the Portland Police Association, which chipped in $20,000, strongly endorsed Knight. Schmidt beat him 75% to 25%. In the face of such a repudiation of the status quo, District Attorney Rod Underhill announced he’d leave office six months early.

Last month, Schmidt told WW he was still crafting a plan for prosecuting protesters, adding that change in America sometimes “took some property damage.” On Aug. 11, Schmidt announced a policy of only pursuing charges against protesters who deliberately destroyed property, used force against another person, or threatened to do so.

But that didn’t mean U.S. Attorney Billy Williams, who has been outspoken in his desire to see federal police on Portland streets, had folded his hand.

The timing of the charges caught the attention of several observers: The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced it had indicted Schinzing just four days before Schmidt assumed his post on Aug. 1.

Schmidt tells WW he isn’t familiar enough with the details of Schinzing’s case to say whether he supports the indictment, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office has not spoken to him about it.

“I haven’t had conversations with [the feds] at all about this,”

Schmidt says. “I’ve outlined this policy [of ] what I think is the right way to handle those cases. The fact that the feds are going in a different way is concerning to me.”

During an Aug. 11 press conference, Schmidt did not dispute the feds’ authority to determine they had jurisdiction in the Schinzing case.

Former Multnomah County Chief Deputy District Attorney Norm Frink, who had a tough-on-crime reputation as a prosecutor, says it would typically be odd for the federal government to prosecute someone for starting a small fire in a county building.

“Yeah, it’s unusual. But the circumstances are even more unusual,” Frink tells WW. “It’s unusual that for 70-plus days, people have been permitted, with minimal law enforcement interference, to break the criminal laws over political animus. That’s highly unusual. It’s unsurprising to me that the only adult left in the room would exercise federal jurisdiction when he can.”

Edward Schinzing allegedly started the fire more than a month before President Trump dispatched federal agents to Portland.

And the damage occurred in a building owned jointly by the county and the city of Portland.

In a probable cause affidavit, federal officials offer two reasons why they can bring the case.

First, on May 29—the date of the fire—22 of the 289 inmates held in the Justice Center faced federal charges. Some of their paperwork was stored in the building.

The second argument the feds make for jurisdiction is that Portland and Multnomah County are recipients of federal funding, namely from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act, passed by Congress in March.

Special Agent Cynthia M. Chang of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in the affidavit that “Schinzing maliciously damaged and destroyed…by means of fire a building and other personal property belonging to Multnomah County and the City of Portland, which are both institutions and organizations receiving federal financial assistance.”

Portland lawyers find that argument unusual.

“Based on that rationale, federal authority would exist anywhere in Portland,” says Jason Kafoury, a Portland civil rights lawyer. “It’s also a scary precedent, because it’s opening the door for federal authorities to arrest Portlanders anywhere, anytime.”

Schinzing’s attorney, public defender Ryan Costello, declined to comment on the case. Oregon Public Defender Lisa Hay says she can’t comment on any specific case, but speaking generally, she says it’s important for the federal government to mind jurisdiction when prosecuting cases.

“We always look to hold the federal government to act within its authority,” Hay says, “and to only bring prosecution where they have jurisdiction.”

The timing of the indictment also raises questions whether employees in Schmidt’s office helped take the case out of their new boss’s hands.

Emails obtained by WW via a public records request show that the DA’s office helped investigate Schinzing before the U.S. attorney took the case. In emails, a DA’s spokesman thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for mentioning Multnomah County in the press release because “our office did contribute to the investigation.”

But neither agency will say who exactly referred the case to the feds or why.

Kevin Sonoff, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney Williams, declined to comment. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office coordinates with district attorney’s offices throughout Oregon on cases in which both jurisdictions could bring charges,” Sonoff wrote.

Kenneth Kreuscher, a criminal defense lawyer in Portland, says the feds probably took the initiative to prosecute Schinzing.

“I would be highly surprised if the Multnomah County district attorney asked the feds to step in on a case involving a fire at the Justice Center. I would be shocked,” Kreuscher says. “The Trump administration has spilt gallons of ink and made a lot of statements saying people involved in these protests need to be punished.”

It’s unlikely Portlanders will feel much pity for Schinzing. He remains in custody at the Multnomah County Jail, where he’s been held since July 2 following an arrest for violating parole after being convicted of assault this spring for attacking his domestic partner and her child.

But Kreuscher says the timing of the case bears watching, as the president remains fixated on making an example of Portland and liberal leaders like Schmidt.

“It’s not surprising to me that they are trying to get involved for political reasons in what I think are local and state cases,” Kreuscher says. “The cases in Portland and the uprisings in Portland have become a political football that’s being used by the Trump administration.”

Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

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NEWS WESLEY LAPOINTE

Getting Stuck Parents and children didn’t get other vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. That risks future outbreaks of preventable diseases.

STEEP CLIMB: The Oregon Health Authority seeks to catch up from low childhood vaccination rates so far this year.

BY R AC H E L M O N A HAN

rmonahan@wweek.com

Even as hopes for ending the COVID-19 pandemic hinge on a vaccine, Oregon saw a “sharp reduction” in the number of other vaccines administered to children and adults, according to an official tally by the state.

For the first half of 2020, the number of immunizations fell as doctors’ offices closed to nonemergency care for a more than a month and Oregonians stayed home even after those clinics reopened.

Compared with 2019, doctors administered 45% fewer doses of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine to 2- to 9-year-olds in the first half of 2020, according to figures from Oregon Health Authority.

And there were 20% fewer immunizations for the combined tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis vaccine, known as TDAP, among women of childbearing age—“the most vulnerable [newborns] at risk without passive immunity gained from immunization of the mother,” OHA officials said.

Other vaccines also saw drop-offs, if less marked.

The number of patients getting routine vaccines has not yet resumed to normal levels. Parents and children haven’t made up yet for past vaccines missed during the lockdown.

“The impact could be devastating,” says Nadine A. Gartner, founding executive director of the vaccine education nonprofit Boost Oregon. “Our public health departments are not prepared to deal with

multiple pandemics at once. If we all of the sudden have to treat a large number of people for vaccine-preventable diseases that’s just going to further handicap our ability to defeat COVID.” The lower vaccination rates are part of a trend nationally: Americans have avoided medical treatments for fear of contracting the novel coronavirus. And that presents a complication for public health officials looking to respond to the pandemic: Other health care needs, neglected amid COVID-19, could overwhelm the system in the future.

Even as the United States has failed to bring COVID-19 under control, public health officials worry about a new worst-case scenario: an outbreak of another preventable disease at the same time, including flu, measles or some other disease that can be vaccinated against.

“We’re playing with fire when we talk about not taking our kids to get the vaccines that are already recommended,” Dr. Rahul Gupta, senior vice president and chief medical and health officer at March of Dimes, a nonprofit focused on mom and baby health, told the National Press Foundation’s Vaccine Boot Camp webinar on Aug. 7.

“I do think that we have to have a concerted effort moving forward to ensure that those rates do not fall,” Gupta adds, “because the outbreak of those diseases will not only complicate our efforts but actually be very expensive.”

Oregon doesn’t generally do well at making sure kids get all their vaccines when compared with other states.

Ranked by the rate of kindergartners who had received

two MMR vaccines, Oregon was tied for the nation’s 15th-lowest rate, 93%, in 2018-19 (not including Alaska, which did not report data that year).

Among the reasons for the decline in childhood immunizations was concern from parents about visiting doctors’ offices—an issue that public health officials say can be mitigated with communication along with the care that doctors’ offices are taking to keep patients safe.

“What I have been impressed by with the health care I have received during the pandemic is that the health care facilities that are open are actually using really good infection control practices and trying to ensure that those who are coming in are actually able to get the health services they need without being exposed unnecessarily,” says Dr. Julie Morita, executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “And the vaccines are critical.”

Oregon Health Authority school immunization coordinator Stacy de Assis Matthews says the agency is working with doctors’ offices to ensure they call parents who have missed vaccines as well as try to get the word out to parents that vaccines for Oregon children are free.

“Immunizations are really important,” she says. “We know that vaccine-preventable diseases can occur when we have pockets of low immunization rates. The 2019 measles showed us that.”

Rachel Monahan reported this story with the support of the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism, a program of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2020 National Fellowship.

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Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

JOSEPH BLAKE JR.

HOT WHEELS Biking, skateboarding and even roller skating have blown up during the pandemic. Want to get moving? Here’s your guide.

Contrary to how it might seem, the world has not stopped moving.

In fact, it may have even picked up speed in the last five months. Since the pandemic started, consumers are looking for excuses to get out of the house, even if there’s nowhere to go. That’s meant big business for anything that glides, slides or accelerates. If it has wheels, it’s rolling right out of shops.

Of course, in Portland, it was always going to take more than a health crisis to keep us off our bikes. But it’s not just bicycle sales that are booming—although they are, leaping up 75% from a year ago, causing supply shortages and back orders and exciting advocates about what it might mean for Portland’s bike future (page 12).

Skateboarding, too, has seen a surge in popularity. In most cases, it’s bored teenagers

picking up a new hobby, or adults resuming an old one. But is it possible for someone in their 30s with a deep fear of falling to learn to shred in a single week? In this issue, we tracked a local comic’s attempt to skate or die—at times, those seemed like literally the only two options (page 13).

An even older pastime is also experiencing a renaissance: Roller skates are suddenly so in demand stores can’t keep them in the stock.

Once again, though, Portland was ahead of the trend—see our world-champion roller derby squad. Here, we asked several Rose City Rollers and more casual enthusiasts to wax ecstatic about their favorite skates, so you’ll have an idea of what to shop for to get rolling yourself (page 14).

What’s old is new but what’s new is really new. E-bikes and e-scooters are ubiquitous on Portland’s streets, but have you ever ridden an electric skateboard? What about an electric unicycle? We dove into the growing subculture of “e-skaters,” who are tricking out their rides with motors, batteries and remote controls in order to go faster for longer—and, in some cases, nearly blowing themselves up along the way (page 17).

Whether you’ve got a need for speed or prefer a more leisurely, ’50s-era pace, now is the time to get moving. This pandemic isn’t going anywhere, sure. But that doesn’t mean you have to stand still.

—Matthew Singer, WW Arts & Culture Editor CONT. on page 12

READY TO ROLL: When Chelsey Christian’s not teaching pole dancing at her studio in Vancouver, Wash., she’s roller skating. “It just looks cool,” she says.

Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

11

ALEX WITTWER

Pedalpalooza Bikes sales have exploded during the pandemic—and for Portland cycling advocates, that spells opportunity.

BY M E IRA G E B E L

@MeiraGebel

Shortly after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered indoor spin studios, Alex Haigh found herself craving cardio.

She tried running but kept injuring her ankles. It wasn’t until a friend gifted her a 1980 Miyata One Hundred that she decided to take her love for indoor cycling outside. But before she could do that, her vintage tubes needed a tuneup.

“The hang-up for me was that the bike needed work, and it took about three weeks to get it tuned up at Bike Gallery,” says Haigh, 32, who lives in the Buckman neighborhood. “Not sure how long it normally takes, but I assume that’s a big delay.”

She’s not wrong. Across the country, bike shops and retailers face a historic shortage of stock, merchandise and basic repair items, all the while operating with a skeleton staff. The reason? COVID-19. The virus has slashed supply chains to a standstill but also increased demand tenfold as customers seek out alternatives for transportation, exercise and enjoyment.

According to the NPD Group, which tracks consumer habits, nationwide bike sales doubled during the month of April, and interest in affordable, adult leisure bikes shot up 203% compared with last year.

In Portland, where biking is already a prominent part of the culture, local shop owners and advocates see the bike boom as a chance to roll out the red carpet for new riders in the hope they will stick around.

“Every time there is a boom, you are going to capture a certain number of people,” says Jonathan Maus, founder of the cycling blog BikePortland. “Biking gets under your skin, it makes you feel better about your body and your city. It just depends on how many people we can keep for the long term.”

One of those new riders is Brandon Brezic.

“This is basically my first bike purchase as an adult,” says Brezic, 25. “Being so isolated made me stir crazy, and I wanted an excuse to get out of my apartment. I think my partner probably wouldn’t have been so quick, though, to buy had COVID not happened.”

Brezic ordered his Retrospec Mantra-7 hybrid during quarantine in April and received it a week later, assembled and ready to go. But for his partner, Mackenzie Verrey, the model she had her eye on—SixThreeZero’s Reach Your Destination hybrid—was back-ordered until late August.

That kind of delay is common not only across the country but globally, according to Cassandra Hidalgo, owner of Gladys Bikes on Northeast Alberta Street. Her shop can hardly hold any stock without selling out within the week, while her suppliers in China and Taiwan are playing catch-up.

“It’s been really surprising,” she says. “People have been eager to wait two weeks for an appointment, and to buy without seeing the bikes right away.”

The same can be said for even Portland’s larger retailers, like River City Bikes, whose showrooms have been closed since March and bike sales take place in the parking lot.

“We just can’t keep hardly anything in stock, and when it comes in stock, it is immediately gone,” says Ryan Barrett, River City’s marketing and e-commerce manager.

“But another layer is, this isn’t a local pandemic, it is a global pandemic. Our supply chains were shut down in Asia, and it made it difficult to stock our shelves.”

This isn’t the first time a public crisis has made people turn to bikes in droves, according to Michael Andersen, a senior researcher at the policy think tank Sightline Institute. In the 1940s, an oil shortage led lawmakers in the Netherlands to move away from automobiles and form 12

Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

MASKING FOR A FRIEND: According to one study, nationwide interest in affordable, adult leisure bikes has shot up 203% compared with last year.

policy geared toward greener transportation. In the 1970s, Portland invested in the environment after yet another oil shortage, and with that came the city’s first Bicycle Master Plan.

So it’s no surprise to Andersen that people have turned to bikes during this pandemic, when public transportation ridership is down, businesses are closed and commuting is reduced.

“There is now a chance that more people have been exposed, a percentage of people are going to love it and see it is useful,” says Andersen. “Hopefully that will be the basis of another round of enthusiasm for this form of transportation.”

Out on the greenways, the enthusiasm is hard to miss.

“The type of people I’ve seen out is different. It seems like the Sunday Parkways phenomenon,” Maus says. “The number of families out right now is unbelievable, the amount of people riding with young kids is amazing. That is something you wouldn’t see that often on a daily basis.”

But short-term successes like swelled bike lanes and sold-out inventory are not what advocates are thinking about.

“There have been significant bike-shop closures in the last few years,” Andersen says. “A big part of bike-shop

economics isn’t the selling of the bikes. They are mostly relying on the service relationship going forward.”

Sustaining the momentum for bicycling also brings up the issue of safety. Even with heavy investment in initiatives like Portland’s Vision Zero, which aims to eliminate traffic deaths, the city saw fatalities rise nearly 20 percent in some counties in 2018.

“Portland is kind of a bubble and a poster child for bike transportation, even though there are still unsafe places and there are still people that die,” Hidalgo says. “I think what this is going to do is cause more safety and awareness and, hopefully, a lot more bike infrastructure.”

Maus believes new riders will only stay on the streets if they feel safe, and protected bike lanes is the way to do it.

“I don’t think we have taken full advantage of the moment in terms of making biking safer than the way we could have,” says Maus. “You can’t just put up lines and think that you’ve done enough.”

For some, however, the thrill of freedom after months of lockdown may be just enough to get them to stick.

“After getting my own bike, I finally realized why Portland is such a big biking city,” Brezic says. “Maybe one day I’d like to even ditch my car altogether and jump on the E-bike bandwagon.”

ANNIE SCHUTZ

Sk8r Man Is it possible to learn how to skateboard in your 30s?

I spent a week trying.

BY JAK E SI L B E R M A N

@thecomedianjake

Skateboarding terrifies me.

As a kid, I think I tried once, quickly fell hard, and vowed never to try again. And it’s especially horrifying to me now, as a 33-year-old out-of-work standup comic.

I’m used to plenty of emotional pain, but bombing onstage hardly ever ends in broken bones.

It’s not that I’m completely uncoordinated—I do play Ultimate Frisbee, after all—I’ve just always preferred sports where a small mistake doesn’t lead to lots of blood loss. But after seeing way too many “inspirational” posts about learning new skills during the pandemic, I felt I couldn’t leave all the good vibes to people learning how to bake bread.

My task was to teach myself to skate in a week. If nothing else, it’ll get me out of the house and back into my comfort zone of feeling like an impostor. And honestly, my bar for accomplishment is pretty low—I’ll be happy with not killing myself.

Day 1 I’ve never skateboarded, but I do own a skateboard.

I live in a place that’s been inhabited— some might say infested—by comics since 2013. The board has been there for years.

I imagine it must have been left behind by one of the countless drunk open-mikers who’ve crashed on the living room floor.

I don’t know who it belongs to, but it does have “FUCKO” written on the bottom.

I need someone to show me the ropes, or the wheels or whatever, so I set up a Zoom chat with my friend Bill Conway, the formerly Portland-based co-founder of satirical website The Hard Times, who now lives in Los Angeles. Bill shows me how to get on the board and push—as best one can through a phone screen, anyway. His main advice? “Get used to the fact that you’re going to be intimately familiar with hitting the ground,” he says, “and you’re gonna hit it hard.”

Around 11:15 that night, I take my board out for its first spin in the parking garage outside my apartment. My girlfriend accompanies me to make sure there’s someone to call the ambulance and/or laugh at me if and when I fall. I dress in what I think skaters wear: skinny jeans and suede Adidas. I also wear a helmet, which seems decidedly uncool, but I’m also not trying to concuss myself on night one.

I get on the board. I wobble, I shake.

This is going to be a long week.

I get going a little faster than I want and have to bail. The board kicks up and misses my neighbor’s Jaguar by inches.

Before I head back in, I try that trick where you kick the end of the board so it flips effortlessly into your hands, but I keep getting scared it’s going to hit me in the balls. I bend over and pick it up in shame.

Day 2 I feel like a dork searching YouTube for “skating videos” because it feels like typing “boobs” into Pornhub, but I don’t really know any skaters besides Tony Hawk, and I know I’m not dropping into any half-pipes this week. I end up watching a guy named “Jaws” jump off a 25-stair set. These guys are simply a different breed from me. Bill said a good place to start would be a smooth basketball court, so I head over to Irving Park. I push around for a while, at one point panicking when a group of kids comes by to shoot hoops. Thankfully, they either sensed how nervous I was that they might see me fall or were simply too embarrassed to be in such close proximity to a grown man with a dorky helmet in skinny jeans trying to recapture his youth, and decide to go elsewhere.

After clumsily rolling around the court for a bit, I noticed how little momentum I was getting. I turn the board over to spin the wheels and noticed they stop rotating rather quickly. That means a visit to a skate shop tomorrow.

Day 3 I decide I need a teacher who can actually see me in person, so I call up my friend Alex, who is more of a casual, not-into-tricks skater. He takes me over to Woodstock Hardware where they have a small skating section. We buy new bearings, which are much easier to install than I anticipated.

My wheels are now spinning freely.

Alex takes me for a lesson around his neighborhood and shows me how to properly push and where to keep my feet on the board. He shows me how to ride off a curb, and I make this my goal to do by the end of the week. I try a few times but am just too nervous to commit.

I vow to conquer that fear no matter what. Besides, there’s no better time to break a limb or two than during a pandemic when I’m supposed to be at home anyways.

Day 4 I wake up sore and stiff. After resting most of the day, I head out to skate at Irvington Elementary, which has a big, mostly flat schoolyard perfect for not busting my ass in public. I still can’t really make any sharp turns, so when I need to change direction I either make a very big loop or just hop off the board and turn it around.

Some kid walking his dog across the lot waves at me. Does he think I’m a skater? Do I fit in? Why am I so worried about a middle schooler’s approval?

Another skater shows up. We do the head nod and I watch him out of the corner of my eye as he effortlessly glides around and pops a few tricks.

Somewhere during this time I’ve become my own Vitamin Water sponsor, buying a 32-ounce Tropical Citrus from the overcharging neighborhood corner market near my house after nearly every session. I may not be a skater, but I’m gonna hydrate like one.

DIE OR SKATE: Jake Silberman, shredder.

Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

13

JOSEPH BLAKE JR.

ANNIE SCHUTZ

MEAN MUG: This skateboard just showed up in Jake Silberman’s apartment one day.

Day 5 I’m sore as hell, in odd places like my left pec, which must be from all the flailing. As I’m getting ready to go out, I cut my foot on a random piece of broken glass left on the floor of my living room—living with comics rules!—and I start bleeding all over the carpet.

No skating for me today, and I worry that this might be it for my week.

Day 6 The cut on my foot has healed up much better than I thought. I head back to Irvington, my new skating home, and I can feel the rust—one day off seems to have robbed me of my hard-earned “skills.”

I push around lightly, trying to regain my confidence.

There’s another skater here, wearing one of those “guy who’s still trying to hoop even though his knee said ‘Dear God, please quit’ years ago” leg braces. This makes me nervous because my knees are already shot after some hard years on the Ultimate Frisbee field (you heard me).

A bit later, a guy in his early 40s shows up on one of those one-wheeler things, wearing a T-shirt that says “Epic Husband Since 2000.” I imagine what lucky gal is waiting at home for her man to ride up on a Sharper Image toy. Then I realize I’m also an adult who can barely stay upright on a small board with wheels and decide to shut my mouth.

I see a short curb and decide to try to ride it. I straighten my board and push off. I hit the curb and commit. I make it to the street! I didn’t stay on the board, but I’m not dead! I’ve broken the seal of fear!

I head back up the sidewalk a few more times and eventually nail it.

Day 7 My girlfriend and I head to Irvington so she can witness the hot skater bro her boyfriend has transformed into. She films me failing going off the curb a bunch until I finally land one. She hops on the board in sandals and instantly has more balance than I’ve had all week. I blame it on my big feet. As we’re leaving the park, I try to ollie in the bark chips of the playground, coming nowhere close.

As I skate home, I don’t consider myself a skater since I never fully ate shit, which leaves me feeling like a true poser. I’m not sure how many times I’ll get back on the board in the future. But I do know I’m still getting that overpriced Vitamin Water.

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Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

RED HOT AND ROLLIN’: Chelsey Christian rides for Moxi Lollys—her pair has custom-painted flames on them.

Glide or Die Quarantine has unleashed a national roller-skating renaissance. We asked longtime enthusiasts about their favorite skates.

BY SHA N N ON GOR MLEY

sgormley@wweek.com

First, there was a run on toilet paper. Next, it was flour.

And now? Roller skates.

Over the past few months, roller skating—a pastime mostly associated with the 1950s—has seen a massive spike in popularity. Moxi Roller Skates, one of the country’s most popular manufacturers, recently opened a second factory in an attempt to accommodate its increasingly large list of back orders. In Portland, local skate shop Five Strides has been completely sold out of skates since spring, and most of its business now is attaching wheels to customers’ sneakers.

Of all the goods that have experienced supply shortages due to COVID-19, roller skates might be the least expected. But to call it a “revival” would ignore a great deal of history.

Black communities across the country, in particular, have long fought to keep skating culture alive in the U.S. Black skaters protested segregated rinks during

the civil rights movement, and rinks in Black communities provided venues for artists during the birth of hip-hop. Just a few years ago, Beyoncé shot a video in the roller rink where she learned to skate as a child.

As Skaterobics founder Tanya Dean recently told The Washington Post: “We were around before this so-called resurgence. It never went anywhere with us.”

With gyms and roller rinks closed indefinitely or operating at limited capacity, it makes sense that more people would turn to hobbies that allow them to be active outdoors, and buying skates rather than renting them. But if you ask local skater Chelsey Christian, there’s another reason why skating has blown up recently.

“It just looks cool,” says Christian, who owns pole dancing studio Sinferno Studios and has been park skating for three years “It’s always been a thing that’s been pretty popular, but now with social media being such an area of focus, you get to show your skill and people can get inspired by that. The content is out there.”

For those looking to get into skating just now, you’ll have to deal with the difficulty of finding skates during an unprecedented nationwide shortage. But to limit the headache of navigating the market, we asked local roller skaters what they like about their own skates and why they’d recommend them—and for advice on how to work around the ordering backlog.

CHELSEY CHRISTIAN,

owner of Sinferno Studios Skates of choice: Custom-painted Moxi Lollys price: $299 pros: Durable, stylish and easily customizable for different uses.

The first thing that drew Christian to Moxi Skates was the way they looked. “I love that they come in so many different colors,” she says. “They’re a little bit more stylish, and you can really begin to play with customizing your look.” For her, that meant handpainting her skates with flames. She mostly uses her skates for park skating, but recommends them for all-around use, partly because of their customizability. “There’s some other cool skates out there, but the quality just isn’t as awesome,” she says. “You might want to have a different setup if you’re a skatepark skater versus a rink skater versus you just want to skate longdistance outdoors.”

MIA PALAU, Rose City Rollers

Skates of choice: Ridell 495s Price: Starts at $329 Pros: Super comfortable. Good for roller derby, or park skating with a few modifications.

Mia Palau uses the same model for skateparks as she does for roller derby, but added some components like sliders for grinding atop pools. “I’ve roller-skated for 10 years now, and I’m devout to the 495s,” she says. “My feet really like them, they’re just really comfortable.”

The only problem with wearing them outdoors? They’re almost too cute. “Every time I fall, I’m kind of thinking, ‘Oh no, I’m scuffing them up!’” she says. “But that’s what they’re for.”

ANGELA DEATH,

Rose City Rollers Skates of choice: Custom Vans sneaker skates Price: Approximately $250, including the price of the shoe Pros: Customer sneaker skates are often cheaper, and are currently faster to get than ordering off the rack.

Considering how hard it is to find skates in stock right now, Angela Death says custom conversions are the way to go. But Death chose to get hers even before the pandemic.

Not only did it allow her to pick a shoe brand she already liked, and a pair in her team colors, it was also slightly cheaper than buying off the rack. Just about any sneaker can be converted—Death had hers converted at Five Stride in Northeast Portland—so Death chose her shoes for straightforward reasons.

“I like them from a style perspective,” she says. “And they’re pretty comfortable.”

VISAKHA SEON,

Rose City Rollers Skates of choice: Moxi Lolly Clementines Price: $299 Pros: Comfortable even over long distances After years of coveting a pair of Moxi skates, Visakha Seon finally took the plunge last summer.

It was worth it. “I love them,” she says. “They’ll probably last a lifetime if you take care of them.”

They’re worthwhile for the wide variety of punchy colors they come in, and for their comfort over long distances. “I’ve skated in them for miles and miles, like 20-something miles,” she says.

“I’ve skated in them for, like, five hours straight.” Still, they’re not exactly a starter price—Seon bought them after skating for 10 years. “Roller skating is for everybody,” she says. “These skates are very expensive, but there are way less expensive skates out there. Buy used, buy an introductory pair of skates.

You don’t have to drop $300 just to get started.”

GLORIA BIGBAK,

co-founder of Team Indigenous Youth skates of choice: Bont Quadstar Athena Skates price: $449 pros: Comfortable, lightweight.

Good for both derby and park skating.

It took Bigbak years before she found skates that were the right fit for her. “I have really wide feet because I’m Native American,” she says. “[Bont skates are] kind of stretchy and flexible, they’re very comfortable, and they don’t hurt my feet. I have shin splints and a lot of other skates don’t help with them.” Though Bigbak mostly uses them for roller derby, Bonts are also good all-around skates. Last month, Bigbak wore her Bonts when she helped lead the Portland iteration of World Wide Rollout Day, an anti-hate demonstration Team Indigenous Youth co-organized in Portland.

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ANNIE SCHUTZ

The Revolution Will Be Motorized Skateboarding has gone electric, and a growing subculture of Portlanders is all in.

BY A N THON Y EFFIN GER @Effin gerA n th ony

ELECTRIC SLIDE: The Portland EBoarding Crew meets up for a group ride every Friday at OMSI.

Andy Green loves riding electric skateboards so much he blew up his apartment trying to build one.

Skateboards are motorized now because of a key innovation: the lithium-ion battery, which looks like an oversized Energizer. The more you have, the faster and farther you can go. Green was linking 108 of them together when the whole array exploded in his hands.

“It shot up like a volcano,” Green, 31, says. “Molten metal hit the ceiling.” The blast burned the upholstery off his dining room chairs, but he survived without a scratch.

“Luckily, I had renter’s insurance.”

He took the money and bought a new board. He couldn’t be without one.

Green lives at the red-hot core of a fast-growing trend: e-boards. People like him spend thousands of hours, and just as many dollars, building boards that deliver more speed and range. The technology improves every month, so there is always something to buy: more batteries, higher-powered motors, or more reliable controllers, handheld wireless devices with buttons to accelerate and, more importantly, brake.

Electric scooters are ubiquitous on Portland’s streets, and e-bike sales are soaring. E-boards aren’t as common, but more are showing up on our roads (and sidewalks).

Enthusiasts use them for their morning commutes— Green used to ride from Vancouver to work in Portland over the Glenn Jackson Bridge, regardless of weather.

There are races, including an uphill version of the Tour de Maryhill, where traditional skaters belt down the famous Maryhill Loops Road just north of the Columbia River in Washington. A 450-member group called the Portland EBoarding Crew meets on Friday nights near OMSI and goes tearing around town on their rigs—that includes skateboard-style vehicles, electric unicycles and “one wheels,” which have a single fat wheel in the middle and don’t require a remote to operate.

And you don’t have to fire up a welding iron to get involved. There are plenty of off-the-rack boards that arrive in the mail ready to ride. Among the least expensive is the RazorX Cruiser for $171.13 at Walmart. But you get what you pay for: It lasts 40 minutes on a charge and only goes 10 mph.

Compare that to what Green says is the Lamborghini of e-boards: the Nazaré Lonestar, made by Lacroix Boards in Montreal, Canada, which costs $3,900. The battery lasts for 60 miles, and the board reaches a top speed of “more than you need,” according to the company. One reviewer says it can hit 39 mph.

As one might expect in a subculture-prone city with a long manufacturing tradition, Portland has a thriving e-board scene. And during the pandemic, it appears to be growing.

“We’ve seen a big uptick because of COVID,” says Jeff Johnson, co-founder of Hoyt St Electric Skate, which manufactures ready-to-ride e-boards from curvaceous, sustainable bamboo at a shop in Southeast Portland. “People want to get outside and do something.”

And commuters don’t want to ride a bus or subway, Johnson says. He sells most of his boards to customers in larger cities, like San Francisco, L.A., and New York.

Johnson, 59, got into the e-board business after a long career at Nike, where he worked in product innovation.

Hoyt St is one of two marquee makers of e-boards in Port-

land. The other is Metroboard, started way back in 2003

by Ilan Sabar, a Stanford University-educated mechanical engineer who worked for seven years at Hewlett-Packard. Hoyt St’s boards sell for $1,999. Metroboard’s start at $2,574.

Along with batteries, the technology that made e-boards possible were super-efficient electric motors.

Johnson gets his from KDE Direct, a company in Bend that manufactures them for military-grade drones and underwater rovers—putting one on an e-board is like mounting a GE90 jet engine on a Ford Pinto. The housings for all components on Hoyt St’s boards come from RapidMade Inc., an industrial 3D printing company in Tigard.

While its boards surely impress, Hoyt rocked the e-board world with its remote control, a device Steve Jobs would have coveted. It looks like a bamboo hockey puck with buttons. A supple wheel on the side controls acceleration and braking. It works with other boards, too.

“Hoyt’s remotes are best in class,” says Andrew Dresner. He got into e-boarding two and a half years ago because he didn’t want to commute to his job in the Pearl District from his house in Southeast Portland in preCOVID traffic. A robotics engineer, Dresner retrofitted a standard board with motors and electronics and hit the road. He’s been building boards ever since and has a new company called Derelict Robot that makes components.

Many accidents, he says, are caused by crappy remotes.

They can lose their wireless connection to the board, which is like having the pedals on your car suddenly stop working. E-board remotes use the same wireless frequency as Bluetooth devices, and if there are too many cellphones or Wi-Fi signals around, the remote can get confused.

“I’ve seen so many accidents that could have been prevented,” says Dresner, 36, who likes to rip up and down Mount Tabor in his spare time.

Dresner wants to make the rest of the industry safer with a new open source project called the FreeSK8 Foundation that will develop technology for e-boards and make it available to the world for free, to be improved, like the Linux operating system. Hobbyists who hack boards together from parts need more guidance to make safer machines, he says.

Dresner adds that he’s lost 35 pounds since he started e-boarding. Muscling a 40-pound board through turns takes stamina—so does maintaining a squat for 45 minutes at a time, because you can’t ride with straight legs.

Best of all, Dresner barely uses his car anymore.

Between his e-board and his e-bike, he doesn’t need it.

Transportation experts hope more commuters follow his lead, even with skateboards, which many cities prohibit because of perceived danger to pedestrians.

“There is an anti-skateboard mentality in most cities,” says John MacArthur, a research associate at Portland State University’s Transportation Research and Education Center. “We should be doing as much as possible to encourage these kinds of vehicles and to give them safe spaces to operate. Anything that gets people out of the car is great.”

For Andy Green, his e-board is a lifeline. He’s had trouble keeping a driver’s license, ever since he took his mom’s car to rugby practice before he was old enough to drive.

But hell, he’d rather e-board most places than drive anyway.

“It’s an escape,” he says. “It’s pure Zen.” Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

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STREET

ROLLIN’ ’ROUND THE RIVER Photos by Alex Wittwer On Instagram: @_wittwer

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STREET

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STARTERS

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING S T H AT H AP P E NE D I N PORTLAND CULTURE THIS WE E K, F ROM B E ST TO WORST .

FOOD COURT IN SESSION

SUPPORT

LOCAL

INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

A long-promised food hall from the developers of the Ocean and the Zipper has finally opened in Montavilla. Guerrilla Development and Sister City’s Rocket Empire Machine—named after the building’s previous tenant, a car repair shop—was first announced last summer and will include four restaurants and the second taproom from Gigantic Brewing.

In an attempt to reduce the effects of gentrification, one of the five restaurants has a “nondisplacement provision”—a below-market base rent for the first three years of operation. The provision went to Alleamin African Kitchen, which lost its previous Montavilla brick-and-mortar due to a rent hike four years ago. For now, all businesses at Rocket Empire Machine will be open for takeout and delivery only.

NEW CHAPTER

LOCALS ONLY

BECOME A FRIEND OF WILLAMETTE WEEK WWEEK.COM/SUPPORT

Oregon state parks has hiked prices for campers from other states. Oregon Parks and Recreation announced it would add a nonresident surcharge to overnight reservations and first-come, first-served camping fees at all its facilities starting Aug. 10. The surcharge increases the price of camping in a state park by up to 30%, from an average rate of $19 to $23.

The agency says the fee will help provide funding to maintain the vast network of parks it oversees and make up for a $22 million budget shortfall caused by COVID-19.

After remaining shuttered for months, Powell’s has reopened—one of its locations, anyway. The bookstore’s outpost at Cedar Hills Crossing welcomed shoppers back last Friday for the first time since March. The reopening is somewhat of a surprise: Only a few weeks ago, CEO Emily Powell wrote in a public letter that the company did not plan to reopen anytime soon. It also comes after the bookstore closed its airport location and kiosk for good. All other Powell’s locations, including its iconic multistory West Burnside Street location, will remain closed until further notice.

IF YOU’RE READING THIS, IT’S TOO LATE

COP OUT

It’s not a tumor, but it was cut out like one. Last week, NW Film Center announced it had removed the Oregon-shot 1990 action-comedy Kindergarten Cop from its drive-in movie series at Zidell Yards, following complaints from a dozen staff and community members. The most vocal critic was Portland author Lois Leveen, who took to Twitter to excoriate the organization.

“National reckoning on overpolicing is a weird time to revive Kindergarten Cop,” she tweeted. “IRL, we are trying to end the school-toprison pipeline.” (In the movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a police detective who goes undercover as a teacher to catch a drug kingpin.)

After WW reported the cancellation, the story spread through national media, getting written up by Vanity Fair and Vice and featured in a segment on Fox News with the headline “Cancel culture strikes again.”

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Superstar rapper Drake paid Portland a visit last week. How do we know?

Because his ridiculous private airplane was parked at PDX for a few days. An airport employee posted photos on Instagram of “Air Drake”—the rapper’s sky-blue, $185 million Boeing 767, which he received for free from Canadian airline CargoJet in 2019—just chilling on the tarmac in an area reserved for private aircraft. It’s still not clear why he was here, though rumors abound he was shooting a video at the Nike campus in Beaverton.

ADRIAN ADEL

GET...OUTSIDE? Fixer Upper

A month ago, Randall Wyatt launched Taking Ownership, a nonprofit that funds home repairs for Black Portlanders.

It’s already doing big things.

At the beginning of the uprising sparked by the death of George Floyd, an influx of people reached out to Randall Wyatt, asking for advice on how to be a better ally.

Taking Ownership PDX is his answer.

“One of the biggest ways for us to get any kind of equitable change is through reparations,” says Wyatt, a building contractor, MC and member of the band Speaker Minds. “That’s kind of what Taking Ownership PDX is. It’s an avenue of reparation in the form of helping Black homeowners and business owners repair and revive their houses.”

Barely a month ago, Wyatt founded Taking Ownership, which repairs and renovates Black-owned

homes in Portland. It hasn’t even become a registered nonprofit yet and, in the meantime, reports donations by fielding them through local music nonprofit Friends of Noise.

But already the organization has received thousands of dollars and amassed nearly 200 volunteers—essentially an excess for an organization that’s still getting its waiver and permit process off the ground.

So far, the nonprofit’s projects range from rebuilding a porch for a recently unemployed grandmother to overhauling the interior of a house in Lents and providing the family with a new fridge. Its biggest project was a house in the Albina neighborhood that’s been owned by the Summerfield family for 50 years but has only been worked on twice since 1919.

The organization began its first general fundraising drive two weeks ago, but in a sense, Taking Ownership resembles a grassroots resource allocation network more than a traditional nonprofit. That’s partly the result of growing a lot faster than Wyatt expected, but it’s also by design. Decisions are made based on individual needs rather than a bureaucratic process, and Wyatt often puts calls out to the community for extra resources that homeowners need during the renovation, from transitional housing to dental care.

Wyatt has been surprised by the outpouring of support and resources such requests have received.

“I think people have had an opportunity to realize the injustices in this society,” he says. “I think people are waking up and understanding the importance of a community mindset, as opposed to the individualistic mindset that capitalism breeds.” SHANNON GORMLEY.

See a video interview with Randall Wyatt at wweek. com/distant-voices.

Rolling Down That Hill In the summer of COVID, the Portland Adult Soapbox Derby is going small—really small.

When the Portland Adult Soapbox Derby got canceled in May, it was among the early indications that summer in the city would not look the same this year.

Every August, thousands of spectators crowd Mount Tabor to watch makeshift carts shaped like giant pencils, slices of cake and Whack-a-Mole machines zip down the mountain, hopefully making it to the finish line before stalling out or careening off course.

It’s one of the events that signifies the season—which is why Jason de Parrie-Turner and his team couldn’t let it pass without doing something. His idea? Go small.

On Aug. 15, dozens of cars with the rough dimensions of Car name: Quarantine Cruiser Racers: The Borffmanns

“It’s a couch on wheels, honoring the very idea of a Shoebox Derby as a COVID alternative to the Soapbox Derby. Featuring sourdough starter, Netflix, a pandemic puppy, and family snuggles.”

Car name: Rainbow Cake Racers: Kyle Bell, Dan Casey and Rob Ducey “Team Rainbow Cake is a collection of Laika animation professionals inspired by the timeless art of 99-year-old Wayne Thiebaud, the greatest dessert artist of all time.

We are fully prepared for the glory that awaits and fingers are crossed that there will be an actual cake at the finish line.”

COURTESY OF PDX SHOEBOX DERBY

a tissue box will speed down a miniature track designed to mimic the twists and turns of the Tabor course, controlled only by gravity and the ingenuity of their creators.

They’re calling it the Shoebox Derby. It’ll be held in an undisclosed outdoor location and streamed on YouTube and Facebook. Will it work? Who knows? But chaos is part of the point.

“That’s what the race is about,” de Parrie-Turner says. “It’s anything goes.”

It’s hard to predict what will happen, but we at least know a little about what we’ll see. Below, four racers tell us about their rigs. MATTHEW SINGER. Car name: DJ Manteaa Racers: Drew and Ellen Flint

“The car is a scaled-down version of the car we planned for the Soapbox Derby, which would have had onboard puppeteers operating the praying mantis’s head and legs. The mantis driver of the Shoebox Derby car will be animated, and there is a working sound system on board the car. Wheels are yo-yos.”

Car name: Reflectious Racer: Tyler Fuqua

“I carved Reflectious from a single piece of aluminum, which I polished to a mirror finish. Being a huge sci-fi fan, I wanted my car to look like it was straight from the future. I have no idea how it will roll down the track, but I’m pretty sure it’s gonna look good doing it.”

STREAM IT: The PDX Shoebox Derby streams 1-5 pm on Saturday, Aug. 15. Go to pdxshoeboxderby.com for streaming links.

Good for Two On the Portland rapper’s second album, Aminé’s left-field success story continues.

COURTESY OF REPUBLIC RECORDS

REPAIR MAN: Randall Wyatt.

WHAT TO DO—AND WHAT OTHERS ARE DOING—AS PORTLAND REOPENS.

Aminé is a star the likes of which most Portland hip-hop fans never expected to see in their lifetimes.

In four years, the 26-year-old rapper went from a Portland State dropout self-releasing mixtapes to major-label prodigy.

He didn’t just happen to grow up here, either: He reps the city incessantly, shouting out local haunts from Du’s Grill to Woodlawn GRILL REPUTE: Aminé Park on songs with worldwide distribution, and rapping next to the glass spires of the Oregon Convention Center roof in music videos.

He’s bold and charismatic, with technicolor visuals and a sitcom-ready smile—see his recent cameo as a hot, lovable doofus on HBO’s Insecure.

It’s a success story so swift and unexpected that if it ended after one record, Portland would still be thankful it happened at all. But Limbo, Aminé’s second full-length album for Universal subsidiary Republic Records, keeps the dream alive, insofar as it doesn’t step too far outside what worked on his 2017 debut, Good for You. With a big-budget sheen and packed guest list, Limbo further validates the young MC as a wiz at concocting breezy, lovetorn anthems built for playlist placements. On “RiRi,” Aminé reminisces fondly about a ride-or-die ex—rumored to be R&B singer Kehlani—over a smooth guitar lick.

“Compensating,” a duet with Young Thug, comes close to recapturing the pop magic of his breakout hit “Caroline,” with its croaky crooned chorus, thudding bassline and swiveling toms.

Indeed, a lot of Limbo sounds familiar, and it’s not just reminiscent of Aminé’s past glories.

As on Good for You, he again chases production trends without adding enough of his own signature. “Woodlawn Park” is layered over the same flute-trap beat Southern MCs moved on from long ago, while “Can’t Decide” borrows the strums and squeaky drum patterns of Compton rapper YG’s “Go Loko” from last year.

Aminé almost salvages these less original moments through sheer charm—almost. Where he truly shines, though, are love songs. Like a pop singer in the 1950s, he sounds most at home tackling timeworn matters of the heart. “Easy,” a strummy back-and-forth with singer Summer Walker, could have been written about the roller-coaster relationship at the center of this season of Insecure.

His appearance on that show seems like an important intersection in Aminé’s career: One way or another, the kid from Portland is clearly bound for ever-bigger things. But it’s still up for debate which path exactly is going to get him there.

REED JACKSON.

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GET...OUTSIDE? HIKE OF THE WEEK

Go Bottomless Manastash Ridge is known for colorful wildflowers, spectacular views—and a paranormal abyss.

BY M IC H E L L E H A R R I S

In 1997, a Washington man identifying himself as Mel Waters phoned the radio show Coast to Coast AM with a story that was peculiar even for a program about government conspiracies and supernatural phenomena: He claimed there was what appeared to be a “bottomless hole” on his property. He estimated the cavity was at least 80,000 feet deep, and described it as having “paranormal powers.”

Waters phoned the show a few more times after that, at one point claiming the government had paid him a large sum to leave the property for good.

Then the calls abruptly stopped.

On the one hand, it would seem the entire story was a desperate grab for attention by a man who was either delusional or a complete con artist.

Investigators could find no one named “Mel Waters” ever living in Kittitas County, and no one else has claimed to come across the mysterious abyss, except a Native American shaman who, in 2012, told reporters he’d first seen the hole back in 1961 and had been back several times. When investigators asked him to lead them to the abyss, he couldn’t find it.

But on the other hand—what better reason to go on a hike than investigating an urban legend?

For locals in Ellensburg, Wash., Manastash Ridge is effectively their Forest Park, in terms of an easy escape into nature. It’s part of a basalt plateau that runs for 50 miles between Ellensburg and Yakima.

It’s also the area where Mel Waters purported to live.

So if you want to try your luck at finding the infinite pit, a good place to start is the Westberg Trail, a steep, 4-mile up-and-back climb, that’ll take you to a good vantage poin to search for any odd divots in the landscape.

Even if you don’t stumble across Mel’s Hole, the Manastash Ridge is still epic, rich with wildflowers and sweeping views of the Kittitas Valley. The Westberg Trail is exposed, so be sure to wear sunblock and a hat, and bring plenty of water, especially when hiking during summer.

From the parking lot on Cove Road, head down the road through a gate and cross a small footbridge. Continue straight and you’ll gradually climb a desert trail lined with sagebrush. In less than a half-mile, you’ll come to a fork. Take a left to continue on the Westberg Trail, and then get ready to climb 2 miles. The hike summits at 1,800 feet, where you’ll find a memorial to the trail’s namesake: Ray Westberg, a popular Ellensburg High School wrestling coach and teacher who hiked the trail frequently. (His walking stick has even been donated to the Kittitas County Historical Museum.) You can either go back the way you came or opt for the shorter, shaded Boy Scout Trail.

All the while, keep an eye out for any unusually deep-looking holes. Just stick to the trails and don’t veer onto private property. And remember: The truth is out there, although it may be just a collapsed mineshaft.

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Westberg Trail at Manastash Ridge Distance: 4 miles round trip Difficulty: Drive time from Portland: 3 hours, 45 minutes Directions: From Interstate 84 east, take exit 104 for US 97 north toward Yakima. Stay on 97 for about 80 miles then use the left lane to take the I-82/US 97 ramp to Yakima. After about 40 miles exit onto US 90 west and then take exit 109 for Canyon Road toward Ellensburg. Turn right onto Canyon Road, then left onto East Umptanum Road, then right onto Manastash Road. After about 3.5 miles, turn left onto Cove Road. The parking area will be on the right.

Hike Difficulty Key Parks Scare Me Dirty Boots Weekend Warrior Sasquatch

CHRIS CRABB

FOOD & DRINK

PATIO REVIEW

Ripe for the Piggins Higgins’ new outdoor bistro is a pandemic pivot that should become a summer tradition.

BY JO R DA N M I C H E L M AN

@suitcasewine

In the cursed summer of 2020, Portland restaurants are doing what they can to survive.

In some cases, that means spinning off outdoor patio spaces into bold, original new concepts, rewriting the menu playbook and taking chances on risky new forms of self-expression. Others are simply trying to perform a best version of their ideal selves under considerable strain, to offer plague-era restaurant realness in real time.

And then there’s Piggins.

Piggins is the parkside pop-up patio reimagining of Higgins, a Portland dining landmark since 1994. Chef Greg Higgins and co-owners Greg and Paul Mallory helped set the stage for the kind of cuisine that came to define Portland in the early 21st century: fiercely seasonal, unabashedly meaty farm-to-table cooking before the term was cool.

In 2018, I called Higgins “a testament to the city’s sophistication as a restaurant town,” a statement I stand by now, even in these strange days.

Remove the paper plates, plastic forks, considerable care taken with social distancing, and the mask-clad staff and this would double as a passing fancy—a fun summer pop-up idea from any other normal year. Of course, Piggins should take over the patio at the Oregon History Museum! A patio version of Higgins—what a lark! Aside from all this pandemic business necessitating its existence, it’s just a great idea.

Journeying to Piggins thus becomes a kind of act of cognitive dissonance. Yes, we’re clad in masks and socially distanced. Yes, the world is forever changed. But check in with your maitre

PIGGINS OUT: Classic Portland lunch spot Higgins has opened an outdoor bistro on the grounds of the Oregon Historical Society.

d’ and soon you’ll be seated parkside at one of Piggins’ quaint, cozy tables, available in twotops with a view of the park, or four-tops nestled towards the entryway of the museum. There, you can order a proper lunch martini, cool and dry and made with high-quality gin of your choosing, or enjoy a Diet Coke on ice served tall. You can even peruse Higgins’ famed bottled-beer list, or select a wine from its well-curated cellar. A nice riesling lunch? Hey, you’ve earned it!

From there, enjoy a greatest-hits package of some of the restaurant’s most beloved dishes packed into a food cart kitchen—decked out in wood paneling and ivy green, to evoke the Higgins’ restaurant interior—with no big chances taken, no vast departures accorded. It is the perfect luncheon here in our new shared reality where things feel the same but everything is different.

The Higgins Salad with Oregon blue cheese and Oregon walnuts ($12) is still on the menu, and thank goodness. You can also enjoy what has been, for the past 20 years, our city’s best charcuterie plate ($24, serves two). There’s a range of burgers and sandwiches ($12 to $18) like turkey schnitzel with Walla Walla onions and pickle relish, or a salmon burger on brioche.

Things are different, and yet the same. Higgins, as well as Piggins, remains the city’s premier downtown lunch establishment, even under considerable societal duress. The service is amiable and friendly, regardless of masks. The drinks are perfect and sophisticated, from the Argyle brut ($15) to the little bottle of Chimay White ($8) served cool in imported Belgian glassware.

But the most important menu item on the bill of fare at Piggins is the one it can’t very well charge you for. It’s the dignity of a restaurant lunch even in the worst of times, as society seems to be crumbling around us. A bistro salad, a nice sandwich, perhaps a glass of wine—these are the little things that make city life worth living. And this year in particular? They’re priceless.

EAT: Piggins by Higgins, 1239 SW Broadway, 503-222-9070, higginsportland.com. 11:30 am-8 pm daily.

PATIO SPECS Number of tables: 10, a mixture of two-tops and four tops, most protected from the sun by a network of green and tan umbrellas.

Space between tables: 6-10 feet, with ample space for egress afforded.

Additional safety measures: Plastic-wrapped silverware and paper plates; masked server staff; careful wipe-downs and cleaning between each table turn.

Peak hours: Both lunch and dinner get busy.

Make a booking online before you go.

Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

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FOOD & DRINK WESLEY LAPOINTE

CART SPOTLIGHT

South by South of the Border

BY JAS O N CO H E N

@cohenesque

It could have been called Taceaux. Or Burriteaux.

At Anthony Brown’s garishly teal-colored food truck, Mexican favorites get hitched to Southern food and Cajun-Creole flavors, as in Brown’s own life. The 34-yearold Los Angeles native grew up with both a grandmother in Georgia and a stepfather from Mexico.

“I have a real-life abuelita, and a lot of people don’t know that about me,” says Brown, who is Black. “That’s where the Mexican part of Nacheaux comes from.”

On top of that, his wife and business partner, Stephanie, is from Covington, La. So the “nacheaux,” as it were, come with red beans and dirty rice instead of refried beans, while the taco fillings include chicken, catfish, crawfish and shrimp—all fried. This is not the big stretch it might seem: You can find “Mexicajun” food in both Louisiana and Southeast Texas, while Austin’s Torchy’s Tacos built a mini-chain in part on its fried chicken taco. But it’s a rare concept in Portland, if not entirely unheard of.

The “Nacheaux nachos” ($8.50) start with a big pile of fresh-fried chips, and also feature carnitas that could just as easily be cochon au lait. Like many other menu items,

HOT PLATES Where to get food this week.

1. Taquería los Puñales 3312 SE Belmont St., 503-206-7233, lospunales.com. 11 am-10 pm daily.

3560 N Mississippi Ave., 971-2201997, sunshinenoodles.com. 11 am-3 pm Thursday-Saturday.

Sunshine Noodles is an avowedly irreverent, none too serious take on contemporary Cambodian food

by Revelry vet Diane Lam. The corn pudding is a candidate for the city’s best new dessert, but the lime pepper wings are the breakout hit— spicy and complex, they want for nothing except a beer, and perhaps a napkin.

3. Berlu 605 SE Belmont St., berlupdx.com.

Order at exploretock.com/berlupdx.

A meal at Berlu is a fully formed experience. Naturally, chef Vince Nguyen’s year-old fine dining spot has been slow to adapt to the takeout era. A bento box concept didn’t work out, so this week, Nguyen is trying something new: a make-it-yourself take-home tasting menu. For $85, customers receive ingredients for a two-person, eightcourse meal, with instructions for cooking delivered via Instagram.

Not that there’s much cooking to be done: Most of the items—including crab with chanterelles and bay shrimp with corn and pickled rose— just need to be plated.

4. Langbaan 6 SE 28th Ave., 971-344-2564, langbaanpdx.com. 3-9 pm ThursdaySunday.

Greg Ninsom’s most elusive property is adjusting to the current reality by opening its patio and introducing a

Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

newer, snackier, dare we say funner menu, with Thai coconut-rice pancakes, cuttlefish salad, chilled curry noodles, and alcoholic slushies. It used to be that you had to make a reservation a year in advance to get a table at Langbaan—now, you can just walk up. Thank you, pandemic?

5. St. Jack 1610 NW 23rd Ave., 503-360-1281, stjackpdx.com. 3-8 pm daily.

CARTOGRAPHER: Nacheaux owner Anthony Brown.

EAT: Nacheaux, 8145 SE 82nd Ave., 971-319-1134, nacheauxpdx.com. Noon-7 pm Wednesday-Thursday and Saturday, noon-8 pm Friday, Sunday, 9 am-3 pm.

ST. JACK BURGER Aaron Barnett’s baby gained acclaim for its rich and hearty French country-style classics as interpreted through the eyes of a Canadian living in the Pacific Northwest. But he always kept a bar burger on the menu. It’s the go-to offering on St. Jack’s to-go menu, but it’s still worth ordering even if you’re dining in—or rather, on the street. It’s a big, sloppy, juice-running-down-your-arms kind of burger, served along with crunchy, creamy fries bolstered with a hint of gremolata, sided with aioli.

3. Century

TOP 5

BUZZ LIST

930 SE Sandy Blvd., 503-446-6418, centurybarpdx.com. Call to confirm hours.

Century is many things to many people, but chill-seekers looking for a panoramic view at sundown know this luxe Buckman sports bar is unbeatable during the golden hour.

Where to drink outside this week.

1. Lady of the Mountain 100 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 971-346-2992, kexhotels. com. 5-10 pm Wednesday-Sunday.

Reservations suggested.

4. Mad Hanna COURTESY OF KEX

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it’s served “Nacheaux style,” which means it’s topped with housemade, lightly pickled cabbage slaw and onions, hand-crumbled cotija cheese, cooked salsa and a house crema spiked with Sriracha, among other things.

“A lot of people are like, ‘Is it spicy?’” Brown says. “And I’m like, ‘No, no, Cajun spice is different from spicy. It’s got a ton of flavor.’”

As such, the roasted tomatoes in the salsa are joined by green bell peppers—part of Louisiana’s “holy trinity,” along with celery and onions—rather than jalapeños or serranos, with just a bit of added cayenne kick. The salsa and the crema both shine on the tender fried catfish taco, which has layer upon layer of taste sensations. Besides the fish and accompaniments, the breading is seasoned with 15 herbs and spices: garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, curry powder and paprika are the ones that Brown is willing to reveal. An entirely different seasoning blend goes into the masa for Nacheaux’s thick, hand-pressed corn tortillas.

All the proteins are also available à la carte ($5.50-$6) and on top of mac and cheese ($8-$10), while the fried chicken turns up not only in a burrito ($9), but also a cheesy “crunchwrap” ($9), both stuffed with red beans and

THOMAS TEAL

CHRISTINE DONG

TAQUERÍA LOS PUÑALES’ CHICKEN TINGA GUISADO TACOS This taco shop is not yet 2 months old, but it feels like it’s been serving the Sunnyside neighborhood for years. Every tortilla is made in-house that day, stuffed with an array of guisados—complex braises of meats and vegetables, including carnitas, barbacoa and chicken tinga.

If you want innovation, there’s unique, Argentine-inspired pesto carne asada. But the classic tinga is a perfect gateway to the guisado style, and chef David Madrigal’s version is subtly excellent.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE NACHOS: Nacheaux nachos.

2. Sunshine Noodles

TOP 5

WESLEY LAPOINTE

Nacheaux introduces Portland to “Mexicajun” food.

dirty rice. There’s also brunch on Sundays, daily specials and desserts, including such items as a chicken masa waffle with chipotle chocolate syrup, avocado crab toast, and “double chocolate marshmallow fruity pebble pancakes with edible cookie dough.”

“When I first started, people would say, ‘Oh, I can taste the passion behind your food,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t know what that means,’” Brown says. “Passion can’t be tasted.

But I realized that they meant they can tell that I take a lot of pride in the things I do, and that’s super-dope.”

Portland already gets all worked up anytime a rooftop patio opens in town, but the new bar atop Icelandic boutique hotel Kex is worthy of the buzz for uniqueness alone: The theme is “Northwest tropical,” with pickled and brined delights as well as lower-ABV cocktails made for warm summer nights on a rooftop.

2. OK Omens 1758 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 503-2319959, okomens.com. 4-9:30 pm daily.

Castagna’s raucous wine bar restaurant remains one of the city’s funnest places to drink wine, whether that’s $3 wine bumps— dealer’s choice shots—or a Domaine les Pentes de Barène, a tiny French winery that produces only about 5,000 bottles a year.

6129 NE Fremont St., 503-288-2944, madhanna.com. 2-10 pm MondayThursday, 11 am-10 pm FridaySaturday.

Mad Hanna is not for the surly at heart. “Have a Drink, Meet a Friend” is the unofficial motto—that’s what’s painted into the Oregon Trailthemed mural out back, at least.

It has a backyard you’ll swear you visited for a barbecue your first summer in town, which is perfect for this season of distance.

5. Bantam Tavern 922 NW 21st Ave., 503-274-9032, bantamtavern.com. 3-10 pm MondayFriday, 11:30 am-10 pm SaturdaySunday.

A quaint corner bar can be easily overlooked in chic Northwest Portland, which is why this is one of the best places to grab a beer by the likes of de Garde or Upright from one of the eight well-curated taps and some fancified pub grub before joining the well-clad crowds elsewhere. Of course, with seating extended to the adjoining parking lot, it’s now a lot easier to find, so plan accordingly.

POTLANDER

Window Shopping Moongoose Cannabis Co.’s walk-up service is a temporary COVID-era fix that might forecast the future of weed retail.

BY BRIA N N A W H E E L E R

goose’s easy-to-use online ordering system took about 10 minutes from confirmation to pickup and offers a typical assortment of expected items at multiple price points.

The budtender handed me my ID back and began pingponging between the main counter in the rear of the shop and the walk-up window, first to snatch my sack of pre-rolls and my invoice, then back to collect my cash and hand me my sack, then back to the register for my change, then back to the window to hand me the change, then back to the main counter to drop her tip into a jar.

As I watched her bounce back and forth inside the relatively narrow space, it was hard not to think, “This would be easier if I just went inside.” But, of course, that’s not the point. And since my entire interaction at the window was extremely low contact—only cash and the bag that held my purchase were passed from hand to hand—and lasted less than three minutes, I’d say the point was made.

Having achieved window service satisfaction, I had a peek inside the shop to chat with staff and eye the small selection of books, magazines and novelties displayed within. There is a certain unfinished quality to Mongoose, which Deb Grant explains is the result of a series of hurdles the shop faced since opening eight months ago, including the complicated math of reestablishing the dispensary’s postal addresses to maintain a safe distance from schools, meeting zoning requirements so the Grants could keep their living space above the shop, and an unexpected break-in on the first night of the George Floyd protests.

“The first big night of the protests, four kids smashed our door and a display case. We used the plywood that covered the broken door as a chance to put up the colorful letters [spelling] ‘Black Lives Matter,’” Grant says. “However, what it took to fix our broken glass was nothing compared to the depth and complexity of the problem that brought it about.”

She refers to the Mongoose decal watching over the walk-up window’s doorbell.

“The mongoose stands up to the cobra, and the cobra is, like, big business,” she says. “The more I look at the cannabis industry, no matter where one stands on the issues, it is at the heart of so many things. I shudder at the number of young people locked up because of a plant.”

CEDAR HUGHES-BLADES

Of all the facets of the cannabis industry that need to be reexamined, who knew knocking elbows with another customer over a dispensary counter would be so close to the top of the list?

Well, several health professionals, I suppose. Pandemic forecasts aside, one Portland dispensary has risen to meet the changing needs of its customers.

“Thankfully, we have a really good window guy,” says Deb Grant, co-owner of Mongoose Cannabis Co. on Southeast Belmont, gesturing to the sliding window where she and her team of budtenders serve the customers lined up outside. The window in question is actually a modified sliding glass door that Grant and her husband, Chuck, installed when their ongoing renovations collided with sudden COVID restrictions. “We had the choice of keeping the shop open,” Grant says, “but felt it was safer for everyone to keep the shop closed and work through a window. For several months, the window was the only access to our shop.”

Even now that it’s once again open for in-store business, Mongoose Cannabis Co. remains perhaps the only dispensary in Portland operating a walk-up window, a service that the Oregon Liquor Control Commission temporarily allowed in the same set of rule changes that permitted a budtender to meet you in the parking lot or at curbside for pickup.

The amendment is set to expire next month. In the meantime, Mongoose is doubling down on its streetside service and planning for a future where the model is as commonplace as complimentary stickers and branded lighters.

In pre-COVID times, Mongoose—which first opened in January—would be flooded with overflow foot traffic from the neighboring Cricket Cafe. Today, the dispensary feels like the center of commercial excitement on a block that otherwise remains shut down. The combined stillness of the cafe’s darkened interior and the Belfry’s papered-over windows is made all the more poignant by the colorful interior that spills from Mongoose’s threshold only a few doors down.

The service window is not as obvious as, say, an oldschool Dairy Queen or Dante’s pizza door. Mongoose’s storefront itself is straightforward: a glass door, with floorto-ceiling windows on both the right and left, nestled into charcoal-colored brick. It is the nondescript sliding glass door on the west side of the building that glides open to reveal a push-button electric doorbell affixed to the backside of a small counter, guarded by a photo-realistic decal of a mongoose on alert.

The entire affair is quietly unremarkable, necessitating a curbside sandwich board—and sometimes an umbrella— to further reassure customers that this is not, in fact, just another big-ass window, but one that slides open to sell you weed.

On a recent summer day, the window was already open a few inches when I arrived. I pressed the doorbell and, immediately, a masked budtender leaned out like a Dutch Bros. barista. She smized over her face covering, requested my ID and offered me a laminated menu that she promised is sanitized between each customer. I didn’t need it: Mon-

COME TO MY WINDOW: Mongoose Cannabis Co. employees Crispian Flood (outside) and Libby Lee at the dispensary’s walk-up window.

GO: Mongoose Cannabis Co., 3123 SE Belmont St., 541-933-8032, mongoosecannabis.com. 10 am-9 pm daily.

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PERFORMANCE

Editor: Andi Prewitt | Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

The Dynamic Piano Duo Billboard chart-topping Anderson and Roe are (virtually) coming to Portland.

BY B EN N ETT CA MPB ELL FER GU SON

In 2006, piano duo Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe had some pretty big shoes to fill. They were tapped to play at Juilliard’s Cinema Serenades concert, replacing film composer virtuoso John Williams—who developed many of the most recognizable scores in cinematic history, from Jurassic Park to Star Wars to the terrifying two-note sequence in Jaws.

On top of that, the two received little advance notice before stepping into the role. To prepare, they began crafting new arrangements of Star Wars themes after watching every film in the series while bingeing on Chinese food and pizza.

“It was very ambitious of us,” Anderson says.

“We only had a couple weeks to write it all and learn it and perfect it. But…I think there’s something exciting about having constraints.”

Constraints are the creative lifeblood of Portland Piano International’s Virtual Piano Extravaganza, a two-day Anderson and Roe concert that will feature live performances, music videos, Q&As, trivia and even cocktails (more on that later). It is the duo’s attempt to instill fiery spontaneity into virtual performance—and Anderson believes it “will be among the most creative things we’ve ever done.”

In the world of contemporary piano, Anderson and Roe are royalty. After meeting as freshmen at Juilliard in 2000, they forged a friendship and creative symbiosis that led to performances in North America, Europe and Asia, as well as ambitious music videos, including a film featuring Stravinsky’s entire Rite of Spring. Anderson and Roe’s partnership was ignited by a two-piano recital that they did together during their junior year at Juilliard.

“The sort of ironic thing is that neither of us was that interested in the piano-duo genre. We were there as soloists,” Roe says. “But that concert was such a thrilling and exhilarating experience for us, and we realized we had this natural musical chemistry, but also this shared mission to make classical music a powerful and relevant force in society.”

The Virtual Piano Extravaganza continues that mission—and forces Anderson and Roe to do battle with an army of COVID-related challenges. While they are currently on opposite sides of the U.S., they are determined to play together, technical difficulties be damned.

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“There is a latency problem, performing across the country,” Anderson says. “So there will be world premiere music videos that we filmed either before or during isolation—and we’re going to make an attempt to perform simultaneously in live, calland-response-style improvisatory performances.”

Anderson and Roe have also decided to feature other musicians. Dozens of Portland pianists will join them for Austrian composer Gerd Kühr’s “Corona Meditation,” and the concert will include the yet-to-be-named winner of a “Maple Leaf Rag” contest. The duo called on young pianists to submit their performances of the iconic Scott Joplin piece, one of which will be folded into what Roe describes as “a three-piano music video.”

While the concert promises plenty of musical ebullience—Anderson and Roe’s website features cocktail recipes tailored to specific parts of the performance—it won’t ignore COVID-19. With its dreamy flow of discordant sounds, “Corona Meditation,” which was written last April, captures the alienlike quality of life during social distancing.

“I think we all have that need for some kind of comfort and maybe even nostalgia,” Roe says.

“And we’re trying to kind of do those things in the [concert]—we’re celebrating and we’re joyful, but we’re also offering, we hope, some beauty, and with ‘Corona Meditation,’ actual commentary on the time in which we’re living.”

The pandemic has impacted the duo’s partnership in other ways. Anderson’s husband is an ER doctor, so he and Roe are remaining physically apart for now.

“Aside from our husbands, our pianos have been our main quarantine companions,” Roe says. “We always believe that music is significant and important, but especially now. We’re so grateful to have a form of communication and expression.”

If the Virtual Piano Extravaganza is a success, it will help close the gap between Anderson and Roe and their audience. After that, Roe thinks that she and Anderson should rest on their laurels for a while—literally.

“I think we’re going to take a nice long nap after this,” she says. “Like, a two-weeklong nap.”

SEE IT: The Virtual Piano Extravaganza streams at 4 pm Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 15-16. Pre-show programs start at 3:30 pm. Viewers will receive a link via email to access both programs by purchasing tickets at portlandpiano.org. $45.

BOOKS

Written by: Scout Brobst Contact: sbrobst@wweek.com

Five Books to Read When You’re on the Go

Intimations, Zadie Smith For non-book readers, essay collections exist to welcome you home with little judgment and minimal commitment. After all, you only have to read one essay at a time, easily slotted between meals, shows or human conversations. And if you’re going to read an essay collection, it may as well be by Zadie Smith, and it may as well be on the pseudo-reality of pandemic living. Intimations is a collection for this exact moment in time, but it doesn’t bother with emotions like despair. Smith is kind and careful with what she calls “the global humbling,” and we would all do well to take her at her word.

1Q84, Haruki Murakami Luster, Raven Leilani There’s not much worth giving away in Luster—it’s best to go in blind, expecting nothing, only to be open-hand slapped with a juggernaut of fiction. Raven Leilani’s first novel is widely suggested to be the debut to end all debuts, combining humor, wit and observational candor for a read that can be finished in one sitting or picked up and put down throughout the day. Somehow, in Luster, everything is as it seems. The characters are messy but not irredeemable. The racism exists in the public and the private. The people are listened to, not because they exist as part of a greater whole, but simply because they are people.

Bad Blood, John Carreyrou There are some books you pick up only to muscle through a few chapters, and others you read each time the day pauses just because it’s worth finding out what happens next.

John Carreyrou’s Bad Blood is like the latter, breaking down the 2015 Theranos debacle with the confidence of a man who could leave a plush journalism job to pursue biotech degeneracy full time. If you missed it, businesswoman Elizabeth Holmes once had a startup valued at $10 billion. Then, in the warm embrace of legal intimidation, scientific deception and corporate fraud, the company was put out to Silicon Valley pasture. A beach read!

Perhaps this world has become uninhabitable and it’s time to fully immerse ourselves in Haruki Murakami’s literary fever trips. 1Q84 gives you that in spades. It is not 1984, it is 1Q84, a parallel existence where the Q stands for “question mark” because everything is in question.

Life ravels and unravels, there are prophets and cults and television-fee collectors, and it is the path of least resistance to follow Murakami down his rabbit hole and settle into the real pleasure of well-crafted dystopia.

LOCAL REPORTING THAT DRIVES

CHANGE After WW reported both outbreaks at Townsend Farms, Gov. Kate Brown and OHA announced a reversal in policy.

After WW revealed the outbreak, the Oregon Health Authority pledged to report clusters of cases at child care centers in its weekly reports.

Five members of Oregon’s congressional delegation are calling on the U.S. Marshals Service to disclose information following a June 15 report from WW

BECOME A FRIEND OF WILLAMETTE WEEK WWEEK.COM/SUPPORT

Furious Hours, Casey Cep It’s possible you have fallen into the true-crime whirlpool and that’s fine. The alternative to the never-ending playlist of true-crime podcasts is books, and there are plenty to fill a Serialsized void. Furious Hours, authored by Casey Cep, is two stories in one—first, the story of Reverend Willie Maxwell, a rural preacher acquitted of murdering five family members for insurance money, and second, the story of Harper Lee, who in her newborn fame tried and failed to tell the tale. The book is ambitious and pacy, written for those who appreciate the peculiarities of justice and human nature.

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Editor: Andi Prewitt / Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com WW ARCHIVE

SCREENER

MOVIES

GET YO UR REPS I N While local rep theaters are out of commission, we’ll be putting together weekly watchlists of films readily available to stream. This week, we highlight movies that document the highs and lows of that fickle creature Creativity, which is frustratingly difficult to summon amid tempestuous current events.

Opening Night (1977) A master class in acting, auteur John Cassavetes’ unforgettable drama centers on Myrtle Gordon (Gena Rowlands, his real-life wife), a fading theater actress who spirals into personal turmoil after a teenage fan is hit by a car while trying to meet her. Ben Gazzara, Joan Blondell and Cassavetes himself all co-star. Amazon Prime, HBO Go, HBO Max, iTunes, Kanopy, Vudu.

FANTASY VIDEO: Oregon Theater, the former X-rated moviehouse, is undergoing renovation and will screen family-friendly films.

Bougie Nights

The Oregon Theater, the city’s last operating porn palace before closing this year, plans for a second coming.

BY JAY H O RTO N

@hortland

WW: What was your role at the theater?

Steve Tenhonen: Over the last 20 years, I’d fix [owner Gayne Maizels’] projection equipment, organize events and handle repairs. When Gayne decided to install couches, I spent three days pulling out all of the original seats.

Actually, I ended up on Daria O’Neill’s morning radio show announcing these beautiful antiques would be thrown to the landfill. The phone line blew up. There were collectors showing up at the Oregon. I imagine they’re now in houses all over suburbia, which makes me really happy.

Were the seats cleaned?

Ah, buyer beware [laughter]. When I worked at the Oregon, we’d always spray and vacuum, but nothing’s perfect.

If you shined a forensic light on those old seats, I’m sure you’d see a glow from decades’ worth of unborn children.

A lot of the people coming to get them had a great sense of humor, but some were reluctant to walk in the door. That kind of amused me.

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One of the greatest and most underseen movies of 2018, Her Smell plays out like a contemporary Opening Night, but with riot grrrl punk instead of the theater. Elisabeth Moss stars as Becky Something, an unstable rocker past her prime who struggles to come to terms with her need for sobriety and loss of creativity. Grungy and dizzying in all the best ways. Google Play, HBO Go, HBO Max, Hulu, Kanopy, Vudu, YouTube.

Young Adult (2011) Yet another movie about an unhinged blond artist going publicly nuts! Written by the inimitable Diablo Cody, this dramedy follows the return of YA author Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) to her hometown after receiving a new baby announcement from an old flame (Patrick Wilson) she still harbors feelings for. The results are inevitably messy.

Amazon Prime, Crackle, Google Play, iTunes, Kanopy, Pluto TV, Vudu, YouTube.

Madeline’s Madeline (2018) MOMA

In early March, the last adult theater in Portland died— not with a bang but a whimper. The Oregon Theater on Southeast Division Street quietly locked its doors after the owner went into foreclosure a few weeks before. Built by Aladdin founder Isaac Geller in 1925 as a 6,000-squarefoot space for vaudeville shows, the two venues became movie theaters in the 1950s that pivoted to X-rated programming in the late 1960s. Adult entertainment businesses peaked in the city the following decade, a period that saw nearly two dozen porn palaces in operation. But by 2007, only the Oregon had soldiered on past the advent of VCRs, the rise of the online sex industry, and gentrification.

After the death of Oregon owner and Geller grandson Gayne Maizels in late May at the age of 69, the building was purchased by developer Kevin Cavenaugh, whose projects include the Fair-Haired Dumbbell at the east end of the Burnside Bridge as well as microrestaurant depots the Zipper and the Ocean. He intends to restore the theater’s faded luster and screen more family-friendly fare.

As the last traces of its seamier life are scrubbed away, WW spoke with former Oregon employee Steve Tenhonen about the venue’s boundary-pushing past.

How so?

The Oregon Theater was considered by locals to be this big bad bogeyman of sin, right? I won’t lie to you. It was a place where exhibitionists went to have public sex, but we had all walks of life coming through. There were people who went there that you wouldn’t believe: people from religious communities, civil rights communities, the medical industry. There was an ear doctor who loved bringing in his trophy wife and having people watch while they did their thing. Off-duty cops and firemen used to go. A very famous musician in town was a regular and wanted to buy the place. A lot of people out there have fantasies. They like to watch and be watched, whether they were drunk with their frat buddies or felt kinky and took a date.

Her Smell (2018)

How do you feel about the new direction?

Cleaning out the theater was very emotional. The heaviest part was when the contractors showed up with the developer and started to talk about the theater’s history.

I literally got teary-eyed. Gayne loved the Oregon. It had been in his family forever and was where he went as a little boy. Because of health issues, he could no longer manage the business and had been trying to sell it. Right before he died, he purposefully found a buyer who would take care of the building and not tear it down. At the end of the day, I’m happy that someone’s going to restore that beautiful building, and I’m glad it was porn that kept it safe from the wrecking ball.

You’re happy with the planned changes?

To be honest with you, I enjoyed the Oregon as a porn theater for 20 years. Many of those eccentric characters became my friends. Even though we kept things clean, it was still a sleazy, run-down porn theater, which I kind of enjoyed too, like a David Lynch movie. Believe it or not, that underground porn theater really filled a void, but I’d thought about the place being fixed up for decades.

The Oregon has one of the biggest auditoriums in Portland. I used to stand in there and look up at this circle in the ceiling where a giant chandelier had been hung when they first opened. The new owner’s going out of his way to rebuild all of that, which makes me so happy I just want to cry. They have the blueprints and the black-and-white photos of what it looked like in the ’20s. They’re restoring the original neon marquee. I’d always dreamt about seeing the theater like it was, and they’re trying to bring that back. To me, that’s like a wet dream come true.

This borderline experimental character study explores the inextricable connection between art and personal experience. Newcomer Helena Howard delivers an incredible performance as the titular Madeline, a teenager in a prestigious improvisational theater group who is pushed to the breaking point by her relentless director. Amazon Prime, Google Play, Kanopy, YouTube.

Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (2012) You may have heard of performance artist Marina Abramovic from her famous MoMA exhibition, where strangers were invited to sit across from her as she sat in a chair— silent and immobile—for a grand total of 736 hours. This intimate documentary chronicles her preparation for the historic piece and provides an eye-opening retrospective of her vast body of work. Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, Kanopy, Sling TV, Vudu, YouTube.

MOVIES INDIEWIRE.COM

TOP PICK OF THE WEEK

She Dies Tomorrow Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil) knows for a fact that she’s going to die tomorrow. She’s seen things. Heard things. She knows.

Obviously, her best friend Jane (Jane Adams) doesn’t believe her at first. But then Jane begins having the same ominous visions. Now, Jane knows for a fact that she’s going to die tomorrow. As does Jane’s brother (Chris Messina), and his wife, and her friends, etc., etc. In most mainstream thrillers, we’d probably see the characters team up to fight death, but writer-director Amy Seimetz is detached from narrative convention, and her kaleidoscopic sophomore feature is, honestly, a lot less thrilling than it sounds. This is by no means a negative—it’s contemplative and challenging, harnessing dread from the fatal contagion of existentialist-fueled anxiety. In Seimetz’s neon-soaked world, death is a natural process, something to resign to instead of futilely resist.

Though some viewers may find the aimless ambiguity baffling, this is a film to fully feel with all senses—to marinate in—rather than agonize over the intentional lack of logic and answers. Anxiety itself is often irrational, so this is Seimetz’s impressionistic response to that all-too-ubiquitous frustration. Embrace it. R. MIA VICINO. Google Play.

OUR KEY

: T H I S M O V I E I S E XC E L L E N T, O N E O F T H E B E S T O F T H E Y E A R. : T H I S M O V I E I S G O O D. W E R E C O M M E N D YO U WAT C H I T. : T H I S M O V I E I S E N T E R TA I N I N G B U T F L AW E D. : T H I S M O V I E I S A P I E C E O F S H I T.

ALSO PLAYING Welcome to Chechnya In 2017, the Chechen Republic targeted all gays and lesbians in a countrywide “hunt.” Its tactics and atrocities are noted with precision in the poignant documentary Welcome to Chechnya. The film follows a network of activists who smuggle LGBTQ individuals out of Russia, focusing on two rescuers and two rescuees as they navigate their way to safety. With its rough and raw camera work, the documentary exposes a human rights tragedy that, for one reason or another, has been purged from headlines. Here, crisis coordinator David Isteev is doing all he can to change that, not just by detailing the tragedy on film, but by spiriting at-risk gays and lesbians out of Russia to nearby countries. The film does all it can to keep its subjects safe, too.

Director David France uses “deep fake” technology to overlap their faces with that of a volunteer, allowing France to capture daily routines. In the tradition of guerrilla filmmaking, France zeroes in on hang-out scenes, where men and women chat, joke and make love while hiding from authorities. There are nail-biting moments, too—checkpoints, blown covers—but France treats the banal and the pivotal equally to speak to his greater point: The queer people of Chechnya live in fear day and night, at home and in public. Chechnya the movie blends this terrifying message with glimmers of hope and resistance. NR. ASHER LUBERTO. Amazon Prime, HBO Go, HBO Now.

Boys State Politics makes strange bedfellows, and as the new VOD release Boys State showcases, large-scale political simulations bring about some weird-ass dormmates. The documentary from Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, the married couple behind 2014’s Sundance-winning The Overnighters, follows an engaging quartet—Reagan-obsessed double-amputee Ben, loquacious Chicago expat Rene, hunky silver-spooner Robert, and progressive Mexican American

Steven—among the 1,100 teens invited to participate in Texas’ 78th annual Boys State. Remarkably, apart from some sneering glimpses of a young Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh and other members of the literal old boys’ club, the camera rarely stops to relish the scenes of future policy wonks at the peak of teenage awkwardness. Considering that the documentary opens with a George Washington quote warning us about the tyranny of political parties, and features spliced footage of a raccoon sifting through garbage, the filmmakers appear helplessly drawn to the nihilist joys of rooting on participants as they fashion fake platforms to sell fake campaigns for fake governorship in a manner that is troublingly real. And while Robert’s exceedingly electable brand of swagger is surely intended as a cautionary tale, there’s no reason why natural charisma should be any worse a qualification for leadership than instinctive talents for demagoguery or manipulation. Even if this game isn’t rigged, the best players feel inherently suspect, nevertheless. PG-13. JAY HORTON. AppleTV+.

Days of the Whale Both by recent American standards and the (perhaps outdated) reputation of the city itself, the streets of Medellín, Colombia, appear almost tranquil in Days of the Whale. We follow university student Cris (firsttime actor Laura Tobón Ochoa) biking to a cafe, adopting a stray dog with her flame Simon (another newcomer, David Escallón Orrego) and dancing in a commune of fellow graffiti artists.

Where injustice does exist—cartel flunkies shake down the neighborhood for “protection”—it’s absorbed into a civic mural. Their threat is almost atmospheric in Medellín, so Cris and Simon must decide how seriously to take it and whether to quit painting their zoological street art over top of gang tags. Though her debut feature is slight and its script more like a sketch at times, Catalina Arroyave Restrepo brings her home city to life with marvelous assuredness and ease. This is a movie chiefly about place, and instead of explaining Medellín in a post-Escobar world, she reveals it, earning audience trust with docurealistic visuals still fluid enough to demonstrate the

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craft of fiction. The painting scenes are probably the film’s most euphoric, and in this way, Days of the Whale is an artist’s manifesto: It believes in the transformative value of creation. NR. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Virtual Cinema.

A Girl Missing With the revenge preoccupations of Park Chan-wook but the no-frills living-room style of Ken Loach, Japanese writer-director Koji Fukada makes movies about the echoes of guilt. The successor to his 2016 high-water mark Harmonium, A Girl Missing witnesses the unraveling and transformation of a devoted nurse named Ichiko (played by Fukada favorite Mariko Tsutsui) into a lonely woman about town. Her character shift is brought on by Ichiko’s nephew dispassionately abducting the granddaughter of a patient, but this kidnapping mystery is only the initial thread in one of 2020’s knottiest films. As with Harmonium, Fukada entrenches audiences in the darkest possible subject matter but omits violence or action that could rack up points for shock, style or catharsis.

His tastes are unflappably drab.

Meanwhile, Mariko is outstanding as a trusting woman realizing too late that accusations about the kidnapping are rippling her way. For the most part, A Girl Missing is a writing achievement.

At only 40, Fukada seems a whisker away from resounding international acclaim, but he keeps stiff-arming audiences back from any version of narrative or experiential gratification.

Still, if you dig a fathoms-deep script about guilt coming home to roost, consider this a loud but conflicted endorsement. NR. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Virtual Cinema.

A Thousand Cuts If it’s felt as though democracy has been on the ropes this month, this year, this century, A Thousand Cuts is a harrowing snapshot of its knockout.

Since President Rodrigo Duterte’s election in 2016, the Philippines’ “War on Drugs” has effectively given the federal government carte blanche to execute anyone suspected of dealing

or using narcotics. In A Thousand Cuts, director Ramona S. Diaz turns her lens on the beleaguered Philippine free press illuminating that state violence—mostly Maria Ressa, CEO of the journalism website Rappler and Time’s Person of the Year in 2018. (Ressa is currently appealing a conviction for “cyber-libel” that Reporters Without Borders has deemed “Kafkaesque.”)

The most tragic and canny component of Diaz’s documentary is simply its demonstration of how unpopular journalists are in a country where propaganda has accelerated through social media at an unprecedented pace.

Sure, Ressa procures Amal Clooney’s personal email in one slightly hopeful scene, but Diaz shrewdly cuts back to a rally of several thousand Duterte supporters bellowing for a strongman who freely jokes about rape and turns murder into explicit federal policy. It’s a terrifying reminder for pro-democracy advocates to act now. Because once one side is unpacking publishing principles and the other is wholly comfortable with bloodshed, it’s probably too late. NR. CHANCE SOLEMPFEIFER. Cinema 21 Virtual Cinema.

John Lewis: Good Trouble Congressman John Lewis was an undeniably important civil rights leader: Over his 60-year career, he was arrested 45 times, and his steadfast activism paved the way for the end of segregation and the advancement of voting rights. His tenacious approach to these issues also “highlighted the inactivity of the federal government,” according to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is interviewed in the film along with a host of other leaders, ranging from new-wave progressives like Rep. Ilhan Omar to outdated centrists like the Clintons and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It’s difficult to make a documentary about a living subject that doesn’t feel self-serving—Lewis died of pancreatic cancer July 17 just a few weeks after the film debuted—especially if the subject is a politician, of whom there are no perfect ones. At

times, Good Trouble sidesteps this trap by featuring archival footage of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery marches, but its present-day content is cursory, verging on cloying and pandering.

Did we really need a segment dedicated to Lewis’ fondness for dancing to Pharrell Williams’ “Happy”? Good Trouble may be emblematic of our tendency to lionize public servants— though Lewis’ impeccable voting record demonstrates he practiced what he preached—but it also serves as a welcome and timely reminder that causing a stir is exactly what creates societal and political change. PG. MIA VICINO. Amazon Prime, Google Play.

Rebuilding Paradise When he’s directing fiction, Ron Howard’s voice tends to be that of a centrist dad: Obstacles loom impossibly large in movies like Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind, but that’s what makes these men’s jobs worth doing, kids.

Howard takes pretty much the same stance in his documentary Rebuilding Paradise, sifting through the ashes of a 2018 inferno that consumed Paradise, Calif., claiming 85 lives and leaving little standing. Like all Howard efforts, except maybe that Grinch remake, Rebuilding Paradise clings to the best intentions, and it’s more emotive than inquisitive. The documentary’s favorite refrain is that the Paradise residents didn’t just lose homes, they lost home.

That’s a powerful and worthy sentiment the first few times, but Howard’s tendency to bask in the Rockwellian fantasy of this lost community clearly takes precedence over more hardnosed insights on lawsuits against the electric company PG&E, regional and international climate concerns, and relevant Indigenous history in Butte County. The documentary actually tips its hat to all three of those ideas, which only really serves to highlight the more melodramatic approach. In interviews, Howard has called himself merely a “wannabe journalist.” He’s being humble, of course, but with this documentary, it shows. PG-13.

CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. rebuildingparadise.film.

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SPOTLIGHT

ALLIE SULLBERG

JACK KENT’S

Allie is an artist and illustrator who lives in Portland, Oregon. She loves making things - from digital illustration, to gouache paintings, to murals, to tiny clay sculptures.

When she was little, Allie sold paintings to her family out of her tiny bedroom closet, making it into a full blown art gallery. She is still passionate about creating and selling art in accessible spaces, and still aims to create a feeling of magic and excitement for everyone who steps in. She believes that everybody deserves to look at beautiful things.

Allie is available for freelance illustration and design, and can be contacted at alliesullberg@gmail.com Be a Willamette Week featured artist!

Contact us at art@wweek.com.

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Jack draws exactly what he sees n’ hears from the streets.

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JONESIN’

Week of August 20

©2020 Rob Brezsny

by Matt Jones

"Food for Thought"--the first Jonesin' puzzle ever. [#1, May 2001]

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

"We never know what is enough until we know what’s more than enough," said Aries singer Billie Holiday. I don't think that applies to everyone, although it's more likely to be true about the Aries tribe than maybe any other sign of the zodiac. And I'm guessing that the coming weeks could be a time when you will indeed be vivid proof of its validity. That's why I'm issuing a "Too Much of a Good Thing" alert for you. I don't think it'll be harmful to go a bit too far and get a little too much of the good things; it may even be wise and healthy to do so. But please don't go waaayyyy too far and get waaayyyy too much of the good things.

"I transformed stillnesses and darknesses into words," wrote Libran poet Arthur Rimbaud. "What was unspeakable, I named. I made the whirling world pause." In accordance with current astrological potentials, I have turned his thoughts into a message for you. In the coming weeks, I hope you will translate silences and mysteries into clear language. What is unfathomable and inaccessible, you will convert into understandings and revelations. Gently, without force or violence, you will help heal the inarticulate agitation around you with the power of your smooth, resonant tenderness.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Taurus author Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) took many years to write *The Human Comedy*, an amalgam of 91 intertwined novels, stories, and essays. For this vast enterprise, he dreamed up the personalities of more than 2,000 characters, many of whom appeared in multiple volumes. I bring this to your attention, Taurus, because I believe that the next 15 months will be an excellent time for you to imagine and carry out a Balzac-like project of your own. Do you have an inkling of what that might be? Now's a good time to start ruminating.

GEMINI (May 21-June20)

ACROSS 1 Band that's the theme of this puzzle 6 "Heroz4hire" rapper _ _ _ the Damaja 10 Slasher flick props 14 "... quack quack there, _ _ _ quack ..."

15 Actor Arkin 16 "99 Luftballons" singer 17 Impulsive, courageous person, so they say 18 Hollywood cross street 19 He was a real Dick on "NewsRadio" 20 1-Across guitarist and vocalist 23 Summer month, for short 24 Speaks like a heavy smoker 26 Shop class tool 29 Cry convulsively 31 Letters on a Cardinals hat 32 "Bali _ _ _" ("South Pacific" song) 34 1-Across and The Dude of Life album released in 1994 38 "Hell's Half _ _ _" (1954 movie) 39 Velvet Underground vocalist Reed 40 Singers lower than soprani 41 1-Across predecessors and mentors 46 Jazz band's song list 47 They taketh away on Apr. 15 48 _ _ _ Fighters (Dave Grohl band) 49 Org. that gives out 9-digit IDs 50 Sends to hell 52 Sound from a lamb

54 1-Across keyboardist who started as a fan 61 Cheat, in a way 63 Cleopatra's river 64 "Jeremy" singer Vedder 65 Subject of "Weird" Al Yankovic's "The White [31Down]" 66 The last word in sermons?

67 "_ _ _ White Swan" (T. Rex song) 68 They're separated on some old sitcoms 69 Elevator, to Elvis Costello 70 European compilation album for 1-Across DOWN 1 _ _ _ Farm (bygone clothing line) 2 Mister, in Munich 3 Powerful and pleasing, to a Rasta 4 "Later" 5 Is of practical value 6 Coffeehouse quaff 7 Yale students, familiarly 8 Blow a gasket 9 Dig up 10 "Henry and June" diarist Nin 11 They adore strange things 12 Jim Morrison song, with "The" 13 "_ _ _ Anything" (John Cusack movie) 21 Gps. like CARE and Amnesty International 22 Word after bake or garage 25 Ubiquitous December mall guys 26 Sings like Kurt Elling 27 Like an angry cat's back

28 Spied via the telephone 30 Neckwear for Frankenstein's monster?

31 Nondescript category 33 "_ _ _ bad, bad thing" 35 1000 K 36 Friend's opposite 37 "Spy vs. Spy" magazine 42 Decoder's wear?

43 "Your _ _ _" (Morrissey album) 44 Man, in Mantua 45 Cars given while yours is in the shop, e.g.

51 Sandwich spreads 53 "We love to fly _ _ _ shows" (Delta slogan) 55 "Rent" character 56 F or G, on sheet music 57 It's worth next to nothing 58 Old Icelandic saga 59 "What _ _ _ Beneath" 60 Remini of "The King of Queens" 61 Corn remnants 62 Raw metal source

last week’s answers

"Your desires, whether or not you achieve them, will determine who you become," wrote author Octavia E. Butler. Now is a fertile time for you to meditate on that truth. So I dare you to take an inventory of all your major desires, from the noblest to the most trivial. Be honest. If one of your burning yearnings is to have 100,000 followers on Instagram or to eat chocolatecovered bacon that is served to you in bed, admit it.

After you're through tallying up the wonders you want most, the next step is to decide if they are essential to you becoming the person you truly want to be. If some aren't, consider replacing them with desires that will be a better influence on you as you evolve.

Not until the 19th century did humans begin to take organized actions to protect animals from cruelty.

Even those were sparse. The latter part of the 20th century brought more concerted efforts to promote animal welfare, but the rise of factory farms, toxic slaughterhouses, zoos, circuses, and cosmetic testing has shunted us into a Dark Age of animal abuse. I suspect our descendants will look back with horror at our barbarism. This problem incurs psychological wounds in us all in ways that aren't totally conscious.

And I think this is an especially key issue for you right now. I beg you, for your own sake as well as for the animals', to upgrade your practical love and compassion for animals. I bet you'll find it inspires you to treat your own body with more reverence.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

Rapper Eminem advises us, "Never take ecstasy, beer, Bacardi, weed, Pepto-Bismol, Vivarin, Tums, Tagamet HB, Xanax, and Valium in the same day." What's his rationale? That quaffing this toxic mix might kill us or make us psychotic? No. He says you shouldn't do that because "It makes it difficult to sleep at night." I'm going to suggest that you abide by his counsel for yet another reason: According to my analysis, you have the potential to experience some wondrous and abundant natural highs in the coming weeks. Your capacity for beautiful perceptions, exhilarating thoughts, and breakthrough epiphanies will be at a peak. But none of that is likely to happen if you're loaded up with inebriants.

Cancerian literary critic Harold Bloom bragged to *The New York Times* that his speed-reading skills were so advanced that he could finish a 500-page book in an hour. While I believe he has indeed devoured thousand of books, I also wonder if he lied about his quickness.

Nonetheless, I'll offer him up as an inspirational role model for you in the coming weeks. Why? Because you're likely to be able to absorb and integrate far more new information and fresh experiences than usual— and at a rapid pace.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) "Magic lies in challenging what seems impossible," says Leo politician Carol Moseley Braun. I agree with her, but will also suggest there's an even higher magic: when you devise a detailed plan for achieving success by challenging the impossible, and then actually carry out that plan. Judging from the current astrological omens, I suspect you're in an unusually favorable position to do just that in the coming weeks. Be bold in rising to the challenge; be practical and strategic in winning the challenge.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) "Joy is a mystery because it can happen anywhere, anytime, even under the most unpromising circumstances," writes author Frederick Buechner.

What he doesn't say is that you must be receptive and open to the possibility of joy arriving anywhere and anytime. If you're shut down to its surprising influx, if you're convinced that joy is out of reach, it won't break through the barriers you've put up; it won't be able to land in your midst. I think this is especially important counsel for you in the coming weeks, Virgo. PLEASE make yourself available for joy. P.S. Here's another clue from Buechner: "Joy is where the whole being is pointed in one direction."

If you can manage it, I recommend taking a break from business-as-usual. I'd love to see you give yourself the gift of amusement and play—a luxurious sabbatical that will help you feel free of every burden, excused from every duty, and exempt from every fixation. The spirit I hope you will embody is captured well in this passage from author Okakura Kakuzo: "Let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things."

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) "Everyone who has ever built a new heaven first found the power to do so in his own hell," declared philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. That's a rather histrionic statement! But then Nietzsche was a Maestro of Melodrama. He was inclined to portray human life as a heroic struggle for boldness and liberation. He imagined us as being engaged in an epic quest to express our highest nature. In accordance with your astrological potentials, I propose that you regard Nietzsche as your power creature during the coming weeks. You have a mandate to adopt his lionhearted perspective. And yes, you also have a poetic license to build a new heaven based on the lessons you learned and the power you gained in your own hell.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Here's some knowledge from author John le Carré: "In every operation there is an above the line and a below the line. Above the line is what you do by the book.

Below the line is how you do the job." According to my analysis, you have, at least for now, done all you can in your work above the line. That's great! It was crucial for you to follow the rules and honor tradition. But now it's time for a shift in emphasis. In the coming weeks, I hope you will specialize in finessing the details and massaging the nuances below the line.

HOMEWORK: Meditate on the possibility that you could gain personal power through an act of surrender. FreeWillAstrology.com Check out Rob Brezsny’s Expanded Weekly Audio Horoscopes & Daily Text Message Horoscopes

©2020 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800-655-6548. Reference puzzle #JNZ990.

freewillastrology.com The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at

1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700 Willamette Week AUGUST 12, 2020 wweek.com

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