Willamette Week, July 28, 2021 - Volume 47, Issue 38 - "The Trials of Deborah Kafoury" by Willamette Week Newspaper

"JUST ANOTHER SEXY-ASS BALD GUY." P. 17

THE TRIALS OF

WILLAMETTE WEEK PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY

Deborah Kafoury

NEWS: FOREST PARK COULD CATCH FIRE. P. 8

FOOD: VEGAN POP-UP MIAMI NICE MAKES GOOD. P. 21

SCREEN: WWEEK.COM

VOL 47/39 07.28.2021

MARK WAHLBERG VS. MATT DAMON AT THE BOX OFFICE. P. 27

She’s been in the middle of homelessness, heat and the virus. Does she want to be governor? BY R ACHEL MONAHAN and AAR ON MESH PAGE 1 1

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FINDINGS CHRIS NESSETH

property damage wrongful death personal injury product liability

PICKLEBALL, PAGE 9

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM READING THIS WEEK’S PAPER VOL. 47, ISSUE 39 Prison inmates evacuated due to wildfire smoke are now allowed to bring a toothbrush. 6

The people demand Minority Retort supply Neel Nanda with a piano for his “Piano Jokes.” 20

Oregonians hitting the coast are raising bartender wages to $18 an hour. 6

Bri Pruett’s Blazers huddle joke is essentially immortal. 20

Portland firefighters fear homeless camps could spark a wildfire in Forest Park . 8 Parks bureau officials turned down free pickleball courts. 9 “Picking up the trash is actually not that difficult.” 13 Deborah Kafoury probably won’t sign the petition to recall Ted Wheeler. 14

At least one of the Raging Grannies knows calligraphy. 17

Valerie Espinoza takes great delight in tricking carnivores into eating her vegan Cuban cuisine. 21 Jackie’s held onto some Century Bar signatures, but the old frosé machine didn’t make it. 23 Introducing an arthritic oldster to canna-therapy is arguably easier to do with tea than with gravity bongs. 26

1022 NW Marshall Street #450 Portland OR | (503) 226-6361 | paulsoncoletti.com

There is no waterfall in the town of Popcorn Falls. 25

Deface a George Floyd mural and Portland will swiftly repaint it, even bolder. 18

ON THE COVER:

OUR MOST TRAFFICKED STORY ONLINE THIS WEEK:

Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury, photo by Chris Nesseth.

Does Portland look like shit? One Instagram account says yes.

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Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

DIALOGUE Since June 2020, anonymous Instagram account @ portlandlookslikeshit has been posting images of homeless encampments and unhoused people, many of whom appear to be experiencing mental distress (“Bad Influence,” WW, July 21, 2021). The account has grown in popularity in recent months, accumulating over 53,000 followers and hundreds of likes per post amid civic frustration over conditions on the streets. Critics of the account claim it exploits and dehumanizes Portland’s most vulnerable citizens. Here’s what our readers have to say: Mary Thiel, via Facebook: “I walk through many neighborhoods and I see beautiful, well-kept gardens and lovely houses. Yes, there is an increase in homelessness with an increase in the lack of ability to dispose of trash that a housed person has and just takes for granted, but it is confined to certain places, and by no means is the whole city. This deeming Portland as trashy is Trump-inspired right-wing BS, designed to make sure that the truly filthy people, the rich, don’t have to pay taxes to fix anything, And it is also a way to cruelly scapegoat and demonize the homeless.” Galaxy, via wweek.com: “Living in the Portland metro area, I can confirm that the title of this article and the @portlandlookslikeshit Instagram account are accurate. The scenes the Instagram account documents are consistent with what I have observed.” @JayChucksFrank, via Twitter: “But what does this Insta account propose be done about the plight they’re focusing on? All cities have these issues, and there are so many areas that do not look like this. They’re painting with a massive brush.” Shawn Alvey, via wweek.com: “Yeah, how dare the city residents document the mayor and City Council’s abject failures to govern despite the massive taxes and fees they levy…?”

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Griefo, via wweek.com: “Show it, let everyone see their possible future. I can see this happening to me

Dr. Know

eventually. No matter how much you work, it’s still not enough to live here with any comfort. The rent has more than doubled in the last five years and the wages have not. People on SSI and disability don’t get nearly enough to even rent a small studio apartment. The homeless will be the majority in this city if things keep going this way.” Stephanie Bruce, via Facebook: “Although I don’t like them showing faces of people, I think it does address the real problems going on here. It’s not just one area. It’s the entire city. The local government has largely ignored these issues. I think it brings to light how bad it has gotten. We hear a lot of ‘talk’ but never true action happening to help the homeless, drug addiction, and mental illness. I’ve lived here my entire life. It’s sad to see the state of the city I once loved.” Natalie Belle, via Facebook: “Most of Portland doesn’t look awful! Certainly pockets do, that’s true. But if we can find ways to help homeless people off of the streets, and organize community trash pickups (or provide monetary incentives for collection), our city would be a lot happier, healthier and safer.” Kyle Thomas, via Facebook: “A major city with pockets of those forgotten by the system, who would have thought! Portland is no different than any other major city, it’s just drastically smaller than most, making all the ‘trashy zones’ appear to be rampant due to proximity. I live here, it’s a lovely place. Could some areas be cleaned up? Sure. But let this be in a mindful and respectful way of those down and out. If we had a dollar for every time someone complained about the state of this city who doesn’t even live in the actual city proper, and especially doesn’t live in these ‘bad zones,’ we’d have enough to pay for the situation right there.” LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210. Email: mzusman@wweek.com

BY MART Y SMITH @martysmithxxx

Last week’s column on vaccine refusers omits the biggest threat: The more COVID spreads, the greater the chance of mutations à la the Delta variant. You may wish harm and/or death on your enemies, but wishing COVID on them just makes things worse. —Brook G. As I was preparing to write this column (I’d polished off the Everclear and was just about to administer the cocaine enema), the news broke that, thanks to rising COVID case counts among people who won’t get vaccinated, Multnomah County’s mask mandate was back. Perhaps I speak for some of you when I say: Way to go, dumbshits. Living among the vaccine-resistant is like being in a sinking lifeboat with somebody who keeps drilling holes in the bottom to let the water out—if you have a brand-new Pfizer life jacket, it’s tempting to just let them drown. Unfortunately, as I mentioned last week, some people either can’t get the vaccine or don’t get full immunity from it. If you just say “screw it” and start licking every door knob you see, you’re throwing these folks under the bus. That said, Brook, none of this answers your ques-

tion. You weren’t the only reader to remind me that every case of COVID—even ones where the stupid patient totally deserved it—is another opportunity for the virus to mutate into something even nastier. MAGA-bred super-COVID could happen, of course. I understand why you’re concerned: One shudders to think what kind of twisted mutations a virus could get up to inside of, say, Marjorie Taylor Greene. But since the U.S. only has 2% of the world’s unvaccinated people, it’s about 50 times more likely that the next virus to end all viruses will come from overseas. This means that if we’re serious about depriving the virus of its R&D operation, we shouldn’t waste our time beating our heads against the wall over the 90 million Americans who’ve said no to the vaccine. Instead, we should start with more low-hanging fruit—the roughly 4 billion people around the world who haven’t had a chance to say yes to it. Otherwise, when the death-dealing Omicron variant (or whatever) comes to wipe us off the map, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves (and by “ourselves,” of course, I mean “each other”). QUESTIONS? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.

MURMURS MICK HANGLAND-SKILL

NO MORE FREEWAYS RALLY AT HARRIET TUBMAN MIDDLE SCHOOL

GOV. BROWN WANTS TO MOVE TUBMAN MIDDLE SCHOOL: A key sticking point of the contentious Interstate 5 project through the Rose Quarter is the fact that a wider highway could make air quality worse for Harriet Tubman Middle School near the freeway’s shoulder. But a compromise appears to be in the works: Gov. Kate Brown supports moving the school, regardless of what form the highway project takes. Her office wasn’t yet ready to announce a dollar figure for how much she would give Portland Public Schools to move the middle school. “The governor finds the air quality and health impacts to students at Harriet Tubman Middle School to be very concerning, and she supports moving the school—regardless of the Rose Quarter project,” said Brown spokesperson Elizabeth Merah. “The governor is committed to partnering to explore options and what resources might be available at all levels of government.” WHEELER RECALL FUNDING LAGS: The campaign to recall Mayor Ted Wheeler is not meeting its fundraising goals. As of July 27, Total Recall PDX had raised $76,000, according to the campaign. The average donation was $62. In June, campaign manager Audrey Caines told WW her goal was to raise $150,000 by July 15. The campaign has just nine paid circulators and relies mostly on volunteers. Correlation is high between an initiative campaign being able to hire paid signature collectors and the petition’s success, the National Conference of State Legislatures wrote in a 2012 report. Caines tells WW, “It was an ambitious goal we set to encourage excitement around fundraising, but it isn’t a critical number.” She added that they’re setting a new goal of $115,000 by Sept. 1. In a July 27 message posted to the campaign’s Twitter page, its biggest donor, data processor John Schroeder, urged wealthy Portlanders to donate: “50,000 signatures is an ambitious goal, and unfortunately in our current system, four-figure donations are necessary to achieve it.” ALL FOUR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COULD RUN FOR CHAIR: The race to succeed Deborah Kafoury as Multnomah County chair may include all four of her colleagues on the county board of commissioners, she tells WW. Kafoury won’t run again because of term limits. (For her plans, see page 11.) None of the four commissioners—Susheela Jayapal, Sharon Meieran, Jessica Vega Pederson and Lori Stegmann—has officially entered the race. But those who responded to WW’s requests for comment weren’t ready to rule it out, either. “I haven’t ruled anything out, but I am considering my options, and that does include running for chair,” says Stegmann. WW reported last week that Shannon Singleton, a policy adviser to Gov. Kate Brown, is also expected to run. POLICE CONTRACT MEDIATION BEGINS: The city and the Portland Police Association are slated to enter mediation July 28 for their collective bargaining agreement, according to Oregon’s Employment Relations Board. The process, which lasts for a minimum of 15 days in accordance with state labor laws, happens behind closed doors and out of the public’s view. On June 14, the police union filed an “unresolved issues” list with the state. That list, obtained by WW, lists over 40 topics that remain unresolved between the two parties, including policy relating to body cameras, the city’s proposed discipline guide for officers, and Independent Police Review, which Portlanders voted to dissolve and replace with a new citizen-led board. If the city and the police union can’t come to an agreement during mediation, they reach an “impasse.” From there, the parties can initiate arbitration, where an arbitrator will issue a final, binding decision that sides with the “last best offer” of only one party.

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CHECKLIST

THE BIG NUMBER

CHRISTINE DONG

HENRY CROMETT

NEWS

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK

TOP CHEF: Oregon restaurant cooks are seeing wages rise.

$18.78

Fire Alarms Prison officials promised greater smoke safety. How’d they do? BY TE SS R I S K I

tess@wweek.com

In December, nearly three months after the Oregon Department of Corrections hastily evacuated more than 2,500 inmates from four state prisons as wildfires encroached on the Central Willamette Valley, the department pledged to do better. The agency’s “after-action report” evaluated prison response to a climate emergency that will likely be an annual occurrence in Oregon for every summer to come. There was a lot to mull. During the September 2020 wildfires, three men’s prisons in Salem were evacuated to Oregon State Penitentiary—the state’s only maximum-security prison, also in Salem. WW reported extensively on allegations of fights between rival gangs, tampering with food, and the rampant spread of COVID-19. The state also evacuated prisoners from Coffee Creek Correctional Facility—the state’s only women’s prison—to Deer Ridge Correctional Institution. The women reported hourslong bus rides in which they had to urinate and defecate in socks that they then threw out a bus window, and dangerous medical events, like seizures, caused by an inability to access medications. DOC’s report listed several fixes it intended to make— most crucially, the creation of a wildfire evacuation plan, which did not exist prior to last year’s evacuations. As wildfire season hits another crescendo, WW reviewed DOC’s after-action report and asked the department if it had made the improvements it promised last winter. 1. Promised improvement: Create a wildfire evacuation plan. Did they fix it? Yes. “All DOC institutions have wildfire evacuation plans,” says spokeswoman Jennifer Black. “However, these plans are not shared outside of the agency. Public knowledge of these plans could compromise the safety and security of our employees, adults in custody, institutions and travel plans.” 2. Promised improvement: Enforce proper separation between rival inmates (e.g., gangs, people under protective custody, victims and assailants). Did they fix it? Kind of. Inmates might still be transferred to a prison where the gang they’re trying to avoid is held. “Based on lessons learned from the 2020 wildfire evacuations,” however, Black says, “future evacuations will 6

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

CROWDED PEN: Last year, inmates from four prisons were evacuated to Oregon State Penitentiary to avoid wildfire smoke.

include greater separation of the evacuated populations from one another (if more than one institution is evacuated to the same location) and the receiving institution’s AIC population will also have modified operations (e.g., meals in place, showering and recreating separately, etc.).” 3. Promised improvement: Following reports by women prisoners of poor conditions inside Deer Ridge Correctional Institution, which had been closed for years before being used during the wildfires, DOC vowed to properly maintain all “mothballed” facilities so they are “kept in a state of readiness.” The report specifically cited necessary improvements to DRCI’s unoccupied minimum- and medium-security facilities. Did they fix it? Not really. Black says inspections and restorations have continued at Deer Ridge’s minimum-security facility, which is not currently in use. Other vacated prisons, including Shutter Creek and Mill Creek correctional institutions, are not in proper shape. “At this time, DRCI Minimum is the only vacant facility being considered for potential evacuation housing,” Black says. “While the medium facility has operational capacity to feed both institutions, work is also continuing to bring the DRCI Minimum kitchen to full readiness.” 4. Promised improvement: Invest in additional training for staff, “especially for managers and other staff asked to lead during future emergencies,” the department wrote in the report. The report said DOC was “looking into” Federal Emergency Management Agency training in particular. Did they fix it? It’s unclear. Black says DOC has continued to provide online incident-command training to employees, already a requirement for all new officers, but that she is not aware of any additional emergency training for employees. She says some managers received training “in the form of tabletop exercises.” She did not respond to further questions by press deadlines. 5. Promised improvement: Transfer all inmate medical records online, and allow adults in custody to bring their in-cell medical items and toiletries with them in the case of an evacuation. Did they fix it? Mostly. “In the event of an evacuation, current plans now include allowing and directing all AICs to pack and travel with their basic hygiene and in-cell medical items,” Black says. “Thanks to funding approved in the 2019-21 biennium, DOC is actively engaged in our electronic health records project. The agency expects a request for proposal to be released soon.”

That’s the average hourly wage of a worker at an Oregon hotel, bar or restaurant. As Oregon bars and restaurants resumed face-to-face customer service this spring, business owners voiced a uniform complaint: Job seekers had disappeared. Frustrated publicans blamed unemployment benefits for creating a workforce shortage (“Four Questions for Jenny Liu,” WW, May 19, 2021). Looks like they found a solution: Pay workers more. The average hourly wage in the Oregon leisure and hospitality industry was $18.78 in June, according to data compiled by the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis. That’s a 1% increase over pre-pandemic trends, and 3% above national trends. “That doesn’t sound like much,” says state economist Joshua Lehner, “but it adds up, and the industry was already seeing above-average wage growth in the years leading up to the pandemic.” That hourly figure is also significant because the tight job market is moving faster than state-mandated minimum wages. On July 1, the hourly minimum wage in the Portland metro area (the highest in the state) increased by 75 cents to $14, the first bump in a year. Meanwhile, the average hourly wage for a leisure and hospitality worker increased by $1.23 over that time. Lehner says there are several reasons bar and resort owners are forced to hike wages. They laid off most of their staff when the pandemic started, so as Oregonians flock to happy hour and the coast, business owners are competing for the same workers. “So what do firms do?” he asks. “Consumer demand is very strong. All of these companies are trying to staff back up at the same time. Well, you start to increase wages.” And probably continue increasing them: Lehner’s office projects the average hourly wage will grow another 21 cents by Christmas. AARON MESH.

Sources: Oregon Employment Department, Oregon Office of Economic Analysis

NEWS CLOCKED

CHRIS NESSETH

BRIAN BURK

TRENDING

MASKS ARE BACK: Multnomah County health officials again recommend wearing masks indoors, whether you’re vaccinated or not.

Hunzeker Watch

No Exit The pandemic nearly disappeared in Multnomah County. It’s back. For the week ending July 6, the average daily number of new COVID-19 cases in Multnomah County was just 18. That was a low suggesting that, with a rise in vaccinations, Portland might be finding its way toward the end of the pandemic. Less than three weeks later, for the week ending July 26, the county saw an average of 55 new cases a day, according to Oregon Health Authority data. That’s more than double the number of cases each week as the number of tests coming back positive has risen too. Though case counts still remain relatively low, county health officials had seen enough. The Delta variant has become dominant in Oregon, according to recent tests, and the trajectory is clear. Even as the county has vaccinated hundreds of thousands of residents—65% in all age groups have received at least a first dose—the more contagious variant is still sending unvaccinated Portlanders to the hospital. That explains why, on July 26, county health officials reinstituted a recommendation for everyone (vaccinated or no) to go back to wearing a mask indoors, with the ominous implication that the county could see shutdowns if the cases continue to spike. “Masking is a step we can all take right now to keep businesses open and move ahead with our plans for the school year,” Multnomah County public health director Jessica Guernsey said in a statement. “This is the thing that will make a difference.” RACHEL MONAHAN.

We approach the fivemonth mark on a police leak investigation. 134 DAYS:

“MASKING IS A STEP WE CAN ALL TAKE RIGHT NOW TO KEEP BUSINESSES OPEN AND MOVE AHEAD WITH OUR PLANS FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR. THIS IS THE THING THAT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE.” —Jessica Guernsey Multnomah County public health director

That’s how long ago Officer Brian Hunzeker resigned from his role as president of the Portland Police Association due to what the union described as a “serious, isolated mistake related to the [Portland] Police Bureau’s investigation into the alleged hit-and-run by Commissioner [Jo Ann] Hardesty.” We still don’t know what he did. The mayor’s office says it doesn’t know what he did. Hunzeker has been on paid administrative leave since May 27.

145 DAYS:

That’s how long it’s been since the Police Bureau opened an internal affairs investigation into the leak of information that wrongly implicated Commissioner Hardesty in a March 3 hit-and-run crash. It has released no results of its inquiry.

137 DAYS

: That’s how long it’s been since the city signed a contract with an outside investigative firm to probe the leak. TESS RISKI.

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

BRIAN BROSE

NEWS

WARNING: City emergency officials fear a fire started in Forest Park could prove disastrous.

Forest Park Fire

Officials fear the largest urban forest in America is a wildfire waiting to happen. BY SOPHIE PEEL

speel@wweek.com

“It’s not a big deal,” she says, “until it is.”

The task of thwarting such a cataclysm falls to Nelson— one of two firefighters in a golf cart. 8

On the afternoon of July 23, two firefighters from Station 27 on Northwest Skyline Boulevard hopped into their Kawasaki golf cart, which labored up and down the steep trails of Forest Park, spitting fumes. The cart had few accoutrements: a shovel, water bags that are attachable to special backpacks to put out small fires, and a chainsaw. Nelson and Tim Gilbert took the cart on one of its standard routes on fire lane paths along Leif Erikson Drive Trail. Firefighters from Station 27 do this patrol every Thursday. Another fire station down the road handles the patrol every Tuesday. They’re looking for remnants of a camp or stove fire, cigarette butts, and other human-generated fire hazards. At one point, Gilbert slowed down the golf cart and peered down a hill. He nodded toward a faint outline of a trampled path off the main trail. That’s something else they look for: paths that indicate people may be camping at the end of them and possibly starting warming or cooking fires. In April, the fire bureau responded to two fires, each about 200 by 200 feet, in Forest Park near the lower part above Highway 30. The fires started in homeless encampments, fire officials say. BRIAN BROSE

As wildfires tear through nearly 450,000 acres of Oregon this week, perhaps you’re feeling grateful to be a city dweller. Don’t be so sure. Portland officials are increasingly concerned that the city’s showcase park in the West Hills places it at risk for a nightmare scenario: an urban forest fire. Forest Park stretches for 8 square miles of Douglas firs, elms and cedars along the ridgeline of the Northwest Hills. It’s the largest urban forest in the nation. But as climate change turns the Pacific Northwest’s natural blessings into liabilities with each bone-dry summer, city emergency officials say Forest Park catching fire is one of the top natural hazards now facing Portland. The city first identified wildfire in Forest Park as a “mounting ” threat a decade ago in its 2009 Wildfire Readiness Assessment. That document noted that fires in Powell Butte and Forest Park were of major concern to the city: “There is an ongoing risk that during a severe drought, park vegetation that is not normally flammable could dry out enough to carry a fire into the forest canopy, where it would be very difficult to bring under control.” Jonna Papaefthimiou, director of the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management, says the risk has only increased since. “More than 70,000 residents live in areas that would be directly threatened by a fire there,” she says. “And we know some people camp right in the park and would have no time or ability to evacuate. Furthermore, all Portlanders would be impacted by the smoke and massive disruption a Forest Park fire would cause—even if it were quickly contained. For all these reasons, we consider the fire threat in Forest Park to be one of the highest threats to public safety in our city.” Kim Kosmas, a senior fire inspector and firefighter with Portland Fire & Rescue, says only earthquakes, flooding and landslides pose a greater threat to Portlanders than a match dropped along the Wildwood Trail. “It’s definitely at the top of the list. If you look at our wildfire hazard map, it’s basically the West Hills,” says Kosmas. “Forest Park is beautiful and green, but with the right conditions—with winds and drying—it could burn pretty quickly. The trends are changing, and all the scientists are saying it’s going to get worse.” Erica Nelson, a PF&R captain who patrols the park, describes the worst-case scenario: a source for the fire, an abundance of dry vegetation, heat to sustain the fire, and just one gust of wind to help it travel and spread.

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

WITNESS: Firefighter Erica Nelson has seen Forest Park vegetation get drier every year.

Homelessness in Forest Park is hard to track because the park is so large and the greenery hides encampments. But PF&R Capt. Louisa Jones says the homeless population in the park has increased over the years. And 90% of Oregon’s fires are human-caused. “We have absolutely seen an increase in calls,” Jones says. “If you have 15 people doing 15 fires a day versus one guy doing a fire a day, that’s a 15-fold increase in the risk.” On July 28, Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who oversees the fire bureau, is set to present the City Council a new protocol to decrease the number of campers in wildfire hazard zones, including Forest Park. The protocol warns, “Unauthorized camping in our designated wildfire hazard zones poses an unacceptably high threat of potentially catastrophic wildfire incidents.” The PF&R plan entails a more proactive approach to relocating campers living in high-risk wildfire areas. First, it will send Street Roots staff to urge relocation. If that doesn’t work, it’ll bring in the city’s Homeless and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program—the group responsible for sweeps. But homeless camping is only one of three reasons the risk of a Forest Park fire is increasing. The second is hotter and drier summers that are starting earlier in the year. “You can already see how dry everything is,” Nelson says, pointing at a fern from her passenger’s seat in the golf cart, its tips tinged brown and curling into themselves. That means fires are popping up earlier in the year, making it more important to trim thickets away from the conifers. Green vegetation might seem like a deterrent to fire, but the park’s largely unmanaged underbrush often reaches all the way up to the trees, providing more fuel to catch the trees on fire. “If we don’t clean up the underbrush and you get a big enough fire underneath, that’s when it’s extremely hard to get contained,” says Jones. “We can’t just overcome it with hoses from the ground.” The third reason a large fire in Forest Park concerns officials: homes threaded along the park’s edge—and filled with toxic material. Elliott Gall is an assistant professor at Portland State University and air quality researcher who’s studied air pollution from wildfires. “That’s the concern of mine at Forest Park,” Gall says. “If there were a major wildfire in the park, what else would burn in close proximity?” Building materials create a “more diverse and toxic soup” than just burning trees, he says. “Its proximity to a few million people, that’s a concern.” The fire bureau is so alarmed by the homes in and surrounding Forest Park that it’s increasing public education about ways to prevent fire from reaching homes in an emergency—like clearing brush away from a home’s perimeter and having an action plan in case of fire. “A lot of the fires that start are from the embers that find the receptive fuels near gutters or the welcome mat on the front door. If you can imagine a snowstorm, it’s like an ember storm,” Kosmas says. Quietly, changes to Forest Park management are coming. Fire officials want to make alterations to city code that would allow homeowners to chop down more trees and clear a wider berth free of vegetation around homes to create natural fire barriers. Portland General Electric, whose power lines crisscross above Forest Park, is in discussions with the fire bureau to implement a plan to turn off power lines in case of extreme weather conditions. (Fallen power lines in a windstorm sparked some of the worst wildfire damage in Oregon last summer.) And city officials were recently awarded a $429,000 grant by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to address fire risk in the Linnton neighborhood between the base of Forest Park and the Willamette River. Kosmas says it’s about time. “The policies about how to manage the park and natural areas were made 30 years ago, and they need to be brought up to speed,” she says. “Thirty years ago, you’d never think there would be a wildfire here.”

NEWS CHRIS NESSETH

BALL OUT: Members of the PDX Pickleball Club play every weekend at Sellwood Park.

We Can Pickle That

Members of a pickleball club offered to refurbish tennis courts at their local park on their own dime. The city rebuffed them. BY S OP H I E P E E L

Pickleball is one of America’s fastest-growing sports. Participation grew by 23% last year, says the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. The game’s smaller scale—it uses paddles instead of rackets, the court is a quarter the size of a tennis court, and the ball is hollow plastic with air holes— made it a pandemic favorite for people looking to socialize outdoors. Yet Portland parks contain not a single dedicated pickleball court. Lines are painted on a handful of tennis courts across the city, but not nearly enough to support the game’s exploding popularity. In fact, city documents show 73 of the city’s 103 tennis courts are in disrepair. Last November, City Hall hit up the public for a $48 million annual property tax levy to restore crumbling park facilities. The city sought the taxpayer dollars after years of aggressive expansion and deferred maintenance. Faced with the threat of dire cuts in service, voters overwhelmingly approved the funding. That makes it all the more puzzling that parks officials dismissed an offer from pickleballers to repair courts on their own time and with their own money. It appears the bureau squandered a perfect public relations opportunity and a free upgrade. “We wanted to do this without having to use any taxpayer dollars, for ourselves but also for the good of our community,” says Cathy Owen, the club’s secretary and Haron’s wife. “It’s sat for decades, unused.” In response to questions from WW, parks bureau spokesman Mark Ross said: “There may have been some communications issues between the advocates and [the

speel@wweek.com

If you happened by the tennis courts at Sellwood Park in Southeast Portland early in the morning last month, you’d have found a scene straight out of Tom Sawyer: Nisa’ Haron and seven of her friends power washing and sealing the cracked concrete, free of charge. The eight Southeast Portland retirees are avid participants in America’s hottest sport: pickleball. They’re part of the PDX Pickleball Club, which has 300 members and most often plays at Sellwood Park, where just two of the four tennis courts are usable. Not even a month ago, the other two were spidered with inch-and-a-half-wide cracks that made them unplayable. The club decided to fix that this spring. Members raised $9,000 to repair the courts Portland Parks & Recreation had neglected and, while they were at it, change them to pickleball courts. In June, Haron says, two parks employees gave them permission to start the work on their own dime. After all, she adds, parks management assured the club in 2019 that making two of the tennis courts into pickleball courts was part of its eventual plan. But on July 9, two weeks after repairs began, the parks bureau refused the offer. A city employee ordered the club to halt its repair work. Parks officials told Haron and her friends they would need to pay $1,000 to apply for a city permit and, if granted, another $2,500 a week in rent while the work was completed, according to the club’s calculations. Henrik Bothe, a club member who helped with the repairs, is crestfallen. “It goes nuts in the park with pickleball,” he says. “It’s just gangbusters. You’ll see all eight pickleball courts packed with people, and not your typical athletes—a lot of older people.”

bureau]. We are working to smooth out the confusion. We appreciate the passion and advocacy of park users and sports enthusiasts.” He declined to say whether the bureau would insist on charging the pickleball club rent to make free repairs. Commissioner Carmen Rubio, who oversees the parks bureau, tells WW she regrets if there was miscommunication from the city but says she’s grateful to the club “for their enthusiasm and passion for bringing more access to the sport to our parks.” The parks bureau is keenly aware that most of the city’s tennis courts are in poor shape. This year, parks officials created a list of courts they’re looking to refurbish in coming years, a number of which they want to rehab to make them usable for other emerging sports like pickleball and futsal. The massive project is laid out in a June 2021 city document that details which parks are on the docket to be repaired and which could potentially be refurbished as pickleball courts. Sellwood is one. The estimated total project cost is $7.73 million. The project prioritizes parks in lower-income areas like Peninsula, Lents and Fernhill. Sellwood, a relatively prosperous neighborhood, is not on the top-priority list. That’s why PDX Pickleball Club thought it was handing the city a win. The club sent a detailed project proposal on April 22 to a parks maintenance employee. On June 24, Haron says, that employee handed the club the keys to the utility shed so it could access water and electricity. Volunteers worked for two weeks, from 6 am to noon, with a 45-minute break to eat sandwiches from New Seasons. “It was brutal. We’re not spring chickens—we’re all in our 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s,” says Haron, director of the club. And then, on July 9, a parks employee drove up and told them they needed to halt their work until they got a permit. They’d filled all the cracks in the top two courts and were working on a skim coat next. He chained and locked the gate to the tennis courts. Stephen Bouffard, who oversees permits for the parks bureau, told Haron in a July 23 email that their permit was requesting a change of use for the top two courts. In order to change the use of a parks facility, Bouffard wrote, the proposal would need to go through a public process. Bouffard said the parks’ plan for court restoration and redevelopment for some courts for other sports, such as pickleball, was undergoing a “public engagement” process, and that plans for each court in need of repairs would be finalized in September. Until then, the club’s permit would be kept on hold. “Thank you for the offer,” Bouffard wrote. Haron says the club has spent upward of $9,000 on supplies for the repairs already. Most baffling of all: City documents show the parks bureau hasn’t figured out how it will pay for the tennis court restorations. “Parks gets in their own way sometimes,” says Elizabeth Milner, who lives nearby and supports a pickleball court. “In this case, it seems in the interest of engaging the public. They’re actually missing an opportunity to partner with an already engaged public.”

CHRIS NESSETH

GOOD SPORTS: Pickleball club members tap paddles before starting a game. Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

CHRIS NESSETH

THE TRIALS OF Deborah Kafoury

BY R ACHEL MONAHAN AND AAR ON MESH

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

CHRIS NESSETH

SHE’S BEEN IN THE MIDDLE OF HOMELESSNESS, HEAT AND THE VIRUS. DOES SHE WANT TO BE GOVERNOR? Last month, the bleak reality of Portland’s streets confronted Deborah Kafoury—and chased her down the block. “I was out for a walk with a friend of mine the other morning and had to run,” she says. “Some human being was experiencing a mental health crisis and was charging towards us.” For Kafoury, 53, who has held the job of Multnomah County chair since 2014, it was a personal encounter with a humanitarian disaster she wants to fix. “It’s devastating,” she says. “It’s devastating for the folks who are living that way. And it’s devastating for our community members who see it on a daily basis.” She says the poverty and squalor unspooling each day on Portland’s streets are the direct result of a housing crisis she’s dedicated years trying to alleviate. Her critics might say she’s seen the results of her own policies. Perhaps no official in this city has labored longer and with such singular purpose as Kafoury on homelessness— the civic illness that never seems to abate. No leader, aside from late City Commissioner Nick Fish, has done more to champion dedicated funding to build affordable housing and provide services that help keep people there. The city and county work together to fund services for homeless people, while the city is in charge of a Housing Bureau that produces subsidized apartments. The city sets the policy for sweeping homeless camps while the county takes the lead on providing housing vouchers and other aid to the downtrodden. Fairly or not, her hard work ties Kafoury to the results on the streets, even as Portlanders emerge from pandemic shutdowns furious at the campsites they encounter in every neighborhood. Her critics—who have ranged at various times from Mayor Ted Wheeler to County Commissioner Sharon Meieran to businessman Jordan Schnitzer—have said local government should act with greater urgency and devote more money to shelter beds rather than try to keep destitute people in apartments. “I believe we need to be addressing the situation like the emergency that it is,” says Meieran. “People are dying on the streets in growing numbers.” If for no other reason, that fight makes Kafoury as interesting a politician as any in the state. But Kafoury is compelling for other reasons, too. The daughter of late City Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury, she comes from the closest thing Portland has to a political dynasty. Since replacing a scandal-plagued Jeff Cogen atop Multnomah County seven years ago, she has sailed to reelection with strong public support. Her supporters believe Kafoury is the one elected official in Portland who can plausibly claim to have tangled with the all toughest problems in the state and not embarrassed herself in the process. She’s an executive who has kept her focus on relieving poverty while getting a bridge and a courthouse built.

“Deborah Kafoury has done more for housing justice in Oregon than any elected official in our state’s history,” says Israel Bayer, director of International Network of Street Papers North America. That’s part of the reason Kafoury’s name has long appeared on the short list of possible Democratic candidates for governor in 2022. But such a candidacy appears increasingly unlikely. In the past week, WW has learned, Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek has neared a decision to enter the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Kotek, like Kafoury, is a Portland progressive and an ally of Gov. Kate Brown, but is also a longtime darling of labor unions. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for Kafoury. The emerging candidacy of New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof crowds the race even further. By Labor Day, as many as four candidates—Kotek, Kristof, Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum—may have entered the field. (Disclosure: Rosenblum is married to the co-owner of WW’s parent company.) Yamhill County Commission Chair Casey Kulla is already in. So what is Kafoury thinking? We wanted to hear from her. She is not known for her candor; she’s doesn’t hunt for headlines and has an uneasy relationship with the press. Last week, she invited us onto her front porch in Eastmoreland to dish on the state of Oregon politics and Portland’s streets. One of the first things out of her mouth was an admission of the bitter resentment Oregonians feel toward their politicians. For the next two hours, as squirrels scampered across tree trunks in her yard, Kafoury engaged in an intricate verbal dance with WW, both defending her record and voicing the same frustrations Portlanders feel about the condition of their city. She said she wouldn’t sign a petition to recall Wheeler—but only after saying she was thinking about it and that she saw no way to help him save his tenure in office. She pledged the streets of the Portland would look significantly different in a year—but complained that City Hall should focus on picking up trash. She was disarmingly funny and willing to admit mistakes—but openly weary of the close scrutiny that comes with public office. The conversation shows what will be missing if Kafoury is not on the campaign trail for the state’s highest office. She had plenty to say.

POWER WALK: Deborah Kafoury strolls through Northeast Portland with policy adviser Raffaele Timarchi.

SHE IS NOT KNOWN FOR HER CANDOR; SHE DOESN’T HUNT FOR HEADLINES AND HAS AN UNEASY RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PRESS.

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

WESLEY LAPOINTE

WW: What evidence can you provide that you’ve moved the needle on housing? Deborah Kafoury: Twelve thousand people on any given night who are sleeping with a roof over their head who would otherwise be homeless. That’s actual permanent housing. That doesn’t include the shelter system. We have families who are in shelter and then move into housing. There was not really any options for that before I came into office.

And yet a lot of people look at what they see on the streets right now and it feels like a failure. It’s very true. What is happening on the streets of our community is devastating.

What responsibility do you take for this very apparent misery? It’s a failure on all of our part as a community. I don’t know that you can point to any one individual. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just say it’s this person’s fault? It would. I don’t think it’s as easy as that. It’s really hard to expect any one community to take on something as complex as homelessness. It’s a poverty issue. It’s a housing cost issue—market forces. It’s a mental health issue. It’s substance abuse. It’s social isolation. It’s a lot of issues coming together. And look back to the middle of the ’80s, where the federal government started just walking away from this, expecting local communities to handle this issue. The pandemic has made things increasingly difficult. And, if you think about the number of calls to our crisis line from people who had never experienced a mental health crisis before in their lives, just the dramatic increase. This is why I’m not the world’s most beloved politician, because I tell the truth. I can’t not tell people the truth. And the truth is that there are all the externalities that hit us.

So which piece of the housing puzzle is your responsibility?

HOME SWEET HOME: The nonprofit Do Good Multnomah, a county partner, recently opened a tiny home village in St. Johns to ease people from the streets into housing. These photos show the inside and outside of a unit.

I say: You’re right. It’s true. And that’s why we’re opening up more shelters. [But] a shelter does not solve someone’s homelessness, not by any definition. And you can get somebody into an apartment just as easily as siting a building or renovating a shelter. I’m more committed than ever to actually ending people’s homelessness. And we’re opening up more shelters. We’re purchasing motels that are going to convert into a living arrangement. We’re expanding our behavioral health services, both for people who are sheltered and unsheltered. And you really can’t discount the budget that the county just passed: 1,300 households will be in housing by the end of this year. And another 500 shelter beds will be open, and that’s going to make a huge physical difference. We’re not going to solve the problem in this next year, but we are going to make huge strides toward that.

HENRY CROMETT

The role that I can play best is thinking through where we’re going next. And prior to the pandemic, we were on a good trajectory. We started with the Portland housing bond [that city voters approved for $259 million in 2016]. Then we had the Metro housing bond [that tricounty voters approved for $653 million in 2018.] And then, at the very beginning of the pandemic, [tricounty voters] passed the Metro supportive services measure [a tax on high-income households to raise up $250 million a year for homeless services]. Each measure builds on the last one with the goal of getting people off the streets and into housing.

The biggest point of conflict between you and other local officials is your emphasis on funding permanent housing rather than shelter beds. What do you say to somebody who looks at that person who’s sleeping on the street and says any shelter would be more humane than this?

Are you saying people a year from now will actually be able to see a difference on Portland’s streets?

“THE ROLE THAT I CAN PLAY BEST IS THINKING THROUGH WHERE WE’RE GOING NEXT. AND PRIOR TO THE PANDEMIC, WE WERE ON A GOOD TRAJECTORY.”

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

Maybe not everywhere, but yes—1,300 households is a lot of people. So there will be a visible difference. For years, you and Jordan Schnitzer argued over

whether to turn the never-used Wapato Jail into a shelter. He now essentially dunks on you in public, saying, “Deborah refused to open Wapato Jail as a shelter. I did it. It’s a huge success.” Is that true? He is telling a story that suits his fundraising. He’s trying to fund his project. I don’t agree with him. I went out and visited Wapato—uh, Bybee Lakes [Hope Center]—and it reinforced my decision not to open it as a shelter that we run. I saw a very expensive project. If the county had put as much money into that building as he has, we would have been on the front page of your newspaper.

WAPATO RESURRECTED: Bybee Lakes Hope Center in North Portland.

CHRIS NESSETH

At last count, there were 4,000 people sleeping on the streets of Multnomah County most nights. City Hall is now trying to open “safe resting sites” across Portland. Will people see a change? I don’t know enough about the size of these camps, the structure of them, to say. What would make a real visible difference that you could accomplish quickly is cleaning up the trash around town. [Editor’s note: A dozen agencies share sanitation responsibilities in Portland. Most are overseen by City Hall. None is run by the county.] Homelessness is a complex issue with a lot of factors at play. It’s not something that you can snap your fingers and solve. Picking up the trash is actually not that difficult. That’s a solvable problem. And one of the things that the city should do right now is to pick up the trash. It’s going to be expensive. It’s going to take some maneuvering with all the different bureaus involved. But it’s something that you could actually solve. It would be visible. And I think it would go a long way towards helping people feel like their concerns are being heard.

Is it immoral for the city to sweep campsites before safe rest sites open? It is important to clean up campsites, and there’s ways that you can do it that are less intrusive and less harmful. I believe that [city officials] try to do the least intrusive way possible, but you need to clean up the campsites. Sometimes there’s biohazards—it’s harmful to human health.

I find that answer a little surprising. There’s a public impression that Ted’s the sweeper and you’re the mom who cares too much. I do care. And that’s why I think you do need to clean things up. That’s why the city needs to clean up the garbage. There’s easy, low-hanging fruit, which is cleaning up the trash. And I do feel like the public needs to just be pounding on the table about that.

Are you going to sign the petition to recall Mayor Wheeler? I haven’t decided.

If he’s recalled, would you consider running for mayor? I think being the mayor is a really untenable job right now. I want someone really, really good to do it, if he does get recalled. I tried to get Tina [Kotek] to run for mayor.

Isn’t Tina Kotek running for governor? I have heard.

Does that influence your decision to run for governor? Sure. Anybody who gets into the race influences decisions. Kudos to people who have jumped in already.

Have you ruled out a run for governor at this time? I haven’t. I have not had five minutes to think about anything.

GARBAGE COMPACT: Kafoury says picking up trash shouldn’t flummox City Hall.

I DO CARE. AND THAT’S WHY I THINK YOU DO NEED TO CLEAN THINGS UP. THAT’S WHY THE CITY NEEDS TO CLEAN UP THE GARBAGE. THERE’S EASY, LOW-HANGING FRUIT, WHICH IS CLEANING UP THE TRASH. AND I DO FEEL LIKE THE PUBLIC NEEDS TO JUST BE POUNDING ON THE TABLE ABOUT THAT.

SWEEP LOOMING: Campers at Laurelhurst Park received a city eviction notice on July 26.

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

WESLEY LAPOINTE

What did you make of New York Times columnist Nick Kristof weighing a run? Politically, it’s a smart move if he does, because there’s a large anti-incumbency sentiment and people feel like their leaders have let them down in many ways. But it has always bothered me that people talk about “we’ve got to run our government like a business” or “anybody could have that job.” I don’t think anybody can have these jobs. I think it’s really hard. And it has gotten harder. No offense to journalists—wonderful, intelligent people who have that inch-deep, milewide knowledge of everything—I don’t know that is the best preparation for being the governor.

How is your relationship with the mayor? There’s well-known tension between the two of you. How could it be improved? If he would do what I would say more often? Just ask my husband: If you just do what I say, things go a lot more smoothly.

You did just tell us that you were at least considering signing the recall petition.

What’s your assessment of how Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt is doing? I think he is in a tough position. Like everyone, he early on had a stumble: leading with “I’m not going to prosecute people.” The way it was framed I don’t think made him look good in the public. Since then, I think he’s taken very seriously prosecuting people who’ve broken the law. And he’s said the police need to arrest people with an actual rationale that will allow him to prosecute them if they’re breaking the law. And arson is one of them.

Oh, you should ask my children about our evening dinner conversations. Stressful. I think the best thing for our marriage was him leaving the governor’s office [laughs]. I don’t know if we would have made it through.

While we’re on the topic: What’s the hardest decision you had to make during the pandemic? Probably shutting down the county. We were going to be potentially destroying people’s lives. That weighed really heavily on us. But we were doing it to save people’s lives. I mean, it did destroy people’s lives.

Do you lose sleep over that? Oh, I haven’t slept. It was kind of like having a newborn. I don’t sleep.

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

HERE FOR PORTLAND: Ted Wheeler and Deborah Kafoury have a frosty relationship.

Given the crucial role that libraries play for low-income people and people of color, why are they still closed? I really thought we would be still in some form of shutdown through the fall. If I could go back in time, I would have pushed things to be open more quickly. There is a real struggle with getting people back into an office work environment, especially if you have kids. We did try to balance our employees’ needs with the community’s needs.

Let’s talk about the heat. What calls did you make in the first 48 hours as you realized how dangerous this would be?

SIGN HERE: Total Recall PDX doesn’t have Kafoury’s backing. AARON WESSLING

You disagreed with Gov. Kate Brown at several junctures in the pandemic, including wanting her to shut down the state more rapidly. That had to be awkward: Your husband, Nik Blosser, was Gov. Brown’s chief of staff. What’s that like?

But does it weigh on you? The emails and phone calls that I have received—what people are going through and what people have been through—it is just devastating. But if you look at Oregon’s COVID rates compared to any other state in the country, we did really well. We saved a lot of people’s lives.

SUZETTE SMITH

I was joking. I’m not going to sign that. We just had the election. People had the chance to vote against him if they wanted to. It is like kicking a dog when he’s down. If I believed that I could make it better by publicly criticizing him, I would totally do it. [Editor’s note: Kafoury was notably scathing in her reaction to Wheeler’s strategy for removing homeless camps from downtown sidewalks this spring.] I have publicly criticized him, and he hasn’t changed his direction. And I don’t think he’s going to. I don’t think there’s anything I can do or say that’s going to change his mind or make him do things better or different. I’ve tried it.

It was déjà vu from the pandemic—learning about all the soccer matches and outdoor events that were going to be occurring that weekend. And trying to figure out who was going to call which team. I called the Timbers. They agreed to push off the start time to be later in the evening. We called through our caseloads—the people who are in aging disability [care], hundreds of thousands of calls.

Do you look back on that weekend and wish you’d done something differently? There’s a lot of things. I don’t know if “differently” is the right word, or if there’s just other, additional things that we could have done. I don’t know that anybody except maybe the doctors understood really what it was going to be like to live through 117 degrees for three days. Having an alert system, like an earthquake alert. That’s just something that didn’t cross our minds, but I’m darn sure going to do it next time.

LONG YEAR: Kafoury lost sleep over shutting down the county as a pandemic descended.

CHRIS NESSETH

BRIAN BURK

Vitals: Deborah Kafoury AGE: 53 EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in English, Whitman College. “I thought that I would become a journalist,” she told her alumni magazine in 2019. MOTHER: Gretchen Kafoury, a former state representative, Multnomah County commissioner and Portland city commissioner. She died in 2015. “I do wish I could talk with her,” Kafoury says, “especially at the height of the pandemic.” FATHER: Stephen Kafoury, a former state lawmaker and Portland School Board member. OTHER FAMILY: Greg Kafoury, uncle, and Jason Kafoury, cousin; both prominent trial lawyers. OVERHEATING: People tried to stay cool on the streets of Portland last month as the temperature neared 117 degrees.

So next time, there’ll be a push notification. Yeah.

Are there things you wish another jurisdiction had done? TriMet should have had a real clear message: We will have free fares. I don’t know what the threshold is—whether it’s 105 or 100 or 110 or whatever, but there should be no person who’s scared to get on or nervous about getting on a bus and not understanding that they can get on a bus and ride as long as they want.

What do you make of the fact that the governor is so very unpopular at this point? Well, from what I hear, all politicians are pretty unpopular right now. It’s a tough time to be in elected office. It’s been a rough year and people are unhappy. And if you’re the top person in the state, it’s going to be you.

When you see an Instagram account called “Portland Looks Like Shit”—photographs and video of people in mental crisis with the caption “This is what elected officials did”—does that bug you at all? It’s frustrating. It’s sad to me to think that people are just so done that they would rather pick everybody up who’s living on the streets and ship them off to Burns than spend the necessary time and energy. We have the money to get them into actual housing and address their needs.

Well, a lot of people think it can’t be done. I think we have to do it.

HUSBAND: Nik Blosser, chairman of the Sokol Blosser winery, former chief of staff to Gov. Kate Brown, and chief of staff to the Office of Cabinet Affairs under President Joe Biden. HER JOBS BEFORE MULTNOMAH COUNTY CHAIR: Aide to U.S. Rep. Les AuCoin, political consultant, lobbyist, Oregon House minority leader (the youngest woman to serve in that role), and Multnomah County commissioner. ACHIEVEMENTS AT MULTNOMAH COUNTY: Oversaw replacement of the Sellwood Bridge; led construction of the new, $324 million Multnomah County Courthouse; and founded the Joint Office of Homeless Services, which unites city and county programs. “I love the infrastructure projects because they have a beginning, a middle and an end,” she says. “Unlike poverty or racism, you can actually finish something.” SECRET TALENT: “I can make a martini. That is my specialty, FYI.” AARON MESH and RACHEL MONAHAN.

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

STREET WELCOME BACK TO PORTLAND, PORTLAND Portland’s reopening weekend welcomed visitors back to the heart of downtown for a free Pink Martini concert in Pioneer Courthouse Square and the grand opening of the Cart Blocks food cart pod at Southwest Ankeny Street and Park Avenue. Photos by Chris Nesseth On Instagram: @chrisnesseth

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

STARTERS

THE MOST IMPORTANT PORTLAND CULTURE STORIES OF THE WEEK—GRAPHED. ALEX WITTWER

COURTESY OF BLUE OX

RIDICULOUS

R E A D M O R E A B O U T TH E S E STO R I E S AT WW E E K .CO M .

A 3-foot, 100-pound opah, also known as a moonfish, washes up on the Oregon Coast. CO U R T E SY O F T H E C A M A S P O L I C E D E PA R T M E N T

A second (!) ax-throwing bar, Blue Ox, opens in Oregon City. It would have been the third ax-throwing bar, but one of the city’s ax-throwing bars closed.

Camas police find eight large snakes abandoned in Lacamas Park on the other side of the Columbia River.

Some of the food carts displaced by construction of the Ritz-Carlton hotel reopen in Portland’s new “Cart Blocks” pod.

AWFUL

MORGAN GREEN HOPKINS

ANOTHER BELIEVER / WIKI COMMONS

AWESOME

WW Arts & Culture editor Suzette Smith changed her social media bio to reflect her new position weeks ago. Now her watch begins.

Within the past five years, the price of Oregon Christmas trees nearly doubles, likely due to hotter summers. J U S T I N K AT I G B A K

Portland beer bar N.W.I.P.A. changes its name to Northwest IPA after an outcry about cultural appropriation.

Employees at several Portland eateries complain to OSHA about dangerous workplace temperatures during the recent heat wave. BRIAN BURK

SUZETTE SMITH

After a George Floyd mural in Northeast Portland is vandalized with white nationalist graffiti, dozens of SERIOUS volunteers show up to help clean it. 18

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GET BUSY

STUFF TO DO IN PORTLAND THIS WEEK, INDOORS AND OUT.

= IN PERSON = VIRTUAL EVENT

Chuck Wendig in Conversation with Cassandra Khaw Bestselling author of Star Wars: Aftermath and Wanderers, Chuck Wendig has another gripping, smart work of literary horror for you to gobble down. The Book of Accidents has enough family secrets, forgotten trauma, and haunted family history to make you want to stay away, but Wendig’s prose just won’t let you go. He’s also a little more fun to watch onstage than most authors. Wendig will be joined by game writer and author Cassandra Khaw. Register for the Zoom event at powells.com. 5 pm Thursday, July 29. Free.

Minority Retort Presents: Neel Nanda This long-standing showcase with a focus on comedians of color is also, hands down, one of the best curated comedy showcases in the city. Neel Nanda’s strange thought trajectories about dating, roommates and beatboxing are great examples of what Minority Retort brings on the regular. Will there be a piano so he can do “Piano Jokes”? The crowd is hungry for it. Carlos Windham and Anthony Robinson also appear. Jason Lamb and Julia Ramos host. Siren Theater, 315 NW Davis St, sirentheater.com. 8 pm Friday, July 30. $25.

DRECKIG

Nicole Byer Sketch and standup comedian Nicole Byer held us all together this past year with her amazing sex and relationships podcast Why Won’t You Date Me? riffing on everything from polyamory to butt stuff to grown-up breakups. She’s an Upright Citizens Brigade alum and has worked on shows like Girl Code. You’ve most recently obsessed over her endless one-liners on Netflix’s Nailed It! or the gift basket of character voices she performs on Cartoon Network’s Tuca & Bertie. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 10th Ave., portland.heliumcomedy.com. 7:15 pm Thursday, 7 and 9:30 pm FridaySaturday, July 29-31. $25. 21+.

Dreckig and Yawa Dreckig and Yawa are two very idiosyncratic Portland bands that really know how to put on a show. Formed by two Portland scene stalwarts, Dreckig performs their krautrock cumbia wearing metallic hooded capes, like some kind of flute-solo space wizards. There’s a certain alchemy to Yawa’s stage presence, too. The singer and loop-pedal virtuoso blends hip-hop-influenced beats with swirling electronica that’s equally trance-inducing and danceable. Kelly’s Olympian, 426 SW Washington St., kellysolypian.com. 9 pm Friday, July 30. $8 advance, $10 at the door. 21+.

COURTESY OF BRIAN BROSE

Lots of Laughs: Bri Pruett Bri Pruett’s Blazers huddle joke is borderline immortal in terms of how many times you can hear it and somehow find it’s still funny and fresh as a daisy. Her 2016 one-woman show Stellar bordered on a serious piece of art—in addition to just making the audience laugh and cry all over their soft, sweet hearts. Pruett is one of many talented Portland-area original comics making her way back home to visit as society continues to cautiously open up. The Lots of Laughs venue is well ventilated—it’s the Helium parking lot. Helium Comedy Club,1510 SE 9th Ave. 5 pm Sunday, July 31. $15. Bring your own chair, or sit on the pavement like a serf.

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

LETTERBOXD

Lorelei Oregon’s landscape is said to be its own character in this locally shot film, so it’s fitting that Lorelei will get to debut in a movie theater, allowing audiences to soak in the state’s natural beauty on the big screen. A backdrop of mist-shrouded forests sets the tone for a fable about second chances in which Wayland (Pablo Schreiber) reconnects with his high school girlfriend Dolores (Jena Malone) after being released from prison for armed robbery. With Dolores now a single mother of three—all named after shades of blue—Wayland finds himself in the role of reluctant father figure not long after they reunite. Regret and missed opportunities weigh on both of them, but that ultimately gives way to a renewed sense of hope. Catch one of the two evening screenings at Living Room for a Q&A session with first-time director Sabrina Doyle. Living Room, 341 SW 10th Ave., pdx.livingroomtheaters.com. 7:15 and 9:25 pm Friday, July 30. $13.75.

Putney Swope (1969) Written and directed by the late Robert Downey Sr., this satirical comedy follows Putney Swope (Arnold Johnson), the only Black executive at an advertising agency. After he’s accidentally voted the new chairman of the board, Putney quickly finds success in his new role by completely overhauling the company, leading the uptight U.S. government to consider him a threat. Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-493-1128, hollywoodtheatre.org. 7:30 pm Tuesday, Aug. 3. $8-$10.

FOOD & DRINK

FEATURE CHRISTINE DONG

Cuban Comfort Valerie Espinoza’s vegan kitchen Miami Nice doesn’t taste vegan but does taste very Miami. BY SU ZET T E SMIT H

EAT:

Miami Nice, 2117 NE Oregon St., 818-200-5571, miaminicepdx.com. Noon-9 pm Wednesday-Sunday.

suzette@wweek.com

At Miami Nice, you may not immediately realize you’re eating vegan. The croquettas are fried up tightly, and the Cubanito is neatly pressed. If you don’t pay attention to the quotation marks around the ham, would you notice? That’s exactly how Valerie Espinoza wants it. “Honestly, that’s the thing that makes me happiest,” Espinoza says. “When someone is, like, a vehement carnivore and they enjoy some Miami Nice without noticing it’s not meat.” While many people like to argue food preferences with family or friends, it’s hard to imagine customers being taken off guard, but Espinoza relates that people aren’t always hip to what “plant-based” means. Sometimes they’re just there for some good Cuban food. Much of her cooking came from looking for Miami flavor profiles in Portland—even in L.A., before that—and coming up empty-handed. Like with her Big Papi: a fried ball of mashed potato filled with picadillo. She had picadillo in other places, but they never made it the Miami way. “Picadillo is ground meat stewed with tomatoes and sofritas: onions, garlic, bell pepper, etc. A lot of people put raisins in it,” Espinoza explains. “But in Miami you don’t do that. You use green olives.” Espinoza wasn’t vegan when she lived in Miami, so many of Miami Nice’s menu items are versions of street food she loved—with a vegan twist. The chop salad Espinoza used to eat back in Florida, for example, was a whole bowl-esque salad with saffron rice on the bottom, iceberg lettuce in the middle, and chicken on top. Espinoza’s approach uses marinated grilled soy curls, but the rest is as close to her memory as she can get. The dish’s bright yellow sauce draws stares; it’s a mixture of curry, mustard and mayonnaise she worked on to get just right.

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

BRIAN BROSE

“It’s not healthy, but it’s so good!” she says. Miami Nice is comfort food, not health food, though Espinoza makes her own seitan, soy curls and other imitation meats, which gives her more control over what goes into them. “We don’t use any sugar in our jackfruit,” she says. “It’s just citruses and spices.” The starchy food works well to stave off the high ABV in beers at Culmination Brewing, where Espinoza runs the kitchen. The setup could look like a pop-up, but after a few rotations of very bad new-business luck and very good new-business luck, Espinoza is simply running her business out of Culmintion’s kitchen and selling her food to its customers. It’s perhaps an unconventional relationship, but collaborations like these are helping them both weather their pandemic losses. After operating a brick-and-mortar takeout spot on East Burnside for most of COVID, Espinoza moved back into Culmination Brewing—where she’d previously worked and run a pop-up—in May. Miami Nice is there to stay, but Espinoza already has another venture in the works with Thuy Pham of Mama Dut: a collaborative bar, now in its build-out phase on Northeast Alberta. “I’m pretty adaptable. Wherever I see a spot, I throw myself into it and I’m like ‘Here I am.’” TOP 5

BUZZ LIST

Where to drink this week.

1. White Own Social Club

1305 SE 8th Ave., whiteowlsocialclub.com. 4 pm-2:30 am Monday-Friday, noon-2:30 am Saturday-Sunday. A place with a patio like White Owl’s never really needed DJs. The whole purpose of its sprawling, picnic table-dotted deck was that you could bring a large group, which is vital in a town where a party over four often runs into trouble. A recent renovation has given the space a light tiki vibe, and La Tehuana’s carnitas elevate what was already a good patio into a solid dinner spot. The cocktails are slightly out of step with the food—there’s not as much tequila as one would expect. But the margarita slushy flows out from its churning cylinder, strong and true.

THE 305 BOWL

2. Bar Bar

3943 N Mississippi Ave., 503-889-0090, mississippistudios.com. Noon-11 pm daily. Mississippi Studios is back! As it builds its show roster up to its full might, you can still catch a few nights on a reasonable Bar Bar patio, with its reasonable less-contact drink ordering system that makes drink and burger gluttony so easy. You can also order at the bar now and Bar Bar’s tap list is consistently above average. The entire setup is frictionless and reliable.

TOP 5

HOT PLATES Where to eat this week.

1. Ice Queen THE CUBANITO

1223 SE Stark St., icequeenyouscream.com. 11 am-7 pm Friday-Saturday, 11 am-6 pm Sunday. You need only to scroll through Ice Queen’s Instagram feed to understand why there’s always a line outside the Stark Street vegan popsicle stand—you’d be hard-pressed to find cuter frozen treats in Portland, vegan or otherwise. Each popsicle looks so joyful they could gain a following on appearance alone: The pastel-hued She’s in Parties is dotted with sprinkles and contains a hidden slice of birthday cake, and the lip-puckering Lime All Yours comes with a tiny bottle of Tajín chile flakes.

2. Flying Fish Co.

3004 E Burnside St., 971-806-6747, flyingfishportland.com. Fish sandwiches put Flying Fish Company on our radar. Now we’re back for its tuna nicoise. At $19, it’s packed with quality ingredients that make the price tag worth it. An ample layer of local Mizuna Gardens wild greens make up the base, upon which Flying Fish places tender poached Oregon Coast albacore, Moroccan black olives, blanched and halved green beans, the softest of boiled eggs, baby Yukon golds, with radish, pickled red onion, basil and red wine vinaigrette. When you’re done, you can almost feel the vitamins, fiber and fish oil hit your bloodstream.

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

3. Good Luck Charm

203 SE Grand Ave., facebook.com/goodluckcharmpdx. 4 pm-2:30 am Tuesday-Thursday, 4-10 pm Friday-Monday. Formerly the Elvis Room, formerly East End, Good Luck Charm is the same old bar under a new name, with all the same Elvis Room stuff on the walls—including that enormous, mesmerizing painting of a bored-looking, long-hair cat. New menu, new drinks, who dis? Good Luck Charm’s basement has a powerful chill and a secondary, subterranean bar that opens on weekends or “when it gets busy.”

4. Life of Riley

300 NW 10th Ave., lifeofrileyportland.com. 3-11 pm Monday-Thursday, noon-midnight Friday-Saturday, noon-11 pm Sunday. This downtown pub has its sports bar moments, but if you’re in search of a quiet spot, it’s generally on the tamer side of championship revelry. Plus, it has a welcoming basement full of dark wood furniture, pool tables, and a cucumber gin and tonic that will really make you think about ordering quite a few gin and tonics.

5. Parts & Service

2940 NE Alberta St., partsandservicepdx.com. 3 pm-11 am Monday-Friday, 11 am-11 pm Saturday-Sunday. Presumably, what brings someone to Parts & Service is a love of motorcycles, which form both the theme and décor. But one need not know about choppers or hogs to fit in. This is a friendly biker bar. If it’s not the bikes bringing you in, it must be the smoked brisket. The bar’s chef, Sage Houser, used to work the smoker at Portland’s nationally recognized Texas barbecue cart, Matt’s BBQ. That means Parts & Service could be your secret meat connection for the times when Matt’s line stretches for blocks down North Mississippi.

3. Cooperativa

1250 NW 9th Ave., 971-275-2762, cooperativapdx.com. 7 am-8 pm Tuesday-Saturday.

Cooperativa has a lot of what you need in a beautiful, air-conditioned environment—it’s a grocery store, a coffee shop, an ice cream place, a sandwich shop, a bar, a restaurant and a pizzeria, infused with the vibe and flavors of Bologna, Florence, Rome and the Italian “slow food” movement. Never go outside again!

4. Garden Monsters

Multiple locations, gardenmonsters.net. The Garden Monsters classic take on a Cobb salad has it all: romaine lettuce, Roma tomatoes, black olives, blue cheese crumbles, free-range chopped egg and croutons, topped with a tangy avocado ranch dressing. You can add bacon or grilled tofu, but the balance of carbs, protein and fats already in this bowl means they’re not necessary. Get it delivered or pick it up at one of Garden Monsters’ three carts—on Southeast Division or Northeast Alberta or in the BG Food Cartel in Beaverton— and know that you have a power lunch on your hands.

5. Piggins

1239 SW Broadway, 503-222-9070, higginsportland.com. 11:30 am-8 pm daily. Piggins is the parkside pop-up patio reimagining of Higgins, a Portland dining landmark since 1994. The menu is effectively a greatest-hits package of some of the restaurant’s most beloved dishes—served from a food cart kitchen on the grounds of the Oregon Historical Society—with no big chances taken, no vast departures accorded. That’s a good thing, because it means you can get the Higgins Salad and the city’s best charcuterie plate. Even better, you can peruse Higgins’ famed bottled-beer list or select a wine from its well-curated cellar. A nice riesling lunch? Hey, you’ve earned it!

FOOD & DRINK CHRISTINE DONG

BAR REVIEW

HEDGE LIFE: Jackie’s green plastic hedges buffer sound from nearby Northeast Sandy.

Sports Fans, Bring Your Boyfriends to Jackie’s

UNIQUE EATS: A spread of modern spins on old standards—basil and goat cheese hush puppies, swordfish tacos, watermelon salad and birria brisket nachos.

The former Century Bar spot has cracked the code on sports, food and club life. BY AN D R E W JA N KOWS K I

It’s easy to mistake Jackie’s—the new foodie and sportie bar on Northeast Sandy—for its predecessor Century Bar, all dolled up with a new paint job and potted plants. Familiar Century Bar traits are present: the rooftop patio, the hardwood bleacher auditorium, and the blocklong line at the entrance. But Jackie’s guests aren’t the only ones who have leveled up their glam. As the newest link in the Central Eastside club circuit, Jackie’s brings enough polish for a cocktail lounge, but also enough comfort for real-life, actual sports fans. WW waited nearly an hour with Old Town tastemakers, bougie baddies, and luxe-industry workers on Jackie’s second weekend open, and we weren’t disappointed. Jackie’s exterior is outfitted with walls of green plastic hedge visible from the street, but the rooftop patio was closed for a private event on our nighttime visit. For the view and open air, those are your best seats when you can snag them. Though the entryway is packed with tropical plants, it’s not overcrowded. The courtyard is even more spacious, with hanging egg chairs interspaced with regular tables and seating—and a triangular counter seat that encloses a fire pit. The DJ on the decks pulled from catalogs that include Frank Ocean, SZA and disgraced singer R. Kelly, creating an upbeat—if occasionally sobering—mix better for vibing than dancing. Jackie’s indoor bar is its largest and

was also its least busy, even with the added allure of air conditioning. Century Bar’s old frosé machine didn’t make a comeback, but Jackie’s offerings fit the space’s legacy of modern spins on old standards. The kitchen’s snacks run the route of healthful and unique, with items like basil and goat cheese hush puppies, swordfish tacos, and watermelon salad. The weekend brunch bacon burger with a fried duck egg is utterly coma-inducing, and though the general consensus is that the avocado toast is the sole thing keeping you from homeownership, even your stern, sports-loving daddy would understand. Squads and booze-tolerant couples can spring for five-drink cocktail pitchers or splurge on a list of wine magnums starting at $90 and closing at $1,200 a bottle. Cocktail pitchers are technically the better deal per glass, but the signature house drinks are easy to switch between and worth the range. The gorgeous watermelon-hibiscus-lime agua fresca margarita was our favorite. We awarded the silver medal to the confectionary halva mule—the fruity, slightly bitter (and therefore gay icon) Ms. Pittman made due with the bronze. The club vibe on Jackie’s deck works for the summer, especially after more than a year indoors. It’s still a fool’s game to project how fall and winter will go, but if Jackie’s brings back a roster of nonsports events, like charity drag bingo and arthouse film screenings, it will carry on the building’s traditional work: expanding what a sports bar can be.

JACKIE’S BRINGS ENOUGH POLISH FOR A COCKTAIL LOUNGE, BUT ALSO ENOUGH COMFORT FOR REAL-LIFE, ACTUAL SPORTS FANS.

SWINGERS: The patio has hanging egg chairs interspaced with regular tables and seating.

DRINK: Jackie’s, 930 SE Sandy Blvd., jackiespdx.com. 4 pm-midnight Monday-Friday, 11 am-1 am Saturday, 11 am-midnight Sunday. Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

Need something to do? Got a special event to share? Check out

wweek.com/calendar to find out what’s happening around town.

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

PERFORMANCE

Editor: Andi Prewitt | Contact: aprewitt@wweek.com T R AV I S N O D U R F T

MUSIC Written by: Daniel Bromfield | @bromf3

Now Hear This

Listening recommendations from the past, present, Portland and the periphery. SOMETHING OLD

POPPIN’ OFF: Mark Schwahn (left) and Tom Walton play the 20 eccentric townsfolk of Popcorn Falls in Clackamas Rep’s latest production.

Popping With Laughter Popcorn Falls is a wonderfully warm and goofy satire of small-town life. BY BE N N E T T C A M P B E LL FERGUS O N

It is a dark time for Popcorn Falls. The town’s famous waterfall has dried up, a destructive squirrel is plaguing the local government, and the diabolical Mr. Doyle (Mark Schwahn) has announced plans to demolish downtown and replace it with a sewage treatment plant. Enter Mayor Ted Trundle (Tom Walton), a defiant optimist who believes he can save Popcorn Falls by putting on a play. He may not have any theatrical experience—he refers to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as Jacob and His Exciting Multicolor Raincoat—but he has heart, passion and, most importantly, a willingness to make a fool of himself. That’s the premise of James Hindman’s Popcorn Falls, currently being performed by Clackamas Repertory Theatre. It’s a satire, but there’s sweetness in its silliness. Popcorn Falls may joke about everything from gerrymandering to Diet Coke, but above all, it is a play about and for people who love theater—and anyone else in dire need of some belly-convulsing laughs. Popcorn Falls, directed by David Smith-English, was published a year after the election of President Donald Trump, but despite its fascination with political tomfoolery, it isn’t overshadowed by the era’s misery. The play prefers to revel in Ted’s crazed struggle to save Popcorn Falls from Mr. Doyle, who despises the town so intensely he’s willing to redraw its boundaries to eliminate its existence. Ted’s only hope is to use funds earmarked for a never-built theater to resuscitate Popcorn Falls’ moribund economy. It’s a long shot made even longer by Ted’s cast and crew of eccentrics, including a cat-loving librarian, a rabid Fred Astaire fan, and an executive custodian named Joe who has two sets of twins and another on the way. While Hindman is a nimble comedy writer, the best reason to see Popcorn Falls is the splendid spectacle of Walton and Schwahn embodying every single character in the play. With grace and glee, they simultaneously antagonize and romance each other, forging a combustible bond that recalls the witty verbal foreplay between Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot.

The peak of Walton and Schwahn’s collaboration is a scene where Ted tries to persuade the librarian, Ms. Parker (Schwahn), to join his play. In a feat of miraculous anthropomorphizing, Schwahn passes off a crumpled-up sweater as a cat named Mr. Cuddles, who uses his tail to terrorize Ted in a duet of action and reaction so perfectly timed that, like everything else in the play, it feels both meticulously planned and triumphantly out of control. There are plenty of opportunities to laugh at and with the townspeople, who like to be referred to as “kernels.” Yet like all great comedies, the play is secretly a drama. Starting a theater isn’t just a scheme to rescue Popcorn Falls from oblivion—it’s a way for Ted to cope with the trauma of his divorce and his struggle with alcoholism. Saving the town is a way to save himself. Ted also finds hope in his burgeoning relationship with Becky, a bartender who used to date Joe. Infuriated by his friend’s interest in his former lover, Joe lashes out, inspiring Ted to lash back. “You’re scared and full of regret and looking for someone to blame,” Ted tells him. “Well, join the club.” It’s one of several serious moments in the play, and Walton and Schwahn give it the sincerity it deserves— which is all the more moving because it emerges in a production packed with exquisite gags. As Ted and his collaborators develop their play, delightfully insane ideas emerge, like telling the story of a kitten who narrowly escapes being ground up into dog food. As theatrical visionaries, the characters are entertainingly incompetent, but Ted’s enthusiasm is real, especially when he jubilantly exclaims, “Joe! We’re going to put on a play!” Ted’s theatrical instincts may be questionable, but there’s no doubting the talents of Walton and Schwahn. They don’t just act in the play—they revel in it. Popcorn Falls may be a made-up place, but for 90 minutes, the escapism that it offers is blissfully real. SEE IT: Popcorn Falls plays at Clackamas Community College’s Hakanson Amphitheater, 19600 Molalla Ave., Oregon City, 503-594-6047, clackamasrep.org. 7 pm Thursday-Sunday, through Aug. 15. $30.

Vashti Bunyan was already synonymous with hushed, psychedelic folk when she released her best album, 2014’s Heartleap, at age 69. Only her third album in 44 years and her first to be self-produced, Heartleap represents the cult figure’s final form so far (though she’s hinted it’ll be her last). It’s the kind of album that spreads roots and tendrils into any room where it’s being played; put it on speakers and you can practically see the walls turn to trees before your eyes. SOMETHING NEW In 1982, Alice Coltrane released Turiya Sings, a stunning album of devotional music that remains extremely hard to find. In the meantime, here’s Kirtan: Turiya Sings, an album of demos recorded with just voice and a Wurlitzer organ. Some fans’ feathers were ruffled by the news that this album would be released rather than the original, but it’s nearly as good—swapping the string-soaked rapture of the original for a solemn, meditative reverie. SOMETHING LOCAL The title of the Shivas’ upcoming album, Feels So Good // Feels So Bad (Sept. 24) sums up the dilemma of psych-pop revivalism: embrace wondrous rapture or examine the ego-destroying depths of a bad trip? The first single, “If I Could Choose,” makes it clear that the long-running local band doesn’t have to choose. The harmonies would make the “Happy Together” Turtles blush, but the unsettling guitar doesn’t shy away from the woollier implications of the ’60s. SOMETHING ASKEW The experimental music community felt a devastating loss with the death of Peter Rehberg on July 22. As founder of the Mego (later Editions Mego) label, the British Austrian helped avant-electronic classics like Fennesz’s Endless Summer and Kevin Drumm’s Sheer Hellish Miasma reach sympathetic ears around the world. But his own work as Pita is nothing to scoff at, not least 2016’s Get In, the title of which promises as wild a ride as it delivers.

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

POTLANDER

Tiptoe Through the Tinctures

OIL-BASED TINCTURES

WATER-SOLUBLE TINCTURES

“Everyone’s digestion affects how edibles are going to affect them, “ says Vasquez. “It’s really going to be different for everybody.” Edibles hit the bloodstream with a megadose of 11-hydroxy-THC, which is what happens when delta-9 THC becomes metabolized in the liver. Smoking, vaping and dosing sublingually (under the tongue!) all get the lion’s share of their effects from delta-9 THC, meaning they each produce lesser amounts of 11-hydroxy-THC. This is why a tincture taken sublingually will have effects similar to smoking but, when added to a dish, will cause more pronounced and long-lasting effects. For users more fascinated by an edible high than a sublingual or inhalation high, the key, Vasquez says, is to “just eat what you eat.” Build up your own personalized dietary dosing repertoire by dribbling micro-doses of these mild, unflavored tinctures on your everyday foods, and before you know it, you’ll have found your most effective dose. Where you go from there is up to you.

“Oil-based or even glycerin-based tinctures won’t evenly disperse [in beverages],” Vasquez says. “But alcohol-based or water-soluble tinctures work great in drinks.” “If it’s not water soluble, it’ll kind of float on the top and not be as great of an experience because you don’t get even dispersal,” Vasquez continues. Oily residues can result in uneven dosing, especially when two people are sharing a single item—like a canna-soda with infused oil. An oil float might deliver all the cannabinoids in the first few (oily) sips. Dosing your own libations with a water-soluble tincture ensures not only well-blended cannabinoids, but also a personalized dose. Keeping that in mind, here are a few water-soluble tinctures that will not only disappear into your potables, but will also be absorbed into your cheek flesh with zero fanfare.

(Good for Medicating Food)

ALI LIMON

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Cooked With Cannabis winner Liv Vasquez explains different uses for oil-, alcohol- and glycerinbased and water-soluble cannabis tinctures. // BY BRIA N N A W H E E L E R

For even the most committed blunt blowers among us, there are tons of reasons to keep a few cannabis tinctures in your stash box. An example: When summertime temps hit triple digits, dribbling a chai-flavored tincture on a cool slice of watermelon can feel like a new level of refreshment. Or for stoners who’ve aged out of chest-loosening wake-andbake sessions, maybe medicating breakfast is an attractive alternative. And introducing an arthritic oldster to canna-therapy is arguably easier to do with tea than with gravity bongs. But more than that, tinctures give users the ability to control doses far better than they could with manufactured edibles, vapes or even flower. That control, as well as the ease of application, is integral to tincture use. Curious as to how we could better build a more, ahem, lubricated stash box, we talked to cannabis chef, consultant and Cooked With Cannabis winner Liv Vasquez about using tinctures to medicate our food, bevs and, when applicable, even the tenderest parts of our bodies.

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

Danodan Hempworks

This simple formulation contains only full-spectrum CO2 extract and MCT coconut oil. It’s a flavorless oil that leaves only the faintest suggestion of a grassy aftertaste. The mouthfeel is feather light and is absorbed quickly into dishes both mild and flavorful. Taken sublingually, this tincture’s high arrives with a swell of edible intensity but is manageably mild (relative to your dose). I recommend a drizzle over your oatmeal or straight into your hoagie, keeping in mind that a dropperful goes a long way.

Danodan’s full-spectrum CBD line features both functional herb blends and straightforward CBD tinctures, all of which are organic and water soluble. For users looking to boost their daily wellness routine with a deliberate blend of botanical extractions, the Danodan functional line features CBD products formulated with complementary plants that promote either health, calm or energy. For those just looking to spike their morning iced coffee with the perfect dose of CBD, Danodan’s evanescent basic tinctures are available in three potencies, ensuring accurate dosing and zero oil floats. Bonus: The pump-action bottles make dosing feel like a barista flex.

Get it from: Pur Roots, 5816 NE Portland Highway, 971-865-5176.

Get it from: New Seasons Concordia, 5320 NE 33rd Ave., 503-288-3838, newseasonsmarket.com.

Hapy Kitchen Chemdawg Tincture

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(Good for Medicating Beverages)

TJ’s Gardens Hybrid Tincture

Siskiyou Sungrown THC Tincture

Another flavorless tincture that works well as both a sublingual and a means to medicate small dishes is TJ’s. This MCT oil-based tincture is made with organic alcohol-extracted cannabinoids from TJ’s own flower blends. It absorbs quickly when taken under the tongue, leaving behind only a mild botanical aftertaste. For users with less investment in strain specificity or catalogs of cultivars, TJ’s is a reliable introduction to both sublingual tinctures and an easy way to DIY your at home edibles. Like other tinctures, the key to success with TJ’s is to start slow and low and build up your optimal dose as your body acquaints itself with the tincture’s effects.

Siskiyou Sungrown’s contribution to the water-soluble tincture game is a THC-rich formulation produced from the farm’s higher-THC strains that also contain a small amount of CBD, providing a relatively complex cannabinoid profile. The therapeutic energy of this tincture is in line with the rest of Siskiyou’s products— generally health and wellness focused. That said, this alcohol-based tincture is not for the faint of mouth. The doses are so potent that sublingual use is not advised without dilution. A squirt in your morning glass of choco-milk, however, will likely go down smooth. Just remember to mix well for even dispersal.

Get it from: The Canna Shoppe, 6316 NE Halsey St., 503-660-5209, the-canna-shoppe.business.site.

Get it from: Gnome Grown, 5012 NE 28th Ave., 971-346-2098, gnomegrownorganics.com.

Luminous Botanicals Universal Cannabis Tonic

Adabinol

For a more herbaceous mouthfeel, users might opt for Luminous Botanicals Universal Cannabis Tonic, an almond oil-based tincture that, in addition to being an edible, can be used as a sensual lubricant. The bright, floral flavors of this tincture may limit what dishes it can be successfully integrated into, but that same complexity also lends well to thoughtfully constructed plates that keep the tincture’s singularly fragrant flavor profile in mind. Pro tip: The subtle sweetness of this tincture lends well to dessert dishes.

If cravings for candy-sweet confections are dictating your tincture-shopping experience, maybe start with this live resin-infused syrup. It mixes well with beverages and can be sipped without an alcohol burn or grassy smack. For users who want nothing more than to level up their SodaStream game with some recreational wet bar-ready cannabinoids, Adabinol delivers familiar soda-pop flavors with a less than therapeutic predisposition. But keep in mind, sweet treats aren’t for everyone. “If you don’t normally eat sugar, you’re on a restrictive diet or you have food allergies, don’t eat something that your body is going to have a reaction to,” advises Vasquez.

Get it from: Serra, 220 SW 1st Ave., 971-279-5613, shopserra.com.

Get it from: Bridge City Collective, 215 SE Grand Ave., 503-477-9532, bridgecitycollective.com.

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

GET YO UR REPS I N

The Seventh Seal (1957) One of Ingmar Bergman’s many masterpieces, this historical fantasy follows disillusioned knight Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) as he faces a crisis of faith during the Black Death plague. An encounter with the personification of Death leads to a high-stakes chess game that will determine Block’s fate. The Knight’s Gambit! Academy, July 28-29.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982) WA R N E R B R O S .

Q U A N T R E L L D . C O L B E R T/ R OA D S I D E AT T R AC T I O N S

screener

MOVIES

ON THE ROAD: Mark Wahlberg and Reid Miller play a father and son from a real Eastern Oregon family.

La Grande Gesture

Across Mark Wahlberg’s new Oregon-set docudrama, Joe Bell tolls for thee. BY JAY H O RTO N

@hortland

SEE IT: Joe Bell opened widely on July 23.

Harrison Ford stars as Rick Deckard, a burned-out “blade runner” (neo-cop) tasked with hunting down rogue “replicants” (synthetic humans) in the dystopian neon-drenched “future” of 2019 Los Angeles. Now considered a seminal sci-fi staple, seven versions of Blade Runner exist—released in 2007, The Final Cut is the only one in which director Ridley Scott maintained creative control. Clinton, Hollywood; July 30-31.

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) In this wondrous tale from Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli, a young witch and her talking cat begin an air courier service delivering baked goods via broom. The July 31 showing is the English dub (starring Kirsten Dunst and Phil Hartman!), while the Aug. 1 showing is in Japanese with English subtitles. Hollywood, July 31-Aug. 1.

But I’m a Cheerleader (1999) M A R K L I P S O N / K U S H N E R - LO C K E / I G N I T E

We’re first introduced to Joe Bell (Mark Wahlberg) and his teenage son Jadin (Reid Miller) walking on opposite sides of a bustling rural highway—dad following the flow of traffic, his boy nimbly keeping pace while mocking throughout, bewildered motorists hurtling uncomfortably close to both. As Joe doggedly tromps along in grubby denim, the freshly laundered Jadin’s mix of wry patience and genuine concern neatly inverts the old gag about running away from home under parental supervision. However odd the scenario, the pair work well together and banter with a time-worn natural rapport that smooths over more pressing questions about what exactly this march across America hopes to accomplish. At their next stop, after Joe is ushered inside an emptyish gym and handed the mic to present an oratory abysmal even by the standards of high school assemblies, we don’t ask who on earth thought he should deliver the keynote address on sensitivity. We wonder instead why Jadin doesn’t join his dad on stage to coax a more graceful performance since the cautionary tale of bullying seems clearly based on Jadin’s own story. At that point, the depths of Joe’s pain become evident as his boy watches from a sad remove. Anyone familiar with the real events informing this film—or anybody who’s watched enough American movies to know something’s up when a charismatic figure is utterly ignored by everyone but his co-star—will face two heartrending revelations. Jadin is actually dead, and this story is no longer about him. Oregonians may be more likely to remember what happened to La Grande’s Joe and Jadin Bell, but we’ll wager just about everyone buying a ticket will know the 15-year-old boy took his own life in 2013 following prolonged anti-gay harassment by other students that was tacitly permitted by school administrators citing community standards. To honor his son, Joe embarked on a cross-country journey on foot. Two years later, Brokeback Mountain team Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry wrote a screenplay centered on Joe Bell’s solo anti-hazing crusade. Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men, King Richard) was brought on board to direct. Shortly after premiering at last summer’s Toronto International Film Festival to mixed reviews, the film was purchased by Solstice Studios under its original title Good Joe Bell. When pandemic-related uncertainties indefinitely postponed the release date, indie distributor Roadside Attractions picked up the property, dropped in an Oscar-baiting Diane Warren ballad over the end credits and shortened

the name by a third, which perhaps unfairly emphasizes the movie’s central issue. Is Joe Bell, y’know, good? Wahlberg certainly seems to think so. Decades after turning down a Brokeback part for reasons veering homophobic, the action hero and everyman avatar throws himself into the eponymous role with a desperate restlessness. Even during happier times with family intact and the big game on the new flat-screen, Bell never quite relaxes—a coiled panther on the La-Z-Boy—and, as life on the road takes its toll, he seethes and snaps and bristles with a crackling volatility. It’s a compelling performance that truly shines when paired with Miller’s own high-wattage incandescence. The first half of the picture essentially plays out as a road trip of mismatched archetypes loping through Big Sky country. Juxtaposing close-in footage of their electrified banter with lonesome highways wending through widescreen shots, the deepening father-son bond leads to a surprisingly joyous appreciation of one another as utterly different people. Of course, as an impromptu a capella Lady Gaga duet and dance routine helps remind, the entirety of their shared trek reflects only the desperate fantasies of a father ravaged by guilt, but burrowing into the successively sadder details surrounding his son’s suicide hardly reveals some greater truth. Upon acknowledging the death once an insistent Dolly Parton impersonator forces the issue, Jadin the ghostly sidekick gives way to memories of the actual teen through flashbacks staged with the suffocating tension of horror movies. Shadows loom. Bottles break just offscreen. Every window has blinds and someone usually peeks through. Miller, once again, dazzles, but there’s a deadening effect to replicating so many finely etched details for such negligible purpose. Peeling back the tenderest layers of a battered young psyche can feel like its own sort of emotional bullying. In the end, whether it was martyrdom or a brand-building venture, it doesn’t much matter if Bell’s road was paved with good intentions. Wahlberg plays Joe as the sort of fiercely self-reliant American whose guiding philosophy fundamentally demands all problems can be solved. With neither the powers nor temperament to enact systemic change, what else could he do but trudge across flyover country and share the depths of his torment with everyone he sees? For his wife (Connie Britton’s weathered reduction of her iconic Friday Night Lights matriarch), the mathematics of honoring a dead son by effectively abandoning living family members doesn’t add up, but she implicitly understands that Joe’s departure was no more a choice than Jadin’s sexuality. Each was born that way.

“One, two, three, four: You’re the one that I adore! Five, six, seven, eight: Don’t run from me ’cause this is fate!” When a popular cheerleader (Natasha Lyonne) is outed as a lesbian, her conservative parents send her to a candy-colored conversion therapy camp. Here, she’s counseled by “ex-gay” Mike (RuPaul), but ultimately falls for a grungy college student (Clea DuVall). A literal camp classic! Clinton, Aug. 3.

Putney Swope (1969) Written and directed by the late Robert Downey Sr., this satirical comedy follows Putney Swope (Arnold Johnson), the only Black executive at an advertising agency. After accidentally being voted chairman of the board, Putney quickly finds success in his new role by completely overhauling the company, leading the uptight U.S. government to consider him a threat. Hollywood, Aug. 3.

ALSO PLAYING: Academy: Monterey Pop (1968), July 30-Aug. 5. Clinton: Astro Boy (2009), July 29. The Element of Crime (1984), July 30. The Blues Brothers (1980), Aug. 2. Hollywood: Selena (1997), Aug. 2. OMSI Bridge Lot: A Wrinkle in Time (2018), July 29. Rooftop Cinema at Lloyd Center: Knives Out (2019), July 31. Sherlock Holmes (2009), Aug. 1. Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

MOVIES E S S I C A F O R D E / F O C U S F E AT U R E S

NOW PLAYING TOP PICK OF THE WEEK

Stillwater Bill Baker (Matt Damon) has a new life. After a career working on oil rigs, he has moved to Marseilles, started dating an actress named Virginie (Camille Cottin) and become a father to her daughter, Maya (Lilou Siauvaud). Yet Bill didn’t plan to forge a new family. He left his home in Stillwater, Okla., because his daughter, Allison (Abigail Breslin), was convicted of murdering her college roommate and has been languishing in a French prison for five years. While a wimpier film would have turned Bill’s dogged quest to prove Allison’s innocence into a righteous tale of a hometown hero battling foreign evils, Stillwater’s sharp emotional claws shred Bill’s moral authority and the myth of American exceptionalism. In ways both shocking and right, director Tom McCarthy (Spotlight, The Station Agent) reinvents the story seemingly in real time. Mystery and melodrama give way to romance, which gives way to horrific vigilantism and a reckoning with the anguish and delusions of America’s white working class. Late in the film, Bill stares at Stillwater and claims that he no longer recognizes it, but the truth is that he also no longer recognizes himself. Like us, he’s seen too much. R. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Cinema 99, City Center, Clackamas Town Center, Cornelius, Dine-In Progress Ridge, Division, Eastport Plaza, Evergreen Parkway, Living Room, Movies on TV, Sherwood, St. Johns Twin Cinemas, Vancouver Mall.

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 WATC 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. : THIS MOVIE IS A STEAMING PILE.

ALSO PLAYING Cousins If you’re scouring Netflix for a breezy summer flick, the New Zealand saga Cousins is not your best bet. It’s an ambitious, often heartbreaking film that follows the lives of three Maori women, cousins Mata, Missy and Makareta. The sprawling family epic opens on an adult Mata wandering barefoot through the streets of Wellington, disheveled and muttering a nursery rhyme under her breath. As her story unfolds, we begin to understand how she wound up there: Mata became estranged from her Maori culture after being illegally adopted by a white Christian orphanage. She never learned to speak te reo, the Eastern Polynesian language of the Indigenous population, and has the Bible shoved down her throat. Soon, Mata begins to distrust her own culture. The film is a homecoming story but also one of loss and alienation. We follow the cousins in a kind of narrative mosaic that chronicles the characters’ lives as their paths weave together and diverge. At times, the dialogue veers from expository to didactic. Luckily for the viewer, it’s also gorgeously shot and impeccably acted, with standout performances by Tanea Heke as older Mata and Keyahne Patrick Williams as a young Missy. NR. GRACE CULHANE. Netflix.

The New Bauhaus You probably don’t know the name László Moholy-Nagy. You wouldn’t be familiar with his paintings, and the Hungarian-born artist’s experimentalist photography 28

and kinetic sculptures ended up more influential than iconic. Odds are, you’ve never even heard of the school for industrial design he founded, or the boundary-shattering curriculum he installed, but the subsequent creations of his students (Dove’s ergonomic soap bar, James Bond’s trippily louche credit sequences, the Playboy bunny logo, the honey bear) would help shape 20th century iconography and aesthetics. This 2019 documentary by Alysa Nahmias, director behind award-winning 2011 Cuban art school paean Unfinished Spaces, follows Moholy-Nagy from a teaching post at Weimar-era Germany’s legendary Bauhaus through his efforts to re-create the modernist mecca’s ideals within a corporate-sponsored Chicago institute. A brisk, engaging portrait of a restless polymath and beloved educator, The New Bauhaus provides a textured overview of a fascinating life that takes pains to illuminate the subject’s interdisciplinary flights of fancy. Nevertheless, with so much packed into the 89-minute running time, uninitiated audiences hoping to learn more about, say, the artist’s aborted dalliances with cinema (devising special effects for an H.G. Wells collaboration) or the military (disguising Lake Michigan from enemy bombers) may grow frustrated by the sheer breadth of digressions zipped past, however chicly. Form follows function, to be sure, but less isn’t always more. NR. JAY HORTON. Apple TV, Google Play, Vimeo.

Black Widow Scarlett Johansson plays a Marvel superhero in Black Widow, but she’s fiercer by far in spandex-free films like Lost in Translation

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

and Marriage Story. She doesn’t seem to get a kick out of being an action star, and Black Widow isn’t much of an action movie—it exists mostly to fill the narrative gap between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, two similarly mediocre Marvel films. Black Widow unites Natasha Romanoff (Johansson) with her punkish sister, Yelena (Florence Pugh). They want to annihilate the Red Room—the Russian brainwashing program that tried to turn them into soulless assassins—but they can’t succeed without the help of Melina and Alexei (Rachel Weisz and David Harbour), the sinister agents who once posed as their parents during an undercover operation. Director Cate Shortland’s poor pacing strips the story of suspense, but the most troubling thing about Black Widow is its eagerness to forgive Melina and Alexei, who condemned Natasha and Yelena to become child soldiers. Black Widow may be a feminist film, but its brand is diet feminism for moviegoers who thought the complete overthrow of the patriarchy in Mad Max: Fury Road was overkill. Maybe that’s why Johansson looks bored—she knows Black Widow isn’t worth believing in. PG-13. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Bagdad, Cedar Hills, Dine-In Progress Ridge, Disney+, Evergreen Parkway, Fox Tower, Living Room, Lloyd Center, Pioneer Place, Movies on TV, St. Johns Theater & Pub, St. Johns Twin Cinemas, Studio One, Tigard, Wunderland Beaverton.

Space Jam: A New Legacy Early in Space Jam: A New Legacy, two marvelously smarmy Warner Bros. executives (Sarah Silverman and Steven Yeun) pitch a galaxy of LeBron James crossover projects, including LeBron v Batman and LeBron of Thrones. LeBron (who plays himself) calls the concept one of the top five worst ideas he’s ever heard, but the idea is essentially the plot of A New Legacy, a shameless commercial for Warner Bros. properties that barely

keeps up the pretense of being a movie. If the film were merely the story of LeBron and his son Dom (Cedric Joe) being sucked into the so-called Warner Bros. ServerVerse to play basketball with the Looney Tunes, it might have gotten by on goofy charm, but director Malcolm D. Lee (Girls Trip) inserts LeBron into The Matrix, Mad Max: Fury Road and even Casablanca. By the time LeBron is playing basketball in front of Catwoman, Pennywise and the Night King, it’s clear that the film is nothing more than a product engineered to sell other products. Like too many mainstream movies, it adheres to the golden rule of the Ready Player One school of filmmaking—bludgeon your audience with references until they beg for mercy. PG. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas Town Center, Cornelius, Dine-In Progress Ridge, Eastport Plaza, Evergreen Parkway, HBO Max, Lloyd Center, Movies on TV, Pioneer Place, Sherwood, Studio One, Tigard, Wunderland Milwaukie.

Summertime Carlos López Estrada’s spoken-word musical and ode to grassroots Los Angeles arrives right on time for this season of rediscovering our cities in existentially hungry, all-day bursts. Seek truth in good company and open air, advises Summertime. With dashes of Short Cuts and Do the Right Thing, plus a deep thumbprint from Estrada’s 2018 debut, Blindspotting, Summertime loosely trails more than 20 Angelenos across one surreal day, idealizing L.A. not toward perfection but for its streetlevel beauty and collectivism. The servers, cashiers, limo drivers and aspiring rappers (played by real-life L.A. poets) lift each other’s underestimated spirits much the way Estrada’s warm, dappled visuals suggest a golden hour that lasts half the day. In a word, though, the slam-poetry interludes are jarring. For these exhalations, Summertime practically freezes while one ensemble character (whom we scarcely

know) pours the contents of their soul into the lap of another who has no choice but to listen, stunned by this impromptu performer. There’s no disputing the artistry, just whether the grand experiment actually works—whether full-throated, showstopping acts of testimony cohere within an otherwise casual, often charming summer stroll. R. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Fox Tower.

The Tomorrow War Hollywood has fully embraced the genre of Big Budget, Doomsday, Alien movies chasing the tail of Independence Day ever since it came out 25 years ago. The formula is a basic mix of plug-in big-ticket actors with CGI monsters and “clever” world-building. In this vein, we have The Tomorrow War, directed by Chris McKay. The film delivers on the adrenaline-pumping action and impending danger around every corner on par with every other film of this ilk. Perhaps too on par. The Tomorrow War plays out like an alien action movie mixtape as it shamelessly steals from every film in its genre, from Aliens to Starship Troopers. If you find you enjoy these films’ predictable but fun structure, then this movie should adequately satisfy and entertain. But if you’re looking for any semblance of depth and character study, you’ll probably be left feeling frustrated by the emptiness in this bloated display of unending clichés and “Oh, my God” moments (not the good kind). Chris Pratt may not have been the best choice to carry the emotional weight the script asks for as his co-stars act circles around him in every dramatic scene. If you cast Pratt, then let him run with the sardonic humor the film is begging for and his onscreen persona delivers so well. But please don’t ask him to actually act. PG-13. RAY GILL JR. Amazon Prime.

JONESIN’

Week of August 5

by Matt Jones

"Yes, Lieutenant"--an unexpected ending. ARIES (March 21-April 19) Filmmaker Federico Fellini had an unexpected definition of happiness. He said it was "being able to speak the truth without hurting anyone." I suspect you will have abundant access to that kind of happiness in the coming weeks, Aries. I'll go even further: You will have extra power to speak the truth in ways that heal and uplift people. My advice to you, therefore, is to celebrate and indulge your ability. Be bold in expressing the fullness of what's interesting to you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) "Look for a long time at what pleases you, and longer still at what pains you," wrote the novelist Colette. What?! Was she making a perverse joke? That's wicked advice, and I hope you adopt it only on rare occasions. In fact, the exact opposite is the healthy way to live—especially for you in the coming weeks. Look at what pains you, yes. Don't lose sight of what your problems and wounds are. But please, for the sake of your dreams, for the benefit of your spiritual and psychological health, look longer at what pleases you, energizes you, and inspires you.

1 Disappear gradually 5 Olivia of 2018's "The Predator" 9 Off-price event 13 "Amadeus" director Forman 14 Mayberry kid 15 "Fathers and Sons" novelist Turgenev 16 Lazy attempt at a scare? 18 Repair books, in a way 19 Gather in the field

58 Almond _ _ _ (toffee candy)

29 River through Kazakhstan

59 Singer Ora

31 Play some Cornhole

60 See 54-Across 63 God on an eight-legged horse 64 "Voice of Israel" author Abba 65 Mother of Perseus 66 Social Distortion frontman Mike 67 Prepare the laundry 68 Bedframe strip

20 1,000,000,000 years, in geology

DOWN

21 Secondary songs, once

1 Clerk at work

23 Celeb's promoter

2 "Half _ _ _ is better than none"

25 2020 Pixar offering 26 Santana hit based on a bank? 32 Actor Whishaw 35 Detach, as a trailer 36 Small jazz combo

3 Strong drink also called double espresso 4 Sixth sense letters 5 "Got My _ _ _ Working" (Muddy Waters classic)

37 Wilson of "The Office"

6 Second word of "The Raven"

39 "Ah, I see"

7 Nothing, on scoreboards

40 Many are empty for the 2020 Olympics

8 Laptop with a smaller screen

41 East, in Spain

9 Make a hissing sound

42 Deliberately misinforms

10 Ready and eager

44 Primus frontman Claypool

11 "Stay in your _ _ _"

45 News anchor Lester on location in California?

12 Has a series finale

48 Spike Lee's "_ _ _ Gotta Have It"

17 Country home to Mocha

49 Incurred mobile charges, maybe 53 With 61-Across, cheap price on some granular seasoning? 56 Lower, as lights

13 Abbr. on a new car sticker 22 Its U stands for "utility" 24 Olympic runner Jim who later became a congressman 25 Squish down

30 Miller beer brand 32 Make kombucha 33 Lack of intensity 34 They can be picked 38 They may have tickets at Barclays Center 40 Millennium Falcon pilot 42 Brother of Ophelia, in "Hamlet" 43 Singer nicknamed "The Velvet Fog" 46 "Never heard of them" 47 Foot bone-related 50 Disney title character voiced by Auli'i Cravalho 51 Flamboyance, from the French 52 Time to remember 53 "_ _ _: Legacy" (2010 sci-fi sequel) 54 Like the Amazon River 55 Singer Redding 56 One of the few words not to be repeated in "Happy Birthday" 57 "It just _ _ _ my day" 61 "Succession" network 62 Flyer contents

last week’s answers

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Professor of psychology Ethan Kross tells us there can be healthy, creative forms of envy. “Just as hunger tells us we need to eat," he writes, "the feeling of envy could show us what is missing from our lives that really matters to us." The trick is to not interpret envy as a negative emotion, but to see it as useful information that shows us what we want. In my astrological opinion, that's a valuable practice for you to deploy in the coming days. So pay close attention to the twinges of envy that pop into your awareness. Harness that volatile stuff to motivate yourself as you make plans to get the very experience or reward you envy.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

If you deepen your affection for butterflies and hummingbirds, I will love it. If you decide you want the dragonfly or bumblebee or lark to be your spirit creature, I will approve. You almost always benefit from cultivating relationships with swift, nimble, and lively influences—and that's especially true these days. So give yourself full permission to experiment with the superpower of playful curiosity. You're most likely to thrive when you're zipping around in quest of zesty ripples and sprightly rhythms.

Poet Walt Whitman bragged that he was "large." He said, "I contain multitudes." One critic compared him to "a whole continent with its waters, with its trees, with its animals." Responding to Whitman, Sagittarian poet Gertrud Kolmar uttered an equally grandiose boast. "I too am a continent," she wrote. "I contain mountains never-reached, scrubland unpenetrated, pond bay, river-delta, salt-licking coasttongue." That's how I'm imagining you these days, dear Sagittarius: as unexplored territory: as frontier land teeming with undiscovered mysteries. I love how expansive you are as you open your mind and heart to new self-definitions. I love how you're willing to risk being unknowable for a while as you wander out in the direction of the future.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Life is showing you truths about what you are not, what you don't need, and what you shouldn't strive for. That's auspicious, although it may initially feel unsettling. I urge you to welcome these revelations with gratitude. They will help you tune in to the nuances of what it means to be radically authentic. They will boost your confidence in the rightness of the path you've chosen for yourself. I'm hoping they may even show you which of your fears are irrelevant. Be hungry for these extraordinary teachings.

Poet Ezra Pound wrote a letter to novelist James Joyce that included the following passage: "You are fucking with my head, and so far I’ve been enjoying it. Where is the crime?" I bring this up, Capricorn, because I believe the coming weeks will be prime time for you to engage with interesting souls who fuck with your head in enjoyable ways. You need a friendly jolt or two: a series of galvanizing prods; dialogs that catalyze you to try new ways of thinking and seeing; lively exchanges that inspire you to experiment.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

The next two months will be a propitious time for you and your intimate allies to grow closer by harnessing the power of your imaginations. I urge you to be inventive in dreaming up ways to educate and entertain each other. Seek frisky adventures together that will delight you. Here's a poem by Vyacheslav Ivanov that I hope will stimulate you: "We are two flames in a midnight forest. We are two meteors that fly at night, a two-pointed arrow of one fate. We are two steeds whose bridle is held by one hand. We are two eyes of a single gaze, two quivering wings of one dream, two-voiced lips of single mysteries. We are two arms of a single cross."

Blogger Mandukhai Munkhbaatar offers advice on the arts of intimate communion. "Do not fall in love only with a body or with a face," she tells us. "Do not fall in love with the idea of being in love." She also wants you to know that it's best for your long-term health and happiness if you don't seek cozy involvement with a person who is afraid of your madness, or with someone who, after you fight, disappears and refuses to talk. I approve of all these suggestions. Any others you would add? It's a favorable phase to get clearer about the qualities of people you want and don't want as your allies.

GEMINI (May 21-June20)

ACROSS

of their problems. The deep ones also have access to rich spiritual resources that ensure their suffering is a source of transformative teaching—and rarely a cause of defeat. Have you guessed that I'm describing you as you will be in the coming weeks?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Virgo spiritual author Don Miguel Ruiz urges us not to take anything personally. He says that if someone treats us disrespectfully, it's almost certainly because they are suffering from psychological wounds that make them act in vulgar, insensitive ways. Their attacks have little to do with what's true about us. I agree with him, and will add this important caveat. Even if you refrain from taking such abuses personally, it doesn't mean you should tolerate them. It doesn't mean you should keep that person in your life or allow them to bully you in the future. I suspect these are important themes for you to contemplate right now.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) People who feel deeply, live deeply, and love deeply are destined to suffer deeply," writes poet Juansen Dizon. To that romanticized, juvenile nonsense, I say: NO! WRONG! People who feel and live and love deeply are more emotionally intelligent than folks who live on the surface—and are therefore less fragile. The deep ones are likely to be psychologically adept; they have skills at liberating themselves from the smothering crush

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) I gave my readers homework, asking them to answer the question, "What is your favorite rule to break?" In response, Laura Grolla sent these thoughts: "My favorite rule to break is an unwritten one: that we must all stress and strive for excellence. I have come up with a stress-busting mantra, 'It is OK to be OK.' In my OKness, I have discovered the subtle frontier of contentment, which is vast and largely unexplored. OKness allows me not to compete for attention, but rather to pay attention to others. I love OKness for the humor and deep, renewing sleep it has generated. Best of all, OKness allows me to be happily aging rather than anxiously hot." I bring this to your attention, Pisces, because I think the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to investigate and embody the relaxing mysteries of OKness.

HOMEWORK: Tell me what subtle or not-so-subtle victories you plan to accomplish by January 1, 2022. Newsletter@freewillastrology.com

27 Groups on risers 28 Gasped with amazement

©2021 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.

Check out Rob Brezsny’s Expanded Weekly Audio Horoscopes & Daily Text Message Horoscopes

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

1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700 Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

SPOTLIGHT ARTIST FREDDY FUNBUNS

The year is 2030. A Regular Citizen is transmitting correspondence from inside the walled off city of Portland, Oregon. These transmissions will tell the tale of MegaQuake.

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

Be a Willamette Week featured artist! Any art style is welcome! Let’s share your art! Contact us at art@wweek.com. Instagram @megaquakeportland

COMiCS! JACK KENT’S

Jack draws exactly what he sees n’ hears from the streets. IG @sketchypeoplepdx kentcomics.com

Willamette Week JULY 28, 2021 wweek.com

NEWS: REMEMBER TERESSA RAIFORD’S NAME. P. 9 RESTAURANTS: WHO’LL STOP THE RAIN? P. 21 CANNABIS: WHAT WE LOST IN THE FIRES. P. 25

SHE’S

PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY

GOOD GRIEF

Oregon’s Oldest Dispensary In 2020, everyone is struggling with mental health. Here’s our guide to finding peace. Page 12

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PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY

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VOL 46/47 09.16.2020

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VOL 46/46 09.09.2020

By Nigel Jaquiss | Page 13

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VOL 46/44 08.26.2020

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FEDS VS. A FIRESTARTER. page 9

OUTDOORS

THE MAGIC IS IN MEL’S HOLE. page 22

IN H

A V

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VOL 46/42 08.12.2020

O A

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UP G?

JAMMED

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NEWS: BLOODSHED ON THE SIDEWALK. FOOD: PIZZA! AT THE STREET DISCO. MOVIES: MARCHING WITH JOHN LEWIS.

VOL 46.40 07.29.2020 WWEEK.COM

PAGE 9

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LOCAL MUSIC INSIDERS SAY YOU'VE GOT TO HEAR. PAGE 10

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VOL 46/37 07.08.2020

MAITA PAGE 11

MUSIC'S ROLE IN THE PROTESTS: 4 SCENE LEADERS SPEAK OUT PAGE 16

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VOL 46/36 07.01.2020

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Goodbye, BarFly

VOL 46/39 07.22.2020

PAGE 24

P. 6

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Distant Summer

Think everything is canceled? We’ve got 16 adventures that will help you salvage this season. PAGE 10

“IT MADE IT EASIER TO RISK IT FOR THE BISCUIT.” P. 11

Sunlan cartoons by Kay Newell “The Lightbulb Lady” Facebook / Twitter Instagram / Google

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PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY

“BRING BACK THE HORSE COPS.” P. 4

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NEWS: A LITTLE POLICE REFORM. P. 9 BUSINESS: LAST CALL, AGAIN? P. 23 FOOD: TONARI, WITH LOVE.

P. 27

“I’M GETTING GASSED IN MY OWN HOME.” P. 8

VOL 46/38 07.15.2020

OUTDOORS

Cape Disappointment Does Not Disappoint

P. 8

In a nation succumbing to COVID-19, where does Oregon stand? These 9 charts will show you.

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S: S

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Boss Says "Too Bad"

VOL 46/41 08.05.2020

PORTLAND

By Rachel Monahan Page 13

EAD

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P. 26

For all your lightbulb fixtures & parts

THR

By Latisha Jensen | Page 13

PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY

“YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE YOU’RE KILLING YOUR BRAIN.”

Sunlan Lighting

Night after night, Portlanders confront Trump’s violent police in downtown. It feels like a party, and the end of the world.

P. 23

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PORTLAND’S NEWS

INTO THE GAS

That’s also where Portland's housing is the most overcrowded.

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PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY

People are more likely to catch COVID east of 82nd Avenue.

VOL 46/43 08.19.2020

NEWS

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“IT'S A CATFIGHT, MAN. THE FUR WILL FLY.” P. 52

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VOL 46/45 09.02.2020

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“I WANTED THEM TO SEE WHAT THEY'RE SHOOTING AT.” P. 20

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By Aaron Mesh | Page 12

NEWS: Ted Wheeler Still Wants This Job. P. 9 • KAYAKING: Holy Toledo! P. 22 • CANNABIS: Strains for Late Summer. P. 25

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WAR MOVIES A cadre of helmeted guerrilla filmmakers is coming to you live from Portland’s flaming streets.

Portland voters are fed up with Ted Wheeler. But are they ready for

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VOL 46/48 09.23.2020

P. 24

WILLAMETTE

503-243-2122 mdonhowe@wweek.com

PORTLAND’S NEWSWEEKLY

NOT TED “GOOD THING CLIMATE CHANGE IS A HOAX LIKE COVID.” P. 4

“MY TASTE BUDS ARE WRECKED.” P. 22

MICHAEL DONHOWE

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“SHOCKINGLY, STILL SINGLE AND WAY TOO BORED.” P. 21

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“TIRED OF WHITE SUPREMACY? WELCOME TO THE CLUB.” P. 21

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VOL 46/34 06.17.2020

"THEY KILLIN AND Y MISS PARA

Seven queer Portlanders out on what P means to the Page 12

Willamette Week, July 28, 2021 - Volume 47, Issue 38 - "The Trials of Deborah Kafoury"

Articles inside

FOREST PARK COULD CATCH FIRE

MARK WAHLBERG VS. MATT DAMON AT THE BOX OFFICE