Willamette Week, January 18, 2023 - Volume 49, Issue 10 - "Free Fall"

Service Employees

International Union received Oregon’s largest fine for tardy donation disclosures. 6

Christmas is coming, belatedly, to the Jade District. 7

A deputy city attorney left a Dec. 15 meeting with Sam Adams in tears 8

Parents set iPhone alarms for the moment city swim lesson registration opens. 10

Dave Nichols nearly fell to his death on a rock climb called Obit 12

Oregon ranks 49th in the number of inpatient physical rehab beds per capita. 13

A Colorado study found that 74% of unhoused people suffered a traumatic brain injury before becoming homeless. 17

Canines can be judged for their “citizenship” at the Rose City Classic Dog Show. 23

GirlSpit’s intricate maps and topographies have been labeled a “must-see” by NPR. 23

The co-founders of Kure Juice Bar have gone into the pizza business. 24

Wild Child has redeemed the pizzeria dessert 25

Mike Tyson has released chewy, ear-shaped weed gummies called “Mike Bites.” 27

Junior Boys are picking up where Pet Shop Boys left off. 29

“Book doula” is a real job. 30

Well, that escalated quickly. Shortly after WW ’s press deadline Jan. 13, mayoral aide Sam Adams announced he was resigning to deal with health issues. Three days later, after Adams told WW his health was the sole reason for his departure, Mayor Ted Wheeler disputed that account—and said Adams had engaged in a pattern of bullying female city employees. Records showed Adams had a particularly hostile encounter with two deputy city attorneys in December, which probably led to a mayor’s office decision to fire him. Here’s what our readers had to say:

BIGMTNFUDGECAKE, VIA REDDIT: “Epic and hilarious that Ted just threw him under like that. Very hot drama indeed.”

MARJORIE J. SIMPSON, VIA WWEEK.COM: “The do-nothing status quo in City Hall got him fired. And now the do-nothing status quo that advocates for drug addicts, people with mental illness, and criminals to be allowed to camp anywhere they please is rejoicing.

“In a city that doesn’t work, those that commit the ultimate sin of trying to make it work will be shunned.”

PDXTECH, VIA REDDIT: “I’m starting to think Ted Wheeler is a bad mayor and not surrounding himself with the best people.”

PDX REAL, VIA TWITTER: “Everyone should have skepticism of reports like this. Our media is grossly negligent in reporting anything close to the truth, and to say orgs like Willamette Week don’t have a vested interest in destroying Adams’ political career is naive to say the least.”

MARYSUE HEALY, VIA WWEEK.COM: “It’s not that hard to survive and thrive in a city job (or any job really) long term if you just remember the golden rules:

“1. Don’t be a jerk. Just be civil and professional to your co-workers and those around you. You can be tough, you can disagree, you can push back, but when you treat people poorly it will come back to bite you on the ass.

“2. Don’t eff with attorneys. And don’t eff with HR.

Dr. Know

BY MARTY SMITH @martysmithxxx

“3. Don’t lie to journalists. You’ll get caught. You’d think Sam woulda learned this rule since he’s had problems with it in the past.

“Oh well, Sam, ya blew it.”

SCUBADOO7478, VIA REDDIT: “So are we still getting the mass sanctioned camp areas? That’s my main concern.

“I’m going to hold judgment on Sam. The city thinks it’s racist to say ‘brown bag’ for bringing your lunch from home. I can’t tell if Sam actually did something wrong or if he’s a victim of our politically-correct-gone-wrong culture these days.”

SARAH IANNARONE, VIA TWITTER: “Few things you can count on in Portland politics, but a scandal from Sam Adams, well, y’all shoulda seen that one coming.

“No surprise to anyone who’s heard the fable of the scorpion and the fox. But Wheeler, whew, how you gonna bring your boy in to save your ass once, then throw him under the bus to save your ass again.

“So shady, the lot of them.”

TO THE EDITOR

LETTERS

must include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: PO Box 10770, Portland OR, 97296 Email: mzusman@wweek.com

up alongside it to slow traffic back to its usual crawl.

Plans for a modern-style, limited-access expressway (a new and radical concept at the time) through Sullivan’s Gulch began as early as 1926…but then came the Great Depression, and after that World War II. Before you know it, it’s the Atomic Age, and we’re still taking seven hours to drive to Troutdale. Embarrassing!

Shortly after World War I, a young Army lieutenant colonel— some schmo named Dwight Eisenhower—decided to test our nation’s transportation infrastructure by leading a convoy of 81 motorized military vehicles from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco. The trip took 62 days, a pace that suggests that, in 1919, it would have taken just over 111 hours to drive from Portland to Pendleton.

Maybe the real trip didn’t take quite that long, but it’s hard to overstate how sketchy to nonexistent the American highway system was in the first half of the 20th century. Even when someone built a road you could make decent time on, development would just spring

Finally, in 1947, the Oregon Legislature created the legal framework for controlled-access highways, and construction of what would become Interstate 84 began in earnest. Among those who shepherded the project to completion was its namesake, Thomas H. Banfield, chairman of the Oregon State Highway Commission and noted nonveterinarian. (The chain of pet hospitals took its name from the freeway near its first office.)

Did Banfield get his name on the expressway because his contributions to it towered head and shoulders above those of everyone else? He was a big part of the effort, no doubt—but his real master stroke was becoming gravely ill and retiring from the Highway Commission before a name had been settled on.

There’s nothing like imminent death to get folks to recognize your work, and the remaining commissioners duly voted to name the new road the T.H. Banfield Expressway on Aug. 22, 1950. Banfield himself would die just nine days later, but thanks to this honor his name will live forever. (Or at least until dogs learn not to eat chocolate.)

How did the Banfield Freeway get its name? I tried Googling, but all I can find is stuff about Banfield Pet Hospital. Was there a Dr. Cyrus Q. Banfield back in the day who became famous as Portland’s first veterinarian? —Big Dog

KOTEK’S HOMELESS ORDER OMITS RURAL

OREGON: On her first day in office, Gov. Tina Kotek attacked one of the state’s biggest challenges, declaring a state of emergency and earmarking $130 million in funding to alleviate homelessness. It’s a colossal undertaking: Oregon has the nation’s highest rate of unsheltered homelessness for families with children. But the order covers only 11 counties, omitting 25 rural counties in Eastern Oregon and along the coast. That’s because those counties did not meet the threshold of an increase in homelessness of 50% or more from 2017 to 2022. On Jan. 11, lawmakers representing Oregon’s Coastal Caucus sent Kotek a letter of protest, noting rural counties already have far fewer resources than urban ones and face challenges just as severe. The letter urged Kotek to extend the same level of concern to rural Oregon “as you have demonstrated to the rest of the state.” Kotek said Jan. 17 her initial allocation “underrepresents the need” in rural counties and encouraged them to formally apply for aid.

STATE OFFICIALS PROPOSE STOPGAPS TO RESOLVE PUBLIC DEFENDER CRISIS:

Oregon lawmakers approved $10 million last month to address a statewide shortage of public defenders. Since then, the state agency responsible for allocating the money, the Office of Public Defense Services, has been brainstorming how to spend it. The latest plan floated by the agency’s new director, Jessica Kampfe: $6 million for “retention incentives” and the bulk of the rest to hire more “professional staff.” An appointed commission is still refining the final proposal, to be submitted to lawmakers. It meets again Thursday. According to a report presented to the commission last week, nearly 800 defendants across the state lack court-appointed attorneys. It blamed the “systemic underresourcing of public defense” and described a vicious cycle: High caseloads, exacerbated by pandemic court closures, burn out lawyers, who leave, thus increasing caseloads and leading to even more burnout. It’s unclear if the $10 million solution offered by legislators will be enough to break the cycle. An October survey found 60% of public defenders in the past two years had left their jobs. The agency’s last approved budget was $340 million.

TriMet pulled its brand new articulated buses two months after their launch in September after drivers reported hearing weird noises while turning. Now, the transit agency says the buses are coming back, following an “industrywide” recall by their Canadian manufacturer, Nova Bus, a subsidiary of Volvo Group. The problem: loose bolts. The solution: replace a “spherical washer” with a “solid spacer” that allows “full tightening” of the bolts. “Riders may start seeing the big green buses back on the road as early as this week,” TriMet spokeswoman Roberta Altstadt said in a press release Tuesday morning. The buses run on the brand new FX-2 lines along Southeast Division Street. Although billed as “Frequent Express,” the new $175 million line is actually slower on some trips than the line it replaced, WW reported in September. Still, the agency is heralding the concept as the future of TriMet. It’s embarking on the “biggest redesign of bus service in agency history” amid declining ridership. That involves expanding to underserved neighborhoods and more “frequent service” lines running every 15 minutes, according to a presentation at a TriMet board meeting last month. Meanwhile, the agency is considering a 12% fare increase to shore up its finances, which would raise fares to $2.80.

GIANT OF OREGON JURISPRUDENCE DIES:

Former 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ted Goodwin died Dec. 27 in Bend at age 99. Goodwin served on the federal bench for 51 years, making him one of the longest-serving federal judges in history. A graduate of the University of Oregon and Oregon Law, Goodwin distinguished himself as a state Supreme Court justice in 1969, according to The Oregon Encyclopedia writing the majority opinion in the case that guaranteed unfettered public access to Oregon’s beaches. In 2002, he wrote the majority opinion for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declaring the requirement that students recite the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional, a decision later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Goodwin grew up working on ranches in Central Oregon and retired to Sisters, where, according to a New York Times obituary, he continued riding horses well into his 90s.

TRIMET’S BENDY BUSES ARE COMING BACK:

GOV. TINA KOTEK

Invisible Fines

BY NIGEL JAQUISS njaquiss@wweek.com

Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and the elections director she forced out late last year, Deborah Scroggin, disagreed whether the agency should publish a website disclosing campaign finance reporting violations.

That’s common practice in other Western states, including California, Colorado and Washington. Each of those states has a searchable database of campaign finance reporting violations—failures to promptly and accurately disclose campaign contributions.

As WW has previously reported, Scroggin, whom Fagan hired away from the city of Portland in 2021, pushed for Oregon to furnish similar information to the public here (“The Customer Is Always Right,” Jan. 4). Currently, it is available only via a public records request.

“We are an outlier in the lack of information we provide in this space,” Scroggin wrote in an email to her superiors Nov. 21, 2022. That email came after the Elections Division’s IT department had worked on a website of campaign finance violations for a year only to have Fagan’s management team repeatedly reject Scroggin’s pleas to let it go live. (Fagan forced Scroggin out in December, telling WW that Scroggin was insufficiently focused on “customer service.”)

Fagan says her goal in 2022 was simply to get through the primary and general elections smoothly. That, she says, rather than any aversion to transparency, is why the campaign finance violation website got placed on the back burner.

“Last year was the first major election since 2020 and

DOCUMENT

Case #

2022-0005

Case Title

Violation Type Date Penalty Amount

SEIU Local 49 COPE Fund (4213) / September 2021 Late 2/25/2022 $30,482.51

2022-0277 Plumbers & Steamfitters PAC (221) / December 2021 Late 6/6/2022 $6,300.05

2022-1383 Portland United PAC (21821) / June 2022 Late 12/30/2022 $4,856.95

2021-1217 Jason for Bend (18661) / May 2021 Late 11/10/2021 $4,455.00

2021-0997 Stop the Senior Tax Committee (19746) / March 2021 Late 8/23/2021 $3,991.00

2021-1012 Planned Parenthood PAC of Oregon (4327) / March 2021 Late 8/23/2021 $3,676.75

2021-1033 Working Families Party of Oregon (5528) / March 2021 Late 8/23/2021 $3,388.93

2021-1264 Planned Parenthood PAC of Oregon (4327) / May 2021 Late 11/10/2021 $3,033.45

2021-0838 Curry County Republican Central Committee (303) / February 2021 Late 7/30/2021 $2,737.24

2022-1156 Merritt for Oregon (21676) / May 2022 Late 11/18/2022 $2,733.67

2021-1541 SEIU Local 49 COPE Fund (4213) / August 2021 Late 1/27/2022 $2,323.59

2022-1210 Oregonians Are Ready PAC (22092) / May 2022 Late 11/18/2022 $2,312.50

the Jan. 6 insurrection,” Fagan says. “I was laser focused on making sure everything went smoothly, so I made a decision to not get distracted by new initiatives. Now that 2023 is here, I am excited to implement several new ideas, including more public education about campaign finance rules and a website proactively listing fines.”

In the meantime, WW requested the fines for late or improper campaign finance filings since June 1, 2021, when Scroggin began working full time. There are about 440 of them. The chart below shows the largest—the 12 fines for more than $2,000 each. (In every case, the fine was issued because a transaction was reported late.)

Fagan, a Democrat, insists the delay in making the website live had nothing to do with protecting special interests. “The

Open Door Policy

THE DOCUMENT: Before he took office this month, freshman state Rep. Brian Stout (R-Columbia City) agreed to keep his office door open during meetings and to have either his wife or a legislative aide present during meetings.

That’s according to a Dec. 30 letter, reviewed by WW, that Stout sent to leaders of the Oregon House of Representatives.

“These politically motivated allegations and stories against me are false,” Stout wrote. “I am ready and willing to make certain accommodations until this matter is resolved.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Stout is starting his legislative career under a cloud. In November, a former campaign volunteer asked a Columbia County circuit judge for a protective order

against Stout, alleging he had sexually abused her, then threatened to slit her throat and throw her off a cliff.

The protective order says Stout has to stay at least 150 feet away from his accuser at all times, except in the Capitol, where tight space might make that impossible. If both parties are there, they must stay as far apart as possible.

At a court hearing Friday, Stout sought to have the order removed. Beyond a blow job that he begrudgingly accepted, Stout said he had no sexual contact with the woman and never threatened her with any kind of violence.

The woman “wanted to be with me physically,” Stout told the court. “I let her pull my pants down and perform oral sex. It was short, it was brief, and it was a mistake.” (It is WW’s policy

largest fines issued under my administration were to some of my political allies,” Fagan says. “These fines show that Oregonians can trust me to apply the rules fairly and equally to everyone.”

The largest fines are nonpartisan, with both Fagan’s biggest supporter (Service Employee International Union) and the political arm of the former employer of her chief of staff, Emily McClain (Planned Parenthood), represented, along with conservative (Stop the Senior Tax) and moderate PACs (Portland United and Oregonians Are Ready).

Scroggin says the political diversity of the groups fined shows her team was doing its job objectively: “The records and the fines speak for themselves, and the professional, nonpartisan nature of the Elections Division.”

not to name victims in alleged sexual assault cases.)

Under questioning by his attorney, Stout denied all the incriminating facts in five detailed episodes of nonconsensual sex that the woman alleged under penalty of perjury.

And, to boot, Stout said his accuser didn’t need a protective order because he has been trying to avoid her since the night of their encounter. She, by contrast, has been showing up at events knowing he would be present and has on more than one occasion visited a public park at the end of his driveway, Stout said.

“I want nothing to do with this woman,” Stout testified.

The woman will have the opportunity to tell her side of the story March 29, when the hearing on the protective order is scheduled to resume. Witnesses for Stout, who lauded his character, raised questions about his accuser, or both, took up all the available time Friday.

Stout’s version of events “will be addressed,” the woman’s attorney, Alexis Fisher, said.

THE PRECEDENT: It’s not the first time an Oregon legislator has had his office door regulated. In 2017, former state Sen. Jeff Kruse (R-Roseburg) made a habit of smoking in his office, which is prohibited in the Capitol.

Kruse had bigger problems at the time. Then-Senate President Peter Courtney had already admonished him for touching women at the Capitol, but he kept on doing it.

“Let me be very clear,” Courtney said in a letter to Kruse dated Oct. 20, 2017. “Women in the Capitol do NOT want you to touch them.”

Courtney removed the door, ostensibly to keep Kruse from smoking, and he removed Kruse from his committee assignments to punish him for all the touching. Kruse resigned in 2018.

Stout’s vow to keep his door open and hold meetings under supervision wasn’t enough for House Speaker Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis). On Monday, he removed Stout from his two committee assignments: Economic Development and Small Business, and Business and Labor. Stout, 55, owns a screen-printing business.

“I have a responsibility for the safety and security of those in the Capitol, and I’ll be moving forward with that in mind,” Rayfield said in a statement. “I continue to find the nature of these allegations disturbing, and I’m taking this very seriously. I’d hoped that the hearing process would be completed on Friday to have clear direction. The fact remains that there is still an active restraining order in place by the presiding judge.”

ANTHONY EFFINGER.

The secretary of state and her elections director disagreed over disclosing campaign finance violations to Oregonians. Here they are.

Rep. Brian Stout must follow some special rules when he’s in the Capitol.

The Dirty Dozen: All campaign finance reporting fines over $2,000 since June 1, 2021 Source: Secretary of State

Keep Christmas All Year

City

INSTALLED

1. City Hall and Portland Building 2. Old Town 3. 71 street trees on NE Sandy 4. 18 street trees at St. Johns Plaza

FUNDED, GETTING

INSTALLED 5. 35 street trees in Montavilla along SE Stark and Glisan 6. 142 trees in the Jade District (SE 82nd and Division) 7. 103 trees on NE Fremont in Beaumont

8. Lents Commons

STILL NEED FUNDING 9. NE Broadway 10. Lloyd District 11. Central Eastside District 12. SE Hawthorne 13. St. Johns on N Lombard 14. SE Foster-Powell 15. N Williams/Dawson Park

Mayor’s Office

The holidays ended weeks ago, but new Christmas light displays are still popping up on Portland’s trees.

It’s thanks to a new city program, with $300,000 in potential funding, to brighten up Portland’s streets—not for holiday spirit, but for safety.

“It didn’t matter if it wasn’t ready for the holidays,” says Jessie Burke, chair of the Old Town Community Association, which has yet to plug in its displays. “We literally just need light.”

The effort to wrap more of Portland’s trees in strings of holiday-inspired LED lighting has been in the works for months. It was announced by the city publicly in December as “Project Illumination” and billed as an expensed “winter light display” to more than 800 trees downtown.

But the city’s new lighting program is far more ambitious than initially advertised. It’s expanding far across the river—and being sold to business leaders citywide as a new, possibly permanent, safety feature.

Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office sent WW a list of a dozen additional neighborhoods, from St. Johns to the Jade District, where the mayor’s new Public Environment

Management Office plans to install lights, if it can secure funding (see map).

PEMO was created in May to consolidate city services focused on cleaning public spaces, and has largely focused on graffiti removal and trash cleanup. But that office has now asked for $300,000 to continue the lighting program through the new year, which it says will promote “streetscape revitalization, increase public safety, and provide retail support.”

So far, besides the familiar lights that are strung up every winter in the downtown core, new displays have popped up along six blocks in Old Town and on 18 trees in St. Johns and 71 trees near Northeast Sandy Boulevard.

The city has plans to wrap at least 100 trees in the Jade District along 82nd Avenue, and 15 more on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard, according to administrators in those districts. Nearly a dozen more neighborhoods are on the waitlist.

Here’s how the program works: The city pays to wrap the trees in lights, and nearby business owners pay for the electricity to power them. (In some cases, the $2.50-a-month electricity bill is subsidized by grants.)

For the past few months, PEMO em-

ployees have walked neighborhoods to identify promising trees. Then, administrators with local business districts have reached out to nearby property owners to see if they’re willing to provide access to an outlet.

In most cases, the lights are strung together over the tops of trees and then connected to the roofs of nearby buildings. There, Burke says, HVAC units allow an easy connection to the grid.

So far, says Alisa Kajikawa, who manages the Jade District for the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, it hasn’t been hard to persuade businesses to sign up. “The main concern has been the extra power use. But they’re all LED lights,” she says.

On a recent Sunday evening, Southwest 3rd Avenue in downtown was largely deserted despite being a little brighter thanks to illuminated trees. But Michael Dennis, 22, was out, working on his bike while sitting between a pair of large tents covering the sidewalk.

He’d been out on the streets “too long,” he said, and appreciated the gesture. “Makes the city feel lively,” he added, “and not so dead.” LUCAS MANFIELD.

A former day care stands empty amid promises of subsidized housing.

Address: 511 SE 60th Ave.

Year built: 1919 Square footage: 4,460 Market value: $1.8 million

Owner: City of Portland

How long it’s been empty: 3 years

Why it’s empty: Unfunded affordable housing plans Before the two-story brick building overlooking Southeast 60th Avenue and Stark Street was abandoned to vandals, it housed a day care operated by the YMCA. But the Y’s lease with the city on the building known as the Mt. Tabor Annex ended in 2019. “The city of Portland took it back and hasn’t done anything with it. It has a fence around the whole building now with overgrown weeds,” according to a YMCA executive whose message was forwarded to WW by the nonprofit’s CEO, Tyler Wright.

Now, the Tabor Annex is mothballed and abandoned. Its windows are crudely painted over— the consequence, neighbors say, of the city’s effort to cover up graffiti that coated the building’s walls during the pandemic.

It’s a relic with some history. The Mills Open Air School was built in 1919 to serve children with tuberculosis. The lot, on the south side of then-rural Mount Tabor, was once “thought to be particularly healthful” for sickly kids, according to city historical records. Later, it was converted into an annex of a nearby elementary school.

In 1994, the city took over the property in a land swap with Multnomah County. Since, assessors have twice determined that “the building is at the end of its useful life.”

For nearly a decade, the city has planned to build affordable housing on the lot. A 2016 City Council resolution transferred the property to the Portland Housing Bureau (market value then: $1.2 million) with the “intention to work with the YMCA in order to ensure that it is able to maintain a daycare facility on the Property.”

That has not happened. “There are no resources identified for development,” says Martha Calhoon, a spokeswoman for the Housing Bureau. But, she noted, it’s still “earmarked for affordable housing development.” Money from both the 2016 Portland and 2018 Metro housing bonds has already been fully allocated for other projects. But the bureau has been “land banking” properties so it can move quickly once new money becomes available, Calhoon says.

On a recent morning, lights were still on in the former school’s hallways, which are strewn with debris.

A reader noted the former school overlooks what appears to be another abandoned building across the street, a hulking brick structure owned by Portland General Electric. It’s next to the electrical substation that exploded and burst into flames in November, leaving 3,000 houses without power.

A spokeswoman for PGE assured WW that the structure was still in use, although she declined to give further details. A maintenance crew was working at the site last week. LUCAS MANFIELD.

Every week, WW examines one mysteriously vacant property in the city of Portland, explains why it’s empty, and considers what might arrive there next. Send addresses to newstips@wweek.com.

Hall embarks on a new safety plan: year-round holiday light displays.

Mayor

Winter of Sam

Ted

Wheeler hired Sam Adams to be his hatchet man.

Why did he give him the ax?

BY SOPHIE PEEL speel@wweek.com

A little over two years ago, a former Portland mayor and the current Portland mayor formed an alliance at a McMenamins pub in the Southwest Hills.

Sam Adams, a hard-nosed operator whose political future had been derailed by scandal, offered assistance to Mayor Ted Wheeler, whose public image was in crisis thanks to racial justice protests, homelessness and crime. Wheeler hoped Adams could reduce sidewalk camping—and prove to downtown business interests that the mayor’s office wouldn’t tolerate current conditions. Wheeler needed help and Adams needed a job.

And for two years, the partnership worked. Until last week—when it exploded.

On Jan. 10, Adams wrote to his colleagues in an email that his chronic anemia, which left him exhausted at the end of the workday, was forcing him to resign his position. Because of Adams’ history, speculation immediately swirled that Adams resigned for other reasons. On Jan. 13, Adams insisted to WW there was no other reason behind his departure.

Mere hours later, Wheeler told WW that Adams hadn’t been truthful: The mayor says he had demanded Adams’ resignation due to a pattern of bullying and intimidation of female city employees.

Now, the two former allies are duking it out in the court of public opinion.

“This is really a bad look for everybody involved,” says former City Commissioner Mike Lindberg. “If you’re these employees and you feel like there’s no one that stands up for you, it must really be infuriating to see the story unfold in a different way.”

No resignation by another city official, short of Wheeler himself, would have garnered the interest, speculation and rumors that Adams’ did. That’s in part because of Adams’ personal baggage: His one term as mayor, from 2009 to 2013, was sullied by his lies about an affair with an 18-year-old legislative intern. But it’s also because of the outsized role he played in shaping the direction of the city, especially its troubled downtown.

Wheeler hired Adams, who’d worked in City Hall as a mayoral chief of staff for a decade and city commission-

FRENEMIES: Sam Adams and Ted Wheeler.

PHOTOS BY ABBY GORDON AND JUSTIN KATIGBAK

er before becoming mayor, because of his unequaled knowledge of how Portland can work—and his abrasive, aggressive style. He gave Adams carte blanche to clean up Portland’s streets. That gesture helped repair the relationship between Wheeler and his disgruntled base: property and business owners.

Adams did that, cutting through City Council opposition by advising the mayor to declare a series of emergency orders that cleared campers from slices of the city’s streetscape. He annoyed other regional elected officials by crafting a plan for six sanctioned camps with the end goal of banning sidewalk camping.

Those controversial decisions were made in Wheeler’s name, but most everyone knew—through documentation and word of mouth—that the ideas belonged to Adams.

“ What you learn to expect when working with city government is resistance and roadblocks. Sam thinks, ‘Let’s see how we can go around that roadblock,’” says Randy Leonard, a former city commissioner and longtime colleague of Adams’. “He did what all of us expected him to do, which is try to figure out a solution to some really complex problems that have frustrated Portlanders to a degree I’m unaware of in our history.”

In the hours after Wheeler rebutted Adams’ version of events, the city rapidly released documents aimed at buttressing Wheeler’s claim that Adams had bullied his way out of a job. A close reading of those records, along with interviews with city insiders, only raises more questions.

What was the last straw?

Documents suggest Adams’ departure was hastened by a Dec. 15 meeting he had with two deputy city attorneys.

The subject of that meeting was redacted from copies of records furnished to WW. But multiple sources say it concerned a federal lawsuit filed in September that alleges the city is breaking disability accommodations law by allowing tents on sidewalks. The plaintiffs, represented by Portland attorney John DiLorenzo, are demanding that the streets be cleared of tents.

Talks of a settlement were well underway in December. The heavily redacted email, in which one of the two female attorneys describes the meeting to City Attorney Robert Taylor, shows that Adams was upset by the attorneys’ proposed pushback to the plaintiffs’ proposal.

The deputy city attorney characterized Adams’ behavior as condescending, unprofessional and so rude that she left the meeting in tears. At 2:30 the following morning, Taylor criticized Adams’ alleged behavior in an email, calling it “not acceptable.”

He also sent it to Wheeler’s chief of staff, Bobby Lee; his deputy chief of staff; and chief human resources officer Cathy Bless.

According to the records, Bless and other HR employees met with Lee on Jan. 4 to discuss Adams’ behavior, which they categorized as a possible violation of city conduct rules.

“This trend does create significant liability for the City,” employee and labor relations director Ronald Zito wrote to Bless.

Six similar complaints preceded this one, dating as far back as August 2021.

If Adams’ behavior crossed a line, why wasn’t it investigated earlier?

Wheeler told WW on Friday afternoon that the complaints about Adams “reached a threshold in mid-December, and it was at that point that HR decided to make a recommendation to bring this to my attention.”

What that threshold was, exactly, is unclear. The city attorney’s complaint was the seventh about Adams in a year and a half, according to the furnished records. The description of Adams’ behavior in the December complaint appeared similar to his alleged behavior in other complaints.

To WW and The Oregonian on Friday afternoon,

Wheeler said, “We are not necessarily notified [of the complaints], and in some instances people might request that we might not be notified.”

That’s not entirely true.

The documents obtained by WW last week show that Wheeler’s chief of staff, Lee, knew about complaints as early as August 2021—when the very first informal complaint was made.

On Aug. 10, a bureau director described to Lee in an email a staffer’s interaction with Adams in which she used the adjectives “cornered,” “belittled” and “strongarmed” to describe his behavior. Lee wrote back a month later that he’d spoken with Adams, someone whose name was redacted (likely the complainant) and HR, and called the matter “resolved.”

Records also show that as early as September 2021, Bless discussed with a colleague talking to the mayor’s office about “a theme of failed interactions female staff are having with Sam.”

It appears that conversation happened. A month later, after another complaint, Bless emailed her colleague to explain that she had told the most recent complainant that “we were aware of this theme and have discussed this with the mayor’s office.”

Mayoral spokesperson Cody Bowman says Lee spoke to Adams twice about complaints made in 2021. HR leaders say they spoke to Adams twice, too.

“By the end of 2022, the accumulation of serious concerns led [HR] to recommend ending the city’s employment relationship with Mr. Adams,” Bowman says. “The mayor received this recommendation and acted on it.”

It’s unclear to what extent Adams was made aware of the complaints. Adams and his husband, Peter Zuckerman, say they had been discussing his imminent resignation due to health ailments for weeks prior to the Jan. 10 meeting.

Adams has insisted since Jan. 14 that he quit voluntarily. He got no severance pay. And records show Lee took no issue with Adams’ drafted resignation letter, which Adams shared with him prior to sending it, attributing his exit solely to health struggles. In fact, Lee asked for Adams’ permission to share those health issues with the media.

But Wheeler shattered that narrative when he said Adams had lied.

Since last Friday, Adams has described Wheeler’s remarks as “a knife in the back” and speculated that top city officials had plotted his demise for unknown political reasons.

What does Wheeler do now that Adams is gone?

It’s unclear who in power benefits from Adams’ departure. Wheeler now lacks a point person for the challenge of trying to return the city to pre-COVID vitality.

Business leaders are worried Adams’ departure will stunt progress. “Sam and his team were doing an outstanding job trying to move the immovable object. He wasn’t afraid to ruffle some feathers, which is exactly what is needed right now,” says downtown developer Greg Goodman, who adds that the incidents described in records are “most unfortunate to all those involved.”

On the other hand, the many opponents of tent sweeps and the proposed giant camps are thrilled to see him gone. “The policies coming out of the office have been a reflection of someone who had that tired, old-school belief that the best way to do things was to let people who have wealth and power determine the direction of the city,” says Angela Uherbelau, an education advocate.

Commissioner Dan Ryan takes issue with the assertion that Adams was the force behind the city’s aggressive homeless policies. “The idea that one person sets or drives a City Hall agenda is a false narrative,” Ryan tells WW

But if someone is prepared to fill the vacuum Adams leaves, it’s unclear who that is.

Off the Deep End

A city effort to help marginalized kids get swim lessons sets parents on edge.

BY RACHEL SASLOW @RachelLauren12

The most cutthroat Swifties on Ticketmaster would pity Portland parents trying to register their children for swimming lessons through Portland Parks & Recreation.

They set iPhone alarms and calendar alerts for the exact minute that registration opens. Failure means a distant spot on the waitlist and children who still can’t swim come middle school. Parents feel lucky to get lessons at pools across town at weird times. Those with enough money flee to private pools.

It was this way for years before the pandemic. Now, add a backlog of children who didn’t get lessons while pools were closed and a national lifeguard shortage and the result is a fiasco. In winter 2019, PP&R offered more than 3,200 swimming lesson slots. This season, the number is down to 800, according to the parks bureau.

Further spiking parents’ blood pressure: Nearly half those slots are spoken for before registration opens because they were offered in advance to families in marginalized groups. The result is that many parents feel tricked, like they waited patiently for swim lessons that were only a mirage.

Forty-six percent of available swim lesson spaces were filled during early registration this season, the parks bureau says. That registration period is intended for people of color, households experiencing poverty, seniors, teens, immigrants, refugees, and people with disabilities.

Since winter 2022, PP&R has opened activity registration to those groups a week before general registration begins. At 12:30 pm on Jan. 18, for example, everyone is welcome to register for the next season of PP&R activities. The aforementioned groups have been invited to sign up for lessons on the phone or in person since last Wednesday.

Few people disagree with the policy’s aims. But the rollout has ruffled the feathers of some parents whose children have been locked out of swimming lessons for years. Further complicating matters, the policy runs on the honor system.

“ While early registration is intended to improve access for underserved communities, no one is excluded from signing up during the early registration period,” says PP&R spokesman Mark Ross.

PP&R offers an explanation of the early registration policy at the bottom of the registration landing page. In bold is the sentence: “This may result in some activities being full prior to general registration opening day.”

Anecdotally, many parents say they missed that paragraph and found out about the policy after calling the bureau, confused and frustrated, on registration day.

Tara Lilley didn’t see it either when she peeked at swimming lesson times for her 10-year-old daughter last spring. It was more than an hour before general registration opened, but the “otter” lesson at Mt. Scott Community Center that she had her eye on was already full; she was waitlisted. Lilley ranted on a Facebook parenting group, using 17 angry exclamation points.

“They started the whole equity thing, but they kind of didn’t tell people about it,” Lilley says.

PP&R’s primary challenge in meeting demand for swimming lessons is the lifeguard shortage, which is nationwide. The Portland City Council and the city’s labor unions agreed last month to hike wages for lifeguards and swimming instructors in hopes of recruiting more. They have already added 26, says spokesman Ross.

Meanwhile, he says, the bureau has a mandate from a levy approved by voters in 2020 to improve access for underserved communities. To that end, it translated registration materials into 19 languages and introduced the Access Pass, which discounts activity fees up to 90%.

The early registration pilot program, which extends through the end of this summer, is aimed at lowering generations of barriers to recreation programming

grams fill up super fast,” Liddicoat says. “This allows us the time to do direct outreach beforehand and offer support in registering people.”

Some of Rosewood’s neighbors speak limited English or aren’t computer savvy, Liddicoat says. Rosewood has staffers who speak Spanish, Nepali and Rohingya.

“Early registration is a great method of increasing access to parks programs,” Liddicoat says. “That’s what a lot of our work is about, increasing access.”

But, ironically, even some of the people who are the intended recipients of early registration either feel uncomfortable using the benefit or still don’t know about it.

Lilley felt grateful to land her daughter an otter lesson at the East Portland Community Center despite getting stuck in Interstate 205 traffic on the way home to Brentwood-Darlington two nights a week.

At Mt. Scott Community Center, her regular pool, Lilley asked the front desk employee about how to get on the early registration list. Lilley has a disability that qualifies her for the early registration program. While the front desk employee at Mt. Scott was happy to help her pick out swimming lessons for her daughter, Lilley passed.

“I’ve thought about it and I don’t feel marginalized enough,” Lilley says. Her daughter turns 11 in February but insists on swimming with a full snorkel mask because she cannot hold her breath underwater.

Ailyn Taylor, a mother of two, had to take a break during her job as a teacher to be on her phone for 12:30 pm registration; her 6-year-old daughter was waitlisted anyway.

“It had me really frustrated, and my kid was also frustrated,” Taylor says. “What else could I do? Learning to swim is a necessity for her age.”

CONSIDER THIS

Class, labor, and power

JOIN US FOR AN ONSTAGE CONVERSATION WITH VANESSA VESELKA

Vanessa Veselka has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a musician, a student of paleontology, a union organizer, a cab driver, and a mother. She is the author of the novels

The Great Offshore Grounds and Zazen

Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St. Thursday, January 26, at 7:00 p.m. $15 general admission. No-cost tickets available. oregonhumanities.org

2023 MARK O. HATFIELD

Lecture Series

for marginalized communities. The barriers have real public health outcomes: Drowning death rates among Black children ages 5 to 9, for example, are 2.6 times higher than for white children the same age, according to PP&R.

At the Rosewood Initiative, a community resource center at Southeast 141st Avenue and Stark Street, employees printed out flyers and did direct outreach to their contacts to tell them about the early registration benefit, says Rosewood spokeswoman Merrill Liddicoat.

“A lot of our community members are not as plugged in to the city’s programming, and a lot of those pro-

She has tried and failed to register her daughter for swimming lessons for three years now. As a creative solution for her disappointed daughter, Taylor planned a family vacation to Eastern Oregon, where her husband tried to teach their daughter to swim in hotel pools.

Taylor is from the Philippines and therefore eligible for early registration, but was unaware of the program.

She has settled for taking her children to open swim on weekends. Her daughter has never had a formal lesson.

“That’s her passion,” she says. “She’s a free girl in the water.”

OUT TO DRY: Ailyn Taylor, a preschool teacher, has been trying for three years to register her 6-year-old daughter for swim lessons.

“They started the whole equity thing, but they kind of didn’t tell people about it.”

Nina Totenberg • Feb. 2 Mae Ngai • Mar. 28

Douglas Brinkley • Apr. 18 Peniel E. Joseph

BY NIGEL JAQUISS njaquiss@wweek.com PHOTOGRAPHS BY TIM SAPUTO

It’s the phone call every parent dreads.

On Oct. 15, 2017, Dan Nichols, an engineer at Boeing in Gresham, raked leaves at his Lake Oswego home. His wife, Kathryn, was inside, preparing to make dinner. The couple were empty-nesters, except for their Labradoodle, Sage. Their daughter Laura, a recent Gonzaga University graduate, lived in Seattle; their son Dave also worked as an engineer at Boeing, in Washington state.

Earlier that day, Dave, then 24, had journeyed to a rock-climbing hot spot in the Alpine Lakes region called “the Enchantments” about 15 miles south of Leavenworth and 160 miles northeast of Portland.

Dave loved climbing. He’d taken a summer mountaineering course at Oregon State University and later trained with the Mazamas mountaineering club in Portland, bagging most of Oregon’s major peaks. A former high school wrestler, he was compact and wiry, with an engineer’s precise approach to setting anchors in rock crevices to ensure his climbing ropes held firm.

It was a warm, dry autumn morning—no ice yet on the granite rock faces that lure climbers from all over the West. “I’d climbed in the Enchantments plenty of times,” Dave Nichols now says.

But that day, something went wrong. Partway up a climb called Obit on the 1,000-foot rock face called Snow Creek Wall, Nichols fell about 50 feet, shattering his helmet and breaking his neck,

shoulder, and bones in his face. He came to a stop hanging upside down from his climbing harness, blood pouring from his mouth. Other climbers, some with medical training, rushed to his aid.

Unable to land in the steep rocks, a helicopter dropped rescue staff who intubated Nichols, preventing him from choking to death. The chopper then lowered a basket to evacuate him and rushed to the hospital.

At his parents’ home, the phone rang.

“I got a call from somebody at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle,” Kathryn Nichols recalls. “They said Dave had had an accident and we needed to come right away. His brain was bleeding.”

Doctors said Dave had suffered a severe brain injury. Even after Nichols’ condition stablized, doctors remained pessimistic. “They said there was no hope, we should consider palliative care and organ donation,” Kathryn Nichols recalls.

The family rejected that option. Instead, they embarked on a five-year odyssey that would expose them to a sliver of the Oregon health care industry that, according to advocates, is uncoordinated, unfriendly to patents, and underresourced. Specifically, experts point to a shortage of inpatient rehabilitation facility beds and coordinated services for patients who have suffered what are called “traumatic brain injuries,” or TBIs.

FREE FALL

Oregon provides hardly any rehab beds for patients with brain injuries. Powerful interests want to keep it that way.

NEW START: Kathryn, Dave and Dan Nichols moved into a new home in 2019 to accommodate Dave’s brain injury.

About 13,500 Oregonians each year end up in the hospital with TBIs, state figures show, and at least 45,000, and probably far more, live with the “chronic, long-term effect of brain injury.”

People who have fallen, been in vehicle crashes, been assaulted or shot, or suffered sports injuries are the most likely to have TBIs.

In many states, when patients with a traumatic brain injury leave the hospital, they go to specialty hospitals, “inpatient rehabilitation facilities” that provide at least three hours of intensive therapy a day to help the patient regain function.

But when the Nicholses tried to bring Dave home from Seattle for rehab, there were no beds available.

The biggest medical player in Portland, Legacy Health, has not expanded its 36-bed Rehabilitation Institute of Oregon for more than a dozen years, even as the state’s population has grown.

Providence Portland offers the only other intensive rehab beds (18) in the metro region. In fact, Washington and Clackamas counties are among the largest counties in the country without a single rehab bed (see table below).

Top 20 Largest Counties in US with no Rehab Beds

Source: DHG Healthcare Analysis

County 2019 Total Population

San Mateo County, CA 779,473

Washington County, OR 604,361

Anne Arundel County, MD 579,979

Union County, NJ 569,042

Plymouth County, MA 519,639

Prince William County, VA 470,275

Pinal County, AZ 446,877

Dakota County, MN 427,370

Clackamas County, OR 421,801

Anoka County, MN 356,540

Lake County, FL 356,209

Larimer County, CO 353,332

Douglas County, CO 345,373

Somerset County, NJ 337,300

Howard County, MD 327,701

Lexington County, SC 296,997

Glouster County, NJ 292,869

Clayton County, GA 292,252

Ottawa County, MI 291,072

Thurston County, WA 287,858

Oregon ranks 49th in the number of rehab beds per capita, ahead only of Alaska (see graphs, right). So the Nicholses had to fly their son from Harborview in Seattle to Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., where, for five months, he got the kind of intensive therapy unavailable to him in Oregon.

Coincidentally, not long after Dave Nichols came home from the out-of-state rehab hospital, two rehab hospital companies from the East applied to the state of Oregon to enter the Portland market and expand the number of beds for rehab. But WW has learned that two of the biggest players in Oregon health care, Legacy and the Oregon Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes that serve rehab patients, have spent the past four years blocking the new hospitals.

Richard Harris, former director of addictions

and mental health for the state, is part of a group working to expand and coodinate Oregon’s services for people who have suffered TBIs. Harris says he was unaware Legacy and OHCA are suing to block the creation of additional rehab beds. “I find that incredible and inexcusable,” he says.

In 1971, Oregon lawmakers passed legislation requiring that before a health care provider invested in a significant new program or facility, it must obtain a “certificate of need.” Currently, Oregon is one of 35 states that require a certificate of need before a new facility like a rehab hospital can open. The premise, in the state’s words, is “to discourage unnecessary investment in unneeded facilities and services,” which helps to “control the rapidly escalating costs of health care through planning and regulation.”

Like many good ideas, however, the certificate of need process has veered off track. Nationally, critics from the left (such as the Brookings Institution), the right (the Heritage Foundation), and the U.S. government say requiring new entrants to prove their investments are needed restricts competition, reduces patient choice, and raises costs.

As far back as 2004, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission jointly urged states to abolish certificate of need requirements.

“Certificate-of-need laws impede the effi-

MARKET LEADER: The Legacy Rehabilitation Institute in Northwest Portland serves patients suffering from traumatic brain injuries, strokes and spinal cord injuries.

cient performance of health care markets,” the agencies said then. “By their very nature, CON laws create barriers to entry and expansion to the detriment of health care competition and consumers. They undercut consumer choice, stifle innovation, and weaken markets’ ability to contain health care costs.”

The Oregon Health Authority, which issues certificates of need, rarely denies them, but the process can be so long and tortuous that it is an effective barrier. Last year, for instance, OHA issued a certificate for a new psychiatric hospital in Wilsonville six years after its initial application. In a state where the shortage of psychiatric beds is the subject of three federal lawsuits and has resulted in emergency releases from the Oregon State Hospital, opponents convinced OHA to add so many restrictions to its approval that the applicant, United Health Systems, walked away, calling the state’s requirements “untenable.”

Five years ago, two companies saw an opportunity to provide more rehab beds for Oregon patients. Both are large, for-profit providers: Encompass Health of Alabama has 153 rehab hospitals around the country, and PAM Health of Pennsylvania has 41.

The companies filed applications with the Oregon Health Authority for certificates of need: Encompass proposed a 50-bed hospital in Hillsboro, and PAM wanted to build a 50-bed hospital in Tigard.

Although they are competitors elsewhere and would be here, each of the newcomers supported the other’s application.

Existing operators in Oregon reacted differently. Portland-based Legacy, a nonprofit that operates six hospitals and more than 70 clinics, and had revenues of $2.56 billion in 2022, objected strenuously to both applications. So did the Oregon Health Care Association, which represents 1,000 members, including about 130 nursing homes.

Legacy disputed the need for additional beds, despite Oregon’s 49th-place ranking in rehab beds per capita, saying in Nov. 4, 2019, testimony that the new facilities would “result in an unnecessary duplication of services and will have a negative financial impact on other providers… with resulting harm to Oregon’s patients receiving Medicaid or charity care.”

Legacy spokesman Ryan Frank says there are enough rehab beds currently.

“In 2019, which is relevant for the timing of the applications, [Legacy’s] occupancy was 73.7% and Providence’s occupancy was only 31.7%,” Frank says. “The occupancy rates for the existing inpatient rehab facilities show that we have significant available patient capacity and there is no need for these projects.”

Phil Bentley, the CEO of the Oregon Health Care Association, says the health authority used bad math evaluating the need for more beds.

“I have all the sympathy in the world if a family is struggling to access rehab care,” Bentley says. “But OHA did not accurately calculate the need for new rehab beds, and now that Oregon has a health care workforce shortage crisis, the importance of getting that calculation right is even more critical.”

Bentley ’s association represents skilled nursing facilities, which are an alternative for patients suffering from a TBI. While the level of care is not as high as at rehab hospitals, nursing facilities say their care for TBI patients is cheaper than at rehab hospitals. “Nursing facilities are a more cost-effective supplier of rehabilitation services,” the OHCA said in Nov. 4, 2019, testimony.

OHCA and Legacy worried that the new entrants would strip-mine patients with private insurance or Medicare that pay a higher rate of reimbursement than Medicaid, which covers

low-income Oregonians through the Oregon Health Plan.

“If their applications were granted, [Legacy] would continue to serve the vast majority of the most vulnerable patients in our community, while Encompass and PAM take a greater proportion of patients with less challenging medical needs and commercial insurance or Medicare,” Legacy’s Frank says.

The rehab hospitals disputed their opponents’ analysis, arguing that patients at rehabs get more and different kinds of therapy, including physical, speech and occupational, for a minimum of three hours a day. At skilled nursing facilities, they say, patients often get one hour of therapy a day and staff is less numerous and has less training. Some experts agreed.

“Patients do better if they go to rehab—there’s plenty of research that shows that,” says Dr. Nick Bomalaski, who runs a 14-bed rehab program for PeaceHealth in Vancouver, Wash. “They have higher levels of functional independence, higher

“It’s all about the money.”

quality of life, and less of an expense to society.”

With the stakes high, the certificate of need process for the two out-of-state firms dragged on for four years, with Legacy and the nursing home industry opposing approval every step of the way. Finally, in May 2022, the Oregon Health Authority proposed to issue certificates of need to both applicants.

OHA’s Dr. Dana Selover explained in her written order that Oregon not only demonstrably had too few rehab beds, but data showed patients at hospital rehabs had better outcomes. They were half as likely to end up back in hospitals as patients treated at skilled nursing homes. She also found that independent rehab hospitals, like those proposed by the applicants (of which Oregon has none), were cheaper than rehab programs located inside general hospitals.

But Legacy and the Oregon Health Care Association were not finished.

On June 14, 2022, the organizations filed suit in the Oregon Court of Appeals to block both hospitals.

Due to the court’s large case backlog, no decision is likely before mid-2024, and it could take much longer.

Dr. Bruce Goldberg, a former director of the Oregon Health Authority, says he’s not sure the certificate of need process is working as intended.

“The intent was to use health care dollars efficiently and to help improve access,” Goldberg says, “but over the years it has been used to keep competition out.”

Sherry Stock, director of the Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon, says the entrenched players, Legacy and OHCA, are using the certificate of need process to put their own financial interests ahead of what’s best for patients.

“It’s all about the money,” Stock says. “That’s what it’s all about.”

Richard Harris has spent his career in social services, including 29 years at Portland’s Central City Concern, where he was executive director.

“People with brain injuries just don’t get better by themselves.”

WORKOUT MACHINE: Dave Nichols exercises in his parents’ garage. He can now do 13 pullups.

BRAIN

Harris says he’s come to realize the massive human and financial impacts of failing to identify and properly treat TBIs.

“The whole system is divided and siloed in Oregon,” Harris says. “There’s no way for a person to thread their way through all the places they need to go. It’s been a problem for a long time.”

Harris says there are thousands of Oregonians whose brain injuries were never properly identified. “TBIs are poorly diagnosed and underdiagnosed,” he says. “The reality is, the longer it goes undiagnosed, the more likely patients are getting the wrong treatment, and so things get worse.”

Unlike 39 other states, advocates say, Oregon offers no central place for TBI patients, who’ve often seen their executive function and organizational skills damaged, to get coordinated services from the state and county agencies that are directly involved.

Harris points to the consequence of Oregon’s lack of resources for people with TBIs: research across the U.S. and Canada among people who become homeless. A Colorado study published last year, for instance, found that in a survey of 115 homeless people, 74% had a TBI before becoming homeless.

Portland, of course, has a disproportionately high rate of homelessness.

“I would say that is a significant contributor to our homelessness rate,” Harris says. “Given the lack of information about services that exist, it has an effect. People with brain injuries just don’t get better by themselves.”

in prison have a preexisting TBI.”

Kracke, thanks to a federal grant, is now the state’s first brain injury advocate. He worked with Harris and others to prepare legislation for this session that would establish a TBI navigation center within the Oregon Department of Human Services. The idea in Senate Bill 420: to hire coordinators who would streamline access to therapy and other supports.

A recent survey of families such as the Nicholses determined that the average TBI sufferer needs a dozen different services and supports.

“For Oregon not to coordinate those services,” Kracke says, “is just terrible.”

Any structural changes will have to pass muster with the Oregon Association of Hospitals & Health Systems and OHCA, which collectively gave candidates $2 million last year. (OHCA gave $165,000 to Gov. Tina Kotek.)

Legislative leaders and a spokesperson for Kotek say they are not familiar with the certificate of need process but expressed a desire for better outcomes.

“Our health care system is in a crisis and near a breaking point,” says House Speaker Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis). “We should be evaluating all our existing systems and procedures to ensure they are working to stabilize our health care system.”

After his accident, Dave Nichols shed nearly 40 pounds—and a lot more. At Craig Hospital, the stand-alone rehab facility in Colorado, he relearned how to walk, talk and go to the bathroom. He came home April 20, 2018, six months after his fall.

He’s no longer an engineer at Boeing, but he has progressed to the point that he can live semi-independently in an apartment in his parents’ home.

He continues to make progress. His ropy forearms attest to punishing daily workouts. His balance is better: He can nearly walk unaided.

His speech is slow and a tremor still affects his hands, but he works two part-time jobs as the social media coordinator and a cupcake maker at Sara Bellum, a Multnomah Village bakery staffed by workers with brain injuries.

“I’m trying to help spread the word about our mission and delicious cupcakes,” he says.

“For me personally, things have just been improving,” he adds. “The future still looks pretty bright, still positive. That keeps me motivated to work hard and work at my exercises.”

With special equipment, he’s been able to fish, ski and even scale indoor climbing walls.

His goal is to return to work as an engineer and someday, he says, go back to the Enchantments: “I still am itching to climb outside again.”

Kathryn Nichols says she’s very proud of the improvement her son has made, but she also knows her family is atypical. Dave had excellent health insurance through Boeing and, as a former government auditor, she was better equipped than most to negotiate Oregon’s fragmented health care and insurance systems.

“ We know we are among the 1% in the brain injury world,” she says. The Nicholses were able to stay in Seattle, then Colorado, while Dave recuperated, and they can now shepherd him from place to place in the disconnected system of outpatient services scattered across the Portland metro area.

Dave Kracke, a Portland lawyer behind new state laws that safeguard the return to competition and the classroom for children with sports-related concussions, says research also shows TBIs factor disproportionately in histories of people who develop substance use disorder or end up in jail or prison.

“The statistics are staggering,” Kracke says. “One study found more than 70% of the women

Kathryn Nichols says she and her son have come to recognize the signs of untreated brain injuries in the homeless people they see in their travels. The lack of treatment is a cost both to the injured and to everyone.

“ With only limited inpatient rehab services in our community and without support from families like ours,” Nichols says, “many people who suffer TBIs will not have a shot at the kind of recovery Dave has made.”

ADVOCATE: Portland lawyer Dave Kracke is the state’s first brain injury advocate coordinator.

VOLUNTEER GUIDE

Below you’ll find 23 Portland nonprofits that need help. Volunteering your time and energy is invaluable to these organizations. If you can fill one fo the positions, terrific! If you know someone else who can, point them to this guide. Keep these opportunities in mind and support these nonprofits who are doing great work.

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR VOLUNTEER GUIDE SPONSOR: CAUSEMIC

CauseMic is a Portland-based growth consultancy that helps nonprofits and mission-driven organizations quickly grow revenue and impact.

They developed a free training program for Willamette Week’s Give!Guide nonprofit participants, leading to millions of dollars in donations for local causes. Pre-order CauseMic’s new book, THE HIGH-GROWTH NONPROFIT: Proven steps to quickly double your revenue and drive impact, at causemic.com/givebook.

Education

COLLEGE POSSIBLE OREGON

How does your organization help Portland?

College Possible’s mission is to make college admission and success possible for students from low-income backgrounds. We serve 1,600 students on their path to becoming college graduates with real results, including 97% of our students earning admission to college. Support for students has been uninterrupted during the pandemic and now, more than ever continued support for students is vital.

How can volunteers help?

Short-term opportunities: career panels, in which individuals share their experiences and work with students; represent College Possible at a Lunch and Learn event; assemble student care bags for students to receive during final exams, standardized tests, etc.; receive training and coach rising firstyear college students at a one-day transition event. College Possible also has long-term investment opportunities on its Investment Council and Ambassador Board (for engaged members under 40 years of age).

Who to Contact?

Christina Carl | ccarl@collegepossible.org | 971-407-2975 | collegepossible.org

Health & Wellness Services

DISABILITY

SERVICES

ADVISORY COUNCILS

How does your organization help Portland? Aging and People with Disabilities advisory groups, including the Oregon Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Advisory Committee, Oregon Disabilities Commission, the Governor’s Commission on Senior Services and Disability Services Advisory Councils provide feedback on state policy guidelines and issues that affect older adults and people with disabilities. These advisory groups work closely with state and local agencies throughout Oregon to promote person-centered services, independence, and improved quality of life for older adults and people with disabilities.

How can volunteers help?

Volunteers can make a difference in their community by applying for membership on advisory groups and sharing their diverse perspectives and experiences. Members sup-

port quality of life and services for older adults and people with disabilities by learning about the political process, and advising, educating and advocating to others about local service delivery options.

Who to Contact?

Oregon.DSAC@odhsoha.oregon.gov | GCSS.Info@odhsoha.oregon. gov odhhs.info@odhsoha.oregon.gov | OregonDisabilities.Commission@odhsoha.oregon.gov |

DOUGY CENTER

How does your organization help Portland?

One in 17 kids in the Portland area will experience the death of a parent or sibling before they turn 18. Dougy Center provides grief support in a safe place to local kids, teens, and families through biweekly peer support groups where they can share their experiences before and after a death. All of their resources and support services are provided at no cost to the families they serve.

How can volunteers help?

Dougy Center volunteer facilitators play a crucial role in ensuring access to our bereavement program. Become a Dougy Center volunteer facilitator and work directly with kids, teens, young adults, and their adult family members at one of Dougy Center’s three metro area locations. Complete the free volunteer facilitator training, then work with the grief support group that fits your interests and schedule. Volunteers commit to giving 3.5 hours of time every other week for one year. Find out more at dougy.org/volunteer.

Who to Contact?

Meredith Kelley | volunteer@dougy.org | dougy.org

GUARDIAN PARTNERS

How does your organization help Portland?

Guardian Partners is a volunteer-based nonprofit offering education, resources, and oversight for our disabled and senior communities under guardianship. Their goal is not only to prevent abuse but also to connect guardians and protected people with resources.

How can volunteers help?

Guardian Partners is currently looking for volunteers to complete wellness checks on adults under guardianship to ensure they are being properly cared for by their guardians. Volunteers will make recommendations to the court and provide resources and referrals. Guardian Partners serves 9 counties in Oregon, including Multnomah County and Clackamas County.

Who to Contact?

Jeni Bennett | staff@guardian-partners.org | (775) 863-8773 | guardian-partners.org

Sponsored special section presented by participating nonprofits.

KAISER PERMANENTE NW

How does your organization help Portland?

Kaiser Permanente exists to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. Volunteers give their time and compassion to be a part of the care experience for patients and families across Oregon and SW Washington.

How can volunteers help?

Kaiser Permanente volunteers select the program that fits their interest: Hospital, Clinic, or Hospice. All positions require compassionate and caring individuals who understand and value treating others with dignity and respect. They ask volunteers to make a long term, weekly commitment to their program of choice. Hospice volunteers help to improve the quality of life for our patients and families at the end of life with support like visiting with the patient, providing a break for a caregiver, assisting with a project or helping with some household tasks. Clinic volunteers are present in same-day primary, specialty care or urgent care centers and assist patients as they arrive and navigate the facility and provide support to administrative and clinical staff. Hospital volunteers can select from 19 unique units or areas within the hospitals and interact with staff, members, and visitors. Volunteers are in contact with patients for many of these roles but do not provide direct patient care. For volunteer eligibility, screening requirements and to apply, please check the website: https://www.kpnwvolunteer.org

Who to Contact?

Hospice: HospicevolunteerNW@kp.org; Clinic: kpnwclinicvol@kp.org; Kaiser Sunnyside Hospital: volunteersKSMC@kp.org; Kaiser Westside Hospital: volunteerKWMC@kp.org Hospice: (503) 499-5168; Clinics: (971) 200-9346 Sunnyside: (503) 571-4155; Westside: (971) 310-3135

OUR JUST FUTURE (FORMELRY KNOWN AS HUMAN SOLUTIONS)

How does your organization help Portland?

Our Just Future helps Portland by 1) partnering with people and communities impacted by poverty so they can achieve long-term housing and economic security; 2) investing in affordable housing and community assets that contribute to strong, inclusive neighborhoods; and 3) advocating with our community for policies and investments that expand housing and economic opportunity, eliminate wealth inequality and end poverty.

How can volunteers help?

Volunteers are needed to: drive to retrieve and deliver donations, prepare meals for emergency shelters, and host donation drives for needed items

Who to Contact?

Marci Cartagena | volunteer@ourjustfuture.org | (503) 278-1637 | humansolutions.org

SENIOR HEALTH INSURANCE BENEFITS ASSISTANCE (SHIBA)

How does your organization help Portland?

The Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance (SHIBA) program is a statewide network of certified counselors who volunteer their time to educate and advocate for people of all ages who have Medicare. People who contact SHIBA can get their Medicare related questions answered, ensuring they select the best coverage options for their health care needs. Information and counseling services provided through SHIBA are free and confidential.

How can volunteers help?

SHIBA’s success is built on a statewide network of certified Medicare counselors who volunteer their time. Counselors help people in their community understand their Medicare insurance choices and their rights by offering one-on-one counseling, classes, and referrals. SHIBA counselors are required to complete an online training program and 10-hour internship as part of their certification.

Who to Contact?

SHIBA.Oregon@odhsoha.oregon.gov | (800) 722-4134

Environment

FRIENDS OF TREES

How does your organization help Portland?

Friends of Trees inspires people to improve the world around them through a simple solution: Planting trees. Together. Trees play a vital role in our region’s livability. With the help of thousands of volunteers, Friends of Trees plants trees in neighborhoods and natural areas in an effort to build community, fight climate change, and bring the benefits of trees to everyone. Friends of Trees is also a 2022 Give!Guide nonprofit!

How can volunteers help?

Friends of Trees has events throughout the Portland metro region every Saturday, October to April. Family friendly, ages 6+ welcome, and no experience necessary-just weather appropriate attire and sturdy footwear. They provide tools, instructions, and leadership so that you have an awesome time planting. Want to get even more involved? You can become a Crew Leader!

Who to Contact?

Jenny Bedell-Stiles | volunteer@friendsoftrees.org | 503-595-0213 | friendsoftrees.org

PEOPLE OF COLOR OUTDOORS

How does your organization help Portland?

People of Color Outdoors is a non-profit committed to creating an outdoors community that is welcoming and educational for Black, Indigenous and People of Color that have either survived racial trauma while in nature, or simply have a desire to safely connect with nature.

How can volunteers help?

People of Color Outdoors needs hike leaders, camping equipment instructors, outdoor cook demonstration, help with connecting with corporate sponsors, fundraising and grant writing, Instagram help, writers.

Who to Contact?

Pamela Slaughter | Pam@pdxpocoutdoors.com | 503-349-1061 | pdxpocoutdoors.com

Youth

CASA FOR CHILDREN OF MULTNOMAH, WASHINGTON, COLUMBIA, AND TILLAMOOK COUNTIES

How does your organization help Portland?

CASA for Children recruits, trains and supports community volunteers to speak up for abused and neglected children who are under court protection. CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteers help provide a stable, caring presence in these children’s lives, giving them hope for the future by ensuring that their educational, emotional, medical and practical needs are met while they are living in foster care.

How can volunteers help?

CASA volunteers get to know each child by visiting them and speaking to those involved in the child’s life. They also monitor each child’s case by attending meetings and hearings, provide an objective opinion to the court, and make recommendations to ensure that each child’s need for a safe, permanent home is met as quickly as possible. Minimum age: 21.

Who to Contact?

www.casahelpskids.org

Jazmin Roque | JRoque@casahelpskids.org | casahelpskids.org/ infosessions

Animals

CAT ADOPTION TEAM (CAT)

How does your organization help Portland?

Cat Adoption Team provides love, laughter, and companionship to Portland cats and people! With support from the community, CAT provides adoption, fostering, and veterinary services to cats and kittens in need. They also offer programs to help people keep and care for their cats. Thousands of cats and people find love at CAT each year. Join them in the feline fun!

How can volunteers help?

Make matches as an adoption counselor, become a foster parent, represent CAT at events, provide daily care for shelter cats, assist spay/neuter clients, help with administrative tasks, or become a kitty chauffeur. Bring your people skills and love of cats to CATs and let’s save lives together!

Who to Contact?

Nancy Puro | volunteer@catadoptionteam.org | (503) 925-8903 | catadoptionteam.org

Arts

CYMASPACE

How does your organization help Portland?

CymaSpace makes arts, media and culture accessible and inclusive to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing through technology, education and outreach. Their Deaf led live and online productions empower and promote Deaf performers, technicians and volunteers to advance their skills and use their talents to engage with local Deaf and Hard of Hearing/Intersecting BIPOC communities.

How can volunteers help?

Whether it’s collaborating on cutting edge, accessible, immersive installations or data entry we have opportunities for a wide range of interests. Have a disability but have found volunteer opportunities inaccessible? CymaSpace is here to accommodate you and teach you new skillsets! A/V production, programming, design and fabrication, development, marketing, graphic design, and more, they create a safe space for people to engage and support the disability community.

Who to Contact?

Eric Buchner | volunteer@cymaspace.org | 231-590-1503 | cymaspace.org

Community

BLANCHET HOUSE

How does your organization help Portland?

Blanchet House alleviates suffering in the community, one relationship at a time, through food, clothing, and transitional shelter programs. They serve anyone who comes to their doors without judgment because they believe everyone deserves dignity, hope, and community.

How can volunteers help?

Volunteers are needed to serve meals and drinks in Blanchet’s free cafe to people experiencing homelessness and hunger Mon-Sat. They can choose one of the following shifts: 6:30-7:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., or 5-6 p.m. Sign-up and orientation is easily done online at BlanchetHouse.org/Volunteer.

Who to Contact?

Jennifer Ransdell | volunteer@blanchethouse.org | 503-241-4340 | BlanchetHouse.org/Volunteer

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

PORTLAND REGION RESTORES

How does your organization help Portland?

Every item donation and every ReStore purchase helps fund local Habitat for Humanity homebuilding programs. By donating or shopping at the ReStore, you can help HH give items new life and keep usable materials out of local landfills. Last year, ReStores diverted 9,281 tons of reusable materials from landfills. There

are even three ReStore locations that you can visit: Beaverton, Gresham, and Portland.

How can volunteers help?

As a volunteer-driven organization, they rely on people like you! Volunteer tasks include processing donations, cashiering, providing helpful customer service, recycling metal, assembling furniture, and more. Gain new skills, meet new people, and have fun all while making a difference! Volunteer with them at one of their three ReStores or in their warehouse. No experience is required. Now accepting volunteers 14 years old and up.

Who to Contact?

volunteer@habitatportlandregion.org | 503-287-9529 | volunteer. habitatportlandregion.org

LUTHERAN COMMUNITY SERVICES NORTHWEST

How does your organization help Portland?

LCSNW works for health, justice and hope. Their services include behavioral health, family & community support, refugee & immigrant services, child welfare, aging & independent living, and crime victim services without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious belief, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, ability, military or veteran status, source of income or political affiliation.

How can volunteers help?

Volunteers provide a lot of support to our agency, specifically in the resettlement process for refugees and immigrants. From welcoming new arrivals at the airport and transporting them to their new home, to providing a warm welcome meal, there are many needs in the first 90 days after arrival. LCSNW offers prospective volunteers an orientation and training session that provides further information about opportunities and what to expect for those that are interested.

Who to Contact?

Anatoly Pinchuk | volunteermanagement@lcsnw.org | 503-2317480 | lcsnw.org

OREGON FOOD BANK

How does your organization help Portland?

Oregon Food Bank believes that food is a basic human right. Hunger is not just an individual experience; it is a community-wide symptom of barriers to employment, education, housing, and health care. That’s why they’re dedicated to helping people access nutritious food today AND building community power to eliminate the root causes of hunger for good. Together, Oregon Food Bank knows we can end hunger.

How can volunteers help?

They seek volunteers and advocates to help build a powerful movement to eliminate hunger for good! There are many ways to help end hunger in our communities — volunteers are from all walks of life with different abilities and schedules. Whatever your skills or interests, they welcome you. Join them for an on-site food repack/sort or seasonal garden shift, or off-site at one of their Partner Agencies. Or from the comfort of your own home, you can join them for online fundraisers and advocacy initiatives.

Who to Contact?

Laura Yeary | volunteer@oregonfoodbank.org | 503-282-0555 | oregonfoodbank.org

ROSE CITY ROLLERS

How does your organization help Portland?

The Rose City Rollers serve women, girls, and gender-expansive individuals who want to play roller derby, connect with an inclusive community, and realize their power on and off skates. As an almost entirely volunteer-run organization, we offer volunteers opportunities to learn professional skills by working alongside experienced professionals in the fields of media, development, event planning, sports management, and more.

How can volunteers help?

Volunteering your time to the Rose City Rollers means you’re investing in a future of joy, health, and wellness for our Port-

land community through the magic of roller skating! They offer a vast array of skill and resume-building opportunities, from one-time commitments at events & games to longer-term roles in sponsorship, social media, merchandise, live streaming, officiating, development, and more! From large group tasks like organizing, cleaning, or skate maintenance to virtual ones like live-stream moderation, data entry, and website maintenance, there are so many ways to help! We even offer internships, giving you a chance to experience meaningful work while exploring & developing your career! Whatever your interests are, you have a home with Rose City Rollers - supporting RCR means supporting strength, connection, and empowerment. Who to Contact?

Summer Pruitt-Feist | volunteer@rosecityrollers.com | rosecityrollers.com

STORE TO DOOR

How does your organization help Portland?

Store to Door supports independent living for Portland area seniors and people with disabilities by providing an affordable, personal, volunteer-based grocery shopping and delivery service.

How can volunteers help?

Store to Door’s most popular program is grocery shopping. It’s a fun scavenger hunt through the store to find items on a client’s grocery list! Volunteer shoppers are not responsible for purchasing or delivering the orders. They shop on Wednesday & Thursday mornings at Hollwyood and Beaverton Town Square Fred Meyer. Volunteers are also needed as Order Takers, Delivery Drives, Food Box Packers, and Friendly Callers. Visit their volunteer website to create an account and sign up for the shopping shift or check ‘I am interested in being a…’. Who to Contact?

Individual Volunteers: Linda Fahrenkopf linda@storetodooroforegon.org| Corporate or Community Groups: Carolyn Reed carolyn@ storetodoorofeoregon.org| (503) 200-3333 ext 108 | storetodooroforegon.volunteerhub.com

TRANSITION PROJECTS

How does your organization help Portland?

Transition Projects helps people experiencing homelessness transition successfully into permanent housing. With 53 years of experience providing shelter, housing, and services for low-income people, they are recognized for their work with veterans, women, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups. Their team assists nearly 10,000 people each year through programs designed to help people leave the streets for permanent housing. How can volunteers help?

Volunteers are essential to Transition Projects’ mission, helping support the critical work their team accomplishes. There are opportunities for individuals and groups to get involved: on a regular, on-call, or one-time volunteer basis. The greatest need (and the most popular!) is for Meal Provider Groups who plan and provide nutritious dinners to our shelters located across the Metro-area. With 7 shelters to feed, they have many opportunities to get involved! Volunteers also support our Resource Center in the participant mail and clothing rooms, lead activities for shelter residents, support events, and much more.

Who to Contact?

Emily Coleman | volunteer@tprojects.org | 503-488-7745 | tprojects.org

TRAUMA INTERVENTION PROGRAM NW (TIP)

How does your organization help Portland?

Trauma Intervention Program NW is a group of specially trained volunteers who provide emotional and practical support and resources to victims and survivors of traumatic events in the first few hours following a tragedy. Requested by the emergency response system, schools, businesses, other organizations and more, TIP Volunteers respond to 170+ calls per month in the Portland area.

How can volunteers help?

Become a TIP Volunteer or TIPTeen Volunteer by registering for our February 2023 Training Academy, beginning February 22nd. Learn more about other ways to be involved here: https://www.tipnw.org/what-you-can-do/.

Who to Contact?

June Vining | tipstaff@tipnw.org | 503-823-3937 | www.tipnw.org

Social Action MEALS ON WHEELS PEOPLE

How does your organization help Portland?

Meals on Wheels People enriches the lives of seniors, and assists them in maintaining independence, by providing nutritious food, human connections, and social support. They also use their expertise and capacity to serve other nutritionally atrisk populations.

How can volunteers help?

Volunteers can help in a variety of ways including volunteering as a meal delivery driver for their senior program or Meals 4 kids program, helping at their centers with meal packing or assisting with congregate dining, making calls remotely to homebound seniors for a chat and wellness check in through our Friendly Chat Program, helping participants stay safe in their homes by providing yard clean ups, simple repair or installations through the Safe Homes for Seniors program or being a representative of Meals on Wheels People at events such as tabling events, resource fairs or giving a presentation to community partners.

Who to Contact?

volunteer.coordinator@mowp.org | (503)736-6325 Ext. 106 | mowp. org/volunteer

METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICE - CASH OREGON

How does your organization help Portland?

MFS-CASH Oregon is an economic empowerment program of Metropolitan Family Service committed to improving the financial health of low-income working families and individuals. They provide free tax preparation services and culturally responsive outreach to communities most likely to face barriers to accessing important tax credits.

How can volunteers help?

Looking to make a difference? CASH Oregon is looking for caring, detail-oriented volunteers to help families access important tax credits. All training provided, learn a new skill and give back to your community! Learn more: https://cashoregon. org/volunteer

Who to Contact?

CASH Oregon | volunteer@cashoregon.org | 503-461-7388 | cashoregon.org/volunteer

THE CUPCAKE GIRLS

How does your organization help Portland?

The Cupcake Girls is a local nonprofit that provides confidential support to those involved in the sex industry as well as referral services to provide prevention and aftercare to those affected by sex trafficking. They provide resources such as advocacy meetings, peer support groups, sessions with doctors, dentists, and lawyers, mental-health assistance, career counseling, family resources, rent assistance, and more.

How can volunteers help?

The Cupcake Girls is always looking for committed, passionate people who’d like to join their team. We offer a wide variety of volunteer positions to fit an array of interests. With in-person and remote options, there’s something for everyone. On average, volunteers donate 5 hours per month with specific tasks related to their chosen team. Examples include networking at events, maintaining an online database, assisting Clients 1-on-1, helping to plan fundraisers, and more. Learn more here: www.thecupcakegirls.org/volunteer.

Who to Contact?

Grace Aasen | grace.aasen@thecupcakegirls.org | thecupcakegirls. org/volunteer

CROOKED PLACES MADE STRAIGHT

Photos by Blake Benard On Instagram: @blakebenard

Events honoring the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. stretched across the city Jan. 16, but only one shut down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. It was the Reclaim the Dream march, organized each year by the justice group Don’t Shoot Portland and the Portland Association of Teachers. Starting at Peninsula Park, participants handed out free books, T-shirts, and artwork before briefly speaking about the revolutionary spirit of King. Members of the Tigray community in Oregon also spoke and walked alongside the marchers, asking for attention to the ongoing ethnic genocide of their people in Ethiopia. They marched through remnants of Albina to Moda Center, the arena that sits atop a leveled Black neighborhood.

GO: 2023 Rose City Classic Dog Show

If you like dogs or want to gauge the accuracy of Sir Christopher Guest’s mockumentary Best in Show, you might want to go to the Portland Expo Center later this month. The venue will host the 2023 Rose City Classic Dog Show, one of the biggest events of its kind in the nation. It draws canines from around the country and even some from abroad. They all convene to be judged in various categories, such as obedience, agility, scent work, tricks and (perhaps mysteriously) citizenship. There will also be opportunities to talk to breeders in case you’re thinking about adopting a pedigreed pet. Portland Expo Center, 2060 N Marine Drive, 503-736-5200, rosecityclassic.org. 8 am-6 pm Wednesday, Jan. 18-Sunday, Jan. 22. $15-$40, $12 for parking.

LAUGH: Helium Presents: Rachel Feinstein

If you’ve ever judged someone based on their social media posts, Rachel Feinstein’s show at Helium Comedy Club this weekend might be for you. Feinstein has three Comedy Central specials under her belt, a slew of roles in shows you’ve probably heard about, and an appearance scheduled on Amy Schumer’s Parental Advisory. Tune in for her unique brand of observational humor, which may or may not make you reconsider how often you post on Facebook. Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 503-583-8464, portland.heliumcomedy.com. 8 pm Thursday, 7:30 and 10 pm Friday-Saturday, Jan. 19-21. $20-$40. 21+.

WATCH: Cabaret

Before cat videos on YouTube and Drizly deliveries, people escaped the stresses of everyday life by leaving their homes and going to places like nightclubs. Cabaret follows normal Berliners trying to douse the realities of living in Germany in the years leading up to Hitler’s takeover. Hopefully, Stumptown Stages’ upcoming production will capture the play’s energy, wit and irreverence. Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335, stumptownstages.org/cabaret. 7:30 pm FridaySaturday, 2 pm Sunday, Jan. 20-Feb. 12. $27.25-$47.25.

DRINK: St. Johns Winter Beer Fest

If you’re in North Portland for the Rose City Classic Dog Show, or within any reasonable distance at all, consider checking out the St. Johns Winter Beer Fest. It’s hosted by StormBreaker St. Johns, just a couple of blocks from the iconic bridge. Hit up one of two sessions: one in the afternoon and another in the evening. Tickets include a branded glass and eight tasting tickets to sample beers from some of the most talented regional brewers, including Grand Fir, Von Ebert and Ex Novo. StormBreaker St. Johns, 8409 N Lombard St., 503-255-1481, stormbreakerbrewing.com. 1-4 pm and 5-8 pm Saturday, Jan. 21. $25.

GO: ’70s Singalong

For those who love singing but aren’t quite ready for karaoke, At the Garages Eatery & Taphouse in Lake Oswego hosts a ’70s Singalong. The band Last of the Summer Wine

will cover a slew of period hits, with lyrics displayed on screens (just in case you can’t remember them). The event starts at 4:30 pm, which makes it an ideal warmup for your subsequent Saturday evening activities that might include sticking around to hear At the Garages’ next performance by a Rolling Stones cover band, margaritas at nearby Choza PDX, or something even more adventurous. At the Garages Eatery & Taphouse, 17880 SW McEwan Road, Lake Oswego, 503-941-9139, atthegarages.net. 4:30-6:30 pm Saturday, Jan. 21. Free.

VIEW: Sliced: A Stencil Art Show

Banksy fans or anyone up for contemporary aesthetics will want to check out Sliced: A Stencil Art Show, showing over the weekend at Parallax Art Center. More than 10 artists share their works, which range from Andy Warhol-esque portraits to GirlSpit’s intricate maps and topographies, labeled a “must-see” by NPR. The show is curated by ZoB, a Portland art collective that boasts its own unique take on the medium. Parallax Art Center, 516 NW 14th Ave., 503-286-4959, parallaxartcenter. org. 5-9 pm Friday, 2-9 pm Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 20-22.

WATCH: Dark Side – A Piece for Assorted Lunatics

For a deep, sensory dive into ’70s music, Alberta Rose Theatre hosts Love Gigantic, who will cover Pink Floyd’s entire Dark Side of the Moon album, accompanied by aerial dancers and a light show. Dark Side-

era concert sessions, which

the first time

month,

quietly released

be worthwhile streaming as you prepare for this event. Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta St., 503-719-6055, albertarosetheatre.com. 8 pm Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 20-21. $35-$50.

COME TO THE CABARET: Stumptown Stages takes you back to Berlin in 1931 with its staging of Cabaret

Pink Floyd

for

last

might

1. ECLIPTIC BREWING MOON ROOM

930 SE Oak St., 971-383-1613, eclipticbrewing.com. 4-10 pm Sunday and Wednesday-Thursday, 4-11 pm Friday-Saturday.

Ecliptic Brewing’s first Cosmic Collaboration release of the year is a combination of two style trends: one from a decade ago, the other emerging during the pandemic. Black Cold IPA, made in partnership with Astoria’s Fort George, features the dark roasted malt flavor of a Cascadian dark ale (all the rage in 2012-13) and is fermented with lager yeast, leading to an assertive crispness found in the newly invented cold IPA. Celebrate the beer’s arrival Jan. 18 at Ecliptic’s Moon Room, where you can meet the brewers and debate whether a cold IPA is just an IPL with a different name.

2. BAD HABIT ROOM

5433 N Michigan Ave., 503-303-8550, saraveza.

DRINK

Pies Gone Wild

com/the-bad-habit-room. 4-10 pm Wednesday-Friday, 9 am-2 pm and 4-10 pm Saturday-Sunday. Bad Habit Room has technically been around for about a decade but previously opened only for weekend brunch and special events. After staying completely shuttered for two years due to the pandemic, it’s back and caters to a different crowd in the evenings. Cocktails take their inspiration from the pre-Prohibition era, and our current favorite is Moon Shoes, made with marshmallow-infused vodka, lemon, orgeat and a splash of Son of Man harvest vermouth that acts as a grounding agent.

3. FRACTURE BREWING

1015 SE Stark St., fracturebrewingpdx.com. 4-10 pm Wednesday-Thursday, 4-11 pm Friday-Saturday, 2-8 pm Sunday.

After months of brewing without a taproom, Fracture finally has a place for the public to enjoy a pint that it can call its own. Husband-and-wife team Darren Provenzano and Ny Lee, who met and worked together in a brewery in Vietnam, officially began welcoming customers to their Stark Street space in December. Year-round offerings, made in the former Burnside Brewing space, include two Pilsners, a West Coast IPA and a hazy. But don’t sleep on the seasonal Dark Lager with notes of toffee, raisin and chocolate that will warm you from the inside out this winter.

4. GC WINES

3450 N Williams Ave., Suite 7, 503-764-9345, grochaucellars.com. 4-8 pm Friday-Sunday.

This Yamhill County winery is marking 20 years of business by bringing its products closer to its Portland drinkers. Grochau Cellars, located just outside downtown Amity, opened a tasting room in the Eliot neighborhood this fall. The business also changed its name: From here on out, Grochau is officially GC Wines. While the new moniker might be a bit dull, the wines—like the Commuter Cuveé Pinot Noir, a blend of fruit from 11 Willamette Valley vineyards—certainly are not.

5. STRAIGHTAWAY COCKTAILS

TASTING ROOM

901 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 971-255-1627, straightawaycocktails.com. Noon-7 pm Monday-Wednesday, noon-8 pm Thursday-Saturday, noon-5 pm Sunday. There’s a good reason all of the charter yacht guests on the ever-expanding Bravo franchise Below Deck order an abundance of espresso martinis. The ’80s cocktail really is delicious, and thanks to the caffeine content, it helps keep the party going. Straightaway Cocktails and Stumptown Coffee teamed up to make their own canned version with coffee liqueur and cold brew, which you can now drink at the distiller’s Hawthorne tasting room or purchase to enjoy at home.

BY THOM HILTON PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALLISON BARR

I need to be honest about something: Lately, I’ve been losing my faith in pizza.

When I was younger, I used to be able— thrilled even—to polish off a whole pie by myself. I’ve even written (rapturously) about my love of local pizza spots Escape

From New York and Tartuca for this publication. But for some reason this winter, I feel plagued by pizza’s sameness, and eating what is possibly the world’s most loved food has become somewhat of a chewy chore. Is this what food burnout feels like while living in such a great pizza city? A psychosomatic symptom as a result of watching that one Abbott Elementary episode about pizza hating? Unclear. What is clear is how Wild Child, the new takeout window on Northeast Alberta Street, completely reinvigorated and cured me.

Founded by Nate Higgins and Nick Armour (co-founders of Kure Juice Bar) and Marcus Harvey (Portland Gear founder), Wild Child opened with a bang in early November, serving free slices on its opening

day, causing lines to form down the street. The exterior, painted by skateboarder Sebo Walker, and the pizza boxes, covered in doodles of palm trees and smiley faces that evoke Venice Beach, Calif., are both Nickelodeon orange. The pizza itself is “Detroit-inspired”—that means square and thick with a 72-hour-fermented sourdough crust and sauce added atop the pie after baking. All the classic toppings you’d expect are available daily, while special combinations (like pineapple with bacon and jalapeño, or tater tots with spicy mayo and bonito) rotate in and out. So, it’s Detroit-inspired with L.A. vibes in one of Portland’s most iconic neighborhoods, and the pizza is made by health food guys. Why not?!

The best thing about nostalgic food is when the person preparing it takes the flavors you remember loving, then utilizes intelligence and technique to make their take even better than what you remember. The result is not a return to what you know, but an evolution. That’s what’s going on with the supreme pizza ($29) at Wild Child. The first thing I noted about it: It’s heavy. Big and heavy. The onions and peppers are uni-

formly diced rather than haphazardly sliced in a way that will inevitably pull them off after one bite. The mushrooms are so thin, they’ve become slightly crisp, pepperoni cups gently curl, and sweet Italian sausage is fennel heavy and not dry. The marinara is spicier and less salty than the sauce at most Portland joints: starting sweet, then slowly building with a tingly kick.

Then there’s that crust. My God. It’s not only the best crust I’ve had in Portland, but perhaps the best bread altogether. The bottom is burnished and oily, the sides crunch

If you’ve grown weary of our city’s surplus of pizza joints, Wild Child will reinvigorate your palate.

The pizza itself is “Detroit-inspired”— that means square and thick with a 72-hour-fermented sourdough crust.

ALLISON BARR

with brown charred cheese, the interior is airy and steamy and impossibly undoughy. This crust exists somewhere at the intersection of focaccia and doughnut, and is an infallible foundation for any topping. This is pizza as architecture.

The special of the moment is a smoky and cumin-forward harissa pizza ($27) topped with butternut squash that’s tender, but not so soft as to lose its integrity, plus melty leeks and leaves of near-blackened kale that have almost gone chip mode. This is where you notice the “health food guys’” influence on the pizza, and it totally works. The spice level of this pie makes it great for dipping in tangy and very dilly ranch for a cooldown, which (like all sauces and dressings here) is made in house. If even more heat is what’s desired, a Sriracha ranch option is available to amp it up.

The classic pizza parlor sides are here, and they’re solid as you’d expect: The green salad ($9.49) is green, but the vegan green goddess dressing is not—twist! It’s still tasty, though, with a sweet and nutty flavor, and I found myself dipping the herb-brushed garlic breadsticks ($6.99) into it more than the cup of marinara they were served with. The sourdough croutons on the Caesar salad ($9.49) were glossy and salty. I would eat a bag.

Pizzeria dessert is something that always seems to leave one…wanting. Usually, it’s some sort of dry-cookie situation, or, at worst, a sweet breadstick. Not so at Wild Child, where I was surprised once again by how ridiculously good a brownie could be from a pizza window. The pan brownie ($4.49) is enormous, crispy-edged, chewy and fudgy-centered, loaded with chocolate chips, and dusted with powdered sugar. I felt like a kid again while eating it, with the curse of my pizza boredom finally lifted. Notes while eating this brownie included: “Why is this so perfect?” and “This is, like, the best,” along with “I’m smilin’!!!” As I write this, I’m still smilin’ like the doodled orange smiley faces on the pizza boxes. I can’t wait to order again.

EAT: Wild Child Pizza, 2032 NE Alberta St., 503719-7328, wildchild.pizza. 3-9 pm daily.

Hot Plates

WHERE TO EAT THIS WEEK.

1. JOJO

902 NW 13th Ave., 971-331-4284, jojopdx.com. 11 am-10 pm daily.

Everything verges on the ridiculous at Jojo. The brick-and-mortar location opened in the Pearl in September, and since then it’s been pure maximalist dining. Servings are optimized for NFL offensive linemen. The fried chicken sandwiches are just as good as the ones at the Jojo food truck, minus the parking lot ambience. Smash burgers feature plenty of char without drying out entirely. And, of course, the jojos are in an elite tier here, staying crispy even when loaded with Tillamook cheddar and caramelized onions.

2. PALOMAR

959 SE Division St., #100, 971-357-8020, barpalomar.com. 5-10 pm Tuesday-Saturday.

In September, longtime Portland chef Ricky Bella took charge of the burners in Palomar’s kitchen, reigniting the space by weaving the flavors of his Mexican American heritage with the restaurant’s Cuban staples. It’s best to bounce around all sections of the tight, one-page menu, but there is one nonnegotiable appetizer: Ceviche de camarones, made with leche de tigre, gets its richness from avocado, its texture from cucumber, and tart acid from diced pineapple.

3. COSMIC BLISS

207 NW 10th Ave., 971-420-3630, cosmicbliss. com. Noon-8 pm Sunday-Wednesday, noon-9 pm Thursday-Saturday.

January might seem like a strange time to recommend chowing down on ice cream, but if you think about it, it’s really when you should be indulging in a summertime staple. Once all of the holiday decorations have come down and you’re left with gray, chilly winter days, there’s no better treat to encourage you to dream of July. There’s also a new scoop shop in town worth trying out before the summer rush: Eugene-based Cosmic Bliss, which is good news for those with dietary restrictions. There is both grass-fed dairy and plant-based ice cream, and everything is gluten free.

4. GRAND FIR BREWING

1403 SE Stark St., grandfirbrewing.com. Noon-10 pm Tuesday-Sunday, noon-11 pm Friday-Saturday. It was only a matter of time before brewer Whitney Burnside and chef Doug Adams went into business together. The husband-and-wife team opened Grand Fir in the former West Coast Grocery Company space in mid-November, and there was a line around the block to get in on the first day (evidence of how highly anticipated this project has been). Adams’ famed smoked meats (braised elk, Calabrian chicken wings) anchor the food menu and pair perfectly with Burnside’s beers.

5. YUI

5519 NE 30th Ave., 503-946-9465, yuipdx.com. 4-9 pm Monday-Saturday.

There’s no picking your own protein or six different spice levels to choose from at Yui. The elimination of the “choose your own adventure” element we’ve grown so accustomed to with Thai takeout brings new life and specificity to each dish here. A notable signature item is the krapao wagyu kaidao, made with ultra-tender and generously salted minced beef. But don’t pass up the boat noodle soup, which is enormous and loaded with meatballs, crispy pork, scallions, and morning glory greens.

COURTESY PALOMAR

Reading the Tea Leaves

BY BRIANNA WHEELER

What can we expect from legal weed in 2023?

As the post-Prohibition landscape continues to take shape before our sweet stoner eyes, we’re witnessing the discovery of new cannabinoids, poring over the effects of therapeutic and medicinal cannabis, and indulging in all manner of novel trends—some that linger (functional mushrooms, anyone?) and others that burn bright only to quickly fade away (single-use, disposable vape pens, I hardly miss you).

And looking forward, we predict that 2023 could be a game-changing year for cannabis. What seem like health and wellness fads could potentially become cultural mainstays, and equity might finally become a priority as workers unite. Smaller craft brands may find ways to merge in order to enrich their businesses on their own terms, and celebs will almost certainly continue to stumble in and out of the cannabis space in a clumsy, uncoordinated ballet that only the most adept will survive.

Whatever your potheaded outlook, there’s no denying the constant evolution, reimagining, and kaleidoscopic metamorphosis of the contemporary cannabis industry. Here are a few highlights we anticipate for 2023:

Small Brand Consolidations

When East Fork Cultivars and Peak Extracts merged late last year, founders Katie Stem and Mason Walker laid out a prospective road map for small craft cannabis brands looking to expand and evolve while still maintaining their core values. The two each helmed a respected business focused on therapeutics, and while East Fork specialized in organic cultivation, Peak

Extracts’ strength was in both therapeutic and recreational edibles. We predict more craft brands will use this merger as a model for growth, resulting in a more robust, diverse, and thoughtfully manufactured selection of products.

Diversity in Doses for Edibles

Fantastic as they are, many 100 milligram edibles exclude a large swath of cannabis users. In fact, most are formulated for the highest of high-tolerance stoners. But there’s an ever-developing and constantly growing faction of new users who want less aggressive products and don’t want to be deprived of cookies, brownies or rice crispy treats. We expect to see dispensaries stocked with lower-dose edibles and beverages, effectively filling the vacuum left by the disappearance of 25 and 50 milligram single-serving products.

Unions

The cannabis workers community has been fraught long since before weed was legal. Now, even the regulated industry is suffering from a lingering Wild West ethos that leaves workers open to all manner of exploitation—everything from overworking and underpaying farm employees to ignoring calls for improved security for budtenders vulnerable to burglaries and gun violence. And like the millions of other workers fueling billion-dollar industries overseen by old white men, a whole lot of folks have had it. So, in 2023, anticipate more organizing around not only workers rights and safety, but also more big pushes for diversification from the farm to the boardroom.

More Celeb Brands

These bandwagon-jumping celebs are going to keep collabo-

rating with thirsty cannabis brands, especially as the cannabis wellness space continues to expand. If you assumed Martha Stewart shut it down with her CBD gummies, think again. Mike Tyson released chewy, ear-shaped gummies called “Mike Bites,” and Seth Rogen launched a line of ceramics. Place your bets on which Hollywood stoner will weedify an ancestral craft and/or cannamarket their scandals next.

Functional Crossovers

A trend that’s been showing steady growth is “functional” cannabis products (i.e., holistic products with specific benefits) that contain native botanicals, ayurvedic herbs, and an assortment of fungi. Cannabis wellness is an emerging industry nationwide, but its Oregon roots run hella deep (we were the first state to decriminalize cannabis). It feels very correct that Oregon-bred brands already embracing wellness would not just champion this trend for the long term, but also become trailblazers for the rest of the industry.

More Organic Labels

Sun+Earth Certified is the Oregon cannabis industry’s answer to organic certification, going even a few steps further not just to ensure the use of regenerative farming practices, but also set standards for worker empowerment and community engagement. We predict that as cannabis wellness becomes more mainstream, users will demand therapeutic-quality herb in all of their cannabis products, not just those that they keep in the medicine cabinet. We also expect increased demand for transparency in labeling, which should force shady brands into the sun.

Here are our predictions for the year ahead for both cannabusinesses and consumers.

Hosted by Brian Brixby

How

One Flow at a Time

mentoring organization Ascending Flow is helping former foster youths thrive through music and art.

BY MICHELLE KICHERER @michellekicherer

Before aging out of the foster care system at 18, Brayden Boyce lived in 17 different homes. The trauma and stress he endured over those years took its toll on his mental health.

Now, at 19, Boyce is a participant in a program called New Narrative, a local nonprofit mental health organization that helps youths who are aging out of the foster care system—and encompasses Ascending Flow, a mentorship wing of the program that helps participants express themselves through music and art.

“A lot of times, healing comes not through traditional therapy, but through art or exercise,” says New Narrative CEO Julie Ibrahim. “So we adapt to what each person needs.” That adaptation translates to every aspect of the program.

The first priority is to get participants housed. In fact, New Narrative guarantees each participant graduates from the program with a clean renter’s record, which it does by providing guidance, along with multiple chances in case a participant slips up.

Without a typical familial support system to help navigate real-world experiences like applying for housing, paying the bills, and maintaining good standing with a landlord, a lot of former foster youths end up on the streets.

“Sometimes participants arrive to the program and don’t really know what their goals are. So we’re there gently walking alongside them until they figure it out,” Ibrahim says. “A lot of the participants who come here are very institution weary and treatment weary.”

With that in mind, the program is designed to be as individualized as possible, and whether or not participants choose to work with a therapist is up to them. In what the organization calls person-led action plans, each youth in the program gets to decide what their independence will look like.

Before New Narrative, Boyce tells WW, “I really didn’t have people taking care of me. Now, to be able to maintain a full-time job and things I would’ve never had before has provided an opportunity for me to really work on myself.”

Once housing is secured, New Narrative helps participants find and maintain full-time work, apply for food stamps, navigate their health care, set up therapy services and, for those who are interested, explore artistic expression. That’s where Ascending Flow comes in.

Co-founded by hip-hop artist Talilo Marfil and his partner Thy Tran, Ascending Flow provides a much-needed opportunity for creativity amid what can otherwise be an overwhelming experience.

“It’s brave to be vulnerable,” Marfil says. As a formerly incarcerated person, he knows firsthand what a lot of the people in the program are going through. “There are a lot of struggles that come from being in the system,” he says. “We want these youth to have a shot at a successful transition into adulthood.”

At Ascending Flow, that transition is eased through the nurturing of artists. Stop by and you will see mural-covered walls or hear someone strumming on a guitar (Boyce is currently taking lessons). It’s all part of the motto at Ascending Flow, which echoes a traditional recovery mindset: one flow at a time.

WHAT TO SEE AND WHAT TO HEAR

BY DANIEL BROMFIELD @bromf3

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18:

Keola Beamer’s ’70s hit “Honolulu City Nights” is a ubiquitous symbol of Hawaiian popular music, and as a guitar teacher, he’s helped make the once closely guarded secrets of slack-key guitar accessible to a new generation of artists. Singer-songwriter Henry Kapono and his group Cecilio & Kapono found similar success in the ’70s, and the two legends have been close collaborators since 2014. They’ll hit the stage at Aladdin Theater today, with Beamer’s wife, Moana, performing traditional hula. Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. 8 pm. $40. All ages.

THURSDAY, JAN. 19:

Jeffrey Silverstein is a rising name in local country music, and the liner notes of his records are a who’s who of local roots music talent, featuring assists from members of Rose City Band, Roselit Bone, and Parson Red Heads. His upcoming show with Credit Electric and Akron/Family’s Dana Buoy celebrates the vinyl reissue of his 2020 album You Become the Mountain, and there’s word he might have new music on the horizon. Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St. 8:30 pm. $15. 21+.

SUNDAY, JAN. 22:

Junior Boys are the modern gold standard for urbane, classy pop music, picking up where bands like Pet Shop Boys left off while adding all the electronic and rhythmic trickery that came with the 21st century. Their new album, Waiting Game is a detour into ambient music, so it’s appropriate they’re bringing Claire Rousay, the young Texas percussionist at the forefront of a new generation of ambient musicians, on tour. Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave. 8 pm. $22. 21+.

KEYS TO EXPRESSION: Ezekiel Perry on camera, Brayden Boyce on guitar.

TALILO MARFIL

STEVEN ROBY COURTESY OF JEFFREY SILVERSTEIN

COURTESY OF STAR THEATER

Zero Proof

in Portland

Hotseat: Ruby Warrington

The author who inspired the sober curious movement discusses the art of mindful drinking.

BY RAY GILL JR.

Ruby Warrington is an author, an editor, a podcaster, a “book doula” and the creator of the self-publishing imprint Numinous Books. Yet she’s probably most famous for inspiring the sober curious movement with her 2018 book Sober Curious: The Blissful Sleep, Greater Focus, Deep Connection, and Limitless Presence Awaiting Us All on the Other Side of Alcohol

Falling somewhere between abstinence and the tangential tease of a monthlong sobriety challenge, the sober curious movement offers a path for people who want to drink moderately and mindfully. It’s built on a simple and revelatory philosophy: that addiction isn’t the only reason to question the role alcohol plays in your life.

“I have seen people who never liked to drink, who never wanted to drink in the first place but felt a lot of social pressure to drink,” Warrington says. “I’ve seen them find new language and new ways to talk about the fact they don’t want to engage in drinking culture, and that’s been really nice to see.”

In 2023, discourse about Warrington is likely to revolve around her book Women Without Kids: The Revolutionary Rise of an Unsung Sisterhood, which will be published in March. But she

took time to speak with WW about advancing the sober curious movement and guiding people through “a series of conversations about how to live a more conscious, connected and present life.” The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

WW: Have you seen this movement grow beyond the type of drinker you initially had in mind when you wrote the book?

Ruby Warrington: I was really aiming to speak to what we might call “normal social drinkers” who also had questions around their drinking. “Was this too much alcohol, how much was too much, why am I under so much pressure to drink, what would it feel like if I didn’t drink?” And I feel like that would be the demographic that has identified most strongly with the sober curious movement, and that’s been very gratifying for me to see.

What other avenues are you exploring to get the message out and keep the movement growing?

There are two sober curious books out now: the original book, which lays out the full philosophy, and The Sober Curious Reset, which came out in 2020 and guides people through 100 days of not drinking with the goal of making a sustainable shift in their drinking habits.

But perhaps the place I’ve seen the movement growing is Facebook. There’s a Sober Curious Facebook group that’s growing in size all the time and now has 9,000 members and is an incredibly supportive private online group where people are sharing what it’s like to be sober curious. There’s very little conflict in that group. It’s one of the safest places I’ve experienced being online

and one of the most supportive places.

What’s the most significant difference you’ve encountered between genders in reaction to your approach?

I think because I’m a woman more women gravitated initially to the movement, but I have seen more and more men get involved. There are more men joining the Facebook group as time goes by, and I really think that what I’m sharing, even though it’s through my lens, it’s applicable to anybody.

About your sober curious-themed events, you’ve touched on the social anxiety around not drinking. Are the events a way of getting people acclimated to socializing sober?

For anyone who is interested in starting a sober curious group, even starting it as a book group can be a good way to get people together. I think a lot of the time, it’s that social anxiety you mentioned which is incredibly prevalent and definitely one of the No. 1 reasons people use alcohol to socialize. If you can have some kind of activity or schedule or something to talk about, it’s an icebreaker.

Just put people in a room together with no alcohol and they’re going to get quite awkward and resort to boring small talk. But if you give people something to talk about, like in a book club, you can get past that “what to talk about” phase and you can start building some quite deep connections.

LISTEN: You can find episodes of the Sober Curious podcast at rubywarrington.com/podcasts.

MOVIES

AND THE NOMINEES SHOULD BE….

BY BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON @thobennett and CHANCE SOLEM PFEIFER @chance_s_p

On Jan. 24, the Oscar nominations will be announced. Here’s who and what WW’s film critics would pick if they ran the Academy.

BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON:

BEST PICTURE

Amsterdam Avatar: The Way of Water Babylon Broker Top Gun: Maverick

BEST DIRECTOR

James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water Damien Chazelle, Babylon Kore-eda Hirokazu, Broker

Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick David O. Russell, Amsterdam

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett, TÁR

Greta Gerwig, White Noise Aubrey Plaza, Emily the Criminal Florence Pugh, Don’t Worry Darling Margot Robbie, Babylon

BEST ACTOR

Christian Bale, Amsterdam Diego Calva, Babylon

Tom Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick Adam Driver, White Noise Brendan Fraser, The Whale

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Hong Chau, The Whale

Jennifer Connelly, Top Gun: Maverick Lee Ji-eun, Broker

Margot Robbie, Amsterdam Tang Wei, Decision to Leave

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Don Cheadle, White Noise

Gang Dong-won, Broker Rory Kinnear, Men

Edward Norton, Glass Onion Ty Simpkins, The Whale

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Amsterdam

Babylon Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths Broker TÁR

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Avatar: The Way of Water

Deep Water Top Gun: Maverick The Whale White Noise

CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER: BEST PICTURE

After Yang Barbarian Nope Top Gun: Maverick TÁR

BEST DIRECTOR

Kogonada, After Yang

Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick Jordan Peele, Nope S.S. Rajamouli, RRR Charlotte Wells, Aftersun

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett, TÁR Mia Goth, Pearl Keke Palmer, Nope

Margaret Qualley, Stars at Noon Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST ACTOR

Adam Driver, White Noise Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin Daniel Kaluuya, Nope Paul Mescal, Aftersun Franz Rogowski, Great Freedom

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Hong Chau, The Whale

Dolly De Leon, Triangle of Sadness

Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once Lashana Lynch, The Woman King Rooney Mara, Women Talking

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Don Cheadle, White Noise

Justin Long, Barbarian

Anthony Hopkins, Armageddon Time Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere all At Once Wes Studi, A Love Song

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Barbarian Decision To Leave Nope TÁR

Triangle of Sadness

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

God’s Country Prey Stars at Noon White Noise Women Talking

Editor: Bennett Campbell Ferguson Contact: bennett@wweek.com

Black Narcissus (1947)

“There’s something in the atmosphere which makes everything seem exaggerated,” observes British agent Mr. Dean (David Farrar) as he gazes out at the Himalayas in Black Narcissus

In part, he’s cautioning Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) that this near-celestial plane is unfriendly to the austerity of nuns hoping to establish a convent. The temptation to savor life is too bountiful, what with the constantly howling wind and the nearby villagers’ mysteries and bonds.

He’s also explaining the very nature of Powell and Pressburger films. The directing team’s Academy Award-winning classic plays as part of Clinton Street Theater’s “Color & Sound” series, which is (in part) an ode to Technicolor. No one employed that technology better than Powell and Pressburger (see also: The Red Shoes), and Black Narcissus certainly heightens all: magenta blooms, ancient murals, beads of sweat on the brow of a covetous sister (Kathleen Byron), Farrar’s revealing shorts.

Black Narcissus netted well-deserved Oscars for cinematography and art direction, thanks to the film’s simulation (using Pinewood Studios sets and breathtaking matte paintings) of the intoxicating push-pull of a would-be cloistral setting 9,000 feet in the heavens. What nunnery vows could survive a film so sensualist? Clinton, Jan. 17 and 20.

ALSO PLAYING:

Academy: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Jan. 20-26. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Jan. 20-26. Clinton: Amarcord (1973), Jan. 21-22. Buena Vista Social Club (1999), Jan. 23. Cinema 21: Vertigo (1958), Jan. 21. Hollywood: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Jan. 18. Rashomon (1950), Jan. 19. The Trial (1962), Jan. 20-22. Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985), Jan. 20. King Kong (1933), Jan. 21-22. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974), Jan. 21. Mothra (1961), Jan. 22. Clue (1985), Jan. 23.

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

The second chapter of James Cameron’s Avatar saga ends the same way as the first: with Marine-turned-revolutionary Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) opening his eyes. Yet this time, the story is about more than one man’s awakening. It’s about a family and a community—along with the wondrous and unknowable world they must defend from the monstrous, capitalistic menace known as humanity. Onscreen (as in life) more than a decade has passed since the original film. Jake, having shed his human form to inhabit a towering, azure alien body, has started a family with Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), a formidable warrior on the distant moon of Pandora. Invading humans are once again ravaging Pandora’s lands, but Cameron seems most fascinated by what happens off the battlefield. When the Sully family takes refuge among an ocean tribe, his imagination is free to roam Pandora’s depths, the home of whalelike beasts called tulkun, whose minds are as vast as the cosmos. Though a swashbuckling showdown between Jake and vicious colonizer Quaritch (Stephen Lang) reaffirms Cameron’s mastery of brutal and graceful mayhem, the luminous and tactile CGI that breathes life into the film’s flora and fauna proves that Pandora, not Jake, is the hero of Avatar. Every blade of grass, every drop of water, is a gift not to be wasted. “This is where we make our stand,” Jake declares. The real question, unspoken but implicit, is where we will make ours. PG-13. BENNETT CAMPBELL FERGUSON. Bagdad, Cedar Hills, City Center, Clackamas, Evergreen Parkway, Fox Tower, Lloyd Center, Mill Plain, Pioneer Place, Studio One, Tigard, Vancouver Plaza, Wunderland Milwaukie.

AFTER LOVE

Every now and again, we’re treated with a fresh story from a first-time filmmaker gifted with the perfect actor to tell it. After Love, the debut feature from Aleem Khan, stars Joanna Scanlan as a widow named Mary, who lives near the Dover cliffs and discovers that her recently deceased husband, Ahmed (Nasser Memarzia), had a secret family. After journeying 21 miles across the English Channel to see for herself, she’s mistaken for a housekeeper by Ahmed’s mistress (Nathalie Richard)—and quietly plays along while putting the pieces of her husband’s hidden life together. Rather than clean up the emotional mess left in the wake of loss, After Love seeks to redefine it. Khan’s subtle storytelling may not resonate with all viewers, but Scanlan, who earned a BAFTA for her mesmerizing performance (playing a character based on Khan’s mother) evokes authentic feelings through sparse dialogue that resonates beyond the credits, magnifying the impact of this uncompromised, beautifully human film. NR. RAY GILL JR. Fox Tower.

THE PALE BLUE EYE

: THIS MOVIE IS EXCELLENT, ONE OF THE BEST OF THE YEAR. : THIS MOVIE IS GOOD. WE RECOMMEND YOU WATCH IT.

: THIS MOVIE IS ENTERTAINING BUT FLAWED.

: THIS MOVIE IS A STEAMING PILE.

There are plenty of reasons to anticipate Scott Cooper movies; the director specializes in adult dramas with striking period-piece visuals and committed performances. But with a fatally flawed script, The Pale Blue Eye is

no different than Cooper misfires like Antlers, Hostiles and Black Mass. Based on Louis Bayard’s work of historical fiction, the new film ushers detective Augustus Landor (Christian Bale) into an uneasy partnership with a young Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling) after a cadet turns up with his heart cut out at West Point in 1830. These investigators are no Holmes-Watson odd couple; they’re so mismatched they seem plucked from different subgenres, as if Poirot and Serpico collaborated on a case involving both intimate trauma and occult hooey. Melling (whose post-Dudley Dursley gauntness is at an alltime high) attempts an elevated, pained literary schtick as Poe, while Bale is expertly gruff (his weariness recalls Richard Burton in his later years). Their performances aren’t the problem—the grim, dragging detective narrative simply doesn’t gel with the in-story homage to the author who helped invent the form. Given the story’s flat complications, it’s frustrating how magnificent the movie appears when Bale is silhouetted in his top hat amid the Hudson Valley fog. Ultimately, Scott Cooper retains his title: master of “good on paper.” R. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Netflix.

THE SON

This new melodrama from French playwright-turned-director Florian Zeller (The Father) leaves the audience with two

choices, neither ideal. The first option? You could fly into a righteous rage at one of the most clueless and narratively conniving portrayals of mental illness in the 21st century. Zen McGrath plays Nicholas, an unreachable, depressed teenager whose parents (Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern) haplessly try to prod him away from anguish and self-harm. Throughout, Zeller squeezes the plot to make every character—each dying to be understood—say exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time (naturally, when Nicholas is about to process his pain aloud, he’s artificially rushed offscreen). If that doesn’t infuriate you, there’s an alternative to anger: laughter. One wonders if, on some perversely ironic, subconscious level, that’s actually what Zeller intends. The Son makes sense only as a satire of rich, self-involved parents who haven’t stopped checking their work email long enough to hear that depression exists (a key scene where the family dances while Nicholas stands forlornly on the sideline plays like an SNL Digital Short parody of an after-school special). Be furious at this faux awards contender or guffaw through its pitch-black subject matter. Whatever you choose, it’ll still be in better taste than the movie itself. PG-13. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Fox Tower.

MINUS TIDE

by Calico Jack

minustidecomic

by Jack Kent

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Noah Webster ((1758–1843) worked for years to create the first definitive American dictionary. It became a cornucopia of revelation for poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). She said that for many years it was her "only companion." One biographer wrote, "The dictionary was no mere reference book to her; she read it as a priest his breviary—over and over, page by page, with utter absorption." Now would be a favorable time for you to get intimate with a comparable mother lode, Aries. I would love to see you find or identify a resource that will continually inspire you for the rest of 2023.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): "The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity." So declared Taurus philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein in his book Philosophical Investigations. Luckily for you Tauruses, you have a natural knack for making sure that important things don't get buried or neglected, no matter how simple and familiar they are. And you'll be exceptionally skilled at this superpower during the next four weeks. I hope you will be gracious as you wield it to enhance the lives of everyone you care about. All of us non-Bulls will benefit from the nudges you offer as we make our course corrections.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Poet Carolyn Kizer said the main subject of her work was this: "You cannot meet someone for a moment, or even cast eyes on someone in the street, without changing." I agree with her. The people we encounter and the influences they exert make it hard to stay fixed in our attitudes and behavior. And the people we know well have even more profound transformative effects. I encourage you to celebrate this truth in the coming weeks. Thrive on it. Be extra hungry for and appreciative of all the prods you get to transcend who you used to be and become who you need to be.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): If you have any interest in temporarily impersonating a Scorpio, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to play around. Encounters with good, spooky magic will be available. More easily than usual, you could enjoy altered states that tickle your soul with provocative insights. Are you curious about the mysteries of intense, almost obsessive passion? Have you wondered if there might be ways to deal creatively and constructively with your personal darkness? All these perks could be yours—and more. Here's another exotic pleasure you may want to explore: that half-forbidden zone where dazzling heights overlap with the churning depths. You are hereby invited to tap into the erotic pleasures of spiritual experiments and the spiritual pleasures of erotic experiments.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The circle can and will be complete—if you're willing to let it find its own way of completing itself. But I'm a bit worried that an outdated part of you may cling to the hope of a perfection that's neither desirable nor possible. To that outdated part of you, I say this: Trust that the Future You will thrive on the seeming imperfections that arise. Trust that the imperfections will be like the lead that the Future You will alchemically transmute into gold. The completed circle can't be and shouldn't be immaculate and flawless.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Shakespeare's work has been translated from his native English into many languages. But the books of Virgo detective novelist Agatha Christie have been translated far more than the Bard’s. (More info: tinyurl.com/ ChristieTranslations.) Let's make Christie your inspirational role model for the next four weeks. In my astrological estimation, you will have an extraordinary capacity to communicate with a wide variety of people. Your ability to serve as a mediator and go-between and translator will be at a peak. Use your superpower wisely and with glee!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran musician Franz Liszt (1811–1886) was a prolific and influential genius who created and played music with deep feeling. He was also physically attractive and

charismatic. When he performed, some people in the audience swooned and sighed loudly as they threw their clothes and jewelry on stage. But there was another side of Liszt. He was a generous and attentive teacher for hundreds of piano students, and always offered his lessons free of charge. He also served as a mentor and benefactor for many renowned composers, including Wagner, Chopin, and Berlioz. I propose we make Liszt your inspirational role model for the next 11 months. May he rouse you to express yourself with flair and excellence, even as you shower your blessings on worthy recipients.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): This may risk being controversial, but in the coming weeks, I'm giving you cosmic authorization to engage in what might appear to be cultural appropriation. Blame it on the planets! They are telling me that to expand your mind and heart in just the right ways, you should seek inspiration and teaching from an array of cultures and traditions. So I encourage you to listen to West African music and read Chinese poetry in translation and gaze at the art of Indigenous Australians. Sing Kabbalistic songs and say Lakota prayers and intone Buddhist chants. These are just suggestions. I will leave it to your imagination as you absorb a host of fascinating influences that amaze and delight and educate you.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): "All the world's a stage," Shakespeare wrote, "and all the men and women merely players." That's always true, but it will be even more intensely accurate for you in the coming weeks. High-level pretending and performing will be happening. The plot twists may revolve around clandestine machinations and secret agendas. It will be vital for you to listen for what people are NOT saying as well as the hidden and symbolic meanings behind what they are saying. But beyond all those cautionary reminders, I predict the stories you witness and are part of will often be interesting and fun.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In this horoscope, I offer you wisdom from Capricorn storyteller Michael Meade. It’s a rousing meditation for you in the coming months. Here's Meade: "The genius inside a person wants activity. It’s connected to the stars; it wants to burn and it wants to create and it has gifts to give. That is the nature of inner genius." For your homework, Capricorn, write a page of ideas about what your genius consists of. Throughout 2023, I believe you will express your unique talents and blessings and gifts more than you ever have before.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) was nominated nine times for the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature, but never won. He almost broke through in the last year of his life, but French author Albert Camus beat him by one vote. Camus said Kazantzakis was "a hundred times more" deserving of the award than himself. I will make a wild prediction about you in the coming months, Aquarius. If there has been anything about your destiny that resembles Kazantzakis's, chances are good that it will finally shift. Are you ready to embrace the gratification and responsibility of prime appreciation?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Piscean educator Parker Palmer has a crucial message for you to meditate on in the coming weeks. Read it tenderly, please. Make it your homing signal. He said, "Solitude does not necessarily mean living apart from others; rather, it means never living apart from one's self. It is not about the absence of other people—it is about being fully present to ourselves, whether or not we are with others. Community does not necessarily mean living face-to-face with others; rather, it means never losing the awareness that we are connected to each other."

Homework: What is the best, most healing lie you could tell?

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