Story by Pete Shaw A month ago I attended the 10th anniversary memorial for Keaton Otis, the young Black man executed by the Portland police near the corner of Northeast 6th and Halsey. That corner has become hallowed ground. For an all too short spell, Otis’s father Fred Bryant held a monthly vigil at the…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw Call me Plum. Golden Plum. My Friend’s four year old daughter, Grape, declared it so. As did her mother, Pear, and her 17 month old brother, Lemon who, holding on to Mother Pear’s leg, looks upon me with wonder and smiles. For a time, I had been Peach. I…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw When I was growing up, I knew my neighborhood’s mail carrier. He is in some of my earliest memories. He was portly, with a closely cropped beard, and in the Winter he sometimes wore a thick hat with ear flaps. My mother talked often with him, and during the…
Story by Pete Shaw Since declaring himself a candidate for the presidency of the United States, Republican Donald Trump has made clear his disdain for migrants. On the day he announced his candidacy, Trump declared that all Mexicans were criminals, particularly inclined toward rape and drug dealing. Trump quickly followed this by saying he assumed…
Story by Pete Shaw Near the end of Walidah Imarisha’s presentation at the University of Portland’s inaugural MLK Day ON event, a man posed her a question reeking of defeat. He wondered just how people could possibly organize and achieve greater justice, and ultimately true freedom, without a leader such as King, whom he described…
Story by Pete Shaw Although it is not often listed in podiatry and infectious disease journals, one of the primary attributes of erythrasma is boredom. Erythrasma is a superficial skin infection caused by a bacteria, Corynebacterium minutissimum, that we all have on our feet, but most people can fight it off. However, in July of…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw On Tuesday November 13, as the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding whether the Republican Trump Administration could rescind the protections provided by President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, over 200 people gathered in Terry Schrunk Plaza to demand the policy be continued,…
Story by Pete Shaw On Wednesday October 23, Burgerville workers throughout Portland walked off the job and launched the largest strike in the history of the Burgerville Workers Union (BVWU). Workers from the Convention Center, 92nd and Powell, Hawthorne, and Montavilla Burgerville locations walked off the job Wednesday morning, saying they would remain on strike…
“Everybody’s doin’ somethin’ I heard it in a dream But when there’s too much of nothing It just makes a fella mean” –Bob Dylan Story by Pete Shaw September 10, 2019 Epigraphs, I suppose, should have some meaning regarding the text that follows them. And I also suppose that with an artist like Bob Dylan,…
by Pete Shaw The Denville Public Library, my father tells me, is the only one around. This is no surprise as Denville, a small town just off Interstate 80 in upstate New Jersey, had a population of 16,635 according to the 2010 census. Next to the library is the Denville Historical Society. There is a…
