Story and photo by Pete Shaw History, it is said, is written by the victors. Their perspective and their stories are presented as unimpeachable. From this favored perch, the present is interpreted and the path to the future is mapped. A new book, Memory & Place in Black Portland, adds its voice to the long…
Story by Pete Shaw Power and control of narrative are deeply intertwined. The United States, the narrative goes, does not invade countries, but rather seeks to spread the blessings of freedom, liberty, and democracy. We know this to be true because the purveyors of our capitalist imperial violence have said so. Those who die and…
By P. C. Wright It’s snowed more in the Willamette Valley than any Ohio transplant can remember. Bodom E. Switch’s wheelchair idles beside the bed. Rain won’t clear the sidewalks for three more days. The furnace has gone out. My bed is his home. I’ve told him there’s a whole city like this –…
A Light in the Commons Illumines a Truth Entropy of ordinance Makes for horrid experience Miles of empty real estate Heated for the plumbing Souls shiver on sidewalks Denied legal bedding Shattered Realities And Neighborly Angst Breed environment of Fear No politician will stand against A cadre of neighbors Riddled . . .…
by Vargus Pike I’m getting ready for the beat down I know it’s on the way. I’m getting ready for the beat down Just a matter of time. Uppity freedom talkers dare to talk freedom Saying he has a RIGHT to be an individual. She claims the right to determine her OWN destiny They clearly…
by Benjamin D. Bricker Can You Hear the Droning? there’s no place like rome vomit like you got a pair there’s no place like rome waving the fascist standard like you just don’t care there’s no place like rome all we have we stole whole hog pay the toll there’s no place like home all…
by Robin Ryan I daresay yo to the powers that be You are not going to like the likes of me I like less the likes of you As one who has been done unto The differences between us are indeed vast As I contend deeper values be and are bound to outlast I see…
by A Musing What if the sheriff ‘s department delivered a foreclosure and said, “We’re delivering this but we will not enforce it” ? What if the locksmith company was booked well in advance and couldn’t come by to change the locks …. ever ? What if the policeman refused to arrest a six-year-old child…
by Colin Donoghue Walking on concrete-covered Earth another emergency vehicle suddenly blared a loud piercing siren which made me jump, and breathe deep on the toxic chemicals that constantly spew from the Oregonian newspaper building. I heard there used to be a 21 acre vegetable garden here, now it’s a place for thousands of people…
by Vargus Pike This was written several years ago after the Blackwater massacre 9/16/2007 in Nisour Square, Baghdad Still seems topical today Blackwater transforms to… Black ice cold fingers of death reaching out across a plaza Freedom transforms too… Dogs of war tear into flesh, indiscriminate blind to politic. For I have met the enemy…
