Archive

This newsletter is technically going out in the month of September. It’s been a busy month! October will be just as packed — I expect to spend most of the month staring at spreadsheets related to the general election.

Portland Zine Symposium

I got to table at PZS this year! It was a good experience all around. The event itself had great energy and decent COVID energy. I updated several of my zines for the occasion, and even created a new zine! The new zine focuses on unreinforced masonry buildings in Portland (along with how URM buildings increase risk during earthquakes). You can see the new zine and check out my updated zines in this blog post.

Oregon voter registration

Another month, another newsletter! Who else is ready for some autumn weather?

So many heat waves

Portland has experienced multiple heat waves and heat advisories so far this summer. I have a feeling we're not done yet — at the very least we've got several more days above 90° Fahrenheit coming. I'm continuing to maintain a Heat Wave Resource Sheet. It has information on preparation, as well as timely updates as I find them. I've also done a bunch of Twitter threads. I hope you and yours are making it through these back-to-back disasters safely.

PDX.Vote articles

I always want to open these newsletters with some sort of clever commentary about what's going on at the moment, but, honestly, there's always so much going on. So I'm going to keep it to this: I hope you're finding some joy this month.

Local politics updates

There's a lot happening in the election process here in Portland. I've been writing about as much as I can, including a write up on ballot petitions and a look at the next steps in the Portland City Charter review process.

And an impending update

While the calendar may say 'summer', Portland's weather has been cold and wet. There's even been snow in the nearby mountains. It's hard to guess what weather we'll get next. I've got my fingers crossed for a few days of sunshine, though.

Oregon primary election wind down

While getting the votes counted for this year's primary took a lot longer than expected, it's finally done. I've posted a first pass on election outcomes on PDX.Vote and I'll be sharing some further analysis on the primary results towards the end of June. In the meanwhile, though, Aaron Roussell at PSU wrote an in-depth analysis of the Portland Police Bureau's budget. I'm really pleased to publish this article, especially since Aaron thoroughly debunked all claims that PPB was defunded in 2020.

Echoes of the women's suffrage movement

I'm finding that this year is going by fast — probably too fast. May is already here. I may have missed sending out a newsletter last month, but I'm just going to blame that on all my Pesach activities and move on.

Covering Oregon's primary

PDX.Vote survived its first election! Since my last newsletter, I published articles from two new writers, put together a massive voter recommendation guide, and wrote a few articles.

I'm going to take a little time off of updating the site, but I expect to start up again in early June.

This last month has been pretty hard, both on global and local levels. I hope you're all taking care of yourself out there.

Covering local politics

As part of covering Portland politics, I wrote two pieces about the mass shooting at a protest here in late February. Please note that both of these pieces have strong content warnings for violence and death. Here are the articles: One protestor killed, at least five wounded and Update on mass shooting at Normandale Park.

A Purim unicorn chaser

The last month flew past. I did manage to get a few things done since the last newsletter, so here’s a few links to look at!

A talk about scaling up legal support with no budget and no time

I delivered my talk about the Django app we use to organize support for protestors arrested in Portland during the George Floyd Uprising. PyCascades already has a video up and I’ve posted my slides and script from the talk. This 30-minute talk represents countless hours of work by a full team of people and, if you find it valuable, I encourage you to donate to the Portland GDC because protestors are still dealing with legal fallout. You can donate through CashApp, Venmo, or by mail to PDX GDC, 2249 East Burnside Street, Portland, OR 97214.

A Python unicorn chaser

I’m still writing 2020 on things, but I’ve been informed that 2022 is here to stay. Here are a few things I’ve worked on since the last newsletter.

A new zine for Tu B’Shvat

I’ve been thinking for a while about what it means to observe Tu B’Shvat in a way that doesn’t compound harm. I published a new zine last week on that topic, titled Towards a New Tu B’Shvat, along with a blog post of resources that go further into depth. You’re probably done with your holiday reading for 5682, but maybe you’ll find it worth bookmarking for next year.

A deep dive on Oregon circuit judges

I’ve been keeping busy lately, so I have loads of links for you!

A PDX Christmas Carol

Sometimes the only thing that will get you through the holiday season is a parody of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol specifically about the city you live in and the wealthy people who run it! I wrote A Portland Christmas Carol, featuring Ebenezer Wheeler meeting the three ghosts of Christmas. Mel Rainsberger provided amazing illustrations. And now the Portland General Defense Committee is selling ebooks of A Portland Christmas Carol through December 31st as a fundraiser to continuing providing legal and financial support to protestors arrested here during the George Floyd Uprising. Copies are $10.

A Haggadah of Our Own