Think Out Loud

Last month marked the beginning of a statewide ban on cell phones in Oregon schools. The executive order, issued by Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, prohibits the use of personal devices such as phones, smart watches and earbuds during instructional hours, including lunchtime and between periods. School districts were to adopt policies by October 31, 2025, and enforce the new rules beginning January 1.   Grant High School in Northeast Portland adopted a phone-free policy in 2024. South Eugene High School began implementing its cell phone policy last month.   James Mcgee, principal of Grant High School, and Kee Zublin, principal of South Eugene High School, join us to give us more information on how parents, administrators, students and teachers are adjusting to the new policies.

Stephanie Harris, maker and former middle-school counselor; August Oaks, Hood River producer and designer who curated the immersive Black Infinity House; Evelyn Charity, educator and community organizer. They discuss a walk-through exhibit with studio, living room and porch spaces. Conversation covers showcasing work by dozens of Black Oregon artists, celebrating expansive Black identity, and growing local community programming.

Donovan Scribes, writer-producer and former Skanner reporter who covered race and media. Bruce Poinsett, freelance writer who profiled Portland arts and emerging Black artists. Margaret Carter, former state legislator and longtime Skanner columnist. They discuss The Skanner’s community role, how it held leaders accountable, and the challenges left by its shutdown.

Sky Chadde, senior reporter at Investigate Midwest who covers immigration enforcement and agricultural labor, discusses raids on farmworkers across states. He describes an August van stop and chaotic transfers, legal access hurdles, and how civil immigration actions are framed like criminal sweeps. He also covers the ripple effects on family farms and meatpacking operations struggling to replace workers.

Washington state made several changes in the last few years to prioritize keeping kids with their birth families. But a new investigation from KUOW found that over the same time period, more babies and children from families who’ve been investigated by Child Protective Services (CPS) workers have died. Eilis O’Neill, a reporter for KUOW, joins us to talk about the story.

According to its website, The Lavender Network is Eugene’s only LGBTQ+ service and community center. The coalition of five nonprofits offers health care, counseling, a free clothing closet and more to queer communities in Lane County. After renting different spaces around Eugene, the network opened its first permanent space near downtown on Feb. 10.   Laura Henry is the manager of The Lavender Network. She joins us to talk about the importance of creating permanent spaces for LGBTQ+ communities.

Last month, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed an executive order creating an interagency council to better support immigrants and refugees in the state. According to the Oregon Department of Human Services, there are more than 400,000 immigrants in Oregon, making up nearly 10% of the state’s population and nearly 13% of the state’s workforce.    The Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement at ODHS is leading this new effort which aims to boost coordination and communication between multiple state agencies amid the toll heightened immigration enforcement is taking on communities and the state services they rely on.     According to OIRA director Jessica Ventura, the council had its first meeting last week and aims to deliver a plan by late spring that identifies how to align and boost state programs to support immigrants and refugees while upholding the state’s sanctuary law. Gov. Kotek and Ventura join us for more details about the Interagency Council for Immigrant and Refugee Coordination and to share what they’ve been hearing from dozens of community partners who advocate on behalf of these vulnerable Oregonians.  

Stacey Abrams has published more than a dozen books over the last 25 years. Those include thrillers, romance novels, children’s books and political memoirs and manifestos. That would be a full career for most people, but Stacey Abrams seems to have more energy than most people.   While she has always been a writer, she has also been a tax attorney, a Georgia state lawmaker, the minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives and the first Black woman in U.S. history to become the gubernatorial nominee of a major political party.   Abrams has launched multiple nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies, with a longstanding focus on voter registration and voter’s rights. Her new book is “Coded Justice.” She spoke with “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller in front of an audience at the 2025 Portland Book Festival.  

Portland author David F. Walker and illustrator Marcus Kwame Anderson have worked together before - on a 2021 graphic novel about the Black Panther Party. This time they’ve teamed up on something a little different: an update of the classic American novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” In their version, the escaped slave Jim is more than just Huck’s companion; he’s a fully imagined character. Walker joined us on Dec. 2, 2024 to talk about the work of updating an American classic.  

Ellen Bishop, geologist and photographer who blends field science with Indigenous narratives, and Roger Amerman, ethnogeologist and artist who interprets landscape through tribal oral traditions, discuss the Heads & Hearts exhibit. They explore how Nez Perce and Columbia Basin stories illuminate Mount Mazama, Ice Age floods, earthquakes and the cultural transmission of landscape knowledge.