Culture: Page 197

Here Comes The Neighborhood

Four volunteers open the new Whiteaker Community Market

Culture
Jocelyn Lescarbeau, Claire Schechtman, Shelby Meyers, Caitlin Jemma

If nature truly abhors a vacuum, why are we left with so much space? Look around you. There are gaps in places you never expected, emptiness where life should have flourished. But does emptiness not equal potential? Every masterpiece begins life as a canvas. Take, for example, the gravel lot at 5th and Blair. Currently, it is just that — an empty space — but four local ladies saw through the void to the treasure hidden beyond. Continue reading →

Bernie The Man, The Symbol

While many locals made it into the Bernie rally, thousands were left to listen beyond the gates

CultureNews

As a persona, Bernie Sanders is a stock character drawn directly from the agitprop literature of the ’40s and ’50s: He’s that frumpy, tweedy Marxist firebrand who leans on the podium with a finger perpetually raised, haranguing us about the evils of monopoly capitalism and political cronyism. As a standard-issue New Deal democrat in an Orwellian age, Sanders’ royal “We (the People)” is, ironically enough, a distinctly working-class entity, which is the only reason his message seems revolutionary right here, right now.  Continue reading →

Always Room for Oregon Wines

Check out some great wine choices for the month

Drink

I paused outside our lab door on the 15th floor of the old high-rise, the pebbled glass bearing the painted legend “Wine Investigations.” I pushed on the door, already ajar. My pardner, Mole, sat behind our scarred desk. He looked deeply morose. A mopey Mole is a sad sight to behold. For newbies, my sidekick is the sweetest guy in the world. Everybody loves Mole, even though, at wine tastings, he’s invisible, leaving only the impression of a great guy. He also has an acute, critical palate, doesn’t take notes and never forgets good wines and wine-making. Continue reading →

New Wine on the Block

Pinot noir grapes abound at Abbelone Vineyard

Drink
Kristian Ferry at Abbelone Vineyard

“Our property used to be Christensen Brothers Ranch, a working rodeo stock ranch for horses,” says Abbelone Vineyard co-owner Angela Ferry. In the routine operations of running the winery, “we find lots of remnants from those days, like horse bits and fencing,” she says.  Ferry, a financial recruiter, and her husband, Kristian Ferry, a surgical oncologist, bought their 34-acre property in 2002.   “We planted our first vines that spring,” Ferry says.  Continue reading →

The Giving Vine

A look at how the local wine industry gives back to the community

Drink
Alan Mitchell of territorial vineyards

The popularity of Oregon wine, especially our pinot noirs, has soared. From a handful of wineries in the 1970s, we have seen a near-explosion: Now there are more than 400 wineries in the state, with that number increasing almost daily. Wine contributes several billion dollars annually to Oregon’s economy. The wineries and their owners also contribute greatly to various Oregon charities and nonprofits.  How, and how much? Continue reading →

Weed for Life

Local cannabis growers keep an eye on healthy, sustainable practices

Cannabis

When it comes to weed, a clutch of competing cannabis mythologies seems to guide our collective imagination, each one containing seeds of truth and shakes of misinformation and ignorance. One of the more subtle myths surrounding cannabis goes something like this: “Dude, it’s all good. Weed is a product of the earth, God-given, and we are meant simply to grow it, smoke it and enjoy. Unlike alcohol, weed never hurt anybody. It’s just a plant, for goodness sake.” Continue reading →

Running Races for Wine

Good wines are always competing with each other

Drink

When I first began to write about Oregon wine 20-some years ago (in millennia of wine, hardly a flash), there were only a couple hands-full of labels to track. Now we have more than 400, increasing almost daily. And the wines are often very good. This poses many challenges, not only for wine writers but particularly for the wineries themselves — their owners, their staff, retailers, et al. Continue reading →