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The Evergreen OPB's weekly podcast, The Evergreen, creates an audio portrait of the Pacific Northwest. We tell the stories of the people, places, communities and cultures that make up this region. It's a podcast about the place YOU live, the places you love, and the geography you feel connected to.
The Evergreen

Podcast Directory
The Evergreen

The Evergreen

From Oregon Public Broadcasting

OPB's weekly podcast, The Evergreen, creates an audio portrait of the Pacific Northwest. We tell the stories of the people, places, communities and cultures that make up this region. It's a podcast about the place YOU live, the places you love, and the geography you feel connected to.

Most Recent Episodes

Marking Pride with intergenerational conversations among queer people

June is officially Pride month, but queer celebrations spill over into July – Portland Pride is this weekend. And of course, queer visibility shouldn't be limited to one month of the year; it's important all the time. Pride is about celebrating queer communities and it's also a chance to learn about queer history. We bring you two intergenerational conversations about the importance of history, and combating queer erasure with friendship and resilience. You can find more coverage of Pride in the Pacific Northwest here. For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB's newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly. Don't forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Is there a cult in Ashland?

Oregon has a unique history with cults — remember Rajneeshpuram, the inspiration for the docuseries Wild Wild Country? A spiritual group known as TwinRay is based in Ashland, Oregon. The leaders dress in all white and charge thousands of dollars for online classes. Are they a cult? OPB reporter Leah Sottile fills us in on the details. You can read her recent article on TwinRay here. For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB's newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly. Don't forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

At Work With a taffy maker, a rural mail carrier and a poet

Hi! It's Jenn Chávez, host of The Evergreen. When I'm walking around, I often wonder about the lives of people I see at work, in different professions. What made them want to have that job in the first place? Is it hard? Do they see themselves doing that forever? Lucky for me, I have the perfect job to ask people those questions. For our latest "At Work With" episode, where we talk to a Pacific Northwesterners with cool jobs and ask them your questions about what it's like to do what they do, we bring you along as we go to work with a poet, a rural mail carrier and a family of taffy makers. For our "At Work With" series, let us know who you want to hear from next! You can also send us questions you have for our next "At Work With" interview. Email us at theevergreen@opb.org or visit our web page to submit questions. At Work With poet Anis Mojgani social media reel. At Work With rural mail carrier Connie Gunn social media reel. For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB's newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly. Don't forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Water rights in much of Oregon are still based on policies dating back to the 1900s

Water rights are super confusing. In the face of ongoing drought, farms, homes, wildlife and commercial users like golf courses and resorts are all competing for this precious resource. OPB's Central Oregon Bureau Chief Emily Cureton Cook joins us to help shed some light on the situation and what changes could be on the horizon. For more coverage on Oregon's struggle with drought and water usage, check out Emily's deep dive here. For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB's newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly. Don't forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Water rights in much of Oregon are still based on policies dating back to the 1900s

Listen · 23:55

Oregon had a goal to graduate all high school students by 2025. Why is that so hard?

Last week, we introduced you to OPB's Class of 2025 project, where we are following a class of kindergarteners on their journey all the way through high school. The idea stems from a goal Oregon set more than a decade ago – a 100% high school graduation rate by 2025. As the Class of 2025 has grown, so has Oregon. That once tall order of a 100% high school graduation rate is no longer the goal. Oregon's new governor Tina Kotek has another goal in mind: 90% high school graduation rate by 2027. This week, we want to ask some of the tough questions raised by the reporting OPB has done over the last decade with this project. The biggest ones: Why is Oregon's graduation rate still lower than other states, even after focusing on improving it all these years? And maybe more broadly - is trying to get to 100 percent even the right goal? If it's not, what is? Education reporter Elizabeth Miller is back with us this week to help answer these questions. Check out OPB's Class of 2025 podcast. Check out OPB's Class of 2025 reporting. For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB's newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly. Don't forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Oregon had a goal to graduate all high school students by 2025. Why is that so hard?

Listen · 24:55

A window into the Class of 2025, and what keeps students from graduating

Over a decade ago, former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber announced an aspirational goal to improve the state's low-ranking high school graduation rate. His mission: a 100% graduation by 2025. If successful, Oregon would catapult its rock-bottom national ranking to the top. It was a very ambitious goal. And so back in 2012 - when 'Call Me Maybe' was the song you heard everywhere - OPB set out on a very ambitious goal too. We decided to document the stories of a kindergarten class on their journey all the way through high school. Now, the twenty-seven students we met when they were six years old are all on different paths – one student is even graduating early. But most are about to enter their senior year of high school in the fall. Education reporter Elizabeth Miller has been following the class of 2025 for years, and she gives us a window into their lives. OPB Class of 2025 podcast: https://www.opb.org/article/2020/11/30/listen-now-class-of-2025/ OPB Class of 2025 reporting: https://www.opb.org/specialreport/class-of-2025/ For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB's newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly. Don't forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

A window into the Class of 2025, and what keeps students from graduating

Listen · 25:01

Remembering Rip City icon Bill Walton

NBA Hall-of-Famer, Portland Trail Blazers legend and Northwest icon Bill Walton died recently at the age of 71. He's known as one of the most beloved Blazers of all time, credited with leading the team to its first NBA Championship in 1977. He's also remembered as a freewheeling sportscaster, a devoted Deadhead, a young activist, a bike-lover and so much more. It's clear from the many remembrances of him since his death how much he meant to fans across the basketball world, especially here in Oregon. We got together with two of OPB's biggest Blazers fans, politics and government editor Andrew Theen and investigative editor and reporter Tony Schick, to share memories of Bill Walton and reflect on his legacy in Rip City and beyond. For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB's newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly. Don't forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

At Portland's largest outdoor homeless shelter, residents await their next step towards housing

The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering a case out of Grants Pass that asks whether cities can punish people for living outdoors if there's not enough shelter space for them to go to instead. Clinton Triangle, a large, low-barrier, outdoor shelter in Southeast Portland, is supposed to be the city's model for how to serve chronically homeless Portlanders, and allow the city to enforce its camping ban policy. We visited the shelter with OPB's Portland city government reporter Alex Zielinski, who shares the voices of people who've lived and worked there, and considers how the shelter's approach has been working for residents trying to leave homelessness behind. For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB's newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly. Don't forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

At Portland's largest outdoor homeless shelter, residents await their next step towards housing

Listen · 30:17

How homelessness in Grants Pass made it to the Supreme Court

A case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court centers around this question: can cities punish people for living outdoors if there's no other place for them to go? The court's ruling, which is expected as early as June, could change homelessness policy nationwide — and it all started in Grants Pass, Oregon. Street Roots Newspaper reporter Jeremiah Hayden spent time in Grants Pass & covered oral arguments in Grants Pass v. Johnson in Washington, DC. He joins us to share some of the voices of Oregonians behind the legal case, and consider what the case could mean for cities in the Pacific Northwest and across the country. - For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB's newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly. Don't forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Remembering the Mount St Helens eruption and people who died on the mountain

Everyone who was in the Pacific Northwest on May 18, 1980 has some kind of story about the Mount Saint Helens eruption. OPB producer Ian McKluskey recently revisited that fateful day with some people who remember it very well for both personal and professional reasons. We talk with Ian about unearthing lost stories from Mount St Helens. For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB's newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly. Don't forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Remembering the Mount St Helens eruption and people who died on the mountain

Listen · 28:59
The Evergreen

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