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July Show Ideas
What's on your mind? What should be on the show?
We're especially interested in your healthcare ideas for our burgeoning series about revamping the way the whole system works. (If you're interested, here are the first two shows in the series: RX: Doctors' Salaries and RX: Health Promotion.)
And of course, we'd love to get more suggestions for Northwest Passages, as well.
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we occasionally buy our meat and eggs from a farm in Dallas, and sounds like they got some training from this place of Omnivore's Dilemma. I would love to hear a show on this book/idea's and the connections/ impact to the Willamette valley.
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why can't people read
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The Oregon Women's Sailing Association's 10th Annual Sail for the Cure is September 27th. OWSA membership ($25.00 annually) provides women several weekly sailing opportunities. Sail for the Cure is a top fundraiser for the Oregon and SW Washington affiliate of Komen for the Cure ®
Why are organizations like OWSA important? Does sexism still reign in sports like sailing? Why are partnerships between sporting groups like OWSA and Komen for the Cure® effective fundraisers? How is fundraising in this economy? www.owsa.net www.sailforthecureoregon.net
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ZoomCare (www.zoomcare.com) in Portland is a great place to talk about the changing world of healthcare.
A lot of us, while grateful to have a job, are still without healthcare and often do make too much for the Oregon Health Plan but not enough to afford individual insurance. ZoomCare has been a savior this past year and I think their model--and their success--is something that should be examined more closely.
They are also about to open their 4th location.
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You may have noticed a lot of activity and commentary surrounding the City's recent decision to hold a contest for the redesign of PortlandOnline.com. If not, there are links provided below to help you get up to speed. Design contests and spec work are important issues that need to be addressed. It's clear, from the blog commentary, that the PDX design community (and beyond) is up in arms.
Catch up on the issue:
http://siliconflorist.com/2009/07/13/spec-work-portland-web-design-community-city-ur-doin-it-wrong/
http://blogs.popart.com/2009/07/open-letter-to-portlandonline-refresh-committee/comment-page-1/#comment-524Thanks,
Johnny Levenson
AIGA Portland - President
president@portland.aiga.org
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You have covered some great mental health topics in your “As we are” series. I would love to see a show about eating disorders. As someone who has struggled with Anorexia and Bulimia for over 10 years, it is a disease that is often misunderstood. It is seen as a disease about vanity and it is often poked fun of in the media. In reality, eating disorders effect people of diverse ethnicities, socio-economic status, ages, and both women and men. They can be triggered by social pressures, but are complex mix of biological, psychological, family and social issues. The average recovery period for anorexia is 3-7 years and 10%-15% of people with anorexia die. Treatment is very expensive and often not covered by insurance. If you do a show about eating disorders, I highly encourage you to include diverse perspectives, including men with eating disorders and Compulsive Overeaters. There are limited treatment options in Portland and there is an emphasis on the Maudsley Approach, a rather controversial approach that does not work for a lot of people and is not even recommended for adults seeking treatment. There is very little conclusive research about what works.
Thanks for considering, I think TOL would do a great job on this topic!
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On the last day of Oregon's legislature this year there was a bill passed legalizing the growing of hemp. The last I heard of it was waiting for and would receive the governor's signature. It sounds like, in spite of the fact that is still illegal under federal law, the feds have no interest in interfering. Assuming this law goes forward could this be a cash crop that the gorwers could use to compensate for other crop fluctuations?
In July there was a hemp event in Eugene. If this becomes a significant crop is there a ready market for this product? What is its export value?
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I'm interested in learning about what the single payer option means. I suggest having as a guest Dr. Paul Gorman (OHSU) who was mentioned in a news report a few weeks ago. His email address is gormanp@ohsu.edu.
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Hi - I love your show and listen to it every day. You have some really great content and it is very even-keeled. I grew up in New england and spent most of my time in Vermont. While living there, I realized how beautiful the state is due to one law, The ban of all billboards. It has had an unbelievable effect on keeping the roadsides clean and clear of advertising and maintaining the traditional rural, country feel. When you enter Vermont from another state, you immediately notice a difference. This has also increased the amount of tourism to the state and increased the value of land. I believe that this would be a great move for Oregon as well. We could see a very similar increase in tourism and land values among many other benefits. I believe a show on this topic could bring a real discussion to the table and possibly get a grass roots movement towards eliminating the billboards. let me know what you think and if there is anything I can help out with please contact me. Thanks - Taylor Hood
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Maybe a show about our grassroots campaign to establish a fair minimum wage for club musicians here in Portland? We're called the Fair Trade Music campaign and we're trying to get the word out.
In the late 70s legislation changed musicians from being employees of the club subject to labor laws to being contract acts. This has created a race to the bottom for low club wages as musicians now have to undercut each other to play for exposure. The days of playing four or five gigs a week and living off of it are completely over. In the 60s, bands could make $500 a night for headlining at a packed club. Now, the same venues and packed clubs often pay less than $100.
We're also trying to educate fans about where their money really goes when they see a show. Many people think that when you pay a cover that the bands actually get this as pay. Not necessarily true. Many times the bands get whatever is left over after sound, lighting and security are paid. $25 per band (to split between members) is often the reality here.
There are fair paying venues in town and we also provide incentives for them to continue these good practices.
It's controversial and there are a lot of misconceptions, but something needs to be done!
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Have you heard about the Mad As Hell Doctors? They are an Oregon-grown group of doctors who are taking a caravan of cars on a press tour around the country to advocate for single payer. They hope to coalesce a national movement by providing an action-oriented focal point that the entire country can support right now. Very exciting stuff. I want to learn more. I think a segment on these guys would be sensational!
Check it out @:
http://www.MadAsHellDoctors.com
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Just came across a flyer of the "friends of felines" and would love to know what kind of impact they are having on the amount of ferral cats in oregon, on this same line how can we reduce the # of dogs in shelters, will the new bill in the legislature regarding the amount of dogs one can have, have any effect? and i missed the show on wild horses, but why exactly can they simply not do a mass sterilization?
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woops i mean the ferel cat coalition.
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The other intrest i have is that of search dogs and what use are they to the people who are lost etc, what are their requirements for going on a search, and how successful are they when sent out,
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"Blurring the urban-rural line in Damascus"an article in the Sunday Oregonian, by Eric Mortenson, raises some important questions about land use in Oregon and the future of local food resources. As a resident of Damascus, a small landowner and sustainable, edible-landscape, hobby farmer I would be in favor of seeing local food grown within the UGB, an idea voiced by Larry Thompson of Thompson's Farms in the article. How do Oregon laws currently discourage this from happening? Is the existance of the UGB really preserving the "best" farm land for food production and other agriculture? How are farms like Zenger Farms able to exist within the UGB? How do we balance the need for cost-effective infastructure with the need for locally grown food? Richard Whitman, director of the state Dept of Land Conservation and Development is quoted as saying, "Damascus has an obligation to Metro to take on its share of the region's population and job growth...If land within the city is reserved for farming, the trade-off is that some neighborhoods may have to be more developed more densely" (Oregonian) but what's wrong with the system of incorporating small villages like Damascus, OR into the UGB when residents have very little say in whether or not the town becomes incorporated into the UGB?. Why should Damascus be obligated to meet that need when it's not just Damascusites who voted to add Damascus into the UGB? I hope you'll consider this urban-rural agriculture debate as a possible future topic.
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I would like to hear about Oregon's contribution to sustainable agriculture. Growers, ranchers and new agricultural technology all help the cause as demand for organic products ramps up.
My husband invented a spray technology that eliminates drift and runoff. www.ontargetspray.com His business has noticed a sudden swell of interest among growers all over the world. Growers use less pesticide and/or 'softer' products to save money as well as reducing the negative impact spraying has developed a reputation for.
Maureen Hartman
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I appreciated your show on ADDICTION today. Great - love hearing the message of recovery getting out there!
As the wife of an addict/alcoholic, and the mother of the children of that alcoholic/addict, I would love to hear a show that covers the effects of that disease on the friends and family. 1 addict= 5 affected, not to mention his family and my family members.
AA is a huge group; Al-Anon should be 5 times as large; the message is hard to hear, but addiction affects us, as well. We lie to ourselves, we become numb to that pain and its effect on our lives. We isolate out of shame, we manipulate in an attempt to fix and control situations, we become adept at justifying, and we come to believe it "they just did what we told them", things would turn around. There is no drug, no bottle of alcohol, no bet to make...yet we carry the effects of addiction deep into our lives.
Maybe I've just described some unhappy person you know... chances are that that person has a addict/alcoholic as a friend or family member in their life. No one bats an eye that that could be true, but why blame that crazy behavior on the alcoholic?
It is an interesting topic for me, but I know that most people who need to hear it won't be able to take in the message because I was there, in that self-righteous all-knowing foggy pain-filled place. I still think it is important to discuss it in our community to 1. get rid of the shame and stigma of loving (or at least in continuing a relationship with) an alcoholic/addict, and 2. to give people tools and skills that we don't usually learn in our homes but which are needed to not just cope, but thrive, despite the disease in our homes.
Thanks. Its a great show, and your questions go right to the heart of the matter.
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Two ideas: one is the moral impetus to stay healthy and within the normal limits of weight. Never have I read or seen a discussion of our obligation to each other, to our economy, to the planet, and to our families, to maintain healthful habits. I observe so many who (and here I'm excluding people whose financial situation is so dire they are eating poorly as a matter of economics) eat gluttonously, over drink, over medicate and then become attached, for the remaining duration of their lives, to intense medical interventions from drugs to diagnostics to procedures.
Also--when I see an extremely overweight child who cannot run or skip or clamber up a slide, I think "that's a form of child abuse" --that kid's parents have sentenced him to a life in which he cannot partake of some of life's simplest joys and which is aligning him with lifestyle diseases such as diabetes.
I've been overweight, not much but 25 pounds; I lost it 30 years ago through choosing activity over inactivity and simply being moderate in my diet and drink. It's the nineteenth century diet, essentially, from an era when people could not rely on pharmaceuticals or medical procedures to save them from poor choices.
Second idea is related to an upcoming grand opening of the 4T trail in Portland, which may be one of a kind in the world: an urban hiking route that combines trail, tram, trolley and train. Don Baack, who for years has been a pedestrian advocate in SW Portland, has been instrumental in getting this officially noted and signed. Tom Potter also was an early advocate. It's a wonderful addition to our civic fabric. The conflict angle on this piece is that Don's group, SW Trails, is now stymied by legal rulings that have prevented further pedestrian paths (the liability issue). He's a classic citizen with a capital C. I know him through pedestrian issues. He'd make a very interesting guest, along with people from the City and Metro who are advocating alternative transit as a means not only to physical health but to civic health.
Thanks for the opportunity to submit.
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You need to really do a show that tells the truth about subprime lending....I have written your staff, I have blogged and I have sat down at your offices and you still want will not speak to or address the issue. the real issue.
WHY DO YOU KEEP ON IGNORING THE TRUE FACTS.......
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Once Congress finally gets health care figured out, they'll be moving on to climate change. There are a lot of efforts being made in Oregon to mobilize everyone from schools to businesses to churches for climate action.
Why not do a show highlighting the individual and collective steps to lowering Oregon's carbon footprint?
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I believe I heard recently that Portland has one of the largest populations of homeless people in the United States. Whether or not this is accurate, I would like to hear a program where you interview people who are homeless and talk about the circumstances that led to homelessness, what might be changed, etc. You could contact Sisters of the Road, Outside In, street Roots, Goose Hollow Family Shelter and many other groups to get the story of homelessness directly from people who are seldom asked about it.
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Comments are now closed.
If you're familiar with Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, then you know about Joel Salatin who uses innovative pasture-based livestock models at his Polyface Farm in Virginia. Joel Salatin will be in Corvallis on August 15th at Afton Family Farm to give a seminar on how to use his models successfully in the Willamette Valley. Tyler Jones who owns Afton Family Farm apprenticed with Joel for one year at Polyface. Joel will be speaking in Portland on August 14th. I think he would be a super guest. Google Joel Salatin and Polyface Farm for more info. You can find info about Afton Family Farm and Tyler Jones at localharvest.org.