Wokeness just another way of saying kindness

“Wokeness” is what folks on the political right love to declare themselves as being against these days. But, what is it, really, that they oppose?

The term “woke” was derived from African American Vernacular English meaning alertness to racial prejudice. For those who have used the term positively, something I am not sure anyone actually does anymore, its meaning evolved to encompass awareness of other social inequities and forms of oppression such as sexism, misogyny, white privilege, the oppression of any minority person or community, and human and environmental predations of exploitive corporations

Lynn McCoy: Carter's work encouraged democracy

When former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn founded the nonprofit Carter Center in 1982, one of their goals was to help Latin American countries — many of which were emerging from decades of military dictatorship — transition to democracies.

Back, and Forth: Pie auction serves to dish up a healthy taste of community

Pi Day is coming up March 14. But however you plan to observe it, I think I have you beat, thanks to my involvement in a recent pie night. A key lime came our way courtesy of the drama program at Patton ...

McCracken: The high price of vaccine freedom

I like numbers.

At a time when it seems as if nearly every question is answered with a subjectivity of dubious veracity, I find the reliability of numbers comforting.

Numbers are dispassionate. Numbers are honest. Numbers are neither Republican nor Democrat.

Numbers do not lie. They simply are. You either have the correct answer or you don’t.

Bladine: A better plan for student debt relief

Three years ago, we reported a local woman’s campaign seeking debt relief and lending fairness in America’s federal student loan system. She had borrowed $108,000 for college 10 years before, ...

Israel’s drift to right eroding its democracy

By MEL GURTOV Of Portland State University Israel has always been touted as America’s most reliable friend in the Middle East, a bastion of democracy in a region dominated by autocracies. But that ...

Look at what we’re doing to others

By SHEILA HUNTER Concerned McMinnville resident Over the years, I have felt the pressure from Blacks to feel guilty about their plight. For a long time, I said, “I didn’t bring them here, ...

Back and Forth: Nobel laureate is part scientist, part magician

With atomic aplomb, William Phillips ‘blows things up’ and puts ‘the coolest stuff in the universe’ in perspective On the coldest night of the year, Dr. William Phillips invoked ...

Tyrants at the top

Stagnant wages. The opioid crisis. Job insecurity. Climate change. Economic inequality. Christine Bader Guest writer Chris- tine Bader is the author of “The Evolution of a Corporate ...

Michael Lind: Farming's future

Willamette Valley farmers have been increasingly moving away from conventional farming, which relies on synthetic chemicals and fertilizers, and toward regenerative farming, which builds and maintains ...

Jeb Bladine: Our lazy language needs new words

Here’s a fun hint for times when someone criticizes others for being “woke”: Look perplexed and ask, sincerely, “What does that word mean?” Whatever the response, you likely ...

Jeb Bladine: Interesting twist on TML developments

Here’s an interesting twist on discussions about development of Three Mile Lane. Oregon Sen. Bill Hansell recently grumbled that Oregon lacks any site with all desired characteristics for development ...

Whitewashing history does us all a disservice

By ROBERT KOEHLER Curse that First Amendment! What were the Founding Fathers thinking? As Ron DeSantis has declared and legislated, the safety of Florida — and, yes, the safety of the nation — ...

SHUANG-YE WU: Lessons to be learned from last year's climate disasters

By SHUANG-YE WU Of the University of Dayton The year 2022 will be remembered across the U.S. for its devastating floods and storms, not to mention is extreme heat waves and drought. The nation experienced ...

Sottile: Think extremism isn’t about you?

By Leah Sottile On Jan. 17, 2011, a man placed a bomb a block and a half from my apartment building. It was the morning of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. parade, a small, peaceful march that wound ...