As a child, I always dreaded going to Hebrew School. Although it was only a few blocks from my public school, the lonely bike ride felt like miles as I watched my friends walk away in the opposite direction, arms linked together like a human gum wrapper chain. Being Jewish in the small town where…
Danger doesn’t come from the direction of the water. So Big Mama, when not nursing her yearling cub, hungrily chews on long stalks of sedge grass just 10 feet from our zodiac. Dan Wakeman’s 20 years of observing yearly life cycles in British Columbia’s Khutzeymateen, North America’s largest grizzly bear sanctuary, has provided him the…
Sandra Stone says she started writing seriously at age 5; in the decades since she has won a host of awards including an Oregon Book Award and a trip to Japan. In 1998 her Cocktails with Breughel at the Museum Café won the Oregon Book Award. The next year she was standing in line at…
Northeast Alberta Street is dotted with so many great restaurants that it’s easy to overlook the side streets. But if you head south on Northeast 14th for half a block, you’ll be rewarded with one of the most satisfying meals in Portland. Swiss Hibiscus, which has been open for four years, serves up authentic Swiss…
In “The Sound of Music” Julie Andrews explains, “when you sing you begin with Do Re Mi.” While the Von Trapp family singers indeed possessed natural talent, the talented home cook knows that great food requires patience to coax optimum flavor from foods to produce perfect harmony on the plate. The first-year culinary student learns…
As the University of Oregon’s fall quarter began drawing to a close, Oregon Hillel Executive Director Andy Gitelson enjoyed a rare quiet afternoon in his office, reflecting on the busiest High Holiday season of his three years in Eugene. “What we’ve seen overall is more and more different students engaging in smaller-scale programs, which is…
When I started at Portland State University, Greater Portland Hillel was a way to stay connected to the Jewish community and continue to discover my Jewish identity in college. However, I was not prepared to deal with the anti-Semitism and anti-Israel atmosphere I would face on campus. During my freshman year, I became involved with…
As a child, I always dreaded going to Hebrew School. Although it was only a few blocks from my public school, the lonely bike ride felt like miles as I watched my friends walk away in the opposite direction, arms linked together like a human gum wrapper chain. Being Jewish in the small town where…
As a nurse practitioner, Lisa Weiner’s favorite thing was patient education to help people make positive changes. When she and her husband, Andrew Cohen, had their first son, Ezra, 10 years ago, she decided to leave her practice to spend more time with her family. Now with Ezra and his younger brother, Reuben, 6, both…
