The unnecessary burden of filing taxes

Every April I get shudders just thinking about the pending deadline for filing taxes. I am not exaggerating when I say the task feels like a form of purgatory.

Oregon: State of Wonder, or State of Failure?

Oregon’s license plates once read: “Pacific Wonderland.” Crammed into our great state are rain forests, deserts, mountains, plains, large cities and one-road towns. We also have one national park and a few volcanoes. It’s possible to wake up in your home in Portland, hop in your car, surf Seaside in the morning, ski Timberline in … Read more

Storyteller-in-Chief : Vive la France

I first lived in France in 1991. I was struggling with fitting in at Reed — it was lonely being one of three members of the Reed Republicans — and I did not feel any kind of existential urgency to finish college. I loved the idea of France because I had studied the language since … Read more