From the editors

Rob & Sara Bednark
The Portland Upside
April 2010

“How’s the paper going?” is a common question we get asked nowadays. We answer a variety of ways depending on the day, how well we know the person asking the question and how close we are to a publication deadline.

Truthfully, it is going well.

We are pleased with the quality of the publication we are putting out. Each month many new and committed readers pick up the printed version of the Upside around the Portland metro area and many more visit our website to read the online version. We’re getting great feedback from our readers, advertisers and the subjects of our articles. The number of volunteers who write, photograph and distribute for the Portland Upside is growing and becoming more diverse.

But the truth is, also, that our funds are running out. From the beginning, we’ve focused on keeping our expenses low and we’ve been able to create 12 great issues, financed not only from advertising, sponsorship, and donations, but primarily from our savings account.

We love publishing the Upside but we need more financial support to continue supplying Portland with the best good news in town. If you enjoy reading it and want to see it continue, please support the Upside with a donation, sponsorship, or advertising.

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Go online to portlandupside.com to donate or get more info about advertising and sponsorship. Contact Sara & Rob at 503-663-1526 or editors@portlandupside.com Or send your donation to The Portland Upside, 10013 SE Eastmont Dr, Damascus, OR 97089

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From the editors

Rob & Sara Bednark
The Portland Upside
February, 2010

Why did we start this paper?

Although we are often asked this question, the answer never comes easily or simply.

The short answer is that we choose to create a paper that we want to read; one that we find uplifting without being preachy or gushy; a place where we don’t have to sift through depressing headlines and stories to find the positive stuff; a reminder that people right here are doing things every day to uplift our local communities.

Another answer is that neither of us is working, we need an income and a purpose, and we want to do something meaningful. The idea of a positive newspaper feels like a worthwhile endeavor.

Producing each issue is time-consuming, frustrating, and often fills us with worry and anxiety. It pushes us well outside our comfort zones. But when we give each issue one last read-through before sending it off to the printing press, our effort is rewarded as our hearts are again touched by the stories.

We do it for the people in the Upside who remind us that goodness thrives in Portland.

We do it for the organizations that represent some of the best community-oriented ideas in the country.

We do it for the writers who volunteer their talent to write articles and poems that inspire and captivate our hearts.

We do it for the volunteers who distribute the Upside because they believe in the spirit of positive news.

We do it for the strangers who tell us how happy they are to see a positive paper like the Upside.
Regardless of our reasons for starting it, we hope you enjoy reading the Upside as much as we do.

Sara & Rob

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All issues can be viewed on our website, http://PortlandUpside.com Contact us by email, editors@PortlandUpside.com, or by phone, 503-663-1526.

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From the editors

By Rob & Sara Bednark
The Portland Upside
January 2010

While moving from the Midwest to Portland in 1996, we crossed over the Marquam Bridge with all of our belongings packed into the back of a rental truck. With the Willamette River below us and the Portland skyline nearby, we exclaimed, “Isn’t it beautiful!” Today we still feel that same sense of appreciation and belonging.

In her article “Stick to your dreams,” Nicole Morale quotes Chris Bucci, “My heart is here, my heart is in Oregon.” That exactly describes our feelings every time we cross those beloved bridges. Chris took his feelings and found a way to make them tangible, and thanks to him we can now proudly display our love of Oregon with the Heart in Oregon emblem.

We met Israel Bayer last June. He was telling his story to the youth in The Pangaea Project and we were moved by his journey, his honesty, and his heart. In “Israel Bayer grows roots in Portland,” Nikki Jardin tells the story of the circuitous route Israel took to reach Portland, and how he is using his rich life experiences to connect with the homeless whose lives he champions.

We feel a commonality with Chris and Israel. They each searched to find their place, and then found ways to connect others to that shared sense of home.

After 13 years living in Portland, we are honored to be able to give something back to the place that we call home.

Sara & Rob

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All issues can be viewed on our website, http://PortlandUpside.com Contact us by email, editors@PortlandUpside.com, or by phone, 503-663-1526.

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The next challenge for The Portland Upside

By Rob & Sara Bednark
The Portland Upside
January 2010

The Portland Upside has come a long way in 2009. What started as a dream has become a living breathing reality, thanks to the help of volunteers who write, edit, photograph, and distribute the paper every month. From the enthusiastic feedback we’ve received, we know that The Portland Upside has established a reputation for quality content, providing a valuable service to the Portland metro area. With such strong community backing from day one, we’re confident that with your help, we can continue to publish The Portland Upside.

This past year has been a learning process for us. With nine issues under our belts, the monthly creation process has become straightforward. It’s now time to learn new strategies for generating revenue so that The Upside can stay in circulation. Thus far we’ve focused on advertising revenue to underwrite production and distribution costs. While we’ve gotten lots of help, we have a long way to go to meet expenses.

We learn as we go, letting The Upside have a life and community of its own, following that life, one step at a time, trying, making mistakes, letting it evolve. We are now ready to learn new ways to make The Portland Upside a continued financial, as well as literary, success. It’s now time to learn how to make this dream-come-true financially viable.

We need ideas on how to finance our answer to Portland’s growing appetite for positive news. Do you have a penchant for positive news and making a difference in your community, along with skills or ideas to create more revenue for The Portland Upside? We’d like to hear from you!
We invite you to join us in making The Upside a staple in our beloved, quirky, positive and caring city. Together we will make The Upside a sustainable venture that continues to uplift the people of Portland.

Thank you to all who have generously supported us in 2009 with contributions, ideas and advertising. Please help us keep The Upside going by contributing your ideas and material assistance.

Call or email us with your help. We’re relying on you in 2010!

Sara and Rob
Publishers, The Portland Upside

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Contact us by email at editors@PortlandUpside.com, or by phone, 503-663-1526. Information about advertising or making a donation can be found online at http://PortlandUpside.com

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From the editors

By Sara & Rob Bednark
The Portland Upside
December 2009

They say “a picture’s worth a thousand words,” and while that’s true, one can never replace the other. Photos complement stories as much as stories complement photos.

Rebecca Ok’s article about Children’s Book Bank, (From Caring Hands to Children’s S helves, p. 1) and their Oct. 20 distribution of 780 book bags takes us to the school gym where eager pre-schoolers explore the wonders of books they now own. Rebecca’s accompanying photos let us see some of the curious faces that will benefit from the organization’s caring volunteers.

Nicole Morales (Coming Soon: Kids, Coffee & Community at Café au Play, p. 4) follows the years of planning and hard work put in by Kristin Heying and other community volunteers to bring life to Café au Play. The before and after photos help us appreciate how much change has taken place on the Tabor Commons site.

Building a fence never sounded so fun and rewarding until we read Nikki Jardin’s article (Freedom for Dogs, One Fence at a Time, p. 1). The photos by David Childs of Noah running along the fence, reveling in his new untethered freedom, captures the spirit of why the Fences For Fido volunteers do what they do.

Perhaps when looking at the photos from past issues (A Look Back at Our First Seven Issues, p. 5) you’ll be inspired to go to our website and read some of the articles that you’ve missed. If you’ve already read them all, we hope the photos will remind you that Portland is full of people doing wonderful things to help others in the community.

Happy holidays!

Sara & Rob

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All issues can be viewed on our website, http://PortlandUpside.com Contact us by email, editors@PortlandUpside.com, or by phone, 503-663-1526.

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From the editors

By Rob & Sara Bednark
The Portland Upside
November 2009

When someone wants to volunteer to write an article for The Portland Upside and asks us what subject we want them to write about, we invariably tell them, “Write about something that interests you or that you are passionate about.” When things become personal, words become alive.

It is exciting when the articles come in to see what our writers have come up with. This may seem unorthodox and the mix of articles is certainly unpredictable, but each issue has been a fascinating selection of stories and profiles of people, businesses and organizations.

Everyone has a passion, be it writing, going to garage sales, making coffee mugs or singing. By following those passions even when the path is not clear, great things can happen.

Crystal created her own “Music In The Community” college major so she could follow her urge to use music to bring people together (“Bringing music to the community”, p. 1).

By volunteering at Community Warehouse, Lin, Evy and April use their organizational and garage sale talents to help those who need to furnish their homes (“Secret to a happy life”, p. 6).

Stephen traveled to Kenya, Africa, on something of a whim and ended up helping a village connect with information that will continue to help them in years to come (“Portlander sparks hope in African village”, p. 1).

9-year-old Isaiah Walker’s curiosity about cultural backgrounds led to an International Day celebration at his church (“Cultural diversity celebrated”, p. 8)

And our passion to hear about positive stories around Portland led us to start The Portland Upside. We didn’t know how we would get here, but with the generous help of many volunteers, we have produced seven issues and over 65 articles to date.

Passion, indeed, brings words to life.
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All issues can be viewed on our website, www.PortlandUpside.com Contact us by email, editors@PortlandUpside.com, or by phone, 503-663-1526.

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From the Editors

By Sara & Rob Bednark
The Portland Upside
October 2009

Wow! It’s been a year since we started work on creating The Portland Upside. We had no journalism or publishing experience of our own, only a dream to create what we couldn’t find—a publication with all positive news from the Portland metro area. Now a year later, we’ve published over 50 articles spanning six issues starting with the first in May 2009.

It feels like The Portland Upside is really catching on and gaining momentum. We’re getting a great response, more copies are being picked up at our distribution sites, and we’re seeing more hits on our website. It turns out that we’re not the only ones who want to read positive news.

As always, we want to thank those who volunteer their time and talent to share the inspiring stories from around Portland. Without their help, this paper would not exist.

Because of them, we are able to spread the word about Cheryl Lohrmann’s quest to reduce the use of single-use plastic (“Cheryl Lohrmann leaves no plastic behind”), City Repair’s successful community-building ventures (“Do-it-yourself neighborhood building”), Jim Keefe’s commitment to giving the kids at Cherry Blossom Estates more opportunities to thrive (“Kids Club pulse of community”), and Oso Martin’s creation of Free Geek, an innovative organization for reusing and recycling discarded electronics (“Old computers diverted from dumpsters to desks”).

We look forward to hearing your comments as we continue to unearth more of Portland’s upside and share it with you.

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If you would like to be added to our email list for volunteers, call us at 503-663-1526 or email us at editors@portlandupside.com and we’ll keep you updated with our deadlines, get-togethers and general needs.

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Listening to America

Woman takes journey to capture 100 voices in 100 days

By Rob Bednark
The Portland Upside
September 2009

Photo by Hamid Shabatta Bennett

Inspired by Studs Terkel, Mary Clare traveled the country and recorded American’s views on the topic of change.

After the 2008 presidential election last November, change seemed to be on the minds of many Americans. Mary Clare, graduate psychology professor at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, found herself thinking about change as a central theme of the campaign, regardless of party affiliation. She wondered what people meant by the word “change.” The view presented by the media was one thing, but what would a cross section of Americans say when asked about the meaning of change?

In August, several months before the election, she had made a decision to work only half time during the 2008-2009 school term. She couldn’t articulate why she was cutting back, or why she needed the time, only that she needed to do it. Then after analyzing the campaign and economic downturn with her students in a diversity class, an idea for a project began percolating.

Mary remembers being profoundly moved some 30 years ago when she first encountered a book by Studs Terkel. He had a way of capturing the voices of ordinary Americans, real people, and presenting them to readers in a captivating and unadorned way. He focused on what people said, rather than on opinions and interpretations of what they expressed.

Inspired by Terkel, Mary decided to take her own journey to capture the voices of Americans. For her project she chose the first 100 days of the Obama administration and she set a goal of interviewing 100 people.

On December 31, Mary sent an email to friends and relatives announcing her plans. She asked for referrals to any acquaintances, interview subjects whom she shouldn’t miss. She also asked if they knew of anyone who would be willing to let her roll out her sleeping bag for a night. Within two weeks she had offers for places to stay all over the country and a list of people to interview.
Mary named her project “EX:Change09”, capturing the topic of “change” and the “exchange” of ideas. The two dots in the colon are red and blue, symbolizing Republicans and Democrats; the letters and numbers are purple, symbolizing the color-mixing of red and blue.

She chose three questions “general enough to allow for any given respondent to take the conversation whatever way seems right to them:”

What does change mean to you, right now?

In the midst of change, what is important to have remain the same?

What will change look like—what will you recognize as solid evidence that change has happened?

On February 2, Mary hit the road, alone in her Mini Cooper. Over the next 50 days she headed south into California, across the southern states to Georgia, up the eastern coast to Delaware, and across the upper half of the country back to Portland, traveling through 28 states, logging 10,000 miles.

Along the way she videotaped over 50 interviews, some of them prearranged, and others spontaneous, often in coffee shops. She deliberately talked with people from all walks of life: rich, poor, homeless, seven-year-olds, 80-somethings, and Americans of varying political affiliations, religious beliefs, and ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

In a coffee shop in California, Todd, a 25-year-old senior at San Diego State University, took a break from pouring over his finance text to talk about change.

“I don’t really know why I changed. I mean, all through foster care and even adoption the adults all said that I would never be anything but a loser. But here’s the thing: I’m not living that prediction. I have changed and I’m committed to building a real life for myself.”

In a Tucson, Arizona coffee shop a 65-year-old woman named Cheri agreed to an interview.
Cheri wants a government for the people, not for business or for bigger government. She wants freedom. A retired law enforcement officer who’s lived in Tucson for 55 years, she raised her children to be bilingual and learned Spanish herself because “it’s only right to have both languages if you want to do any job well in this city.”

Cheri is also a practicing Muslim, raised in the mosque by her Iranian father and Euro-American mother. After 9/11, she stopped wearing hijab—the traditional head covering worn by many Muslim women—because of fear for her own safety. Three years ago, Cheri still didn’t feel safe enough to wear hijab, but she was tired of hiding her identity, and wanted to do something to symbolize her devotion to God and her hope “for all people to be well and at peace.” She then showed Mary a tattoo that means “Islam.”

While getting her things together to leave a coffee shop on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas, Mary overheard David and Tommy talking about their Sunday school class. They were willing to stop their conversation for a minute to talk about change.

oth devout Christians, they spoke with pride of their church community in Kerrville, Texas. They spoke of the 200-300 in their youth ministry and the evidence in a recent personality inventory that these kids are ready to be active in making their community a more peaceful and kind place.

Both men emphasized the importance of family and the necessity of shifting values from greed and materialism to concern for one another and for the environment. Tommy, the older of the two, said it was time for Americans to get over being hung up on our differences and to start working together on the urgent matters facing our country.

“We’ve been majoring in the minors and not in the majors,” Tommy said.

A white man in Jackson, Mississippi, spoke specifically of the noise of dueling ideologies. People on both sides are bound and determined not to give an inch, to the point of sacrificing the well-being of the people of the country, just to save their rigid positions and inflated pride. Other Americans down the west coast and across the southwest and Texas mentioned this frustration.

In Georgia, Mary interviewed a woman who was a McCain supporter. The main thing this woman wanted? To see Americans stop demonizing one another, to be in dialogue and to listen.

Four hours later, Mary was in another Georgia town, interviewing a 17-year-old Obama supporter and daughter of ex-hippies. This teenager echoed the same sentiment as the other Georgian, that Americans stop putting others down, listen more and find more understanding.
Two young women who worked at the Starbucks in York, Nebraska spoke with Mary. They spoke about the media’s habit of exaggerating the negative and how that relates to change.

“We get the wrong picture and start thinking no one can be trusted and that the country is doomed,” said the first woman, an immigrant from Eastern Europe.

“Good luck,” the second and quieter woman said. “We need this—to know what Americans are really thinking.”

Mary did over 50 more interviews with people around Portland and in Washington, for a total of 105 interviews in 100 days. What does she take away from the project?

A number of themes emerge from the interviews, including kindness, resiliency, realism, a wait-and-see attitude, more willingness to compromise and listen than we’ve been led to believe, and people’s desire to play active roles in positive solutions.

Currently working with volunteers to transcribe the interviews, Mary is considering making them available in a book, and expanding the project’s website. She notes that EX:Change09 is not hers, but has a life of its own, guided by the ideas and participation of everyone who gets involved.

Along the way Mary noticed she had become enthusiastic about using the term “American.” What she found in the voices of the people heartened and encouraged her. She says that Americans have “more strong places to build on than we realize.”

In the 105 voices, Mary found a fundamental intelligence, an intelligence we don’t hear unless we ask questions and listen.

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Find out more about Mary Clare’s EX:Change09 interview project on her website,
www.exchange09.com Portions of this article are excerpted from Mary’s blog, www.exchange09.blogspot.com She can be contacted by email at info@exchange09.com

Rob Bednark spent over 60 hours last year interviewing 27 people around Portland, just for the fun of it, and was amazed at what he learned. rbednark@gmail.com


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From the Editors

By Sara & Rob Bednark
The Portland Upside
September 2009

“What has inspired you lately?

There were many answers to this question last night as we walked along Waterfront Park in downtown Portland (“Voices from the street”).

When we ask the question of ourselves, our thoughts turn to The Portland Upside. Over the last seven months we’ve been inspired in numerous ways while working on this paper.

First and foremost we have been amazed at the touching and heartfelt stories that have emerged from the streets of the Portland metro area.

In “Hearts, minds and bodies nurtured at p:ear,” Faye paints a picture of an organization that really cares about giving dignity to homeless youth. Briena helps us see that the stereotype of the homeless doesn’t fit every person living on the street (“Homeless man uses creativity for cash”). Mary Clare (“Listening to America”) inspires us with her initiative for going out, listening to people, and finding the threads that unite us all.

We are continuously inspired by the many volunteer writers who donate their time and talent to reporting the positive news of Portland.

Nicole has written for all five of our issues on a variety of topics, and this month she writes about a personal experience in “Yard sale brings in more than just money.” Our copy editor and occasional contributor, Carrie, has been here from the beginning, encouraging us and volunteering many hours to make the paper shine. Her story of an encounter with the Daffodil Lady (“A wealth of flowers”) inspires us to plant more flowers next year.

All the feedback we’ve received on behalf of The Portland Upside inspires us to continue to search for articles that celebrate the positive side of the Portland metro area. You can now go to the new “Articles” section of our website and comment on any of the individual stories that have been published. Or feel free to add a comment about what has inspired you to this month’s “Voices around town” section.

Inspiration is contagious!

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Contact us at editors@portlandupside.com or 503-663-1526 and visit us online at www.PortlandUpside.com

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From the editors

By Sara & Rob Bednark
The Portland Upside
August 2009

This past month we’ve been talking a lot about what we want for content in The Portland Upside. One of the most important criteria is that stories focus on positive things happening in the Portland metro area. Something that makes you say, “Wow! That person, organization, business, or in the case of Zadok, that dog is doing something great for the community.”

Because Portland is...well, Portland, The Portland Upside will always include articles on the great local nonprofits. Travis, the unlikely founder of Sanctity of Hope, drew us in with his humble and practical approach to the question of giving money to the homeless (“Can you spare a token?”).

Of course we don’t expect every article to click with every reader. Some of us may not want to go running at five in the morning as Nicole describes in “Waking up before the sun,” while others are already tying their shoes.

So our second standard for The Portland Upside is variety. We want variety of topics, voices and genres. We’d love to expand our content to include cartoons, artwork, more poetry and more profiles of everyday Portlanders, like the one Sophia did on Joe Warren and his amazing life-size artwork (“Artist welds new life into old metal”) or Kay’s article profiling some of the people in her neighborhood (“Planned neighborhood becoming a robust community”).

“Voices around town” is an exciting new addition for The Portland Upside because it allows us to showcase more of Portland’s voices. A hot Sunday afternoon on Mt. Tabor was the perfect place to ask the question, “What do you like about Portland?” We couldn’t get people to stop talking!

We hope you all enjoy this issue of The Portland Upside and we always invite you to send us your feedback, article suggestions and content submissions of any kind.

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Contact us at editors@portlandupside.com or 503-663-1526 and visit us online at www.PortlandUpside.com

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From the editors

By Rob & Sara Bednark

The Portland Upside
July 2009

Rob and Sara Bednark, editors of ThePortland Upside with 10,000 copies of their first issue.

Years ago, we stopped following the news in all its forms—TV, radio, newspaper, internet—finding that it left us feeling discouraged, scared, and hopeless. Yet, among the onslaught of negative stories, there were always a few positive stories that lifted our spirits and gave us hope.

“Why can’t there be a newspaper that prints only positive stories?” we’d think.

Through the years, we have dreamt of working together. We didn’t know what shape or form it would take, but we knew we wanted to create a community that would bring people together and showcase their creative talents.

After a layoff, we took the opportunity to create The Portland Upside. We started eight months ago with small steps, motivated by our passion to create a publication that we had always wanted to see.

With no journalism or publishing experience of our own, we knew we needed help. We put the word out, and in the span of a few months, we gathered over 30 volunteers who shared our vision of a positive newspaper. These volunteers joined us with their talents of writing, photography, artwork, distribution, ad sales, editing, public relations, and more.

This is the third issue of The Portland Upside, and we hope the articles leave you feeling good about what is happening in Portland. All the feedback we’ve received has encouraged us to keep going, and we know the stories we’ve published so far are only the tip of the iceberg.

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We can use more help with distribution, writing, photography, advertising sales, and story leads, so if you want to help spread the positive stories of Portland, contact us at www.PortlandUpside.com, editors@portlandupside.com, or 503-663-1526.

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Upside News Bites

By Rob Bednark
The Portland Upside
May 2009

My Father’s House, a family shelter in Gresham currently housing 10 families, has an 85% success rate (families leaving the shelter with income and affordable housing).
www.familyshelter.org 503-492-3046

Hands on Greater Portland made 4,253 connections during the month of April between community-based organizations and volunteers looking to help.
www.handsonportland.org 503-200-3355

The Pixie Project, an animal adoption center in Portland, adopted out 20 animals during the first two weeks of April, including Grandpa Sampson, a nine-year-old border collie.
www.pixieproject.org 503-542-3433

In March, 20 volunteers gave 108 hours for The Giving Tree, a Portland non-profit that supports resident retention for the chronically homeless and constructs community environments for people living in affordable housing.
www.thegivingtreenw.org 503-280-9068

Over 240 tons of reusable building materials found a home through The Rebuilding Center in Portland in April, which sustained over 40 full-time jobs with benefits.
www.rebuildingcenter.org 503-331-1877

80 individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty in Portland earned an average of $10-$50 per day during April selling Street Roots, a local non-profit, grassroots newspaper that is a catalyst for individual and social change.
www.streetroots.org 503-228-5657

Ethos Music Center, a Portland non-profit dedicated to the promotion of music and music-based education for youth in underserved communities, provides affordable music lessons to over 2200 kids per year.
www.ethos.org 503-283-8467

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If you have any ideas for Upside News Bites, email them to editors@portlandupside.com

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