Monday, March 26, 2018

Happy Monday, and greetings from the Daily Drip Spring Cold Rehab Tent! It’s March 26, 2018, and I’m told the weekend was cold but sparkling. What I know is that Netflix has an incredibly good series about the Baghwan. But I’m about through bingeing that, and declare myself done with the snoofles, and together we say Namaste to Oregon’s Spring Break!

Weather. Ah, there’s the blub. We have a near 100% chance of rain today and highs of 49, along with a burst of snow in the Cascades. Snow level’s 2500 feet, so the trip to the coast *should* be OK. If you feel safer with studs, the deadline to remove them has been extended to April 15. Cherry blossoms are in full bloom on the waterfront, and people are spotting but hopefully not picking trilliums in Pier Park.

A Portland middle school teacher is fighting for his job after leading students on an unauthorized three-mile walkout from school, and participating in a “die-in” in the middle of an intersection, on the anniversary of last year’s police shooting death of 17-year old Quanice Hayes. The district says Chris Riser’s actions placed the students in danger; a petition to reinstate him says “at a critical time when gun violence is rampant, Chris Riser is teaching the kids that their greatest weapon is their voice. Some of the best education we can learn is not in the classroom but from social interactions.”

Thanks to all who posted their experiences this weekend at March for our Lives rallies in Portland and elsewhere–it was so inspiring seeing the Vernon Elementary School choir on stage with Portugal the Man–as young people authoritatively asserted their intention to reverse the gun violence situation by attacking a national flaw in which the NRA exerts control over politicians, and to do so by the simple power of voting them out. Portland and every city in the US and every continent except Antarctica had events; this is a generational statement. Images from the national rally in DC are like Woodstock without the mud and the drugs. Young people as far as the eye can see. Nobody who spoke from that stage was over 20. There was an 11-year old named Naomi Wadler who has the poise of a member of Congress. The strongest moment to me came when no one spoke at all: Parkland student Emma Gonzalez held the throng in her hands for six minutes and twenty seconds of silence, the duration of the shooting at her school. The faces in the crowd were full of tension and intention. That rally could be a moment that history remembers as defining the next great generation.

Takeaways from Stormy Daniels’ interview on ’60 Minutes’: the porn actress says her encounter with Donald Trump a decade ago was one-time and consensual, but that she agreed to a $130,000 hush payment because someone had threatened her, in the presence of her infant daughter, to keep quiet, saying, “That’s a beautiful little girl, it would be a shame if something happened to her mom.” The lawyer for Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen sent Stormy Daniels’ lawyer a cease and desist letter after the ’60 Minutes’ interview, demanding a retraction and apology.

Our state is a powerhouse in women’s basketball, but this year is the first time both Oregon and Oregon State have made it all the way to the Elite Eight. Huge props to both programs! The Oregon Women’s basketball team plays top-seeded Notre Dame tonight at 6 for the right to advance to the Final Four, after Oregon State’s team fell in its Sunday game against Louisville.

Men’s final four games next Saturday: Loyola Chicago against Michigan at 3:00, and Villanova-Kansas at 6, approximate times Pacific.

Strong start for the Blazers’ road trip, as they season-swept the Thunder in Oklahoma City 108-105. Damian Lillard’s family is on baby-watch for a son who’s a week overdue; he has private jets on standby throughout this road trip.

MLB season starts Thursday.

For the first time in a quarter-century, a NASCAR race has been snowed out.

Hamilton plays all week at the Keller. I think they have one ticket available on Friday night.

TMSG!

–“True retriever: Dog plucks flailing man from river

–“Octogenarian shows age is no barrier, earns doctorate at 88”

–“Tropical bird blown off course survives winter, thanks to Nova Scotia couple”

–“Couple risks their own lives to rescue a baby horse stranded in a river”

–“Teen donates rocking chairs to NICU team that saved his life”

–“The World Added Nearly 30 Percent More Solar Energy Capacity in 2017”

Let’s see..what did I forget?…last DD I wrote was under the influence of NyQuil…oh! Sunrise 7:02 AM, sunset 7:31 PM…and we’ll have a full moon by Saturday. Hopping into the car now, hoping to join you on 103.3 FM in Portland, and K103 Portland on the nationwide iHeartRadio app.