Abe Asher
Sahan Journal
Portland, OR, United States
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Past articles by Abe:
Kao Kalia Yang's 'The Song Poet' debuts as first Hmong opera
Kao Kalia Yang’s book, The Song Poet, will debut at the Minnesota Theater Thursday as the first Hmong Opera. → Read More
Oregon is Poised to Pass the Strongest Gun Law in the US With Measure 114
For years, Rev. W. J. Mark Knutson, pastor at Augustana Lutheran Church, held services at his red brick church in Northeast Portland following mass shootings in the US—ringing the church’s bell again and again for lives lost in the country’s gun violence epidemic. Those services took a toll—and inspired Knuston to make a deeper commitment to memorialize those killed. In 2016, Knuston helped pull… → Read More
Good Afternoon, News: Cooling Shelters Opening Tomorrow, PPB Identifies Officer, Pope Apologises for Abuses in Canada
The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support! Good afternoon, Portland! Hope you're staying cool. Here are the Monday headlines. IN LOCAL NEWS With the region at the… → Read More
Good Afternoon, News: Portland Out of Compliance with DOJ Settlement, PBA Opposing Charter Reform, SCOTUS Inflicts More Damage
The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support! Good afternoon, Portland! Here are today's headlines. IN LOCAL NEWS: • After 16 months, Portland is still out of compliance… → Read More
Four Portland-Area Starbucks Stores Vote to Unionize
Workers at four Starbucks stores in Portland have voted overwhelmingly to unionize, becoming the first stores in the Portland metro area to join the Starbucks Workers United union. A number of Starbucks workers and their allies gathered in a meeting room at the Oregon AFL-CIO headquarters in Southeast Portland to watch the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) vote count for elections that began… → Read More
Fred Meyer and QFC Workers Begin Week-Long Strike
With just more than a week to go until Christmas, workers at Fred Meyer and QFC locations across the Portland metro area hit the picket line this morning to begin a week-long unfair labor practice strike. “We’re on strike!" shouted workers at cars pulling into the NE Glisan Fred Meyer parking lot Friday morning, while other vehicles honked in support as they passed. At the SE 82nd and Johnson… → Read More
Portland Nabisco Workers Enter Second Week of Strike
Workers at a Nabisco factory in Northeast Portland are in the second week of a strike that has spread across the country in what one local union member has described as a fight to “save middle class American jobs.” The strike, led by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers’ International Union Local 364 (BCTGM), comes as the union is at a standstill in contract negotiations… → Read More
Slowly But Surely, Portland Sports are Reopening to Fans
As the weather gets warmer and more and more people receive COVID-19 vaccinations, live sports are, slowly but surely, returning as an entertainment option. In March, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) announced that it would allow fans to attend outdoor sporting events at varying capacity levels based on a county’s COVID-19 risk level—and now, Multnomah County seems to be on its way to achieving… → Read More
Following Election Setbacks, Portland Progressives Plot Path Forward
There was plenty to cheer Portland progressives on election night: City voters passed measures for universal preschool and authorized the establishment of a new police oversight board, while voters across the state decriminalized possession of small amounts of narcotics and authorized the use of therapeutic psilocybin. But in other races, in a city in which activists have been putting their… → Read More
Waiting for the Timbers to Return Home
The Portland Timbers will play their first competitive soccer game in more than four months tonight, when they face the LA Galaxy in an empty stadium in Orlando. Perhaps you'll watch. Perhaps you're eager to see familiar faces, to take in a soccer game and to escape, if only temporarily, from the monotony of life under quarantine in a country unwilling to contain or even corral the virus… → Read More
Timbers Shut Out Again in Scoreless Draw With Minnesota
With just two weeks remaining in the MLS season and the club's postseason aspirations hanging in the balance, the Portland Timbers cannot find a goal. They were shut out at home by DC United last weekend, losing 1-0. They were shut out again at home on Wednesday night, losing 2-0 to the New York Red Bulls. And on Sunday afternoon, with Minnesota United in town for a critical Western Conference… → Read More
Late Magic Carries Timbers Over Sporting Kansas City
No team has played the Timbers harder or more consistently over the years at Providence Park than has Sporting Kansas City — and even in the midst of their worst season in nearly a decade, it looked on Saturday night like Kansas City was about to frustrate the Timbers again. Through more than 80 minutes on a drizzly, the visitors were in a familiar position. They were ahead in the game 1-0,… → Read More
Timbers Double Down on Support for Iron Front Ban
On Monday morning, barely more than 12 hours after their loss to Atlanta United, the Portland Timbers front office released a longwinded, wide-ranging statement on "the Iron Front symbol, politics at stadiums and human rights." In it, the Timbers doubled down on a position that has drawn an increasing amount ire over the last several weeks: that Major League Soccer's ban on the antifascist Iron… → Read More
Timbers Break Club Record Transfer Fee to Sign Forward Brian Fernández
After a months-long odyssey, the Portland Timbers have finally landed a marquee forward: 24-year-old Argentinian Brian Fernandez, leading goalscorer for Liga MX's Necaxa, for what is reported to be a record-breaking transfer fee. To accommodate Fernandez, who will be the club's third and final Designated Player, the Timbers announced Monday morning that they have bought down the salary charge of… → Read More
Timbers v. Dallas Match Preview
After an alarmingly slow start to the season, the Portland Timbers hit crisis point last week in San Jose — losing 3-0 to a previously-winless Earthquakes team that entered the game with the worst goal difference in the league. It was an alarming performance, and it leaves the Timbers, who will only hit the halfway point of their season-opening road trip after this Saturday's game against FC… → Read More
Timbers Thrashed, Chara Sent Off in Ugly Afternoon at LAFC
After playing their first game of the 2019 MLS season in a whiteout snowstorm last weekend in Colorado, the Portland Timbers' second match of the year, Sunday afternoon in the heart of Los Angeles, offered them a chance to begin the campaign for real. It wasn't pretty. In what might have been a heavyweight clash with second-year side LAFC, the Timbers were outplayed from start to finish — losing… → Read More
Meet Your 2019 Portland Timbers
Though their ninth MLS season starts just six days from now in Commerce City against a remade Colorado Rapids side, the Portland Timbers won't take the field at Providence Park for almost three more months. In the meantime, over the course of a twelve game road-trip, they're going to have to stay afloat. With their three best players all past the age of 30, this is a season that the Timbers must… → Read More
Five Thoughts on the Portland Timbers' 2019 MLS Schedule
Less than a month after the end of the 2018 season, MLS released its 2019 schedule. Here are five thoughts on how the Timbers' slate shapes up. → Read More
Caleb Porter Named Head Coach of the Columbus Crew
He's back. Away from the game for a year after leaving the Portland Timbers in November of 2017, Caleb Porter is returning to MLS as the new head coach of the Columbus Crew — the team his Timbers beat to win MLS Cup in 2015. The 43-year-old Porter, whose appointment was announced Friday morning alongside that of new club president Tim Bezbatchenko, returns to the state where he made his coaching… → Read More
Timbers Fall One Step Short as Atlanta Wins MLS Cup 2-0
When the Portland Timbers won MLS Cup in 2015, you could feel it coming for weeks. They were the best team in two countries. It was clear. This year, the Timbers were never that. They finished in fifth place in the Western Conference in the regular season, in eighth place overall, and then proceeded to go on one of the most thrilling, unafraid playoff runs in recent MLS history: going on the… → Read More