Think Out Loud

REBROADCAST: Stacey Abrams on writing, AI and democracy

Stacey Abrams has published more than a dozen books over the last 25 years. Those include thrillers, romance novels, children’s books and political memoirs and manifestos. That would be a full career for most people, but Stacey Abrams seems to have more energy than most people.   While she has always been a writer, she has also been a tax attorney, a Georgia state lawmaker, the minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives and the first Black woman in U.S. history to become the gubernatorial nominee of a major political party.   Abrams has launched multiple nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies, with a longstanding focus on voter registration and voter’s rights. Her new book is “Coded Justice.” She spoke with “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller in front of an audience at the 2025 Portland Book Festival.

REBROADCAST: Portland author's graphic novel updates Huck Finn

Portland author David F. Walker and illustrator Marcus Kwame Anderson have worked together before - on a 2021 graphic novel about the Black Panther Party. This time they’ve teamed up on something a little different: an update of the classic American novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” In their version, the escaped slave Jim is more than just Huck’s companion; he’s a fully imagined character. Walker joined us on Dec. 2, 2024 to talk about the work of updating an American classic.

OMSI exhibit looks at geological events of Pacific Northwest through a Nez Perce lens

Much of our understanding about the earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and floods that shaped the geology of the Pacific Northwest comes from Western scientists. But those records almost always overlook the oral traditions of Native American tribes who witnessed those events.   An exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry [https://omsi.edu/exhibits/heads-hearts/] in Portland looks at the eruption of Mount Mazama, the Ice Age floods and other geological events through the perspective of the Nez Perce and other Columbia Basin tribes. “Heads & Hearts: Seeing the Landscape through Nez Perce Eyes” is on display through Feb. 16.   Geologists Roger Amerman [https://www.opb.org/article/2024/02/05/roger-amerman-echo-marvel-beadwork-whitman/] and Ellen Bishop [http://www.ellenmorrisbishop.com/] created the exhibit, which originally appeared at the Josephy Center for Arts & Culture [https://josephy.org/] in Joseph. They join us to talk about how Native oral traditions can — and should — inform modern science.

US Rep. Maxine Dexter rescues 7-year-old and her parents from ICE detention in Texas

Rep. Maxine Dexter [https://dexter.house.gov/] (D-Portland) escorted a family — including a 7-year-old girl — from an ICE detention facility [https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/06/gresham-crespo-gonzalez-leave-texas/] in Texas back to Oregon on Saturday. The Crespo-Gonzalez family was detained last month while bringing their sick child to urgent care. We sit down with Dexter to hear about that experience [https://dexter.house.gov/media/press-releases/dexter-brings-crespo-gonzalez-family-home] and her work in Congress focused on ICE funding and policy. OPB reporter Holly Bartholomew covers Portland’s suburban communities as a Report for America Corps Member. We also talk with her about how the family is doing now [https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/11/maxine-dexter-legitimacy-gresham-family-detention/] and the latest developments around federal immigration actions in Oregon.

Author Imani Perry at Woodburn High School

In books like “Breathe” and “South to America,” National Book Award and MacArthur “genius” grant winner Imani Perry writes about Blackness in America with clarity, elegance, rage, and joy. Perry is a Professor of Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Her latest book is “Black in Blues,” a meditation on the color blue and its role in Black history and culture. Perry talks to us in front of an audience of students at Woodburn High School.