Think Out Loud

Historian Jill Lepore on the difficulty of amending the U.S. Constitution

The U.S. Constitution likely would not have been ratified in 1788 without Article 5, which allowed for amendment. Many of the original founders championed the idea that the document would need to change as the country changed. As historian Jill Lepore points out in her newest book most of the 27 amendments to the constitution have happened just after times of war or conflict, and after 33 years without an amendment, we may be headed that way again. OPB’s Geoff Norcross speaks to Lepore in front of an audience at the 2025 Portland Book Festival about “We the People: A history of the U.S. Constitution.”

Volcano Listening Project turns explosive data into song

Music and science don’t often overlap, but University of Oregon professor Leif Karlstrom is making it happen with the Volcano Listening Project [https://volcanolisteningproject.org/]. Karlstrom turns datasets from the volcanoes he studies every day into sound, then uses those soundtracks to make music [https://open.spotify.com/album/4YuK9z563XBtcszEZ1iHzl] with a wide array of musicians. The project will be on display at a pair of upcoming shows in Portland [https://albertarosetheatre.com/event/science-on-tap-exploring-earth-songs-with-the-volcano-listening-project/alberta-rose-theatre/portland-oregon/] and Hood River [https://www.columbiaarts.org/event-details/volcano-listening-project-2026-01-29-17-00] on Jan. 28 and 29.    Karlstrom joins us to share music from the Volcano Listening Project and what it takes to turn data into song.

OSU facility aids in return of tribal cultural items and ancestral remains

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act [https://www.bia.gov/service/nagpra], or NAGPRA, requires museums, universities and other institutions that receive federal funding to return Native American ancestral remains and cultural items to their original tribes. Though the law passed nearly 35 years ago, many institutions have failed to fulfill its requirements [https://www.propublica.org/article/repatriation-nagpra-museums-human-remains].     Oregon State University recently opened [https://www.opb.org/article/2024/11/03/osu-facility-indigenous-human-remains/] a new facility designed to advance its NAGPRA obligations. The two buildings house a records room, a laboratory and a space to consult with tribal members as they move through the repatriation process. The new buildings are also better equipped than the old facility to store cultural items and remains of tribal ancestors awaiting return.   Dawn Marie Alapisco is the director of the NAGPRA Office [https://diversity.oregonstate.edu/nagpra] within OSU’s Office of Institutional Diversity. She joins us to share more about the new facility and how institutions should be approaching their NAGPRA requirements.

This Clark County private museum holds (literally) thousands of chainsaws

Clark County resident Wayne Sutton was only 7 or 8 years old, he says, when his father, who worked in the logging industry, helped him buy his first chainsaw. That was 60 years ago. Today, Sutton is the founder and curator of Wayne’s Chainsaw Museum, [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wayne%E2%80%99s%20Chainsaw%20Museum/101524872693754/] a private museum located a few miles outside of Amboy in Clark County that is free and open to visitors by appointment.    The Columbian [https://www.columbian.com/news/2026/jan/17/amboy-resident-wayne-suttons-chainsaw-collection-a-cut-above/]recently profiled Sutton and his museum which is big enough to display only about half of the 4,000 or 5,000 chainsaws he has amassed over the years and continues to collect, or have donated to him. Sutton opened the museum in 2000 when he started working for Stihl, the world’s leading maker of gas-powered chainsaws.    Sutton retired from Stihl in 2024. Although his museum boasts hundreds of models made by his former employer, it also showcases other brands and rare, decades-old examples that serve as a time capsule of the evolution of this power tool that is inextricably tied to the logging history of the Pacific Northwest. Sutton joins us to share his love of chainsaws and future plans for sharing his massive collection with more enthusiasts.

Portland band Sunset Valley reunites for 30-year anniversary

If you were around Portland in the '90s, you probably heard the infectious, upbeat pop tunes of the band Sunset Valley. They toured up and down the West Coast, played in front of big audiences and eventually signed with a big record label. But breakout fame wasn’t in the cards for this group, and the members have since moved on to other things. Now the band is reissuing their record "Boyscout Superhero," and playing a concert to celebrate their 30-year anniversary. We talk to band members Herman Jolly, Jonathan Drews and Tony Lash and hear some music.