Alexis McLean

  Source: Netflix  Several of the most recognizable comedians of the past five years appear on a brand-new show on Netflix: “Tires”. Among the established stand up comedians starring in “Tires” are Shane Gillis playing Shane the Manager’s cousin, Stavros Halkias playing Dave the owner’s second-in-command, and Andrew Shulz playing a car salesman. Their involvement in the project especially made me hopeful but also hesitant about this new show - as did its 43% score on rotten tomatoes. As is common among comedians, their standup plays with what is funny and what is offensive. I haven't loved every joke from them. After watching the show, my feelings are unchanged. A lot of the jokes ride the line of using offensive subject matter in an inoffensive way, or making a crude character's behavior the butt of the joke. However, some of the jokes I think are just ill-advised. Shane Gillis, especially in his new special “Beautiful Dogs” on Netflix, has been able to really effectively cap

Negroni Bianco  Visitors to Lucca Taverna will discover an environment that is sultry with slightly dimmed lights, gentle jazzy music, and accents of gold throughout. The menu is reminding diners that Mediterranean food is more than hummus, with influences from southern France, Italy, and northern Africa. It’s on Madison Avenue just across the street from the waterfront and it’s been open since December 2023. Executive chef and co-owner  Danielle Lewis has been cooking for over 20 years and got a degree in culinary arts from Lane Community College. Her role focuses on menu design, cooking, everything back-of-house. Director of operations and co-owner Evan Deffenbacher’s role focuses on the bar and front-of-house elements. Those unfamiliar with Lucca Taverna would likely recognize Castor, which was opened seven years ago by the same trio of owners. Lewis and Deffenbacher call Lucca a “sister-restaurant” to Castor, which serves Southern-style food with a whiskey bar. Lucca’s atmosphere s

 This story was in collaboration with Emily Jimerson Photo by Emily Jimerson “We are the emerging majority.” These words were chanted by an auditorium of Oregon high school students who attended the inaugural Latine High School Leadership Conference on Friday, May 3, at Linn-Benton Community College. The students came from West Albany, South Albany, Corvallis, Crescent Valley, Philomath, Lebanon, and Monroe high schools. The Conference began with keynote speaker Greg Contreras, the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) director at Portland Community College. Contrera’s speech focused on plantando semillas; planting seeds. He described five decisions he made, described as “seeds planted,” which contributed to his sucess. They are: Semilla #1: “Read like no one is watching, then watch how much you learn, grow, and change.” The seed he planted in his life and in others’ lives was libros/books.  Semilla #2: “Despite impostor syndrome, stand out in more ways than just your skin color.”

(An image of me carrying my cousin on the beach during one of many trips to Newport, sometime in the early 2000's. As you can see, it's very windy. Not good for pictures.) "I’ve never been on vacation” is something I said for most of my childhood. I felt it was true. I knew about vacations. They were big, expensive, week-long or even multi-week adventures around the world, or at least an amusement park. You bought fancy souvenirs, ate gourmet food, and had the most fun. I grumbled the first day of school every year listening to my schoolmates describe their summer vacations. But, if I had been really honest, I had been on vacatio n. A few times actually. But it was always the same smelly place: Newport, Oregon. I leaned, and sighed, and groaned through every shop I was dragged to. I had seen them all before and they never changed. Despite Oregon Beach Vacations' assertion that “Newport is a very kid-friendly town," I did not feel appealed to. I dreamed of white

My brother was born with a facial deformity. My first peer, it never occurred to me that the way he looked was particularly unusual, not unlike a unique nose or mole. My nonchalance about it sometimes shocked others. One horrified mother’s reaction when I thoughtlessly told her I recognized her daughter, “The girl with the cleft lip!”, will forever be burned into my mind. I forgot that the distinction wasn’t usually considered as neutral as being red-headed or extra tall. After growing up alongside my brother, I don’t fear having a child with a similar issue. Kids born with disabilities are, in entirely un-inspirational terms, normal. The biggest obstacle I fear for a kid with a disability is other kids. In elementary school everyone knew better than to be openly cruel, but there’s a vast distance between not-bullying a kid and recognizing them as one of us .                                                                                                                                

Life has been very hectic since my last blog post! I’ve gone forward with my applications to transfer to a handful of four-year universities and am anxiously awaiting their acceptance or rejection. My major is still in History with the intention of continuing onto law school. I’m in feature writing because I needed more credits to finish my AAOT degree and it seems like it would be more fun than News Reporting and Writing. I was lucky enough last term to be awarded a talent grant to continue writing for The Commuter this term and so alongside the feature writing I’ll still be writing some no-nonsense news. One story I’m working on that I’m very excited for is on the trip by LBCC students to Texas to perform an experiment during the eclipse on Monday. It’s my most daunting undertaking yet, as it’s so multifaceted and covers topics that I’m personally unfamiliar with. Three goals I have for this term are: 1) Making my turn-around on stories faster than last term. I tried to keep up the b