Michelle DuBarry

My essay in The Sun Magazine is a love letter to bereaved parents, my friends, and a dog named Shitter. I hope you will read!

Teachers, parents, councilors, and students are working together to demand better conditions for our public school system. Please ask your councilors to put the Save Public Schools resolution on tomorrow's agenda. 9 councilors must sign off by noon today. Details on the ask linked below.

We need to pause this process – not one school should close before we fully explore our options to fully fund education. My office will do everything in its power to help. We need to retain and attract young families to Portland, and we can start by saving our schools. (1/2)

Over the last several days I've heard directly from parents who are scared and outraged about the PPS proposals for closure of their schools. They are calling for action from their elected officials at all levels. Today I have filed an emergency that responds to the urgency of these calls. 🧵

My mom was diagnosed with cancer and it killed her within 2 months. It took every single member of my family to spend nearly every cent we had just to make sure my step father wasn't left homeless after everything was said and done. This was *with* insurance.

42% of Americans with cancer deplete their life savings within two years. Breaking Bad was a documentary

Refreshing to see reporting that places a pedestrian death in the context of a system that was designed to kill people walking. State DOT official says they plan to address the truly shocking number of pedestrian deaths and injuries by "encouraging people to use crosswalks" 🙄

Portland, please join us on November 15 to commemorate World Day of Remembrance, where we honor our loved ones killed and injured in traffic crashes and advocate for #StopSuperSpeeders legislation in Oregon. @bikeloudpdx.bsky.social @thestreettrust.org @pbotinfo.bsky.social #WDOR2026

This is my contribution to gym whore discourse. I will not be explaining. (From The Dark Dark by Samantha Hunt)

oh my god

Sick burn, @samforstag.bsky.social 🔥 "I’ve spent the last eight years as a wildland firefighter...the last couple as a vice president of my own union’s local, fighting back against the cuts that folks like Aaron cheered on from his radio booth."

Cleveland 1961: Within seven weeks, Max James, 6, and Belinda Drummond, 11, were both killed walking home from school along South Miles Road. They had no sidewalk to use. Demanding sidewalks, mothers formed a human wall to protect children. Jane Martoncik was there to lend her support to the cause.

I bought an out-of-print book on ebay and it included a handwritten chili recipe as a bookmark. I happen to have most of the ingredients on hand including "1 chunk of cheddar cheese" so it's shaping up to be a perfect fall weekend 🥰

“Hey hon, I’m just gonna leave this phone with evidence of my crimes on the counter while I go to work. It would be a shame if anything happened to it.”

PPS is proposing to close 6 Title 1 schools while leaving disproportionately white/wealthy focus options mostly untouched. Calling this equity is shameful and insulting

A Haitian man legally immigrated to Ohio, then was given an ankle monitor bc Trump withdrew his status. He threw himself in front of truck. The trucker, who voted for Trump, is haunted. “Pierre was doing what he was supposed to do. We did not do right by him.” www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

A little bit of good news on this rainy Thursday evening!

The question of where to send your kids to school is multiple choice, with wrong answers only. Given that, I choose to be in solidarity with families who don't have choices. For better or worse, my kids, crammed into decrepit classrooms with 40+ students, are learning we are all in this together.

lol

When you experience a catastrophic crash, it is a secondary trauma to learn that auto insurance does not protect you from financial ruin. When my 1yo son was killed in 2010, the liability minimum in OR was $25,000 (still is!) and our health insurer was first in line to collect the settlement.

The problem is cars, not tourists Of course some tourists are jerks - but if they had to get around by rail/bike/bus/foot, most of these problems go away "Traffic deaths are a fact of life in Big Sur" - it doesn't have to be this way 💔

10:00 p.m. in Homer, Alaska. Jaw dropping beauty in every direction and my family’s sleep routine is in shambles (worth it)

Too bad there is no video or witnesses to this incident that happened at a public forum

I am grateful to @councilorkanal.bsky.social the only District 2 rep who has shown an ounce of courage in the Moda Center talks. We will not forget.

I wasn't paying attention & forgot Mobility's birthday on 8/1. This book is 3 years old! It concludes with wildfire smoke in Portland &, would u believe, today there is wildfire smoke in Portland. Please buy it/read it so I can keep writing novels about people & feelings bookshop.org/p/books/mobi...

Be still my heart: a congressional candidate endorsed by @sanders.senate.gov , @aoc.bsky.social , and @flyingwithsara.bsky.social is in a dead heat with a right wing ghoul in my home state of Montana 🤯 Check out @samforstag.bsky.social and throw him a few bucks if you can 💙✊ Cc @mego.bsky.social

Every time I read something like this I wonder if my son (killed by a careless driver in 2010) is one of the lives that could have been saved

I have, with my own eyes, watched my tax dollars in the form of missiles as they hit buildings inhabited by civilians. I'd much prefer subsidizing a grocery story I don't use.

A very Pacific NW hiking experience: getting to the top of a grueling climb to enjoy the view of clouds obscuring the volcano (Mt Adams in this case). Still worth it.

@teachertiffany2026.bsky.social outlining what elected officials and members of the public are enduring as we try to come to a fair deal for Portland 👏

I think about Lily every time I see a delivery truck parked in a bike lane. What if we enforced traffic laws before children were killed 💔

I just saw a parent of a baby say most "anti-car" people are non-parents, citing pediatrician appointments, and oh that is just so myopic (and relatable - I remember!). But sir. You have been at this for less than a year. Pleeease talk to some parents of kids 5 and older 🙃

Tonight I sat next to an off-duty police officer at a wedding reception. He saw a piece of gum on his wife's plate, stabbed it with a fork then ate it because he thought it was cake

How many officers were in the vicinity and what were they doing that they couldn't respond sooner? This is really the only question and it seems like the reporter didn't ask.

The Oregonian does not mention the broad and enthusiastic support @councilorgreen.bsky.social has from union members who do not stand to directly benefit from a corrupt Moda Center deal. He showed up (literally! on a rainy picket line) for PCC workers.

My friend Jess Gregg in the NY Times today ❤️

I’m at a Starbucks in Seattle where they have removed all seating including on the patio. The lobby features padded bars to lean on (?) Why do they hate their customers?

Goooooood evening and happy Sunday! The out of pocket cost of the birth of my son, after “good” insurance, after meeting my deductible (despite a wicked pregnancy, everyone was healthy) was OVER TEN THOUSAND US DOLLARS. And then I went back to work still bleeding. So I don’t think it’s the phones.

After a three-month preliminary review, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC) on Friday, June 12, voted to open a full investigation into former Portland Community College (PCC) President Adrien Bennings over potential conflicts of interest when she served in the role.

It’s a solid article and i love seeing more coverage of the significance of these cuts, but it’s missing the crux of why we are in this mess in the first place - the oregon legislature failed to act last year, and effectively left trimet and other transit agencies around the state to starve.

Two unions representing 2,300 workers at Portland Community College went on strike for three weeks in March, in the first-ever community college strike in Oregon, and a rare wall-to-wall strike where both educators and support staff walked out together. labornotes.org/blogs/2026/0...

I wrote about our historic strike at Portland Community College for @labornotes.bsky.social

FAFO labor/DSA edition 🤩💪

lol

The attempt by @councilorclark.bsky.social to defund a police accountability board approved by over 82% of voters is a disgrace, spitting in the face of the vast majority of Portlanders to make all communities less safe. Let’s support democracy and ensure this fails.