John Nichols is National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation, a contributing writer for The Progressive, and associate editor of The Capital Times, the daily newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin.  He has written, co-written, or edited over a dozen books on topics ranging from histories of important movements in American politics and the Democratic Party to analyses of US and global media systems. His latest book, co-written with Senator Bernie Sanders, is The New York Times bestseller It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.

Bob Welch is a former Register-Guard columnist and author of more than two dozen books, his latest two being Cross Purposes: One Believer’s Struggle to Reconcile the Peace of Christ with the Rage of the Far Right and Seven Summers (And a Few Bummers): My Adventure Hiking the 2,650-Mile Pacific Crest Trail. Welch is a former adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Oregon and founder of the Beachside Writers Workshop. He now authors a weekly column on Substack called Heart, Humor & Hope.

Don Gall is a retired Eugene area pastor.

Deborah Miranda Deborah A. Miranda is an enrolled member of the Ohlone-Costanoan Esselen Nation, with Santa Ynez Chumash ancestry. She is author of Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir, four poetry collections, and is currently finishing a fifth collection, maxana chempapisi: Blood Writing. Retired Thomas H. Broadus Professor of English at Washington and Lee University, she now lives in Eugene, Oregon with her wife, writer Margo Solod, and two large rescue dogs. Her article, “A String of Textbooks: Artifacts of Composition Pedagogy in Indian Boarding Schools,” is posted at academia.edu.

Visit Deborah’s website to learn more about her work HERE!

Robert P. (Bob) Tom, Grand Ronde Tribal Member, comes from the tribal people of the Southern Oregon Ashland area and south on the Oregon Coast along the Rogue River. He is part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. He and his wife Leah, Northern Cheyenne presently live in Salem and have 14 grandchildren, two great grandchildren. Bob was a long-time resident of the Eugene Springfield area. While living in Eugene he founded the United Indians of Lane County. During this time, he was deeply involved with the NASU students and the UO Longhouse community which became an important place for many of Eugene’s communities of color before there was a place for them in the University. He mentored many students at the UO and was asked by them to become part of the very first Council for Minority Education where he supported and advocated for all students of color. Bob is a loyal University of Oregon Duck. Bob Tom is a bridge builder between communities. Many generations who have graduated from the University of Oregon and lived in Lane County are grateful for his mentorship and generosity.

Bob Tom became the first General Manager for the Confederated Tribe of Siletz after the tribe regained Federal Recognition and Restoration of their tribal status and returned to live in Salem. The Salem area is where Bob was born in the hospital at Chemawa Indian School when his parents and family lived in Siletz. He moved to Salem eight years later. Bob lived on Chemawa campus three years. Later he worked at Chemawa during his high school years as well as several years after high school. He coached Chemawa Junior Varsity Basketball for three years and emceed many Chemawa pow wows. He was part of the Salem Intertribal Drum group and sang at several Chemawa graduations. He has deep roots in Salem. Wherever Bob Tom lived, he contributed, educated and led, a valued Elder.

 

Braver Angels is leading the nation’s largest cross-partisan, volunteer-led movement to bridge the partisan divide for the good of our democratic republic. Coming out of the election, we’re bringing together “We the People” to find a hopeful alternative to toxic politics. The American Hope campaign is equipping Americans across the political spectrum to work together and demand the same of politicians from both parties.

The Challenge We Face

As we separate into groups that increasingly do not even know, or interact with, people of differing opinions, we lose trust in our institutions, eroding the ability to govern ourselves and lowering the caliber of citizenship. This growing trend coarsens public debate, produces policy gridlock, shrinks our capacity for goodwill, and harms our family and personal relationships. Effective self government depends precisely on what this type of polarization destroys.

We believe the American Experiment can survive and thrive for every American who contributes to the effort. Where we go from here is up to us.

This is the driving force that fuels our mission:

Bringing Americans together to bridge the partisan divide and strengthen our democratic republic.

For more information on the Southern Willamette Alliance of Braver Angels Organization, visit their website Southern Willamette Valley Alliance Braver Angels Website

Hope Bohanec is the Founder and Executive Director of Compassionate Living. Having gathered experience and wisdom about animal advocacy through her long trajectory as a thirty-year career activist, Hope participated in important movements in her youth such as Greenpeace and Earth First! as well as organized anti-circus, anti-fur, and anti-vivisection campaigns and protests throughout the 1990s.

In the 2000s, as the movement shifted its focus to animals used for food, Hope shifted from radical, direct action activism to vegan education and compassionate advocacy. Hope spent fifteen years working for the national non-profit organizations United Poultry Concerns and In Defense of Animals and has published two books on the subject of humanewashing and greenwashing: The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat?  and The Humane Hoax: Essays Exposing the Myth of Happy Meat, Humane Dairy, and Ethical Eggs. She created and hosts the Hope for the Animals Podcast, now in its third year with downloads on six continents.

She co-founded the Humane Hoax Project, the Ahimsa Living Project, and has organized hundreds of online and in-person events including the Humane Hoax Online Conference, the Humane Hoax Chicken Webinar, the Conscious Eating Conference, and the Sonoma County VegFest.

Visit the Compassionate Living website for more information HERE!

Visit Compassioante Living’s Eugene VeganFest project website HERE!

 
Steve Goldman spent his entire professional career revegetating disturbed areas and restoring rivers and wetlands, most recently as the Natural Resources Program Manager of the California Tahoe Conservancy, working to save Lake Tahoe.  Since moving to Oregon in 2008, Steve has spoken about climate change to community and church groups and at colleges, high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools down to the second grade level.

Initially trained by Al Gore, Steve developed a focus on the relationship of food to climate, which he sees as critical to addressing the climate crisis.  In addition to writing articles and opinion pieces, Steve has organized webinars on the food-climate connection, led the Climate-Friendly Food Committee of the Climate Reality Project, and even organized a “Tasting Table” for sampling climate-friendly foods at a popular natural foods store in Eugene.

Roger Knudson, Ph. D. is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Miami University in Oxford, OH. He received his Ph. D. in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1976. Roger served on the faculty of Miami University from 1976 to 2010; and during that same period, he also maintained a limited practice of psychotherapy. In retirement, he trained in climate activism with former Vice-President Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project. He was a founding member of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of Climate Reality and served for 4 years as first Chair of the chapter. Roger and his wife moved to Eugene in the fall of 2022, and he immediately became involved as a volunteer with 350 Eugene. 

Charles Ross, D.O. has been an osteopathic physician in Oregon for 47 years. He currently teaches free community education classes on preventing and reversing disease through lifestyle choices. He no longer charges for his time, and all consults are free to the public. He used to practice family medicine for eight years and then emergency medicine for over 30 years. Currently, he is a part-time assistant professor at Western University of Health Sciences.

Eleven years ago, he changed his diet to a whole food, plant-based diet and has been inspired to help others transition and obtain the health that they deserve.

 

Dr. Frank Vignola was a physics professor at the University of Oregon and had been at the forefront of the solar energy field for 45 years. Frank strongly believed in the future of solar energy and recognized the need for a dependable solar radiation database to measure solar resources. He established the Solar Energy Center and Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory (SRML) at the U of O and created a network of stations in the Pacific Northwest.

Frank was active with the American Solar Energy Society, joining many Oregon solar-related committees to share his technical knowledge, and was honored with their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. He worked on several progressive legislative bills that furthered alternative energy applications. At the UO, he advocated for efforts to enhance buildings where solar could be added (EMU) or incorporated into construction plans.

Frank also assisted in getting legislation to ban field burning in Oregon, was a peace activist, was active with the labor movement (helping the American Federation of Teachers to get established at the U of O), and helped create the Nobel Peace Park in Alton Baker Park. Frank passed away on September 26, 2023, at his home . . . peacefully. The way he lived.

Encircle Films presented a “Citizen George Award” in honor of Frank Vignola to Mary Vignola and his family at the showinig of the documentary “Citizen George” on February 20, 2025 at the Art House.

Frank Vignola was an active Eugene environmental and anti-war activist before his death in 2023. He was a dedicated advocate for solar energy for over 50 years, helped to ban field burning in Oregon, and was an early developer of the Peace Park in Alton Baker Park, which honors Nobel Peace Prize winners.

Watch “In Memory of Frank Vignola” shown at the award presentation.
https://youtu.be/WS4Ns4xQ-hI?si=OCWZuYCTreeVQEuV

Ian Appow – Upper Willamette Soil & Water Conservation District – Fire Adapted Landscape Coordinator.

Ian works to build resilient landscapes through collaboration, conservation planning, and wildfire mitigation strategies. He partners with landowners, agencies, and regional organizations to enhance forest health, support sustainable land management, and promote fire-adapted communities.

With a background in community forestry and wildfire resilience, Ian specializes in facilitating partnerships, developing conservation strategies, and making technical forestry concepts accessible. He is key in aligning regional priorities, supporting grant initiatives, and advising on strategic planning efforts integrating ecological stewardship with fire preparedness.

Paul Gordon – City of Eugene Natural Areas Specialist, Drone Photographer, Wetland Mitigation Bank and Ecological Prescribed Fire Management.

Amanda Rau – Oregon Department of Forestry’s statewide prescribed fire coordinator.

Amanda started working in wildland fire management as a member of a 20-person hand crew based in Springfield, Oregon in 1999. After finishing her undergrad in philosophy at the University of Oregon, she began to pursue a career in fire management, working for the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, gaining knowledge and honing skills in fire suppression, prescribed burning, fire ecology, and pyrosilviculture.

She studied Natural Resources at Oregon State University and completed a Masters in Natural Resources, Fire Ecology, and Management at the University of Idaho in 2012. That same year, she co-founded the Oregon Prescribed Fire Council, for which she has twice served as chair. Amanda has since worked as fire manager and burn boss for The Nature Conservancy in Oregon and Washington, assistant professor of practice specializing in regional wildland fire resilience for OSU Extension’s Fire Program, and in her current position as the Oregon Department of Forestry’s statewide prescribed fire coordinator.

Joe Scott – Member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and a descendent of the Rogue River Tribes of what is now Southwestern Oregon. He currently lives and works on Kalapuya land, on the Tsankupi side of the Willamette River.

Joe is Director of the Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program. Through this work, he collaborates with regional land stewards and educators to support the success of Tribal youth through the teaching and learning of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge and cultural burning.

Joe has worked with fire as an element of transformation in ceramics, wood-bending, ceremony, pastries, and automotive repair. He draws inspiration from oak trees, quality tools, fire stories, and lightning. Joe works to reverse the erasure of Indigenous ecological science to restore the brilliance of Native American practice.

Dann Miller – Executive Editor, LookOut Eugene

Dann brings decades of leadership experience in both traditional and digital newsrooms. A native of Elmira, New York, Dann began his journalism career at his hometown newspaper while still in high school. His path has taken him across the country, leading newsrooms at the Army Times Publishing Company outside Washington, D.C., the Tallahassee Democrat in Florida, and the Erie Times-News in Pennsylvania before moving west to the Yakima Herald-Republic in Washington and the Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon.

After leaving Oregon in 2018, Dann served as news director for the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tennessee, overseeing coverage in Arkansas and Mississippi, before taking on the same role at the Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky. Now, he returns to Oregon, a place he has long considered home. “The Willamette Valley holds a special place in my heart. I miss the mountains, coast, climate, produce, and people that helped shape me as a person and a journalist.”

Throughout his career, Dann has been committed to fair, aggressive, and nonpartisan local journalism. He has a proven ability to build strong teams and foster deep community connections to ensure vital stories are told with accuracy and impact. As executive editor, he leads Lookout Eugene-Springfield’s mission to provide high-quality journalism that reflects and serves the people of Lane County.

Camilla Mortensen – Editor, Eugene Weekly

Camilla Mortensen is the longtime local editor of Eugene Weekly, the area’s alternative newspaper. The paper, which has been in print since 1982 (originally as What’s Happening) continues to print more than 28,000 copies a week in addition to reaching readers with its email newsletters and website.

Camilla has been a reporter and editor at EW since 2007 and is on the board of directors for the rural Highway 58 Herald newspaper. She teaches journalism at the UO in the mornings before heading to the Weekly’s office. She also advises Lane Community College’s The Torch student newspaper, which proudly made a return to print in 2025 after going digital for the past five years.

Chris Pietsch – Photojournalist, Register Guard

Chris Pietsch (pronounced Peach) is the director of photography for Gannett Newspapers in Oregon, The Register-Guard in Eugene and the Statesman Journal in Salem.

He has been a photographer for The Register-Guard since 1988. Before that he worked for the Daily News in Moscow, Idaho and the Lewiston Morning Tribune in Lewiston, Idaho.

He grew up in a newspaper family as the grandson of the publisher of the Sandpoint News-Bulletin in Sandpoint, Idaho and graduated from the University of Idaho with a BA in Political Science and a BA in Philosophy in 1980.

Jim Rondeau – General Manager, KLCC

Jim Rondeau is the General Manager of KLCC, a network of non-commercial FM news stations and digital journalism projects serving Western and Central Oregon. A University of Washington Husky living in a land of Ducks and Beavers!

Since 2019, he has led the organization’s transition toward fully digital, enterprise journalism. Under his leadership, the Amplifying Oregon Voices campaign raised more than $3 million for investment in local content and technology.

Earlier in his career, Jim was an award-winning anchor and programmer in both commercial and non-commercial organizations in Seattle, San Diego and Los Angeles. Outside the studio, he is an avid musician and fitness aficionado who manages to finish Wordle–most of the time.

Brent Walth – Professor, U of O School of Journalism and Communication School

Brent Walth joined the UO School of Journalism and Communication in 2015 after more than 30 years as an editor, author, and investigative reporter. A native of Oregon, Brent has worked as a staff writer and managing editor for Willamette Week; Oregon State Capitol correspondent for the Eugene Register-Guard; and  Washington, DC, correspondent and senior investigative reporter for The Oregonian. Brent also was a 2006 Nieman Foundation fellow at Harvard University.

Brent is a five-time winner of the Bruce Baer Award, Oregon’s top reporting prize, and a recipient of the Gerald Loeb Award, the nation’s top honor for business and financial reporting. At The Oregonian, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting in 2000, and in 2001 he shared the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for an investigation into abuses by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

He is the author of Fire at Eden’s Gate: Tom McCall and the Oregon Story, a portrait of the state’s most influential governor — a book President Bill Clinton called “a remarkable biography.” In 2008, Brent founded the Scholarship For Civic and Watchdog Journalism, awarded to SOJC students who demonstrate a commitment to in-depth reporting. The UO School of Journalism and Communication inducted Brent into its Hall of Achievement in 2014.