Today

• Gay Skate | Mon., May 16 | 7-9:30 p.m. | Oaks Amusement Park | $10 | Bring your own skates or rent a pair + get down with whatever the DJ is spinning. 🌈
• Monica Martin | Mon., May 16 | 8 p.m. | Mississippi Studios, 3939 N. Mississippi Ave. | $15 | The Chicago-born singer/songwriter delivers lowkey pop songs with a touch of Golden Age Hollywood + psychedelic.
• It’s Gonna Be Okay | Mon., May 16 | 8 p.m. | EastBurn, 1800 E. Burnside St. | Free | Take an emotional weight off at this weekly stand-up comedy show. 🎤
• Music Mondays: Free World-Music Interactive Dance Parties | Mon., May 16 | 5-7 p.m. | Pioneer Courthouse Square | Free | DJ Prashant leads a musical tour of the world with reggaeton, afrobeats, Brazilian funk, and Eastern + Middle Eastern sounds. 🎶

Tuesday

• Science Pub Portland: Green Aliens Among Us | Tues., May 17 | 7-9 p.m. | McMenamins Kennedy School, 5736 NE 33rd Ave. | $5 | Find out why plants might be our planet’s most out-of-this-world inhabitants. 🌱
• The Moth Story Slam: Water | Tues., May 17 | 8 p.m. | Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St. | $15 | Create + share your own short story about all things water: the beach, kiddie pools, bathtubs, or rain (a Portland favorite). 💦

Wednesday

• Thorns vs. Washington Spirit | Wed., May 18 | 7 p.m. | Providence Park | $10+ | We’ve got spirit, yes we do, we’ve got spirit, more than you. ⚽
• “Appropriate” | Now-Sun., May 22 | Times vary | Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave. | $45 | Estranged family members gather together after the loss of a relative in this play about personal baggage + shocking discoveries. 🎭

Weather

• 65º | Early rain showers, mostly cloudy later on | 37% chance of rain

Sunrise + Sunset 

• Rise: 5:38 a.m. 
• Set: 8:36 p.m.

Family

• Portland parents are scrambling to find baby formula amid supply shortages and a recent recall of some brands. Now is a great time to donate unopened, unexpired cans of baby formula to local organizations like the Mother + Child Education Center. You can report sellers who price gouge during the shortage to state officials. (The Oregonian/Oregon Live) 

State

• The Oregon Employment Department has set the rate for the state’s new paid family and medical leave program. Starting in January of 2023, workers will pay 0.6% of every paycheck and employers will pay 0.4%; benefits through the program will start being paid in September of next year. (The Oregonian/Oregon Live) 

Travel

• An estimated 30,000 low-income high school students in the Portland area will receive free bus passes for the summer months through a new pilot program from TriMet. Keep an eye on TriMet’s website — details on how to apply will be posted sometime later this month. 🚌 (Portland Mercury) 

Outdoors

• The playground at Southwest Portland’s Gabriel Park has reopened — after a major facelift. A 2014 Portland Parks Replacement bond paid for new playground equipment, sidewalks + many special features that have transformed the area into an inclusive playground three times its former size. (Portland Tribune)  

Opening

• The aquatic center at Mt. Hood Community College will fully reopen to the public on Mon., June 13 after being closed all last summer. The center’s new manager, Andrew Jackman, plans to “reinvigorate the facility and make it what it once was” by hiring more staff + spearheading renovation projects. 💦 (The Outlook)    

Edu

• The search is on for the next president of Portland State University. Current PSU President Stephen Percy announced he’s retiring + will step down after the end of the next academic year in the summer of 2023. Stephen started at the university as a political science professor in 2014. 📚 (OPB) 

Arts

• A large stained-glass panel of a butterfly that once welcomed customers at the Glass Butterfly dress shop in downtown Gresham is finding new life, months after the shop’s permanent closure. The panel was donated to the Gresham Historical Society + will be displayed at the museum at 410 N. Main Ave. 🦋 (The Outlook)   

Plan Ahead

• A birthday party isn’t complete without ice cream — and Nico’s Ice Cream at 5713 NE Fremont St. has plenty of that on hand for its one-year anniversary party. Stop in on Sat., May 21 from 12-5 p.m. for a special half-pint flavor + plenty of New Zealand-style real fruit ice cream. 🍦