Vancouver’s got it going on

Anybody who says nothing is happening north of the river is either trying too hard to sound cool, or just isn’t paying attention. Vancouver has tons to talk about.

Fascinating artists, authors and thinkers. Heroic nonprofit agencies. Deep history connected to the growth of the nation. And, in recent years, amazingly divisive and controversial politics.

This month is a great opportunity to check out who’s saying what about life in Vancouver — and life on planet Earth.

“We have The Columbian, but not much else,” said community activist and media consultant Temple Lentz. “We wanted to create a space for community and get the word out about all the interesting things happening in Vancouver. There is so much to talk about.”

There’s more to the backstory of our live, local, bimonthly talk show, “Hello Vancouver!” Lentz was winding down her anonymous, long-running satirical blog, The Daily ‘Couve, about the same time that businessman David Madore entered local electoral politics in 2012. After Madore’s election to the then-Board of Clark County Commissioners, the divide between west-side progressives and east-side and “River County” conservatives grew wider and more hateful than before — perhaps reflecting a national political divide, as well.

Meanwhile Lentz, Jim Mains and Noland Hoshino launched a marketing and political-campaigning firm called High Five Media and brainstormed a regular public forum that would be fun, engaging and educational — but ultimately serious about nurturing a new sense of community in Vancouver. It would be somewhere between “The Daily Show” and David Letterman. It would feature great local guests and entertainment. And it would be completely free to attend.

“As politics has gotten worse nationally and locally and there is so much fighting, we wanted to do something constructive,” Mains said.

“Hello Vancouver!” premiered at the Kiggins Theatre in February 2014. The first shows drew curious and well-connected downtown types who watched the High Five trio stumble their way through a live hourlong stage presentation; the amazing thing, Mains said, is that the audience has grown steadily and is no longer just the “usual suspects” and supporters. Now heading into year three, the show fields cold calls from local sponsors and potential guests who want to be part of it, Mains said. (Kiggins owner Dan Wyatt volunteers his auditorium in return for concession sales that almost make it worth his while, Lentz said.)

Highly hammy

What’s the formula? Mains supplies planning and pre-show audience warmup; Hoshino is the sound and technical guy and webmaster; the highly hammy Lentz hosts. She starts with an opening monologue, late-night-TV style; after that comes a pre-recorded “silly video”; “Hello history” with local historian Pat Jollota; dialog with the leader of a nonprofit agency; some funky local flavor, like audience hula instruction from the Ke Kukui Foundation or a visit from Rojo the Therapy Llama, Brush Prairie’s most famous resident; and then an interview with a local celebrity who’s breaking out of Vancouver — like authors who are climbing the best-seller lists, or Seth Aaron Henderson, the “Project Runway” winner.

And is the result really all that community-building and -unifying? Pretty much, Mains and Lentz said. Mains loves recalling the newcomer who approached him after one show to glow that the whole thing felt like “community church.” It made him feel good about his new home and want to get involved. Mission accomplished, Mains said.

But there’s also this: the March “silly video” (which you can view on the “Hello Vancouver!” website) was a wicked local twist on the reality show “Undercover Boss”: the stealthy leader who infiltrates his workforce to see how things really are down in the trenches is Marc Boldt — the moderate Republican who replaced far-right Madore as council chair this year.

In the video, Boldt dons a ridiculous wig, moustache and janitor’s outfit and pushes a broom around while chatting up the county’s working stiffs. The astonishing lesson he learns: workers appreciate leaders who respect them, trust them, let them do their jobs. Boldt the janitor keeps asking about workplace morale and keeps hearing that morale is improving — now that the board has a nicer chair.

OK, Boldt responds, but is he handsome? Don’t push your luck, he’s told. Then his moustache falls off. Fortunately, county Auditor Greg Kimsey retrieves it. It fits him better. Back to work!

TEDcouver

As with many of the best brainstorms, “VanTalks” got born over beers. Kevin Hiebert and Steve Valenta were drinking and thinking about all the smart, outside-the-box brains they know in this area. The pair admired “Hello Vancouver!” but wanted to start something more challenging, less “variety show,” Valenta said. It would aim for the sorts of folks who’re already fans of “TED Talks,” those big-idea lectures that have grown popular on public radio and YouTube in recent years.

Valenta said he’s sick of hearing about Vancouver’s identity crisis. “We’re tired of hearing what Vancouver isn’t,” he said. “How could we create a local event highlighting the innovative and cutting-edge ideas that are brewing right in our own backyard?”

To answer the question, the pair invited some of their favorite local thinkers and also held five-minute “open auditions.”

“I was blown away by the quality of people’s ideas and how seriously they took this opportunity,” Hiebert said.

The result: a roster of 10 big brains — like Burgerville CEO Jeff Harvey, filmmaker Beth Harrington and landscape architect Jane Tenser Kleiner — who will take the stage at the Kiggins the evening of May 26 for about 10 minutes apiece.

“We want people to walk out feeling proud of Vancouver and stimulated about a new way of seeing the world,” Valenta said. If all goes well, he said, maybe “VanTalks” can become an annual event.

Authors at Fort

In case that’s not enough talk for you, Fort Vancouver High School has scheduled three literary events on the next three Tuesday evenings.

“Orpheus” is Fort’s annual reading extravaganza. Twenty-seven student writers are joined by 12 Portland-area authors with national reputations — including New York Times best-sellers, several Oregon Book Award finalists and numerous breakout writers whose “real” lines of work are things like music and performance, counseling and teaching.

With Fort’s student writers taking the stage alongside these pros, the literary talent will be wall-to-wall for three Tuesday nights in a row. Remarkably, the event is entirely free.

It’s the brainchild of English teacher Ben Jatos, who started out by inviting a few local writers to visit his personal-essay-writing class three years ago. That grew into a powerful, but minimally attended, shared reading event; and that has become three sprawling Tuesday nights. Jatos said the visiting writers — none of whom get paid — have been gracious, generous and positive with his students. Some have even started reaching out to him to get included in the event, he said.

“They do it to help the kids,” Jatos said. “The kids think it’s so neat, they get to share the stage with these professional writers. It literally changes their lives.”