After the tragic attack of May 2017 on the Portland MAX train, a disquieting thought haunted me repeatedly over the next week. “It could’ve been any of us…”

Most everyone has at some point wrestled with the question, “What would I do in that situation?” It can be an uncomfortable question when real risk is involved, and in the last few years, as crimes involving bias and hate have seemingly become more brazen, the risks of taking a stand appear to be rising. As a husband and father of a young child, I suddenly found the answer to that question rather complicated. An angry and violent response to an act of common decency left three separate families reeling and devastated, and as is so often the case with public acts of violence, the perpetrator seemed to get most of the attention in the media.



That is why I chose to reach out to Micah Fletcher several months after the tragedy. Not only did I regard him as somewhat of a personal hero, but his involvement in music and poetry presented me with an opportunity to honor and celebrate a survivor on his own terms. Over the last year, Micah, my colleagues and I have worked together on a project involving newly commissioned poetry and music that has been incredibly meaningful to all of us involved.

Micah Fletcher and Pyxis Quartet gave the premiere performances of these new musical works on February 15, 2019, featuring new music by Nicholas Yandell, Texu Kim, Kenji Bunch, and Bonnie Miksch, the live recordings of which you can listen to on our website. This Friday we'll be reprising the latter two works. We hope you can join us.

Greg Ewer
Founder, 45^th Parallel Universe