October 24, 2026

Saturday Scoundrels

Why is ritual important?

Birthdays. Funerals. Holidays. Handshakes. Morning coffee. Religious observance. Stadium chants. Humans keep inventing things to do again and again in really specific ways.

What does ritual accomplish that an ordinary action does not? Does repetition change us? Can ritual connect people, preserve memory, mark change, or outlive its usefulness?

Join Scoundrels for a conversation about why humans keep returning to ritual.

10:00 a.m., The Catalyst, Astoria

November 5, 2026

Writing Around Harney County

A public reading at the Harney County Library featuring Oregon Poet Laureate Ellen Waterston.

6:00 p.m., Harney County Library, Burns

November 7, 2026

Are We Created Equal?

This conversation will explore equality. It is a core national value of the United States, even if we have not always lived up to that value. What does it mean to say, as the writers of the Declaration of Independence did, that “all men are created equal” and to declare that this is a self-evident truth? In what ways are or should we be equal? How does this ideal of equality show up in our daily lives, our communities, and our politics? How, finally, has this ideal of equality changed over the past 250 years—and how might it change further over the next 250?

11:00 a.m., Grants Pass Library, Grants Pass

November 10, 2026

To What Do We Pledge?

While the opening of the Declaration of Independence gets the fanfare and the fireworks—“When in the course of human events” and all that—the closing clause contains a quiet promise: “We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” When we talk about the founding, we often think of it as a severing from a distant power and a proclamation of individual rights. And yet, buried in that big individualistic origin story, there is a pledge of support, solidarity, and mutual aid. Today, as we witness political violence, hostility, and polarization, this conversation invites us to explore what it means for us to be bound to one another and to ask ourselves: Is there any idea, any value, any dream for the future that we care about enough to tie ourselves to one another to protect or pursue it? What would it mean to “mutually pledge” ourselves to one another today? What would it look like? Feel like? Is it even possible?

Facilitator Wendy Willis is the founding director of Oregon's Kitchen Table, a statewide community engagement program housed at Portland State University. She is also a poet, an essayist, a stitcher, and a self-proclaimed democracy geek. Wendy was raised in Springfield, but now lives with her family in Portland.

6:00 p.m., Eugene Public Library, Eugene

November 18, 2026

At a Loss for Words

Join Oregon Poet Laureate Ellen Waterston for a free and public event in the Lincoln City Cultural Center. The event will include a presentation and time for audience Q&A.

6:30 p.m., Lincoln City Cultural Center, Lincoln City

November 19, 2026

Ellen Waterston Reading

A reading by Oregon Poet Laureate Ellen Waterston

2:00 p.m., Miracle Theatre Group Office, Portland

December 2, 2026

Cheers to Community

Join us for an evening filled with conversation and curated wines while supporting Oregon Humanities' winter fundraising campaign. We are delighted to partner with our friends Ora et Labora Wine Shop to gather neighbors and supporters at the Vinum Lounge to celebrate the many ways our community is coming together to support greater connection.

5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Ora et Labora Wine Shop and Vinum Lounge, Portland

January 14, 2027

Film Screening and Discussion: "Your Attention Please"

Oregon Humanities and PAMCUT's Tomorrow Theater present a screening of Sara Robin's documentary Your Attention Please followed by a facilitated conversation. 

A new generation of parents, teens, and reformers are fighting back against Big Tech’s agenda to define the future of human connection. From Kristin, a mother pursuing legislative reform after losing her son, to Trisha, a young programmer building technology to stop cyberbullying, the film reveals how deeply the attention economy is shaping childhood, mental health, and human connection. Blending intimate human stories with insights from leading experts in tech reform and digital wellbeing, Your Attention Please asks some of the most urgent questions of our time: Can we reclaim our autonomy? Can technology be redesigned to serve humanity? And what does a healthier relationship with the digital world look like for us and our kids?

Tickets for this free event are available at tomorrowtheater.org.

7:00 p.m., Tomorrow Theater, Portland

January 24, 2027

Does Nature Have a Purpose in Our Lives? Exploring Our Relationships to the Land

Oregonians have long struggled to balance cultural, political, and values-based differences tied to our use of land and resources. As we enter an age of accelerating environmental change and scarcity, it is important to understand what drives these differences. In this conversation we will explore our attitudes and assumptions about the purpose of the environment in our lives and how those attitudes and assumptions shape our perception of environmental issues and policies.

2:00 p.m., Beaverton City Library, Beaverton

February 10, 2027

Consider This: Housing and Homelessness in Rural Communities

Discussions about housing and homelessness tend to focus on a few key cities such as San Francisco, Austin, and Seattle. Can studies from those places explain what we experience in college towns, small cities, and rural areas? With an issue so intimately connected to place, shouldn’t we focus on the nuances of location? Sociologist Leontina Hormel, in conversation with Oregon Humanities’ Adam Davis, will explore the challenges of housing and the experience of homelessness outside urban areas.

7:30 p.m. Pacific, PRAx, Corvallis