Events & Opportunities
October 17, 2026
What is Your Legacy? A Collage Workshop with Marne Lucas of the Bar
Create a beautiful, personal collage to explore your life’s path or a loved one’s legacy with Marne Lucas, a multidisciplinary artist and death doula working at the intersection of art, science, and health. Lucas explores creativity as a form of spiritual care in collaborations with terminally ill artists to establish their legacy. All materials are provided. All ages welcome.
Free, requested RSVP at astoriavisualarts.org
noon, Astoria Visual Arts, Astoria
October 17, 2026
Ancestors in Training - A meditation on end-of-life and what comes
Join Astoria Visual Arts for a guided meditation focused on cultivating mindfulness and awareness of our mortality with end-of-life doula, Dardinelle Troen. Participants will draw inspiration from Maranasati, or The Nine Contemplations of Death, a Buddhist meditation practice designed to help us confront and overcome our resistance to death and dying. The primary purpose of these practices is to face our own mortality, similar to traditional meditation, intended to enhance our appreciation for the richness of everyday life. 45 minutes seated meditation.
Free, requested RSVP at astoriavisualarts.org
This event is supported by a Public Programs Grant from Oregon Humanities.
11:00 a.m., Astoria Visual Arts, Astoria
October 17, 2026
Saturday Scoundrels
What is a conversation?
This question follows our first Wit & Wisdom of the year, where John Nygaard and Seth Tichenor revisited a conversation they first presented in 2019 about what conversation asks of us, and what gets harder when the world around us grows more divided.
For Scoundrels, we’re looking at the foundation of the question. What actually makes something a conversation?
10:00 a.m., The Catalyst, Astoria
October 18, 2026
Write Your Own Obituary with Katherine Annala
Writing your own obituary can be an illuminating exercise in exploring who you are and what you want the world to know about your life. Participants will explore their legacy and how to put it into words. Learn the different types of obituaries and the basics of obituary writing with Katherine Annala, a doctor of acupuncture based in Portland, Oregon with a focus on aging adults and women’s health. Writing utensils provided, if preferred, please bring a laptop.
RSVP requested at astoriavisualarts.org
noon, Astoria Visual Arts, Astoria
October 22, 2026
The 1930s Jackson County Rebellion
Author, archaeologist, and historian Jeff LaLande will share the study of a fascinating and insightful political movement in 1930s Southern Oregon. The Jackson County Rebellion explores a dramatic if little-known populist insurgency that captured national attention as it played out in rural Oregon. LaLande traces the rebellion’s roots back to the area’s tradition of protest, including the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s, then focuses on Jackson County’s politics of upheaval during the worst days of the Great Depression. The broad strokes of the episode may be familiar to contemporary readers, with demagogues fanning rage and relentlessly accusing an elite of corruption and conspiracy.
3:30 p.m., Jacksonville Community Center, Jacksonville
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
October 29, 2026
Community Led Harm Reduction Conversation
Join Rahab's Sisters for a community conversation about harm reduction, drug use and overdose response! Participants are invited to sit together in dialogue over a light dinner to help deepen compassion and care for people who use drugs and to better understand how to participate in community care. This event is intended to bring people with lived experience and people who want to learn more together in dialogue toward the goal of deepened community connection and understanding.
Each participant will also receive overdose prevention training rooted in compassion, designed and led by those with lived experience.
This event is supported by a Public Programs Grant from Oregon Humanities.
6:00 p.m., Montavilla United Methodist Church, Portland