Catrina on the Beach
A celebration of Día de los Muertos including a parade, Catrina contest, music and ballet folklorico, food, and face painting for kids. This event is presented by Conexión Fenix and supported by a public programs grant from Oregon Humanities.
An Honor and a Duty
Eddie Melendrez on bringing more perspectives into public office
Nowhere to Hide
Casey Chaffin writes about how people who have mental health crises in public are treated and how they could be treated better.
The Power of Community Spaces
Joni Kabana writes about how the Spray General Store is bridging divides.
Writing on the Wall
Enrique Bautista writes about graffiti, belonging, and finding new ways to leave a mark on the world.
Harping On
April Choi writes about seeking inner harmony and finding harmonics.
That's Group Living
An excerpt from "Group Living and Other Recipes" by Lola Milholland
Unpacking Accountability: What Are We Asking For?
Calls for accountability—for our leaders, for people who have caused harm, or for our communities—are common, but what exactly is being sought is often elusive. This one word may mean punishment, and much more. What do you mean when you say “accountability,” and how can we elevate the value of accountability in our communities?
Aron Klein believes in the healing potential of accountability. Through personal relationships, volunteer work, and political advocacy he has accompanied folks on their journeys toward accountability. He is the operations manager at Partnership for Safety & Justice and lives and bicycles throughout Portland.
Meet the 2024 Community Storytelling Fellows
Oregon Humanities is excited to announce the recipients of the 2024 Community Storytelling Fellowship,
Pride Reading
Join Oregon Humanities and Incite: Queer Writers Read at Bishop & Wilde on Wednesday, June 26, from 7:00–9:00 p.m. for a celebration of queer and trans pride. This reading will feature writers Bobby Jo Valentine, Emily Moon, Zoe Gamell Brown, Aakash Kishore, Rowan Bay, and Jordan Marzka.
Consider This Discussion Group: Humans, Land, and Animals
On Wednesday, May 29, join people from across the state for a free online conversation about Consider This: Humans, Land, and Animals, facilitated by Rozzell Medina. The discussion will take place on Zoom from 11:00 a.m. to 11:50 a.m.
Mount Doom
Rowan Bay writes about feeling out of place as a gay teenager in a religious community
Consider This: Humans, Land, and Animals
Join us at 7:00 p.m. on May 22 at Pendleton Center for the Arts for a conversation with Bobby Fossek, Erica Berry, and Wendy Bingham about living in community with animals and plants. Some animals and plants are welcomed by people, and others we reject or try to eradicate. How do we decide which living things belong, and what do these decisions show about our place on the land?
This live, onstage conversation is part of Oregon Humanities’ 2023–24 Consider This series, Fear and Belonging. To participate, please register here.
Consider This Discussion Group: Father Greg Boyle
On Wednesday, March 20, join other viewers across the state for a free online conversation about Consider This with Father Greg Boyle, facilitated by Rozzell Medina. The discussion will take place on Zoom from 11:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. To register, click here. If you have questions about this event, please contact Rozzell.
Conversation Project: Can We Get Along?
Rodney King’s iconic question still resonates today. Despite decades of social justice movements, police brutality and divisions persist in the United States. COVID-19 has only added more challenges. How can we connect to each other during these times? What holds us back from connecting with each other? How do our personal experiences contribute to barriers, or and have the potential to break them down? Join facilitator Chisao Hata as she holds space to examine individual questions on race, cultural values, and what brings us together and what separates us.
Conversation Project: Can We Get Along?
Rodney King’s iconic question still resonates today. Despite decades of social justice movements, police brutality and divisions persist in the United States. COVID-19 has only added more challenges. How can we connect to each other during these times? What holds us back from connecting with each other? How do our personal experiences contribute to barriers, or and have the potential to break them down? Join facilitator Chisao Hata as she holds space to examine individual questions on race, cultural values, and what brings us together and what separates us.
Conversation Project: Loneliness and Aging
Loneliness and isolation are common experiences for elderly people, especially for those who do not have nearby family members or who are not computer literate. What do you know about the elders in your life or in your neighborhood? Are they connected to their families in an enriching way? Do they belong to a caring community of some kind? This conversation is for elderly people and people who live near elders or have elderly people in their lives to explore questions, experiences, and obstacles to showing up for elderly people and to generate ideas for connection.
Conversation Project: Loneliness and Aging
Loneliness and isolation are common experiences for elderly people, especially for those who do not have nearby family members or who are not computer literate. What do you know about the elders in your life or in your neighborhood? Are they connected to their families in an enriching way? Do they belong to a caring community of some kind? This conversation is for elderly people and people who live near elders or have elderly people in their lives to explore questions, experiences, and obstacles to showing up for elderly people and to generate ideas for connection.
Conversation Project: Loneliness and Aging
Loneliness and isolation are common experiences for elderly people, especially for those who do not have nearby family members or who are not computer literate. What do you know about the elders in your life or in your neighborhood? Are they connected to their families in an enriching way? Do they belong to a caring community of some kind? This conversation is for elderly people and people who live near elders or have elderly people in their lives to explore questions, experiences, and obstacles to showing up for elderly people and to generate ideas for connection.
Finding Common Ground Speaker Series: High Desert Partnership
Learn about the many ways the High Desert Partnership in Harney County supports a community of diverse perspectives to collaboratively solve the complex challenges facing rural America. Speakers include Brenda Smith, executive director of HDP; Mara Polenz, communications director; Josh Hanson, forest and range ecological coordinator; Kaylee Littlefield, community involvement and monitoring coordinator; Melissa Petschauer, Harney Basin ecological coordinator; Camille Torres, collaborative project coordinator; and Denise Rose, Harney internship coordinator.
This event is supported by a Minigrant for Rural Libraries from Oregon Humanities.
Programs Advisory Committee
The Oregon Humanities Programs Advisory Committee is an advisory body made up of community members who are connected to and participate in Oregon Humanities programs. This group is charged with advising Oregon Humanities on new program development, current program themes and collaborators, and supports promotion of Oregon Humanities programs in their communities.
Community Advisors
In addition to our staff and board of directors, Oregon Humanities relies on community members across the state to help us work toward our vision of an Oregon that invites diverse perspectives, explores challenging questions, and strives for just communities.
Tips for Facilitating Reflective Conversations
Four facilitators share tips on leading reflective conversations.
Consider This Discussion Group: Getting Older and Staying Connected
Oregon Humanities invites you to a discussion on the themes and ideas from our November 6 event Consider This on Getting Older and Staying Connected at AllCare Health in Grants Pass.
Oregon Humanities Program Manager Rozzell Medina will facilitate the group discussion in English through Zoom.
Tertulias de Película: Lorena, la de pies ligeros / Lorena, Light-Footed Woman
Qué mejor plan para un viernes que ver una película en compañía y quedarse a charlar?
Aprende sobre Lorena, una atleta mexicana que ha hecho historia por derribar estereotipos llevando orgullosa su cultura al resto del mundo, y quédate a comer y charlar al final de la peli.
Lane County Arts and Culture Roundtable
Join members of the Lane County community as they look toward the future by diving into stories of the past. Eva Osirus, the facilitator of the NAACP’s “Our Stories” project, in collaboration with the StoryHelix Community Storytelling Project at Wordcrafters in Eugene, will guide all participants in a group listening and discussion experience around the recorded story of a local storyteller. Through this guided conversation, attendees will gain new insights through story, connect with fellow community members, and identify actions they can take to better our community for all. Read more about this event. You may attend in person or virtually through Zoom.
This program is supported by a Public Program Grant from Oregon Humanities.
Loneliness and Aging: Making Space for Our Elders
Loneliness and isolation are common experiences for elderly people, especially for those who do not have nearby family members or who are not computer literate. What do you know about the elders in your life or in your neighborhood? Are they connected to their families in an enriching way? Do they belong to a caring community of some kind? This conversation is for elderly people and people who live near elders or have elderly people in their lives to explore questions, experiences, and obstacles to showing up for elderly people and to generate ideas for connection.
Loneliness and Aging: Making Space for Our Elders
Loneliness and isolation are common experiences for elderly people, especially for those who do not have nearby family members or who are not computer literate. What do you know about the elders in your life or in your neighborhood? Are they connected to their families in an enriching way? Do they belong to a caring community of some kind? This conversation is for elderly people and people who live near elders or have elderly people in their lives to explore questions, experiences, and obstacles to showing up for elderly people and to generate ideas for connection.
Consider This on Getting Older and Staying Connected
Aging is a life-long experience that is both universal and different for everyone. Some people join new communities and friendships in old age, while others experience profound isolation. Generational divides, both real and perceived, can add to a sense of not belonging. Join Andrea Cano and Fred Grewe for a conversation about aging and belonging: What are our fears around aging? How can we collaborate across generational divides? What can we do to ensure people are fully included in our communities as they age?
Loneliness and Aging: Making Space for Our Elders
Loneliness and isolation are common experiences for elderly people, especially for those who do not have nearby family members or who are not computer literate. What do you know about the elders in your life or in your neighborhood? Are they connected to their families in an enriching way? Do they belong to a caring community of some kind? This conversation is for elderly people and people who live near elders or have elderly people in their lives to explore questions, experiences, and obstacles to showing up for elderly people and to generate ideas for connection.
For the People
Jordan Hernandez writes about how Oregon libraries are responding to the evolving needs of their communities.
Central Heating
Brian Benson reflects on loneliness, connection, and writing workshops.
The Pains and Joys of Aging
An illustrated essay by Leanne Grabel
Consider This with Father Greg Boyle
Join us for a conversation about community, belonging, and ending violence with Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries.
Loneliness and Aging: Making Space for Our Elders
Loneliness and isolation are common experiences for elderly people, especially for those who do not have nearby family members or who are not computer literate. What do you know about the elders in your life or in your neighborhood? Are they connected to their families in an enriching way? Do they belong to a caring community of some kind? This conversation is for elderly people and people who live near elders or have elderly people in their lives to explore questions, experiences, and obstacles to showing up for elderly people and to generate ideas for connection.
Staged Frights: Banding Together around a Playful, Creative Cause
What happens when a community bands together around a playful, creative cause? In this workshop, Haunt Camp program director JR Rymut will share how a rural community can be a perfect and unexpected incubator of avant-garde art.
Create, Iterate, Persist: Connecting People to Actions and Actions to a Movement
Oregon Climate Action Hub was created to help all Oregonians find their place in the climate movement, serving as a “one-stop-shop” for individuals to find opportunities and take part in organized action. Join Karen Wolfgang, co-founder of the Hub, for a So Much Together where she will she discuss the project's development from a mere concept to a comprehensive public resource, and highlights the importance of relationships in the creative process.
Me, Myself, and Us: Evolving Identity Beyond Labels
As a multimedia artist, MOsley WOtta uses personal, lived experiences to drive his explorations into identity, place, race, and care. Through examples from his recent work, which incorporates musical, visual, and immersive performance with discussion and dialogue practices, WOtta will guide participants in exploring how identity labels both inform our relationship to our communities—and how it can transform them.
Public Program Grant application deadline
Apply for a Public Program Grant by March 10
“We Are the Original Conservationists”
Jennifer Perrine writes about Oregonians of color working in the environmental justice movement.
Long Live the Kings
Heather Wiedenhoft on the political significance of drag king culture in the Pacific Northwest
Strengthening Community and Connection through Storytelling
Bruce Poinsette and Jennifer Perrine talk about what it means to tell stories rooted in community.
Conversation Project: Moving through Our Communities: How We Experience Safety and Vulnerability
Our sense of safety and vulnerability moving through our communities may be different if we are walking, biking, rolling, taking public transit, or driving. Join facilitator LeeAnn O’Neill in a conversation that asks, How does the way you move through your community affect your sense of safety and vulnerability? What else affects your sense of safety and vulnerability? How might you change the way you interact with others as you move through your community to create a greater sense of safety for everyone? This conversation is a chance to reflect on our personal roles in creating greater safety for all as we move through our communities.
Conversation Project: Relationships for Resilience
In a time of intensifying social and ecological crises, in a cultural context of individualism, the pressure to practice "self-care," build "personal resilience," and "transform oneself" is pervasive. While "doing your own work" is important, we overemphasize the individual to the detriment of our human communities and the rest of the living world. The deep transformations we need will be cocreated, and the deep resilience we must develop will be relational. In this conversation, we will explore the dynamics of our strongest relationships, seeking to name the qualities and practices that underpin resilience. How can we bring our insights more intentionally and broadly to bear in our human relationships and in our relationships with our home—lands, waters, and ecosystems?
Conversation Project: Understanding Urban/Rural Divides
We live in a time of increasing polarization that often correlates to divides between urban and rural regions in our state. This polarization is so extreme that it often seems like the two sides may have completely different experiences of the world. Join facilitator Nick Nash in a conversation that asks, How does the urban/rural divide affect the ways we relate to each other as Oregonians? What is the urban/rural divide, and how do we understand it? How does this divide affect our day-to-day lives, our experiences of being governed, and of the COVID-19 pandemic? This conversation is a chance to reflect on the beliefs we have about our urban or rural neighbors with a focus on discovering and abandoning misbeliefs, investigating and learning about the real differences between the urban and the rural, and trying to find things that we all share as Oregonians. This event will take place in room 214/215. Enter on the east side of the building facing the parking lot.
Adaptation and Appreciation
Jacqueline Keeler writes about how tribal communities in Oregon may remember the COVID-19 pandemic.
Telling Our Story
May Saechao writes about how the Iu Mien community connects to history and traditions across time and distance.
We're Here for Each Other
Jennifer Perrine writes about how Oregonians of color are building relationships in the outdoors.
The Civic Love Ride
Civic love has been described as "one’s love for society, expressed through a commitment to the common good. It is a belief in the idea that we’re all better off, when we are all better off." Join Oregon Humanities on a ride to various places where civic love blossomed, thrived, flailed, and failed. We will hear from people who demonstrate a commitment to civic love, including special guests from Albina Vision Trust, Street Books, Albina Music Trust, and North Star Civic Foundation. Throughout the ride, we'll connect with each other utilizing the National Public Housing Museum's 36 Questions for Civic Love, which were created to help us all rise in civic love. Civic-love-themed prizes and tunes are sure to sweeten the deal. We'll begin at Lovejoy Fountain Park, south of the SW 3rd and Harrison Portland Streetcar stop. The ride will last approximately two hours, including presentations and conversations, with about four miles of mostly flat traveling. We'll end at Dawson Park (1 N. Stanton St.) with an optional post-ride hangout.
Finding a Voice as an Advocate for Others
Sosan Amiri and Rozzell Medina speak about power, justice, education, and community.
Newport's Diverse Paths to an American Dream: Join the Conversation
The theme of this program is American Dreams, American Myths, American Hopes, which will provide framework to explore the origins and aspirations of Newport and how these have changed for different segments of our community, affecting us all. This program will be an opportunity for meaningful conversations and community engagement.
Building a Bridge for Mental Health
A youth-led organization is addressing mental health in AAPI communities and offering cross-generational care.
Tug-of-War
Medical care often requires isolating ourselves from those we love. But without them, how do we heal?
Wit, Wisdom, and Fury: Collaborative Approaches to Community Wellness
In this So Much Together workshop, community activist and educator Darrell Wade will share how he came to found Black Men’s Wellness, a community-based initiative that addresses health concerns commonly affecting Black and African American men. Co-presented with Christopher Scott, a facilitator with Black Men’s Wellness and creator of the Hip Hop Social Worker podcast, this workshop will offer insights and perspectives on building community-based networks for health, while identifying the ways that collaboration and imagination inform this work.
Conversation Project: Can We Get Along?
Rodney King’s iconic question still resonates today. Despite decades of social justice movements, police brutality and divisions persist in the United States. COVID-19 has only added more challenges. How can we connect to each other during these times? What holds us back from connecting with each other? How do our personal experiences contribute to barriers, or and have the potential to break them down? Join facilitator Chisao Hata as she holds space to examine individual questions on race, cultural values, and what brings us together and what separates us.
Conversation Project: Relationships for Resilience
In a time of intensifying social and ecological crises, in a cultural context of individualism, the pressure to practice "self-care," build "personal resilience," and "transform oneself" is pervasive. While "doing your own work" is important, we overemphasize the individual to the detriment of our human communities and the rest of the living world. The deep transformations we need will be cocreated, and the deep resilience we must develop will be relational. In this conversation, we will explore the dynamics of our strongest relationships, seeking to name the qualities and practices that underpin resilience. How can we bring our insights more intentionally and broadly to bear in our human relationships and in our relationships with our home—lands, waters, and ecosystems?
The Skanner Foundation: Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast (virtual)
The Skanner Foundation again invites the community to share breakfast and celebrate the life, work, and vision of civil rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. with its 36th annual celebration the morning of January 17, 2022.
In past years, the breakfast has hosted more than a thousand attendees, often including the governor and both state and U.S. senators and representatives. Out of caution, the foundation has elected to hold its celebration on a virtual platform for a second year.
World Arts Foundation: Keep Alive the Dream
On January 17, the World Arts Foundation will present Keep Alive the Dream, a film directed by Elijah Hasan that highlights pioneering activists, community leaders, artists, musicians, and youth whose valiant efforts have left lasting impacts in Oregon’s African American community. This event is made possible in part by a SHARP general operating support grant from Oregon Humanities.
The film will be screened at Portland’s historic Hollywood Theatre. In addition to the film, the program will feature live music and a Q&A with community members. Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test is required for entry. Admission is free. To read more about this event and reserve a ticket, visit hollywoodtheatre.org/events/keep-alive-the-dream.
The Link Between Us: How Technology Can Create (and Impede) Opportunity
Join Caroline Gao for this So Much Together workshop, in which Caroline will share insights from her technological equity research; her journey building digital-first, youth-led organizations; and her lived experiences coming of age in a reality where access to technology means access to the world. As we consider the ways that technology serves as both a barrier to and a source of opportunity, especially for historically marginalized communities, we will look at how we might maximize technology's potential as a driver of equity and social good.
Unstable Connections
Caroline Gao writes about the possibilities enabled by digital communications and the challenges of making these opportunities available to all.
Climate and Fire
The Almeda Fire devastated my community. We can make future fires less destructive.
Conversation Project: Can We Get Along?
Rodney King’s iconic question still resonates today. Despite decades of social justice movements, police brutality and divisions persist in the United States. COVID-19 has only added more challenges. How can we connect to each other during these times? What holds us back from connecting with each other? How do our personal experiences contribute to barriers, or and have the potential to break them down? Join facilitator Chisao Hata as she holds space to examine individual questions on race, cultural values, and what brings us together and what separates us. This Program is presented with Multnomah County Library as part of Everybody Reads 2022. Learn more at multcolib.org.
Conversation Project: Relationships for Resilience
In a time of intensifying social and ecological crises, in a cultural context of individualism, the pressure to practice "self-care," build "personal resilience," and "transform oneself" is pervasive. While "doing your own work" is important, we overemphasize the individual to the detriment of our human communities and the rest of the living world. The deep transformations we need will be cocreated, and the deep resilience we must develop will be relational. In this conversation, we will explore the dynamics of our strongest relationships, seeking to name the qualities and practices that underpin resilience. How can we bring our insights more intentionally and broadly to bear in our human relationships and in our relationships with our home—lands, waters, and ecosystems?
Learn more about this event at crooklib.org.
Sagebrush Solar
Juliet Grable writes about how Lake County is embracing renewable energy.
Putting in the Work
This comic by Jonathan Hill explores how people can stay engaged in politics and advocate for the changes they want to see outside of major election cycles.
Creating Joy, Art, and Social Change
Lincoln-City-based artist and musician Crystal Menseses writes about her experience as a 2019-21 Fields Artist Fellow.
Connect in Place - Do You Remember? Why We Celebrate Anniversaries and Holidays
Memorials, holidays, and anniversaries are opportunities to tell stories about how we relate to what came before, and how that informs what we see as the work ahead. This time of year is full of anniversaries and holidays, including Stonewall, Juneteenth, Fourth of July, and the racial justice uprisings of last summer. What does it mean to commemorate, and why do we do it?
Hidden Histories: Picturing the Past
Using the Oregon city of Jacksonville as a case study, this program will feature a presentation of its archaeology and history followed by a discussion highlighting the challenges, opportunities, and importance of researching and documenting the stories of early Chinese Americans.
Loneliness and Aging During COVID-19
Most people are finding ways to remain connected to their loved ones during COVID-19. Some are even reaching new levels of intimacy in relationships. But for isolated elderly people who are not computer literate, loneliness has only become more intense over the past year. What beliefs do we hold about loneliness and aging? If we have elderly neighbors and loved ones, what might they need at this time?
Loneliness and Aging During COVID-19
Most people are finding ways to remain connected to their loved ones during COVID-19. Some are even reaching new levels of intimacy in relationships. But for isolated elderly people who are not computer literate, loneliness has only become more intense over the past year. What beliefs do we hold about loneliness and aging? If we have elderly neighbors and loved ones, what might they need at this time?
So Much Together: Us and Our Stuff
Frog & Toad Hauling is a junk removal and creative reuse service dedicated to seeing the treasure in trash. In this two-part workshop, we will explore through conversation, practice, and self-reflective, multimedia activities questions such as What is trash? How do we determine what does and doesn’t belong to us?
So Much Together: Us and Our Stuff
Frog & Toad Hauling is a junk removal and creative reuse service dedicated to seeing the treasure in trash. In this two-part workshop, we will explore through conversation, practice, and self-reflective, multimedia activities questions such as What is trash? How do we determine what does and doesn’t belong to us?
So Much Together - The People’s Park: Reclaiming Spaces for Our Communities
Lauren Everett is a Portland-based artist, community activist, and researcher. In 2020, Lauren led the creation of the People’s Park, a temporary community space created on a vacant lot in the St. Johns neighborhood. In this two-part workshop, she will share the story of how the park came about, framed by a discussion about the ideology of property in the United States. Participants will collaborate to design their own community spaces and learn some of the basic practical aspects of doing this kind of project.
So Much Together - The People’s Park: Reclaiming Spaces for Our Communities
Lauren Everett is a Portland-based artist, community activist, and researcher. In 2020, Lauren led the creation of the People’s Park, a temporary community space created on a vacant lot in the St. Johns neighborhood. In this two-part workshop, she will share the story of how the park came about, framed by a discussion about the ideology of property in the United States. Participants will collaborate to design their own community spaces and learn some of the basic practical aspects of doing this kind of project.
Charter Review
This comic by Beka Feathers and Aki Ruiz explains Portland's charter review process.
Putting in the Work
This comic by Jonathan Hill explores how people can stay engaged in politics and advocate for the changes they want to see outside of major election cycles.
Connect in Place: Emerging from Our Homes
Join facilitator LeeAnn O’Neill in this conversation that asks, How does the way you move through your community affect your sense of safety and vulnerability? What else affects your sense of safety and vulnerability? How might you change the way you interact with others as you move through your community to create a greater sense of safety for everyone?
Connect In Place: Should Schools Reopen? Risk, Reward, and Making Decisions in Community
Schools in Oregon are in the process of bringing students back into physical classrooms after a full year of virtual learning for many. Join Aimee Craig in a reflective conversation that asks, How do you weigh risks and benefits? How do we make decisions as a community when risk is involved?
Pandemic Flowers
Illustrator Mia Nolting reflects on a year of isolation through the dead flowers that have been in her house since the start of the pandemic.
Connect in Place: What Does Democracy Require?
Join David Gutterman for a conversation about what democracy requires of us and for us in this fraught moment.
Inheritance Stories: Oral Histories of Food Culture with Lola Milholland
Lola Milholland produces food-related art installations and events that bring together interactive public engagement with art making and food activism. In this workshop, Lola will share her work and ideas and guide participants in creating a cookbook together by interviewing and listening to each other.
“We Know Who’s Got Our Six Now”
Bruce Poinsette considers the Father's Group, an intergenerational community group in Central Oregon, as an example for the future of Black-led organizing in Oregon.
Community Conversations
Oregon Humanities' community conversation programs provide opportunities for participants to reflect on their own experiences and beliefs, learn about the experiences and beliefs of others, and cultivate a stronger sense of agency in their communities.
Connect in Place: The Meaning of Climate Change
We live in a time of tremendous transformation as the reality of climate change and its effects on our communities become more apparent with every passing year. What is the meaning of this extraordinary moment in human history? Portland State University instructor David Osborn leads a discussion exploring different meanings of climate change and how our understanding of meaning relates to action.
Connect in Place: Bias and Kids
Most people agree that children need healthy, loving, supportive environments to thrive. But biases can affect how we interact with the children in our lives in ways we may not even realize. By reflecting on our biases, we can be more aware of how we impact children’s perceptions of themselves and others. During our conversation, we will reflect on how our biases—conscious and unconscious—related to gender, race, class, culture, and other traits shape everything from our subtle interactions with the kids we care for to the way we make political decisions that influence children in our society.
From the Director: What It Means to Be Seen
Adam Davis on writing obituaries for family in the midst of a pandemic.
Clicking
After moving back to Portland, Marbla Reed looks for connection in online event organizing, but finds creating community without the context of preexisting relationships more challenging than anticipated.
Without a Towel
Dani Nichols writes about the lessons learned during a lifelong battle with water.
I Dream an Oregon
Trying to get Oregonians to invest in antiracism left me frustrated and disillusioned. But I’m still pushing. An essay by Bruce Poinsette
Connect in Place: What Just Happened? What Happens Next?
One week after election day, Adam Davis will facilitate an online community conversation about the results of federal, state, and local elections. This statewide conversation will focus less on the numbers than on the significance of these results for ourselves and our communities.
Connect in Place: Losing Your Faith, Finding Your Footing
Join facilitator Lynn Otto in a conversation that asks, What happens when a shared foundation crumbles? Where do we nurture connection and meaning that is not specifically religious?
Taking Up Space
Mareshah “MJ” Jackson writes about how the story of Blackness in the outdoors is more than a narrative of tragedy.
The Family You Choose
Residents of Portland’s C3PO camps share their experiences of street life, the pandemic, and building a new community. By Olivia Wolf
The Crowd Might Cover You
Recollections of finding anxiety, kindness, and community on the streets of Portland
In These Uncertain Times
During the pandemic, Oregonians have been urged to “stay home, save lives.” But for many, staying home is not an option.
Connect in Place: Music and Place
This project will dive into the role of music in shaping memories, communities, and place. Join facilitator Donovan Smith to explore music and place through an interactive discussion that will include reflections.
Virtual Think & Drink with Kali Thorne Ladd, Alex Sager, and Paul Susi: What Are Schools for?
A live conversation on the purpose of school for students, parents, teachers, and the community at large. Watch the recording of this August 2020 program here.
Safety, Justice, and Policing
A conversation with Nkenge Harmon Johnson, president and CEO of Urban League of Portland, and activist and data scientist Samuel Sinyangwe, cocreator of Police Scorecard and Mapping Police Violence.
A Community of Recovery
Shadow Silvers writes about finding stability in a sober living house.
Connect in Place: This Place Now
These are uncertain and undetermined times which call for, as Rebecca Solnit has written, “an imagination adequate to the possibilities and the strangeness and dangers on this earth in this moment.” How has where you are affected your experience of the pandemic? How have you seen yourself and your community adapt? What can you imagine recovery might look like? This virtual community conversation will connect Oregonians to reflect on our resilience, to compare notes about our experiences during this pandemic, to share and learn about the places we live, and to imagine what healing is needed for the places we share. This week’s conversations are for people living in the Central Oregon, Southern Oregon, and the Willamette Valley.
What Is a Creative Priority? with MOsley WOtta
How can we justify painting a painting when we don’t know where our food is going to come from? What is our collective and personal obligation to creativity during a significant upheaval? Join MOsley WOtta for a conversation about getting creative during the apocalypse.
The Case for Group Living
Lola Milholland writes about finding joy in the intimacy and solidarity of a crowded house.
The Struggles That Unite Us
Eric K. Ward reflects on how the idea of the urban-rural divide only serves to separate us.
Mask Makers
Photojournalist Katharine Kimball documents DIY efforts in Hood River to manufacture personal protective equipment to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
CANCELED - Conversation Project: Race and Adoption
The decision to adopt across racial or cultural lines is a lifelong commitment to exploring matters of race and identity, confronting racism in all its forms, and developing new skills and perspectives. In this conversation, facilitator Astrid Castro will ask participants to explore questions such as, What role do race and racism play in your family? What are the personal experiences that inform how you talk to adopted children in your life about where they are from? Where do you need to grow to be the best resource you can be for children who are adopted? While particularly of relevance to families directly in transracial adoptive families, this conversation will also raise questions of how we talk to children about important issues like race and identity, adoption, and cultural appropriation.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled to a later date.CANCELED - Conversation Project: Is Technology Outpacing Our Humanity?
Technology is often considered a cure-all to our modern challenges. It is, undeniably, a powerful tool in addressing our greatest endeavors. Whether it be automation, the iPhone, or gene editing, some say our technical capacities have outstripped our moral knowledge. Others believe they have provided us immense creativity in dealing with our biggest ethical questions. Are these mutually exclusive? Facilitator Manuel Padilla will lead this conversation to explore how technology shapes our moral reasoning and our perceptions of, and relationships with, one another.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.CANCELED - Conversation Project: Everyone Can Be a Leader (held in Spanish)
*This conversation will be held in Spanish. Popular understandings of leadership tell us that leaders look a certain way: they are in charge. They possess outward strength. They are extroverted and act pragmatically rather than emotionally. Perhaps most important, leaders are people in positions of authority and power. Join facilitator Pepe Moscoso for a conversation that explores an alternative view of leadership and asks, When are we leaders in our communities? How can our unique senses of self contribute to our roles as leaders? What do we have to offer that is needed? Participants will have the chance to ask these questions of themselves and to explore with their friends and neighbors what makes a great leader in their communities. The admission fee for this conversation is $5.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.CANCELED - Conversation Project: Everyone Can Be a Leader (held in Spanish)
*This conversation will be held in Spanish. Popular understandings of leadership tell us that leaders look a certain way: they are in charge. They possess outward strength. They are extroverted and act pragmatically rather than emotionally. Perhaps most important, leaders are people in positions of authority and power. Join facilitator Pepe Moscoso for a conversation that explores an alternative view of leadership and asks, When are we leaders in our communities? How can our unique senses of self contribute to our roles as leaders? What do we have to offer that is needed? Participants will have the chance to ask these questions of themselves and to explore with their friends and neighbors what makes a great leader in their communities.
This conversation has been postponed and will be rescheduled.CANCELED - Conversation Project: What Makes Oregon Hip Hop?
Hip hop is nothing if not adaptable. It is owned by everyone and no one. Its constant evolution has kept it at the forefront of both mainstream and underground cultural movements for decades. It has been adopted, co-opted, incorporated, stolen, appreciated, revered, feared, hated, and celebrated since its inception. If hip hop is everywhere, then where and how does it arise in Oregon? Join artist and educator Jason Graham to explore questions such as, Where is hip hop embraced in Oregon, where is it rejected? How is it received and perceived throughout the rural, urban, suburban communities in which we live? What effect has hip hop had on Oregon, and what impact has Oregon made on hip hop? This conversation may include some hands-on activities.
CANCELED - Conversation Project: Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation with Jennifer Burns Bright investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.From Saving to Serving to ...? : On Intervening in the Lives of Others
Many of us try to make a positive difference in the world through our work and volunteering, and we often find that this can be difficult. The language of helping reflects this difficulty. Charity sounds admirable to some and offensive to others. Service can be bland, saving can be paternalistic, and social entrepreneurship can feel corporate. Join Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis for a conversation that will explore why it’s so hard to find the right words for the good work we try to do in the world. How should we think and talk about our efforts to make positive change?
How We Grow Old: Stories of Aging in Oregon and Beyond
What are the stories that shape how we think about growing old? How do we acknowledge the unique differences among aging individuals and separate the true stories from the myths? How do we accept the wisdom of our elders’ experiences while also recognizing new ideas about what it means to age in America? No matter our age, we all hear and tell stories about growing older that reflect our own ideals and fears—and the ideals and fears of our communities. Join facilitator Melissa Madenski as we look at the power of story in a conversation that will ask you to share your own experiences and ideas about aging and listen to the perspectives of others in your community.
White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
What does it mean to be a white ally, especially in close-knit communities? And what does it mean to have the support of white allies? What is needed from white people in our communities to move the conversation about racism—both statewide and nationally—forward in a productive and respectful way? In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities. This conversation will set the table for bringing discussions about racism, white culture, and identity to your dining room, living room, and backyard BBQs. This conversation is open to and welcomes people of all racial backgrounds and identities.
Beyond Invitation: How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Organizations and communities are working to invite broader groups of people to engage in their work as employees, patrons, board members, and donors. Having a statement at the end of a job announcement to encourage communities of color, queer people, and women to apply can be a start, but how do policies, environment, and culture support this invitation? How do they fail to support it? How do you know if a space is inclusive and accessible for all, and is such a goal even possible? What do you do about the tension between people who have different needs to feel included? Join Rachel Bernstein to explore what it takes to make the shift from invitation to inclusion.
Is Technology Outpacing Our Humanity?
Technology is often considered a cure-all to our modern challenges. It is, undeniably, a powerful tool in addressing our greatest endeavors. Whether it be automation, the iPhone, or gene editing, some say our technical capacities have outstripped our moral knowledge. Others believe they have provided us immense creativity in dealing with our biggest ethical questions. Are these mutually exclusive? Facilitator Manuel Padilla will lead this conversation to explore how technology shapes our moral reasoning and our perceptions of, and relationships with, one another.
CANCELED - The Space Between Us: Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Global displacement is on the rise, thanks to intractable conflicts, economics, and climate change. Oregonians have and will continue to see the results of international migration in our neighborhoods. In this conversation, Manuel Padilla, who has worked with refugees in Haiti, Chad, and Washington, DC, asks participants to consider questions of uprootedness, hospitality, identity, perception, and integration and how we might build more informed, responsive, resilient, and vibrant communities.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.CANCELED - Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation with Jennifer Burns Bright investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.CANCELED - The Meaning of Climate Change
We live in a time of tremendous transformation as the reality of climate change and its effects on our communities become more apparent with every passing year. While there is still much that can and must be done to mitigate the range of impacts climate change might have, we are confronting the certainty of a crisis that will continue to unfold no matter what we do. What is the meaning of this extraordinary moment in human history? The meanings we construct about climate change affect how we think about it, our feelings about it and our willingness to take action. Portland State University instructor David Osborn leads a discussion exploring different meanings of climate change and how our understanding of meaning relates to action.
This event has been postponed and may be rescheduled.CANCELED - Everyone Can Be a Leader: Exploring Nontraditional Community Leadership- English
Popular understandings of leadership tell us that leaders look a certain way: they are in charge. They possess outward strength. They are extroverted and act pragmatically rather than emotionally. Perhaps most important, leaders are people in positions of authority and power. Join facilitator Pepe Moscoso for a conversation that explores an alternative view of leadership and asks, When are we leaders in our communities? How can our unique senses of self contribute to our roles as leaders? What do we have to offer that is needed? Participants will have the chance to ask these questions of themselves and to explore with their friends and neighbors what makes a great leader in their communities.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.CANCELED - How We Grow Old: Stories of Aging in Oregon and Beyond
What are the stories that shape how we think about growing old? How do we acknowledge the unique differences among aging individuals and separate the true stories from the myths? How do we accept the wisdom of our elders’ experiences while also recognizing new ideas about what it means to age in America? No matter our age, we all hear and tell stories about growing older that reflect our own ideals and fears—and the ideals and fears of our communities. Join facilitator Melissa Madenski as we look at the power of story in a conversation that will ask you to share your own experiences and ideas about aging and listen to the perspectives of others in your community.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.CANCELED - Live to Work or Work to Live?: Exploring What Makes a Job Good
Most adults spend most of their waking hours working. Yet, we rarely have the time to consider why certain work brings us satisfaction and other work does not. Do our jobs define our personal success? Are some jobs more valuable than others? How do jobs contribute to national success or failure? This conversation, led by historian Nikki Mandell, will engage participants in thinking about and discussing work more deeply. Participants will explore the quality and meanings of work in their own lives and those of people different from themselves and the connections between work as a personal endeavor and jobs as part of local and national economies. This conversation can be adapted to the needs and goals of the host organization and group of participants.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.CANCELED - Oregonians and the State’s Racist Past, Present, and Future
Oregon has a long history of racism that continues to influence the state today. While we often look at how the state’s racist history affects policies and institutions, we talk less about how it affects people’s personal understanding of racism and racist experiences. Join facilitator Tai Harden-Moore in a conversation that asks, What does Oregon’s racist past mean for Oregonians? How does the state’s history affect how bias shows up for individuals? This conversation will also look at how we can identify our own racial biases and work toward concrete ways to move forward as individuals and community.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.CANCELED - How We Grow Old: Stories of Aging in Oregon and Beyond
What are the stories that shape how we think about growing old? How do we acknowledge the unique differences among aging individuals and separate the true stories from the myths? How do we accept the wisdom of our elders’ experiences while also recognizing new ideas about what it means to age in America? No matter our age, we all hear and tell stories about growing older that reflect our own ideals and fears—and the ideals and fears of our communities. Join facilitator Melissa Madenski as we look at the power of story in a conversation that will ask you to share your own experiences and ideas about aging and listen to the perspectives of others in your community.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.Oregonians and the State’s Racist Past, Present, and Future
Oregon has a long history of racism that continues to influence the state today. While we often look at how the state’s racist history affects policies and institutions, we talk less about how it affects people’s personal understanding of racism and racist experiences. Join facilitator Tai Harden-Moore in a conversation that asks, What does Oregon’s racist past mean for Oregonians? How does the state’s history affect how bias shows up for individuals? This conversation will also look at how we can identify our own racial biases and work toward concrete ways to move forward as individuals and community.
White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
What does it mean to be a white ally, especially in close-knit communities? And what does it mean to have the support of white allies? What is needed from white people in our communities to move the conversation about racism—both statewide and nationally—forward in a productive and respectful way? In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities. This conversation will set the table for bringing discussions about racism, white culture, and identity to your dining room, living room, and backyard BBQs. This conversation is open to and welcomes people of all racial backgrounds and identities.
Is Technology Outpacing Our Humanity?
Technology is often considered a cure-all to our modern challenges. It is, undeniably, a powerful tool in addressing our greatest endeavors. Whether it be automation, the iPhone, or gene editing, some say our technical capacities have outstripped our moral knowledge. Others believe they have provided us immense creativity in dealing with our biggest ethical questions. Are these mutually exclusive? Facilitator Manuel Padilla will lead this conversation to explore how technology shapes our moral reasoning and our perceptions of, and relationships with, one another.
Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation with Jennifer Burns Bright investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life.
The Space Between Us: Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Global displacement is on the rise, thanks to intractable conflicts, economics, and climate change. Oregonians have and will continue to see the results of international migration in our neighborhoods. In this conversation, Manuel Padilla, who has worked with refugees in Haiti, Chad, and Washington, DC, asks participants to consider questions of uprootedness, hospitality, identity, perception, and integration and how we might build more informed, responsive, resilient, and vibrant communities. Admission Fee: $5 donation suggested
Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation with Jennifer Burns Bright investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life.
CANCELED - How We Grow Old: Stories of Aging in Oregon and Beyond
What are the stories that shape how we think about growing old? How do we acknowledge the unique differences among aging individuals and separate the true stories from the myths? How do we accept the wisdom of our elders’ experiences while also recognizing new ideas about what it means to age in America? No matter our age, we all hear and tell stories about growing older that reflect our own ideals and fears—and the ideals and fears of our communities. Join facilitator Melissa Madenski as we look at the power of story in a conversation that will ask you to share your own experiences and ideas about aging and listen to the perspectives of others in your community.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.Conversation Project: White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
What does it mean to be a white ally, especially in close-knit communities? And what does it mean to have the support of white allies? What is needed from white people in our communities to move the conversation about racism—both statewide and nationally—forward in a productive and respectful way? In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities. This conversation will set the table for bringing discussions about racism, white culture, and identity to your dining room, living room, and backyard BBQs. This conversation is open to and welcomes people of all racial backgrounds and identities.
Conversation Project: Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation with Jennifer Burns Bright investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life. This event will take place in the Community Meeting Room.
Conversation Project: Oregonians and the State’s Racist Past, Present, and Future
Oregon has a long history of racism that continues to influence the state today. While we often look at how the state’s racist history affects policies and institutions, we talk less about how it affects people’s personal understanding of racism and racist experiences. Join facilitator Tai Harden-Moore in a conversation that asks, What does Oregon’s racist past mean for Oregonians? How does the state’s history affect how bias shows up for individuals? This conversation will also look at how we can identify our own racial biases and work toward concrete ways to move forward as individuals and community. This event will take place in the Austin Room.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
Death is a universal event that transcends many of the differences between us, but it's not something that we have regular opportunities to think and talk about. Oregon Humanities developed the Talking about Dying program to create more public opportunities to reflect on the stories and influences that shape our thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members. Talking about Dying community conversations are free, ninety-minute facilitated discussions geared toward public audiences (ages 15+). During the program, participants talk together about questions such as: What do we want—and not want—at the end of our life? How might our family, culture, religion, and beliefs shape how we think about death? How do access to care, geography, and desires to be remembered affect our decisions about the end of our life? This event will take place in the Large Meeting Room and will be facilitated by Fred Grewe.
Conversation Project: Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation with Jennifer Burns Bright investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life. This event will take place in the Community Room.
Conversation Project: Where Are You From?
This conversation aims to bring people together to discuss the diverse experiences of belonging in Oregon. Challenging stereotypical visions of what it means to be an “Oregonian,” participants are asked to consider how being an Oregonian or part of the community looks different for all of us. Centered around participants’ unique identities, we will look inward and share how our race, gender and other identity markers shape our relationships to our community and the world around us. We will touch on Oregon’s founding racial exclusion laws, immigration trends and share how we can foster inclusion in our own lives.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Many Oregonians have a vision of a future that includes communities built on values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. At the same time, we live in a society that marginalizes and excludes people of color. Facilitators Traci Price and Anita Yap will lead participants in a conversation that looks at how Oregon’s history of racism influences our present and asks, How can understanding Oregon’s historic and current impacts of racism contribute to our sense of place and vision of the future? How can diversity and inclusion create thriving communities?
Conversation Project: White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
What does it mean to be a white ally, especially in close-knit communities? And what does it mean to have the support of white allies? What is needed from white people in our communities to move the conversation about racism—both statewide and nationally—forward in a productive and respectful way? In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities. This conversation will set the table for bringing discussions about racism, white culture, and identity to your dining room, living room, and backyard BBQs. This conversation is open to and welcomes people of all racial backgrounds and identities.
The State That Timber Built—2012
Tara Rae Miner considers what Oregon owes to the struggling timber communities that helped shape the state’s identity in this essay from the 2012 “Here” issue.
Conversation Project: Just a Number
Aging is a life-long experience that is both universal and different for everyone. While most of us agree that people of different generations have wisdom to offer those who are ahead of or behind them in life’s journey, barriers to connection often persist between generations. Many of these barriers are rooted in our ideas about age and aging. Where do these ideas come from, and how do they impede or encourage relationships across generational differences? Independent scholars Jenny Sasser and Simeon Dreyfuss lead an open discussion about how we experience aging in community. How do we acknowledge both the universality of aging and the differences we experience? How do we create meaningful connections with others of different ages and life stages?
Conversation Project: Oregonians and the State’s Racist Past, Present, and Future
Oregon has a long history of racism that continues to influence the state today. While we often look at how the state’s racist history affects policies and institutions, we talk less about how it affects people’s personal understanding of racism and racist experiences. Join facilitator Tai Harden-Moore in a conversation that asks, What does Oregon’s racist past mean for Oregonians? How does the state’s history affect how bias shows up for individuals? This conversation will also look at how we can identify our own racial biases and work toward concrete ways to move forward as individuals and community.
Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation with Jennifer Burns Bright investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life.
Canceled: Conversation Project: Everyone Can Be a Leader
Popular understandings of leadership tell us that leaders look a certain way: they are in charge. They possess outward strength. They are extroverted and act pragmatically rather than emotionally. Perhaps most important, leaders are people in positions of authority and power. Join facilitator Pepe Moscoso for a conversation that explores an alternative view of leadership and asks, When are we leaders in our communities? How can our unique senses of self contribute to our roles as leaders? What do we have to offer that is needed? Participants will have the chance to ask these questions of themselves and to explore with their friends and neighbors what makes a great leader in their communities.
Conversation Project: White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
What does it mean to be a white ally, especially in close-knit communities? And what does it mean to have the support of white allies? What is needed from white people in our communities to move the conversation about racism—both statewide and nationally—forward in a productive and respectful way? In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities. This conversation will set the table for bringing discussions about racism, white culture, and identity to your dining room, living room, and backyard BBQs. This conversation is open to and welcomes people of all racial backgrounds and identities. This event will take place in the auditorium.
CANCELED - Conversation Project: What Are You?
The number of mixed-race people and interracial families in Oregon is growing. What are the challenges and benefits of growing up mixed-race, raising mixed-race children, or being an interracial couple in a state that’s historically been mostly white? How can we openly discuss our own ethnic and racial heritage with each other without being regarded as odd or unusual? How have the answers to “What are you?” changed through the decades? Dmae Roberts, who has written essays and produced film and radio documentaries about being a biracial Asian American in Oregon, leads a discussion of heritage that goes beyond checking one race on US Census forms. This conversation will take place at the PCC Rock Creek Event Center, Section A.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.CANCELED - Conversation Project: Where Are You From?
This conversation aims to bring people together to discuss the diverse experiences of belonging in Oregon. Challenging stereotypical visions of what it means to be an “Oregonian,” participants are asked to consider how being an Oregonian or part of the community looks different for all of us. Centered around participant’s unique identities, we will look inward and share how our race, gender and other identity markers shape our relationships to our community and the world around us. We will touch on Oregon’s founding racial exclusion laws, immigration trends and share how we can foster inclusion in our own lives. This event will take place at the Multnomah Arts Center in room 30.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.CANCELED - Conversation Project: How We Grow Old
What are the stories that shape how we think about growing old? How do we acknowledge the unique differences among aging individuals and separate the true stories from the myths? How do we accept the wisdom of our elders’ experiences while also recognizing new ideas about what it means to age in America? No matter our age, we all hear and tell stories about growing older that reflect our own ideals and fears—and the ideals and fears of our communities. Join facilitator Melissa Madenski as we look at the power of story in a conversation that will ask you to share your own experiences and ideas about aging and listen to the perspectives of others in your community. The admission fee for this event is $5, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. This event will take place in the grange hall.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.Conversation Project: Why DIY?
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation with Jennifer Burns Bright investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life. This event will take place in Meeting Room A.
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
Organizations and communities are working to invite broader groups of people to engage in their work as employees, patrons, board members, and donors. Having a statement at the end of a job announcement to encourage communities of color, queer people, and women to apply can be a start, but how do policies, environment, and culture support this invitation? How do they fail to support it? How do you know if a space is inclusive and accessible for all, and is such a goal even possible? What do you do about the tension between people who have different needs to feel included? Join Rachel Bernstein to explore what it takes to make the shift from invitation to inclusion. This event will take place at the Multnomah Arts Center in room 30.
Conversation Project: White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
What does it mean to be a white ally, especially in close-knit communities? And what does it mean to have the support of white allies? What is needed from white people in our communities to move the conversation about racism—both statewide and nationally—forward in a productive and respectful way? In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities. This conversation will set the table for bringing discussions about racism, white culture, and identity to your dining room, living room, and backyard BBQs. This conversation is open to and welcomes people of all racial backgrounds and identities. The event will begin at 5:00 p.m., and the conversation will begin at 5:45 p.m.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
Death is a universal event that transcends many of the differences between us, but it's not something that we have regular opportunities to think and talk about. Oregon Humanities developed the Talking about Dying program to create more public opportunities to reflect on the stories and influences that shape our thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members. Talking about Dying community conversations are free, ninety-minute facilitated discussions geared toward public audiences (ages 15+). During the program, participants talk together about questions such as: What do we want—and not want—at the end of our life? How might our family, culture, religion, and beliefs shape how we think about death? How do access to care, geography, and desires to be remembered affect our decisions about the end of our life?
Conversation Project: Oregonians and the State’s Racist Past, Present, and Future
Oregon has a long history of racism that continues to influence the state today. While we often look at how the state’s racist history affects policies and institutions, we talk less about how it affects people’s personal understanding of racism and racist experiences. Join facilitator Tai Harden-Moore in a conversation that asks, What does Oregon’s racist past mean for Oregonians? How does the state’s history affect how bias shows up for individuals? This conversation will also look at how we can identify our own racial biases and work toward concrete ways to move forward as individuals and community. This conversation will take place in the auditorium.
Conversation Project: The Meaning of Climate Change
We live in a time of tremendous transformation as the reality of climate change and its effects on our communities become more apparent with every passing year. While there is still much that can and must be done to mitigate the range of impacts climate change might have, we are confronting the certainty of a crisis that will continue to unfold no matter what we do. What is the meaning of this extraordinary moment in human history? The meanings we construct about climate change affect how we think about it, our feelings about it and our willingness to take action. Portland State University instructor David Osborn leads a discussion exploring different meanings of climate change and how our understanding of meaning relates to action. This event will take place in the Grange Hall. The admission fee is $5.
Conversation Project: What Are You?
The number of mixed-race people and interracial families in Oregon is growing. What are the challenges and benefits of growing up mixed-race, raising mixed-race children, or being an interracial couple in a state that’s historically been mostly white? How can we openly discuss our own ethnic and racial heritage with each other without being regarded as odd or unusual? How have the answers to “What are you?” changed through the decades? Dmae Roberts, who has written essays and produced film and radio documentaries about being a biracial Asian American in Oregon, leads a discussion of heritage that goes beyond checking one race on US Census forms. This event will take place in the Education Room.
Conversation Project: The Hate We Live In
We live and work among systems that were built on racism. Even people who believe in and work for racial equity are immersed in a culture that silently supports structural oppression, especially anti-Black racism. What does it mean for us as individuals to live and breathe these values from the time we are born? How do we start to see and address our own personal biases? Join facilitator Tyler White for a conversation that will help participants recognize oppression of all kinds and provide tools to combat hate by calling out the injustices present in everyday life. This event will take place at the Riverside Campus in HEC129.
Conversation Project: Why DIY?
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation with Jennifer Burns Bright investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life.
Conversation Project: Why DIY?
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation with Jennifer Burns Bright investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life. This event will take place in the Sprague Room.
Conversation Project: White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
What does it mean to be a white ally, especially in close-knit communities? And what does it mean to have the support of white allies? What is needed from white people in our communities to move the conversation about racism—both statewide and nationally—forward in a productive and respectful way? In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities. This conversation will set the table for bringing discussions about racism, white culture, and identity to your dining room, living room, and backyard BBQs. This conversation is open to and welcomes people of all racial backgrounds and identities. This event will take place in the Lee Conference Room.
Conversation Project: The Hate We Live In
We live and work among systems that were built on racism. Even people who believe in and work for racial equity are immersed in a culture that silently supports structural oppression, especially anti-Black racism. What does it mean for us as individuals to live and breathe these values from the time we are born? How do we start to see and address our own personal biases? Join facilitator Tyler White for a conversation that will help participants recognize oppression of all kinds and provide tools to combat hate by calling out the injustices present in everyday life. This event will take place at the Redwood Campus Student Center.
The Summer Games
Jennie Hartsock shares her search for community in Corvallis and how a game helped her find her friends.
Conversation Project: Why DIY?
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation with Jennifer Burns Bright investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life. This event will take place in the Flora Room.
Conversation Project: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Studies show that neighbors interact much less than in previous decades. This has been theorized as a kind of side effect of modern life and the result of technology, limits on attention, and in some instances, differences in cultural concepts of what it means to be neighborly. Join facilitator Jen Mitas in this conversation that asks, How do you interact with your neighbors? How do you feel about those relationships? How might you improve or change these relationships in order to make a positive impact on the places you live? This conversation is a chance to reflect on one’s own role in the social networks that make up the places we live, and to complicate clichés about neighborliness that may be unconsciously rooted in the mid-twentieth century ideal of the American suburb. This event will take place in the Community Room, on the main floor of the library. RSVPs requested, email Terrie at: terriev1211@gmail.com
Conversation Project: Live to Work or Work to Live?
Most adults spend most of their waking hours working. Yet, we rarely have the time to consider why certain work brings us satisfaction and other work does not. Do our jobs define our personal success? Are some jobs more valuable than others? How do jobs contribute to national success or failure? This conversation, led by historian Nikki Mandell, will engage participants in thinking about and discussing work more deeply. Participants will explore the quality and meanings of work in their own lives and those of people different from themselves and the connections between work as a personal endeavor and jobs as part of local and national economies. This conversation can be adapted to the needs and goals of the host organization and group of participants.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Many Oregonians have a vision of a future that includes communities built on values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. At the same time, we live in a society that marginalizes and excludes people of color. Facilitators Traci Price and Anita Yap will lead participants in a conversation that looks at how Oregon’s history of racism influences our present and asks, How can understanding Oregon’s historic and current impacts of racism contribute to our sense of place and vision of the future? How can diversity and inclusion create thriving communities?
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
Organizations and communities are working to invite broader groups of people to engage in their work as employees, patrons, board members, and donors. Having a statement at the end of a job announcement to encourage communities of color, queer people, and women to apply can be a start, but how do policies, environment, and culture support this invitation? How do they fail to support it? How do you know if a space is inclusive and accessible for all, and is such a goal even possible? What do you do about the tension between people who have different needs to feel included? Join Rachel Bernstein to explore what it takes to make the shift from invitation to inclusion.
Conversation Project: What Makes Oregon Hip Hop?
Hip hop is nothing if not adaptable. It is owned by everyone and no one. Its constant evolution has kept it at the forefront of both mainstream and underground cultural movements for decades. It has been adopted, co-opted, incorporated, stolen, appreciated, revered, feared, hated, and celebrated since its inception. If hip hop is everywhere, then where and how does it arise in Oregon? Join artist and educator Jason Graham to explore questions such as, Where is hip hop embraced in Oregon, where is it rejected? How is it received and perceived throughout the rural, urban, suburban communities in which we live? What effect has hip hop had on Oregon, and what impact has Oregon made on hip hop? This conversation may include some hands-on activities.
Conversation Project: How We Grow Old
What are the stories that shape how we think about growing old? How do we acknowledge the unique differences among aging individuals and separate the true stories from the myths? How do we accept the wisdom of our elders’ experiences while also recognizing new ideas about what it means to age in America? No matter our age, we all hear and tell stories about growing older that reflect our own ideals and fears—and the ideals and fears of our communities. Join facilitator Melissa Madenski as we look at the power of story in a conversation that will ask you to share your own experiences and ideas about aging and listen to the perspectives of others in your community.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Global displacement is on the rise, thanks to intractable conflicts, economics, and climate change. Oregonians have and will continue to see the results of international migration in our neighborhoods. In this conversation, Manuel Padilla, who has worked with refugees in Haiti, Chad, and Washington, DC, asks participants to consider questions of uprootedness, hospitality, identity, perception, and integration and how we might build more informed, responsive, resilient, and vibrant communities.
Across the Divide
Andie Madsen interviews three Oregonians who grew up in rural areas and moved to Portland about their relationships to their rural identities.
Cover Songs of Myself
Jason Arias on "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and the different versions of ourselves.
Conversation Project: White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
What does it mean to be a white ally, especially in close-knit, rural communities? And what does it mean to have the support of white allies? What is needed from white people in our communities to move the conversation about racism—both statewide and nationally—forward in a productive and respectful way? In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities. This conversation will set the table for bringing discussions about racism, white culture, and identity to your dining room, living room, and backyard BBQs.
Conversation Project: Where Are Queer People Welcome?
A majority of Americans now accept gay and lesbian relationships, but the queer population is made up of a diversity of communities and experiences. Are all queer people accepted, tolerated, and embraced everywhere? Where are we made to feel welcome? Where do we feel unwelcome and unsafe? How do race, language, gender identity, family structure, faith, where we work, and where we live shape how we are seen, welcomed, and accepted? Join facilitator Jill Winsor in a discussion that explores how the complexity of the queer community intersects with the spaces and communities that surround us.
Conversation Project: Why DIY?
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life.
Conversation Project: Race and Adoption
The decision to adopt across racial or cultural lines is a lifelong commitment to exploring matters of race and identity, confronting racism in all its forms, and developing new skills and perspectives. In this conversation, facilitator Astrid Castro will ask participants to explore questions such as, What role do race and racism play in your family? What are the personal experiences that inform how you talk to adopted children in your life about where they are from? Where do you need to grow to be the best resource you can be for children who are adopted? While particularly of relevance to families directly in transracial adoptive families, this conversation will also raise questions of how we talk to children about important issues like race and identity, adoption, and cultural appropriation.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Global displacement is on the rise, thanks to intractable conflicts, economics, and climate change. Oregonians have and will continue to see the results of international migration in our neighborhoods. In this conversation, Manuel Padilla, who has worked with refugees in Haiti, Chad, and Washington, DC, asks participants to consider questions of uprootedness, hospitality, identity, perception, and integration and how we might build more informed, responsive, resilient, and vibrant communities. A $5 donation is suggested. No person will be turned away for lack of funds.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
Death is a universal event that transcends many of the differences between us, but it's not something that we have regular opportunities to think and talk about. Oregon Humanities developed the Talking about Dying program to create more public opportunities to reflect on the stories and influences that shape our thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members. Talking about Dying community conversations are free, ninety-minute facilitated discussions geared toward public audiences (ages 15+). During the program, participants talk together about questions such as: What do we want—and not want—at the end of our life? How might our family, culture, religion, and beliefs shape how we think about death? How do access to care, geography, and desires to be remembered affect our decisions about the end of our life?
Conversation Project: How We Grow Old
What are the stories that shape how we think about growing old? How do we acknowledge the unique differences among aging individuals and separate the true stories from the myths? How do we accept the wisdom of our elders’ experiences while also recognizing new ideas about what it means to age in America? No matter our age, we all hear and tell stories about growing older that reflect our own ideals and fears—and the ideals and fears of our communities. Join facilitator Melissa Madenski as we look at the power of story in a conversation that will ask you to share your own experiences and ideas about aging and listen to the perspectives of others in your community.
Conversation Project: Oregonians and the State’s Racist Past, Present, and Future
Oregon has a long history of racism that continues to influence the state today. While we often look at how the state’s racist history affects policies and institutions, we talk less about how it affects people’s personal understanding of racism and racist experiences. Join facilitator Tai Harden-Moore in a conversation that asks, What does Oregon’s racist past mean for Oregonians? How does the state’s history affect how bias shows up for individuals? This conversation will also look at how we can identify our own racial biases and work toward concrete ways to move forward as individuals and community.
Conversation Project: Is Technology Outpacing Our Humanity?
Technology is often considered a cure-all to our modern challenges. It is, undeniably, a powerful tool in addressing our greatest endeavors. Whether it be automation, the iPhone, or gene editing, some say our technical capacities have outstripped our moral knowledge. Others believe they have provided us immense creativity in dealing with our biggest ethical questions. Are these mutually exclusive? Facilitator Manuel Padilla will lead this conversation to explore how technology shapes our moral reasoning and our perceptions of, and relationships with, one another.
Conversation Project: Is Technology Outpacing Our Humanity?
Technology is often considered a cure-all to our modern challenges. It is, undeniably, a powerful tool in addressing our greatest endeavors. Whether it be automation, the iPhone, or gene editing, some say our technical capacities have outstripped our moral knowledge. Others believe they have provided us immense creativity in dealing with our biggest ethical questions. Are these mutually exclusive? Facilitator Manuel Padilla will lead this conversation to explore how technology shapes our moral reasoning and our perceptions of, and relationships with, one another.
Conversation Project: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Studies show that neighbors interact much less than in previous decades. This has been theorized as a kind of side effect of modern life and the result of technology, limits on attention, and in some instances, differences in cultural concepts of what it means to be neighborly. Join facilitator Jen Mitas in this conversation that asks, How do you interact with your neighbors? How do you feel about those relationships? How might you improve or change these relationships in order to make a positive impact on the places you live? This conversation is a chance to reflect on one’s own role in the social networks that make up the places we live, and to complicate clichés about neighborliness that may be unconsciously rooted in the mid-twentieth century ideal of the American suburb. To RSVP, please email: piera@albertagrocery.coop.
Conversation Project: Everyone Can Be a Leader
Popular understandings of leadership tell us that leaders look a certain way: they are in charge. They possess outward strength. They are extroverted and act pragmatically rather than emotionally. Perhaps most important, leaders are people in positions of authority and power. Join facilitator Pepe Moscoso for a conversation that explores an alternative view of leadership and asks, When are we leaders in our communities? How can our unique senses of self contribute to our roles as leaders? What do we have to offer that is needed? Participants will have the chance to ask these questions of themselves and to explore with their friends and neighbors what makes a great leader in their communities.
Conversation Project: Where Are Queer People Welcome?
A majority of Americans now accept gay and lesbian relationships, but the queer population is made up of a diversity of communities and experiences. Are all queer people accepted, tolerated, and embraced everywhere? Where are we made to feel welcome? Where do we feel unwelcome and unsafe? How do race, language, gender identity, family structure, faith, where we work, and where we live shape how we are seen, welcomed, and accepted? Join facilitator Jill Winsor in a discussion that explores how the complexity of the queer community intersects with the spaces and communities that surround us.
Conversation Project: Is Technology Outpacing Our Humanity?
Technology is often considered a cure-all to our modern challenges. It is, undeniably, a powerful tool in addressing our greatest endeavors. Whether it be automation, the iPhone, or gene editing, some say our technical capacities have outstripped our moral knowledge. Others believe they have provided us immense creativity in dealing with our biggest ethical questions. Are these mutually exclusive? Facilitator Manuel Padilla will lead this conversation to explore how technology shapes our moral reasoning and our perceptions of, and relationships with, one another. This event will take place in the board room at Portland Public Schools' main office.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Global displacement is on the rise, thanks to intractable conflicts, economics, and climate change. Oregonians have and will continue to see the results of international migration in our neighborhoods. In this conversation, Manuel Padilla, who has worked with refugees in Haiti, Chad, and Washington, DC, asks participants to consider questions of uprootedness, hospitality, identity, perception, and integration and how we might build more informed, responsive, resilient, and vibrant communities.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Global displacement is on the rise, thanks to intractable conflicts, economics, and climate change. Oregonians have and will continue to see the results of international migration in our neighborhoods. In this conversation, Manuel Padilla, who has worked with refugees in Haiti, Chad, and Washington, DC, asks participants to consider questions of uprootedness, hospitality, identity, perception, and integration and how we might build more informed, responsive, resilient, and vibrant communities.
Conversation Project: Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Global displacement is on the rise, thanks to intractable conflicts, economics, and climate change. Oregonians have and will continue to see the results of international migration in our neighborhoods. In this conversation, Manuel Padilla, who has worked with refugees in Haiti, Chad, and Washington, DC, asks participants to consider questions of uprootedness, hospitality, identity, perception, and integration and how we might build more informed, responsive, resilient, and vibrant communities.
Conversation Project: Race and Adoption
The decision to adopt across racial or cultural lines is a lifelong commitment to exploring matters of race and identity, confronting racism in all its forms, and developing new skills and perspectives. In this conversation, facilitator Astrid Castro will ask participants to explore questions such as, What role do race and racism play in your family? What are the personal experiences that inform how you talk to adopted children in your life about where they are from? Where do you need to grow to be the best resource you can be for children who are adopted? While particularly of relevance to families directly in transracial adoptive families, this conversation will also raise questions of how we talk to children about important issues like race and identity, adoption, and cultural appropriation. This event will take place in the Community Room.
Conversation Project: Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life.
Conversation Project: White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
What does it mean to be a white ally, especially in close-knit, rural communities? And what does it mean to have the support of white allies? What is needed from white people in our communities to move the conversation about racism—both statewide and nationally—forward in a productive and respectful way? In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities. This conversation will set the table for bringing discussions about racism, white culture, and identity to your dining room, living room, and backyard BBQs.
Conversation Project: Sharing Our Lives with Animals
Whether we find ourselves on farms or ranches, in cities, or in other places between, our lives are entangled with the lives of other species. Our experiences with domestic animals—in particular those considered pets or livestock—affect the ways we understand relationships with them, who we value and depend upon in wildly different ways. As scientific research and broader cultural shifts challenge common notions about the intelligence and emotional lives of other beings, we face complex quandaries of how to respectfully recognize and care for the needs of domestic companions. For this conversation, artist and educator Karin Bolender Hart invites us to share our own animal stories, consider how our personal experiences and beliefs about the lives of animals shape the stories we tell, and reflect on how these stories in turn affect our choices as caretakers, farmers, consumers, and companions.
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
Organizations and communities are working to invite broader groups of people to engage in their work as employees, patrons, board members, and donors. Having a statement at the end of a job announcement to encourage communities of color, queer people, and women to apply can be a start, but how do policies, environment, and culture support this invitation? How do they fail to support it? How do you know if a space is inclusive and accessible for all, and is such a goal even possible? What do you do about the tension between people who have different needs to feel included? Join Rachel Bernstein to explore what it takes to make the shift from invitation to inclusion. This event will take place in Columbia Room 102.
Conversation Project: Where Are Queer People Welcome?
A majority of Americans now accept gay and lesbian relationships, but the queer population is made up of a diversity of communities and experiences. Are all queer people accepted, tolerated, and embraced everywhere? Where are we made to feel welcome? Where do we feel unwelcome and unsafe? How do race, language, gender identity, family structure, faith, where we work, and where we live shape how we are seen, welcomed, and accepted? Join facilitator Jill Winsor in a discussion that explores how the complexity of the queer community intersects with the spaces and communities that surround us. This event will take place in the Keeston Room.
Conversation Project: The Meaning of Climate Change
We live in a time of tremendous transformation as the reality of climate change and its effects on our communities become more apparent with every passing year. While there is still much that can and must be done to mitigate the range of impacts climate change might have, we are confronting the certainty of a crisis that will continue to unfold no matter what we do. What is the meaning of this extraordinary moment in human history? The meanings we construct about climate change affect how we think about it, our feelings about it and our willingness to take action. Portland State University instructor David Osborn leads a discussion exploring different meanings of climate change and how our understanding of meaning relates to action. Admission Fee: $5
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
Organizations and communities are working to invite broader groups of people to engage in their work as employees, patrons, board members, and donors. Having a statement at the end of a job announcement to encourage communities of color, queer people, and women to apply can be a start, but how do policies, environment, and culture support this invitation? How do they fail to support it? How do you know if a space is inclusive and accessible for all, and is such a goal even possible? What do you do about the tension between people who have different needs to feel included? Join Rachel Bernstein to explore what it takes to make the shift from invitation to inclusion.
Conversation Project: The Hate We Live In
We live and work among systems that were built on racism. Even people who believe in and work for racial equity are immersed in a culture that silently supports structural oppression, especially anti-Black racism. What does it mean for us as individuals to live and breathe these values from the time we are born? How do we start to see and address our own personal biases? Join facilitator Tyler White for a conversation that will help participants recognize oppression of all kinds and provide tools to combat hate by calling out the injustices present in everyday life.
Conversation Project: The Meaning of Climate Change
We live in a time of tremendous transformation as the reality of climate change and its effects on our communities become more apparent with every passing year. While there is still much that can and must be done to mitigate the range of impacts climate change might have, we are confronting the certainty of a crisis that will continue to unfold no matter what we do. What is the meaning of this extraordinary moment in human history? The meanings we construct about climate change affect how we think about it, our feelings about it and our willingness to take action. Portland State University instructor David Osborn leads a discussion exploring different meanings of climate change and how our understanding of meaning relates to action.
Conversation Project: Everyone Can Be a Leader
Popular understandings of leadership tell us that leaders look a certain way: they are in charge. They possess outward strength. They are extroverted and act pragmatically rather than emotionally. Perhaps most important, leaders are people in positions of authority and power. Join facilitator Pepe Moscoso for a conversation that explores an alternative view of leadership and asks, When are we leaders in our communities? How can our unique senses of self contribute to our roles as leaders? What do we have to offer that is needed? Participants will have the chance to ask these questions of themselves and to explore with their friends and neighbors what makes a great leader in their communities.
Conversation Project: The Meaning of Climate Change
We live in a time of tremendous transformation as the reality of climate change and its effects on our communities become more apparent with every passing year. While there is still much that can and must be done to mitigate the range of impacts climate change might have, we are confronting the certainty of a crisis that will continue to unfold no matter what we do. What is the meaning of this extraordinary moment in human history? The meanings we construct about climate change affect how we think about it, our feelings about it and our willingness to take action. Portland State University instructor David Osborn leads a discussion exploring different meanings of climate change and how our understanding of meaning relates to action.
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
Organizations and communities are working to invite broader groups of people to engage in their work as employees, patrons, board members, and donors. Having a statement at the end of a job announcement to encourage communities of color, queer people, and women to apply can be a start, but how do policies, environment, and culture support this invitation? How do they fail to support it? How do you know if a space is inclusive and accessible for all, and is such a goal even possible? What do you do about the tension between people who have different needs to feel included? Join Rachel Bernstein to explore what it takes to make the shift from invitation to inclusion.
Conversation Project: Listening to Young People
What does it look like when adults really listen to young people? Cultural beliefs about young people perpetuate myths that cause harm, especially when combined with laws that control their physical and emotional autonomy and limit their ability to participate in public life. Young people experiencing marginalization for any reason—race, gender, sexuality, ability—also have the added layer of not being taken seriously because of their age. And yet the history of social justice movements in the United States is deeply connected to young people’s agency, autonomy, and power. Join facilitator Emily Squires for a conversation that asks folks to explore their own beliefs about what it means to be young and to reflect on their individual relationship to power as it relates to age.
Conversation Project: Race and Adoption
The decision to adopt across racial or cultural lines is a lifelong commitment to exploring matters of race and identity, confronting racism in all its forms, and developing new skills and perspectives. In this conversation, facilitator Astrid Castro will ask participants to explore questions such as, What role do race and racism play in your family? What are the personal experiences that inform how you talk to adopted children in your life about where they are from? Where do you need to grow to be the best resource you can be for children who are adopted? While particularly of relevance to families directly in transracial adoptive families, this conversation will also raise questions of how we talk to children about important issues like race and identity, adoption, and cultural appropriation.
Airlie Poetry Night
Airlie Press, a nonprofit publisher, is hosting a free, public, open poetry event at Devil's Den Wine Bar in the Alberta Arts District as part of the Association of Writers and Publishers (AWP) conference. This event is family-friendly, all-ages, and open to anyone interested in reading their work. The event will also featured notable local writers.
Conversation Project: White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
What does it mean to be a white ally, especially in close-knit, rural communities? And what does it mean to have the support of white allies? What is needed from white people in our communities to move the conversation about racism—both statewide and nationally—forward in a productive and respectful way? In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities. This conversation will set the table for bringing discussions about racism, white culture, and identity to your dining room, living room, and backyard BBQs.
Conversation Project: Sharing Our Lives with Animals
Whether we find ourselves on farms or ranches, in cities, or in other places between, our lives are entangled with the lives of other species. Our experiences with domestic animals—in particular those considered pets or livestock—affect the ways we understand relationships with them, who we value and depend upon in wildly different ways. As scientific research and broader cultural shifts challenge common notions about the intelligence and emotional lives of other beings, we face complex quandaries of how to respectfully recognize and care for the needs of domestic companions. For this conversation, artist and educator Karin Bolender Hart invites us to share our own animal stories, consider how our personal experiences and beliefs about the lives of animals shape the stories we tell, and reflect on how these stories in turn affect our choices as caretakers, farmers, consumers, and companions.
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
Organizations and communities are working to invite broader groups of people to engage in their work as employees, patrons, board members, and donors. Having a statement at the end of a job announcement to encourage communities of color, queer people, and women to apply can be a start, but how do policies, environment, and culture support this invitation? How do they fail to support it? How do you know if a space is inclusive and accessible for all, and is such a goal even possible? What do you do about the tension between people who have different needs to feel included? Join Rachel Bernstein to explore what it takes to make the shift from invitation to inclusion. RSVP: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSctPXs1pMbZlDuVK5qCaZfYOX1cb2GG9oqXQ3Oe_WWi7wGxhA/viewform
Conversation Project: Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life.
Conversation Project: What Are You? Mixed-Race and Interracial Families in Oregon’s Past and Future
The number of mixed-race people and interracial families in Oregon is growing. What are the challenges and benefits of growing up mixed-race, raising mixed-race children, or being an interracial couple in a state that’s historically been mostly white? How can we openly discuss our own ethnic and racial heritage with each other without being regarded as odd or unusual? How have the answers to “What are you?” changed through the decades? Dmae Roberts, who has written essays and produced film and radio documentaries about being a biracial Asian American in Oregon, leads a discussion of heritage that goes beyond checking one race on US Census forms.
Conversation Project: Showing Up
Being part of a community is an essential need for all of us. It is a place where we find others who share common ground, where our values and identities are reflected. Community is also a place where we are supported and thrive. Join facilitator Chi Mei Tam in this conversation to explore what it means to be part of a community. What does it looks like when community shows up for you and vice versa? How does it work? To what extent are shared values and identities in our community enough or not enough to help us thrive?
Conversation Project: Exploring Power and Privilege with Courage, Creativity, and Compassion
As individuals and groups, we experience different levels of privilege and power. Recognizing our relationship to oppression can bring feelings of guilt, shame, and grief. How can we hold space for these feelings while also creating conditions for new insights to emerge to deepen our understanding of each other and ourselves? Join facilitator Ridhi D’Cruz for a conversation that explores how we face and transform oppression in our everyday lives. This conversation will include some hands-on activities.
Conversation Project: Exploring Power and Privilege with Courage, Creativity, and Compassion
Join facilitator Ridhi D’Cruz for a conversation that explores how we face and transform oppression in our everyday lives.
Conversation Project: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
How Relationships Affect the Places We Live
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Global displacement is on the rise, thanks to intractable conflicts, economics, and climate change. Oregonians have and will continue to see the results of international migration in our neighborhoods. In this conversation, Manuel Padilla, who has worked with refugees in Haiti, Chad, and Washington, DC, asks participants to consider questions of uprootedness, hospitality, identity, perception, and integration and how we might build more informed, responsive, resilient, and vibrant communities.
Conversation Project: White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities.
Conversation Project: Race and Adoption
In this conversation, facilitator Astrid Castro will ask participants to explore questions such as, What role do race and racism play in your family?
Conversation Project: In Good Faith
Exploring Religious Difference in Oregon
Returned
Caitlyn May covers the complicated story behind the closure of Douglas County's libraries and their difficult paths to reopening sustainably.
Conversation Project: Everyone Can Be a Leader
Exploring Nontraditional Community Leadership
Conversation Project: How We Grow Old
Stories of Aging in Oregon and Beyond
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Why DIY?
Self-sufficiency and American Life
Conversation Project: The Meaning of Climate Change
Portland State University instructor David Osborn leads a discussion exploring different meanings of climate change and how our understanding of meaning relates to action.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: The Hate We Live In
Join facilitator Tyler White for a conversation that will help participants recognize oppression of all kinds and provide tools to combat hate by calling out the injustices present in everyday life.
More than Words
Emilly Prado explores the stories of three families in the small rural border town of Nyssa, Oregon, and how immigration policy changes have affected their lives.
Conversation Project: How We Grow Old
Stories of Aging in Oregon and Beyond
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Race and Adoption
In this conversation, facilitator Astrid Castro will ask participants to explore questions such as, What role do race and racism play in your family? What are the personal experiences that inform how you talk to adopted children in your life about where they are from? Where do you need to grow to be the best resource you can be for children who are adopted?
Conversation Project: Why DIY?
Self-sufficiency and American Life
Conversation Project: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
How Relationships Affect the Places We Live
CANCELED: Conversation Project: How We Grow Old
Stories of Aging in Oregon and Beyond
CANCELED: Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: Why DIY?
Self-sufficiency and American Life
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
Organizations and communities are working to invite broader groups of people to engage in their work as employees, patrons, board members, and donors. Having a statement at the end of a job announcement to encourage communities of color, queer people, and women to apply can be a start, but how do policies, environment, and culture support this invitation? How do they fail to support it? How do you know if a space is inclusive and accessible for all, and is such a goal even possible? What do you do about the tension between people who have different needs to feel included? Join Rachel Bernstein to explore what it takes to make the shift from invitation to inclusion.
Conversation Project: What Are You? Mixed-Race and Interracial Families in Oregon’s Past and Future
The number of mixed-race people and interracial families in Oregon is growing. What are the challenges and benefits of growing up mixed-race, raising mixed-race children, or being an interracial couple in a state that’s historically been mostly white? How can we openly discuss our own ethnic and racial heritage with each other without being regarded as odd or unusual? How have the answers to “What are you?” changed through the decades? Dmae Roberts, who has written essays and produced film and radio documentaries about being a biracial Asian American in Oregon, leads a discussion of heritage that goes beyond checking one race on US Census forms.
Conversation Project: Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life.
Conversation Project: Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life.
Conversation Project: White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
What does it mean to be a white ally, especially in close-knit, rural communities? And what does it mean to have the support of white allies? What is needed from white people in our communities to move the conversation about racism—both statewide and nationally—forward in a productive and respectful way? In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities. This conversation will set the table for bringing discussions about racism, white culture, and identity to your dining room, living room, and backyard BBQs.
From the Director: We the People
Executive Director Adam Davis on who we are as a nation, who our communities are, and how we know where we belong.
Conversation Project: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Studies show that neighbors interact much less than in previous decades. This has been theorized as a kind of side effect of modern life and the result of technology, limits on attention, and in some instances, differences in cultural concepts of what it means to be neighborly. Join facilitator Jen Mitas in this conversation that asks, How do you interact with your neighbors? How do you feel about those relationships? How might you improve or change these relationships in order to make a positive impact on the places you live? This conversation is a chance to reflect on one’s own role in the social networks that make up the places we live, and to complicate clichés about neighborliness that may be unconsciously rooted in the mid-twentieth century ideal of the American suburb.
Conversation Project: How We Grow Old
What are the stories that shape how we think about growing old? How do we acknowledge the unique differences among aging individuals and separate the true stories from the myths? How do we accept the wisdom of our elders’ experiences while also recognizing new ideas about what it means to age in America? No matter our age, we all hear and tell stories about growing older that reflect our own ideals and fears—and the ideals and fears of our communities. Join facilitator Melissa Madenski as we look at the power of story in a conversation that will ask you to share your own experiences and ideas about aging and listen to the perspectives of others in your community.
Conversation Project: Where Are Queer People Welcome?
A majority of Americans now accept gay and lesbian relationships, but the queer population is made up of a diversity of communities and experiences. Are all queer people accepted, tolerated, and embraced everywhere? Where are we made to feel welcome? Where do we feel unwelcome and unsafe? How do race, language, gender identity, family structure, faith, where we work, and where we live shape how we are seen, welcomed, and accepted? Join facilitator Jill Winsor in a discussion that explores how the complexity of the queer community intersects with the spaces and communities that surround us.
Conversation Project: Listening to Young People
What does it look like when adults really listen to young people? Cultural beliefs about young people perpetuate myths that cause harm, especially when combined with laws that control their physical and emotional autonomy and limit their ability to participate in public life. Young people experiencing marginalization for any reason—race, gender, sexuality, ability—also have the added layer of not being taken seriously because of their age. And yet the history of social justice movements in the United States is deeply connected to young people’s agency, autonomy, and power. Join facilitator Emily Squires for a conversation that asks folks to explore their own beliefs about what it means to be young and to reflect on their individual relationship to power as it relates to age. This event will take place in the Wilson High School Library
Conversation Project: Talking About Dying
Death is a universal event that transcends many of the differences between us, but it's not something that we have regular opportunities to think and talk about. Oregon Humanities developed the Talking about Dying program to create more public opportunities to reflect on the stories and influences that shape our thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members. Talking about Dying community conversations are free, ninety-minute facilitated discussions geared toward public audiences (ages 15+). During the program, participants talk together about questions such as, What do we want—and not want—at the end of our life? How might our family, culture, religion, and beliefs shape how we think about death? How do access to care, geography, and desires to be remembered affect our decisions about the end of our life? Facilitated by Andrea Cano.
Conversation Project: Where Are You From?
In 2015, Oregon’s population exceeded 4 million people. Not only are we growing in number, we’re also changing demographically. Considering that Oregon has a history of racial exclusion, these changes prompt questions about Oregonian identity and values. How do we build communities that welcome people of all backgrounds? How are minority and under-represented populations included and treated today? Drawing on the diverse histories and backgrounds of attendees, Kerani Mitchell leads a conversation that asks what makes us Oregonian and how can we create inclusive communities.
Listening over Litigation
The High Desert Partnership provides a collaborative vision for Harney County.
Engagement and Environment
OPAL seeks to bring more voices into conversations about environmental justice.
Supporting Urgent Conversations
Responsive Program Grants help communities across Oregon respond to pressing issues and events.
New Foundations
Samantha Bakall writes about an innovative pilot project that pairs families in need of housing with Portland homeowners who have a little land to spare.
Peace and Dignity
Mohamed Asem writes about finding community in shared stories of unjust detention in an excerpt from his memoir, Stranger in the Pen.
Bias and Kids: How Do Our Prejudices Affect Our Children?
During our conversation led by Verónika Nuñez and Kyrié Kellett, we will reflect on how our biases—conscious and unconscious—related to gender, race, class, culture, and other traits, shape everything from our subtle interactions with the kids we care for to the way we make political decisions that influence children in our society.
Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before.
Conversation Project: In Good Faith
Religion is a topic traditionally not discussed in mixed company. But what do we lose when we avoid exploring our religious differences? Oregon is among the states in the US where people are most likely to identify as religiously unaffiliated. Many Oregonians have spiritual practices that both align with and transcend institutional definitions. Others filter strongly held values through religious traditions and frameworks. Writer and former chaplain Elizabeth Harlan-Ferlo will lead participants in examining the tools we use to talk about religion without dismissing others’ beliefs or flattening the beautiful and sometimes harrowing complexities of our experiences. At the host’s request, this conversation may be customized to fit the specific needs of their community.
Conversation Project: Bias and Kids
Most people agree that children need healthy, loving, supportive environments to thrive. But, as parents, family members, teachers, neighbors, and voters—how do our biases influence how we interact with the children in our lives and communities? And, how do those biases influence how children perceive themselves and what they will become? During our conversation led by Verónika Nuñez and Kyrié Kellett, we will reflect on how our biases—conscious and unconscious—related to gender, race, class, culture, and other traits, shape everything from our subtle interactions with the kids we care for to the way we make political decisions that influence children in our society.
Conversation Project: What We Owe
Debt has bound people together and driven them apart for millennia. Oppressive debt has played a role in major social revolutions that have resulted in the clearing of debt records, yet there are other debts, like the cost of being born, for which many could not imagine demanding repayment. In the past ten years, US national debt and personal debt have reached all-time highs—levels at which full repayment may seem implausible. But is repayment even necessary? Join educator April Slabosheski in a conversation that asks, What constitutes debt? How does debt shape the way we relate to one another? How do we decide which debts we will repay, and which we will not?
Conversation Project: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Studies show that neighbors interact much less than in previous decades. This has been theorized as a kind of side effect of modern life and the result of technology, limits on attention, and in some instances, differences in cultural concepts of what it means to be neighborly. Join facilitator Jen Mitas in this conversation that asks, How do you interact with your neighbors? How do you feel about those relationships? How might you improve or change these relationships in order to make a positive impact on the places you live? This conversation is a chance to reflect on one’s own role in the social networks that make up the places we live, and to complicate clichés about neighborliness that may be unconsciously rooted in the mid-twentieth century ideal of the American suburb. RSVP to this event here.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: Everyone Can Be a Leader
Exploring Nontraditional Community Leadership
Conversation Project: Is Technology Outpacing Our Humanity?
Facilitator Manuel Padilla will lead this conversation to explore how technology shapes our moral reasoning and our perceptions of, and relationships with, one another.
Conversation Project: What Makes Life Meaningful?
This conversation with philosophy professor Prakash Chenjeri and chaplain Fred Grewe aims to engage participants in a thoughtful and meaningful discussion about this very human question.
Conversation Project: Can We Get Along?
Examining Our Personal Experiences of Connection and Community
Conversation Project: Why DIY?
Self-sufficiency and American Life
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
Organizations and communities are working to invite broader groups of people to engage in their work as employees, patrons, board members, and donors. Having a statement at the end of a job announcement to encourage communities of color, queer people, and women to apply can be a start, but how do policies, environment, and culture support this invitation? How do they fail to support it? How do you know if a space is inclusive and accessible for all, and is such a goal even possible? What do you do about the tension between people who have different needs to feel included? Join Rachel Bernstein to explore what it takes to make the shift from invitation to inclusion.
Conversation Project: Listening to Young People
What does it look like when adults really listen to young people? Cultural beliefs about young people perpetuate myths that cause harm, especially when combined with laws that control their physical and emotional autonomy and limit their ability to participate in public life. Young people experiencing marginalization for any reason—race, gender, sexuality, ability—also have the added layer of not being taken seriously because of their age. And yet the history of social justice movements in the United States is deeply connected to young people’s agency, autonomy, and power. Join facilitator Emily Squires for a conversation that asks folks to explore their own beliefs about what it means to be young and to reflect on their individual relationship to power as it relates to age.
Conversation Project: Sharing Our Lives with Animals
Whether we find ourselves on farms or ranches, in cities, or in other places between, our lives are entangled with the lives of other species. Our experiences with domestic animals—in particular those considered pets or livestock—affect the ways we understand relationships with them, who we value and depend upon in wildly different ways. As scientific research and broader cultural shifts challenge common notions about the intelligence and emotional lives of other beings, we face complex quandaries of how to respectfully recognize and care for the needs of domestic companions. For this conversation, artist and educator Karin Bolender Hart invites us to share our own animal stories, consider how our personal experiences and beliefs about the lives of animals shape the stories we tell, and reflect on how these stories in turn affect our choices as caretakers, farmers, consumers, and companions. Admission Fee: $5
Conversation Project: Showing Up
Being part of a community is an essential need for all of us. It is a place where we find others who share common ground, where our values and identities are reflected. Community is also a place where we are supported and thrive. Join facilitator Chi Mei Tam in this conversation to explore what it means to be part of a community. What does it looks like when community shows up for you and vice versa? How does it work? To what extent are shared values and identities in our community enough or not enough to help us thrive?
Conversation Project: Why DIY?
Self-sufficiency and American Life
What Can Bridge the Divide?
Yoko Ikeda shares her experience with Bridging Oregon, a monthly conversation series that explores the idea that we're divided as a state and asks how we can come together to create stronger, more resilient communities.
Conversation Project: Why DIY?
Self-sufficiency and American Life
Conversation Project: Where Are You From?
In 2015, Oregon’s population exceeded 4 million people. Not only are we growing in number, we’re also changing demographically. Considering that Oregon has a history of racial exclusion, these changes prompt questions about Oregonian identity and values. How do we build communities that welcome people of all backgrounds? How are minority and under-represented populations included and treated today? Drawing on the diverse histories and backgrounds of attendees, Kerani Mitchell leads a conversation that asks what makes us Oregonian and how can we create inclusive communities.
Conversation Project: White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
What does it mean to be a white ally, especially in close-knit, rural communities? And what does it mean to have the support of white allies? What is needed from white people in our communities to move the conversation about racism—both statewide and nationally—forward in a productive and respectful way? In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities. This conversation will set the table for bringing discussions about racism, white culture, and identity to your dining room, living room, and backyard BBQs.
Conversation Project: Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before. How might the “new industrial revolution” of tinkerers and crafters affect American schools and workplaces? How do maker spaces or skills courses foster greater engagement and involvement? What could be left behind when we increase self-sufficiency in a community? All kinds of DIY interests are welcome: we can focus on foraging, permaculture, prepping, woodworking, or hovercraft making—or perhaps all of these at once! Through our shared stories, we will seek to understand more deeply how DIY functions in American life.
Conversation Project: Showing Up
Being part of a community is an essential need for all of us. It is a place where we find others who share common ground, where our values and identities are reflected. Community is also a place where we are supported and thrive. Join facilitator Chi Mei Tam in this conversation to explore what it means to be part of a community. What does it looks like when community shows up for you and vice versa? How does it work? To what extent are shared values and identities in our community enough or not enough to help us thrive?
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: Everyone Can Be a Leader
Exploring Nontraditional Community Leadership
Conversation Project: Why DIY?
Self-sufficiency and American Life
Conversation Project: Is Technology Outpacing Our Humanity?
Facilitator Manuel Padilla will lead this conversation to explore how technology shapes our moral reasoning and our perceptions of, and relationships with, one another.
Conversation Project: Everyone Can Be a Leader
Exploring Nontraditional Community Leadership
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: What Makes Life Meaningful?
The question of what makes life meaningful has occupied human thinking for thousands of years. This conversation with philosophy professor Prakash Chenjeri and chaplain Fred Grewe aims to engage participants in a thoughtful and meaningful discussion about this very human question.
Conversation Project: Is Technology Outpacing Our Humanity?
Facilitator Manuel Padilla will lead this conversation to explore how technology shapes our moral reasoning and our perceptions of, and relationships with, one another.
Conversation Project: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
How Relationships Affect the Places We Live
Conversation Project: White Allyship in Close-knit Communities
In this conversation led by facilitator Alexis James, participants will have the chance to explore their identities, learn how to acknowledge different lived experiences without alienating friends and neighbors, and move toward action in their own communities.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
How Relationships Affect the Places We Live
Conversation Project: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
How Relationships Affect the Places We Live
Conversation Project: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
How Relationships Affect the Places We Live
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Conversation Project: Everyone Can Be a Leader
Exploring Nontraditional Community Leadership
Conversation Project: Why DIY? Self-sufficiency and American Life
Are we as self-sufficient as we can be? As we should be? What are the pleasures and pitfalls of doing it yourself? This conversation investigates why we strive to be makers and doers in a world that provides more conveniences than ever before.
Conversation Project: Sharing Our Lives with Animals
Artist and educator Karin Bolender Hart invites us to share our own animal stories, consider how our personal experiences and beliefs about the lives of animals shape the stories we tell, and reflect on how these stories in turn affect our choices as caretakers, farmers, consumers, and companions.
Creating Connection Across Oregon
Bridging Oregon and Dear Stranger are starting conversations about the places we call home.
Deep Roots
Samantha Bakall writes about how Mudbone Grown, an urban farm in North Portland, offers celebration and community in the face of Oregon's white-dominated agriculture industry.
Showing Up: What Does It Mean to Belong to a Community?
Join facilitator Chi Mei Tam in this conversation to explore what it means to be part of a community. What does it looks like when community shows up for you and vice versa? How does it work? To what extent are shared values and identities in our community enough or not enough to help us thrive?
Conversation Project: Showing Up
What Does It Mean to Belong to a Community?
Conversation Project: Just a Number
Aging and Intergenerational Friendship
Conversation Project: Everyday Leaders
Recognizing Leadership Beyond Power and Authority
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Expanding East
Oregon Humanities partners with Rosewood Initiative and Alder College to offer Humanity in Perspective courses in East Portland.
Exchange and Change
Adam Davis, executive director of Oregon Humanities, on people listening to one another in Lake County, Oregon
Posts
Readers write about Owe
Conversation Project: Where Are You From?
Drawing on the diverse histories and backgrounds of participants, Kerani Mitchell leads a conversation that asks what makes us Oregonian and how can we create inclusive communities.
Conversation Project: Showing Up
Join facilitator Chi Mei Tam in this conversation to explore what it means to be part of a community. What does it looks like when community shows up for you and vice versa? How does it work? To what extent are shared values and identities in our community enough or not enough to help us thrive?
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Facilitators Anita Yap and Traci Price will lead participants in a conversation that looks at how Oregon’s history of racism influences our present and asks, How can understanding historic and current impacts of racism in Oregon contribute to our sense of place and vision of the future?
Conversation Project: Showing Up
Join facilitator Chi Mei Tam in this conversation to explore what it means to be part of a community. What does it looks like when community shows up for you and vice versa? How does it work? To what extent are shared values and identities in our community enough or not enough to help us thrive?
2018 Humanity in Perspective Commencement
A commencement ceremony to celebrate the graduating Humanity in Perspective class.
Finding Our Way Amidst Racial Differences
A public discussion on the skills, awareness, and actions needed to improve race relations in Ashland. Facilitated by Marjorie Trueblood-Gamble from Southern Oregon University and Adam Davis from Oregon Humanities.
Finding Our Way Amidst the Unhoused
A community conversation on homelessness, transiency, the housed and unhoused in Southern Oregon. Facilitated by Adam Davis of Oregon Humanities and Ryan Stroud of CommuniTalks.
Conversation Project: Everyday Leaders
Recognizing Leadership Beyond Power and Authority
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: Just a Number
Aging and Intergenerational Friendship
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Bridging Oregon Participant Application Deadline (EXTENDED)
Oregon Humanities is looking for people in Central Oregon to participate in this monthly conversation series.
Conversation Project: Everyday Leaders
Recognizing Leadership Beyond Power and Authority
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Conversation Project: Democracy from the Inside Out
Listening to Our Consciences and Our Neighbors
Astoria Call to Life: An Earth Day Ingathering
Clatsop Community College Foundation presents a collaborative performance and discussion by philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore and pianist Rachelle McCabe. This program is made possible in part by a Responsive Program Grant from Oregon Humanities.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Where Are You From?
Exploring What Makes Us Oregonians
Bridging Our Divide Community Dialogue
Bridging Our Divide community events are focused on fostering conversation and understanding across political and ideological divides. This event will feature speakers from the local community and group activities to promote dialogue and empathy. This event is made possible in part by a Public Program Grant from Oregon Humanities.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How do you know if a space is inclusive and accessible for all, and is such a goal even possible? What do you do about the tension between people who have different needs to feel included? Join Rachel Bernstein to explore what it takes to make the shift from invitation to inclusion.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Think & Drink on Organizing in Oregon
Join us for a conversation about the challenges and opportunities in community organizing around Oregon at the Alberta Rose Theatre in Portland.
Field Work: Community Stories Onstage
Student-created show raises consciousness in Southern Oregon's Illinois Valley
Conversation Project: The World to Come
How Our Fear about the Future Affects Our Actions
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Just a Number
Aging and Intergenerational Friendship
Alternate Endings, Radical Beginnings
A program of short videos by Visual AIDS
Sarah Schulman: Gentrification of the Mind
A reading, talk, and panel followed by a screening of United in Anger: A History of ACT UP
Sarah Shulman: Reading <i>Conflict Is Not Abuse</i>
This free, facilitated reading group is part of PICA's World AIDS Day Program.
PLAYA Presents: Calligraphy of the Wind
A discussion with PLAYA resident and novelist Leslie Schwartz about the ways that specific places and communities shape the creative process.
Season of Nonviolence: A Conversation with Julissa Arce
In commemoration of the Season of Nonviolence, immigration and education rights advocate Julissa Arce will use her inspirational story to change the conversation around immigration. This program is made possible in part by a Responsive Program Grant from Oregon Humanities.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: The World to Come
How Our Fear about the Future Affects Our Actions
Conversation Project: Democracy from the Inside Out
Listening to Our Consciences and Our Neighbors
Conversation Project: Just a Number
Aging and Intergenerational Friendship
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Race and Domestic Violence
Join Adelante Mujeres, Bradley Angle, YWCA of Greater Portland, and Micronesian Islander Community for an evening of poetry, education, and discussion to foster a greater understanding of the significance of race and ethnicity in relationship to domestic violence.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
What's Brewing?
The Crook County Foundation hosts this public forum on current events and issues happening locally, regionally, and at the state level. This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
What's Brewing?
The Crook County Foundation hosts this public forum on current events and issues happening locally, regionally, and at the state level. This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Talking about Dying (POSTPONED)
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Conversation Project: From Saving to Serving
On Intervening in the Lives of Others
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: From Saving to Serving
On Intervening in the Lives of Others
Conversation Project: Talking About Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: The World to Come
How Our Fear about the Future Affects Our Actions
Conversation Project: Democracy from the Inside Out
Listening to Our Consciences and Our Neighbors
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Just a Number
Aging and Intergenerational Friendship
Conversation Project: The World to Come
How Our Fear about the Future Affects Our Actions
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: Where Are You From?
Exploring What Makes Us Oregonians
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Conversation Project: In Good Faith
Exploring Religious Difference in Oregon
Conversation Project: Just a Number
Aging and Intergenerational Friendship
Finding Home at the Mims
From the 1940s to '60s, the Mims House was a safe place to stay for African Americans traveling through Oregon. Now it’s a gathering place for the Black community in Eugene. Video by Nisha Burton.
Conversation Project: Just a Number
Aging and Intergenerational Friendship
Conversation Project: Beyond Invitation
How Do We Create Inclusive Communities?
Conversation Project: What Is Cultural Appropriation?
Issues of cultural appropriation and identity are complicated. Power dynamics influence who benefits from certain cultural experience, and—given the global nature of our world—parts of our individual and cultural identities are shaped by cultures other than our own. How do we make sense of this and what effect does it have on us as individuals and as Oregonians?
Conversation Project: A Place to Call Home
Exploring Housing in Oregon
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: What Does It Mean to Be American?
Given the differences of race, ethnicity, place, religion, wealth, language, education, and ideology that exist in the US, what are the things that unite us a nation? How do we understand what it means to be American and what we hold valuable?
Conversation Project: Ritual and Ceremony in Modern Life
How do we make meaning out of the big milestones in our personal and community lives?
Conversation Project: Beyond Fake News
How We Find Accurate Information about the World
Conversation Project: From Saving to Serving
On Intervening in the Lives of Others
Conversation Project: What Are You?
Mixed-Race and Interracial Families in Oregon’s Past and Future
Conversation Project: In Science We Trust?
The Role of Science in a Democracy
Invite in the Stranger
Adam Davis on radical hospitality
PLAYA Presents
Current PLAYA residents ask, How can the art we make and the technology we devise feed the needs of our own community? This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Stake Your Place
The Cully neighborhood of Portland offers a glimpse at the complex racial, ethnic, and economic factors at play in a community trying to resist the forces of gentrification, displacement, and change.
Hearing the Houseless
This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
Conversation Project: What Are You?
Mixed-Race and Interracial Families in Oregon's Past and Future
Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Talking about Dying
This conversation provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on what stories and influences shape their thinking about death and dying and to hear perspectives and ideas from fellow community members.
Confluence Story Gathering
Oregon Humanities is a cosponsor of this event.
Vanport Mosaic Festival
Theater, documentaries, historic exhibits, lectures, and tours will explore will explore the history and legacy of Vanport. Oregon Humanities is a cosponsor of this event.
"Priced Out" Screening and Dialogue
Watch an excerpt from the film and then join the discussion about how rising housing prices are displacing Portland's black community. Oregon Humanities is a cosponsor of this event.
Conversation Project: Where Are You from?
Exploring What Makes Us Oregonians
Conversation Project: Understanding Disability
Family and Community Stories
Conversation Project: Looking for Leadership *CANCELED*
What Do We Want from Leaders? This event has been canceled and will be rescheduled to a later date.
Confluence Story Gathering
Oregon Humanities is a cosponsor of this event.
Conversation Project: Where Are You from?
Exploring What Makes Us Oregonians
Conversation Project: Where Are You from?
Exploring What Makes Us Oregonians
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: From Saving to Serving
On Intervening in the Lives of Others
What We Share
From the Director
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: In Good Faith
Exploring Religious Difference in Oregon
Conversation Project: Just a Number
Aging and Intergenerational Friendship
Conversation Project: Where Are You from?
Exploring What Makes Us Oregonians
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
2017 Humanity in Perspective Commencement
A commencement ceremony to celebrate the graduating Humanity in Perspective class.
Conversation Project: You're In or You're Out
Exploring Belonging
Conversation Project: Where Are You From?
Exploring What Makes Us Oregonians
Conversation Project: Understanding Disability
Family and Community Stories
Conversation Project: Where Are You from?
Exploring What Makes Us Oregonians
Conversation Project: Looking for Leadership
What Do We Want from Leaders?
Conversation Project: What Are You?
Mixed-Race and Interracial Families in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: In Good Faith
Exploring Religious Difference in Oregon
Conversation Project: Where Are You From?
Exploring What Makes Us Oregonians
Conversation Project: In Good Faith
Exploring Religious Difference in Oregon
Conversation Project: You're In or You're Out
Exploring Belonging
The Golden Hour
The collective strength of strangers after a horrifying accident. An essay by Jason Arias
Sunday, Laundry Day
Every quarter counts in subsidized senior housing. An essay by Josephine Cooper
Slow Ascent
A Chinese American woman searches for belonging in the country of her grandparents. An essay by Jessica Yen
"I'm Not Staying Here Another Day"
A conversation about the Great Migration with Isabel Wilkerson and Rukaiyah Adams
Just People Like Us
Writer Guy Maynard on a little-known history of a Southern Oregon community during World War II where prisoners of war were more welcome than US military of color
Housekeeping
In the face of loss, cleaning hotel rooms and a lifelong friend offer solace. An essay by Meryl Williams
Rootedness
An essay by Brian Doyle
Safely and Bravely
Editor Kathleen Holt on keeping her daughter safe in a place filled with threats of violence, disappointment, and despair
Civil Rights with Guns
Are there alternatives to police that could keep communities safe? Author Kristian Williams discusses lessons from the Black Freedom Movement.
Beyond Repair
Editor Kathleen Holt on the aftermath of a traumatizing fire
Design for a Crowded Planet
Cynthia E. Smith, the curator of socially responsible design at the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewett design museum, talks about innovative solutions by and for city dwellers.
What It Means to Say Portland
Mitchell S. Jackson on the experience of growing up Black in North and Northeast Portland.
Belonging and Connection
Bette Lynch Husted on imperfect small-town life in Pendleton.
Why We Stay
Monica Drake on raising a family in an urban neighborhood instead of a more serene but less vibrant rural place.
More Than Skin Deep
Scholar Naomi Zack on the science and social construction of race in America
Being More Human
Intel's resident futurist, Brian David Johnson, on how the steampunk culture offers clues to building a better tomorrow
The State That Timber Built
Tara Rae Miner on what Oregon owes the struggling timber communities that helped shape the state’s identity
A Region by Any Name
From Ecotopia to Cascadia Megaregion, visions of the Pacific Northwest have been secessionist in nature. An essay by Carl Abbott
The Olde Towne Team
For sports fans, it's more than just a game. An essay by Guy Maynard
Uprockin' the Rose City
The community that hip hop built in Portland. An article by Walidah Imarisha
That Public Thing
What jazz can teach us about being a community. An essay by Tim DuRoche
Second-Chance Family
Rajneeshpuram has come and gone: what keep believers bound to one another? By Marion Goldman
Love Thy Neighbor (Sometimes)
A close-knit neighborhood can make us happy, but it can also add to the busy-ness of daily life. An essay by Jamie Passaro
The Working Class
Bette Lynch Husted argues that hard times are good times to rethink our attitudes about the fungibility of workers.