Divides — Oregon Humanities

Consider This: Preserving Democracy for Future Generations with Manu Meel

Join us on November 10 for a conversation about preserving democracy for future generations with Manu Meel, CEO of BridgeUSA.

Consider This | July 22, 2024

Consider This Reading Group: How to Stay Open and Curious in Hard Conversations

Which do you value more: the truth or your own beliefs? Oregon Humanities invites you to a discussion of Mónica Guzmán's essay "How to Stay Open and Curious in Hard Conversations" (originally published in Greater Good Magazine). Together we'll explore Guzmán strategies for fostering curiosity and understanding across divides, including sharing "snapshot" opinions, acknowledging agreement, and admitting uncertainty. We will also discuss takeaways from our April 18 Consider This conversation with Guzmán at the Alberta Rose Theatre in Portland. Rozzell Medina will facilitate the reading group discussion.

Event | April 26, 2023

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.

Event | May 6, 2023

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.

Event | September 20, 2022

Consider This with Mónica Guzmán - La Grande Screening

Join Oregon Humanities staff in La Grande for a live screening of our Consider This conversation with Mónica Guzmán, author of I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times. Guzmán is a bridge builder, journalist, and author who works to get people to talk across thier perceived divides.

Event | April 18, 2023

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 Chisa Hata as she holds space to examine individual questions on race, cultural values, and what brings us together and what separates us.

Event | August 25, 2021

Seeking Common Ground: Looking Past the Rural-Urban Divide

National political discourse has amplified a conflict between rural and urban interests, culture, and values that has resulted in a bifurcated reality: two “bubbles” of experience whose paths do not often cross in the media nor in our daily lives. This session will shed light on the potential common interests in these disparate experiences, toward consensus about what the future could be. This program is supported by a Public Program Grant from Oregon Humanities.

Event | June 3, 2021

From the Director: The Great Divide

Adam Davis on communicating and connecting across divides.

Magazine | April 27, 2021

The Struggles That Unite Us

Eric K. Ward reflects on how the idea of the urban-rural divide only serves to separate us.

Magazine | April 27, 2020

Posts

Readers write about Push.

Magazine | April 29, 2019

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.

Magazine | December 19, 2018

Listening over Litigation

The High Desert Partnership provides a collaborative vision for Harney County.

Magazine | December 13, 2018

Supporting Urgent Conversations

Responsive Program Grants help communities across Oregon respond to pressing issues and events.

Magazine | December 13, 2018

Past Gatherings

Bridging Oregon | November 30, 2018

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.

Bridging Oregon | November 30, 2018