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.
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?
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.
Glassed In
Wendy Wagner on seeing, being seen, and choosing not to see.
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.
CANCELED Conversation Project: How Do Our Values Influence Environmental Policy?
Most of us would agree that natural resources and our surrounding environment have value, but what that value is—and how to protect it—are usually up for debate. Given competing interests and visions of the public good, how do we protect our common resources such as land, water, and air? Join philosopher Monica Mueller to explore our environmental values and question how those values are reflected—or not reflected—in current local, national, and global environmental policies.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled at a later date.CANCELED - Conversation Project: Seeing the Forest and the Trees
We live in a state with abundant forests, and yet we don’t all see the same thing when we look into the woods. Oregon is known for both its timber industry and its deep environmental values. For many decades now management of our public forests has made headlines and driven apart neighbors. Facilitator Mariah Acton will lead this conversation to explore the values, identities, and beliefs we each have about our forests and what we, as a state, do to steward, manage, and protect this special resource. This event will take place in the large meeting room.
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?
CANCELED - Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Stewarding Our Public Forests
We live in a state with abundant forests, and yet we don’t all see the same thing when we look into the woods. Oregon is known for both its timber industry and its deep environmental values. For many decades now management of our public forests has made headlines and driven apart neighbors. Facilitator Mariah Acton will lead this conversation to explore the values, identities, and beliefs we each have about our forests and what we, as a state, do to steward, manage, and protect this special resource.
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 - 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.The Middle Class and Other Stories About Wealth, Status, and Power
Join Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis for a conversation that explores what we think and how we talk about class in Oregon and the nation. What exactly, for example, is the middle class, who does it include and exclude, and why does it get so much attention? When does talking about class turn into class warfare, or pandering, or simple confusion? To what extent can we talk about class without talking about race, ethnicity, and cultural background? Class is clearly related to wealth and money, but it also involves much more than that, from education to dress to the shows we watch, the words we use, and the clothes we wear. What are the measures and markers that help us recognize class, and to what extent is class useful for seeing our state, our neighbors, and ourselves?
Conversation Project: What We Risk
What do we risk when we lay ourselves open through music, painting, or any other art form? What might we give up and what might we gain when we set out to craft something beautiful or provocative or simply expressive that the world did not previously hold? Given today's artistic economy, to what extent is exposure—to other people and of the creative self—desirable? Join artist and educator Jason Graham, a slam poetry champion and speaker who performs hip hop as MOsley WOtta, for a conversation exploring the relationship between self-expression and vulnerability. This event will take place in the annex.
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.
Consider the Wedding—2004
Jamie Passaro considers why women who know better still buy into the Big Bucks White Wedding industry in the 2004 “Marriage” issue.
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: The Middle Class and Other Stories About Wealth, Status, and Power
Join Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis for a conversation that explores what we think and how we talk about class in Oregon and the nation. What exactly, for example, is the middle class, who does it include and exclude, and why does it get so much attention? When does talking about class turn into class warfare, or pandering, or simple confusion? To what extent can we talk about class without talking about race, ethnicity, and cultural background? Class is clearly related to wealth and money, but it also involves much more than that, from education to dress to the shows we watch, the words we use, and the clothes we wear. What are the measures and markers that help us recognize class, and to what extent is class useful for seeing our state, our neighbors, and ourselves? This event will take place at PCC Rock Creek Event Center, Section A.
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: Seeing the Forest and the Trees
We live in a state with abundant forests, and yet we don’t all see the same thing when we look into the woods. Oregon is known for both its timber industry and its deep environmental values. For many decades now management of our public forests has made headlines and driven apart neighbors. Facilitator Mariah Acton will lead this conversation to explore the values, identities, and beliefs we each have about our forests and what we, as a state, do to steward, manage, and protect this special resource.
Conversation Project: Faith and Politics in Oregon and Beyond
While faith and politics have long been taboo subjects in polite conversation, it’s no secret that people’s political affiliations and support are often influenced by their faiths. At the same time, faith-based movements, such as the Religious Right of the 1980s, have exhibited great power in political arenas. How do our faith systems influence our political beliefs—and vice versa—today, both in Oregon and nationally? Join writer, educator, and former minister Russ Pierson in a conversation about how our religious ideas and political identities mix and what it means for our common life together. This event will take place in the Event Room.
Conversation Project: Faith and Politics in Oregon and Beyond
While faith and politics have long been taboo subjects in polite conversation, it’s no secret that people’s political affiliations and support are often influenced by their faiths. At the same time, faith-based movements, such as the Religious Right of the 1980s, have exhibited great power in political arenas. How do our faith systems influence our political beliefs—and vice versa—today, both in Oregon and nationally? Join writer, educator, and former minister Russ Pierson in a conversation about how our religious ideas and political identities mix and what it means for our common life together.
Conversation Project: Faith and Politics in Oregon and Beyond
While faith and politics have long been taboo subjects in polite conversation, it’s no secret that people’s political affiliations and support are often influenced by their faiths. At the same time, faith-based movements, such as the Religious Right of the 1980s, have exhibited great power in political arenas. How do our faith systems influence our political beliefs—and vice versa—today, both in Oregon and nationally? Join writer, educator, and former minister Russ Pierson in a conversation about how our religious ideas and political identities mix and what it means for our common life together. This event will take place in the Program Area.
Conversation Project: The Middle Class and Other Stories About Wealth, Status, and Power
Join Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis for a conversation that explores what we think and how we talk about class in Oregon and the nation. What exactly, for example, is the middle class, who does it include and exclude, and why does it get so much attention? When does talking about class turn into class warfare, or pandering, or simple confusion? To what extent can we talk about class without talking about race, ethnicity, and cultural background? Class is clearly related to wealth and money, but it also involves much more than that, from education to dress to the shows we watch, the words we use, and the clothes we wear. What are the measures and markers that help us recognize class, and to what extent is class useful for seeing our state, our neighbors, and ourselves?
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: What We Risk
What do we risk when we lay ourselves open through music, painting, or any other art form? What might we give up and what might we gain when we set out to craft something beautiful or provocative or simply expressive that the world did not previously hold? Given today's artistic economy, to what extent is exposure—to other people and of the creative self—desirable? Join artist and educator Jason Graham, a slam poetry champion and speaker who performs hip hop as MOsley WOtta, for a conversation exploring the relationship between self-expression and vulnerability.
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: The Middle Class and Other Stories About Wealth, Status, and Power
Join Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis for a conversation that explores what we think and how we talk about class in Oregon and the nation. What exactly, for example, is the middle class, who does it include and exclude, and why does it get so much attention? When does talking about class turn into class warfare, or pandering, or simple confusion? To what extent can we talk about class without talking about race, ethnicity, and cultural background? Class is clearly related to wealth and money, but it also involves much more than that, from education to dress to the shows we watch, the words we use, and the clothes we wear. What are the measures and markers that help us recognize class, and to what extent is class useful for seeing our state, our neighbors, and ourselves?
Conversation Project: Crime and Punishment in Oregon
From prisons and youth correctional facilities to schools and county jails, we’re surrounded by institutions that punish. But why do we punish? Why is punishment sometimes sanctioned by the state? Critics of the “prison industrial complex” argue that our methods and scale of punishment are informed by profit, while tough-on-crime policymakers believe that punishment must be meaningful enough to prevent recidivism and ensure public safety. Are there other ways to punish—such as restorative justice—that may be more effective, reasonable, or desirable? Philosopher and writer Monica Mueller facilitates a conversation around these questions and others regarding our motivation, purpose, and methods of punishment.
Conversation Project: What Does it Mean to Be Good?
Most of us believe we are good people. But if we are all good people, with little room for fallibility, who are the people responsible for supporting structural oppression like racism, sexism, and heterosexism? If we hope to be “good,” what are our moral responsibilities in a society of privilege, power, and oppression? Join facilitator Brittany Wake in a discussion that explores the values associated with how we come to establish ourselves as good people and what that means for our potential complicity in perpetuating marginalization.
Conversation Project: What We Risk
What do we risk when we lay ourselves open through music, painting, or any other art form? What might we give up and what might we gain when we set out to craft something beautiful or provocative or simply expressive that the world did not previously hold? Given today's artistic economy, to what extent is exposure—to other people and of the creative self—desirable? Join artist and educator Jason Graham, a slam poetry champion and speaker who performs hip hop as Mosley WOtta, for a conversation exploring the relationship between self-expression and vulnerability.
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: 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: What Does it Mean to Be Good?
Most of us believe we are good people. But if we are all good people, with little room for fallibility, who are the people responsible for supporting structural oppression like racism, sexism, and heterosexism? If we hope to be “good,” what are our moral responsibilities in a society of privilege, power, and oppression? Join facilitator Brittany Wake in a discussion that explores the values associated with how we come to establish ourselves as good people and what that means for our potential complicity in perpetuating marginalization.
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: Seeing the Forest and the Trees
We live in a state with abundant forests, and yet we don’t all see the same thing when we look into the woods. Oregon is known for both its timber industry and its deep environmental values. For many decades now management of our public forests has made headlines and driven apart neighbors. Facilitator Mariah Acton will lead this conversation to explore the values, identities, and beliefs we each have about our forests and what we, as a state, do to steward, manage, and protect this special resource.
Conversation Project: Faith and Politics in Oregon and Beyond
While faith and politics have long been taboo subjects in polite conversation, it’s no secret that people’s political affiliations and support are often influenced by their faiths. At the same time, faith-based movements, such as the Religious Right of the 1980s, have exhibited great power in political arenas. How do our faith systems influence our political beliefs—and vice versa—today, both in Oregon and nationally? Join writer, educator, and former minister Russ Pierson in a conversation about how our religious ideas and political identities mix and what it means for our common life together.
Conversation Project: Does Higher Education Matter?
Higher education is considered essential for individuals seeking employment opportunities, social and cultural advancement, and a more secure financial future. No matter your background or privilege, a college degree is automatically assumed to multiply your opportunities. But in the current cycles of escalating tuition costs, ballooning student loan debt, and a crumbling secondary education infrastructure in Oregon, we have an increasing need to examine the purposefulness and meaningfulness of higher education in our day-to-day lives. Join educator and activist Paul Susi in a discussion that will examine our assumptions and values around education and its impact on our lives.
Conversation Project: Seeing the Forest and the Trees
We live in a state with abundant forests, and yet we don’t all see the same thing when we look into the woods. Oregon is known for both its timber industry and its deep environmental values. For many decades now management of our public forests has made headlines and driven apart neighbors. Facilitator Mariah Acton will lead this conversation to explore the values, identities, and beliefs we each have about our forests and what we, as a state, do to steward, manage, and protect this special resource.
Conversation Project: What Does It Mean to Be Good?
Exploring Morality in the Midst of Structural Oppression
Conversation Project: What Does It Mean to Be Good?
Exploring Morality in the Midst of Structural Oppression
Conversation Project: Seeing the Forest and the Trees
Stewarding Our Public Forests
Conversation Project: The Middle Class and Other Stories About Wealth, Status, and Power
Join Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis for a conversation that explores what we think and how we talk about class in Oregon and the nation. What exactly, for example, is the middle class, who does it include and exclude, and why does it get so much attention? When does talking about class turn into class warfare, or pandering, or simple confusion? To what extent can we talk about class without talking about race, ethnicity, and cultural background? Class is clearly related to wealth and money, but it also involves much more than that, from education to dress to the shows we watch, the words we use, and the clothes we wear. What are the measures and markers that help us recognize class, and to what extent is class useful for seeing our state, our neighbors, and ourselves?
Conversation Project: What We Risk
What do we risk when we lay ourselves open through music, painting, or any other art form? What might we give up and what might we gain when we set out to craft something beautiful or provocative or simply expressive that the world did not previously hold? Given today's artistic economy, to what extent is exposure—to other people and of the creative self—desirable? Join artist and educator Jason Graham, a slam poetry champion and speaker who performs hip hop as Mosley WOtta, for a conversation exploring the relationship between self-expression and vulnerability.
Conversation Project: Good Food, Bad Food
Oregon boasts a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy that includes both industrial agriculture and small-scale efforts such as community supported agriculture memberships, farmers markets, and community gardens. These smaller, community-based efforts are on the rise as means to nurture community and create local and autonomous food systems. In this conversation, author Kristy Athens will ask participants to think about the impact of their food choices. Are these choices as consequential as consumers would like them to be? Does “voting with your dollars” significantly shape our agricultural systems?
Conversation Project: What We Risk
What do we risk when we lay ourselves open through music, painting, or any other art form? What might we give up and what might we gain when we set out to craft something beautiful or provocative or simply expressive that the world did not previously hold? Given today's artistic economy, to what extent is exposure—to other people and of the creative self—desirable? Join artist and educator Jason Graham, a slam poetry champion and speaker who performs hip hop as Mosley WOtta, for a conversation exploring the relationship between self-expression and vulnerability.
Conversation Project: Good Food, Bad Food
Oregon boasts a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy that includes both industrial agriculture and small-scale efforts such as community supported agriculture memberships, farmers markets, and community gardens. These smaller, community-based efforts are on the rise as means to nurture community and create local and autonomous food systems. In this conversation, author Kristy Athens will ask participants to think about the impact of their food choices. Are these choices as consequential as consumers would like them to be? Does “voting with your dollars” significantly shape our agricultural systems?
Conversation Project: What Does it Mean to Be Good?
Most of us believe we are good people. But if we are all good people, with little room for fallibility, who are the people responsible for supporting structural oppression like racism, sexism, and heterosexism? If we hope to be “good,” what are our moral responsibilities in a society of privilege, power, and oppression? Join facilitator Brittany Wake in a discussion that explores the values associated with how we come to establish ourselves as good people and what that means for our potential complicity in perpetuating marginalization.
Conversation Project: What We Risk
What do we risk when we lay ourselves open through music, painting, or any other art form? What might we give up and what might we gain when we set out to craft something beautiful or provocative or simply expressive that the world did not previously hold? Given today's artistic economy, to what extent is exposure—to other people and of the creative self—desirable? Join artist and educator Jason Graham, a slam poetry champion and speaker who performs hip hop as Mosley WOtta, for a conversation exploring the relationship between self-expression and vulnerability.
Conversation Project: The Middle Class and Other Stories About Wealth, Status, and Power
Join Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis for a conversation that explores what we think and how we talk about class in Oregon and the nation. What exactly, for example, is the middle class, who does it include and exclude, and why does it get so much attention? When does talking about class turn into class warfare, or pandering, or simple confusion? To what extent can we talk about class without talking about race, ethnicity, and cultural background? Class is clearly related to wealth and money, but it also involves much more than that, from education to dress to the shows we watch, the words we use, and the clothes we wear. What are the measures and markers that help us recognize class, and to what extent is class useful for seeing our state, our neighbors, and ourselves?
Conversation Project: Good Food, Bad Food
Oregon boasts a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy that includes both industrial agriculture and small-scale efforts such as community supported agriculture memberships, farmers markets, and community gardens. These smaller, community-based efforts are on the rise as means to nurture community and create local and autonomous food systems. In this conversation, author Kristy Athens will ask participants to think about the impact of their food choices. Are these choices as consequential as consumers would like them to be? Does “voting with your dollars” significantly shape our agricultural systems?
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: Does Higher Education Matter?
Join educator and activist Paul Susi in a discussion that will examine our assumptions and values around education and its impact on our lives.
Conversation Project: What Does It Mean to Be Good?
Exploring Morality in the Midst of Structural Oppression
Out of the Woods
Ruby McConnell on meeting a lost boy in a Cascades forest
Episodes in People Watching
Dionisia Morales on teaching kids to be wary of their surroundings in an excerpt from her book, "Homing Instincts"
How Do Our Values Influence Environmental Policy?
Given competing interests and visions of the public good, how do we protect our common resources such as land, water, and air? Join philosopher Monica Mueller to explore our environmental values and question how those values are reflected—or not reflected—in current local, national, and global environmental policies.
Conversation Project: Showing Up
What Does It Mean to Belong to a Community?
Conversation Project: Good Food, Bad Food
Agriculture, Ethics, and Personal Choice
Conversation Project: Everyday Leaders
Recognizing Leadership Beyond Power and Authority
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: Faith and Politics in Oregon and Beyond
This conversation explores how our religious ideas and political identities mix and what it means for our common life together.
Conversation Project: How Do Our Values Influence Environmental Policy?
This conversation explores our environmental values and questions how those values are reflected—or not reflected—in current local, national, and global environmental policies.
Conversation Project: Good Food, Bad Food
Agriculture, Ethics, and Personal Choice
Conversation Project: Good Food, Bad Food
Agriculture, Ethics, and Personal Choice
Conversation Project: What We Risk
Creativity, Vulnerability, and Art
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: What We Risk
Join artist and educator Jason Graham, a slam poetry champion and speaker who performs hip hop as MOsley WOtta, for a conversation exploring the relationship between self-expression and vulnerability.
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: Seeing the Forest for the Trees
Stewarding Our Public Forests
Conversation Project: What We Risk
Creativity, Vulnerability, and Art
Conversation Project: How Do Our Values Influence Environmental Policy?
This conversation explores our environmental values and question how those values are reflected—or not reflected—in current policies.
Conversation Project: What Makes a Job Good?
This conversation engages participants in exploring the quality and meanings of work in their own lives and in the lives of others.
Conversation Project: Crime and Punishment in Oregon
This conversation explores why and how we punish and asks, are there other ways that are more effective, reasonable, or desireable?
Conversation Project: What We Risk
Creativity, Vulnerability, and Art
Conversation Project: In Science We Trust?
The Role of Science in a Democracy
Conversation Project: In Science We Trust?
The Role of Science in a Democracy
Conversation Project: Keeping Tabs on America
Surveillance and You
Conversation Project: Everyday Leaders
Recognizing Leadership Beyond Power and Authority
Conversation Project: Keeping Tabs on America
Surveillance and You
Conversation Project: Does Higher Education Matter?
Join educator and activist Paul Susi in a discussion that will examine our assumptions and values around education and its impact on our lives.
Conversation Project: Does Higher Education Matter?
Join educator and activist Paul Susi in a discussion that will examine our assumptions and values around education and its impact on our lives.
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: What Does it Mean to be Good?
Exploring Morality in the Midst of Structural Oppression
Conversation Project: Everyday Leaders
Recognizing Leadership Beyond Power and Authority
Conversation Project: Democracy from the Inside Out
Listening to Our Consciences and Our Neighbors
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 Middle Class and Other Stories about Wealth, Status, and Power
Join Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis for a conversation that explores what we think and how we talk about class in Oregon and the nation. What exactly, for example, is the middle class, who does it include and exclude, and why does it get so much attention?
Conversation Project: What Does it Mean to be Good?
Exploring Morality in the Midst of Structural Oppression
Conversation Project: Keeping Tabs on America
Surveillance and You
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: What We Risk *RESCHEDULED*
Creativity, Vulnerability, and Art
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: What Makes a Job Good?
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.
Conversation Project: What Does It Mean to Be Good?
Exploring Morality in the Midst of Structural Oppression
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: What Does It Mean to Be Good?
Exploring Morality in the Midst of Structural Oppression
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: 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: 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: Seeing the Forest for the Trees
Stewarding Our Public Forests
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: Faith and Politics in Oregon and Beyond
Join writer, educator, and former minister Russ Pierson in a conversation about how our religious ideas and political identities mix and what it means for our common life together.
Conversation Project: The World to Come
How Our Fear about the Future Affects Our Actions
Conversation Project: Seeing the Forest for the Trees
Stewarding Our Public Forests
Conversation Project: The Middle Class and Other Stories about Wealth, Status, and Power
Join Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis for a conversation that explores what we think and how we talk about class in Oregon and the nation. What exactly, for example, is the middle class, who does it include and exclude, and why does it get so much attention?
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: Keeping Tabs on America
Surveillance and You
Conversation Project: Keeping Tabs on America
Surveillance and You
Conversation Project: What We Risk
Creativity, Vulnerability, and Art
Conversation Project: In Science We Trust?
The Role of Science in a Democracy
Conversation Project: In Science We Trust?
The Role of Science in a Democracy
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: How Do Our Values Influence Environmental Policy?
Given competing interests and visions of the public good, how do we protect our common resources such as land, water, and air? Join philosopher Monica Mueller to explore our environmental values and question how those values are reflected—or not reflected—in current local, national, and global environmental policies.
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: 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: What Makes a Job Good? *POSTPONED*
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. This conversation, led by historian Nikki Mandell, will engage participants in thinking about and discussing work more deeply.
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: 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: 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 (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: From Saving to Serving
On Intervening in the Lives of Others
Conversation Project: Does Higher Education Matter?
This conversation will examine our assumptions and values around education and its impact on our lives.
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: What Does it Mean to Be Good?
Exploring Morality in the Midst of Structural Oppression
Conversation Project: Keeping Tabs on America
Surveillance and You
Conversation Project: Democracy from the Inside Out
Listening to Our Consciences and Our Neighbors
Conversation Project: Seeing the Forest for the Trees
Stewarding Our Public Forests
Conversation Project: The Middle Class and Other Stories about Wealth, Status, and Power
What exactly is the middle class, who does it include and exclude, and why does it get so much attention? Join Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis for a conversation that explores what we think and how we talk about class in Oregon and the nation.
Conversation Project: What We Risk
Creativity, Vulnerability, and Art
Conversation Project: Seeing the Forest for the Trees
Stewarding Our Public Forests
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: The World to Come
How Our Fear about the Future Affects Our Actions
Conversation Project: The Middle Class and Other Stories about Wealth, Status, and Power
What exactly is the middle class, who does it include and exclude, and why does it get so much attention? Join Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis for a conversation that explores what we think and how we talk about class in Oregon and the nation.
Conversation Project: Seeing the Forest for the Trees
Stewarding Our Public Forests
Conversation Project: How Do Our Values Influence Environmental Policy?
Join philosopher Monica Mueller to explore our environmental values and question how those values are reflected—or not reflected—in current local, national, and global environmental policies.
Conversation Project: Good Food, Bad Food
Agriculture, Ethics, and Personal Choice
Conversation Project: Crime and Punishment in Oregon
From prisons and youth correctional facilities to schools and county jails, we’re surrounded by institutions that punish. But why do we punish? Why is punishment sometimes sanctioned by the state? Are there other ways to punish—such as restorative justice—that may be more effective, reasonable, or desirable?
Conversation Project: From Saving to Serving
On Intervening in the Lives of Others
Conversation Project: In Science We Trust?
The Role of Science in a Democracy
Invite in the Stranger
Adam Davis on radical hospitality
Think & Drink on Tourism in Tillamook County
Tillamook County Pioneer Museum and Oregon Humanities present a conversation on the challenges and benefits of tourism in Tillamook County.
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: Too Busy to Rest
Boundaries and Balance in a Nonstop World
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.
Who is Not at the Table?
Filmmaker Ifanyi Bell reflects on the making of “Future: Portland 2”
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: Too Busy to Rest
Boundaries and Balance in a Nonstop World
Conversation Project: What We Risk
Creativity, Vulnerability, and Art
Conversation Project: Good Food, Bad Food
Agriculture, Ethics, and Personal Choice
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.
Conversation Project: Good Food, Bad Food
Agriculture, Ethics, and Personal Choice
Conversation Project: What We Risk
Creativity, Vulnerability, and Art
Conversation Project: From Saving to Serving
On Intervening in the Lives of Others
Conversation Project: Good Food, Bad Food
Agriculture, Ethics, and Personal Choice
Conversation Project: What We Risk
Creativity, Vulnerability, and Art
Conversation Project: What We Risk
Creativity, Vulnerability, and Art
Conversation Project: In Science We Trust?
The Role of Science in a Democracy
Conversation Project: In Science We Trust?
The Role of Science in a Democracy
Conversation Project: What We Risk
Creativity, Vulnerability, and Art
Conversation Project: Keeping Tabs on America
Surveillance and You
Conversation Project: What Makes Life Meaningful?
Are we sparks of divine creation, or simply meaning-making creatures, or genes replicating themselves for no other purpose than adapting to our natural environment? 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: Keeping Tabs on America
Surveillance and You
Conversation Project: Good Food, Bad Food
Agriculture, Ethics, and Personal Choice
Conversation Project: Looking for Leadership
What Do We Want from Leaders?
Dry Years, Wet Years, Tradition and Change: An Evening with Patricia Nelson Limerick
This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
Conversation Project: What We Risk
Creativity, Vulnerability, and Art
Unbuttoned into the Blow
Conversation Project leader, poet, and essayist Wendy Willis defends human fragility.
The Golden Hour
The collective strength of strangers after a horrifying accident. An essay by Jason Arias
Wonder, Bread
Seeking the sacred in the mundane world. An excerpt from Great Tide Rising: Toward Clarity and Moral Courage in a Time of Planetary Change by Kathleen Dean Moore
Making Men
Writer Bobbie Willis Soeby on raising her sons to not rape
Between Ribbon and Root
Hope and a history of tragedy live together in a Cowlitz woman's son. An essay by Christine Dupres
Conversation Project: Keeping Tabs on America
Surveillance and You
Mothers to Daughters
Mothers give advice to their daughters about living bravely in an unsafe world in this film produced by Sika Stanton for Oregon Humanities.
What We Pass On
Adam Davis, executive director of Oregon Humanities, writes about cultural inheritance.
David and Goliath
Remembering a friend from a hospice house. An excerpt from What the Dying Have Taught Me about Living: The Awful Amazing Grace of God by Fred Grewe, an Oregon Humanities Talking about Dying community discussion leader.
A Return Passage
Reporter Putsata Reang and photographer Kim Nguyen share their stories of leaving their home countries as refugees, meeting as students at the University of Oregon, and returning to Southeast Asia as journalists. A film produced by Dawn Jones for Oregon Humanities.
Life's Winter
The opportunities seem endless, but the season is not. An excerpt from Building a Better Nest: Living Lightly at Home and in the World by Evelyn Searle Hess.
Stepping Backward
Hearing lessons from a bomb. An essay by David Naimon
Kansas in Technicolor
After a mastectomy, finding beauty in loss. An essay by Gretchen Icenogle
A Temporary Insanity
Torn between the pull of family and the pull of home. An essay by Gail Wells
Feel-Good Feminism
Bitch Media cofounder Andi Zeisler wonders if feminism's pop-culture cachet has doomed the movement.
Gone Astray
A humanitarian aid worker in Sri Lanka finds herself caught up in a race to harvest the tusks of a dead elephant.
What's the Use?
Why bother with history? Why bother at all? An essay by Robert Leo Heilman
One Giant Step
Coming of age during the hopeful days of American space exploration. An essay by Dmae Roberts
Firing a Friend
It's hard to be a good citizen during an election year. An essay by Jennifer Ruth
The Artist as Worker
Rilke would never have understood the current desire to merge commerce and creativity. An essay by M. Allen Cunningham
Abnormal Beauties
Portlanders don't fair well in a national magazine's beauty ratings. So what? An essay by Karen Karbo
Designing the Good Life
Beauty is a desirable bonus when design improves our lives. An essay by Lisa Radon
Irreconcilable Dissonance
The threat of divorce as the glue of marriage. An essay by Brian Doyle