Events & Opportunities
April 25, 2019
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.
6:00 p.m., Maplewood Elementary School, Portland
April 25, 2019
Conversation Project: Can We Get Along?
Examining Our Personal Experiences of Connection and Community
6:00 p.m., Sherwood Public Library, Sherwood
April 25, 2019
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?
6:30 p.m., Columbia Grange 267, Corbett
April 26, 2019
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?
6:00 p.m., Rockford Grange #501, Hood River
April 27, 2019
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.
3:00 p.m., Waldport Community Center, Waldport
April 28, 2019
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.
Noon, Multnomah Friends Meeting, Portland
April 29, 2019
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.
1:00 p.m., Treasure Valley Community College, Ontario
April 29, 2019
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? Facilitator Surabhi Majahan will lead us in a conversation to explore cultural appropriation beyond who’s “allowed” to wear certain clothing or cook particular foods.
6:00 p.m., Treasure Valley Community College, Ontario
April 30, 2019
Conversation Project: Hunger in Our Communities
Hunger and its related problems are steadily increasing in the state of Oregon. At the same time, many Oregonians experience pride from living in an area with such abundant and sustainable food production. How can these truths about our state—both the hunger and the abundance—coexist? To understand the root causes of why hunger exists in our communities, we must also look at how we view hunger. Do we see hunger as an individual problem or a systemic one? How does hunger affect our individual identities as well as our sense of community? Facilitator Surabhi Mahajan will lead participants in a conversation to explore the connections between the constructed story of hunger and the current and possible solutions to end hunger.
3:00 p.m., Treasure Valley Community College, Ontario
April 30, 2019
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.
7pm, Tualatin Public Library, Tualatin