Events & Opportunities
May 28, 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.
6:00 p.m., Driftwood Public Library, Lincoln City
May 29, 2019
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.
3:30 p.m., Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare, Portland
May 29, 2019
Conversation Project: Fish Tales
Oregonians love the wild beauty of our 363 miles of coastline, but finding truly local seafood can be hard, even on the coast. The US imports approximately 90 percent of its seafood and ships out nearly as much to the global market. Why aren’t we eating more local seafood, now that preserving and distribution technologies are the most sophisticated they have ever been? Why do we consider seafood more a delicacy now than it has been in the past? In this conversation, food writer Jennifer Burns Bright helps participants explore our relationship with the products of the sea and cultural traditions involving fishing, eating seafood, and understanding the ocean’s bounty and challenges.
6:00 p.m., Nestucca, Neskowin and Sand Lake Watersheds Council, Pacific City
May 29, 2019
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.
3:30 p.m., Borders Perrin Norrander, Portland
May 29, 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. Admission Fee: $5
6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Columbia Grange 267, Corbett
May 29, 2019
Conversation Project: What Makes a Good Tax?
People and businesses expect certain public services—education, transportation, protection, to name a few—and “tax” is the word we use to indicate how we pay for these services. But among taxpayers, areas of frequent and vehement disagreement are what constitutes a needed public service, how much we should pay for those services, and who will be taxed (and how) for them. The conversation, led by facilitator Mary Nolan, will explore the effects—both intended and unintended—of different types of taxes and invite participants to examine and understand their own ideas and their neighbors’ ideas about the best and worst characteristics of local, state, and federal taxes.
1:00 p.m., Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Oregon, Eugene
May 30, 2019
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.
7:00 pm, Southwest Neighborhoods Inc, Portland
May 30, 2019
Grant Funded Event: Public Showing of "Circles" Film Followed by Discussion
Resolutions Northwest presents a screening of Circles, a documentary by Cassidy Friedman about the restorative justice work done by Eric Butler, a school counselor in Oakland, California. The screening will be followed by a facilitated discussion that will give parents, educators, and activists who are working toward transformative justice, on small and large scales, an adaptable blueprint to apply in their own lives and in schools. This event is made possible in part by a responsive program grant from Oregon Humanities.
6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Ecotrust, Portland
May 30, 2019
Humanity in Perspective Information Session
Learn more about Humanity in Perspective, a free college course for adults living on low incomes who don't have a college degree.
6 p.m.–7 p.m., The Rosewood Initiative, Portland
May 31, 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.
5:30 p.m., Port Orford Public Library, Port Orford