Events & Opportunities
February 3, 2025
Softening Sharp Teeth: Getting Curious about Conflict
Interpersonal conflict and disagreement are part of being in relationship with others, but many of us fear conflict. Motivated by many factors, including cultural norms, concern for social consequences, and personal safety, many of us avoid it. What might we learn and how might we grow by making more room for conflict? What skills do we need to responsibly engage in conflict? How can shifting our relationship to conflict offer us new perspectives about ourselves and the groups we belong to? This community conversation is an opportunity to reflect on our relationships to interpersonal conflict outside of where we might most often encounter it, like the heated context of an argument at the dinner table or online. Facilitator Emily Squires will lead a judgement- and jargon-free discussion of what we mean when we say conflict, considering how interpersonal conflict shapes our lives and tools to use when experiencing it.
Register for this free, online conversation here.
1:30 to 3:15 p.m. Pacific, Virtual Event, statewide
February 5, 2025
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 and our experiences of being governed? 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.
6:00 p.m., Virtual Event, statewide
February 8, 2025
Conversation Project: Preserving Our Culture and Traditions
This conversation explores the importance of cultural heritage and preserving the languages, customs, and traditions while living in places where they may not be present. This conversation is for people who have emigrated from another county or people who are descendants of immigrants (up to the third generation) and are interested in reconnecting with their culture. We'll share stories about our experiences and explore the connections participants have—or may not have—with their roots. And we will reflect on how we might reconnect with our heritage when we feel the desire to do so.
2:00 p.m., Salem Public Library, Salem
February 8, 2025
Conversation Project: Preservación de nuestra cultura y tradiciones
Reflexionemos sobre la Importancia de la identidad cultural latina, el uso de la lengua nativa y la preservación de las tradiciones y costumbres. Esta conversación es para personas que han emigrado de países hispanohablantes, o descendientes de inmigrantes (hasta la 3ra generación) que están interesados en reconectarse con su cultura. Aquí compartiremos historias y vivencias sobre el nivel de conexión que aún tenemos con nuestras raíces, y finalmente reflexionaremos sobre qué podemos hacer para reconectarnos en caso de que exista tal añoranza.
11:00 a.m., Salem Public Library, Salem
February 16, 2025
Conversation Project: Preservación de nuestra cultura y tradiciones
Reflexionemos sobre la Importancia de la identidad cultural latina, el uso de la lengua nativa y la preservación de las tradiciones y costumbres. Esta conversación es para personas que han emigrado de países hispanohablantes, o descendientes de inmigrantes (hasta la 3ra generación) que están interesados en reconectarse con su cultura. Aquí compartiremos historias y vivencias sobre el nivel de conexión que aún tenemos con nuestras raíces, y finalmente reflexionaremos sobre qué podemos hacer para reconectarnos en caso de que exista tal añoranza.
11:00 a.m., Downtown Bend Library, Bend
March 15, 2025
Migración: cambios y tansformación—lo que cambia y lo que permanece
Los cambios son parte natural de la vida, pero si además añadimos un estado migratorio, los cambios pueden ser más profundos y complejos y acarrear matices que transformarán de manera más radical la vida del que deja atrás su país, su gente y parte de su historia.
Esta conversación es para inmigrantes que quieran explorar los efectos que la migración ha traído a sus vidas. Queremos ofrecer un espacio en donde podamos compartir nuestras experiencias y reflexionar juntos acerca de los cambios que hemos tenido desde que dejamos nuestro pueblo o ciudad natal, qué nos trajo al lugar que habitamos y cuáles con las transformaciones por las que hemos pasado en el proceso migratorio.
¿Qué sucede con nuestras raíces, costumbres y cultura una vez migramos? Hablemos de ello y compartamos nuestros pensamientos y necesidades.
10:30 a.m., Downtown Bend Library, Bend
May 8, 2025
Softening Sharp Teeth: Getting Curious about Conflict
Interpersonal conflict and disagreement are part of being in relationship with others, but many of us fear conflict. Motivated by many factors, including cultural norms, concern for social consequences, and personal safety, many of us avoid it. What might we learn and how might we grow by making more room for conflict? What skills do we need to responsibly engage in conflict? How can shifting our relationship to conflict offer us new perspectives about ourselves and the groups we belong to? This community conversation is an opportunity to reflect on our relationships to interpersonal conflict outside of where we might most often encounter it, like the heated context of an argument at the dinner table or online. Facilitator Emily Squires will lead a judgement- and jargon-free discussion of what we mean when we say conflict, considering how interpersonal conflict shapes our lives and tools to use when experiencing it.
6:00 p.m., Cedar Mill Community Library, Portland