Oregon Humanities

Getting to Know Our Places

In Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape, desire path is defined as “the route people have chosen to take across an open place, marking a human pattern upon a landscape.” Desire paths are everywhere—diagonal shortcuts from sidewalk to sidewalk, trails blazed through waist-high bramble, impromptu breaks in shrubbery on parking strips. Humans, like other animals, have their own sense of how to traverse the landscape regardless of what city planners and naturalists... Read more

27 May 2011 | Posted by Kathleen Holt in Special Projects | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

The Secret of Life

In Roald Dahl’s short story “The Hitch-Hiker,” the title character is coy about his line of work, initially telling the narrator only that he is in a skilled trade. “The secret of life,” the Londoner says, “is to become very, very good at something that is very, very ‘ard to do.”

To reveal the hitchhiker’s occupation would spoil the story, but his motto can be applied to just about any activity, profession, or calling. Tomorrow, from 10 a.m, to 2 p.m.,... Read more

23 May 2011 | Posted by Eric Gold in Inside O. Hm. | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

Tireless Poetry Traveler

Paulann Petersen, Oregon’s poet laureate, has been on the road for nearly two weeks, traversing the state in an effort to visit as many communities during her tenure as possible.

Petersen was appointed to a two-year term by Governor Kulongoski in April 2010. Oregon Humanities coordinates this program as part of a unique collaboration with the Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Heritage Commission, Oregon Historical Society, and the State Historic Preservation Office, with... Read more

19 May 2011 | Posted by Kathleen Holt in Community | Permalink | Comments? (1 so far)

How We Got "Here"

People often ask how we come up with themes for Oregon Humanities magazine. We find inspiration everywhere, including in our own programs and those of other organizations. For instance, with the Fall/Winter 2011 issue on the theme “Here,” we were inspired by a special program we’re doing this summer in partnership with Metro Regional Government. “Know Your Place” is a series of events at three of Metro’s natural areas, in which participants will explore the human... Read more

16 May 2011 | Posted by Kathleen Holt in Inside O. Hm. | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

Enemy Aliens

On Thursday, the Oregon Nikkei Endowment will host a reading by Priscilla Wegars, author of Imprisoned in Paradise: Japanese Internee Road Workers at the World War II Kooskia Internment Camp. The camp, located in north central Idaho, held 265 men of Japanese descent designated “enemy aliens” by the government. The talk accompanies the organization’s exhibit on the Japanese American internment experience, FBI: Taken, which received an Oregon Humanities Responsive Program... Read more

11 May 2011 | Posted by Eric Gold in Inside O. Hm. | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

The Story You Didn't Want to Tell

About twenty-five people gathered in the lobby of the Gerding Theater at the Armory in Portland during the lunch hour on Friday for the fourth and last Shop Talk, a special program sponsored by Oregon Humanities and Portland Center Stage. Bust playwright and actress Lauren Weedman and Back Fence PDX coproducer B. Frayn Masters talked about memoir, truth, and fame. Emcee Kelsey Tyler, PCS education and community programs director, asked questions that elicited laughter and... Read more

09 May 2011 | Posted by Kathleen Holt in Community New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

Good Ideas on a Sunny Day

TEDxPortland—an independent spin-off of big TED, “Ideas Worth Spreading” TED—happened on one of the first dry, sunny days of spring, so it would have been natural to see more than a few empty seats in the Gerding Theater at the Armory, especially as the day went on. That’s not what happened. Sure, there were a few more seats in the theater by day’s end, but only a few.

What was the pull to stay in a dark theater on a clear day listening to thirteen speakers talk... Read more

03 May 2011 | Posted by Kathleen Holt in Events Community New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)