Oregon Humanities

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... More

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

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... More

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

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... More

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

As an end of year gift to all of you, here are a few O. Hm. moments from a few of the people who brought you the “O. Hm. Moment.”

When I was working at the Oregon Humanities booth at Wordstock in October, a man stopped to spin the Wheel of Cogitation. He landed on, “Someone unlike you whom you’re curious about.” He stood silent for a long time, clearly stumped, until he said, “I’m not curious about people who aren’t like me.” It was as if he realized... More

08 December 2010 | Posted in Inside O. Hm. | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

I’m a word nerd—always have been. I’ve been known to forward ‘word of the day’ emails with a touch too much glee. Come to think of it, I could be happy stuck on a deserted island as long as I had my Oxford English Dictionary. And maybe Spanish and French dictionaries if it was going to be a long stay. I love the musicality of words, the way they feel rolling off the tongue: listless, lascivious, lounge. I love onomatopoeic words: murmur, hiccup, zap. Or words... More

21 September 2010 | Posted in Inside O. Hm. | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

I was sitting in my office last week reading a final report that one of our recent Responsive Program Grant recipients submitted when I realized how much I don’t know about war, especially how the notion of “home” changes so drastically. The Southern Oregon Goodwill Industries, in partnership with a number of other local organizations, recently hosted a conference focused on returning veterans. The conference responded to the social, emotional, and economic... More

26 August 2010 | Posted in Inside O. Hm. New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

Last night, my husband, Amos, and I were cruising around on Netflix when we settled on an instant-play movie called Boys Don’t Cry. When it came out in 1999, I meant to go see it in the theater but missed it. Even though I didn’t catch it on the big screen, it garnered enough media attention that I remembered generally what it was about. I knew it was a fairly popular indie film that had been nominated for several Academy Awards, I knew who it starred (Peter... More

13 August 2010 | Posted in Inside O. Hm. New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (2 so far)

Hmm. The moments that most changed the way I think about the world, o dear sweet jesus yes I can tell you those moments, with glee and gaping, still. There were three of them, actually. One was at about three in the afternoon, and the others, I remember vividly, were 1:14 and 1:15 p.m. Those were the moments when people I had never seen before came swimming, literally, their arms milling and their tiny trout mouths gasping for breath, out of the woman who had married me... More

05 August 2010 | Posted in Inside O. Hm. New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (1 so far)

If developments in science could extend your life by five or more healthy, vital years, would you opt in? Probably, right?

Ten weeks ago, my company took on a project for a New York publisher. A Pulitzer Prize winner had written a book about “the strange science of immortality.” The publisher knew that his resume would attract critical attention. They suspected, however—rightly, I thought—that the book would appeal to a much wider audience, not just readers of... More

02 July 2010 | Posted in Inside O. Hm. New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

After bicycling to Oregon Humanities to lead a weekly staff yoga session, our fearless yoga leader Maggie admitted that she was wearing borrowed pants. Not from her sister or her best friend, but loaners that were given to her by a woman in the class she was leading after a tragically wet bike ride. We laughed about what the world offers up to us when we are down. In this case, Maggie is pretty used to getting caught riding her bike in the rain; she gets around Portland... More

23 June 2010 | Posted in Inside O. Hm. New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (1 so far)