Oregon Humanities

My most recent “favourite idea” is:
The idea that we can encourage and assist each other to have ideas that excite us is itself an idea that excites me.

Mike

And it is easy to learn how to become a really able encouager, an aider and abetter of the glory of the mind.

Mike Sands, Vancouver, Canada | on Donor profile Jennifer Schuberth

Hi,
I am interested in the issue of prisons, in your project.  I am writing an essay as part of a Leadership Program I recently completed.  Its title - Spirituality in State Government / Is It Part of the Current or New Model?  I see your efforts as stemming from spirituality and would like to be informed of your findings.  Is the world asking for a new model?
Good luck!
Laurent

Laurent, Salem, OR | on Beyond Bars: Reenvisioning the Prison System

utterly satisfying in content and form. and prolly a buncha other levels i can’t quite articulate.

donna | on Scott Nadelson on forbidden looking

I had a mother who collected things ... after she passed, I foud her wedding ring, long lost in the bottom of a cardboard box full with recipies I remember fromthe back of C&H brown sugar boxes ( how sweet ).

I peer into my closet, garage, drawers, and the mirror ... I admire, shudder at the chaos ... she taught me well.

MJ | on Dmae Roberts on hoarding

Dmae-we are sisters in so many ways.  I come home from being with family and vow to change my ways…only to stumble in the efforts.  The emotional heaving and ache of loss run so deep as I struggle to recycle boxes of recipes, garden articles, music lists and book lists.  Oh, not to mention the cards and letters and photos of lives long lived and voices now stilled.  I can only day by day renew my quest for letting go & simplifying my life.  Thank you for your shared story.

Gloria Guinn | on Dmae Roberts on hoarding

This essay, which I find astonishingly clever, true, witty and honest, seems to have received far more comments than any of the others (although I have yet to read them all). I, too, am married. For the second time. And yes, my divorce was a good idea, not only at the time, but since. And yes, it hammered our 2 children, one of whom has decided never to have children of his own (a sorrow for me, and also a loss to the unborn child, too, as I feel he would be a terrific Dad).
  Meanwhile, my second marriage is humming along very nicely in a kind of way, and I stay married primarily because I am tired, which I can also understand as a reason for divorce, by the way, even a reason I might have applied to ending the first.
  But chiefly I am too tired to a) have an affair (the very idea of which makes me want to sit down on the couch and grab the remote) and certainly b) breaking in a new spouse or being broken in by one. And I find living with my husband so much more companionable than just living with my cats, although, don’t get me wrong, the cats are truly companionable.
  In a more serious vein, I wish to say I am glad divorce is now at least possible to consider without (too much) baggage from religious threats of Hell or the pure impossibility of a woman living safely on her own. Nevertheless, the financial consequences of divorce remain dire. Underneath the wit and banter of this essay, I nevertheless hear the suffering of children living in poverty, and moms wondering why the men they once loved so fiercely, and who professed to love them, choose to shirk their responsibility to keeping their children fed and clothed.

Linda Barnes, Medford, OR | on Brian Doyle on marriage and divorce

Wow, this really struck home. I recently got a card from a “friend” of almost 10 years, a woman I thought I knew well. She informed me that our friendship was too hard for her to continue, as our values are so different she feels she cannot speak up when I voice my opinions.

I had felt her to be one of the bravest and most honest women I knew, yet she had been avoiding my calls and emails for weeks, even refusing to respond to my invitation to treat her to lunch for her birthday (something we had enjoyed in the past).

At first I was deeply hurt. I had lost a friend! Then I became angry. How cowardly of her to break off our friendship this way, and how dishonest she had apparently been during the years of our mutual disclosures.

Finally, I wrote her an “unsent letter” expressing my confusion of feelings, and then removed her from my phone list and address book. But I remain troubled. Is it true that when differences are so wide that we must simply give up speaking to one another?

I am a liberal, a “secular Humanist,” if you will. My “friend” is a Catholic, very conservative in her views. She votes Republican. I have my disagreements with the Democratic party, but cannot abide what I see as the philosophical selfishness of the “other side.”

What next? Will we throw stones through one another’s windows? Put up barbed wire fences around our homes? Buy guns?

In the end, I am just plain sad that I have lost the fun of enjoying those things we agreed on, and even more aggrieved that we stand as a shameful example of why human beings are unable to get along in this crowded world.

Linda Barnes, Medford, OR | on Readers Favorite Firing a Friend

Jeffrey, Thanks so much for taking time to read the piece and share this history lesson. I definitely feel you on the authenticity of language and the ways its been commodified in the mainstream. I used breakdancing to identify it originally for folks, but then consistently use b-boy/b-girl throughout the rest of the piece.

There is so much rich and important history to the creation of hip hop - thank you for bringing this piece to light!

Walidah Imarisha | on Walidah Imarisha on the Portland hip hop community

Your article is very well written and well informed. Some of the better journalism I have read regarding this topic. Pleases me to read such great detail on Portland’s history. However…

*Bboying
The 4 elements are Graffiti, DJ, MC, & BBOY
‘breakdancer’ is a term driven by the media in the early 80’s (for lack of a better word).
the ‘B’ in Bboy originally stood for ‘Bronx’ Boy. Later it was adapted as break boy and sometimes beat boy. Ultimately a real bboy stays true to the art form by demonstrating both foundation and innovation. That is to say, they exhibit both traditional movements that have been passed down through generations and the music, as well as having developed a style or character which defines themselves as an individual or member of a crew. Bottom line, anybody who calls themselves a ‘breakdancer’ is uninformed and probably wack.

On a side note, the term is adapted to accommodate our sisters of the beat by saying Bgirl.

Jeffrey Michael, honolulu, hi | on Walidah Imarisha on the Portland hip hop community

Thank you, Jennifer. What an elegant essay about our precious privacy and the need to practice discretion to protect it. In this time of what I’m calling the Era of Unedited Egos, it is not only elegant writing but also essential reading.
Thanks to O.Hm for creating an Encore issue so this receives the second (or in my case, first) look it deserves. Terry

Terry Keim, Hines | on Readers favorite dont ask dont tell

Hi Jan. My first suggestion would be to visit the website for the Regional Arts & Culture Council. You might explore funding through the Washington County Cultural Coalition as well. I’ll email you a list of additional funders as well. Good luck with your project!

Jennifer Allen, Portland | on 2012 PP Grant application period opens

Hello!

I am an educator and volunteer coordinator at an incredible place called Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve in Hillsboro,  Our Preserve is 725 acres of wetlands and uplands which are used by nesting birds and wetland animals plus explored by many children and adults,especially bird-watchers.  For years the only access to the Preserve was by car;  there are no bus lines and it is dangerous to bike on the road.  Our organization is working with the City of Hillsboro to construct a trail which would start in downtown Hillsboro and go through our wetlands to an existing Education Center.  The reason I am reaching out to you is to see what suggestions you might have for funding a piece of art which would function as a gate to the wetlands, a portland to the natural area after coming out of the urban zone. There will be thousands of people who will use this entry and enjoy the artwork. We have an Artist, Valerie Otani, who creates public art, but we need funds for the materials which would be around $7,000. Do you know of any grants that might fit this need?

Jan Curry - 503-681-6283

Jan Curry, Hillsboro, OR | on 2012 PP Grant application period opens

Hi Theonie,

We would require a formal letter of interest. I’ll give you a call to discuss your program ideas!

Best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Allen, Portland | on Grants Workshops 2011

Sept. 24, 2011 - We have been setting up meetings under the October “National Arts & Huanities” to initiate awareness of an Arts & Wellnes Center
Concept in Wilsonville. The Wilsonville Arts & Culture Council would like to apply for a 2012 Public Program grant to hold a Creative Conversation at the Wilsonville Library after April
1, 2012. Will this message serve as a Letter of Interest due by Oct. 31? Or, do you wnat something
more formal? 503-638-6933

TheonieGilmore | on Grants Workshops 2011

No, this was last year’s event. Not sure we’ll be doing it again this year—stay tuned!

Kathleen Holt | on Holiday author event and magazine reading 2010