Oregon Humanities

A Video Series of Ideas, Opinions, and Perspectives

Produced in collaboration with Sheepscot Creative, the Bring Your Own video series features ideas, thoughts, and opinions from Oregon Humanities writers, scholars, and thinkers. Some are sweet, some are serious, some are provocative. All encourage you to respond.

That’s your charge: watch the videos (listed in the column to the left), roll the ideas around in your head a bit, then bring your own. Write a comment, response, question, story, or opinion right here on our website. Tweet it to us (@orhumanities). Post it on our Facebook page. You could even post a video response on our YouTube page.

It could be a direct response to one of these videos or a riff, tangent, or completely unrelated thing. Doesn’t matter to us. Just bring it.

05 November 2012 | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

Sarah Gilbert on Life Beyond Work

Writer Sarah Gilbert thinks that we need more policies that support families and lives beyond work. What do you think? How much should government policies support and regulate private lives?

Sarah has written for Oregon Humanities magazine, including The Good Fight (Summer 2012) and Here, Not There (Fall/Winter 2009).

01 May 2013 | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

Jennifer Ruth on Taboo and Polite Conversation

Portland State University English professor Jennifer Ruth thinks polite conversation is boring conversation. What do you think? What’s the last impolite conversation you had?

Jennifer has written for Oregon Humanities magazine. You can read her essay, “Firing a Friend,” in our Encore issue.

08 April 2013 | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

Dmae Roberts on race and inclusion in Oregon

Writer and radio producer Dmae Roberts describes a moment from childhood when she became aware of racism and encourages Oregonians to be proactive about inclusion and engagement with communities of color. How often do you leave your familiar communities to engage with a less familiar one?

You can read two essays Dmae has written for Oregon Humanities magazine: One Giant Step in the Fight issue and My Brother, the Keeper in the Stuff issue.

07 February 2013 | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

Wendy Willis on Producing Not Consuming

Poet and civic leader Wendy Willis encourages her daughters to make things rather than simply buying them, saying, “The line between desire and implementation isn’t that long.” What are the things that you produce and what are the things that you consume?

Wendy leads a Conversation Project program, The Ties That Bind, which explores how tending to both personal and civic tasks might be interwoven.

You can also read an essay Wendy wrote for the “Here” issue of Oregon Humanities magazine, Where Are You From?, which was also reprinted in Utne Reader.

She is the author of the poetry collection Blood Sisters of the Republic, which was published earlier this fall.

19 December 2012 | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

Kim Stafford on Failure as Opening a New Door

Writer Kim Stafford describes his brother’s suicide as a failure that transformed him. What have been some of your biggest failures and successes? How have they transformed you?

You can read a powerful essay Kim wrote for the Fall/Winter 2011 “Fail” issue of Oregon Humanities magazine, Resume of Failures.

Kim’s new book, 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do: A Memoir, was published this year by Trinity University Press.

19 December 2012 | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

Pancho Savery on Censorship and Free Expression

Reed College professor Pancho Savery is a firm supporter of the First Amendment and believes it’s never all right to censor anything. What are your thoughts about censorship? Are there topics so taboo that it’s understandable why schools and libraries ban particular books?

Pancho discusses these ideas as part of his Conversation Project program “To Cut or Not to Cut.” He has also been involved with Oregon Humanities’ Humanity in Perspective program for low-income adults since its inception in 1999.

09 October 2012 | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

Camas Davis on Killing Animals for Food

As founder of the Portland Meat Collective, Camas Davis has thought long and hard about the complicated act of killing animals for food and how doing so has made her confront her own humanity and mortality. What acts make you confront your humanity or mortality? Is there something you consume or use that poses a moral dilemma for you?

Also, read Camas’s essay on this topic, The Messy Middle, in the Summer 2012 issue of Oregon Humanities magazine.

08 October 2012 | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

Brian David Johnson on the Future

As Intel’s futurist, Brian David Johnson travels the world talking to people about the futures they imagine and the futures they want to avoid. What future do you picture for yourself, your communities, the world? What future do you want to avoid?

08 October 2012 | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

David Gutterman on Playing with Ideas

Oregon Humanities board member and Willamette University professor David Gutterman believes in freeing up kids to play with ideas by asking them what they think, not what they know. How much are you open to thinking rather than knowing? How do you play with ideas?

David moderated our Think & Drink program on religion and civic life. You can watch it here.

08 October 2012 | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)