Showing 97 results for tag Belonging

Putting Down Roots

Denise Chin writes about nurturing cultural heritage in the garden.

Beyond the Margins | June 23, 2025

Movement

An interview about community storytelling with Joon Ae Haworth-Kaufka

Beyond the Margins | January 31, 2025

Landlocked

Andrea Camacho writes about home, migration, and places of refuge.

Beyond the Margins | January 15, 2025

This Place

Each week on This Place, we ask one Oregonian to tell us about the places that matter to them. What is it like to be where you are?

Article | December 16, 2024

Rural Places

Stacey Rice talks to three older LGBTQ+ adults about living and building community in rural Oregon.

Beyond the Margins | February 9, 2024

Pantoum for an Uncertain Future

Poem by Alyssa Ogi

Magazine | December 15, 2023

Merciful Debt

Rosanna Nafziger on the implications of generosity, aid, and what we owe.

Magazine | December 15, 2023

Refuge

One family's experience with migration, border detention, and finding safety in Oregon. By Ana Maria Rodriguez with Nella Mae Parks

Magazine | August 25, 2023

A Haven, A Refuge

Jaton Rash on the fine line between being sheltered and unsheltered.

Magazine | August 24, 2023

A Reluctant Receiver: Summer, Love, and a Bicycle

Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt writes about experiencing youthful freedom on a hand-me-down bike.

Beyond the Margins | August 24, 2023

Turkeys

Aileen Hymas writes about struggling to raise poultry and live her sustainable farming ideals.

Beyond the Margins | July 20, 2023

Housing and Belonging

Bringing Oregonians together to talk about home and housing in our communities

Community Conversations | June 20, 2023

We Will Be Here

Lana Jack writes about the mourning, resilience, and resistance of the Celilo Wy-am.

Magazine | April 19, 2023

Unapologetically Afghan American

Yalda Asmatey writes about straddling two worlds: Afghanistan, the country of her birth, and the United States.

Beyond the Margins | April 17, 2023

So Much Together: Me, Myself, and Us

As a multimedia artist, MOsley WOtta uses personal, lived experiences to drive his explorations into identity, place, race, and care. Through examples from his recent work, which incorporates musical, visual, and immersive performance with discussion and dialogue practices, WOtta will guide participants in exploring how identity labels both inform our relationship to our communities—and how it can transform them.

Event | May 27, 2023

“My Heart Belongs Where the Trees Are”

Community Storytelling Fellow Bruce Poinsette explores Black placemaking in Eastern Oregon.

Magazine | January 9, 2023

Stretching Toward the Sun

T. Nguyen writes about moving from Vietnam to Eastern Oregon

Magazine | January 9, 2023

Mëshatàm Lënapehòkink: I remember the land of the Lenape

A photoessay by Joe Whittle about finding joy and mourning on four journeys home.

Magazine | August 24, 2022

We're Here for Each Other

Jennifer Perrine writes about how Oregonians of color are building relationships in the outdoors.

Beyond the Margins | July 8, 2022

The Father I Remember

Hoang Samuelson writes about her family's story and the quiet care of her father.

Beyond the Margins | May 27, 2022

Land Conservation: Roots, Realities, and Reimaginings

Join Katie Voelke, executive director of North Coast Land Conservancy, as she discusses NCLC’s work to protect Oregon's coastal lands. In this two-part workshop, Katie will walk participants through the organization’s own path of relearning the racist history of land conservation in the US and the ways that conservation, through the land trust’s tools of ownership, has perpetuated Indigenous land loss.

Event | June 30, 2021

Posts

Readers write about Possession.

Magazine | April 27, 2021

Flowers for Block 14

Holly Hisamoto on reckoning with race, erasure, grief, and belonging at Portland's Lone Fir Cemetery.

Beyond the Margins | March 31, 2021

Essential but Excluded

Carolina Gómez-Montoya writes about the precarious and disempowered place adjunct instructors occupy in institutions that have come to depend on their labor.

Magazine | April 27, 2020

My Parents’ Exes

Cartoonist Kane Lynch interviews his parents’ former partners about how their lives intersected.

Magazine | April 27, 2020

The Struggles That Unite Us

Eric K. Ward reflects on how the idea of the urban-rural divide only serves to separate us.

Magazine | April 27, 2020

The Privilege to Raise Our Voices

Melissa Hart writes about her mother, her daughter, and finding meaning in protest across generations.

Magazine | April 27, 2020

One Country Again

Astrid Melton reflects on her East German identity after the fall of the wall and reunification.

Magazine | April 27, 2020

People, Places, Things

Berenice Chavez photographs her mother.

Magazine | April 27, 2020

The Air I Breathe—2014

Ifanyi Bell writes about growing up tolerated and underestimated in Portland in the 2014 “Quandary” issue.

Magazine | December 23, 2019

Our Most-read Stories of 2019

Our readers' favorite articles and videos from the past year explore housing and exclusion, hidden histories, race, gender, and poverty.

Beyond the Margins | December 18, 2019

Challenging Questions for Oregonians

At the 2019 Portland Book Festival, we asked attendees to share some challenging questions for fellow Oregonians.

Beyond the Margins | November 22, 2019

The Summer Games

Jennie Hartsock shares her search for community in Corvallis and how a game helped her find her friends.

Beyond the Margins | September 30, 2019

Neither Here nor There

Kiki Nakamura-Koyama writes about her struggle to fit in across continents and how she is empowered to change that experience for her students.

Beyond the Margins | August 30, 2019

Across the Divide

Andie Madsen interviews three Oregonians who grew up in rural areas and moved to Portland about their relationships to their rural identities.

Beyond the Margins | June 27, 2019

Black Mark, Black Legend

Intisar Abioto writes about uncovering the lineage of Black artists in Portland.

Magazine | April 29, 2019

Relearning Home

Mark Putney writes about finding belonging in a Willamette Valley hazelnut orchard after leaving the wilds of Kodiak, Alaska.

Magazine | December 13, 2018

Letters from Home

Letters from four Oregonians about the places where they live, from our 2018 Dear Stranger project.

Beyond the Margins | December 10, 2018

Looking Forward, Looking Past

An excerpt from Emilly Prado's upcoming story about undocumented and mixed-status families living in Oregon.

Beyond the Margins | October 30, 2018

Acceptance

Shilo Niziolek writes about the impact of Marylhurst University's closure on its students.

Beyond the Margins | September 25, 2018

Deep Roots

Samantha Bakall writes about how Mudbone Grown, an urban farm in North Portland, offers celebration and community in the face of Oregon's white-dominated agriculture industry.

Magazine | August 30, 2018

White Man's Territory

Kenneth R. Coleman writes about the exclusionary intent behind the 1850 Donation Land Act in this excerpt from his book, Dangerous Subjects: James D. Saules and the Rise of Black Exclusion in Oregon.

Magazine | April 27, 2018

Unclaiming the Land

Melissa Madenski writes about leaving her home of forty years and what binds us to the places in our lives.

Beyond the Margins | February 26, 2018

Field Work: People in Motion

The University of Oregon’s Wayne Morse Center explores borders, migration, and belonging.

Magazine | December 15, 2017

To Heart Mountain

Alice Hardesty travels to see the site of a World War II prison camp that her father designed.

Magazine | December 15, 2017

Finding Home at the Mims

From the 1940s to '60s, the Mims House was a safe place to stay for African Americans traveling through Oregon. Now it’s a gathering place for the Black community in Eugene. Video by Nisha Burton.

Beyond the Margins | September 11, 2017

People Aren’t Illegal

Photographer Ezra Marcos Ayala reflects on the making of “To Live More Free”

This Land | August 25, 2017

Reaching Back for Truth

Gwen Trice has spent the last fifteen years uncovering her father’s legacy and the history of Oregon’s Black loggers, who lived and worked in Wallowa County at a time when Oregon law excluded Blacks from the state.

Beyond the Margins | August 24, 2017

A City's Lifeblood

As efforts to clean up Portland Harbor begin, the communities most affected by pollution see a chance to reconnect to the Willamette River. By Julia Rosen

Magazine | August 22, 2017

Your Cultural Attire

Conversations about appropriation sometimes miss the complexity of culture. An article by Zahir Janmohamed

Magazine | August 22, 2017

Who is Not at the Table?

Filmmaker Ifanyi Bell reflects on the making of “Future: Portland 2”

This Land | May 18, 2017

Walk On

An innovative program connects physical activity and memory to improve the health of Portland communities affected by change. An article by Marty Hughley with photos by Tojo Andrianarivo

Magazine | April 5, 2017

What They Carried

The things four refugees brought with them when they came to Oregon. Story by Caitlin Dwyer, photos by Kim Oanh Nguyen

Magazine | April 5, 2017

Making Peace with Chaos

Author Zahir Janmohamed and photographer Tojo Andrianarivo profile student refugees living and thriving in Portland despite uncertainty.

Magazine | December 6, 2016

Sunday, Laundry Day

Every quarter counts in subsidized senior housing. An essay by Josephine Cooper

Magazine | August 11, 2016

Slow Ascent

A Chinese American woman searches for belonging in the country of her grandparents. An essay by Jessica Yen

Magazine | August 11, 2016

"I'm Not Staying Here Another Day"

A conversation about the Great Migration with Isabel Wilkerson and Rukaiyah Adams

Beyond the Margins | June 28, 2016

The Gift of a Known World

Oregon Humanities magazine editor Kathleen Holt on the power--and privilege--of rooting oneself to places

Magazine | April 11, 2016

Just People Like Us

Writer Guy Maynard on a little-known history of a Southern Oregon community during World War II where prisoners of war were more welcome than US military of color

Magazine | April 11, 2016

A Tremendous Force of Will

A conversation about the Great Migration's and the civil right movement with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Isabel Wilkerson

Magazine | April 11, 2016

Not Built for Ghosts

Writer Helen Hill on consequences she faced after leaving her beloved home in the hands of others

Magazine | April 11, 2016

You'll See Me Tomorrow Because

A prose poem by Anis Mojgani

Beyond the Margins | February 20, 2016

Rootedness

An essay by Brian Doyle

Beyond the Margins | January 28, 2016

Whose State Is This?

Journalist Brent Walth on how legal measures targeting Latino Oregonians reflect fears of change.

Magazine | December 18, 2015

Community in Flux

The long-persecuted Roma people begin to speak out. By Lisa Loving

Magazine | December 18, 2015

David and Goliath

Remembering a friend from a hospice house. An excerpt from What the Dying Have Taught Me about Living: The Awful Amazing Grace of God by Fred Grewe, an Oregon Humanities Talking about Dying community discussion leader.

Beyond the Margins | September 23, 2015

Group Therapy

Copping out at an uptown slumber party. An essay by Dionisia Morales

Magazine | August 11, 2015

This Is Not Just a Cloud

Embracing grief in the wilderness. An essay by Michael Heald

Magazine | August 11, 2015

Posts

Readers write about Safe

Magazine | August 11, 2015

Perhaps, Perhaps

Bobby Arellano on waiting for an alcoholic father to stand up

Magazine | April 7, 2015

Posts

Magazine | April 7, 2015

Future: Portland

Civic leaders describe the loss of Portland's strong black communities and the hope of restoring them in the future in a video by Ifanyi Bell.

Beyond the Margins | March 9, 2015

A Temporary Insanity

Torn between the pull of family and the pull of home. An essay by Gail Wells

Beyond the Margins | January 22, 2015

The Air I Breathe

Filmmaker Ifanyi Bell writes about growing up underestimated in Portland

Magazine | December 8, 2014

Small Man in a Big Country

Native language is just the first thing an immigrant family abandons in order to become American. An excerpt from Little Big Man: In Search of My Asian Self by Alex Tizon

Magazine | July 31, 2014

Clowns for Christ

Norina Beck writes about losing her faith and finding her nose.

Magazine | July 31, 2014

On the Bench

Not starting and starting again. An essay by Brian Doyle

Magazine | July 31, 2014

Who's Minding Your Business?

A conversation with writer William T. Vollmann on privacy, surveillance, and hope

Magazine | March 25, 2014

Mark My Words

Linguist Edwin Battistella on pronouns and the myth of a "me generation"

Magazine | March 25, 2014

The Thing with Feathers

Joanna Rose on a writer's road trip gone wrong

Magazine | March 25, 2014

You Remind Me of Me

Parent and child, strange and baffling creatures that are part, yet no part, of each other. An essay by Daniel Rivas

Magazine | March 25, 2014

Posts

Readers write about "Me"

Magazine | March 23, 2014

Belonging and Connection

Bette Lynch Husted on imperfect small-town life in Pendleton.

Magazine | December 5, 2013

On the River

Debra Gwartney on learning to love the isolation of her adopted home on the McKenzie River.

Magazine | December 5, 2013

Why We Stay

Monica Drake on raising a family in an urban neighborhood instead of a more serene but less vibrant rural place.

Magazine | December 5, 2013

A Hidden History

Walidah Imarisha on revealing the stories and struggles of Oregon’s African American communities.

Magazine | August 13, 2013

One America?

A conversation between Gregory Rodriguez and Tomas Jimenez about American identity, race, immigration, and ideology.

Magazine | August 9, 2013

Being Brown

Bobbie Willis Soeby on when skin lies and when skin tells the truth

Magazine | August 9, 2013

Soldiers' Stories

Photographer Jim Lommasson collaborates with war veterans on a gallery exhibit and book project that look at life for soldiers after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Magazine | August 7, 2012

Where Are You From?

Connecting to the places where we live. An essay by Wendy Willis

Magazine | April 8, 2012

The Newcomers

The boundaries between "what was" and "what is." An essay by Dionisia Morales

Magazine | April 8, 2012

The Olde Towne Team

For sports fans, it's more than just a game. An essay by Guy Maynard

Magazine | November 8, 2011

The Image and Act of Communion

Editor's note

Magazine | August 12, 2011

Legally White

Muslim immigrants vie for citizenship in the early twentieth century. By Kambiz Ghaneabassiri

Magazine | August 12, 2011

Second-Chance Family

Rajneeshpuram has come and gone: what keep believers bound to one another? By Marion Goldman

Magazine | August 12, 2011

Neverland

The striking difference between travel and escape. An essay by Apricot Irving

Magazine | November 23, 2009

Far from Home

The history and future of Slavic refugees in Oregon. By Susan W. Hardwick

Magazine | November 23, 2009