Throwing Rocks at Kesey's Big, White Moon
Daniel Dietz on reading the works of Eugene's most famous author sixty years after his heyday.
For the People
Jordan Hernandez writes about how Oregon libraries are responding to the evolving needs of their communities.
Pack Matters
Erica Berry on wolves, family, fear, and love
The River Oblivion
Laura Gibson on family, forgetting, and the underworld.
“We Have to Create Alternative Habitats for Writers”
Lidia Yuknavitch on the future of literature and art in Oregon and beyond. Interview by Alex Behr.
Not a Circle, Not a Line
Susan DeFreitas writes about Ursula K. Le Guin's long view of the American West
Mad
An excerpt from Emilly Prado's forthcoming essay collection, Funeral for Flaca.
The Crowd Might Cover You
Recollections of finding anxiety, kindness, and community on the streets of Portland
Steelhead
An excerpt from Tina Ontiveros's memoir, rough house.
Dear Stranger
Dear Stranger is a letter-exchange project that connects Oregonians through the mail to share experiences, beliefs, and ideas.
Resume of Failures—2011
Kim Stafford writes about the stories of struggle, insecurity, and loss behind his accomplishments in the 2011 “Fail” issue.
If You've Made It This Far
An excerpt from Don Waters' memoir These Boys and Their Fathers
Our Most-read Stories of 2018
Our readers' favorite articles and videos from the past year explore stories of identity, place, and belonging.
"Poetry Builds Community"
Kim Stafford is Oregon’s ninth Poet Laureate.
Read. Talk. Think.
Things that make you say O. Hm.
On Bearing Bad News
Robert Leo Heilman writes about trying and failing to save library services in Douglas County.
Remembering Peter Sears
We were saddened to learn of the death of former Oregon Poet Laureate Peter Sears, who passed away July 20.
Unbuttoned into the Blow
Conversation Project leader, poet, and essayist Wendy Willis defends human fragility.
So to Speak
Novelist Laila Lalami on moving between languages to find her voice
The Long Boat
Talking about Dying facilitator Jenny Sasser reads Stanley Kunitz's poem "The Long Boat" in this animated video produced by Dan Sadowsky for Oregon Humanities.
The Rim of the Wound
Writer Wendy Willis's open letter to the students of Columbia University Multicultural Affairs Advisory Board, with a special note to her daughters.
Magazine Podcast: Fix
Jaimie Passaro talks about parenting through bipolar episodes with Oregon Humanities editor Kathleen Holt
Another Life
I think often of the taste of my grandfather's grapes and of the meat from my father's knife. An essay by Hanna Neuschwander
What's the Use?
Why bother with history? Why bother at all? An essay by Robert Leo Heilman
To Begin Is to Start
An excerpt from Spells, a novel-within-photographs
In Defense of Navel-Gazing
To understand the world, we must first understand ourselves. An essay by Jay Ponteri
The Thing with Feathers
Joanna Rose on a writer's road trip gone wrong
Posts
Readers write about "Me"
Imaginary Metropolis
What do the cities of science fiction books and films say about the way we perceive the cities we live in? An essay by Dan DeWeese
What It Means to Say Portland
Mitchell S. Jackson on the experience of growing up Black in North and Northeast Portland.
One Giant Step
Coming of age during the hopeful days of American space exploration. An essay by Dmae Roberts
Burning Bushes
When it comes to attention-getting spectacles, God is no longer the only game in town. An essay by Dan DeWeese
An Anecdotal Glossary of Spectacle
M. Allen Cunningham sorts through our landscape of scandal, show, and distraction
A Region by Any Name
From Ecotopia to Cascadia Megaregion, visions of the Pacific Northwest have been secessionist in nature. An essay by Carl Abbott
After the Fall
Somewhere beyond fate and reason, the real work of being human begins. An essay by John Holloran
Résumé of Failures
The stories of struggle, insecurity, and loss behind a successful writer's accomplishments. By Kim Stafford
Laughing Into the Abyss
The existential howl of Jewish American humor. By Scott Nadelson
The Artist as Worker
Rilke would never have understood the current desire to merge commerce and creativity. An essay by M. Allen Cunningham
Go Ahead and Look
In praise of forbidden looking. An essay by Scott Nadelson
Just Look and Read
Can photography make a poem more accessible? By Henry Hughes and Paul S. Gentry
Here, Not There
A wife looks to the Greeks when her husband is called away to war. An essay by Sarah Gilbert