Events & Opportunities
March 25, 2025
Conversation Project: Parenting in a Noisy Time
How do we parent and why? Who and what do we allow to affect our parenting? Parents are under many pressures, from social media, peer judgement, and the changing world around us. We can learn to see the distinct individuality in each of our kids and make better choices for them when we are mindful navigating these pressures with our own internal compass. Participants in this conversation will gain new lenses for parental reflection.
RSVP for this free, online event.
2:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. PDT, Virtual Event, statewide
April 3, 2025
Author! Author! with Ellen Waterston
Oregon's eleventh Poet Laureate, Ellen Waterston, offers a writing workshop as part of Deschutes Public Library Foundation's annual event series.
7:00 p.m., Caldera High School, Bend
April 5, 2025
The Circle is Expanding, Still: The Gift of Climate Grief
Climate grief is a psychological response to ecological loss driven by our unfolding climate crisis. This workshop will help you understand what climate grief is, why it’s important, and how it might become a creative, transformative force in your life that can bring joy, community, creativity, and greater self-awareness.
Optional community-building and snacks: 12:00–12:30 p.m. & 3:30-4:00 p.m. | Workshop: 12:30-3:30 p.m., Leaven Community Center, Portland
April 9, 2025
Consider This: The Lands We Live On with Chuck Sams - Willamette University screening
Join us at Willamette University in Salem on April 9, at 7:00 p.m. for a live screening of a conversation about public lands with Chuck Sams, former director of the National Park Service.
7:00 p.m., Willamette University, Smullin Film Studies Theater 122, Ford Hall, Salem
April 9, 2025
Consider This: The Lands We Live On with Chuck Sams
Join us at 7:00 p.m. on April 9 at Pendleton Center for the Arts for a conversation about the relationship between people and public lands with Chuck Sams, who was until very recently the director of the National Parks Service. Charles F. "Chuck" Sams III is Cayuse and Walla Walla and an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Northeast Oregon, where he grew up. He also has blood ties to the Cocopah Tribe and Yankton Sioux of Fort Peck.
Tickets are available for $15 (General Admission) and $30 (Conversation Starter). To purchase tickets, please use this form.
7:00 p.m., Pendleton Center for the Arts, Pendleton
April 10, 2025
Otherness and Empathy
Otherness is the state of being different from the members of a group. Whether we are talking about us mammals, us Oregonians, or us bird-watchers, anyone who is not part of us is part of the other. How does otherness shape our sense of identity and our perception of others? In this conversation, we will reflect on our personal experiences of belonging to uncover the universality of otherness and examine how we can use empathy to bridge the divides in isolated communities and foster the acceptance of diverse voices. This exploration of otherness aims to cultivate empathy for both ourselves and others, leading to a more inclusive understanding of our identities and those around us as well as exploring otherness as a form of strength and our own uniqueness.
Register for this free online conversation.
3:00 to 4:45 p.m. Pacific, Virtual Event, statewide
April 15, 2025
Consider This with Nikole Hannah-Jones
Oregon Humanities and the Oregon State University Center for the Humanities present a Consider This conversation with Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the 1619 Project and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine.
Tickets for this event are $5 for OSU students and $15 for the general public. Ticket sales will open February 13. Purchase tickets here.
7:00 p.m., PRAx, Corvallis
April 15, 2025
Preservación de nuestra cultura y tradiciones
Reflexionemos sobre la Importancia de la identidad cultural latina, el uso de la lengua nativa y la preservación de las tradiciones y costumbres. Esta conversación es para personas que han emigrado de países hispanohablantes, o descendientes de inmigrantes (hasta la 3ra generación) que están interesados en reconectarse con su cultura. Aquí compartiremos historias y vivencias sobre el nivel de conexión que aún tenemos con nuestras raíces, y finalmente reflexionaremos sobre qué podemos hacer para reconectarnos en caso de que exista tal añoranza.
10:00 to 11:45 a.m. Pacific, Virtual Event, statewide
April 17, 2025
Facilitation Training for Libraries
Oregon Humanities will present three trainings in 2025 for staff, board members, volunteers, and program partners of Oregon libraries of all types (public, academic, school, and tribal). These trainings will help people involved with libraries strengthen their skills in leading conversations about vital issues and ideas across differences, beliefs, and backgrounds. With the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence as a jumping off point, participants will learn about facilitation and reflective conversation, practice new skills and techniques, and learn to design and facilitate conversations that allow people and groups to learn more about themselves and each other.
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Pendleton Public Library, Pendleton
April 22, 2025
Conversation Project: What Matters at Life’s End?
Many of us know we should talk about what matters at the end of our lives, but we don’t always know where or how to start these conversations. Once people start exploring death and dying, they often realize it’s not so scary to talk about after all. It can be comforting and empowering to know more about your options and consider what would be helpful for those who may be making decisions on your behalf. Who do you want with you when you are dying? What environments feel most comfortable? Do you have a preference for what happens to your body and your possessions after you die? How do you want to be remembered? This conversation provides a space and dedicated time for reflecting and exploring your end-of-life wishes.
3:00 p.m., Tillamook Library, Tillamook