April 16, 2026

Are We Created Equal?

This conversation will explore equality. It is a core national value of the United States, even if we have not always lived up to that value. What does it mean to say, as the writers of the Declaration of Independence did, that “all men are created equal” and to declare that this is a self-evident truth? In what ways are or should we be equal? How does this ideal of equality show up in our daily lives, our communities, and our politics? How, finally, has this ideal of equality changed over the past 250 years—and how might it change further over the next 250?

Facilitator Adam Davis has been the executive director of Oregon Humanities since 2013. Prior to joining Oregon Humanities, Davis directed the Center for Civic Reflection and edited Taking Action, Hearing the Call across Traditions, and The Civically Engaged Reader. Davis has led hundreds of community conversations and trained thousands of discussion leaders across the country in partnership with social service, educational, nonprofit, and medical organizations. He has taught philosophy and literature for many years in the Clemente Course in the Humanities, a college program for adults living on low incomes. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago and used to lead wilderness trail crews in the Pacific Northwest.

9:00 a.m., Everyone Village, Eugene

April 18, 2026

What Does It Mean to Be American?

This conversation will explore when and how we define ourselves as an “American.” Does knowing the Constitution make us American? Does living on land controlled by the United States of America make us American? Through conversation and nonverbal exploration, we will share what “American” means to us individually and within the communities we belong to or came from, and what perspectives shaped our understanding of American identity and who is included in “We the People.”

Facilitator Chisao Hata is a performing artist, educator, and arts integration specialist. She has been called a “community weaver” through facilitation, community engagement and creating artistic collaborations. She has been a protector of imagination and personal discovery and a champion for individual expression. Creating engaged learning is her life’s work. She has had the honor of serving hundreds of Portland’s children, youth, and adults across many communities. Chisao believes we are all inextricably linked, and the power of gathering is a conduit to build and heal our understandings between our communities.

3:00 p.m., Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, Corvallis

April 21, 2026

The Poetry Express: On the Road with Oregon's Poet Laureate

Oregon's Poet Laureate, Ellen Waterston, has visited twenty-two of the state's thirty-six counties in the past two years. At this event, she will reflect on her first term and her Poetry in Public Places initiative, read some of her work, and offer writing exercises for the audience to try.

noon to 1:30 p.m., Larkspur Community Center, Bend

April 24, 2026

Tough Shit with Oregon Humanities

Tough Shit is an onstage conversation about the most challenging questions Portlanders are facing. We’ll bring together four people with very different experiences of and perspectives on the city to talk through some shit with help from the audience and a moderator.

Joining us for this conversation are journalists Leah Sottile and Jonathan Maus, cultural strategist Kimiko Matsuda, and former city council candidate Heart Free Pham.

7:00 p.m., Tomorrow Theater, Portland

April 27, 2026

Conversation Project: Housing and Belonging

Housing and homelessness is a visible and divisive issue in local media, in politics, and across different communities within our state. Many of us were experiencing housing instability and economic uncertainty even during the “boom” times before the current crisis. This conversation will explore common assumptions and perspectives about the experience of houselessness/homelessness and seek to answer the question, How do we decide who “belongs” in our community?

This event will take place in the Kim Puzey Community Room #134

1:00 p.m., Blue Mountain Community College - Hermiston Campus, Hermiston

April 28, 2026

To What Do We Pledge?

While the opening of the Declaration of Independence gets the fanfare and the fireworks—“When in the course of human events” and all that—the closing clause contains a quiet promise: “We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” When we talk about the founding, we often think of it as a severing from a distant power and a proclamation of individual rights. And yet, buried in that big individualistic origin story, there is a pledge of support, solidarity, and mutual aid. Today, as we witness political violence, hostility, and polarization, this conversation invites us to explore what it means for us to be bound to one another and to ask ourselves: Is there any idea, any value, any dream for the future that we care about enough to tie ourselves to one another to protect or pursue it? What would it mean to “mutually pledge” ourselves to one another today? What would it look like? Feel like? Is it even possible?

Facilitator Wendy Willis is the founding director of Oregon's Kitchen Table, a statewide community engagement program housed at Portland State University. She is also a poet, an essayist, a stitcher, and a self-proclaimed democracy geek. Wendy was raised in Springfield, but now lives with her family in Portland.

6:30 p.m., St. Helens Public Library, St. Helens

April 28, 2026

Conversation Project: Housing and Belonging

Housing and homelessness is a visible and divisive issue in local media, in politics, and across different communities within our state. Many of us were experiencing housing instability and economic uncertainty even during the “boom” times before the current crisis. This conversation will explore common assumptions and perspectives about the experience of houselessness/homelessness and seek to answer the question, How do we decide who “belongs” in our community?

This event will take place in Pioneer Hall.

1:00 p.m., Blue Mountain Community College, Pendleton

April 30, 2026

Consider This Watch Party: Labor, Farmworker Organizing, and Histories of Indigenous Communities in Oregon

Join the Office of Civic Engagement at Willamette University for a watch party of our Consider This conversation Labor, Farmworker Organizing, and Histories of Indigenous Communities in Oregon, streamed live from Mt. Angel.

7:00 p.m., Willamette University - Putnam University Center, Salem

April 30, 2026

Consider This: Labor, Farmworker Organizing, and Histories of Indigenous Communities in Oregon

Joaquín Lara Midkiff moderates this conversation with labor organizers Reyna López and Ramón Ramírez. The conversation will illuminate the many ways that the mid-Willamette Valley has been home to powerful farmworker and solidarity movements that transformed the lives of migrant laborers and reshaped Oregon's political and economic landscape.

7:00 p.m., Mt. Angel Theater Studio, Mt. Angel

May 1, 2026

"Labor" Issue Release Party

Join the editors of Oregon Humanities magazine to celebrate the release of our Spring 2026 issue, "Labor." We will gather at Rosentstadt Brewery in Northeast Portland for a May Day happy hour. Meet contributors, pick up an extra copy for your neighbor, and stay for a drink!

4:00 to 6:00 p.m., Rosenstadt Brewery, Portland