Rainwater Soup
Patti Moss on the echoes of family, memory, and home.
Treasures
Sam Mowe on Buddhism, heritage, and his family home
Losing the Forest for the Trees
Juliet Grable writes about how a massive die-off of white fir has unsettled the mountain community in Southern Oregon where she lives.
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?
Conversation Project: Moving through Our Communities: How We Experience Safety and Vulnerability
Our sense of safety and vulnerability moving through our communities may be different if we are walking, biking, rolling, taking public transit, or driving. Join facilitator LeeAnn O’Neill in a conversation that asks, How does the way you move through your community affect your sense of safety and vulnerability? What else affects your sense of safety and vulnerability? How might you change the way you interact with others as you move through your community to create a greater sense of safety for everyone? This conversation is a chance to reflect on our personal roles in creating greater safety for all as we move through our communities.
Conversation Project: Moving through Our Communities: How We Experience Safety and Vulnerability
Our sense of safety and vulnerability moving through our communities may be different if we are walking, biking, rolling, taking public transit, or driving. Join facilitator LeeAnn O’Neill in a conversation that asks, How does the way you move through your community affect your sense of safety and vulnerability? What else affects your sense of safety and vulnerability? How might you change the way you interact with others as you move through your community to create a greater sense of safety for everyone? This conversation is a chance to reflect on our personal roles in creating greater safety for all as we move through our communities.
How to Build a Kite
Daniela Naomi Molnar on ecology, grief, and the illusion of closure
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?
The Things We Carry
Vanessa Houk and her family escaped the wildfires, but lost their home and all of their possessions. Here, she describes what remains.
“We All Have to Be Committed and Help Each Other”
Four leaders working on homelessness in Oregon share perspectives on how to address the state's ongoing crisis in this article by Olivia Wolf.
Connect in Place: Emerging from Our Homes
Join facilitator LeeAnn O’Neill in this conversation that asks, How does the way you move through your community affect your sense of safety and vulnerability? What else affects your sense of safety and vulnerability? How might you change the way you interact with others as you move through your community to create a greater sense of safety for everyone?
Pandemic Flowers
Illustrator Mia Nolting reflects on a year of isolation through the dead flowers that have been in her house since the start of the pandemic.
Preserving Food, Cheating Death
A compulsive canner considers what it is about this pandemic year that has so many people feeling the urge to preserve.
Editors' Note: Outside
In this issue, we’ve taken an expansive view of what it means to be outside. In addition to stories about outdoor recreation and who gets to enjoy it, you’ll find stories of living outside, on city streets and amid the woods; stories about leaving the places we feel safe for work and about making new spaces outside the mainstream.
A Community of Recovery
Shadow Silvers writes about finding stability in a sober living house.
The Case for Group Living
Lola Milholland writes about finding joy in the intimacy and solidarity of a crowded house.
This Place Is Beautiful, This Place Is Gross
Sarah Cook writes about learning to see beauty and perseverance while living in The Dalles.
Bridge City
Anna Vo writes on the dark side of local pride and the changes in our attitude toward place required to make Portland a welcoming home for all.
Letters from Home
Letters from four Oregonians about the places where they live, from our 2018 Dear Stranger project.
Albina Rising
Deonna Anderson writes about how a group in Portland is working to undo the harm of urban renewal and heal the wounds of a community.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
In this conversation, Manuel Padilla, who has worked with refugees in Haiti, Chad, and Washington, DC, asks participants to consider questions of uprootedness, hospitality, identity, perception, and integration and how we might build more informed, responsive, resilient, and vibrant communities.
Finding Our Way Amidst the Unhoused
A community conversation on homelessness, transiency, the housed and unhoused in Southern Oregon. Facilitated by Adam Davis of Oregon Humanities and Ryan Stroud of CommuniTalks.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: A Place to Call Home
Exploring Housing in Oregon
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: The World to Come
How Our Fear about the Future Affects Our Actions
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: The World to Come
How Our Fear about the Future Affects Our Actions
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: A Place to Call Home
Exploring Housing in Oregon
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: A Place to Call Home
Exploring Housing in Oregon
Conversation Project: The World to Come
How Our Fear about the Future Affects Our Actions
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: A Place to Call Home
Exploring Housing in Oregon
"The Numbers" Screening and Discussion
Join filmmakers Sika Stanton and Donovan Smith for a screening of "The Numbers," a short film produced as part of Oregon Humanities' This Land project, followed by a community conversation with participants in the film.
Conversation Project: A Place to Call Home
Exploring Housing in Oregon
Conversation Project: A Place to Call Home
Exploring Housing in Oregon
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
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.
My Brother's Keeper: "Homeless in America"
This fall, Four Rivers Cultural Center in Ontario will present "My Brother's Keeper," a series of eight documentary film screenings exploring the lives of marginalized peoples and issues such as mental health, addiction, and mass incarceration. Each screening will be followed by a presentation and Q&A session by a local nonprofit or government agency.
My Brother's Keeper: "Kicked Out"
This fall, Four Rivers Cultural Center in Ontario will present "My Brother's Keeper," a series of eight documentary film screenings exploring the lives of marginalized peoples and issues such as mental health, addiction, and mass incarceration. Each screening will be followed by a presentation and Q&A session by a local nonprofit or government agency.
Conversation Project: A Place to Call Home
Exploring Housing in Oregon
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: A Place to Call Home
Exploring Housing in Oregon
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.
S'so's Tamales
Sal Sahme writes about finding his spiritual path as a boy on First Mesa.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: Homeless in the Land of Plenty
How does homelessness affect the lives of all people within a community? What does it mean for there to be masses of people who are not adequately housed? Join storyteller Ryan Stroud to share your stories and learn about the experiences of others.
Hearing the Houseless
This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
Who is Not at the Table?
Filmmaker Ifanyi Bell reflects on the making of “Future: Portland 2”
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Vanport Mosaic Festival
Theater, documentaries, historic exhibits, lectures, and tours will explore will explore the history and legacy of Vanport. Oregon Humanities is a cosponsor of this event.
"Priced Out" Screening and Dialogue
Watch an excerpt from the film and then join the discussion about how rising housing prices are displacing Portland's black community. Oregon Humanities is a cosponsor of this event.
Conversation Project: Life after War
Photography and Oral Histories of Coming Home
The Opposite of What We Know
Writer Putsata Reang reflects on the project "Bitter Harvest"
Conversation Project: Life after War
Photography and Oral Histories of Coming Home
Conversation Project: Homeless in the Land of Plenty
How does homelessness affect the lives of all people within a community? What does it mean for there to be masses of people who are not adequately housed? Join storyteller Ryan Stroud to share your stories and learn about the experiences of others.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Shouldering Homelessness
In Southern Oregon, the lack of affordable housing edges out a growing number of people. An essay by Vanessa Houk
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: What We Want from the Wild
In this conversation, Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis will help participants step back from policy decisions and consider more basic questions about our relationship to the mountains, air, trees, animals, and streams around us. What do we want from nature? What do we understand nature to be, and how do we see ourselves fitting in?
Race & Place: Old Town's Chinatown and Japantown through Chinese American and Nikkei Eyes
Chinese and Japanese American elders explore Old Town's multiethnic and multiracial past. This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
Conversation Project: Life after War
Photography and Oral Histories of Coming Home
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: What We Want from the Wild
Oregonians across the political spectrum place a high value on the diverse natural resources of our state, but we are divided about how these resources should be used and talked about. In this conversation, Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis will help participants step back from policy decisions and consider more basic questions about our relationship to the mountains, air, trees, animals, and streams around us.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: Homeless in the Land of Plenty
How does homelessness affect the lives of all people within a community? What does it mean for there to be masses of people who are not adequately housed? Join storyteller Ryan Stroud to share your stories and learn about the experiences of others.
Race & Place: Old Town's Chinatown and Japantown through Chinese American and Nikkei Eyes
Chinese and Japanese American elders explore Old Town's multiethnic and multiracial past. This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
Conversation Project: Homeless in the Land of Plenty
How does homelessness affect the lives of all people within a community? What does it mean for there to be masses of people who are not adequately housed? Join storyteller Ryan Stroud to share your stories and learn about the experiences of others.
Think & Drink on the Future of Urban Development in Portland
A conversation about the future of housing and urban development in Portland with civic leaders and developers poised to make it happen.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: What We Want from the Wild
Oregonians across the political spectrum place a high value on the diverse natural resources of our state, but we are divided about how these resources should be used and talked about. In this conversation, Oregon Humanities Executive Director Adam Davis will help participants step back from policy decisions and consider more basic questions about our relationship to the mountains, air, trees, animals, and streams around us.
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: Life after War
Photography and Oral Histories of Coming Home
Conversation Project: The Space Between Us
Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon
Portland Expo Center: A Hidden History
This film produced by Jodi Darby for Oregon Humanities shares the experiences of Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in the Portland Expo Center during World War II.
An Oregon Canyon
Produced by Sika Stanton and Donnell Alexander for Oregon Humanities, this film reveals the story of a canyon in Jefferson County, Oregon that was renamed for John A. Brown in 2014, one of the first Black homesteaders in Oregon.
"I'm Not Staying Here Another Day"
A conversation about the Great Migration with Isabel Wilkerson and Rukaiyah Adams
The Gift of a Known World
Oregon Humanities magazine editor Kathleen Holt on the power--and privilege--of rooting oneself to places
A Tremendous Force of Will
A conversation about the Great Migration's and the civil right movement with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Isabel Wilkerson
Not Built for Ghosts
Writer Helen Hill on consequences she faced after leaving her beloved home in the hands of others
Stolen Land and Borrowed Dollars
Creative resistance bloomed in the lead up to the Vancouver Olympics. An excerpt from Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics by Jules Boykoff
Posts
Readers write about Root
Rootedness
An essay by Brian Doyle
Whose State Is This?
Journalist Brent Walth on how legal measures targeting Latino Oregonians reflect fears of change.
Community in Flux
The long-persecuted Roma people begin to speak out. By Lisa Loving
Getting Out
Loretta Stinson on deciding to leave an abusive marriage for good
All the Same Ocean
Finding the horizon in a life rocked with waves. An essay by Jason Arias
Posts
Readers write about Move
Resume Usual Activity
Jamie Passaro writes about parenting—and being parented—through mental illness.
Starting Over
The bumpy repair of a family after a sudden loss. An essay by Melissa Madenski
A Temporary Insanity
Torn between the pull of family and the pull of home. An essay by Gail Wells
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
This Land Planned for You and Me
J. David Santen Jr. on what Oregon's communities look like forty years after the passage of Senate Bill 100
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
Design for a Crowded Planet
Cynthia E. Smith, the curator of socially responsible design at the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewett design museum, talks about innovative solutions by and for city dwellers.
In-Between Place
Brian Doyle argues that life in the suburbs is far from the bland prison it is made out to be.
On the River
Debra Gwartney on learning to love the isolation of her adopted home on the McKenzie River.
Why We Stay
Monica Drake on raising a family in an urban neighborhood instead of a more serene but less vibrant rural place.
Immobile Dreams
How did the trailer come to be a symbol of failure? An essay by Rebecca Hartman
Home Economics
Using the house to bridge the public/private divide.
Love Thy Neighbor (Sometimes)
A close-knit neighborhood can make us happy, but it can also add to the busy-ness of daily life. An essay by Jamie Passaro
Far from Home
The history and future of Slavic refugees in Oregon. By Susan W. Hardwick