Events & Opportunities
June 29, 2026
Softening Sharp Teeth: Getting Curious about Conflict
Interpersonal conflict and disagreement are part of being in relationship with others, but many of us fear conflict. Motivated by many factors, including cultural norms, concern for social consequences, and personal safety, many of us avoid it. What might we learn and how might we grow by making more room for conflict? What skills do we need to responsibly engage in conflict? How can shifting our relationship to conflict offer us new perspectives about ourselves and the groups we belong to? This community conversation is an opportunity to reflect on our relationships to interpersonal conflict outside of where we might most often encounter it, like the heated context of an argument at the dinner table or online. Facilitator Emily Squires will lead a judgement- and jargon-free discussion of what we mean when we say conflict, considering how interpersonal conflict shapes our lives and tools to use when experiencing it.
Register for this free online event.
10:00 a.m. Pacific, Virtual Event, statewide
June 30, 2026
Can We Get Along?
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.”
Register for this free online event.
4:00 p.m. Pacific, Virtual Event, statewide
July 8, 2026
Conversation Project: Are You Doing Community Wrong?
We all belong to many communities—that is, groups of people with common interests—depending on where we live, the work we do, how we spend our leisure time, political and religious beliefs, and so on. In some communities, finding agreement is easy; in others, especially those that represent many different experiences and points of view, members must work harder to find commonality. It may be easier to find a location for your next book-club meeting than to achieve consensus about a road project at your neighborhood association. In such contexts, are we “doing” community wrong? Are we celebrating diverse points of view and our common effort to find solutions together? If not, why not? What stops us from engaging in more diverse communities?
12:30 p.m., Studio GO: pdx, Portland
July 8, 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. The questions will be tough, and this shit will not be resolved in one night; We expect to leave with more questions than answers, plus some renewed hope for the future. And if not, well….
This event is presented in partnership with the Tomorrow Theater. Tickets are available at tomorrowtheater.org.
7:00 p.m., Tomorrow Theater, Portland
July 10, 2026
Monuments and Memorials: Who, What, Where, When, and Why?
As long as humans have sought to honor the present and remember times past, we have built monuments and memorials. Our traditions around monuments and memorials have changed over time. Today, each monument prompts many questions: What should be remembered, and why? How should it be remembered? Where should a monument or memorial be built, and when? And who gets to decide? Most of us rarely get a say in how people and events are memorialized. What monuments or memorials would you like to see in your personal life, home, or local community? How can communities celebrate the ideas and values that are important to them together?
10:30 am, Corvallis Museum, Corvallis
July 17, 2026
Poetry in Place: Oregon Poet Laureate Ellen Waterston
The work of Oregon's eleventh Poet Laureate, Ellen Waterston, is deeply rooted in considerations of place. At this event, Ellen will read some of her work and engage in a discussion of her experiences as Poet Laureate travelling across our state. She will also lead one to two writing workshops prior to the evening reading.
5:00 p.m., Clatskanie Cultural Center, Clatskanie
July 18, 2026
Democracy in Motion
The constitution grants congress the power to establish post roads and regulate interstate commerce. For 250 years, political decisions rooted in these powers have shaped how we travel from place to place and even who can travel from place to place. For some, transportation is a mundane issue: the vehicles and routes that are needed to get where they need to go are available and convenient, even if they might not work perfectly sometimes. For others, getting around can be difficult and exhausting, or even impossible. Some find joy in getting around and others face barriers. How does transportation reflect our democratic values? Does how we get around foster democracy? If not, could it be made so?
11:30 a.m., Grants Pass Library, Grants Pass
July 18, 2026
Astoria Column One-Hundredth Anniversary Rededication
One hundred years after the original dedication of the historic monument, the community will gather to honor the past and look towards the future. Oregon Poet Laureate Ellen Waterston will read a poem commissioned for the occasion.
2:00 p.m., Astoria Column, Astoria
July 18, 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.
3:00 p.m., Mt. Angel Public Library, Mt. Angel
July 29, 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.
6:00 p.m., Central Library at Stevens Ranch, Bend