Oregon Humanities

If you read my last post, you know that I’m interested in gender. And, by the way, for those of you who did read that last post, I remain unsettled by Betty Draper’s character development in Mad Men last season. I’m proud of her. I’m mad at her. I’m impressed by her. And I’m disappointed in her.

That said, I have what I think are two more unnerving stories about gender:

1. Last month, at an informal dinner with some female colleagues, one woman referred... More

01 December 2009 | Posted in Inside O. Hm. New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

The pairing of women and war brings so many other words, other ideas, to my mind. Like most who share my age, class, and nationality, my knowledge of war comes mainly through language. Newspaper or magazine articles, novels, history books, lectures. It just is not a duo I have seen in real life, but it captures my attention nonetheless. I feel a responsibility to at least bear some brief witness to world’s more brutal realities. Shortly after it was published in 2008,... More

23 November 2009 | Posted in Events Community New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (1 so far)

The word philanthropy first surfaced 2,500 years ago in the Greek play Prometheus Bound, the Greek word being a combination of caring for humans and promoting human potential. It has come to mean a private initiative for the common good. As such, it is rooted in community.

Philanthropy is also closely tied to democracy so that Alexander Hamilton, in the first paragraph of the first Federalist Paper, promoted the new Constitution as a document benefiting all mankind. He... More

18 November 2009 | Posted in Advocacy Inside O. Hm. New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

Has a job ever changed your life completely by accident? I started tending bar on the day shift at a locally owned Italian restaurant in Fort Collins, Colorado, famous for its $4.95 all-you-can-eat homemade spaghetti and bread. Our lunch rush typically petered out by one o’clock. By one-thirty, on a good day, the bar was empty. My writer friend Erik, a recovering alcoholic, would drive down, and we’d watch the Cubs on WGN. On a really good day—no, there were no really... More

13 November 2009 | Posted in Inside O. Hm. New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (3 so far)

I saw them leaving the gallery with oranges. She was holding hers, smiling and picking at the produce sticker. He was tossing his in the air, laughing out loud. They seemed to be absolutely enthralled by their produce. “Huh,” I thought to myself and continued to make my way across the small grassy park to the entrance of the gallery.

The Whitechapel Gallery in east London is a very modern space with white walls, wood floors, and lots of right angles: more or less... More

10 November 2009 | Posted in Inside O. Hm. New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (1 so far)

My organization, Ecotrust, recently conducted a survey. We asked thousands of people, “Has the world entered a new era?” More than 80 percent of respondents said yes. When we asked people to describe the era, two related themes emerged: connectedness and interdependence.

The way people perceive the world is changing. Once, the world seemed to be divided into clear sectors: For-profit, nonprofit, local, national, global, sustainable, and so on. Now, all of those... More

05 November 2009 | Posted in Events New Ideas Special Projects | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

In late summer of 1979 Dale Eldred created a series of interconnected sculptures of refractive light panels sited at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, across expansive lawns and along the median of Volker Boulevard. The refractive tape created prisms that changed with every movement of the viewer, the sun, the moon, and the earth’s rotation. I was a new freshman at the Kansas City Art Institute, and the playfulness and gentle thoughtfulness of the sculpture quickened my... More

02 November 2009 | Posted in Community Inside O. Hm. New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (2 so far)

Before I turn forty I feel destined to complete an odyssey that began when I was five and my parents drove the kids from Ohio to Florida. I’d like to spend time in all fifty states. I’m currently forty-nine down with just one final state to go. Maybe you can guess which? Alaska, get ready for a visit from me and it’s going to be a blow-out.

I’ve spent time on other continents, and I’m a voracious reader of everything including travel writing. Still,... More

29 October 2009 | Posted in New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

I spent a weekend earlier in October at a place called Smoke Farm north of Seattle. It’s a beautiful spot—360 acres along the Stillaguamish River that is home to an old dairy barn, a tractor shed turned print studio, and a milking parlor turned communal kitchen. Smoke Farm describes itself as a place for artists and free thinkers, people inclined to experiment, collaborate, and experience new aspects of art and culture.

My reason for coming was the Smoke Farm... More

26 October 2009 | Posted in Inside O. Hm. New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)

I had an O. Hm moment during the Live Wire! Wordstock Extravaganza earlier this month. As a producer for Live Wire, I frequently work with people who are famous. Sherman Alexie is arguably one of the most widely known and hottest guests we’ve had to date (hot in the cultural sense of the word though I could argue for both meanings). I’ve been excited to meet Sherman for some time so having our mutual friend Wesley Stace on the show gave me a chance to chat him up without... More

20 October 2009 | Posted in New Ideas | Permalink | Comments? (1 so far)