Editor's Note: Possession

Choosing the theme for each issue of Oregon Humanities is usually an emergent process. We start by talking about the ideas we’ve been chewing on as a staff and the topics of our upcoming programs. Then we free-associate words until we can’t think of any more, cross out the ones we don’t like, and mull over the ones we do for a few weeks. And then I pick one and write a call for submissions.

This issue is a little different. Last August, Sal Sahme sent in a draft of a wide-ranging essay on doctrine, religion, psychology, and European colonialism. Earlier in 2020, Sal had kindly and generously advised me on a grant proposal I was writing and pushed me to consider tough questions about settlement, sovereignty, and conquest. His essay, “Lies of Discovery,” continues that conversation, probing the origins of how European settlers came to believe the world was up for the taking and asking how the damage stemming from that belief can begin to be undone. I knew immediately I wanted to publish Sal’s essay and set about thinking of a theme that would suit it.

In this issue, six writers consider what it means to possess places, things, and rights: How do we come to possess? What responsibilities does possession require? How are we affected when we lose possessions, or have them stolen, or stripped away?

I lead all of Oregon Humanities’ communications and publications efforts, including the magazine, the Beyond the Margins essay series, The Detour podcast and radio show, and overall marketing strategy. I’ve worked at Oregon Humanities since 2012. 

Ask me about: submitting work to Oregon Humanities’ publications, story pitches, the Community Storytelling Fellowship, partnering with Oregon Humanities to share stories or promote events, or the Portland area’s performing arts ecosystem. Hablo Español. 

I grew up on Kalapuyan land in Scio, Oregon, near the confluence of the North and South forks of the Santiam River, and I now live in the shadow of an extinct volcano in Southeast Portland. I serve on the board of the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition and occasionally write about theater in the Pacific Northwest for Oregon ArtsWatch.

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