Does Nature Have a Purpose in Our Lives? Exploring Our Relationships to the Land
Oregonians have long struggled to balance cultural, political, and values-based differences tied to our use of land and resources. As we enter an age of accelerating environmental change and scarcity, it is important to understand what drives these differences. In this conversation we will explore our attitudes and assumptions about the purpose of the environment in our lives and consider how those attitudes and assumptions shape our perception of environmental issues and policies.
Glassed In
Wendy Wagner on seeing, being seen, and choosing not to see.
Virtual Think & Drink with Kali Thorne Ladd, Alex Sager, and Paul Susi: What Are Schools for?
A live conversation on the purpose of school for students, parents, teachers, and the community at large. Watch the recording of this August 2020 program here.
Consider the Wedding—2004
Jamie Passaro considers why women who know better still buy into the Big Bucks White Wedding industry in the 2004 “Marriage” issue.
Out of the Woods
Ruby McConnell on meeting a lost boy in a Cascades forest
Episodes in People Watching
Dionisia Morales on teaching kids to be wary of their surroundings in an excerpt from her book, "Homing Instincts"
Invite in the Stranger
Adam Davis on radical hospitality
Who is Not at the Table?
Filmmaker Ifanyi Bell reflects on the making of “Future: Portland 2”
Unbuttoned into the Blow
Conversation Project leader, poet, and essayist Wendy Willis defends human fragility.
The Golden Hour
The collective strength of strangers after a horrifying accident. An essay by Jason Arias
Wonder, Bread
Seeking the sacred in the mundane world. An excerpt from Great Tide Rising: Toward Clarity and Moral Courage in a Time of Planetary Change by Kathleen Dean Moore
Making Men
Writer Bobbie Willis Soeby on raising her sons to not rape
Between Ribbon and Root
Hope and a history of tragedy live together in a Cowlitz woman's son. An essay by Christine Dupres
Mothers to Daughters
Mothers give advice to their daughters about living bravely in an unsafe world in this film produced by Sika Stanton for Oregon Humanities.
What We Pass On
Adam Davis, executive director of Oregon Humanities, writes about cultural inheritance.
David and Goliath
Remembering a friend from a hospice house. An excerpt from What the Dying Have Taught Me about Living: The Awful Amazing Grace of God by Fred Grewe, an Oregon Humanities Talking about Dying community discussion leader.
A Return Passage
Reporter Putsata Reang and photographer Kim Nguyen share their stories of leaving their home countries as refugees, meeting as students at the University of Oregon, and returning to Southeast Asia as journalists. A film produced by Dawn Jones for Oregon Humanities.
Life's Winter
The opportunities seem endless, but the season is not. An excerpt from Building a Better Nest: Living Lightly at Home and in the World by Evelyn Searle Hess.
Stepping Backward
Hearing lessons from a bomb. An essay by David Naimon
Kansas in Technicolor
After a mastectomy, finding beauty in loss. An essay by Gretchen Icenogle
A Temporary Insanity
Torn between the pull of family and the pull of home. An essay by Gail Wells
Feel-Good Feminism
Bitch Media cofounder Andi Zeisler wonders if feminism's pop-culture cachet has doomed the movement.
Gone Astray
A humanitarian aid worker in Sri Lanka finds herself caught up in a race to harvest the tusks of a dead elephant.
What's the Use?
Why bother with history? Why bother at all? An essay by Robert Leo Heilman
One Giant Step
Coming of age during the hopeful days of American space exploration. An essay by Dmae Roberts
Firing a Friend
It's hard to be a good citizen during an election year. An essay by Jennifer Ruth
The Artist as Worker
Rilke would never have understood the current desire to merge commerce and creativity. An essay by M. Allen Cunningham
Abnormal Beauties
Portlanders don't fair well in a national magazine's beauty ratings. So what? An essay by Karen Karbo
Designing the Good Life
Beauty is a desirable bonus when design improves our lives. An essay by Lisa Radon
Irreconcilable Dissonance
The threat of divorce as the glue of marriage. An essay by Brian Doyle