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The Democracy Fix

Powell's Books on Hawthorne 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR, United States

Caroline Fredrickson, former special assistant for legislative affairs to President Clinton, president of the American Constitution Society, and author of Under the Bus, shows how the left can undo the right’s damage and take the country back. Despite representing the beliefs of a minority of the American public on many issues, conservatives are in power not just in Washington, DC, but also in state capitals and courtrooms across the country. In The Democracy Fix (New Press), Fredrickson shows us how we can learn from the right by having the determination to focus on judicial elections, state power, and voter laws without stooping to their dishonest, rule-breaking tactics. This event is sponsored by the American Constitution Society – Oregon Lawyer Chapter.

Free

Real Queer America: LGBT Stories From Red States

Powell's City of Books 1005 W Burnside Street, Portland, OR, United States

Ten years ago, Samantha Allen was a suit-and-tie-wearing Mormon missionary. Now she's a senior Daily Beast reporter happily married to another woman. A lot in her life has changed, but what hasn't changed is her deep love of Red State America, and of queer people who stay in so-called "flyover country" rather than moving to the liberal coasts. In Real Queer America (Little, Brown), Allen takes us on a cross-country road trip stretching from Provo, Utah, to the Rio Grande Valley to the Bible Belt to the Deep South. Capturing profound cultural shifts underway in unexpected places and revealing a national network of chosen family fighting for a better world, Real Queer America is a treasure trove of uplifting stories and a much-needed source of…

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Free

Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life

Powell's City of Books 1005 W Burnside Street, Portland, OR, United States

For more than 5,000 years, “old” has been defined as beginning between the ages of 60 and 70. That means most people alive today will spend more years in elderhood than in childhood, and many will be elders for 40 years or more. Yet at the moment that humans are living longer than ever, we’ve made old age into a disease, a condition to be dreaded, disparaged, neglected, and denied. Harvard-trained geriatrician Louise Aronson uses stories from her quarter century of caring for patients, and draws from history, science, literature, popular culture, and her own life to weave a vision of old age that’s neither nightmare nor utopian fantasy. In Elderhood (Bloomsbury), Aronson challenges not only the way we look at aging, but also the…

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Free

Nineteenth Century Chinese Women Workers in the Northwest: Chuimei Ho

Portland Chinatown Museum 127 NW Third Ave, Portland, OR, United States

Dr. Chuimei Ho is an Art Historian and Archeologist who has written extensively on the Chinese in SE and East Asia and North America. She is co-editor, with Dr. Bennet Bronson, of CINARC, the website of the Chinese Northwest American Research Committee, and co-author of Coming Home in Gold Brocade: Chinese in Early Northwest America (2015) and Three Chinese Temples in California: Marysville, Oroville, Weaverville (2016). *Dr. Ho’s lecture is part of our ongoing series of lectures and workshops about nineteenth century Chinese workers in Oregon and the Northwest.

$10 – $12

Carol Clupny

Broadway Books 1714 NE Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

We welcome Carol Clupny, reading from her memoir The Ribbon of Road Ahead. Ten years ago, at age 50, Carol was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. For a woman who grew up riding horses, climbing trees, and tubing down the creek in Walla Walla, Washington, this was a devastating diagnosis. Retired from her career as a speech-language pathologist, she quickly became fed up with sitting in a recliner and feeling sorry for herself. She knew she had to keep moving -- first short walks, then longer and longer ones, eventually trekking the pilgrimage trails of the Camino de Santiago in France and Spain. A dusty bike discovered in the garage resulted in thousands of miles ridden locally and three rides on the Des Moines Register’s Annual…

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Free

Westside Writing Group

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR, United States

A group for anyone writing nonfiction or memoir who would like company, support, and, most of all, accountability. Whether you’ve never written a word or you’re a published author, join us!

Free

Mystery Box Social: A Dinner Party!

The Mystery Box Show Dining Room - Residential Home 9927 N Decatur St, Portland, OR, United States

Let's erase the stigma of sex being a forbidden topic of conversation! Normalization has always been a goal at The Mystery Box show. This elegant dinner party takes it one step further by allowing and ENCOURAGING sex talk at the dinner table! The evening will begin with cocktails and appetizers, followed by 2 homemade courses and dessert by Missionary Chocolates, interspersed with a special screening and deep dive into some of the Mystery Box Show's most compelling sex-centric stories. All paired with local, boutique wine from Catman Cellars and amazing conversation! Our special storyteller guests will Live Wire Radio announcer and writer Jason Rouse, and Mystery Box Show favorite Shannon Brazil. This evening will make an excellent date night, a friends' night out or even…

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$60

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche in Conversation With Tim Olmsted

Powell's City of Books 1005 W Burnside Street, Portland, OR, United States

At 36 years old, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche was a rising star within his generation of Tibetan masters and the respected abbot of three monasteries. Then one night, telling no one, he slipped out of his monastery with the intention of spending the next four years on a wandering retreat, following the ancient practice of holy mendicants. Soon he became deathly ill from food poisoning – and his journey took a startling turn. His lifelong meditation practice had prepared him to face death, and he now had the opportunity to test the strength of his training. In his powerful, candid account of the inner workings of a Buddhist master, In Love With the World (Spiegel & Grau), Rinpoche shares the lessons he learned from his near-death…

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Free

Kevin Scott

Powell's Books on Hawthorne 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR, United States

In The Voice of This Stone (Carpe Diem), a respected volcanologist with five decades of scientific study and boots-on-the-ground experience shares his expert knowledge. Through more than a dozen case studies from around the globe, Kevin Scott offers chilling details about what happened before, during, and after infamous volcanic cataclysms. During his lengthy career as a field geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Scott traveled extensively to visit sites that were dramatically altered by forces within the earth. Scott’s case studies highlight some of the best known events and advance warnings regarding future episodes. By deciphering the histories of other disasters, Scott proposes, lives can and will be spared.

Free

Ed Levine in Conversation With J. Kenji López-Alt

Powell's City of Books 1005 W Burnside Street, Portland, OR, United States

In 2005, Ed Levine was a freelance food writer with an unlikely dream: to control his own fate and create a different kind of food publication. He wanted to unearth the world’s best bagels, the best burgers, the best hot dogs – the best of everything edible. Against all sane advice, he created a blog for $100 and called it… Serious Eats. The site quickly became a home for obsessives who didn’t take themselves too seriously. In Serious Eater (Portfolio), the James Beard Award winner finally tells the moving, mouthwatering, heart-stopping story of building – and almost losing – one of the most acclaimed and beloved food sites in the world. Levine will be joined in conversation by J. Kenji López-Alt, James Beard Award-winning author…

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Free
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