Dave Knows Portland

Think & Drink: Future of Social Movements (14-March-2012)

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Oregon HumanitiesOregon Humanities‘ Think & Drink, a happy-hour series that sparks provocative conversations about big ideas, presents Future of Social Movements and Citizen Power this Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at the Mission Theater (1624 NW Glisan).

The 2012 Think & Drink series explores how technology is shaping the future by looking at social movements, food, artificial intelligence, and robotic warfare. Richard Read, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, covers economics and international affairs for The Oregonian and will serve as moderator for the series.

Guests are David S. Meyer, Professor of Sociology, Political Science, and Planning, Policy, & Design at UC Irvine, and author of The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America; and Bob Liebman, Professor of Sociology at Portland State University, with research interests in social change, social movements, religion, and identity.

All of the Think and Drink events will take place at the Mission Theater this year. Doors open at 5 p.m., and the program runs from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Minors are allowed when accompanied by an adult. Admission is free.

Stumptown Stores: Hindu and Chinese Mythology (6-March-2012)

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Stumptown Stores: Hindu and Chinese MythologyStumptown Stories, an event geared to everyone who loves this city we live in, takes place most Tuesdays at Jack London bar (basement of the Rialto, SW 4th and Alder). Free to get in, but must be 21 or over – there’s a full bar!

The topic of the installment this Tuesday, March 6, 2012 is Hindu and Chinese Mythology:

Kate Bruner will be speaking on various Asian mythologies, including Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Shinto, and other stories and beliefs. She will discuss, among other ideas, the Hindu Trimurta, what an omphalos is, what orientation really means, where we get the word “thug”, what Indiana Jones has to do with the death goddess Kali, the differences between Eastern and Western dragons, goddess worship in India, China, and Japan, why the Chinese have a woman in the moon and who she is and how she got there, Chinese alchemy, ancient beliefs about jade, the Chinese kitchen god, the Feast of Hungry Ghosts, avatars, and the Indus Valley civilizations of Harrapa and Mohenjo Jara (sic).

Doors open at 5pm for this free event (21 and over only). Presentation begins at 7:30pm.

Authors in Pubs (1-March-2012)

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Update: Authors in Pubs has moved! See the PortlandWiki page for updates.

Authors in PubsPortland’s venerable Joe’s Cellar (1332 NW 21st) hosts Authors in Pubs this Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 8pm.

The lineup:

Grant Keltner – author & guest MC
Dan Leahy
Terry McLean
introducing: Michael Vincent Pagano
actor, writer, dad : Jonathan Ems
and ‘special guest ‘ Fredric Alan Maxwell

Created by local writer Don Van Kirk last September, Authors in Pubs is a First Thursday event that aims to give local writers a chance to share their work, and receive feedback. The shows run about one hour, but visitors are encouraged to arrive early and stay late to talk with authors and peruse their books.

The Public Staircases of Portland

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Portland Stairs MapWashingtonian Doug Beyerlein believes outdoor public stairways are a window into the soul of a community.

He has created a website, PublicStairs.com, devoted to the discovery and documentation of major outdoor public stairways anywhere in the world, which features stair maps for cities throughout the world.

His map for Portland, Oregon inventories two dozen outdoor public stairways that consist of at least 100 steps. Most of the staircases are described in The Portland Stairs Book, by Laura O. Foster.

Each staircase description includes the upper and lower locations, the number of steps, elevation gain, the staircase materials (e.g. concrete, wood, packed earth, etc.), and where to find said staircase in Foster’s book.

Hat tip Tyler Tervooren on Twitter

South East Area ARTWalk (March 3-4, 2012)

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SE Area ArtWalkThe 9th Annual South East Area Art Walk, S.E. Portland, Oregon’s 2-day, Local Art Walking Tour & Sale takes place this Saturday and Sunday (10am to 5pm both days), March 3 and 4, 2012.

Nearly 100 artists will provide a blaze of colors, shapes, textures, and visual stimuli in SE Portland neighborhoods for the annual SE Area ARTWalk on Saturday and Sunday, the first weekend of March. . . Artists show in their own creative space or are hosted by local residents and businesses allowing you to visit indoor locations on the free, self-guided tour. The SE Area ARTWalk is a community-building event that has strengthened the connection between businesses, artists, and neighbors.

The art fair area is roughly bordered by SE 9th, SE Hawthorne, SE 41st and SE Powell. The event is free, and runs from 10am to 5pm. Maps can be viewed online or downloaded here (pdf). And check out the online guided tour. Find out all the details at the event website.