This month my top five highlights 5 TED Talks that I really enjoy and wanted to share with you. They are in no particular order. Check them out and see if they are ideas worth spreading:

Dan Phillips: “Creating Houses from Reclaimed Stuff”

Brene Brown: “The Power of Vulnerability”

Jill Taylor: “Powerful Stroke of Insight”

Elizabeth Gilbert: “Nurturing Creativity”

Sir Ken Robinson: “Do Schools Kill Creativity?”

The Oregon Encyclopedia Project is kicking off their Oregon History Night series tonight, February 16th.  These insightful events will be featuring rotating speakers and topics.  The location will also rotate… to a different McMenamins pub each time!  Beer and cool Oregon history… now that’s info-tainment!

Tonight’s kickoff will feature David Oates, author of “City Limits: Walking Portland’s Boundary”.  He will be discussing, obviously, Portland’s urban growth boundary amongst other interesting P-town tidbits.

Next week, Feb. 23rd, will feature Portland State University professor Joe Uris and his vast knowledge on “Portland Vice”.  Sure to be entertaining.

For more details and a full calendar click here.

Event Details:

The OE History Night
February 16, 7:00 pm
“Urban Growth Boundary” with David Oates
Cornelius Pass Roadhouse
4045 NW Cornelius Pass Road
Hillsboro, Oregon

February 23, 6:30 pm
“Portland Vice” with Joe Uris
McMenamins Edgefield
2126 SW Halsey Street
Troutdale, Oregon

Now, go learn something fun!

]]> http://www.portlandoctopus.com/oregon-history-night/feed/ 0 http://www.portlandoctopus.com/wyatt-cenac-lectures-at-reed-college/ http://www.portlandoctopus.com/wyatt-cenac-lectures-at-reed-college/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 23:56:35 +0000 betsy http://portlandoctopus.com/?p=6961 Read More]]> Comic actor and Emmy Award-winning writer Wyatt Cenac will be lecturing at Reed College on Wednesday, February 17. If you watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, you’ve likely already seen Cenac, a correspondent and contributing writer there for the past few years. Check out some recent videos from his Daily Show pieces here.

Before garnering an Emmy for his work on The Daily Show, Cenac worked as a writer for King of the Hill and, on a more serious note, starred in the independent film Medicine for Melancholy. Make the trek to Reed to see Wyatt Cenac speak. Like The Daily Show itself, it’s bound to be vaguely informative and totally hilarious.

Cenac’s appearance at Reed is the first of three lectures that are part of Reed’s observance of Black History Month, which also includes lectures by Melissa Harris-Lacewell and Peniel E. Joseph. All events are free and open to the public. See the full schedule of events here.

Event Details
A Lecture by Wyatt Cenac
Wednesday, February 17
7 pm
at
Reed College Kaul Auditorium
3202 SE Woodstock Blvd.

Urban Growth Bounty offers a broad selection of classes geared towards a variety of skill levels. You’ll find introductory classes on vegetable production with Oregon Tilth as well as classes for more advanced gardeners with David Beller. Check out workshops on how to cook/preserve what you harvest, too. And there’s more! Do you yearn to make your own fresh cheese at home? Or, perhaps you’re ready for advanced beekeeping? Go wild! And tell your neighbors!

Urban Growth Bounty classes are coordinated through the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability…yet another reason why I love Portland.

An all-volunteer non-profit organization, Fences for Fido works to improve the quality of life for chained dogs – removing chains, building fences, providing insulated shelters, educating owners, and helping out with spay/neutering for chained-up pooches. According to the Animal Welfare Act, it’s actually illegal to chain a dog as the primary means of confinement. Since May 2009, FFF has unchained 26 dogs, with 20+ dogs now on the waiting list. Wow! Read FFF’s success stories or, if you want to get all teary-eyed, check out this video of three dogs, Star, Cassie, and Rex, who recently became unchained.

If you want to help build fences, email andrea@fencesforfido.org. Volunteers meet up on the last Saturday of the month, rain or shine. For the latest, follow them on Twitter.

Tickets for Build the Love are $35/person. Be sure to RSVP at info@fencesforfido.org or by calling 503.230.0270. See you there.

Event Details

Build the Love
a fundraiser for Fences for Fido
Sunday, January 31st
5 – 7 pm
at
Nobel Rot Wine Bar
1111 E Burnside, 97214

Foodies and aspiring chefs take note: The Western Culinary Institute is changing it’s name to more closely align their association with that “other” fine food & pastry school.  Henceforth, Portland shall be home to it’s very own Le Cordon Bleu cooking school.  What better way to celebrate than to host a friendly little competition?  Only instead of merely drooling at a t.v. set while watching other people sample and savor chef creations, Portland residents can get in on the action.

Teams led by area alumni chefs, including Chef Myra Lee, Chef Broc Willis and Chef Kurt Rummel will be competing against each other to capture the coveted Le Cordon Bleu Ribbon. This is your opportunity to serve as a judge at this exciting event and be a part of the celebration.

Tickets are $25.00 and includes: a cocktail reception, appetizers, three tasting portions of the featured entrée and dessert.  Click here to reserve your tickets now.

Le Cordon Bleu Challenge Portland

Date:
Thursday, January 14th, 7:00-9:30pm

Location:
Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts
600 SW 10th Avenue
Portland, OR 97205

Sounds like a great, and relatively cheap, way to spend a Thursday night.

Cheers!

This film is worth seeing because of the amazing footage and because of the science backing up the claim that “top predators hold the key to life itself”. Check out the trailer. Anyone concerned about wildlife or public lands management should see this film. Stick around after the screening for a Q & A discussion panel.

The 60-minute documentary is hosted by Oregon Wild. Tickets are $7 and benefit Oregon Wild and Green Fire Productions.  Get tickets here.

Event Details
Lords of Nature screening
Wednesday, January 13th
7 pm to 9 pm
at
Hollywood Theater
4122 NE Sandy Blvd

The Oregon Jewish Museum has officially moved from Old Town to it’s new home in the Nob Hill neighborhood.  To celebrate this, as well as become acquainted with it’s new community, they are hosting an open house this Sunday!  This means a free preview of their opening exhibitions!

This local museum hosts rotating art exhibits and educates on all things Jewish and Oregon related.  Did you know that before the Federal Urban Renewal Program in the late 50s, Portland’s Old South Waterfront was home to a booming Jewish and Italian neighborhood?  Aside from the available walking tour of this old ‘hood, you can find out all you need to know about Portland’s Jewish history at this museum.  Which, I think, is always fun and important to do.

So, stop by the new digs of the Oregon Jewish Museum this Sunday and find out what you’ve been missing!

The Neighborhood Preview & Open House runs Sunday, December 20th from 11:00am – 1:00pm.

Opening exhibits on Sunday will include:

• The Shape of Time: accumulations of place and memory

• Arnold Newman–Street Scenes

• The Berger Collection of Ceremonial Judaica

• Deanne Belinoff – The Book of Keys

• Alex Appella – The Janos Book

• Shelley Jordon – Family History

Go learn something!

Oregon Jewish Museum
1953 NW Kearney Street

To view M Realty’s interactive map of Nob Hill, click here!

Pizzicato, a local family-owned chain of pizza parlours, has breathed new life into the once-vacant commercial site at the intersection of SE 21st & Division – right off Ladd’s Addition. For those of you who don’t bike by 7 corners every day (like I do), this prime retail space has languished for years, a victim of Starbucks’ imperial overreach. (Do you remember how Starbucks moved in to 7 corners years ago and the community flipped and the Starbucks eventually closed? Epic drama). Anyway, there’s pizza to be had at 7 corners now, and it’s awesome to see the people once again congregating at this groovy intersection.

Pizzicato’s tasty pies, salads, and paninis are well-known, quite popular, and well-reviewed, so I’ll just say the food is good and won’t belabor the point. Every store has a slightly different set of options. Here’s the 7 corners menu.

So, yeah, Pizzicato food rocks, but you should stop by this particular Pizzicato to view their uber-green remodel. The attention to detail involved in how they’ve re-used recycling materials is truly remarkable. Pennies for tiles. Tomato can light fixtures. Bicycle racks made from…old bicycle racks! Go check it out.

If you eat at the 7 Corners Pizzicato next Tuesday, December 8th, 20% of the sales will go to Abernathy Elementary. It’s Pizzicato’s Dough For Dollars campaign, in which we eat pizza on specific days and Pizzicato donates a portion of the proceeds to local schools. Check out the full Dough For Dollars schedule here.

Also, free bike delivery close-by! Plus $1 slices 4-5pm! Woot!

7 Corners Pizzicato
2045 SE Division St
503 764 9786

Open Monday-Thursday, 11 am-9 pm
Friday 11 am-9:30 pm
Saturday 12 noon-9:30 pm
Sunday, 12 noon-9 pm

To view M Realty’s interactive map of Ladd’s Addition, click here!

The Meadow will be offering an interesting class on craft bitters and vermouth this Monday, November 23rd. If you’ve ever felt a little bewildered trying to order a classy cocktail, now is the time to up to speed. Spend 1.5 hours getting schooled by the experts, then wow your friends (and, possibly, your bartenders) with your new-found foodie knowledge. $25 gets you in. Order your ticket here.

See also the Chocolate and Wine Class set for December 7th.

The Meadow does a great job of educating the public about the finer things in life. In addition to offering a variety of classes and events, the owners, a husband-and-wife duo, maintain not one but three blogs about their passion for salt, chocolate, flowers and wine. Keep up by joining their mailing list or by following them on twitter.

While we’re on the topic, I have to say that I love dropping by The Meadow. The flowery storefront on Mississippi always draws me in. Their walls, which are packed with hundreds of varieties of gourmet finishing salts, dark chocolates, and rare wines, are total eye candy. Examining the full selection would take all day!

It’s not to early to think about holiday shopping. Who doesn’t need more flowers, more salt, more chocolate, and more wine? The Meadows is a great place to find a gift for that person on your list who (seemingly) has it all. Have a question? The knowledgeable staff is more than happy to respond to queries and offer suggestions. Be sure to peruse the beautiful gift baskets!

Craft Bitters and Vermouth Class
Monday, November 23rd from 7 pm to 8:30 pm
$25, bring your on-line receipt to get it
21+, of course

at

The Meadow
3731 N Mississippi, 97227