Woodstock

When Toni Morrison declares that she “can't wait for the ultimate liberation theory to imagine its practice and do its work,” she raises an issue at the heart of modern democratic life: What does freedom mean in the shadow of racial slavery and colonialism? While Morrison's literary achievements are widely celebrated, her contributions as a “revolutionary political thinker” remain underappreciated. Lawrie Balfour approaches Morrison’s political thought through her account of “word-work,” or the creative use of language, as a practice of freedom. First, Balfour considers Morrison’s defense of the necessity of writers to the flourishing of democracy and her reflections on the political implications of her own literary practice. Second, Balfour examines Morrison’s use of the language of “sovereignty” to convey what writers do, when they create worlds out of words. Third, she asks what Morrison might say about the part her novel Beloved played in the 2021 governor’s race in Virginia and concludes with some thoughts about the political urgency of Morrison’s word-work today.

Lawrie Balfour is James Hart Professor of Politics and a member of the American Studies faculty at the University of Virginia, where she offers courses on race, gender, democracy, and literature. She is the author of Toni Morrison: Imagining Freedom; Democracy’s Reconstruction: Thinking Politically with W. E. B. Du Bois; and The Evidence of Things Not Said: James Baldwin and the Promise of American Democracy. Lawrie’s current projects include a series of essays on reparations for slavery and a study of the Black feminist visions of the journal Freedomways (1961-1985).

Free and open to the public.

A talk by Glynnis Fawkes.

How does a cartoonist go about adapting a work of history, specifically Eric H. Cline’s 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed? In this talk Fawkes will describe the process of interpreting Cline’s text in comics, an exercise during which she repeatedly asked herself how she might tell this story visually. Through page compositions and dramatizations in which historical figures (such as Ramses III) speak, she imagined characters for whom we have no record offering commentary and opinions. To guide the narrative, she introduced two new young characters, Pel (of the Sea Peoples) and Shesha, (an Egyptian scribe) who ask the central question of the book: Why after three prosperous centuries did the civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age suddenly come to an end?

Glynnis Fawkes is the co-author with Eric H Cline and illustrator of 1177 BC: A Graphic History of the Year Civilization Collapsed (Princeton University Press). She is also the author-illustrator of Charlotte Brontë before Jane Eyre (Little, Brown)and Persephone’s Garden (Secret Acres), among other books, and her comics have appeared on the website of The New Yorker. She has worked as an archaeological illustrator around the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean and teaches at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont.

Sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America and Reed's department of Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies. Free and open to the public.

Join Whiskers and Tails for a heartwarming day of rabbit-assisted wellness and learning. Experience the calming presence of rabbits through guided interactions. A gentle, enriching event designed to promote relaxation, connection, and emotional well-being for all ages.

Compartiremos nuestras recetas favoritas y hablaremos sobre la historia del maíz en las culturas indígenas de América, así como los beneficios para la salud del método tradicional de procesamiento del maíz, la nixtimalización. Este evento es de cupo limitado y requiere inscripción previa. La inscripción se abre el 10/24 a las 10:00 am.

Sign Squad is a popular, inclusive weekly American Sign Language (ASL) meetup where Deaf individuals, beginners, and experienced signers gather to socialize and practice signing. It is an all-ages, no-pressure environment.

The Sign Squad community meets at Woodstock Cafe, a beloved gathering space for the local Deaf community, famous for taking orders in sign language and providing an accessible, welcoming environment. Affectionately called the Sign Language Cafe, Woodstock café offers a space for Deaf and hearing individuals to communicate and collaborate seamlessly, supporting community bonds through shared interests.

By attending and participating in Sign Squad, you’ll contribute to a culture of inclusivity and support both CymaSpace’s mission and the wider Deaf community. All skill levels are welcome to come learn, chat, and participate.

ASL Game Night at Sign Language Cafe is always an evening of connection, fun, and inclusivity. Gather for an immersive experience that celebrates the Deaf and signing communities. This family-friendly event offers an array of card and board games, including options created by Deaf artists, providing a unique opportunity to explore creative contributions from within the community. Participants are encouraged to bring their favorite games to share, fostering a diverse and exciting environment.

The cafe setting provides an accessible and welcoming atmosphere, perfect for families and individuals alike to engage in spirited competition, learn new games, and make lasting connections. In addition, the Sign Language Cafe offers a space for Deaf and hearing individuals to communicate and collaborate seamlessly, supporting community bonds through shared interests.

Attending and participating in ASL Game Night, you’ll contribute to a culture of inclusivity and support both CymaSpace’s mission and the wider Deaf community. Join and connect over your favorite games, and help build a more inclusive Portland.

Using a series of writing and drawing prompts, participants will use their personal stories and/or family histories to create the foundation for a collaborative short anthology-style Risograph perzine (personal zine). Registration required (maximum 6-participants).

This workshop is hosted by Portland comics artist Yoko O.K., who is the recipient of a 2026 Ignatz Award for her family history zine Uncoiling: A Japanese American Family’s History.

If you read the news, you've probably heard that the United States and China are locked in a race for the future of artificial intelligence. But what are we racing toward, exactly? Where is the finish line, and what would it mean to "win"? In this lecture, China technology policy specialist Kendra Schaefer looks past the headlines to the race as it is actually being run: not a single contest but many, playing out in chip fabs and data centers, in classrooms and city streets, in the stories each nation tells about itself. She traces how the Chinese government imagines its own future with AI and what that imagination reveals about America's. Along the way she unsettles familiar assumptions about what China wants and what the United States fears.

Kendra Schaefer is a partner at Beijing-based policy consultancy Trivium China, where she heads the company’s Tech Policy Division. She leads a team of analysts keeping investors, companies, and governments briefed on Chinese tech policy and regulation, serving as a key expert for heads of state and Fortune 500 companies on China tech issues, with a focus on AI, big tech, and Chinese government digital infrastructure systems. She is a non-resident fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research and a 2025 fellow of the Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations. Kendra lived in China from 2002-2022. She began her career as a developer and user researcher in the early days of China’s internet boom.

Sponsored by the Walter Krause Economics Lecture Fund and the Reed College economics department. Free and open to the public.

Author of It Starts With Anger James Spooner will be visiting campus on Nov 9th as our special author visit for Fall's MRC Book Club gathering. Spooner will be giving a talk on the intersections of punk, race and creative art practice, with time for Q&A.

Reed Librarians picked this coming-of-age graphic memoir that explores race, identity, and rebellion because of how Spooner traces how their reactionary anger evolved into a creative force. Confronted with systemic racism, microaggressions, and Nazi extremism within punk spaces, Spooner follows the founding of the Afro-Punk movement all the way to their leaving of the space due to all the ways it fell short as a scene that was ironically both liberating and alienating for the Black people drawn to it.

Their zine-inspired work includes photos, illustrations, and cartoon panels with traditional narrative in a unique package that examines the tension between the conflation of underground culture and mainstream success.

All are welcome to this event. Open to the community. Free for all.

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We encourage Reed students, staff and faculty to sign up for the MRC Book Club to score a copy of Spooner's autobio. Sign up for your free copy here.

The talk addresses the deep connection between the Jewish German-language poet Paul Celan (1920–1970) and his most prolific translator, the contemporary translingual American poet Pierre Joris (1946–2025). Taking Joris's recent and final translated volume of Celan's poetry—Memory Rose into Threshold Speech (2020)—as its discursive perch, this talk constellates various key interlocutors between the two poets and examines Joris's tremendous half-century-long feat in translating the complete Celan into an American idiom. The force and lasting power of Joris's translation project lies in its rare ability to retain in English the mutilated music of Celan's umfarshtandlekh (incomprehensible) poetics, itself a form of German reimagined through a post-Holocaust expanded Yiddish.

Ariel Resnikoff is a poet, translator, editor and educator. Resnikoff’s recent works include Raisin in Every Bite (Furniture Press, 2022), A Paradise of Hearing (The Swan, 2021), and Unnatural Bird Migrator (The Operating System, 2020), which was awarded an Anne and Robert Cowan Writers Prize. His newest poetry collection, Poems with Friends and Ghosts, is forthcoming from Chax Press in 2027. With Pierre Joris, he is also the co-editor of In Between, Keep Moving: A Pierre Joris Reader (Contra Mundum, 2026). Resnikoff translates Yiddish, Hebrew and Spanish poetry and prose. His own writing has been translated into German, French, Russian, and Mandarin, among other languages. In 2019, he received his PhD in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory from the University of Pennsylvania, and in 2020 he was selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar. In 2025 he was a visiting writer and translator in China at Central China University in Wuhan and the University of Fudan in Shanghai. With E. Tracy Grinnell, he is the Co-Director of Litmus Press and Ether Sea Projects.

Sponsored by the departments of Russian and German and the Division of Literature & Languages. Free and open to the public.

Join the Portland Baroque Orchestra for a pre-concert lecture in PAB 320 (third floor) at 2pm. Admission is free to the pre-concert lecture.

Do you need some help with your resume? Are you unsure about your choice of words? Struggling to describe your accomplishments? Come meet with an experienced volunteer for a one-on-one review. If you have a paper copy of your resume, please bring it along.

No registration required, drop in during the scheduled time for first come first served help. Sessions are generally 30 minutes.

Improve your reading skills and make a new friend by reading aloud to a therapy dog. For kids and teens. Call 503.988.5123 to register.

Sidelined Signers at the Sign Language Cafe is a new group for beginners to intermediate ASL signers looking for help to get off the sidelines. No need to be shy, enjoy a supportive signing experience that focuses on connection, fun, and inclusivity.

The Sign Language Cafe offers a space for Deaf and hearing individuals to communicate and collaborate seamlessly, supporting community bonds through shared interests. It's an accessible and welcoming atmosphere, perfect for families and individuals alike.

By attending and participating in Sidelined Signers, you’ll contribute to a culture of inclusivity and support both CymaSpace’s mission and the wider Deaf community. Join and practice your sign language skills. All are welcome.

Practique inglés o español y ayude a los demás que están aprendiendo en un ambiente amable. Los participantes hablan la mitad del tiempo en inglés y la otra en español. Están bienvenidos los principiantes.

Practice English or Spanish and help other learners in a friendly atmosphere. Participants speak half the time in English and half in Spanish. Beginners welcome.

Join the Office for Student Engagement's event, Let's Talk About It: Hidden Curriculum as a First-Generation College Student! All are welcome, and please note that the conversation topics will be focused on first-generation college experiences (you are the first in your family to attend college). Students, staff, and faculty are welcome!

The event will include loosely facilitated roundtable conversations with topics about imposter syndrome, navigating the hidden curriculum, and more. This is a collaboration with the Low Socioeconomic Status and First Generation Student Kollectiv student group and Student Engagement.

Sign-ups are encouraged so we have an accurate headcount for food, but walk-ins are welcome! Please sign up by November 5.

The Chemistry Department seminar speakers will cover an exciting range of topics, including IR spectroscopy, geochemistry, photochemistry, Chemistry education research, wildfire ozone chemistry and more! We invite you to join us -- bring a friend, enjoy some snacks, learn some cool stuff!

Sept 10 -- Prof. Thien Khuu, Assoc. Prof. of Chemistry at Reed - Choose Your Own Adventure with Molecules and Radiation

Oct 1 -- Prof. Alyssa Shiel-Higgins, Oregon State University - Topic: Geochemistry and metals in the environment

Oct 15 - Prof. Miguel García-Garibay, UCLA - Amphidynamic Crystals – A Promising Platform for the Development of Artificial Molecular Machines

Oct 29 -- Prof. Anne K. Bentley, Lewis & Clark college - Topic: Materials chemistry and chemistry education research

Nov 12 -- Prof. Lu Hu, University of Montana - Reading the Smoke: The Analytical Chemistry of Wildfires

Nov 19 -- Prof. Michael M. Haley, University of Oregon - Phenyl-Acetylene Scaffolding as Receptors for Anions: Synthesis, Supramolecular Chemistry and Emerging Applications

A huge part of why speakers come to Reed is to meet our students! If you'd like to have an informal, faculty-free discussion with these visitors, please RSVP by clicking this link: Lunch RSVP - Fall 2026. We'll provide Commons vouchers or a lunch order for up to 8 students each week.

Express your creativity with a variety of art and craft projects. Library staff will provide all materials necessary.

Space is limited; this program is intended for adults.

Please join us for a student focused workshop where we will explore Generative AI and how it intersects with Information Literacy!

We will learn and discuss defining generative AI, how it hinders or supports the research process, the ethics and disruption of this tool in research, and interpret generative AI through the lens of information literacy.

Limited space so registration is required. Please complete our registration form if you plan on attending. Library swag, snacks, and drinks will be provided!

One-year-olds (with a favorite adult) enjoy songs, movement activities, rhymes, books and playtime. This action-packed program engages new walkers in language-based activities. Attendance is limited and available on a first come, first served basis.

Multnomah County Library storytimes are supported by gifts made to The Library Foundation.

We can help you with technology!

Meet one-on-one with a friendly, knowledgeable Tech Helper who will help you find answers to questions about mobile devices, websites, getting started with tech, and more.

Appointments are on a first come, first served basis.

Bug brains and ballistic shrimp: a new comparative model of olfactory navigation with Dr. Theresa Steele '18.

Many organisms rely on chemical signals to detect key environmental resources. Arthropods (insects and crustaceans) in particular have long been studied for their robust chemosensory systems and long range olfactory navigation behaviors, which are thought to be driven by an evolutionarily conserved brain region. However in crustaceans, which possess an extensive chemosensory system consisting of two sets of antennae, it remains unclear how sensory signals are integrated to facilitate navigation.

In my PhD research, I characterized the food search behaviors of the amphipod crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis. I found that Parhyale exhibit a unique strategy for food localization consisting of direct, targeted approaches to food. Selective removal of the antennae disrupted Parhyale's ability to stabilize heading direction during locomotion and respond to food proximity, and revealed a core redundancy in the function of the crustacean antennae.

Learn about Investments! Grab a slice of pizza and learn how to start investing. Open to all students and staff—join us!

Toddlers (with a favorite adult) enjoy interactive stories, songs and games that encourage their emerging language skills. Attendance is limited and available on a first come, first served basis.

Multnomah County Library storytimes are supported by gifts made to The Library Foundation.

Children from birth to age 6 (with a favorite adult) enjoy books, songs, rhymes and movement activities while building language and literacy skills.

Attendance is limited and available on a first come, first served basis.

Multnomah County Library storytimes are supported by gifts made to The Library Foundation.