Join us in exploring intersections between science, politics, policy, and justice. In 2019-20, we will focus on Environmental Disasters and Resilence.
Events
Learn about the risks posed by the predicted Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and what you can do to prepare for it.
A training for UO students, faculty, and staff that features a panel discussion by seismologists Dr. Lucy Jones (Caltech) and Prof. Doug Toomey (UO Earth Sciences), as well as Krista Dillon (Director of Operations for UO Safety and Risk Services). Participants will learn what the earthquake might feel like, what kind of damage is expected, and how they can take steps to be more prepared on campus and at home. It will include a brief “drop, cover and hold” drill as part of the Great Oregon ShakeOut.
Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, UO Safety and Risk Services, and the Department of Earth Sciences.
UO employees can sign up for the training on MyTrack; students do not need to register.
Featuring Dr. Lucy Jones (Caltech).
Dr. Lucy Jones is the founder of the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society, with a mission to foster the understanding and application of scientific information in the creation of more resilient communities. She is also a research associate at the Seismological Laboratory of Caltech. In 2016, she completed 33 years of federal service with the US Geological Survey. Most recently, she led the creation of a national science strategy for all the natural hazards studied by the USGS to promote the science that would better prepare the nation for future natural hazards. In her recent book The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us (and What We Can Do About Them), Dr. Jones offers both a look at how natural disasters have affected the course of history and how we can prepare for them.
Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, UO Portland, and the School of Architecture & Environment.
This event features three short performances (musical, theatrical, and poetic) followed by a roundtable discussion on the role of artists and art in addressing the climate emergency and building individual and collective resilience.
Roundtable participants:
Wayne Morse Chair and viola da gamba player Dr. Lucy Jones
painter Naeemeh Naeemaei
Theresa May (UO Theater Arts)
Emily Scott (UO History of Art and Architecture and Environmental Studies)
John Witte (UO English)
Part of the Wayne Morse Center’s 2019-21 inquiry into Science, Policy and the Public.
Free and open to the public
Stephanie Land’s bestselling debut memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive recounts her harrowing saga as a single mom navigating the poverty trap. Her unflinching and inspiring testimony exposes the physical, economic, and social brutality that domestic workers face, all while radiating a parent’s hope and resilience.
At age 28, Land’s dream of attending college and becoming a writer are deferred when a summer fling turns into an unplanned pregnancy. After facing domestic abuse, and lacking any form of reliable safety net, she checks into a homeless shelter with her 7-month-old daughter. She begins the bureaucratic nightmare of applying for food stamps and subsidized housing, and starts cleaning houses for $9/hour. Mired in patronizing government processes and paltry wages, Land illustrates the trauma of grasping for stability from a rigged system, and demonstrates how hard work doesn’t always pay off.
After years of barely scraping by, Land graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Montana in 2014, and started a career as a freelance writer. She writes about economic and social justice, domestic abuse, chronic illness, and motherhood, and has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Vox, Salon, and many other outlets. She’s worked with Barbara Ehrenreich at the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, and is a writing fellow at the Center for Community Change.
Sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center’s Margaret Hallock Program for Women’s Rights. Cosponsored by the UO Division of Equity and Inclusion, Center for the Study of Women in Society, Department of Sociology, and Labor Education and Research Center.
Featuring Jason DeParle, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist.
His new book, A Good Provider is One Who Leaves, tells the story of an unforgettable family as they endure years of sacrifice and separation, willing themselves out of shantytown poverty into a new global middle class. Migration is changing the world–reordering politics, economics, and cultures across the globe. With nearly 45 million immigrants in the United States, few issues are as polarizing. But if the politics of immigration is broken, immigration itself—tens of millions of people gathered from every corner of the globe—remains an underappreciated American success.
Jason DeParle is a senior writer at The New York Times and a frequent contributor to The New York Times Magazine. Previously he served as a domestic correspondent in Washington for The Times. Prior to joining The Times, Mr. DeParle was an editor at The Washington Monthly since 1987.
A Democratic Governance Speaker Series event, sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center and the UO School of Journalism and Communication.
