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In Person Sessions

We offer intellectually stimulating conversations with new people in your community. In-person sessions explore life’s enduring questions through essays, literature, and film, creating opportunities for learning and connection with just a few hours of preparation. Stay tuned as we expand to cities across the U.S. in 2025!

Join Us in a More Examined Life

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  • What Does Democracy Demand of Us?
    What Does Democracy Demand of Us?
    What Does Democracy Demand of Us?
    Thu, Jan 16
    Portland, Oregon
    Jan 16, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
    Jan 16, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
    The Ones Who Stay and Fight by N.K. Jemisin & The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin ⏱️ Preparation approx. 2 hours
  • Are the Machines Coming to Get Us?
    Are the Machines Coming to Get Us?
    Are the Machines Coming to Get Us?
    Thu, Jan 30
    Portland, OR, USA
    Jan 30, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM PST
    Jan 30, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM PST
    Her (2013) directed by Spike Jonze Short story: The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster (1909) ⏱️ Preparation: Approx. 3 hours
  • What is Love? What Should It Be?
    What is Love? What Should It Be?
    What is Love? What Should It Be?
    Sun, Feb 16
    Portland, OR, USA
    Feb 16, 2025, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
    Feb 16, 2025, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
    All About Love by bell hooks (selected chapters) ⏱️ Preparation: Approx. 2 hours
  • Can We Be Free in a World Full of Rules?
    Can We Be Free in a World Full of Rules?
    Can We Be Free in a World Full of Rules?
    Fri, Mar 07
    Portland, OR, USA
    Mar 07, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM PST
    Mar 07, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM PST
    Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville ⏱️ Preparation time: 2 hours
  • How Much is Enough?
    How Much is Enough?
    How Much is Enough?
    Sun, Mar 09
    Portland, OR, USA
    Mar 09, 2025, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
    Mar 09, 2025, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
    The Lottery Ticket by Anton Chekhov (short story) Erich Fromm's To Have or To Be? (selected chapters) ⏱️ Preparation time: approx. 2-3 hours
  • Are We Who We've Always Been?
    Are We Who We've Always Been?
    Are We Who We've Always Been?
    Thu, Mar 20
    Portland, OR, USA
    Mar 20, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
    Mar 20, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
    The Other by Jorge Luis Borges (short story) Speak, Memory by Oliver Sacks (essay) & On Aging poem by Maya Angelou ⏱️ Preparation: Approx. 1.5 hours
  • What makes us truly free?
    What makes us truly free?
    What makes us truly free?
    Wed, Mar 26
    Portland, OR, USA
    Mar 26, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
    Mar 26, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
    What is Freedom? Hannah Arendt (essay) & Poems by Langston Hughes: Freedom's Plow, Democracy, Harlem [Dream Deferred] ⏱️ Preparation: Approx. 2-3 hours
  • How Does Our Appearance Shape Us?
    How Does Our Appearance Shape Us?
    How Does Our Appearance Shape Us?
    Thu, Apr 03
    Portland, OR, USA
    Apr 03, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
    Apr 03, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
    Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self by Alice Walker The Nose by Nikolai Gogol ⏱️ Total Time to Read Approx. 2 hours
  • Do We Make Our World, or Does It Make Us?
    Do We Make Our World, or Does It Make Us?
    Do We Make Our World, or Does It Make Us?
    Thu, Apr 10
    Portland, Oregon
    Apr 10, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
    Apr 10, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
    Simone de Beauvoir’s Pyrrhus and Cineas (essay) ⏱️Reading time approx. 2 hours
  • Are We Our Work?
    Are We Our Work?
    Are We Our Work?
    Thu, Apr 17
    Portland, OR, USA
    Apr 17, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM PDT
    Apr 17, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM PDT
    Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber, selected chapters ⏱️Preparation time: Approx. 2 hours
  • Does Thinking About Death Lead to a Good Life?
    Does Thinking About Death Lead to a Good Life?
    Does Thinking About Death Lead to a Good Life?
    Wed, Apr 23
    Portland, OR, USA
    Apr 23, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
    Apr 23, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
    The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy & The Death of the Moth by Virginia Woolf ⏱️ Time Commitment: Approx. 2 hours
  • What Should We Do With Our Past?
    What Should We Do With Our Past?
    What Should We Do With Our Past?
    Thu, May 08
    Portland, OR, USA
    May 08, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM PDT
    May 08, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM PDT
    Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates ⏱️ Preparation: Approx. 3 hours
  • Are We Our Bodies?
    Are We Our Bodies?
    Are We Our Bodies?
    Thu, May 22
    Portland, OR, USA
    May 22, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM PDT
    May 22, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM PDT
    The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (film) The Evening and the Morning and the Night by Octavia Butler (short story) ⏱️ Preparation: Approx. 3 hours
  • Is Friendship Necessary?
    Is Friendship Necessary?
    Is Friendship Necessary?
    Thu, Jun 12
    Portland, Oregon
    Jun 12, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
    Jun 12, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
    Aristotle on Friendship (from Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII & IX) Atlantic Article: What If Friendship, Not Marriage, Was at the Center of Life? ⏱️ 1-2 hours of preparation (~25-30 pages of reading)
  • More Premise Sessions Coming Soon!
    More Premise Sessions Coming Soon!
    More Premise Sessions Coming Soon!
    Date and time is TBD
    Location is TBD
    Date and time is TBD
    Date and time is TBD
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