Mending is a radical act
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As long as we've been wearing clothes, we've been fixing them. It’s only in the last century, as we’ve embraced fast fashion, that mending what we already have has become less common.
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The Earth is calling. Will you answer her?
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Building an apothecary is like starting a small savings account of remedies, tools, gifts, for yourself, for your family, for your larger community, for future generations.
Read MoreThe future is ours. The future is the CSA.
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Food does poorly in a capitalistic society: with both food and farmworkers undervalued. The answer is Community Supported Agriculture, or CSAs.
Read MoreWhat We Learned From the Unclutter Your 2021 Happy Hour
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We were joined by Unburdened Life coach Julia Williamson for a group discussion about clutter, organization, the things (physical and figurative) that hold us back, and the powerful freedom of letting go.
Read MoreCourses on White Supremacy: Frequently Asked Questions
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This Summer, PUGS is offering multiple ways for Portlanders to learn about, recognize, and challenge their place in our white supremacist culture. Two courses - Interrogating Whiteness and White Supremacy in Oregon will give participants a place to start.
Read MoreHow to Confront and Undo Your White Conditioning
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Interrogating Whiteness is designed help participants—particularly, but not exclusively, white participants—begin or continue to process and unpack their own racial conditioning.
Read MoreWords Matter. That's Why They're So Hard to Get Right.
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In this Q&A with PUGS, instructor Lyndal Frazier-Cairns explains what her course is about and why the ability to explain big ideas is a world-changing skill.
Read MoreWhy Interrogating Whiteness Matters
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Interrogating whiteness is concerned with questions of reconciliation and healing. How do we heal ourselves? How do we make space for and support others in their healing? How do we—individually, collectively—heal from the traumatic, ongoing legacies and effects of white supremacy? Instructor Sarah DeYoreo explains.
Read MoreYour Life's Most Important Moments are Contractual
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From weddings and rental agreements to eating at a restaurant, contracts govern our lives. Attorney Michael Jonas takes us through what people need to know ahead of his PUGS course, which begins May 21.
Read MoreSchool Debt is Killing America's Future
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For more than a decade, young people have been told they will never get a good job without a university degree. But the student debt crisis is saddling our young people with an impossible choice: Take on a massive, 10+ year debt at the very start of your independent lives, or risk getting stuck in low-paid, insecure employment.
Read MoreHow to Face Your Fears and Embrace Freelance Life
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Starting out as an independent contractor is exhilarating but it can also be terrifying. In this Q&A, we catch up with freelance writer Chelsea Schuyler, who is bringing her course Setting Up as an Independent Contractor to PUGS in March.
Read MoreFrom #BlackLivesMatter to Lasting Police Reform in Oregon
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Racial profiling in policing is at a flashpoint and communities are asking how we can demand change while protecting vulnerable community members. We asked Brandon Lee, instructor for Best Practices in Community Conscious Policing, to talk with us about police reform and bias training in Oregon.
Read MoreLooking Back to Understand Who We Are
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This April at PUGS, we’re exploring genealogy, DNA, and lore - and examining our beliefs about how our lives are shaped by the people who have come before. In this Q&A, instructor Maddie Cole tells us a bit about her course and why our thirst for understanding ourselves sometimes takes us to unexpected places!
Read MoreRepairing Harm By Interrogating Whiteness
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In February, Black History Month, the Portland Underground Graduate School is hosting a course called Interrogating Whiteness: An American Unstory. In this Q&A with instructor Sarah DeYoreo, we explore the idea of whiteness, why and how we are unpacking it, and what happens next.
Read MoreHelp PUGS Build a New Home
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PUGS has a home for the first time! We are moving to a site near the east side of the Hawthorne Bridge. We need your help to get set up.
Read MorePUGS New Space: A Brief History
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PUGS new home under the east side of the Hawthorne Bridge has a rich history. According to the National Register of Historic Places, here is a brief history of the Italian Gardeners and Ranchers Association Market Building:
Read MoreHow Does Change Feel in Your Body?
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Join Natalie Fraver, co-instructor of Resilient Hearts in Times of Collapse: The Art of Self-Regulation and Navigating Complex Trauma in Community, and explore what change feels like physically.
Read MoreQuit Avoiding Your Finances, Your Business Depends On It
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You started your business because you were good at your offer, not because you are a financial wizard. But you still need to TCB.
Read MoreYour Summer Reading List, As Recommended by PUGS Instructors
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If you're looking for a great read, we have you covered. We asked PUGS instructors for their recommendations.
Read MoreTake Two or More Courses This June and Save
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Here at PUGS, we know a lot of Portlanders are struggling to find the best way to engage with the issues that are impacting our lives.
So during the month of June, we decided to let the activists take over to run courses on decolonizing wealth, mass incarceration, environmental justice, and propaganda.
And we know you might want to go to two or more of them, so we're offering a limited-time discount of 20% off two courses of your choosing.
The courses are:
June 1-15: Reading Decolonizing Wealth, led by Meyer Memorial Trust Program Officer Fellow Denise Luk, and community organizer Breesa Culver.
June 3-24: Mass Incarceration in Oregon, led by Arnoldo Ruiz from the Latino Network, and criminal justice reform PhD Nicole Lindahl.
June 4-25: Environmental Justice 101, led by 1000 Friends of Oregon Director of Community Engagement Sam Diaz.
June 11-25: Propaganda 101, led by Bridgeliner founder Ben DeJarnette.
Add two or more courses to your cart, then use the discount code ACTIVIST to unlock your 20% discount before May 25 at midnight.
PUGS is about lifelong learning. Get the skills you need to engage in conversation around these vital topics, and bone up to change the world we live in.