Night of Ideas, Panel Discussion: Education as Liberation (Night of Ideas 2026)

Born and raised in France, she received her Licence d’anglais from the Université de Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle in 1990, and her Maîtrise de littérature anglaise from the Université Blaise Pascal de Clermont-Ferrand in 1992. She graduated from Michigan State University, where she received both her MA (1993) and her PhD (1999) in French Literature. She joined the faculty at Lewis and Clark College in 2001, where her teaching and research interests include eighteenth-century literature, literary genres, genre transgressions, literature & law/philosophy/history/epistemology, letter writing, the lord’s right, Diderot, and Olympe de Gouges. She has published on Diderot, Olympe de Gouges, and Sébastien-Roch-Nicolas Chamfort. Her current research deals with the letter form in polemical and philosophical letters to highlight the key role they played in carrying out the Enlightenment project of reforming the way people thought.

Megan Sinclair is an Oregon based artist and educator. Through analog photography and audio she examines her relationship with memory, mental health, and environment; using vulnerability and image-making as tools for processing and navigating personal trauma. She currently teaches at Franklin Foto; a community darkroom in the St. John’s neighborhood with the mission of accessibility, community, and education. Franklin Foto offers classes, darkroom and scanning facilities, movie nights, exhibitions, and much more, and is a Portland hub for the community to come together, create art, and grow. https://www.megansinclair.com https://www.franklinfoto.org.

Virginie is from Nice, in the south of France. After studying Communication, she followed her dream of becoming an actress in Paris, where she spent six years on stage before returning to Nice to found her own theatre company and write and produce plays. After nearly 20 years in theatre, she turned to teaching French, combining her love of language, literature, and travel. She earned her DAEFLE diploma in 2020 and has since taught students of all ages in Laos, France, Europe, and now Portland. Her classes blend theatre and language, encouraging confidence and creativity. Virginie is also a certified DELF/DALF and DELF Prim examiner, and when she’s not teaching, she enjoys hiking, working out, and a good glass of wine.

Elijah, aka Uncle E, is an elder guided by faith and ancestral wisdom. He has served as a drug and alcohol counselor for over 21 years, beginning in California (2004–2014). He has worked with probation, foster, and at-risk youth through LifeWorks R.E.A.L. at House of Umoja and later the Community Healing Initiative (CHI) at POIC, where he became known as Uncle E and received the Wakanda Song. Today he serves as a CADC counselor with Portland Public Schools, using the Wakanda model of healing to help young people rediscover identity, purpose, and hope through faith, unity, and love. Wakanda Forever. 🖤✨

Deeply committed to providing access to education and ideas, Dr. Goldstein is a PhD historian and philosopher of science, archivist, and digital librarian. After nearly two decades of college teaching, he noticed that an increasing number of his students were not college-ready, and decided that his skills and knowledge were needed at the secondary level.

After obtaining an MA in Secondary science education, he taught biology in high schools in Brooklyn to economically disadvantaged students of a wide range of ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. A thinker and researcher with cross-cultural experience in France and America, Dr. Goldstein will facilitate a deep discussion between our panelists, guiding our examination of education as a tool for collective liberation.