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Magdalena Bokowa

Freelancer at the Source Weekly

magdalena@bendsource.com
Posted inNews

Shop Local: Instagram Edition

As the holiday season approaches, local retailers make the case: shop like your community depends on it.
Avatar photo by Magdalena Bokowa

Batten down the hatches. That’s the motto for this upcoming holiday season. It might seem somewhat fantastical, but as a small retailer in Bend, riding out this next round of Covid-19 closures is akin to captaining a weather-beaten ship taking on a concerning amount of water. Your crew is exhausted, the captain is slightly disheveled […]

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Rubble & Ash

Survivors speak, climate scientists weigh in on the historic devastation of the Oregon wildfires
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As 30 different wildfires continue to burn—so vast they can be seen from space—toxic flames that blanketed the West Coast have forced many Central Oregonians to grapple with this grim and historic event, first-hand. More than 7,500 firefighters from nearly 40 states and three Canadian provinces are battling the blazes in Oregon, according to the […]

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The Car Camping Dilemma

Irate neighbors, new parking restrictions lend to increased tensions for people experiencing homelessness
Avatar photo Magdalena Bokowa

Like any college student, Colin P. has his share of stresses—balancing difficult homework assignments, passing midterms, all the while working a part time minimum-wage job and squeezing in the odd social activity. “It’s been an adjustment period for sure,” says the 29-year-old Army vet, who moved to Bend just a few months ago. “It’s been […]

Posted inCulture

Van Life: The Event

Annual Descend on Bend event draws hundreds of van-dwellers to Oregon Outback this weekend
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“I died and went to van heaven.” That’s the sentiment repeated by countless van lifers attending the annual Descend on Bend event, taking place this Labor Day weekend in the Oregon Outback. Welcoming all shapes, sizes and models of vans—from the original VW Vanagon, which sparked the notion of van life, to modern day Sprinters and […]

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The Old Man and The Crater

Diving deep into the history of Crater Lake, Oregon’s only national park
Avatar photo Magdalena Bokowa

“A lake is a landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.” — Henry David Thoreau Faultless perfection. Soaring cliffs of snow-capped lava rock, emerald and golden green flora, juxtaposed against richly colored aquamarine water and expansive sky. Standing still, some 8,000 […]

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Got Hemp?

Move over cattle ranching: This industrious green plant is poised to take the number-two slot in Oregon exports
Avatar photo Magdalena Bokowa

Nestled between views of the Three Sisters to the west and a rocky outcrop of sage and juniper to the east, tiny green seedlings flutter in the wind as they begin to take root. Will and Moira Burns, newly married—and until recently, hobby alfalfa farmers, squat in their newly planted 10-acre hemp field outside of […]

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Rent Control

After a bill sailed through the Legislature, some hope the new law will ease the housing squeeze
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“Every condition exists simply because someone profits by its existence.”—Martin Luther King Jr. Landlords fear it. Economists gripe about it. Tenants celebrate it. In the contentious world of affordable housing, two words—rent control—are no longer a far-off solution aimed at easing the housing crisis. Rent control is now very much law in Oregon. Senate Bill […]

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The War Wages On

Oregon will have 11 dedicated opioid treatment centers by 2019. Where—as a city, state and as a nation—are we in this raging opioid epidemic?
Avatar photo Magdalena Bokowa

The United States is being crippled by a growing—yes, growing—opioid crisis. There was a staggering 21 percent surge in drug overdoses in 2016, the last time the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released official figures on record, with 64,070 deaths attributed to drug overdoses in the U.S. Of those, 75 percent were from opioids. […]

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