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Phil Busse

Phil Busse has done his tour of duty with alt-weeklies, starting in 1992 right after graduation from Middlebury College as the first environmental beat reporter for San Francisco Weekly. After a brief detour through the University of Oregon School of Law, Phil returned to writing as the first Managing Editor for Portland Mercury. In 2006, he started the Media Institute for Social Change in Portland, through which he continues to host a summer program teaching college students to produce documentaries.

Until he was 25 or so, Phil thought that he would be a spy, and took scuba lessons to prepare, and learned to drive a motorcycle and an 18-wheeler. Perhaps, then, it is unsurprising that his favorite holiday is the Fourth of July (he loves blowing stuff up). He feels at home with Joseph Conrad's fictional characters.

pwbusse@yahoo.com
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides

Put a Warrior on It

Gregg Swanson makes a career out of giving strength advice for others’ careers
Avatar photo Phil Busse

Gregg Swanson didn’t start as a fitness coach. As a kid, he says he was “uncoordinated,” and asthma kept him away from many sports. But in the past 15 years, Swanson, who recently relocated to Bend, has fashioned a personal coaching style that bundles physical training, career advice and shifts in mentality, and trundles them […]

Posted inOutside

Not Quite a Wash-Out

Rain and local controversy threaten national cyclocross races
Avatar photo Phil Busse

Cyclocross is a messy sport, one in which riders seem to thrive on dust and dirt, and when it rains, mud and slop. But there is apparently a limit to just how messy a race can be. Last week, the annual Cyclocross National Championships were scheduled to be held in Zilker City Park in Austin, […]

Posted inFood & Drink

A Missing Food Cart

Unique to Bend, Korean food is a great addition
Avatar photo Phil Busse

Three bites into the Bibimbap from Num-Nums Food Cart, and I had already declared it one of the best food carts in town. Relatively new, Num-Nums opened two months ago, on Armistice Day, November 11—and adds an important, previously missing piece to the food scene in Bend: Korean food. As we pulled into the small […]

Posted inOutside

Bend Represent!

Cyclocross Nationals this week
Avatar photo Phil Busse

On Wednesday, the 2015 Cyclocross Nationals starts its five-day event, running through Sunday. The course is located in the temperate Austin, Texas, as opposed to locations like Madison, Wisconsin, two years ago, where temperatures are barely cresting zero degrees this week. There are roughly a dozen riders from Bend competing, including top-ranked Cameron Beard, junior […]

Posted inOutside

Two-by-Four

Four impressive build-outs for 2014, and two coming in 2015
Avatar photo Phil Busse

Four Impressive Local Additions to Recreation: Whychus Creek reclamation: On October 1, Deschutes Land Trust publicly announced an ambitious goal to fully reclaim and restore Whychus Creek, a cold water tributary that runs northeast from Sisters into the Deschutes River. The mellow stretch of river—and riverside trails—will be a boon to butterfly and bird watching, […]

Posted inOutside

From Competitor to Coach

An interview with Jordan Buetow
Avatar photo Phil Busse

Earlier this month, Bend Endurance Academy announced a new coach, Jordan Buetow, who joins the staff at the Nordic Development Team Coach. Buetow grew up in Alaska, and more recently, raced for Bates College on the east coast. Two years ago, he spent the summer training with BEA, and now returns as one of its […]

Posted inCulture

SlingShot Boomerangs Back to Bend

Documentary about clean water captures optimism
Avatar photo Phil Busse

This is a documentary that is equal parts about the main character—Dean Kamen, a prolific inventor—and about a cause—clean water. Those two elements add up to create a film that is way bigger than the sum of its parts. The film was warmly received at the recent BendFilm Festival, where we caught up with producer […]

Posted inFood & Drink

Beers To Stay Warm With

Second Winter Beer Festival builds an even bigger snowman
Avatar photo Phil Busse

It took almost two months of back-and-forth text messages, but GoodLife finally named its winter ale, a special beer for the second annual Central Oregon Winter Beer Festival, a smooth ale with cinnamon and nutmeg undertones. “It just finally came to me,” says Steve Denio about the name they finally landed on: Yukon Cornelius, so […]

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