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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 inNews

Light on Its Feet

Sparrow Bakery’s Whitney Keatman offers a crowd-pleasing dessert for picnics
Avatar photo Phil Busse

“My picnics are more European-style,” explains Whitney Keatman, co-owner of the popular Sparrow Bakery, “a baguette, cheese, jam, maybe salami.” But what about dessert? We asked Keatman for a pie recipe, but she wisely provided us with something better—gluten-free, fruit-forward and, as she explained, “easier than struggling with pie dough.” She adds that summertime baking […]

Posted inNews

Editor’s Note: What’s What This Issue

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Here at the Source, we are going out of minds with summertime. We are flooded with press releases and information about all the good/great concerts and festivals and activities (we have a great profile of an emerging sport of “high lining” in our Outside section this issue). Really, it is like trying to drink water […]

Posted inOutside

Coming Soon to a River Near You

Once just blueprints and a concept, whitewater park is nearing reality
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“I think it will be transformative,” explains Jayson Bowerman, with Bend Paddle Trial Alliance. He is talking excitedly about the proposed “whitewater park” adjacent to the Colorado Avenue Dam. “We have a lot of whitewater, but (Bend) hasn’t been a destination spot.” Part of a voter-approved bond measure, the so-called water park is scheduled to […]

Posted inCulture

A Top Ten Book About Oregon

But, probably not on Oregon Travel’s reading list
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“The Sisters Brothers” is as much as a historical fiction as Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained is an examination of the slave trade—which is to say, the book is an unvarnished and macabre take on that space between civilized and uncivilized lives in a specific period of American upheaval. One that is as much about its […]

Posted inNews

State of Wonder, OPB’s greatest radio show! And, what, free tickets for a show in Bend?

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State of Wonder is a gem of a NPR show. Produced by OPB, and hosted by April Baer—an indefatigably curious journalist—the show digs into the personalities of those making the arts in Oregon. (Arts in a wide definition, and encompassing interesting, engaging and relevant peeps, not the hoity toity types). Why am I telling you this? Because you […]

Posted inFood & Drink

Not the Same as Mexican

Sol Verde serves up deliciously spicy New Mexican lunches
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Frida Kahlo is not the same as Georgia O’Keeffe. Oh sure, their paintings may have the same vibrant colors contrasting with some of the same stark, blocky images, but the artists are clearly separated by cultural differences and influences as defined as the border between the United States and Mexico. Likewise, it is important to […]

Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides

There’s a New Chef in Town

10 Below’s Ingrid Rohrer competes for Top Chef honor
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Early this year, Ingrid Rohrer moved to Central Oregon with her husband. Her story isn’t uncommon: Her husband likes to hunt and fish, and they both wanted to get away from city traffic. The change—and the opportunity to take over as head chef at the upscale restaurant 10 Below—also was a chance for her to […]

Posted inNews

Arts, Beautification and Culture Awards Announced

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PRESS RELEASE INFO: The City of Bend Arts, Beautification & Culture (ABC) Commission and Bend City Council honored four individuals this week with the annual ABC Award. The awards recognize individuals, organizations and businesses that made significant contributions to the promotion, beautification or preservation of the City’s arts, culture, natural environment or public spaces in […]

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