My dad is an ear, nose and throat doctor. I have a certain pride in him and his work. My sister even followed in his footsteps; I refer to her as the heir to the allergy empire. But the respect for doctors—in particular allergists—did not start well. When I was 4 years old—about the same […]
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.
Posted inNews
You had to be there . .
No, seriously, you had to be there. Normally, I record our Media Salons and then repost as podcasts. But here’s the deal: My recorder memory was full. It recorded about three minutes and then sat silent. So, really, if you weren’t there, you missed out on a great event. We had a full room at […]
Posted inNews
Here’s what a chocolate bar buys you . . .
Guest Commentary: Sustainability From the Inside OutBy Lawrence Messerman, Ph.D It is a question, practically of relationship. We must get back into relation, vivid and nourishing relation to the cosmos and the universe. . . . For the truth is, we are perishing for lack of fulfillment of our greater needs, we are cut off […]
Posted inNews
You Want To Get With Me?
The second gift in three days? Oh, readers. Are you trying to woo me? Last week I received flowers (to write a story about a nursery) and today I received chocolate from a man wanting to write a guest editorial. (And, oh yes, I can be bribed: That editorial will run on the blog soon!) […]
Posted inNews
Media Salon tonight!
Every second Monday of the month, the Source hosts a smashingly fun and smart Media Salon! This month we focus on bikes—one of Bend’s greatest obsessions. (Beer, one of Bend’s other great obsessions, also will be on tap and flowing.) The casual Think & Drink, Q&A-style event is a follow up to our famous Bike […]
Posted inNews
Flowers? For me!
I don’t know that I’ve ever been brought flowers before. Usually when I hear someone enter the building and ask for the Editor, I hide. In the past it has been spitting mad readers or upset musicians. But this morning, Michael Ludeman Earth’s Art simply wanted to introduce himself and his Earth’s Art, a gardening […]
Posted inFood & Drink
High Desert High Cuisine
Are there cowboys in France?
Jen (as in her kitchen and garden) explained that rodeo weekend is perhaps one of the best times to visit her restaurant. Many locals, she says, hide away for the weekend, and French fries are about as close to high-style French country cuisine that the cowboys will get. Which is to say: This weekend, Jen’s […]
Posted inCulture
Yippie-Ki-Yay!
Cowboys can be funny
At the height of his career, Billy Crystal starred in City Slickers (1990), a fish-out-of-water story about three New Yorkers who land on a Southwestern cattle drive by way of a midlife crisis. The smashhit came for Crystal on the heels of When Harry Met Sally (1989), and he had just hosted the first of […]
Posted inCulture
Doctor, doctor
Escape Fire proscribes more than two aspirin
The best story in Escape Fire—a documentary skewering the health industry that the recently departed Roger Ebert called “extraordinary” and gave his trademark thumbs up—is about a young soldier who has returned injured—both mentally and physically—from the war. Self-identified as a “hillbilly,” the young man explains that he would have scoffed at what he calls […]
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
Saddle Up
Rodeo Season Means Summertime
This past March, I traveled with my New York niece and nephew to a massive rodeo in San Antonio, Texas. It was a dusty, sprawling affair, and I was probably the only one not wearing cowboy boots. To gear up the Upper East Side kids and better blend into the central Texas crowd, we stopped […]
