The back room of the clubhouse at the Sisters Rodeo grounds is filled with about a dozen men and women, all wearing blue jeans and work boots; volunteers who run the Sisters Rodeo. They are debating whether there is more drinking at the annual Sisters Quilt Festival or the Sisters Rodeo. “Definitely the quilt,” announces […]
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
Editor’s Note: In this week’s issue
As the population in Central Oregon continues a steady march upwards and with visual reminders all over town—like the housing projects popping up along the southern reaches of town—there has been a certain amount of chatter over whether growth is good. Part of that discussion is, of course, that growth brings change and competition—competition for […]
Posted inNews
And then he told them to go back to California!
When a local guy saw a father at Tumalo Falls allowing his two children to carve their names into a hand railing, he asked them to stop. They didn’t. He took a picture, posted to Facebook and now, with 52,000 shares the Forest Service is hunting down the family. KGW has a more complete […]
Posted inNews
Their honeymoon cut short by an earthquake, they decided to stay and help.
Submitted by Madeline Bokowa We stood there high up in the Himalayas, rigid, almost frozen in space, as a boulder the size of house, dropped from the sky and ricocheted its way down the path in front of us. “RUN!” My partner Chadd yelled, as he grabbed my arm and pulled us away from underneath […]
Posted inNews
Editor’s Note: In this week’s issue
Three years ago, my Norwegian grandmother Bernice turned 100 years old. Leading up to her birthday, I spent a number of evenings interviewing her, and asking questions about her childhood and about growing up on a Wisconsin farm before there was electricity and phones and cars. But what struck me most was her answer to […]
Posted inCulture
Film Events 4/29-5/6
Metropolitan Opera: Cavalleria Rusticana/Paliacci Encore Yeah, it’s that good, there’s an encore. Like a three and half hour encore! Amazingly, this opera—although now roundly considered a classic—was the equivalent of a 19th century open-mic, as a music publisher and pimp invited a bunch of young Italian composers (who had yet to produce anything) to submit […]
Posted inOutside
Those Boots Are Made For Hiking
Bill Sullivan pounds the pavement with his updated tour book
Since I first moved to Oregon two decades ago, Bill Sullivan has been one of the consistent voices in my head. As the author of the popular series of 100 Hikes, each covering one of five regions in the state, Sullivan has directed me deep into the Cascades and on wind-swept trails along the coast. […]
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Bend Park and Rec Board: Dan Fishkin
What three things do you most hope to accomplish if elected? If given the opportunity to continue my service on the Board of Directors, my primary goal is to oversee the completion of the Bond projects currently under construction. These Bond projects are in various stages of completion, are on schedule and on budget, and […]
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Bend Park and Rec: Foster Fell
What three things do you most hope to accomplish if elected? 1. Re-prioritize Bend Park and Recreation District (BPRD) planning and spending to more closely meet the needs of the taxpayers who support it. BPRD’s own polling shows support for neighborhood parks and a new swim and rec center as paramount needs. I think we, for […]
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Bend Park and Rec: Brady Fuller
What three things do you most hope to accomplish if elected? If elected, I hope to work with other Board members to rapidly determine a multi-year waiver of SDCs for affordable housing and match that loss in revenue with a reduction in the District’s ambitions for new facilities. Second, I hope to advocate for improved […]