Columns

Q: I used mushrooms, LSD, and ecstasy recreationally through my 20s and 30s for parties and deeper connections. After taking a break to focus on family, I’ve recently returned to mushrooms through guided journeys and microdosing; experiences that have been profoundly healing and nothing like my past use. I’m curious about reintroducing psychedelics into my […]

History has it that 15th century Sufis were among the first to brew coffee as a drink, discovering its wakening benefits for all-night devotional practices. Over the centuries, the practice spread to Europe and further west and is now by far the most popular drink worldwide. While it is loved for its caffeine content and ability […]

Dear Dr. Jane, My wife and I are trying to improve our relationship and we’re seeing a couples counselor to help with communication. The sessions are challenging—we fight a lot. Of course, our fighting isn’t just about everyday stuff. We fight about intimacy too, which means we almost never connect. There’s so much conflict. I […]

Regenerative medicine focuses on therapies to repair, replace and or regenerate damaged cells and tissues and restore normal function. Instead of just treating symptoms, it aims to heal the root causes of diseases or injuries using Prolotherapy, Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP), and Stem Cell Therapy. Regenerative medicine helps the body heal itself.  Regenerative Medicine involves harnessing […]

In my humble opinion, the majority of people in the world prefer Peace on Earth to the alternative. I’ve asked around, not exactly a scientific survey, and everyone I’ve asked prefers Peace on Earth. What exactly are we preferring when we contemplate this ever-prayed-for dream? Peace on Earth is way more complex and soulful than […]

Going back 250 years ago, our forefathers declared that all men are created equal by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This phrase embodied, in theory, the concepts of freedom and liberty as they existed in 18th century America but how those concepts evolved in our Constitution and our laws is the […]

Oregon continues to have a cannabis industry with great news for cannabis consumers, but brings financial misery to those growing, processing and selling it. Last year saw a trend continue that has plagued the Oregon industry — namely, growers produce far more cannabis than we consume. In 2025, licensed growers produced 13.5 million pounds, up from 12.3 million pounds in […]

Because I often get questions about the “oldest” things in Central Oregon, I thought I’d tackle one to kick off the Savage in Bend column for this year. Catherine H. asks, “What is the oldest business in Bend?” There are several factors to consider, but if we mean the currently operating longest business under the […]

Q: I keep reading about psychedelics in terms of brain chemistry, serotonin receptors, neuroplasticity, default mode networks. While I appreciate the science, something feels missing when I try to understand my own experiences purely through this lens. During my journeys, I feel like I’m traveling somewhere real, encountering genuine intelligence, receiving teachings that seem to […]

What could be more fun than a book you can’t put down. Thanks to a friend’s recommendation, right now for me that book is “The Correspondent” by Virgina Evans. So not to spoil it, I will only say it is an epistolary novel. The plot thickens through the exchange of letters between the characters. The […]