The theme for the 2024 Best of Central Oregon was “Titans,” in honor of the Summer Olympic Games. This year, the Source Weekly welcomed art intern Connley Sewalls for the season, who is studying illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Sewalls crafted a magical world of mythically powerful women, stoic strongmen, a […]
Culture Features
The Psychedelic Frontier: Exploring intentional psychedelic use in the modern world
Mary Casanave Sheridan is a psychedelic coach and guide. Through this column she aims to answer reader questions, dispel myths and disinformation, around psychedelic substances and their potential, creating a more empowered and well-informed public. Q: I heard that Measure 110 has been repealed and Schedule 1 substances are no longer legal in Oregon. Can […]
Summer Reading, Central Oregon Style
It’s almost August, the deep exhale of summer. Heated days rest heavily on our shoulders and demand a slower pace, an unwinding, a pause before the bustle of autumn. It is the perfect time to read. One of my great pleasures of summer is to wake up early, pour a cup of coffee, sit on […]
Author Leslie Stephens Debuts with Dystopian Novel, “You’re Safe Here”
In a not-so-distant dystopian future fueled for the wealthy by wellness technology, the lives of three women collide through an unraveling of events revealing thrilling plot twists and uncovered secrets, a story almost chilling for its depiction of our own trajectory. Out now, “You’re Safe Here” explores a 2060 world where wellness not only segregates […]
The Psychedelic Frontier: Let’s Heal Together
My name is Piper Lucas, and I have been learning and growing with different psychedelic plant medicines for more than 17 years. With a background in architecture, my lens has been evaluating how the consciousness of people in altered states is affected by their surroundings. I have studied different indigenous uses of plant medicines for […]
A Beautiful Thought
“I forget what I’ve criedover where I’ve leftmy blood in this world.” -Broderick Eaton “the salt we leave behind,” finalist for the 2023 Crosswinds Poetry Prize Truly great poetry grows in the mind and can change how you view yourself and the world. As an art form, it hasn’t received the respect it deserves in […]
The Long History of Queer Literature
T.J. Klune, New York Times Bestselling author of queer fiction such as “The House in the Cerulean Sea” and “In the Lives of Puppets,” recently visited Bend as part of the Season of Nonviolence Speaker Series at Central Oregon Community College. While prejudice of LGBTQ+ authors still persists, it’s heartening that Klune could come and […]
Honeybee Hive Tour With Bend’s Broadus Bees
Stacks of boxes two and three high neatly placed atop well-weathered pallets occupy a section of land between the fence line and a hoop house at Fibonacci Farms. These Russian honeybees arrived back in Bend, their home base from June through January, after an annual trek to California for almond pollination in February and a […]
A Conversation with Best-Selling Author Lisa See
One day in October, seven months into COVID lockdown, Lisa See was wandering her Brentwood home, feeling the isolation and gloom of not being able to do the thing that drives her historical fiction writing: the research. The libraries, the archives, the countries were all closed. But on this day, she glanced at her wall […]
The Psychedelic Frontier
Mary Casanave Sheridan is a psychedelic coach and guide. She helps individuals explore psychedelic realms for self-discovery, healing and growth. Through this column she aims to answer reader questions, dispel myths and disinformation around psychedelic substances and their potential, creating a more empowered and well-informed public. Q: As a practitioner of psychedelic experiences, how do […]

