I’m on the Baja where I lead an annual writing retreat. I started this column before I headed out of town and am now picking up where I left off, or trying to. It’s not easy. Instead of the wall of my office, from where I’m sitting I have an uninterrupted view of the Pacific. […]
Culture
Posted inColumns
The Psychedelic Frontier
Bridging sacred and celebratory use
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 […]
Posted inCulture Features
Women’s Issues Are Everyone’s Issues
Recommendations for a book of fiction, an essay collection and poetry
Here’s a woman’s issue for you: RAGE. Does the phrase, “woman’s issue,” irritate you? Good. It should. The anger of being told you’re too much and not enough, sometimes in the same breath. Of watching autonomy slip away in real time. Of staying calm on the surface while everything tightens around you. Because issues that […]
Posted inCulture Features
‘The Soul of the Land’
The new Belknap Exhibit Center at Bowman Museum in Prineville features the work of June Jaeger
A new exhibit at the Bowman Museum‘s Belknap Exhibit Center is entitled “Soul of the Land: Quilts by June Jaeger.” Jaeger was born in Prineville and has lived there off and on at various points of her life. She feels a deep connection to the small town. “There is just a lot of good people […]
Posted inCulture
Free Will Astrology, Week of Feb. 19
Aquarius should use underused talents to boost income
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Over the last 4,000 years, a host of things have been used as money in addition to precious metals and paper currency. Among them have been cows, seashells, cheese, tobacco, velvet, tulips, elephant tusks, and huge stone wheels. I hope this poetic fact will inspire your imagination about financial matters. In […]
Posted inCulture
The Pride in Numbers Survey is Underway
Organizers are urging local LGBTQIA+ and Two Spirit individuals to participate
The Pride Foundation is sponsoring a new survey called “Pride in Numbers.” It’s for all adults 18+ who are LGBTQIA and Two Spirit. Nimisha Jain, one of the team members hoping to get the word out in Central Oregon, describes the information being gathered by the survey. “All kinds of questions are being asked in […]
Posted inCulture
‘Much Ado About Nothing’
Meadow Sky Productions’ latest play is being performed in Redmond
William Shakespeare wrote his romantic comedy, “Much Ado About Nothing,” in 1598. Since then, it’s undergone many adaptations, including a Meadow Sky Productions which is opening this month at the High Desert Music Hall in Redmond. “We’ve set the story in a different world than originally written, creating a fantasy world and setting inspired by […]
Posted inFilm
Off The Radar
Six new releases, one sleepy writer
We’re still smack dab in the middle of that time of year when most of what’s getting released doesn’t have much cultural cachet (or a massive marketing budget) and so gets quietly released around the end of January or the top half of February…just somewhere in the first quarter of the year. I still spent […]
Posted inMusic
Channeling Willie to Shut Out the Chaos
A free Willie Nelson tribute is aimed at uniting locals in harmony
“It’s extremely hard to look out at the world today, at our communities, and come to grips with the kind of darkness that is increasingly seeping into every single last corner of day-to-day life,” says local musician Joe Estrada. “And while there’s plenty we can all be doing within our individual capacities, it’s still hard […]
Posted inMusic
Meet Central Oregon Symphony’s New Executive Director
Dr. Travis Allen is a cellist, musicologist and Bend native
Wearing many musical hats already, Dr. Travis Allen has recently also taken on the role of executive director of the Central Oregon Symphony Association. He is a cellist extraordinaire, professor of music history and theory at COCC, member of the Dove String Quartet and frequent performer with the Sunriver Music Festival. He is also the […]
