Love him or hate him - and it seems that nobody's in between - you have to agree that Bill Sizemore has been a major mover and shaker in Oregon politics for the past 15 years. The anti-tax, anti-government, anti-union crusader hasn't written his autobiography yet, but if you want a comprehensive low-down on what he's been up to since 1993, Democracy Reform Oregon has it.
The Skinny on Sizemore
Posted inNews
“Somebody Else” Makes a Good Showing
KBND-AM's on-line presidential poll found Republican nominee-apparent John McCain in the lead with 32% — not a big surprise, considering KBND's all-right-wing-all-the-time talk show lineup.
Posted inNews
Don Leonard tosses his hat into the ring: A talk with the Bend City Council candidate
With the election season coming up and candidates beginning to work
their ways out of the woodwork, it's hard to say if there's going to be
any barn-burning races quite yet. But in the realm of the Bend City
Council, there's been some rumblings as past planning commission and
budget committee member Don Leonard threw his hat into the ring for the
council's Position 4, currently held by Jim Clinton. We chatted it up
with Leonard, and here's what he had to say about leadership,
affordable housing, and what the public wants from their city
councilors.
Posted inCulture
HERstory: More than a phrase: Bend’s ladies celebrate their legacy by showing off talent
The HDCs Jenni Peskin: She’s not only one of the minds behind HERstory, she’s also a performer.Women's history month is upon us, and what better time to celebrate
women than spring? Fertile, re-birthing, glorious spring! Though we
certainly do not forget women for the rest of the year, the National
Women's History Project successfully petitioned to have March adopted
as Women's History Month in 1987, 10 years after March 8 was designated
as International Women's Day.
Before the NWHP, even the concept of
women's history was unheard of. Throughout the 1970s the group worked
hard to promote the study and recognition of women's unique place in
the historical record. With this study comes the inevitable scrutiny of
the word "history" itself and in this era that has witnessed
Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, most people can break it down to
read "his story." During the cultural revolution referred to as Women's
Liberation, the term "HERstory" was coined to refer to the study of the
past in which women play more than a wifely role. This year the NWHP
has chosen the theme of "Women's Art: Women's Vision." Women chosen to
be honorees by the organization include painters, sculptors and
printmakers.
Posted inOutside
Goodbye, Old Friend: A farewell to a lopped juniper
An ancient juniper falls to an unknown hand,It once stood as an Old Friend to myriad wanderers that needed a place
to rest, a place to search for food, a place for shelter, and a place
to just hang out.
When Freemont, the "Pathfinder," and Kit Carson
wandered though here in the 1840s, my Old Friend was green and robust.
Over the ensuing years it survived countless wildfires. Native
Americans and early pioneers somehow passed it by while looking for
firewood to cook their game or warm their feet.
It is now nothing
but a pile of dead wood, cast aside for some reason known to only the
person who cut it down – the delightful old juniper snag on the east
side of Highway 20, near the irrigation pivots across from the eight
mile post.
Posted inOutside
Boys Town
HOW FAR WE
HAVE TO GO
On Feb. 2, Michelle Campbell arrived at St.
Mary's Academy in Kansas to referee a boys' basketball game. The
two-year officiating veteran was scheduled to call her first boys game.
However, the former college player was sent home because the school
didn't want a woman refereeing boys.
Darin Putthoff, who was
scheduled to officiate the game with Campbell-both walked out after
being told of the situation-reported that a St. Mary's official told
him that having a woman in a position of authority over boys was
against the school's beliefs.
In a statement-the school had
declined interviews-St. Mary's offered: "Our school aims to instill in
our boys the proper respect for women and girls. Teaching our boys to
treat ladies with deference, we cannot place them in an aggressive
athletic competition where they are forced to play inhibited by their
concern about running into a female referee." Campbell is a career
police officer.
"It was a sad day for the kids," Campbell told ESPN. "If they're like any other teenagers, all they want to do is play ball."
Posted inOutside
The Path Least Travelled: Finding a deeper stash at Thayer Glacier Headwall
Sublime Corn Turns on the Thayer HeadwallEvery year I write down a list of goals to accomplish in the outdoors.
The past two years, climbing and skiing from the top of the Thayer
Glacier Headwall on North Sister has ranked among the top five on the
list. Last season, I was unable to check off the Thayer Headwall, but
not for a lack of trying. I skied into the east face of North Sister
three separate times, only to be denied access to the mountain's upper
reaches due to avalanche conditions. One memorable occasion, after
deciding the avalanche conditions were too dangerous, I witnessed two
big slides tumbling down the east face while eating lunch a safe
distance away.
The Thayer Glacier Headwall is a very natural and
aesthetic climbing route. Looking out my window at North Sister, I have
scanned the face with binoculars hundreds of times eyeing the potential
for ski mountaineering. The route begins just above a tarn sitting at
the base of the east face. It climbs the lower portion of an hourglass
through a constriction, pinching down to only a couple ski lengths
wide, before reopening. Instead of continuing up the upper hourglass,
the route bends to the right aiming directly toward the summit.
Posted inCulture
Box of Fun: Tearing into The Orange Box (Half Life 2)
Forget everything you ever thought about guys in dorky glasses.The Orange box is a collection of five fantastic first-person shooter
games and is priced around 60 bucks for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and
PC. Valve, the games' publisher, blends the older "Half Life 2" with
some new content and delivers a great collection of games. Even though
the PS3 edition is quite good, it runs noticeably slower than its Xbox
360 counterpart and the PC version runs best on a higher-end PC system.
It
starts with "Half Life 2," which despite its age looks stunning and
showcases magnificent environments like rippling water, has a ton of
action and gives some of the newer games a run for their money on the
physics side. As the protagonist, Gordon Freeman, you don't just play
to find out what happens, you also experiment. There are chain
reactions with exploding barrels, splintering wood and zombie slaughter
all unfolding while you're skimming across the water on a hovercraft.
If you've played this game before, then there's nothing new here. The
uninitiated, however, will find a treasure chest while exploring this
game on the newer game consoles.
Posted inCulture
Ex-Presidential Treatment: Carter tours for peace in Man from Plains
He doesn’t seem to mind those critics.The funniest thing about this documentary is Johnny Carson's plaid leisure suit in the film's opening scene. Aside from that, the film is a sobering lesson on the ongoing struggle between Israel and Palestine and Jimmy Carter's three-decades-long involvement in the conflict.
From the honest, jovial, straight-forward way he handles things, cutting to tiny bits and pieces defining glimpses of Carter's real persona to details you'd never know about him-he swims daily, reads from the Bible to his wife every night (in English and Spanish) his favorite poet is Dylan Thomas, he believes in science and evolution along with his devout Christianity-he's like the Mother Teresa of politics.
Posted inCulture
Love in the Time of Tuberculosis: A look at the Celebration of Latin Film
Playing the smugglers blues.The Latino Community Association presents a cinematic journey
across Latin America, at the Tower Theatre, on the evenings of February
29 and March 1. The featured films explore the rich history, both
political and cultural, of Brazil, Mexico, Spain and Argentina, as well
as the social strife and conflict that have defined people’s lives
there.
The festival opens with a gathering at Café Sintra, (1024 NW
Bond St) at 5:30, with drinks, snacks, and a brief presentation.
Afterward, film-goers can walk to the theater.