In 2002, Stephanie Lawless was a closeted teenager at Bend High School. At that time, a few friends knew she was bisexual, but no one knew that, beneath the sports jerseys and masculine mannerisms, she was not a boy but a transgender girl. “I knew of roughly three to five individuals that were ‘out’ as […]
Section Feature
Posted inOutside
Exercise like Steve Martin
A how-to, inspired by Martin’s many memorable characters
This past July, Steve Martin was riding his bike through northeast Pennsylvania. At some point, his wallet bounced out of his pocket where, hours later, it was found by a street cleaner. Instead of trading in the wallet to some tabloid or eBay collector, the Good Samaritan tracked down the venue where Martin was performing […]
Posted inMusic
An Unlikely Pair
Steve Martin and Edie Brickell make beautiful music together
One has been a king among comedians since first hosting Saturday Night Live in 1976. The other was queen of alternative pop on VH1 when the music video for her song “What I Am” dominated the station for much of 1988, and ruled college airwaves from coast to coast. Somehow, in 2013, Steve Martin and […]
Posted inMusic
Lyrics Make the Man
Robert Earl Keen takes songwriting very seriously
As Americana artist and legend Robert Earl Keen—who actually has been credited at times with inventing the “Americana” genre—describes the tiny one-room limestone songwriting hideaway that he lovingly calls his “scriptorium,” my imagination travels to a state of tranquil lucidity. Almost immediately, I am standing amid a small gathering of tchotchkes gazing out into the […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Chilly on the outside, warm on the inside
Comfort food roundup
Admit it: Summer is over. Done. Finished. Put away the ice cubes and tall tumblers of ice tea. Walk away. But the end of one season means the beginning of another and this week’s brisk days and chilly evenings had our staff in a comfort food mindset, dishes to stoke the inner furnace. Grilled Cheese […]
Posted inMusic
Before and After
A jumbled raw supplies depot gets ready for Bend Roots Revival
I’m standing in the middle of what once was a graveyard of discarded toilets at Pak-It Liquidators and, surprisingly, the ground is pleasingly sparse; stout plywood stages ready for live music now rest in opposite corners, ready for the return of Bend Roots Revival. At the writing of this article, though—seven days before the festival—there […]
Posted inCulture
Guilty Pleasures
Author Tawna Fenske writes Oregon inspired romantic erotica
The day that Tawna Fenske’s cat died was the day that she started her career as a romance novelist. It was Fenske’s 32nd birthday, and her publisher called to tell her that her first book’s publication had been canceled. She had already spent her advance on a trip to Australia, her day job was threating […]
Posted inNews
Cops Want More Money
They say they’ll show you fewer traffic deaths
What do you get when you mix a beer-loving populace with an anemic public transportation system and an underfunded and understaffed police department? A disconcertingly high rate of booze-related traffic deaths. “We have a traffic crash problem in the City of Bend, to put it bluntly,” Police Chief Jeff Sale said at the September 18 City […]
Posted inOutside
From "Gimp" to Glory
Amputee climber is the anchor for inspiring short, Gimp Monkeys
On a summer day more than a decade ago, climber Craig DeMartino was working his way across a tricky route (rated 5.11c) in Rocky Mountain National Park, when he had a momentary miscue with his climbing partner. In that moment, DeMartino's life unfurled, and he fell 100 feet to the hard ground below. His injuries […]
Posted inNews
Fall Fiction Readers’ Competition
The best of the best
NOTE: Three weeks ago, we provided two prompts for micro-short stories. We were thrilled, entertained and puzzled by the entries. We provided two separate one line prompts to jump start your stories, and told you to keep it within 250 words—a challenging order— to write complete stories with dynamic characters and detailed settings in the […]
