David Jasper

Sober for most of the past year, columnist David Jasper writes that the cold fall and winter months are when cravings for cannabis ramp up.

Last week, I wrote in this space expressing 10 reasons why Bend deserves a major destination skatepark, just as other area have theirs: The northern coast has the sprawling, famous-in-skateboarding-circles Lincoln City, and the Mt. Hood area now has a spanking-new park in Sandy. To be clear, I was suggesting that it would be reasonable for Bend, as something of a board sports hub with the river wave and Mt. Bachelor ski area, to have one as well.

Film lovers will have one more day to celebrate film in Central Oregon, with the 22nd annual BendFilm Festival expanding from four days to five. The independent cinema celebration opens Wednesday, Oct. 8, and continues through the weekend with panels, parties, prizes, fraternizing among filmmakers and film buffs alike with, of course, scores of indie […]

Bend columnist Dave Jasper lists some of the many reasons why Central Oregon should have a regional, destination skatepark.

"I think the title alludes to just about anything. I think it's meant to address a way of being and a kind of decision about navigating one's life," she said. "It's something that my father has been saying for several decades … a funny distortion of the 'If you love it, set it free.' It's different even from Bukowski's 'Find something you love and let it kill you.' There's something a little more fatalistic about 'If you love it, let it kill you,' but there's no fundamental to the 'it.' It can be whatever you want it to be."

That got Ben and I thinking how rad it would be to curate a festival specifically to our personal tastes. Just to be crystal clear, this festival is never going to happen, because disorganized people like myself have no business curating a kitchen pantry, let alone a music festival.

Nonprofit High Desert Fencing Club holds Talk like a Pirate Day fundraiser with fencing demonstrations Friday at Boneyard Pub in Bend.

The three speakers are participants in Central Oregon LandWatch's Livable Future Forum, which according to LandWatch's website, "brings thought leaders, storytellers, changemakers, and you together to explore what it will take to create a livable, just, and ecologically vibrant future in the face of profound challenges."

High Desert Chamber Music has announced the lineup of its 2025–26 season, with all-new roster of performers making their Central Oregon debuts during the classical music nonprofit's annual concert series. Tickets available now.

Hunter Noack returns to Central Oregon in September with 'In a Landscape' outdoor piano concerts at Fort Rock, Summer Lake and Drake Park.