News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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The darkest day of the year sounds like a gloomy proposition. No wonder people around the world brighten it with traditional fires and candles. In Sisters, all are invited to a winter solstice gathering, silent meditation, and labyrinth walk at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 21, at Sisters Community Labyrinth. The “Labyrinth Ladies” will bring a new element to this year’s gathering: fire. Bonfires have been a traditional element in solstice celebrations the world over since... Full story
Joel van der Loon of Sisters Country has faced survival challenges before: in Africa, in the Americas, and at sea. He recently documented his struggles and triumphs in the Canadian Arctic for show “Alone.” It premieres Thursday, June 11 on the History Channel. The premise: Ten participants are challenged to spend up to 100 days in the Arctic, all by themselves, selecting just 10 items of survival gear to bring along. Winners receive a cool one million dollars. “Over six seaso... Full story
One Friday morning eight years ago I gave an Aggro Pass to a stranger. “Aggro” is short for aggressive, aggravated—you know, being a thoughtless jerk. Little did I know that soon I would need many a pass myself, from friends, family, and strangers. My husband biked off to work that morning, turning figure-8s in the road while our toddler son waved out the window, just like every weekday. Toddlers love things that repeat in predictable patterns. He and I had a Friday rit... Full story
With recent upheavals, a lot of folks are carrying around a constant buzz of worry. One way to put low-level anxiety to good use: by preparing for common, smaller-scale disasters. Wildfires, evacuations, and car breakdowns still happen, after all. Preparing for those can feel empowering and offer something concrete and useful to do on quiet days. A good first step: Improve fire safety around your home. The Nugget spoke with Ed Keith, Deschutes County Forester, who toured a... Full story
Some friends of mine are pissed off at the government, especially our state. One friend — let’s call her Lucy — complains that the State of Oregon is “incompetent.” It’s a reasonable accusation. I spent a couple hours on the State of Oregon’s webpage for pandemic unemployment assistance. Haven’t seen a dime yet. But I also spent hours on a simple matter with a local, private company. I wasn’t asking them to make millions of dollars appear, figure out which of the... Full story
Kids and adults alike can enjoy a regular “sit spot” in a natural setting. From reducing anxiety to improving test scores, the benefits of nature time has been proven both by common sense and by over thirty years of scientific research. Formerly a nature educator in California, Susan Prince has taught Sisters Country kids through Deschutes Land Trust, SPRD, schools, and New Oregon Arts & Letters. Here she shares tips on getting reacquainted with nature. Turn off your pho... Full story
The act of consciously being in nature is remarkably good for mental health and brain development. Simple techniques such as the “sit spot” help people lower their stress levels and feel more in tune with their environment. Life coach and nature connection instructor Susan Prince helps people learn how. During the COVID-19 crisis, she is offering free sessions to help people cope. Anthropology and neuroscience, among other disciplines, suggest that aware time in nature “ac... Full story
In addition to earning a handsome salary with robust benefits as a freelance writer*, I do some coaching, readings, and creativity guidance for folks around the U.S. and UK. In the last few weeks, friends and clients have brought up the strange reconnecting brought about by the Recent Weirdness, or RW. (I can’t bear to call it C19 or come with a new corona pun). Some of it’s literal: long-lost pals seek each other out on social media. Distant cousins gather for Zoom dance par... Full story
What’s stressing you out more: the coronavirus, or thinking about it all the time? The Internet, TV, news, and smartphones help people stay informed and feel connected during the COVID-19 crisis. Unfortunately, there are side effects, including anxiety and addiction. We turned to Catherine Price for advice. The founder of the Screen/Life Balance program and author of “How to Break Up With Your Phone,” Price is producing a series of #QuarantineChats on Vimeo.com. From the confi... Full story
Hooked on the news or constantly checking digital devices during the COVID crisis? Is it making you more miserable and anxious? You are by no means alone. The following steps can help you get a grip on the situation and your own state of mind. Featured in today’s approach is Catherine Price, founder of the Screen/Life Balance program and author of How to Break Up with your Phone. 1. Assess: For three days, keep close track of your media and digital device input. Using pen a... Full story
A handful of hardy celebrants kept social distance at Sisters Community Labyrinth on Thursday. They were treated to a short demonstration by Pat Leiser, who placed objects around the labyrinth to represent celestial objects in the solar system. A golden orb representing the sun sat on the labyrinth’s center stone. Globes, apples, oranges, and shamrocks symbolized planets and the various locations of Earth during the year. The official first day of spring in some Western c... Full story
Sisters Elementary School invited students and their families to put down their digital devices and turn off the TV for a week. Screen-free bingo cards went home, offering a plethora of activity ideas: hiking, baking, and playing board games among them. To cap it off, Hoodoo Ski Bowl gave families a coupon for steeply discounted lift tickets and rentals for Friday-night fun. Classrooms with good success on their bingo cards could collectively earn rewards. “I’m doing it for... Full story
During the elementary school’s Screen Free Week, local mom Renee Stelle enjoyed checking out Hoodoo Ski Bowl. But, she said, her family wasn’t able to take a break from screens. “I definitely feel bad that we didn’t fully embrace it,” she said. They weren’t prepared. Stelle’s family is not alone. Research has found that most people, kids and adults, have a difficult time controlling technology in our lives. Whether we struggle with full-blown addiction or a few mindless little... Full story
Sixteen famous composers dressed in black stood stock-still on the Sisters Elementary School stage Thursday night. It was the performance of “Compose Yourself,” a musical directed by music teacher Sara Miller. In came a pack of kids in colorful clothing, banging their heads and dancing to rock music, headphones on. Annabelle Molesworth, Hadley Gloeckner, and others played this group of students that had been assigned to write reports on “boring” music by “old, dead” com... Full story
Sisters residents marched through town and along Cascade Avenue on Monday. Passersby waved. Trucks blasted their horns. One driver, pulling a long load of lumber, held his fingers out in the peace symbol. Clay Warburton, a fourth-grade teacher at Sisters Elementary School, initiated the peaceful march. He said, “I’ve been teaching the kids in my class about civil rights for about 10-15 years. This year I wanted to take it that extra step.” “My arm is tired,” said Echo Wilk... Full story
The twenty-somethings and teenagers of Sisters are eligible to apply for the 2020-2021 Rural Organizing Fellowship. The fellowship supports Oregonians between the ages of 16 and 30 working toward positive change and justice in their small-town, rural, and frontier communities. Youth may apply for the fellowship, or others may nominate them. Applications are due January 31. The Rural Organizing Project (ROP) states that some of the most powerful work being done in rural and sma... Full story
“Sisters is a community that appreciates traditional folk arts,” said Maesie Speer, programs director of Caldera Arts Center near Suttle Lake. Locals will have a chance to immerse in the Japanese art of taiko drumming with the group Unit Souzou on January 19 at The Lodge in Sisters. The workshop, Taiko Empowerment: Telling Your Story Through The Drum With Unit Souzou, is presented by Caldera in partnership with Age Friendly Sisters, The Lodge in Sisters, and Citizens for Com... Full story
I bought myself one Christmas-Hanukkah-Solstice-Kwanzaa gift this year, “In Defense of Elitism: Why I’m Better Than You and You’re Better Than Someone Who Didn’t Buy This Book,” by Joel Stein. Being a deep thinker, I naturally based my interest on the book cover, which caught my eye as I wandered through an independent bookstore. The dust jacket offered an illustration of a trophy buck with a big rack — an image that in my childhood meant, “Here’s what we ate a few mon... Full story
If you’re part of a happy, archetypal, Norman Rockwell family, today is warming up your heart with joy and contentment. Your house is full of grandmas and grandpas, uncles and aunties, cousins and kiddos stomping snow off their boots as they return from building snowmen and lobbing not-too-dangerous, non-icy snowballs at one another. There are turkeys or hams to lovingly cook and carve, a fireplace to gather ‘round, and a jolly patriarch who drinks only enough brandy to red... Full story
Slash burning in Deschutes National Forest west of Sisters caused unhealthy air and confusion about burning regulations last Friday and Saturday. Large landing piles were lit Friday morning by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). By afternoon, they looked like early solstice bonfires. Smoke billowed in columns of slush-gray and pine-yellow. Walking among the fires, the forest looked like a scene from “The Lord of the Rings” movies, with signal fires blooming across snow-capped pea... Full story
Gallery. Museum. Public park. Those are the places we expect to find art. Malia Jensen’s “Nearer Nature: Worth Your Salt” defies expectation and brings art down to earth, among the people — and animals, too. Through the end of December, the project is on display at a feed store in Redmond and a bar in Maupin, among other locations. The video installations form one component of an unusual, clever, and downright funny piece. The first step involved sculpting parts of th... Full story
“I wanted to get to know the state.” That was one of Malia Jensen’s motivations when she first proposed her art project “Nearer Nature,” now on view in Central Oregon (see story, page 8). The Portland-based artist was inspired by “driving around the state, meeting people, having conversations,” as she explored Oregon in search of locations to record and install her new video work. It gave her “an excuse to go into some place and have a conversation. I could say, ‘Hey I’m worki... Full story
The year was 2001. I had been immersed in an online community — a predecessor to social media — for nearly 10 years. One of the wittiest women there came into my real-life orbit. Let’s call her Rose. People argued about politics and media online, of course, but many delved into our personal stories. We shared expertise and resources. When someone got sick or their house burned down, we put on virtual barn-raisings to help out. The conversations bubbled with b... Full story
With the rise of global temperatures and concern about climate change, the common forestry practice of slash burning is questioned by some citizens and organizations. Slash consists of branches and other debris left behind after a logging or clearing operation. “The reality is, we live in the woods,” U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Fire Management Officer James Osbourne told The Nugget. “We’re in a fire-adapted ecosystem.” For millennia, fire burned through what is now Deschutes... Full story
People commonly refer to winter solstice as “the shortest day of the year,” but is that factual? Pat Leiser told The Nugget it’s just one of several “shortest days.” “For us in the Northern Hemisphere, (solstice) marks the fourth of eight days when the sun appears at its lowest point in the sky,” she said. These eight days are the shortest days of the year. Leiser said each day tops out at “8 hours and 53 minutes of sunlight, with nights lasting 15 hours and 7 minutes.” Leise... Full story
