Anyone who has been following the news, whether on television, radio or online, has seen the dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases in India. In the past three months the number of confirmed cases in India has risen dramatically from just over 11,000 to more than 400,000 per day. In the past week I…
OK, my garden is in at about the same time the county is trying to get drought status for the farmers. So, here is a little rain dance, a riffing on other folks’ thoughts about weather, in the…
For over six years of my life, I was wrongfully incarcerated in an Oregon prison. I was convicted in Malheur County of a crime I did not commit and falsely labeled as having abused my own chil…
It is prescribed burn season in the Blue Mountains. Springtime conditions allow land managers to use fire safely to reduce fuels, improve habitat and make our forests healthier. Over the cours…
In the spring of 2000, my wife and I made the decision to abandon our American Baptist roots for the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and take the opportunity to s…
President Biden has made a gutsy decision to withdraw all U.S. military from Afghanistan by September. The risk to the U.S. of a restored terrorism base in Afghanistan remains credible but is …
A recent study concluded that much of the West is experiencing the second-most severe drought recorded in the past 1,200 years. Currently, 80% of Oregon is experiencing drought. Severe fire we…
This May, voters in five counties of Eastern Oregon will be deciding whether to entrust the future of their children and their communities to the governance of an enlarged Idaho or to the unhi…
Many years ago, we traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to visit a family matriarch, to meet for the first time the great-aunt who had sent us a wedding gift. Aunt “Tweet,” as she was called, regal…
Last month I discussed experiences in the Peace Corps and the type of people who were involved — adventurous, dedicated risk takers — and how the Peace Corps brought together young men and wom…
Whether triggered by a letter, a TV commercial or an encounter with a fast food worker, here’s a glimpse into some of the random thoughts that have occupied my mind recently — sometimes for ju…
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings,” Khazad-dûm is an ancient dwarven stronghold used to mine Mithril: a precious metal renowned for its strength and beauty. Unfortunately, the dwarves dug…
It’s here again — National Poetry Month. If you were taught, as poet Billy Collins joked, that you had to “tie a poem to a chair and beat a confession out of it ... to find out what it really …
One month ago, I wrote about three areas in which the U.S. needed to catch up with the rest of the world’s wealthy nations : health care, education and child care for workers. Of these, the mo…
Testing has become quite controversial in education. We often hear about students’ test scores or teachers reporting test results. Then in social groups, you might experience people discussing…
This last year, we spent far too many hours isolated in our homes. We fought off a loneliness that at times felt endless and hopeless. Such focus on our own lives — the things instead of the p…
All weather data has value, but some types are more valuable than others. For a meteorologist, a spotter report, or what we refer to as “ground truth” data, is extremely valuable. A spotter re…
A large percentage (43%) of Oregonians do not believe they can make their community a better place to live, according to a recent Oregon Values and Beliefs Center survey. That figure becomes a…
One good indicator of impending spring is the number of ladders rattling around on pickup racks. The carpencheros are getting back to business while government folks are talking about building…
“April is the cruelest month,” wrote T. S. Eliot in his poem “The Waste Land.” April has certainly seen its share of tragedies through the centuries. But 79 years ago, on April 18, combat avia…
It’s not a bad thing that we’re talking about election systems in the spring of an off-election year, even if the tenor of the discussion is (unsurprisingly) decidedly partisan.
The pandemic has impacted all of us. At worst, Oregonians have experienced the death of loved ones and friends. For others, it has brought economic pain and the loss of cherished family and co…
One-third of Republican respondents told pollsters earlier this month that they don’t plan to get COVID-19 shots. An additional 20% said they haven’t yet made up their minds.
I got dressed quickly. Somehow, I had missed the sunrise in my attempt to wake up early. There wasn’t time for a shower, and touching up my blush and mascara was going to have to be good enoug…
Last month, we joined millions of others across the country in celebrating National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month by reflecting on the milestones in our fight for equality that ha…
The days are finally getting longer and it’s time for spring cleaning. After a long winter, it’s an excellent idea to clean and refresh your home. Since your body is actually your primary home…
When it comes to wild turkeys, I admit to being a little bit conflicted.
In 1962, our community took on the courageous challenge of opening one of the first community colleges in Oregon. In the nearly 60 years since Blue Mountain Community College first opened its …
Oregon Senate Republicans have engaged in four legislative walkouts in less than two years. Democrats and Republicans alike have used quorum denial as a negotiating chip when all else has fail…
As an editor, nothing strikes so hard and so quick as the notion you must make changes to the existing product in order to meet economic realities.
In their March 16 column (“Should Oregon have tighter regulations for raising mink?”), the editors of The Bulletin raised the issue of the public health threat posed by mink, and more specific…
The U.S. Peace Corps celebrated its 60th birthday on March 1. Happy birthday to a beloved organization that has done wonderful things all around the world. Since inception, the Peace Corps has…
A 6-month-old German shepherd/Siberian husky mix recently made the Malgesini pack complete again. A month after losing Lucifer, my husband’s 11-year-old German shepherd, John and I were thrill…
It seems so long ago, but it’s been just a year since local folks came together to perform “The Sound of Music” at College Community Theater at Blue Mountain Community College.
Urban Oregonians are nearly twice as likely than rural residents to say Oregon is headed in the right direction (41% vs. 22%), according to a recent survey by the Oregon Values and Belief Cent…
When Washington-based Easterday Ranches announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on the heels of allegations that it had cheated Tyson Foods out of millions of dollars, it had a bizarr…
Over the last several months, we have witnessed history happening in our country that has not happened since the Civil War. It is United States history in the making. Now is a good time to ref…
A few weeks ago, during Black History Month, I reread James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time.” “I do not know many Negroes who are eager to be ‘accepted’ by white people, still less to be loved b…
After a relatively warm and dry December and January with very little lowland snow, many of us were wondering if we would make it through the entire winter without having to use our trusty sno…
We have arrived at the one-year marker of lockdown, and I figured now would be a good time as any to attempt to distill the jumbled thoughts I’ve collected over the past year into a single coh…
As descendants of the Wasco Tribe of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Columbia River and its tributaries are like the veins and arteries of our own bodies. For some, “Water is Life…
After recent fraud allegations, a lawsuit filed by Tyson and Easterday Ranches declaring bankruptcy, the Easterdays have shown Oregonians that they are incapable of operating a mega-dairy on t…
I collect one liners and jokes on little slips of paper in shoe boxes. Here is a sample of what I have gleaned over the past few years from bumper stickers, postcards, word of mouth, and the b…
A few days ago, I wrote about what I believe is the foreseeable and inevitable insolvency of Blue Mountain Community College under the present model of operations and funding.
In last month’s column, I reviewed some of our nation’s controversies over statues and monuments, such as Pendleton’s conflict over Confederate street names. Today seems a good day to talk abo…
One harsh reality of the pandemic often goes unnoticed: the continued need for foster parents.
One of the great things about living in the U.S. is that our city and county governments are required to keep their citizens informed about their actions. One of the ways they do this is throu…
What inflames you? While inflammatory speech and inflammatory thoughts can distress us psychologically and are definitely factors which affect our overall well-being, I have chosen in this col…
I could feel it coming. The air began to change and the clouds seemed to take a shape of their own. My bones started to ache. A storm had been lingering on the horizon, and there was no longer…
Years ago, in search of my first career job as a biologist, I interviewed with a private firm in Portland. The interviewer me asked a hypothetical question about how I would help to manage a p…
March is the worst month of the year, and it’s not really that close. It’s too long, too cold, and full of false promises.
Like a gale that rips off the roofs in a small town, the lingering trauma of Jan. 6 has exposed basic truths about American life. Some of these are intellectual, as they pertain to the U.S. Co…
Oregon is special for many reasons. But two attributes are near and dear to my heart: our state’s unmatched natural treasures and our firm commitment to democracy that I call the “Oregon Way.”
What is the biggest temperature variation you have heard of in one town?
In 1962, when Wallace McCrae was selected as the first president of Blue Mountain Community College, John F. Kennedy was president of the United States. Fertility rates were high and baby boom…
