Author Archive

Phil Busse

Phil Busse

Phil Busse has spent the past 20 years as a journalist, attorney and educator—and doing his tour of duty with alt-weeklies.

He has served as the Editor for the Source, a popular weekly newspaper in Bend, Oregon and was the founding Managing Editor for the Portland Mercury. While in law school, he wrote crime and legal stories for the Eugene Weekly and started his writing career as the first environmental beat reporter for San Francisco Weekly.

In 2006, Phil started the Media Institute for Social Change (MediaMakingChange.org), an educational non-profit. Based in Portland, Oregon, the organization hosts college students each summer to teach them how to produce public interest film and radio documentaries—and, in 2013, helped launch XRAY.FM, a talk and music radio station that won Willamette Week’s readers choice for Best Local Radio Station in 2015.

Phil is truly surprised that he ended up as a newspaperman; as a kid, he believed that he would grow up to be a spy, and has spent a lifetime acquiring the proper skills—he is certified SCUBA diver, knows how to tie a bow tie and can mix (shake) a mean martini.

Phil graduated from Middlebury College in 1992 and earned his law degree from the University of Oregon in 1997.

/ / 0
Our continuing series profiling local breweries, and how they are managing COVID-19 shutdowns. In this year’s Besties, the Messenger’s readers’ choices for their favorites, Weekend Beer Company in Grants Pass traded wins with Medford-based Walkabout Brewing Company. Less than two years old, but already an institution in Grants Pass, they

/ / 0
On Thursday, June 4 at 4 pm, Caldera Brewing Company, southern Oregon’s largest brewery, reopens to the public. Over the next few days, Jim Mills is leading a number of meetings to talk with serving staff, kitchen staff and brewers about the new protocols. It will be a different world

/ / 0
With taunt editing, a steady drumbeat of a narrative and a magnetic central character, Take Out Girl tells the story of a dutiful daughter-turned-gangster. Both gritty and sleek, the film is tough, engaging, and charming—and a preface for a star-to-be, the director and co-writer Hisonni Mustafa. Affable and talented, Mustafa has

/ / 0
Renee Tajima-Peña is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker whose work focuses on communities of color, immigration, gender, and social justice. A week or so ago, she had a bundle of her films shown on PBS—Asian Americans, the first docu-series on Asian American history—and recently launched the Building History 3.0, an interactive

/ / 0
Indeed, the tourism industry in southern Oregon has soured. Britt Fest and OSF both have shut down for the summer, and restaurants are closed indefinitely. But social distancing does not mean you cannot still drink local wines! And DANCIN Vineyard co-owner Dan Marca remains optimistic and upbeat. The Messenger caught up

/ / 0
The Ashland Food Co-op has played a critical role supporting our community for nearly 50 years by providing healthy food and a safe place to shop.  With the recent Covid 19 shutdown, this support has been even more important and has stretched our organization in ways that we could not

/ / 0
  Rogue Valley Messenger: The festival will be hosted online this year. It is a fascinating change: AIFF will be available on FilmFestivalFlix.com. Can you give some insights into this business? Both the idea of online film festivals:  Is this a new, emerging industry?  And what is it about FilmFestivalFlix.com that attracted AIFF to

/ / 0
Changes take place every day in every aspect of our lives. Things change, people grow, and life takes unexpected turns that keep it interesting. A hot industry that has attracted so much attention is in artificial intelligence (AI). This impressive form of technology is changing the way people interact and view

/ / 0
Rogue Valley Messenger: There is quite a robust lineup this year.  What is the decision making process for determining what plays to present?  SAO: As our name implies, we meet together to discuss scripts and ideas for each season. In crafting the 2020 Season, we wanted fun, yet thought-provoking material

/ / 0
Serving the region, the newly open SNYP Clinic in Talent, is exactly what its letters stand for: spay and neutering pets. We caught up the nonprofit’s Board president, Sally Mackler, to find out how the clinic came about—and the scope of the problem they hope to, well, neuter.   Rogue Valley