On December 11, 2012, a 22-year old man rushed into the mall at Clackamas Town Center and shot dead two people. Three days later, a 20-year-old man walked into an elementary school in Connecticut and shot 20 school children and six adult staff members. In the aftermath, President Obama lamented

Often when locals and outsiders alike consider southern Oregon, they start the conversation talking about the Ashland Shakespeare Festival and perhaps mentioning the Britt Fest. Maybe they even mention the burgeoning wine industry. All which are wonderful attributes and attractions for the region, and there are multiplier effects to the

Somewhat quietly, and with little public attention, the newly enacted Board of Trustees for Southern Oregon University unanimously voted to extend the contract for interim President Roy Saigo beyond its expiration date of next June. Saigo has served as president for one complete academic year, and entere his second full

With school returning, it is often a time for renewed school pride. But over the past 18 months, a story has been unfolding at the University of Oregon that casts a dark shadow over the state’s largest school—and, more directly, questions the importance placed on sports that has overwhelmed decency and morality. A year and half ago, a female student

  The 2015 comedy Dope has an 89 percent rating on RottenTomatoes.com, with a critic’s consensus that it features a “starmaking performance from Shameik Moore and a refreshingly original point of view from writer-director Rick Famuyiwa.” It showed at Cannes and was nominated for the Grand Jury prize at Sundance.

  In spring of 2003, my band, The Sucker M.C. Jive Turkeys, pulled into a back alley in Medford, and loaded into an echoey, cinder-block sweatbox: Musichead. Though it was a Portland band, three of our five members grew up in the valley and we were banking on our friends

One of the reasons I love living in Southern Oregon is the nature. The trees are like something out of a fantasy novel and there are animals everywhere. That’s why it’s so weird to see the backlash against urban deer. To me, they’re part of the package, part of the

I’ve never gotten over the feeling of March 3, 2004. I was walking through downtown Portland, enjoying a beautiful—for Portland—spring day. And while the sun was sort of shining and birds were chirping, there was something else: an electricity to the air. Everywhere there were people running and smiling, positively

Because of the old gal’s 239th birthday on July 4, The Messenger decided to dedicate this issue to America, loading it up with DIY parade float ideas and apple pie, even if only because America could use a bit of encouragement to get through what has been, let’s say, a challenging

I really wanted to use this week’s column to write about beer, about how it’s the fastest growing industry in the valley and how cool it is that punk rock home-chemistry experiments have turned something that tasted like Budweiser to something that tastes like magic. But instead I have to