Near Rite Aid and adjacent to Subway in Ashland may not seem like the crossroads between enlightened and spiritual, but it is the new location of the Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library, a space more like an age-old apothecary shop than a strip mall, filled with wisdom, ideas and 1000s of

When the Messenger requested an interview with Kyndra Laughery, she responded with enthusiasm and also with a quote from Augusto Boal, a Brazilian theatre director, writer and politician and the founder of Theatre of the Oppressed: “It is not the place of the theatre to show the correct path, but

  Earlier this summer, Jamie McLeod-Skinner announced her plan to become Oregon’s next U.S. Representative, a seat held for 18 years by conservative Greg Walden. An Ashland high graduate, McLeod-Skinner returned back to her home turf after far-flung work experiences in Bosnia and Kosovo in the late 90s, and then

Rogue Valley Messenger: This is our “weed issue.” Medford City Council has had some strident debates about legalized weed—and, in some ways, the policy is split, in that dispensaries are legal but outdoor grows not. Do those policies seem at odds with each other? Kevin Stine: It is the compromise

Raymond Rosa: Director, Operation Rambo Rogue Valley Messenger: Can you talk about why vets have service dogs?  What is the need, and how many people are we talking about in the region?  Raymond Rosa: Many veterans have physical disabilities that limit and make day to day activities a burden, as

With fewer than half of the public schools in Josephine County offering arts program, a Grants Pass-based filmmaker Antonio Melendez saw a gap he could fill. Along with collaborator Abram Katz, in early April, they opened the Heartisan Youth Center, a space to offer media production and entrepreneurship classes. The

Richard Herskowitz is at the helm of the Ashland Independent Film Festival. In his second year as the Artistic Director, he also is serving as the Interim Director. The Messenger caught up with Herskowitz to talk about, well, movies. Rogue Valley Messenger: When did you first recognize that film was something

Your razor-sharp Facebook posts fail to break double digits. You scan Huffington, Politico, the Times, the Post, Salon, and the panicky e-mail alerts from your non-profits for nuggets of objective truth. You suspect that CNN, MSNBC, and Fox might drain human spirits more effectively than the Dementors in Harry Potter.

When Lilia Caballero first started as the Cultural Outreach Coordinator for the Medford Police Department, she struggled to answer Latino community members’ traffic ticket questions. Unable to read the citation in English, they often could not tell her which agency had even issued it: Jackson County Sheriff? Oregon State Police?

In 1972, Congress passed the Clean Water Act. The law establishes water quality standards (e.g. drinkable, fishable, swimmable) and prevents pollution which violates them. Although the current Congress and White House administration may have little interest or foresight in general environmental health, Rogue Valley residents can rely on one fellow