Jen Marsden speaking to students in a “Future Foundations” class, required of all juniors. It is Tuesday, Period 8, a few days after spring break at Ashland High School. “What’s up?” a boy with a Ducks sweatshirt asks his buddy as they fist bump and then join me at the back of the classroom. I am doing my best to …

Lithia Springs Rotary float, Fourth of July Parade In a world darkened by war, divisiveness, and unrestrained power, small stories of grace fight for light. The 7 a.m. gathering of the Rotary Club of Ashland Lithia Springs, an offspring of the larger Rotary Club of Ashland, is one of these small stories. Welcoming and fellowship, service and generosity — it …

A good friend of mine here in Ashland made the headlines last summer when she was attacked by one of the town’s resident deer. She was walking her rescue dog, Terra, when the deer with her fawn saw the pair and charged. “My dog was smart enough to run home,” Marilyn Hawkins told the Ashland News. “The doe decided to shove …

Here in Southern Oregon, few roadside attractions are more iconic than the Oregon Vortex and its famous House of Mystery — a crooked little shack perched above a creek where the ordinary laws of physics seem more like suggestions than rules.  “Visitors to the Vortex have long experienced the strange effects for themselves,” a promotional brochure explains. “Inside the House of …

At 7:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, February 28, 2026, dozens of girls gathered at the “Shajareh Tayyebeh” (The Good Tree) school in the city of Minab in southern Iran. No sooner had they greeted friends and settled into another school day, a missile struck the school, destroying the building and causing the roof to collapse on top of the children …

This past September, as I pulled into the parking lot at a nearby medical practice where I am a patient, a sign in bold black letters caught my eye: “Doctors Wanted.” I’d come for a quick visit with my primary doctor, older than I, who was on the verge of retiring. My husband’s doctor — in the same practice and …

It has been a helluva a year and this morning’s headlines — “Trump Plunges U.S. Into a New Era of Risk in Venezuela” (NY Times), “Rubio Takes on Most Challenging Role Yet: Viceroy of Venezuela” (Washington Post) — do not augur well for what’s to come. The past two weeks, between missing our traditional holiday reunion with our sons and …