Zach Bryan, an explosive country artist who has amassed fans from all genres in recent years, released his long awaited self-titled album on Friday. Bryan had spent months teasing songs during concerts and on his social media accounts, and the album was exactly what he aimed for; it was authentically him. 

After reaching over 17 million monthly listeners and more than a billion combined streams, Bryan had a lot to live up to. Recently, Bryan headlined the Farewell Festival that brought over 25,000 visitors to Central Oregon last month. 

Bryan started his music career by accident while he was in the Navy. He uploaded a few videos to Twitter and went so viral that his superiors honorably discharged him due to his success. The fact that a discharge for music hadn’t happened since Elvis Presley speaks volumes to his success. 

This album wasn’t made to top the charts or follow in the footsteps of his hits, it was just supposed to be a collection of songs that Bryan thought represented himself. And in a release he said, “all I pray is that someone out there relates enough to not feel alone.” Though, there are several songs and big-name features that could be hits.

That idea of authentic feeling was carried throughout the album where Bryan touched on love, heartbreak, joy, grief, hope and self destruction, giving something for everyone. Bryan set this tone with an emotional spoken word poem reflecting on the ups and downs of life and facing fear. 

From there, Bryan pivoted to the rest of the album that was full of his emotional, melodic and catchy singing. However, this album had a uniquely acoustic twist. Many times, listeners hear Bryan and his guitar singing about heavy topics, with a relatively simple guitar instrumental. Which makes for an intimate experience where one can really appreciate the poetic nature of his lyrics. 

A few songs in, this pattern of heavy acoustic solos is replaced with the deep bellowing voice of the R&B duo, The War and Treaty. In “Hey Driver,” Bryan and Michael Trotter, the primary vocalist, sing in unison about escape for a better place. This place in question seems to be the American South, but not for any tangible reason, instead because of an implied comfort in tradition and stability. This universal feeling is perfectly captured in this fluid duet where Bryan’s high baritone sound ends where Trotter picks up and pushes it to a goosebumps-inducing max. 

Further into the tracklist is another feature that is nothing short of a masterpiece. In “Spotless,” Bryan and Wesley Schultz from The Lumineers reflect on a turning point in a relationship. In this duo, Bryan seems to represent the optimistic thoughts of this individual contemplating the state of this relationship, whereas Schultz portrays the pessimistic side. This internal dialogue competes with the individual recalling good memories, as if they are trying to rationalize the relationship. In a catchy but serenading climax, the chorus is a smooth point where the turmoil presented from Bryan and Schultz reaches a point of agreement. This agreement happens once the individual accepts that no one is “spotless,” and that if the relationship is meant to be, they’ll work through it together. Not only does this feeling strike a chord with most people, it is also a departure for Bryan, when he normally sings about ruining relationships in one way or another. This feeling of agreement and acceptance is beautifully displayed as they sing individually, but also in a united way where both voices only serve to complement the other.

Despite these clear winners of the album, there is truly not a song that should be skipped. This journey of stories and emotions quickly distances itself from the Zach Bryan story, and instead becomes the human story. One where you can take or leave anything you want from it, but still enjoy the album even if you tune out the lyrics. This is exactly what Bryan wanted to do, and has done from the beginning, making the choice to self-title the album a wise one; this is Zach Bryan.

The post “Zach Bryan” the Album for All appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

This summer, I got the privilege to travel to Japan for a few weeks. Aside from the obvious differences in language, food and culture, the most interesting culture shock was the widespread acceptance of smoking. 

Among youth in the United States, it’s generally regarded that smoking cigarettes is on the way out. Between high cigarette taxes, legislation banning flavored cigarettes and the dying older demographic that uses them, cigarettes are no longer as intertwined with social culture as they once were in the 1960s. Of the teenagers that still use tobacco products, the vast majority vape or use nicotine pouches. 

Walking around Bend, you may smell the distinct odor of cigarettes in the distance around bars or grocery stores. However, you certainly don’t smell them consistently when walking around busy downtown streets. 

In Japan, cigarette culture is a part of culture itself. At the height of Japan’s high-growth period in the 1980s, over 80% of adult males smoked cigarettes. Although this number has since fallen, it’s hard to tell the difference as an outsider. 

A lot of the restaurants that I went into were filled with smoke. Even ones that weren’t considered bars had customers of all ages enjoying a meal with a cigarette between their fingers. The ones that didn’t allow smoking would have a smoking room near the bathroom, with an air filter and tinted windows. These smoking rooms are commonplace at train stations, hotels and museums — even an indoor theme park I went to had one on every floor. 

On the streets, people didn’t exactly walk around and smoke, but there was always a reminder that smoking was a given. There were outdoor smoking sections everywhere you looked, booths that sold cigarettes and most commonly, cigarette vending machines. 

Japan is known for its all-purpose vending machines, serving everything from snacks, coffee, ramen, whole meals, deli meat, alcohol and cigarettes. These cigarette vending machines are exactly what they sound like and have been a staple for many years. Until recently, you didn’t need to scan an ID to use them. 

The new ID policy hasn’t stopped underage use. According to our tour guide, businesses do not card in Japan. Instead they simply ask you to click a button by the register that asks if you are at least 20 years old. This system takes the legal pressure off the merchant, and instead operates like an honor system. 

Because of this system, I saw quite a few people who looked underage using nicotine products. Instead of vaping like we commonly see in America, many young people had devices that looked and functioned just like a vape. Instead of using a liquid to be vaped, the device takes inserted cigarettes and heats them up.  

A lot of cigarette use is attributed to the government’s relationship with tobacco enterprises. The Japanese government owns the majority of stake in Japan’s biggest tobacco company, and its headquarters are near the political district in Tokyo. Because of this, regulations are hard to pass, as the government has no incentive. Any sort of anti-smoking campaign supported by the government focuses on cigarette etiquette, not cessation of smoking due to its harms. 

In the United States we tend to have an innate desire to follow the newest thing. Concerning tobacco, this notion has left the usage of cigarettes in the dust. For Japan, a notoriously high-tech and clean country, the widespread use of cigarettes was surprising. Perhaps it’s an example of Japan’s relationship with tradition, or maybe just a familiar habit allowed to grow without consequence. Regardless, cigarette smoking was not a major cultural difference that I was anticipating.

The post Smoking Culture: America vs Japan appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

After years of funding hiccups and bureaucratic roadblocks, Bend is finally pedaling its way into joy with a new mountain bike park at the Big Sky sports complex. Located off of Hamby Road, on Bend’s east side, the new park was created with fun in mind — no matter the ability level.

The features currently open include: a concrete pump track, an obstacle course, a skills area with man-made features akin to obstacles encountered on natural trails, and a learning area that has beginner-friendly versions of the prior features. These features are only the first phase of construction for the park, per Bend Park and Recreation District. 

The unveiling of phase one officially came at the start of June. But according to the BPRD Communications Manager Julie Brown, before it had officially opened, the park had been so popular that, “we had to encourage people to wait for it to be finished because they wanted to ride it before it was completed.”

Initially put before the Deschutes Board of County Commissioners in 2018, the park met some pushback. Concerns about land-use zoning, loud noise and lights generated from planned events that delayed the approval process. This coupled with what Brown called, “other funding priorities for [upkeeping existing] parks and trails in the community,” also delayed the construction process. 

Despite this, Brown added, “BPRD applied for and was awarded a grant through Visit Bend’s Bend Sustainability Fund. That led to the first phase being completed and open for public use at least a few years earlier than originally planned.”

Since its opening, the first phase is already a hit with riders of all ages, said Brown. 

No date has been announced for the construction or completion of phase two. According to the BPRD website, phase two will open up a slopestyle zone which will include a starting tower and sessions zone. Meaning, large jumps, turns and drops with an elevated starting platform to generate the necessary speed.

From the initial design of the bike park, a few of Bend’s world-famous professional bikers, including Carson Storch and Cam McCaul, have advocated for, and helped design a slopestyle area. Their hopes were to put Bend on the map of a larger slopestyle circuit, given its current status as a bike haven in other disciplines of biking. Bend has long been known for its trail riding and downhill biking, but the new jumps open up new opportunities for slopestyle riding, when previous areas for jumps were bootleg, not professionally managed. 

“I really like the Big Sky bike park, andI’ll like it even more with the expected slopestyle zone,” said Caldera junior, Jon Degraff, who is an avid biker. Degraff added that he has “no doubt others my age would flock to it too.”

The post Big Sky Bike Park Opens in Time for Summer appeared first on Obsidian News | Oregon Youth Voices.

School officials cut the ribbon on Pioneer High School’s permanent location last month. Prior to opening the permanent location, the Pioneer program, which started as a credit recovery program in the fall of 2005, operated out of module classrooms and the former Crook County Elementary campus.

Back in the old days, it [Pioneer] sucked, it sucked to be a student at Pioneer, and it sucked to be a staff member.

Pete Goodrich, Assistant principal

According to assistant principal Pete Goodrich, “back in the old days, it [Pioneer] sucked, it sucked to be a student at Pioneer, and it sucked to be a staff member. Because it was much more like an in-school suspension sort of operation and was very grim.”

Goodrich continued, “over the last 10 years, the focus has been more and more on making it that kind of a school where students want to be. Now students are asking to come to Pioneer, that’s been our goal and the new building is just kind of icing on the cake. And that’s arguably an expression of the district’s interest in acknowledging Pioneer’s growth and its role.”

When most people think of alternative schools, they think of last-chance schools for students who have been expelled. But Goodrich disagrees with this stereotype, “We are a placement of choice. So that means, you know, students ask to come here. We’re not an expulsion, or disciplinary placement. There are some people still in the community who think that Pioneer is where the bad kids go. But I would argue that really, if you look at our cross section of our student body, we’re serving the same groups of students as Crook County High School.”   

Pioneer’s ultimate goal is to get diplomas into student’s hands, be this through a conventional Oregon Department of Education diploma, or a GED for which Pioneer offers testing and prep. Though, they do always push students to get a traditional diploma, Goodrich added.

Pioneer seems to be excelling at this, as their Oregon Department of Education Report Card shows that the on-time graduation rate has soared. The 2020 to 2021 school year had only 47 percent of students graduating on time. This number climbed to 79 percent last school year, which is an incredible feat that puts Pioneer in line with the state average. 

The new Pioneer building is located near Crook County High School, which allows students to not feel too disconnected from the main high school and use their specialized career technical education classes or arts classes. 

Goodrich echoed excitement over the district investing in Pioneer, and is thrilled the students have their own building where they can develop at their own pace. 

As students settle into their new setting at Pioneer, the future for the program and their students appears promising. 

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