There's no getting around grief. If someone we love dies, we're going to feel it somehow, sooner or later. Ashlander Jack Wiens wanted to provide an easy-to-read guide for people experiencing grief. So he wrote and drew Tending Our Grief. It marries Wiens' expertise both as a psychotherapist and as an accomplished artist in a slender volume.

There wasn't even supposed to be a race for Oregon Senate District 3 this year. But the sudden death of Sen. Alan Bates required a special election to fill the final two years of his term, so district voters will pick a new senator in November. The major parties moved quickly to choose candidates. Alan DeBoer and Tonia Moro will appear on the ballot. Moro is an attorney and board member at the Rogue Valley Transportation District; DeBoer is a car dealer and former Ashland mayor.

Another day, another dollar; another studio, another guitar. Guitars are common in our culture, and the usual accompaniment of our musical studio guests. But we get a SITAR once in a blue moon, and this is one of those times. Deobrat Mishra from India can trace sitar players back 11 generations in his family. And he shares his skills as the director the Benares Academy of Indian Classical Music.

Some people have a reason to truly fear bees, because they're allergic to bee stings. But everyone on the planet owes a debt to bees, because of the critical role they play in putting food on our tables. They pollinate the crops that provide our food. Dr. Gabriela Chavarria can probably recite bee benefits in her sleep; she is renowned as an expert on bees and other pollinators. And she works at the National Forensics Laboratory run by the federal Fish and Wildlife Service in Ashland.