Actress

Audrey Walker was born on June 23rd 1975 in Forest Grove, Oregon. She grew up in the neighborhood of Aloha, Oregon with one younger brother. She attended St. Cecilia Elementary School where she developed her love of acting through her 8th grade teacher. She later went on to graduate from Central Catholic High School in Portland,Oregon.

It wasn’t until the year 2004 that she took her first acting class. She went on her first audition a month into class and landed the role. Since then she has been steadily working as an actress in numerous films as well as television commercials.

She has trained with casting director turned acting coach Laurel Smith, a former student of Sanford Meisner. This is where Audrey developed her Meisner training.

She has also trained with Seth Yanklewitz of Juel Bestrop Casting.

What are you up to?

I just completed shooting a commercial spot for Nintendo.

Currently I am in preproduction on a film titled “Crackin’ the Code” written by local filmmaker Steve Coker.  You check out the website.

What are you into?

In general I’m into being the best person I can to the world. I’m also into sunshine.  Something we don’t see enough of here. I’m into quality time with the family and working on film sets.  I’m into smiling and helping people enjoy life and realize they really can do anything if they want it bad enough.  

I’m also into VooDoo doughnuts.  Mmmm.

What do you like most about Portland?

I really love how green it is.  I love how Portland is about an hour from the beach, about an hour from the mountains, and about an hour…okay maybe a bit more from the dessert.  Incredible.  

There is just so much to see and do here from Pittock Mansion, the OHSU Tram, Trolleys, the Gardens, the Zoo, MAX….

I also love the architecture downtown.  Especially by Skidmore Fountain.  I really think that is a highly underrated area.  The architectural detail is amazing in that area.

Oh…and I love how the majority of the people are nice and down to earth.

I do believe we have the BEST film crew around.

Wow an actress?  That must be really glamorous.

Actually it’s not.  It’s really hard work.  It’s hard to put yourself out there and let people see the many sides to you and not feel embarrassed by it.  It’s pulling out part of your private world and making it public.  Not a lot of people are comfortable with that.  Especially when you have 20-30 people standing around staring at you.  Bright lights shining on you and a camera stuck in front of your face.  It’s quite intimidating.  Yet for me, it’s perfect, I never feel more at home than I do on set.  I love helping bring a story to life and giving people a character they can connect to.  I love taking the audience on a journey.

Is it true that you’re clumsy?

It took me a while but I embrace my clumsiness.  Not a lot of people are brave enough to just embrace it, but there comes a time when you just have to let go and realize it is what it is.  If you know me….you know my intentions are always good and you can enjoy a good laugh with me.

If something is in front of me I will inevitably knock it over.  Doesn’t matter if it’s a person or an object.  If I’m carrying something I will inevitably drop it at one point or another.  If it is a person I will bump you or elbow you…just ask Diane Lane, I bumped her in the eye.  Yup.  That couldn’t have been more “me”.  We did enjoy a good hearted laugh over it though.

What can I say…I dare you to find someone who is clumsier.

Connect

MySpace

Marketer, tech teacher, suit-wearing treehugger

Nick Bostic is the Director of Marketing and Technology for Chicago Title Insurance Company of Oregon. During the day, he helps area REALTORS® and mortgage professionals to expand their knowledge of computer usage, blogging, social networking and other online marketing techniques. Nick is also known to help troubleshoot a technical problem on a moment’s notice for an extensive list of software applications. He has recently begun to tap into the local tech industry in an effort to bring local software solutions to real estate professionals. Between teaching frequent classes, one-on-one coaching sessions and helping with real estate technology problems, Nick is constantly researching new products and services to help REALTORS® market themselves and their listings while emphasizing “green” options.

Outside of his day job, Nick plays the tenor saxophone, keeps in contact with his national real estate colleagues via Twitter (@nbostic), is learning to stilt walk and is nothing like the suit and tie he wears all day. He went to college at the University of Oregon and studied finance, marketing, management and computer information technology. He was a very active SCUBA instructor, but is now a less than active diver. Much of his free time is spent in Eugene where most of his friends still currently reside.

Nick lives in Beaverton, very close to where he has lived his entire life. After reading countless books on the topic, Nick has realized his is the stereotype of Generation Y despite fighting stereotypes all his life.

Nick is always on the lookout for new ideas and ways to use them. He is always looking to make difficult technology concepts easy for the general public.

What are you up to?

I’m just trying to cram my brain with as much information as possible on a daily basis so I can figure out what it is I’m supposed to be doing. I’m really focusing on achieving a work/life balance lately. It’s been difficult, but I’m realizing early on that it’s important to my sanity.

What are you into?

I’m really diving head first into all of the social networking and blogging that is slowly creeping into the real estate industry. I’m spending way too much time on my computer, but have set reasonably strict rules about when it gets turned off so I can focus on the fun things like home improvement projects, watching movies and getting started on my new stiltwalking hobby.

What do you like most about Portland?

The biggest thing about Portland for me is my familiarity with it. I grew up here, I’ve spent almost all of my life here. Even growing up in the suburbs, my parents took me into downtown all the time so I’m familiar with most of the neighborhoods, restaurants and shops. Something new is always sprouting up though, so it’s fun to see what’s new. My favorite part though is Forest Park. It’s the largest natural urban forest in the US and I love driving through it on my way back from downtown. Being able to drive through a beautiful forest after a stressful day keeps me here.

Where do you see your career in 10 years?

I would like to see my career take more of an educational role. I would like to help people across a wide variety of industries, including real estate, to take advantage of the growing online social tools available to them. I enjoy public speaking and the questions that come out of my classes. I try to focus on making topics understandable to everyone and make myself available to those who need more help afterwards.

I would also like to help older HR and marketing professionals to better understand how to acquire and retain Generation Y employees. I am amazed at the adversarial mentality of many people I come in contact on both sides of the generation gap. I think people should try to learn as much as possible from one another and I hope to facilitate that learning process.

Something of a Social Networking Consultant/Generation Y translator/Corporate Technology Trainer.

You said you are working on adjusting your work/life balance. How do you see
that balance changing?

I see my focus being on a way to make my work part of my life. Due to a recent family illness I am having one of those re-evaluate my life periods and I’m realizing that the time spent with friends and family is what truly defines us as people, not the careers we hold.  I hope to someday figure out a way to do something I enjoy that helps other peoples and still allows me to live the lifestyle I want - being able to pay bills, travel to do some SCUBA diving, go camping with friends and spend lots of time with close friends and family.  A great friend of mine has it right when he says on his voicemail “Have a grateful day”.

Connect

Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook

Photographer, programmer, reluctant extrovert and messer-up of things

Inger Klekacz was raised by two race car drivers who are also a poet (in the case of her mother) and a restaurateur/snow plow driver/logger (in the case of her father).

That statement, while it initially reads like the treatment for a Wes Anderson movie, is absolutely the truth. And it speaks volumes about the philosophy by which she lives - whatever it is, if it interests you, try it. Said philosophy has resulted in an accidental career in web programming, a vocation in photography, and a long list of hobbies and passions - chiefly: music, massage therapy, chicken husbandry, stained glass work, emergency response, and, yeah, sometimes even racing.

Inger has lived most of her life in Portland.  After taking an 8-year hiatus from photography in her early 20s, she became one of the founding volunteers at Portland’s Newspace Center for Photography, and later joined the team at Blue Moon Camera & Machine to bring photography back to the Everyman. She currently writes web applications for a market research company in southwest Portland by day; at night, you can usually find her out photographing live acts at various bars.

Inger is 32 and three quarters years old. She owns a 1914 money pit in North Portland - the money pit in which she, in fact, grew up.

What are you up to?

By day, I’m a mild-mannered web programmer. I write web applications with ColdFusion, PHP, various SQL flavors and some CSS/Javascript/AJAX stuff. That was a complete accident. I was a photography/film major with a minor in journalism before I dropped out. I randomly took a tech support job at Teleport, where I taught myself HTML to keep myself awake on the graveyard shift. Somehow I ended up learning Perl and PHP, then database stuff. It’s all a blur. I’m an English nerd. I don’t know what I’m doing in programming. But it’s a good job with a lot of creative potential, and I love the people I work with. That goes a long way.

By night, I’m a rock photographer. That was kind of an accident, too. I’m a portraitist by nature, because while I am essentially shy, I just love people so much, and I love celebrating the good that I see in them. And then I saw this band play a few months ago, and they put on a helluva show, and I was like, “I have GOT to shoot these guys doing their thing!” I had a good time shooting them, kept doing it, started shooting other bands that I like to listen to…yadda yadda yadda, before you know it, I’m shooting four nights a week and spending the rest of my nights processing images and catching up on my quite unglamorous home repair.

What are you into?

Just about everything I can get my hands on. My life in general is the result of me saying, “I wonder if I could do that…” where “that” is, you know, something random and different from the stuff I’m already doing. Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time planning some events for the Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) in close-in North Portland. NET is a group of roughly 2000 volunteers across Portland who are trained in search and rescue, first aid, triage, and fire suppression, in addition to other emergency response stuff. The idea is that when a catastrophe (e.g., an earthquake) hits Portland and overwhelms our paid responders, citizens will naturally want to help each other. The training, and the team coordination, helps ensure that we don’t injure ourselves in the process of being good people.

I’ve also taken music up again. I played a lot of instruments as a youngster, and quit when I went to a high school that had a really crappy band program. I just recently have started to learn bass guitar - my first stringed instrument - and my friend has insisted that I bombard his band with my bad bass sound. Yes, that’s “bad bass,” not “bad ass.” Again, this is a result of “I wonder if I could do that….” As it turns out, I can. Despite my tiny hobbit hands. I don’t know where it’s going, and I’m really not any good yet, but it gives me joy, and that’s enough for me.

What do you like most about Portland?

That’s like asking me what my favorite ice cream flavor is. I don’t even know where to start on this. Okay, here: I love our civic pride. A friend of a friend, who lives in Seattle, remarked recently that he always marveled at how many of us down here are flag-waving Portlanders - you know, people who get all teary-eyed and gushy about how pretty our city is, how nice people are, etc.

I think that when you are grateful to live in a place, you take care of it, and this place becomes more than a geographical location where we eat, sleep, work, and merely exist - it becomes a nurtured, sacred spot, and a community blossoms out of our shared grace and love for a space. That’s not common, and it is something that we should hold up high to the world and say, “look at us, we actively love our town, and here is the result, and here is how you can love your town.”

Portlander is an incubator for a lot of talent. I love its receptivity. You’re like, “Hey, I want to do this thing,” and all of a sudden, there are 20 people who say, “wow, that’s cool, let’s do it Thursday nights, I know a guy who’ll host it for us.” That’s not to say that every fledgling project always works out - but I’ve found that there’s a feeling of exploration here, a willingness to Give It A Shot that you wouldn’t get in a city like San Francisco or Chicago. People here are still soft. In general, they choose not to pull that “Um, that’s not cool enough for me” crap that you find in harder places.

Your MySpace profile lists your occupation as “seer.” What’s that about?

I make portraits. The art of a good portrait is that you have to see something in a person that they thought nobody else could see in them. I love distilling the essence of a person via a photograph. So I guess that’s why I chose “seer” as an occupation. I can hold a camera up and shoot a thousand frames on the street randomly, and that makes me a photographer. But to make a portrait of another living being, you have to really be able to look into them and acknowledge and celebrate what it is that distinguishes them from the dude next to them. You see the person for who they are, and you don’t look away, for better or for worse. It can be very intimate. I am at my most vulnerable when I make a portrait, and often, so is my subject.

That freaks out some of my subjects. Sometimes they’re not ready to be looked at that intently. Maybe because they think I’m not going to find something good. Or they’re afraid of what I’m going to show them. But I photograph with loving intent, and it shows.

“Messer-up of things?”

Yes. Unabashedly. I was out shooting a show the other night and a friend asked me a question that I get asked a lot - “How do you…do…so much?” And I gave the answer I always give - I give myself permission to mess up. I know a lot of folks who are tethered to this idea of perfection out of the gate, this myopic fantasy of savant talent. For example, how many people say they love photography but hardly ever make photographs? At least 80% of those folks are suffering from Final Cut-itis - they are inundated with these images of perfection, with the perfect lighting and the ring-light reflection in a model’s eyes and the Fisheye Lens Puppy Nose Shot (TM), and they think to themselves, “I could never do that.” But if you’re ever going to do anything with your life, you have to remember that we’re only seeing people’s final cuts. I’ve seen some of Robert Frank’s contact sheets, and he shot some clunkers in addition to the works of genius.  They’re not all “The Americans.” And I bet the Beatles wrote some really terrible, unpublished songs when they weren’t writing “Blackbird.”

You have to be gentle enough with yourself to acknowledge that nobody  bats a thousand, and that you won’t either. But you gotta at least swing. Stop taking yourself so seriously. Life is messy, and so are you. And so am I. Get out there. Make some Crap. And then get better and make some Not Crap.

Connect

Website, Flickr, MySpace

Flute/Whistle/Shakuhachi player/singer of Celtic and Japanese music

Irish flute player Hanz Araki is the quintessential world music musician. He has performed around the world with the Juno Award-winning Paperboys, The Bridies, Casey Neill and an all-star tribute to The Pogues called “K.M.R.I.A.” He has played with the Seattle Symphony, the University of Washington Wind Ensemble and is featured on more than a dozen recordings and soundtracks, from feature films and documentaries to popular video games.

While his love is Irish music, his deep roots are in the shakuhachi, the traditional bamboo “Zen flute” of Japan. Hanz (short for Hanzaburo) is the world’s only sixth generation shakuhachi player, following in the footsteps of his father, Kinko Ryu Grand Master Kodo Araki V. With no prior musical training, Hanz took up the shakuhachi at age 17. Under his father’s tutelage, four months later he made his concert debut in Shimoneski, Japan.He went on to teach shakuhachi at Keio University for two years before moving back to his hometown of Seattle in 1991.

There, his American mother’s Gaelic roots came into play, and he began teaching himself Irish and Scottish tunes on the flute and whistle, inspired by the many excellent pipers and fiddlers in Seattle. His ability on the flute and his uncanny command of traditional songs with his voice quickly made him a fixture of the Irish music scene in America.

In 2004, Hanz released a solo album of traditional Scottish and Irish music with a fresh new slant, “Six of One, Five of the Other.” It has been favorably received by fans and Irish music aficionados and earned him liveireland.com’s Best Newcomer of the Year and KLCC’s “Best Music of 2004″ list. His newest release, “Little Fires” is a bold mix of traditional Celtic and modern music.

Hanz now lives in SW Portland.

What are you up to?

Playing and recording music, traveling and doing all the miserable, horrid, soul-destroying grunt-work that goes along with making those things happen.

What are you into?

Music (mostly playing/learning — I tend to like quiet in my home life), movies (watching — although lately I’ve been scoring for documentary films and really enjoying it), and eating delicious sandwiches.

What do you like most about Portland?

The music scene here is incredible. But what do I like most? People actually do things here (like you say, “Let’s go grab lunch sometime,” and they say, “Sure!” And then it actually happens). Also, the aforementioned delicious sandwiches. Well, the food in general. And the slightly more progressive politics.

Six generations of classical Japanese shakuhachi music lead to…traditional Irish music?

It’s not as far a leap as you might think. Traditional songs and tunes all share some commonality which is what I love about them. It just so happened I was wired to those two regions. It may just as easily been India and Peru, as Ireland and Japan.

You mention sandwiches prominently. What are your top-5 Portland sandwiches?

1) Side Door — The Stark Dip
2) Russell St. Barbecue — Pulled Pork Sandwich
3) Bar Carlo — The Fried Egg Sandwich
4) The Original Hotcake and Steakhouse — BLT (with a fried egg)
5) Hoda’s — Beef Shawarma

Connect

Website, MySpace, Facebook

Writer, founder of parenthacks.com, well-intentioned but ill-equipped homemaker

Asha Dornfest is the mother of two remarkable kids, the wife of an extremely smart man, the founder of what has become an amazing online parenting community, the author of several books about various tech topics, and a woman who’s always asking questions.

Professionally, the main event is Parent Hacks, a web site that started as a curious musing (”Wouldn’t it be cool to collect parents’ best bits of hard-earned wisdom and clever tricks and put them all together for everyone to share?”) and has turned into a business. Sort of MacGyver-meets-childrearing. Asha has always loved the role of community guide, and Parent Hacks lets her participate in an ongoing conversation about parenting with thousands of smart, imaginative people around the world.

But family life is the actual main event — the ongoing adventure of raising kids is continually throwing surprise twists in the road. It’s an amazing journey.

What are you up to?

Right now I’m trying to get a handle on the juggle. Work-family balance may be a cliche, but it’s a real trick to pull off with grace, especially because it’s REALLY work-family-home-friends-spouse-community-self balance. I find myself reading a lot of “life hacks,” personal organization stuff looking for the secret of simplifying my life. Time to stop reading and start doing.

What are you into?

I’m into being outside. The emergence of Spring in Portland never fails to thrill me. I was up on Mt. Hood skiing not long ago and was literally breathless from the beauty. I’m into reconnecting with the things I’ve let fall by the wayside while I’ve been too busy with busy-ness: the outdoors, time with friends and extended family, time having fun with my husband and my kids, time alone.

What do you like most about Portland?

The friendliness, the accessibility, the green.

Are you ever going to have a real job?

I left the traditional workplace in 1995 when I wrote my first book, and I’ve never been back. In large part that has to do with having children, but it also has to do with the Internet, and how one can now make a living from writing that’s independent of the publishing industry.

I miss the camaraderie of the workplace (have for years) but as my kids get older I am hoping to build more “face time” into my online life. That generally involves travel (I think? Maybe not if Raven’s work in the Portland community is any indication!)…which is tricky right now while my kids are young.

Work-family balance, huh? So have you learned ANYTHING?

Um. Perhaps you can ask me again in a few months.

I’m approaching 40, so maybe my life is coming into greater focus now, who knows. But I am beginning to see that frittering one’s days away with busywork is a huge waste of one’s essence. I think it’s reasonable (and not too new-age-y) to say that we all need to take some time to figure out what gives our life meaning and to DO those things…not just PLAN to do those things.

So first, identify the shiny, lovely goal — what you want to do/accomplish/be in all the free space you’re about to create.

Next, get rid of the clutter in one’s life (mental clutter especially). The trick is to not get mired in the backlog — spend a limited amount of time there per week.

Automate the stuff that shouldn’t require much brainwork (bills, laundry, housekeeping, etc.).

Finally, live your life (the one you imagined in Step 1). Reality will be a lot messier than your shiny fantasy, but that’s what it’s all about. There’s no way to find those hidden paths unless you stumble upon them by accident (or get pushed there).

Connect

Parent Hacks

Code smashing, retro-gaming, Internet loving dude

Matt was born and raised here in Portland. His geeky side came out in early childhood, being hooked on not only the NES, but also his TI 99/4A computer and eventually getting addicted to local BBS’s. After graduating high school in 1996, he started in the tech industry building computers for small businesses. He taught himself just about everything, starting at computer hardware, then to networking, then finally to Internet technologies. Matt has had stints starting an ISP, working as a developer at Darkhorse Comics, and even running his own Web Development shop with Justin Kistner for a few years. He currently works for Instrument Marketing as lead Interactive Developer for projects with clients like W+K, Burton, Nike and Starbucks.

What are you up to?

My latest obsession has been building web sites that are location-centric. I’ve built both Unthirsty.com and Knitmap.com, which allow you to search for Happy Hours and Yarn Shops using Google Maps, and also have a couple more similar sites in the works. I’ve also created TwitterWhere, a Twitter aggregator that allows users to generate feeds based on location, and the iPhone Trimet Tracker, which allows you to check when your bus is going to arrive at your stop. I’m also working on a non-location-centric project with Instrument that I’m very excited about, but can’t talk about quite yet. All I can say is I think a lot of other people will be excited as well.

What are you into?

Of course the Internet comes first. I love creating web sites and web-based tools. I like figuring out how to stretch the limits of what we can do with the technology we have available. I’m also a big Retro-gaming fan. I love the NES, and even have a site dedicated to it. Retro arcade games are awesome too.

What do you like most about Portland?

It’s a fairly big city but still feels small. The craft and art scene. Cheap movie theatres that serve beer and pizza. Last Thursday. Coffee shops. Tons of happy hours. Almost anywhere has wifi. The fact that our mass-transit system has an API. Portland is a geek’s paradise.

What motivates you to keep working in this industry?

We are living during the most amazing time in human history. The technology we are using and creating is nothing short of a miracle, and I feel privileged to be a part of it. While I do like working on fun projects, I do have aspirations to use technology to help make life better for everyone, not just the people who can afford to buy a computer.

What’s with this bacon thing?

Somewhere along the way I picked up an obsession with bacon. You may hear me mention bacon several times just in one conversation. Just nod and smile.

Connect

Website, Unthirsty, Knitmap, TwitterWhere, iPhone Trimet Tracker

Undecided speed-reader who loves basalmic vinegar hummus

April is approaching 30 and realizing that she will never be a card-carrying Adult, although sporadically she tries on that costume for laughs. The oldest of two girls raised in a perfectly normal rural family, after high school she escaped the banality of Idaho and traded it in for the banality of the Midwest.

Luckily, she found her future husband (Keith) there so it wasn’t a wash. A few months after meeting they were living together, getting tattoos together, and sneaking around behind their co-workers’ backs. Realizing they  were really more suited for the western US, they drove a little pickup half-cross-country to Missoula, MT which was a fine-sized town with very likable people and quick access to the wilderness.

Five years and Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Studies later, she and Keith decided to downsize and head for Mexico with their pit bull Lazlo. Within the first week they abandoned their heavily-prepared plan to make it to Chichen Itza for the vernal equinox and ended up blindly traveling down the western coast for 7 weeks, camping and staying in small villages along the way. They met amazing people and had several truly amazing experiences.

They made it back to Idaho without divorcing each other or getting shot by roadside MPs, so they declared their trip a success. She doesn’t like to think too hard on the period that followed their return. Let’s just say it was dark and gloomy and a little rancid, but again–she survived, perhaps a little smarter on the other side.  Deciding a change of pace would do them some good, April convinced Keith and Lazlo to move to Portland for undetermined “city opportunities.”

That’s working out fine and although it’s really only a stop-over in her life, that doesn’t mean it’s not time well-spent—especially since she found a great psychiatrist. In the fall of 2006, April saw a photo on BlogtownPDX of a little black and white pit bull mix, a Hurricane Katrina survivor, up for adoption. She dreamed of that dog and tricked her husband into going to the shelter “just to look.”  And that’s how Mrs. Mia Wallace, a pit-dalmatian mix as far as they can tell, joined the family.  They live in a small apartment on W. Burnside, which they equally love and hate at times.

What are you up to?

I am researching (and dreaming about) what it will take to start a commune. And I mean “commune” in the loosest sense of the word. Basically, what will it take to live in the most sustainable way possible in a place where we can spend the most time together, our dogs can be outside all day, and we have to sweat to make food and art?  If the best way is by joining like-minded people on a discrete piece of land, well, that will technically be a commune. Plans for an A-frame cabin made from reclaimed materials, outside bathtubs, and a pit bull obstacle course will be incorporated. Also, I’m searching for a Theory of Everything. Without a background in physics and with only rudimentary math skills, I honestly don’t expect to be the next Stephen Hawking, but some of my ideas have been confirmed by the books on the subject so that gives me hope. I am learning more about subjective reality and trying to live in the moment as much as possible.

What are you into?

I’m into taking photos of classic cars, especially ones with rust or other character flaws. I also like shiny chrome, though. Actually, I take photos of all kinds of things.

I’m into being a pit bull advocate. I knew nothing about pit bulls before we got Lazlo, but we were won over immediately. There was a learning curve, but he and Mia have made us better people.

I’m into watching other people and imagining that I live their life. It’s amazing that we all have a different reality yet we all have to interact on this shared illusion.

I’m into psychedelics. Seriously. There’s a lot of new research being done on the effects and possible therapeutic uses of psychedelics, especially for people facing death. Our brains, just being advanced processors, have learned to disassociate so much of what is really available to us. Psychedelics have been and are currently used around the globe to help people have intense spiritual experiences. Not in the religion, me vs.you, way but in a cosmic, universal way. Tell me the planet doesn’t need more of that right now.

I’m into trying to be an authentic person. It’s hard.

What do you like most about Portland?

Portland is a great place to blend in. I’m reminded of that every time I’m back in my hometown and people are staring at me and/or my tattoos. I like that you can choose the level of interaction here, there’s not someone up in your business all of the time. Also, I like that I don’t have to drive. Bank, groceries, concerts, restaurants, shopping—all within walking distance. I do wish there were more places to ride my bike without having to deal with traffic.

What are you going to do with your life?

Do I really have to answer that?  I’m working on it. I thought I was going to go back to school and get a Master’s in Psychiatric Nursing, but OHSU thought otherwise. I took the rejection as a sign that I’m just not a hard sciences kind of girl. So my options are open. What I want: fresh air, hikes, silence, hard physical work, time to make art, the love of my family and friends. What I don’t want: to sit in a cubicle, to struggle against hordes of traffic/people, to be part of Consuming America. See: commune. Honestly, I’d also like to get into research. I’m addicted to information, so if I can incorporate the internet into a real job  I would be happy as a clam.

Are you sure you don’t want children?

Well, it’s no fun to second-guess yourself all your life, so I have to say: Yes, pretty sure. I’ve heard all the arguments for it and have yet to hear one that tips the scales in favor of reproducing. I don’t mind being perceived as selfish or uncaring—I am selfish but my husband and dogs can vouch for the caring part. Basically, I only have so much time and energy and I prefer to spend it how I want to. Also, I like to sleep in.

Connect

LinkedIn, Portfolio, Flickr, Blog

Search Engine Marketing Now, Sports Marketing Past

Mike Rosenberg currently holds the executive position of Vice President of Client Acquisition at EngineWorks, Inc., Mike is responsible for overseeing all revenue initiatives from new and existing clients. Mike brings the extensive selling skills and media agency experience necessary to continue adding new online companies to our current list of valued clients.

Prior to joining EngineWorks, Mike was in the wonderful world of Sports Marketing. Most recently as Vice President of Sales and Client Services for Global Events Group, an events marketing company located in Portland that produces several of the Northwest’s largest events, including the Mazda Champ Car Grand Prix.

Before joining Global Events Group, Mike founded and managed Rosenberg Marketing, LLC, a sales and marketing agency servicing regional clients such as the Portland Marathon, FIRST Robotics Competition, and American Le Mans. In addition, Mike was also the Managing Director of the immensely successful 2005 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and Marketing Director at the Oregon Sports Authority.

Mike is an active Board Member of the Police Activities League of Greater Portland (PAL) and servers as President of the PAL Development Board. He was honored in 2005 as a recipient of the Portland Business Journal’s prestigious Forty Under 40.

A Portland, Oregon native, Mike graduated from the University of Oregon, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration through the Lundquist College of Business. He currently resides in the Eastmoreland neighborhood of SE Portland with his wife Amy, young son Benjamin and Lola the family dog.

What are you up to?

I am really enjoying learning everything I can about an ever-evolving Search Engine Marketing industry and sharing that knowledge and EngineWorks’ know-how with clients and other partners.

Most importantly I’m being a father, my son just turned one-year-old in March (our first). He does something new and amazing every day. Also TRYING to find time to catch a few March Madness games with an eye on my bracket!

What are you into?

Besides trying to be the best father I can and helping my company grow…

I’m a life-long huge sports fan so I try and catch as many games as I can (no more Ducks basketball for a while). I also love good food, whether that means preparing it myself for family and friends or finding a new great restaurants (preferably in new cities we travel to).

What do you like most about Portland?

Portland has all the natural resources I love…an hour to the beach, an hour to the mountain. I also have great friends and family here. Our restaurants (and beer of course) are top-notch and lots of parks for kids and dogs! It is big enough that we have most of everything, but small enough that I run into people I know all the time.

Why should I consider EngineWorks for Search Engine Marketing?

We immerse ourselves in your business and become a part of your marketing team. Proven. Personal. Professional. You will always know what we are doing, why we are doing it and what the next step is.

What do you always look for in a new city you visit?

The best falafel. Started during a trip to Europe when I found the ultimate falafel…out of the way Jewish neighborhood in Paris (Lenny Kravitz fav too), found it during stop two in Paris, had to make a special trip back before I flew home. Now when I go to new cities I try and find the best in town…none have really ever come close.

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Painter, installationist, sculptor, gallery owner/curator, writer, project organizer, consultant

Jeremy Tucker was born in Southern California, and as a small child he lived in Germany for four years. After traveling the U.S. his family settled in North Texas where he went to school to study fine arts and psychology. Jeremy’s main focus was painting and sculpture, after four years he switched to animation for two years, then back to painting. He had attained several awards for painting, drawing, and animation while attending college which fueled his ambition as an artists to look at art as a depth of the conscious construct, and to approach not only his own art this way, but also to search out other artists within this doctrine.

During the last year of college in 1997 Jeremy began having shows outside of the college exhibitions in Dallas. The gallery shows had not only inspired the exhibitionist in him, but also ideas of curating as an art form. When he moved to Portland Oregon in 2001 Jeremy settled in and set up his studio, and started scouting the art scene. Jeremy had found found a great gallerist, for whom he had acquired a deep respect for both process and presentation. In 2004 he began working for his gallery, the Mark Woolley Gallery. Jeremy had asked Mark to take him on as a student, and he began to instruct Jeremy in the ways of gallery operations. By mid-2005 Jeremy began his own gallery, the Rake Art Gallery, and now along with producing his own art, and work for the Mark Woolley gallery he also run the Rake Art Gallery.

One important aspect of being an artist in Portland is to remember the community to which one belongs. Rake as well as Mark Woolley strive to involve our selves and our artists in giving back to the community through art donations for health and service based organizations such as Cascade Aids Project, project Quest, Brain surgery of Oregon and others.

What are you up to?

I am constantly constructing shows, placing artists in restaurants around town, and evolving the ideas of how a gallery participates in its community. Currently one of the projects we have is the Academy project, where we have three to four students from and arts academy come to the gallery every Saturday for the winter spring semester, and we take them to meet professional artists that they then interview on concept, process, and materials. We help them develop a conceptual body of work, to construct an artist statement based on this work and then run them through the process of having a show for two weeks at the end of their semester with us.

We are also currently setting up both adult and student art classes at our facility.

What are you into?

I am into the development of the consciousness for higher possibilities to social change. Im into sight, sound, smell, taste as the conduits to unlocking the doors of the deeper self. I’m into the emotions of existence, to the experience of life, and the documentation of this transitory state.

What do you like most about Portland?

What I like most about Portland is that if you are not afraid to work hard for your dream, opportunities to for those dreams realization make themselves apparent. This city offers something unique in its energy, its people and its desire not to be rushed. What do I like about Portland, I would have to say it is that I have fallen in love with life,  the pace is fast but it also gives you time to slow down with out losing touch.

What does the future hold?

I am not sure what the future holds, but I know that with every change there is but another opportunity to grow. It is with great optimism that these experience have guided my life and its direction is that of never failing. How does one maintain this ideology, well through strength of being. Maybe its the Apache blood, or the Polish that courses through my veins.

What is art?

I am sure that art is the language we use when words are not enough, they are signs, symbols, and markers that tell of experience, ponder, question, and express the mind, heart and soul. Art can help us transcend, or rebel, understand, or stand in absolute confusion. Art can touch a soul or repulse every fiber of your being. Art can put you in touch with Angels or awaken demons. It can be profound or simply mundane. Art is..what it is… a recording and a transmission of a perception.

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Humble superhero, deep lover, shallow puddle stomper and hopeless romantic

Billie was an odd child. Always got good grades, but was observed in a semi- state of daydreams and fantasies most of the time. She grew up in a wild place, nestled in a wooded valley in the rocky mountains of Montana.

She was raised without running water or electricity and spent more time on horseback than in a car (or anywhere else). Long days of Huckelberry Fin inspired adventures, camping trips to waterfalls with her dog and tree climbing were among her favorite things to do. She aspired to one day become a cowboy/carpenter, so she spent many hours honing her shooting skills and building tree forts. She was an exceptional hunter and could shoot and skin a deer by the age of 9. She developed very keen tracking skills and spent many days in the forest, watching and observing its inhabitants. She felt most at home in the silent forest.

Then, one day she moved to Alaska with her mom and brother and became a commercial fisherman. She threw nets, learned how to tie knots and arm wrestled her way around the docks. She got her first pair of sealegs and aspired to become a “salty dawg”. She loved the sea, but yearned for a tropical climate and a life on the beach.

She moved to Kauai and lived on the beaches and in the jungles for 5 years. She learned how to surf, farm, survive in the remote jungle, make a living by creating art and jewelry and most importantly…she learned how to live freely. This was the beginning of her spiritual awakening, and she found herself in perpetual awe and respect for the beauty of the ina (land). She fell deeper in love with Kauai, year after year.

She eventually became a house-dwelling mammal and transitioned from her gypsy state into a more “on-the-grid” existence. She started several businesses and worked interesting, and odd jobs. She had a good life. But, one day she awoke with an intense thirst for the big city.

So, she packed up and moved to New York City. She did rooftop gardens for the year she was there. In New York she discovered that adventure and freedom can exist, even within an urban construct. She befrended many interesting people and held conversation with the homeless as well as the professional. She will always practice true compassion and have an unwavering curiosity about the human drama.

She waved goodbye to New York and moved to Oregon, where she lived in a beautifull palace at the base of Mt. Hood. she sat in meditation for 100 hours, in order to find the true meaning of suffering and discovered an equinimity to living life. She became a certified wildland firefighter, but met a boy and decided she was more interested in living than burning alive.

Then, she moved into Portland and has been living there since. She thinks it’s a great little town, and raves about its inhabitants. She feels at home there, and appreciates its strong sence of community and its permaculture values.

What are you up to?

About 5 foot 3…. (haha).

I manage a spa, it’s called Common Ground. Most people have heard of it, because it is well-known for its outside hot tubs. It is an interesting little place, because it’s clothing optional and focuses on community and alternative healing. The center offers use of sensory deprivation tanks, massage, network spinal analysis, audio visual stimulation and steam room and sauna. I am pretty passionate about sensory deprivation and have spent lots of time researching Dr. John Lilly (the inventor of the tanks). I like the tanks because it facilitates my meditation practice and allows me to “tap in” to the source frequently. I am also an artist, musician and poet…so I am constantly cultivating those passions.

What are you into?

I get into a lot of things. I like to try new things that push me to become a better, more interesting person. I recently finished a pottery class and am looking to get back into Capoerela (Brazilian martial arts). I just got an offer to joing the Portland roller derby team and am considering. Miss Lucy Furr… wadda ya think? I do a lot of writing and playing my guitar. I love all kinds of instruments,  and can pretty much play anything in my hands. I just purchased my first turntables and a mixer and am aspiring to become a rockin’ DJ. I am still learning how to scratch and mix, though… still a novice. One of my favorite things to do is dance! I feel an sense of undescribable freedom when I’m dancing… I am interested in learning new ways to move, like breakdancing and pole dancing (!). I am a crafstman and a pretty good carpenter as well. I know more about cars than most of my guy friends and I can kick your ass in thumbwrestling (ok, thats probibly a lie).  I hang out with my friends a lot and have a deep appreciation for fine wine and food. I love to cook, and am pretty good at it. Other than that, mostly into something debocherous and hopefully exciting….

What do you like most about Portland?

Definitley the people. I’ve been very fortunate to have lived in gorgeous, untouched wilderness most of my life so I tend to take that part for granted. It’s really the people that excite me here. I love the strong appreciation for community, and the ecologically concious lifestyles that people lead here. I feel like rather than just talking about it, people here actually do it. They make a difference. they trade in their cars for a bike (yes!!), they compost and make worm bins, they volunteer, they become vegetarians or vegans, they make art and music, they play in the rain, they try hard to leave a lighter footprint on the earth, they pay attention to where the products that they buy actually come from, they read the listed ingredients, they support local ORGANIC farmers, they learn how to grow a garden, they make kombucha tea, they like to play with records, they appreciate good coffee and food, they love to drink good beer and they love to dance! Yes, people of Portland, it’s because of you that I love this quirky little town. You rock (wink, wink)!

If you could have one super power, what would it be?

You know, that’s been an on-going debate since grade school. It’s a tough call, really. I think that being invisible could be useful, but so would time travel. I really just wanna dress like a super hero and somehow save people.

Do you eat toast?

Funny that you ask, I was just thinking about how much I love it! There’s something special about toast, and I find that typically the people that are really into it, you know… that REALLY get it, well they are quite possibly some of the most interesting people I have met. It’s a pre-requisite for dating, actually. “Must love toast” . Call me crazy, but without toast jam wouldn’t taste half as good.

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Author of “Radical Accounting”

Madeline Bailey’s family was brillant intellectually but had a negative emotional IQ. She is totally grateful for the world class education she received, and grateful to get out of there and use that education to bring peace to the world.

She got into technology at the beginning of PC’s. Madeline coded an accounting software program, similar to Peachtree. Peachtree won out due to management, which was a lesson to her in business success.

Her biggest software project was developing what has turned out to be the world’s leading cancer research software. She hit the glass ceiling in the corporate world. It was bloody.

Madeline’s husband started a software publishing company. She became the managing partner. Peachtree was overkill so she was doing the accounting manually. It was a nightmare. Eventually Madeline discovered QuickBooks, which was light years better. During that time she wrote and published a local best-seller on how to find a job. She was getting a lot of phone calls for advice on being a successful woman entrepreneur, media interviews, etc. Meanwhile, her software became obsolete, her husband took a job, and she had to figure out her next career move.

Madeline prayed for guidance. Her guidance was to become a consultant and help small business become more profitable. Money is important. Small businesses create the most jobs in this country…even if you’re a “business of one” and the job you’re creating is your own.

What are you up to?

I’m a private accountant for successful small business owners.

Most of us don’t know the power of accounting. Accounting makes you more money than it costs you.  It’s one thing that makes the rich richer.

To level the playing field, I wrote a book that walks someone through the process I’ve used to teach hundreds of successful clients accounting. It’s not how accounting is taught in school or any other book. I’m pioneering a new way to learn accounting that totally works!  

I totally believe this is how entrepreneurial accounting will be taught in the future, although at the rate I’m going now, I’ll be like the guy who created Lotus 123. Even though he changed the face of technology, no one knows who he is, and he was just paid a salary. Note to aspiring authors: I have yet to break even.

What are you into?

Marketing the book. So far it’s sold online and locally at New Renaissance Bookstore and some public libraries. It’s a grassroots thing. People can ask their local library and bookstores to carry it. So far every library has said yes, and bookstores will soon follow.

What do you like most about Portland?

Plants. My boyfriend became my boyfriend because I helped him with a charity garden and then he helped me with a landscaping project at Merlo High School in Beaverton.  

He lives on an acre. Last year i grew lavender, rosemary, mint, and onions. We had blackberries so I made freezer blackberry jam. The year before we had cherries and I made this awesome cherry tart with almond marzipan. When the lilac tree bloomed, my place smelled and looked fabulous for a week.

My favorite tourist attraction is the Japanese garden.

What is your professional dream?

To educate, empower and enlighten people financially. I’ve been into money my whole life, and nothing has changed people’s lives financially the way accounting does. It’s crazy!

I dream that people will use their money to bring peace to the world. I like peace in relationships. When we laugh, it helps. I’m can’t tell a joke, but I can do funny by making humor of the situation.

I still laugh at a joke Kenneth Rougeau made. The Muslim neighbors were talking loud…obnoxiously loud. I told him they always talk loud. He said, “that’s because they learned to talk over gunfire.”

Sometimes I make clients laugh when I tell them, “Now comes the fun part of accounting.”

If you’re so smart with money, why aren’t you rich?

None of your business.  I respect that your money is your private business too.

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Filmmaker, illustrator, Guinness drinker, the devil

Matt Haley is well known in the world of comic books for his years of creating comic book art for both Marvel and DC, but he has recently attracted a whole new audience, thanks to the comic-style art panels he created for both seasons of the Sci-Fi Channel’s tv series, “Stan Lee’s Who Wants to be a Superhero?” and for his work on the Superman Returns movie adaptation and the accompanying promotional poster that appeared in USA Today.  He contributed art and designs to LucasArts’ Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith XBOX game, designed the title sequence for DIC’s new animated series Sushi Pack, and created the characters for the new XBOX 360 game “Liberty Rocket”. Die-hard comic fans will also recognize Haley’s design in the Elseworld’s Batgirl and Supergirl action figures from DC Direct available in specialty stores nationwide.

What are you up to?

Right now, directing my first film project. It’s a blast to finally get to create images on film, and it gets me out of the studio so I can work with creative people again!

What are you into?

I am absolutely crazed for Japanese kid’s shows, you know, the old Power Rangers garbage, but untranslated, and from the ’70s and ’80s. I have no idea what’s going on in them, but they’re kinetic energy is hard to stop watching. I’m also really into film, hence my current endeavour, I could talk film for days, and usually do. I still love comics, but it’s hard to find the time to create them these days, there’s so much other stuff I feel like doing.

What do you like most about Portland?

I used to want to leave Portland when I first moved here 15 years ago, but the longer I live here, the more I grow to love it, Portland gives me the things I like about cities like San Francisco without a lot of the attendant problems. I still say this town could use more Irish pubs and retro arcades, but at least we have one of each.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Honestly, the freedom, I’ll freely admit I am very spoiled by my profession, not having to punch a clock makes up for a lot of the headaches of being an independent contractor. Plus, I wouldn’t last five minutes in a real job, I swear I’d say something icky and get fired within the first two days.

What is your single most favorite place to sneak away and spend an hour in?

GROUND KONTROL, no question, the ’80s retro arcade downtown. Yes, I’m a child of the ’80s, yes I love arcade games, yes, I suck at most of them, but I’ll never grow up enough to abandon playing TEMPEST or ROBOTRON 2084. Fortunately, now I can do it and drink beer at the same time.

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Partnership builder, problem solver, people-person, specialist in reality checks

Irene comes from a long line of geeks. Both grandmothers were schoolteachers, her father is an electrical engineering professor, both brothers have degrees in chemical engineering, and her mother edits a robotics magazine. She claims to have spent her life translating between engineers and normal people, which she feels led logically to a degree in psychology and thence to a career in software development.  

She grew up in the jungles of North Carolina, where tobacco fields and technology research are intermingled in ways that make perfect sense to the natives and no sense at all to anyone else. She spent several years working in technical theater and stage managing rock concerts in Chapel Hill, somehow managing to acquire a degree from the university along the way, and then decided the skiing was better in Utah. So, she moved to Salt Lake City.

There she conducted graduate research on visual attention, trying to understand what it means to ‘pay attention’ or to ‘ignore’ something, and applying this understanding to the design of displays and user interfaces so that the observer is presented with the information that is most relevant to his/her goals. Somehow this research led to a job at a national laboratory and from there into conducting and managing information security analysis for a large federal agency. The events of 9/11/2001 brought a great deal of attention onto what had been an insignificant analysis project and she spent the next several years working in a building without windows, and flying to Washington DC every month or so.

Regarding her work at that time, she says the catch phrase was, “In our line of work, when business is good, things are bad. And business is very good.”

She worked as a contractor to the federal government long enough to acquire a number of very depressing stories about the state of our national security. In 2006 she started missing the greenery, so moved with her family to Portland to begin working with high-tech startups. She applies an in-depth understanding of human behavior and human interactions with technology to developing technologies that do useful things and address real needs. Irene\’s core interest is in understanding how people need to use technology to enhance their lives, and how to develop technology that facilitates, rather than inhibits, people accomplishing their goals.

What are you up to?

Right now I’m working with a startup company that’s finding ways to help businesses and users connect, integrating your mobile device into your lifestyle. There are so many possible ways that mobile technologies can be useful, do things that interact with the real world, and yet all we’ve done with them so far really is communications and data transfer – voice, text, music. We’ve barely scratched the surface, and there are huge possibilities. I’m really excited about this company’s ideas and capabilities.

What are you into?

My husband and son, are the focus of my life. My seven-year-old is starting public school this year and I could not be more impressed with his school and his teachers. It’s fascinating to watch his brain unfold, absorbing knowledge like a sponge.

When I’m not working or spending time with the family, I spend my time with gaming, science fiction, and martial arts. I have a black belt in tae kwon do, and since I moved to Portland I have been studying an Indonesian style of martial art called silat. Gaming-wise, I love role-playing, cards, and board games. Anything that’s social, that involves creative and collaborative problem-solving. I love working with people to  solve puzzles, whether it’s at work or at play.

What do you like most about Portland?

I moved here specifically because I love Portland. I love the walk-ability of the city, how no matter where you go there’s something… or someone… interesting to walk to and see. The variety of architectures and business styles, and the feeling of creativity, that everyone is willing to try something new. Or at least to tolerate it, even if it’s not their thing. I live in North Portland, which has a particularly grounded sense of reality that I think is missing in many other places I’ve lived.

What excites you about working in Portland?

I love working with companies and organizations that are going through transitions, defining or redefining themselves. Transitions are a particular problem for startups, small- and mid-sized companies, because it requires changing the way you think about yourself and your business, and when businesses are small is when they are most passionate about being who they are, and are most reluctant to change. Change is hard. All companies struggle through periods of change, most of them fail. And for many that do survive, it’s due to luck or happenstance. So with a couple of friends I formed a consulting company that aims to help companies to plan for growth and change, and accomplish their goals by design.

Why did you climb Mt. Kilimanjaro?

Really, because it was there. Many many years ago, my parents were in Africa and saw Kili from a distance. My father said, “Someday, I’m going to climb that.” So, it was  more than thirty years later, but he did, along with his three grown kids. It was a phenomenal experience: going from the tropical jungles up to the almost lunar landscape in the crater and then to the glaciers. Kili is 19,500 feet high, so the air pressure is about half of what we’re used to, and it was really cold in the crater at night, and scalding hot during the day. It was strenuous, but worth every step of the way.

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Jack of all trades, master of none

Joshua Seaman was born in the Irvington neighborhood in NE Portland, and currently lives 3 blocks away from the house he was born in (and where his parents still live).  Yes, he has gone far  But despite this relatively minute journey in dwelling, he has in fact taken the long detour to get those 3 blocks.  In the last decade, Joshua has lived in Cuernavaca - Mexico, Vancouver - Canada, Florence - Italy, and Aurillac aka. “le trou de cul du monde” - Central France where he taught English, but he always seems to return to Portland.  Consequently he is now fluent in Spanish and French, and much to the offense of people in the boot, claims that Spanish and Italian are just different dialects of the same language.  After finishing a degree in Linguistics (and no, it has nothing to do with how many languages you speak) Joshua now works in the completely unrelated field of freelance photography / web design.  Voilà, his portfolio: www.relicpro.com.

What are you up to?

I’m currently trying to focus on actually recording and producing the oh so many songs that I’ve started but haven’t finished.  Oh, and I’m also trying to learn to throat sing, and can be found regularly practicing overtone singing in the sauna at my yoga studio.

What are you into?

-FLOWER PORN!
-Talking to cats, plants, and instruments in French
-Composing and writing songs
-Screaming at NBA refs through the TV set about their ocular deficiencies
-Writing ecstatic poetry, or odes to the spider above my bed
-Collecting interesting instruments from different countries, and jamming with them
-Finding bingos in Scrabulous / Scrabble
-Moving plants
-Travel writing
-Reading way too much about politics
-The Daily Show
-Neuroscience
-Sociolinguistics
-Ma p’tite niece, Bijou (elle est trop mignone

What do you like most about Portland?

I love Portland because of it’s energy.  It’s a city right in the middle of a rain forrest, and I love the liquid sunshine.  It’s big enough to have things to do, but small enough that there is a strong sense of community.  And I’m deeply rooted in the community around me, and it supports me and sustains me.

How can I do light painting photography?

You need three things:

1) Darkness
2) Slow shutter speed
3) Lights to paint with

Light Painting - The Real Deal

You seem to be good at many things, but why are you not great at any of them?

Good question, and I’m glad you asked it.  I guess it comes down to self-discipline and not being committed enough to go truly deep into any one discipline.  That, and I get easily spread out by my interest in other areas, especially ones that I discover I have a knack for.  

Right now, I have projects in photography, web design, music production / composing / engineering / writing, painting, singing, poetry, etc., and because I’m doing all of these, my focus is spread thin.  So instead of being great at doing one thing, I’m settling for being okay at many things.  I wonder if I can’t change that…

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Musician, Actor, Linguist, Linux User, Insomniac

Lisa Brandt Heckman was born Rosalie Scroggin in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up with her adoptive family in the small town of Morris, Illinois (population 8,900). She fled to the suburbs of Chicago at 18, and to the city proper at 21.

At 3-1/2 years old, Lisa saw Liberace performing on TV. She knew instantly that A) she had to play the piano, and B) she had to be on TV. Her indulgent parents bought her the piano, but were unable to find a teacher who would accept her until she was five years old. During those difficult early teenage years, she quit lessons (and just about everything else), but at 17 she secretly started taking lessons again, paying for them with her own pocket money.

When she lost her first tooth, Lisa was informed that the Tooth Fairy would pay a visit to purchase the lost tooth, which she found to be a bizarre scheme. She wrote a questionnaire for this strange creature and left it under her pillow to get to the bottom of it all. She discovered that the Tooth Fairy was male, and had handwriting exactly like Grandpa Kenny’s.

At 16, Lisa began playing keyboards and singing backup in various bands, starting with bar/wedding band Apyron in Streator, Illinois. She later focused on lead vocals, and is ashamed of how much her keyboard-playing skills have deteriorated. She currently sings and composes with electronic band The Unlikely Event and noise band Schizoprestige (with whom she is also filming a mockumentary as her alter-ego, the delightfully uncouth Lisa Dresden).

In 2001, Lisa and her boyfriend (now husband) Andrew Heckman moved to the promised land of Portland, lured by bike culture, public transportation, and mild winters. Lisa was charmed in particular by the MAX, though she can most often be found on the 14 Hawthorne bus.

Lisa studied (and performed Monty Python skits in German) in Heidelberg, Germany in the summer of 2005, and received B.A.s in Linguistics and German from Portland State University in June 2007. She has also dabbled in Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Scots Gaelic, Esperanto, and other languages to varying degrees, but does not wish to perpetuate the myth that linguists are people who are adept at learning a bunch of languages, like Hoshi on Star Trek. She does, however, wish to perpetuate Hoshi’s stereotype of the sexy linguist.

What are you up to?

Well, the plan had been to take a year or two to relax a bit, do some fun projects, study for the GRE, and apply to graduate programs in linguistics and/or cognitive science. I thought that I would go stark raving mad without a structured daily schedule, and I did a little bit at first. But I’ve adjusted somewhat, and I’m _really_ having a lot of fun with both music and acting. I’m having crazy thoughts about going back to being a full-time creative instead of voluntarily jumping into the meat grinder that is grad school.

I like to make myself useful in addition to having self-indulgent fun, so I’m volunteering for the Center For Inquiry (CFI) http://www.centerforinquiry.com. They are an international secular humanist organization promoting science, reason, and secular ethics, and I’m very excited to say that they are bringing a center to Portland within the next year. I’m serving on a couple of committees concerning websites, social networking, and digital video.

I am also really pleased with myself for managing to go to the gym regularly for three months now, which is something that’s much more difficult when you have a real job or spend the whole day on campus.

I’m not too worried about making a big decision right now, because Andrew is starting the M.A. TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) program at PSU this month, which means that I have two years for sure to screw around while he finishes that up. I think it’s very likely that I will in fact get to grad school sooner or later, but who knows what will happen between now and then?

What are you into?

- Artificial Intelligence
- Cognitive Science
- Constant physical contact with other humans (I get complaints)
- Gadgets, tinkering, configuring
- Gender Identity
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Humanoid Robots (the first time I saw footage of the Honda robot http://world.honda.com/ASIMO/ walking, it kept me awake all night, in a good way)
- Music Cognition
- Philosophy of Science
- Science Fiction
- Vegan Eating (note that I do not say “cooking,” which I cannot do)
- Vulgar and/or stupid humor (I really love bad puns)

Questions on my mind:
What kinds of judgments do people make about others’ sexual orientation and masculinity/femininity based on how they speak, and why?
How does music provoke an emotional response from us? What is happening in the brain?
Can we find phonetic/phonological correlates (e.g., pitch, speed, vowel quality) in voices considered pleasant/attractive?
How do those ideals vary cross-culturally/by gender/by sexual orientation/by social group?
Do those ideals change when the voice belongs to a computer/robot (e.g., something pleasant in human speech is creepy/disturbing in computer speech)?

What do you like most about Portland?

I’m not weird in Portland! I am so ridiculously average in Portland. I never have to explain to someone why I don’t eat meat or don’t have a car or don’t go to church or don’t work a 9-to-5 clerical job. Of course, this doesn’t apply on those rare and unhappy occasions when I’m forced to go to the suburbs, where I get the glassy-eyed goldfish stare that indicates an utter lack of comprehension.

Sometimes after a margarita or two, I will pull a carefully guarded secret part of my identity from the depths of my being and expose it to the scrutiny of my comrades. And the response is invariably, “Oh, yeah, my grandma did that last week, and my little brother is the chairman of the committee.” I’m going to have to try much harder if I want to be a freak here.

I’ve eaten in countless Ethiopian restaurants around the country (not to mention Canada and Germany) but the best I’ve found is right here in Portland, at Queen of Sheba. Dalo’s Kitchen and Blue Nile are also great.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I tend to identify very strongly with whatever thing I’m into at a given moment. “Musician” was so central to my sense of self from such a young age; I felt bitter and heartbroken when it seemed my window of opportunity was closing. Before I moved to Portland, I cried almost on a daily basis because I thought my singing days were over. Now I can hardly keep up with all of the projects that come my way, and I am overjoyed to have that part of myself back. (This is not to say that I don’t want more projects. Bring ‘em on!)

The Schizoprestige mockumentary is the first chance I’ve had to act in a couple of years. My character is a foul-mouthed, ill-mannered, lascivious pig, and I just love to play her. I hope to do as many no-budget films and/or theater pieces as I can get my hands on in the next couple of years.

Oh, and that making a living thing. I’ve strongly considered going into computer science or software engineering, but I think it would be healthy to get away from the computer more often. So I’ll probably wind up doing linguistics research and teaching. Or video editing. Or…

What do you want?

I want to extract all of the juicy bits, even though many of them will be quite bitter.
I want a gender-neutral third-person pronoun to be accepted as standard English.
I want to all of my data to be consolidated, organized, and synced.
I want to live in the moment and soak up all possible sensory information, but I have a hard time not ruminating about the future while doing so.
I want to build a robot.
I want to confuse and frighten people on occasion.
I want to learn ALL of the languages, and then sing in them.
I want people to talk freely and openly about those things that everyone knows, but they’re not allowed to talk about.
I want a manned mission to Mars.
I want to break free of the labels applied to me by myself and others.
I want to play the accordion.
I want people to pay attention to the $%#!@! road when driving.
I want to live in Germany again! Or maybe the Netherlands.
I want American Apparel to size their clothing for actual human beings, dammit.
I want to have a house where everything folds up into the walls.
I want people to NOT add “for your age” when they tell someone “you look good.”
I want to be bathed in sound that tickles my solar plexus.

Connect

Email, Website, The Unlikely Event, Facebook, Mugshot, Oregon Media Network

Writer, Journalist, News Junkie, Scrabble Addict

Kennedy Smith was born in a small, two-story house on 42nd and Yamhill 30 years ago, sealing her fate as a Portlander. There was a blip in the system somewhere along the way, and she (with her father, mother and two brothers) ended up living in Redding, California, where she was raised from the age of six.

She got her first taste of journalism at the age of 17, when she became an intern at the Record-Searchlight, Redding’s daily paper. She was soon writing obits, news briefs and wedding announcements that so impressed her superiors, she was once selected as “Employee of the Month.”

She continued writing for the paper until moving slightly south to attend Chico State, where she eventually got her degree in English Literature, with a minor in Linguistics. During this time, she worked as an editorial assistant for Chico’s news daily. She also freelanced for an alternative weekly, where she was paid in beer. Living in Chico gave Kennedy an appreciation for warm summer nights, vast open spaces, swimming holes and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

After graduation, she stuck around to work as the assistant editor for a national trade magazine. However, by 2004, she felt it was time to come home again. By this time, the glitch in the system had readjusted itself, and her entire immediate family was back in the Pacific Northwest.

That summer, she found a nice little spot on East Burnside Street, where she worked as a freelancer, newspaper reporter and PR maven. She now lives in Northeast Portland and works as the manager of publicity for a local nonprofit organization. In her free time, she writes poetry and short fiction.

Kennedy is the sister of two brothers, aunt of two nephews and a niece, and roommate of a PSU student whom she met in London, drank with in Chico and eventually dragged to Portland. She has countless uncles, aunts and cousins, almost all of whom live in Portland. It has ceased to surprise her friends when she points to somebody on the street and says, “I’m related to him.”

What are you up to?

I’d say just short of five feet, six inches, but who’s counting?

Right now I’m focusing my attention on gaining some traction with creative fiction, which I’d eventually like to turn into a full-time gig. I haven’t quite figured out how to do that yet, so in the meantime I write fiction on the side and make a living as the publicity manager for a nonprofit organization for Portland-area lawyers. When I find time, I freelance for various magazines. In the last few weeks, I’ve enjoyed taking a class at The Attic writers’ workshop, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in tapping into their creative side.

I usually come up with great story ideas in the middle of the night, which I tend to forget by morning. But, when they stick, I write them down and see where they go.

What are you into?

Like the bio says, I’m a Scrabble fanatic. I own two Scrabble boards and one Travel Scrabble, which I keep scattered throughout the city. I have made special note of bars and coffee shops that house their own boards, and I feel a special kinship with strangers who play in public places. My latest triumph was a 72-point word: “talkers,” with the K on a triple-letter score, using two blanks and all seven letters.  

I’m also into true crime stories. I’m often found reading tales of murder, deception, greed and gore. A Forensic Files marathon will render me out of commission for entire weekends at a time. I’m addicted to the macabre. This freaks some people out, but like my mom says, as long as I’m not taking notes during the show, she’s not too worried.

My other likes include mint chocolate chip ice cream, putting my hand in my dog’s mouth when she yawns, Pinot Noir, “Likes” lists, and bad teenage dance-off movies (e.g., Save the Last Dance, How She Move and Bring it On), which I find to be the most terrifying subgenre of modern film.

What do you like most about Portland?

The question itself is difficult, as I find so many things to like about Portland that I cannot narrow it down to one.

I like the fact that I’m about 30 percent likely to run into somebody I’m related to at any given moment. I like watching the clouds dissipate after a too-long winter. I like that people smile and say hello when you’re walking down the street. I like that so many Portland bars have gone non-smoking even though it’s not (yet) required by law. I like that I always knew I’d live here again, and now I do.

So, writing is where the big money is, right?

Oh lord no. I am a writer because I cannot not be a writer, even when double-negatives are involved. It’s in my blood. Although making a living as a writer is tough, not being a writer would be no way to live.

So, to those curious about how to make money as a writer, I suggest diving in head first. Take a job as an editorial assistant at a newspaper. Submit articles to dailies, weeklies and monthlies. Pick a word and write a story around it, then send it to publishers and see what they think.

The most difficult part of being a writer is taking your own advice.

Why did it take you till last year to finally get a cell phone, and can I have your number?

Sometimes resistance is futile to the outside world but means everything to you. Perhaps not getting a cell phone was my way of rebelling against The Man, or some form of him. I saw people running around on their cell phones completely unaware of their surroundings and I thought it was sad. Maybe I was holding out in hopes that phone booths wouldn’t go completely the way of audio cassettes or light brown M&Ms. But I finally relented, and all my friends heartily welcomed me to the magical new world of mobile conversation. As for the latter question, I am really flattered, really. But no, you can’t have my number.

Connect

Blog, Facebook

Optimistic, entrepreneurial geek, with a penchant for cameras and rockets

Peat Bakke was born in a small town in Maine, and at the tender age of two convinced his parents that Portland was definitely *the* place to be.  After another twenty five years and tumultuous live-in relationships with Canada, New Zealand, and Germany, he married a native Portlander, and decided that Portland would be a great place to stay and raise a family.

Peat is the byproduct of a doctor and an artist, and has always been attracted to creative careers with a technical bent — animation, photography, web development, and entrepreneurial business development.  He currently works with several high tech startups in Portland and the Silicon Valley.

Peat lives in north Portland (Arbor Lodge neighborhood) with his wife, Nova Newcomer, their soon-to-be born son, and a couple of well travelled cats.

[Editor’s note: Peat and Nova’s baby boy, Elliott, was born on March 11th.]

What are you up to?

I’m a little distracted right now — our first baby has decided to be (fashionably) late to the big party, so The Wife and I are trying to find ways to wile away the hours while he makes up his mind about being born.

In the broader scheme of things, the name of the game is “transition.”  My work life is swinging towards independent consulting and contracting, and my home life is oriented around becoming a dad.

What are you into?

Almost everything?  My office, garage, and hard drives are full of odd projects, collections, and books.  A dozen cameras, a box of foreign  currency, rocket paraphernalia, travel memorabilia, music, wooden toys,  miscellaneous science experiments, mostly finished bicycles, boxes of odd parts, modeling clay, a soldering iron, and so forth.

Generally speaking, my springs are wound by entrepreneurial people with interesting ideas, and my professional life has found an orbit around high tech startups.  Most of the work I do is in the initial planning and construction of web applications that bring people together, and connect them with expertise or “real world” resources.

Because so much of my work is digital, my other interests are much more analog.  I enjoy cooking.  I have a deep appreciation for rockets. I’m enamored with my wind up clock — it’s not particularly accurate, but it ticks and tocks and chimes without the aid of electricity, and I can look into it’s guts and watch it work.  You can hear it clicking away from almost anywhere in the house, which drives some people crazy, but I think it’s nice.

What do you like most about Portland?

The culture of Portland is both fiercely independent and openly friendly, and it’s attracting like minded people.  I think the influx of young, energetic individuals is a wonderful thing.  There has been a rise in great food, great music, and a growing sense of entrepreneurism.

It’s exciting to be living and working in the middle of all that.  I’ve traveled and lived in different countries around the world, and the thing that keeps pulling me back to Portland is a sense of purpose — that Portlanders seem to have an ingrained desire for working together to make things better, and that we can be competitive and ambitious without being ruthless or cruel.  It fits well with my optimistic philosophy of life.

Portland also has great tech.  We’re a hub of the Open Source movement, and an increasing number of high tech startups are moving here.   The Portland metro area has well funded angel networks, a strong high tech history, a relatively inexpensive work force, and a very creative culture.

I’m excited to see Portland grow and evolve, and I hope that I can contribute to that process.

How does all this translate into making a living?

Generally speaking, I work with startups to plan, build, and scale web applications.  I also work with venture capital and angel investors to assess the technical capabilities of companies seeking investment.

It’s a great niche to be in.  I love working with small teams of people who are motivated to improve the world in their own ways.  It also gives me exposure to a lot of new ideas and ways of solving problems.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with several of the rising tech companies in Portland.  I guess that’s why I’m such an optimist about the future of high tech in Portland — I’ve seen proof that there’s great things brewing here, aside from the beer.

What’s your favorite holiday?

St. Patrick’s Day is the anniversary of my wife and I meeting at a party, our trip to Ireland, proposing in Germany, and our wedding in Portland —
exactly five years (to the hour) of meeting at that first party.  

We’ll always have reason to hoist a Guinness or two!

Connect

Email. Website, LinkedIn, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter

Teacher, musician, character

Is às California a tha Channing Dodson, ach tha e a’ fuireach ann am Portland a-nis. Thòisich e air Gàidhlig ionnsachadh nuair a bha e san ard sgòil. Tha Iapanais, beagan Frangais, agus beagan Gàidhlig na h-Eirinn aige cuideach agus tha e airson bruidhinn Pòrtagaillais. ‘S e tidsear a th’ann agus tha e a’ teasgag Beurla mar dara chànan aig Oilthigh Pacific ’sa Forest Grove. Tha e ceòladair cuideach agus seinneann e a’ phìob  mhòr, pìob bheag, pìob uilleann, giotar, beus, agus am fhìdeag mhòr.

Channing Dodson originally hails from California, but currently resides in Portland, having also spent time residing in such exotic locales as Japan, Scotland, Ireland, and Tacoma, Washington. He is assistant editor of the book “Curse & Berate in 69+ Languages”, recently published by Soft Skull Press, and is one of the last survivors of the Gobshite Quarterly Empire. To pay the rent, he teaches ESL at Pacific University and he is currently completing an MA in TESOL/applied linguistics at Portland State University. He can occasionally be seen performing Irish traditional music around town on uilleann pipes and flute, but he also thuds out basslines for perspicacious Portland punkers Schizoprestige and occasionally also sits in with sublime technovoyageurs The Unlikely Event. He has also been known to play bagpipes at weddings, funerals, and Chinese bus stations. He speaks Japanese, Scottish Gaelic, atrocious French, a bit of Irish, and he desperately wishes to learn Portuguese so that he can yodel along with Milton Nascimento on his car stereo…

Any Scottish Gaelic speakers living in the area are strongly encouraged to get in touch.

What are you up to?

I’m currently trying to help RV Branham come up with t-shirt designs that will feature tasty tidbits from the “Curse & Berate” book. A series of 69 short films, each 69 seconds in length, is also in the works.

What are you into?

-Post-Punk
-Indian vegitarian cooking
-Sociolinguistics
-Documentary linguistics
-Bossa Nova
-artsy films
-tea
-loitering
-Situationism
-Irish traditional music
-Japanese language and literature
-All Over Coffee
-Natto and other fermented soybean disasters

What do you like most about Portland?

I like the tight-knit sense of community that has grown all too rare in many American cities, but still seems to be clinging on in certain parts of town. I’m inspired by the massive amount of music, literature, and film produced here…And it’s made for walkin’.

What would you like to contribute to cultural activities in Portland?

I’d like to promote literature/comics/poems/profanity in foreign languages through the auspices of the Gobshite/Curse & Berate projects.  If I can convince some people to listen to quality Irish traditional music and use a semicolon correctly, so much the better.

What are your favorite songs to sing at karaoke?

-”Sex Machine” (James Brown)
-”God Save The Queen” (Sex Pistols)
-”Bizarre Love Triangle” (New Order)
-”This Charming Man” (The Smiths)
-”Lovefool” (The Cardigans)
-”My Love” (Paul McCartney)

Connect

Blog, Facebook, MySpace

EngineWorks Founder, Search Engine Marketing Expert & Designer

As Vice President of Operations at EngineWorks, a Portland-based professional search marketing company specializing in Search Engine Optimization, Paid Search Marketing, and Social Media Marketing, Kent Schnepp is responsible for designing and improving systems to deliver the Company’s world-class services to online commercial entities and interactive media agencies.  In addition to overseeing the