I first learned how to camp on my own the summer that my friend Elizabeth and I decided to camp out illegally on Mount Tamalpais. On our first night on the beach, neither one of us was willing to take responsibility for having sheets in our backpack but I did own up to the watermelon. By the end of the season, we had lightened up considerably; we
I got to combine many of my very favorite skills into one spectacular experience last week in one of the greatest places on earth - The Exploratorium. I worked with Carlson Knives at the Exploratorium from 1997 - 2003, first as an exhibit support tech until I accidentally electrocuted a frog in the Frogs Exhibit, then was banished to accounting
Florida's got sunshine. Montana's got big skies. California's got innovation and New York's got hustle. Chicago's got chutzpah and Georgia's got peaches. But you know what Oregon has more than any other state? CREEPINESS. Forget weird. The word rubs me the wrong way in the first place. It's overused and there are too many cities (which aren't
Barra de Potosi Fisherman Working Off of the Beach Barra de Potosi in the state of Guerrero, Mexico is the most perfect healthy happy little village I know. I love it so much I even got married there three weeks ago. While we were down there, the local village residents and resident expats were in a state of deep concern because they are under
I was riding downtown on Willamette Avenue when I first spied her. She was the marine equivalent of the pumpkin orange 1969 F100 I spent three years wrenching on and pouring gas into. I knew better. She was a fiberglass encased heartbreak, but so shapely! Vernal pools thrived in her fiberglass bottom. Grass sprouted from cracks in her leather
Wait til you see the cover of the zine itself! On Wednesday, June 23 Moe Bowstern will be hosting the official zine release party for Xtra Tuf #6, The Greenhorn Issue. It’s a beautifully put together thoroughly entertaining zine and I’m very proud to be in it. If you’ve already heard my story of being a greenhorn commercial
Four months after I graduated from college, I moved to Greece and had my first experiences with a universal health care system. Before that, I had been a dependent on my parents' health insurance, and didn’t have to think about the care and feeding requisite to having one’s own private insurance policy. And so as a young adult, I was a
I am back from a month in Buenos Aires with a visit to Mendoza, a couple of weeks in Brazil w/ some rad girlfriends, a sudden trip to Italy with Mary. And here come the cherry blossoms! One of the best parts of Buenos Aires was an AWESOME writing workshop I took with Camille Cusumano. Camille was the editor of Greece, A Love Story, an
