Category Archives: portraits

interview with ash

This latest interview is with my friend Ash with whom I went to high school. I think he was a year younger than me, and we didn’t hang out much ourselves back then, although we ran in the same circles-we had friends in common, we both were in theatre classes and plays, and we both worked at the Arizona Renaissance Festival. We once drove to Colorado together.

I recently spent a day hanging out with Ash and his fiancée Kendra at the Renaissance Festival. (I decided to work/volunteer on President’s Day). We had a lot of fun, and I was reminded that people always surprise you. Ash turned out to show a super sensitive side when he encouraged a young love struck girl to forget the dumb boy that was ignoring her.

(aaaaaawwwwwwwwwww! so sweet!)

JM: Tell us a little about yourself.

AR: Oh man, where to even start? I’m currently thirty-one. Sorta. I think that on some levels I’m a very crotchety eighty five or so (if I had a lawn I would sit in a chair on it with a hose so I could yell at kids to stay off of it). On other levels, I’m about five. Given the chance and lack of supervision, I will absolutely eat chocolate until I’m sick and I think pretty much all vegetables are gross. Then again, I’ll always be seventeen or so . . . because boobs are AWESOME.

I live in Mesa, Arizona, which is somewhat embarrassing to me because it is the town I was born and raised in. I always swore I’d get the hell out of here, and I did, I traveled and lived all over, but I ended up right back here and when you encounter people from high school and they say “oh, you’re living in Mesa, huh?” it’s really hard to get out “but no! I’ve lived in California! And Tucson! And Denver! And I traveled the country! And I have a Master’s degree in obscure historical minutiae which I got while living in Scotland! I just moved back here because I was fucking COLD!!!” before they have turned and walked away. *breathe* Whooo. Sorry. Got a little worked up.

The rest. OK, well I work in the Internet field for a relatively large company which you’ve probably heard of (which is why I usually can’t mention it online). Yeah, you noticed that, huh? Get my degree in history, go to work on the Internet. Welcome to the 21st Century. Hey, at least there are benefits. I also work at the Arizona Renaissance Festival and have for the better part of two decades (other than the 3 years I took off for the whole getting educated abroad bit). Out there I am a street entertainer and an occasional part time photographer. I also managed to meet and wrangle myself a fiancée out of the gig, so it’s really not all bad! Like I mentioned, I also take the odd photo, but that is unfortunately rarer than I would prefer. And that is me. I work, I sleep, I eat things I shouldn’t, and then I repeat. It’s not a lot, but it’s a life!

(this is me and ash, photo credit goes to David Rubinstein)

JM: What’s the name of your renaissance festival character and what is he like?

AR: Ahh, that chap would be Lord Archibald Agincourt, the Earl of Bath. Or just Archie to his friends and his . . . friends. He is the eldest child of the Duke of Somerset and is therefore set to be one of the wealthiest men in Britain. Likely richer than the King (which honestly is hardly difficult these days, now is it my dear?). Archie is only vaguely interested in all of that . . . drivel. He is much more fascinated in what you are up to tonight. Honestly, how are you, my sweet? Still taking those lovely little photos everywhere? You know, there are so many wonderful uses which you and he could put that camera to . . .
Soooooo . . . in short Archie is a professional perv. But just a bit of one. OK, a lot of one. But he really is harmless. OK, he’s not at all harmless. But for REALS, at least he’s a lot of fun.

JM: When you were younger, your parents had you attend etiquette lessons. Can you describe what that was like and how it affected the rest of your life?

AR: I can only apologize entirely too late to those poor instructors. It must have been frightening. We were all thirteen and fourteen mind, so the air was thick with too much cheap cologne/perfume and barely repressed hormones, and yet all of us were (sometimes literally) scared stiff of the opposite sex. Were the lessons still going on now (they’ve been canceled due to a lack of interest after having been run for decades), I have no doubt that things would be quite different, but back then there was an invisible dividing line between the boys’ and girls’ seats and nobody even dreamt of sitting on the other side of that line. The classes themselves were amazing though. Surreal if you think about it. We had lessons on how to dance, how to ASK a girl to dance, how to eat properly in a formal setting . . . all the skills that are hardly even missed anymore but were once vital to a young person’s education.

The entire thing definitely gave me a certain perspective on life. For one thing, it dispelled certain teenage romantic comedy myths before they were firmly rooted in my brain. Let me assure you all, when the “ugly duckling” girl blossoms and becomes a swan later in life? Yeah, she definitely doesn’t remember the one boy who always made sure he had time for her. I always asked a girl (we’ll call her EH) to dance. She was . . . large. After about sophomore year, she suddenly became one of the major hotties at school. Our shared laughs at Junior Assembly did nothing to make her even acknowledge me after that. *sigh* John Hughes, you’ve lied to us once again.

Really though, I’d say that the main thing I took away from those lessons is a really healthy respect for, well, respect. That’s partially how I was raised (obviously, I was sent to etiquette lessons!), but we never got anything without a “please” and a “thank you,” and it drives me a little insane when it goes unsaid in the day-to-day world. I’m not so silly as to think it would solve the world’s problems if everyone showed those small kindnesses, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt either.

JM: How did you develop an interest in photography?

AR: This one’s easy. I was engaged to the first ex-Mrs. Rhodes (happily there’s only been one ex-Mrs. so far, but you never know) and she was a rather accomplished artist of all sorts. She could write, paint, draw, draft, and had even had a comic strip which she did with a friend in high school. I however was limited to stick figures. Lopsided ones. I was always fascinated by art in all of its forms however, and photography was no exception. Watching her create beauty out of nothing made me want so badly to be able to find my niche. Out of a certain naiveté, I thought that since I didn’t have to hold the actual brush/pencil, photography would be easy to pick up. *sigh* I got my first camera of my very own (a Nikon N75) for Christmas that year. I probably took 10,000+ images (I don’t want to think of the development cost) before I upgraded to a digital SLR three years later using what was left of a student loan check. I’ve been inflicting my photos on the world ever since.

So SO hard to pick one or two. If I absolutely HAD to, I would say it would be one of them in my “Dark Portrait” series which I had to take for my first photography class (http://bhphoto.me/darkportraits) . The first four are the originals. They’re the four generations of women on my maternal side and then a group shot. I continued the process for a while and still take photos whenever I get a chance. Always the same method (black backdrop, natural light only, same camera, same lens, same after effects once I’m done). In fact I would LOVE to shoot you some time. Just a nice simple shot of you looking somewhat serious (if you can manage it) wearing a black top. You’d look gorgeous.

Anyway, of those four, I especially love the one of my grandmother (this one). I think she looks so beautiful. I also like the one of the four together (der, this one). That was the original inspiration. There was once a picture of my great grandma, my gran, my mom, and my baby sister which hung on our fridge (just a snapshot), and I wanted to do an artistic recreation of that.

So there you have it. I have loads of others, much more colourful, which I really enjoy. In fact, that’s rather my thing. I tend to bump the vibrancy and occasionally nudge the saturation up a bit to really make the colours pop. Lovely. And yet my favs are these desaturated photos. I’m weird.

Thanks so much for this fun experience! Let me know if you’d be willing to sit for a quick snap or two.

JM: Would you like to share an internet link?

AR: Really, I think the thing I’d like to share most is stumbleupon.com. If you value your free time at ALL however, you will not install that on your browser.

Thanks so much, Ash, for participating in my interview series! Please feel free to ask him any questions in the comments!

Follow Ash on twitter! (he’s fallen off the wagon a bit, so perhaps this will be the nudge he needs!)

His photography website can be found here.

pink

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so i am waiting for several people to answer their interview questions.

in the meantime, i am forced to post pictures of my cat. sigh.

interview with bree

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Bree and I went to the same high school. I guess. We didn’t really know each other then, although we were probably only about two people removed. Her friend (and future husband Ty) was friends with my friend Beth. Then about a year or two ago, Erin started chatting with her on the twitters. So I did too. And then Erin was all, “Hey let’s start #ClubAwesome-you, me and Bree!” And I was all, “Yeah! We are awesome. Let’s start this club.” So then I went to her house and met her. Or did we meet before then? Anyway, Bree is awesome. And so is this interview.

JM: Tell us a little about yourself.

BKQ: My name is Bryony Kathleen Mackey. No, I was not supposed to be a boy, and no, my mother did not invent my name. I was named for the heroine in the Mary Stewart novel ‘Touch Not the Cat’ which for some reason I can’t bring myself to read. Useless knowledge: Bryonia is a genus of flowering vine in the cucumber family native to the UK and neighboring regions, mainly North Africa & South Asia. It used to be used in medicines, namely sedatives, until they figured out that it’s generally poisonous.

I am currently 31 years old, born on the 20th of September which makes me a Virgo, although I’ll say I’m 90% Virgo, 10% Libra since I am much more A-type personality than the average Virgo. But the anal-retentiveness I’ve got down pat. Useless knowledge: coincidentally to my name, September is considered the vine month in Celtic Astrology.

I am in my third, wonderful year of marriage to Ty Mackey. He still won’t let me forget the time I didn’t go to Homecoming with him. (I already had a date.)

I am the youngest of 3 girls.

I currently earn a living as a HTML Programmer and Application Developer for a financial services company. I have no formal training for IT or programming at all, but rather a BS in Business Management and Equine Management. I find IT suits me fairly well as it’s a male-dominated field and I generally get on better with guys than girls. Also, I’m not what you’d call a ‘people-person’ so the less human interaction, the better.

If I had to fit myself in a nutshell (that’s gonna be one big nutshell): I am an insufferable know-it-all. I’ve been a bullrider, a soldier, a team roper and reiner. I’ve lived in a housing project and been on food stamps. I adore Apple products and believe Microsoft to be evil. I was an NCAA All-American swimmer. I played collegiate water polo. I was president of my sorority, Lambda Zeta Theta. I was secretary of the National Collegiate Honor Society, Gamma Beta Phi. I was president of the Business Honor Society, Delta Mu Delta. I am mildly bi-polar/manic depressive and mathematically dyslexic. I read the Iliad and the Odyssey for the first time in 5th grade. I’ve never done drugs. My motto is (sometimes unfortunately) ‘How hard can it be?’ (That or ‘Everybody Wang Chung Tonight’)

JM: What does an equine manager do?

BKQ: We just manage equines…OK, for real an equine manager would generally run a stable/ranch. When I was little my dream was to own my own stud farm and racing stable. (I was big on Black Stallion books.) I started college as just an equine major, but quickly realized I’m far too materialistic, and the odds I could get a really good paying job in that field are null. I kept with it because I had my mare at the time, so like all other things I just wanted to learn as much as I could. It was pretty fascinating. I took classes on barn construction and architecture, feeds and feeding along with anatomy and physiology. We also had general farm animal classes so I know a lot about pigs, cows, sheep, dogs, etc. Little known fact about me is that I know how to artificially inseminate a horse. That’s always Plan C at work. Because by the time Plans A & B fail, there’s nothing left to do but that.

JM: What does it mean to be a geek?

BKQ: Wow…I’ve typed and erased like three paragraphs so far on this question. In general, I’d say most geeks love sci-fi, gaming, and comic books, among other things. I used to be terrified of people finding out just how much I loved Star Wars, or comics. To me, I guess being a proud, adult geek means that I don’t need my likes and actions validated by other people. I love the things I love because, well…I love them. I think a geek is someone who is just fanatical about something. Whether its sci-fi or rock collecting, it’s just about loving something that brings you joy.

One thing that makes me a little sad is that some people won’t accept someone as a geek if they don’t fit a certain profile. Geek culture like mainstream culture has a caste system of its own. For example, one time when I was at a Browncoat Shindig, a girl snottily asked me if I was sure I was in the right place. Not to be too disparaging, she was probably what most normal people picture a geek girl to be: greasy hair, no makeup, overweight…not generally attractive. When I told her I was there for the Shindig, she told me there’s no way I could be a real geek because I was pretty and wearing designer clothes. After I proved my geek cred in a conversation, she did accept me, and we became friends. But she assumed that because I care about my appearance there’s no way I could make a serious, scientifically backed argument about how a lightsaber could not cut adamantium. (It can’t)*

JM: Does Ty share any of your “geeky” interests?

BKQ: Not really. I mainly married him for his money. And his body. So we don’t have much in common. He likes some of the stuff I’m into, he really liked Firefly and Battlestar Galactica. He likes Angel and Big Bang Theory (which he should, since he’s married to Sheldon) but hates Buffy. I took him to a Serenity screening once and we’ll just say it wasn’t really his thing. He tolerates my idiosyncrasies pretty well, and I like to think he thinks they’re cute rather than annoying.

JM: How do you find balance between your “geek” self and your “rodeo” self?

BKQ: I don’t think it’s so much about balance as it is about just plain being me. Like I mentioned above, people make assumptions that someone can’t be something (smart, funny, great backgammon player) because of something else. Growing up I didn’t think I could be a girly girl and a tomboy at the same time. Girly girls were weak! They weren’t strong! They couldn’t play football and fight. But somewhere along the line I had an epiphany…and just like that I thought “Um…Why not? Why can’t I be both?” That question probably drives most of my life. “Why not?” I think the most fascinating people are those who are just bursting with layers, and I’d be lying if I said I don’t try to be one of those people.

I like to surprise people; it’s fun to watch their pre-conceived notions fall away. At work, I showed up to a guy’s desk and he didn’t believe I was actually an official IT person because I’m a girl. I’m surprised his head didn’t explode when he found out that I rode bulls, I knit and crochet, I bake breads from scratch and can (have) replaced the clutch in a vehicle. I love rodeo and the western lifestyle. I love the smell of manure and hay. I love getting into discussions about how I think the most genius thing George Lucas did was blame the entire Clone War on Jar Jar Binks, who’s probably one of the most hated characters in the Star Wars ‘verse.

I think my beliefs are aptly summed up in my favorite quote from Robert Heinlein:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

JM: When do you sleep?

BKQ: It’s funny you ask that, because I don’t like sleep very much. It’s highly improbable that you’ll ever find me napping, and if you do I’m pretty ill. Ty and I both work early, so we’re usually in bed by 7:30pm. I’m a total morning person, which I don’t think I came by naturally. Growing up I got up at 4:30am for swimming every day, so you get used to it. I feel like sleeping is a waste of time, wish I didn’t have to do it at all. I’ve definitely got the H in ADHD because down time in general is not something I enjoy. Ty sleeps enough for the both of us; he can fall asleep anytime, anywhere and can sleep through a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant.

JM: Would you like to share an internet link?

BKQ: Fark.com My favorite website ever, because nothing is sacred there. It restores my faith that I’m not the only insensitive asshole around.

* JM: Why can’t a light saber cut adamantium? (I really want to know).

BKQ: Preface: this argument assumes we’re talking about the most well-known form of Adamantium which would be the man-made metal alloy invented by Dr. Myron MacLain, a metallurgist in the Marvel Universe, which is bonded to Wolverine’s skeleton. There are some other types of Adamantium which exist in the MU, but I’m not getting into those. I’m also not getting into the Earth-1610 reality (Ultimate Marvel Universe) where Adamantium exists, but has some different properties. We are taking into account the light sabers of the Star Wars Expanded Universe as well as cannon.

With that said, here’s a little background on Adamantium. It’s formed by mixing certain chemical resins (few know the exact formula) and keeping the mixture at approximately 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The liquid can be molded into a shape, and after 8 minutes becomes solid. The shape of Adamantium can only be altered by the migration of an atom or bond, otherwise known as molecular rearrangement. However, the molecular structure is highly stable, making this unlikely. I believe that currently the only thing which is known to be able to pierce Adamantium would be Antarctic Vibranium or ‘anti-metal’. (Useless knowledge: Dr. MacLain created a vibranium/steel alloy which was used to forge Captain America’s shield.)

In the Star Wars Universe, there are more than a few rare materials which can withstand a light saber blade (aside from the blade of another lightsaber). Some of these materials even cause the blade to short out. Basically, a lightsaber is high levels of energy converted to plasma by a series of focusing lenses and energizers. The plasma is projected through focusing crystal(s) which lend the blade its color and allow for adjustment of power and length. The plasma is sent through a series of field energizers after being focused by the crystals, and then being further focused by modulation circuitry, it becomes the beautiful, coherent beam of energy we all know and love. A lightsaber blade does not expend energy or radiate heat until it comes into contact with something solid. I did a quick Google, but was unable to find an approximate temperature, because I’m guessing it would depend on the material it’s in contact with.

Useless knowledge: one item which many people may be familiar with which is lightsaber-resistant is the Mandalorian Armor worn by the bounty hunter Boba Fett.

So anyhow. Now that I wrote that all out, did a bunch of Google searches to check my facts and realized if I had been this interested in Algebra I’d probably be a much better programmer I’ll come to my scintillating conclusion:

A lightsaber cannot cut Adamantium because it does not possess a molecular reorganizer, nor does it have the properties to cause a chemical reaction which could (in theory) cause molecular reorganization. Assuming a lightsaber could reach the temperature of 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit without destroying the focusing crystals and/or the handle construction (not to mention the holders skin, Midichlorian count notwithstanding), Adamantium cannot be ‘re-liquified’ after being molded. So you couldn’t melt it like Plasteel, Transparisteel or some alloys of Durasteel which we see lightsabers melting through in the SW movies.

Phew. That totally could have been my thesis.

(‘zombie stompers’)

Thanks again to Bree for participating in this interview! Please feel free to ask her any of your questions in the comments below.

interview with scott

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For my next interview, I chose a volunteer who I didn’t really know. Scott is a person I “know” through Twitter. We follow each other because of our mutual friend Joe. Scott drives a semi around the country and brings bags of potato chips back for Joe. (Joe has a weakness for potato chips. I am not sure if he’s looking for the perfect chip or just enjoys trying all the strange flavors that are available all over the country. My favorite chip is Chile Limon by Lays-pairs well with string cheese. I’m classy like that.) Scott and I had our first real conversation sitting at the high top at Liberty Market about two weeks before this interview so I could get a better sense of what kind of questions I wanted to ask him.

JM: Tell us a little about yourself.

SK: I am an East Coast (Florida-born, North Carolina-raised) Arizonan.

I am 29 (soon 30).

I am the oldest of 4 children (I have 2 sisters and a brother)

I drive a semi.

I LOVE music and I also write everyday (with the rare exception) and also take a camera (cheap point and shoot) with me wherever I go just in case I find something interesting to photograph. I also enjoy Twitter too. And things that have good design.

JM: You are a truck driver. I think that actually sounds romantic-driving the country, listening to music, eating at diners, meeting interesting people…tell us more about it and how you got into it.

SK: I got into truck driving only because I got bored with what I was doing (being a student at ASU) and was tired of not having money and bills for things I didn’t want to have to wait to pay without high interest payments, so I decided that my Plan B (school) was just not working and to go with my original plan (truck driving). I had decided a few years before what I liked and didn’t like and at least wanted to try for an education first. (I do have an Associate’s). But, that didn’t work, so I went to trucking. And that’s what I’ve done for around 3 and a half years now. It’s an okay job. Not too romantic as it IS a job with pressures and deadlines, MOUNDS of paperwork. It’s also essentially a retail job too in the sense it is all about customer service and the irregular odd hours I work. It is a good job though with pretty good pay for what I do. I could say I am proud of what I do, although, there is a few caveats. The stereotype of a trucker does hold true in some respects and it’s a strange culture too. The food is mostly fast food now and a lot of the truck stops are corporate chains. It’s kind of sad in a way.Tthat being said, I still like to find the few not corporate truck stops as often as I can. Usually, they’ll have different or regional food that I’m out looking for. That is why I like my job, I really do like it because I get to visit a lot of places most people don’t. America is a big beautiful place. It has everything. It really does. I’ve been nearly everywhere too, with the exception of Maine and Rhode Island. (I only drive 48 states.) I’ve seen some amazing things too. Lots of sunrises and sunsets. Seen lots of wildlife (a bald eagle in the wild!) and the changing of seasons too, although I don’t like driving in the winter. I’ve also been able to use what I do to visit places too like New Orleans and Salt Lake City and Santa Barbara and go enjoy a few baseball games (both major and minor league) in other cities too. I do like what I do. I’ve seen a lot.

JM: Have you made any friends in the trucking industry? Do you have a “handle” on the CB? (Is that what it’s called?)

SK: Not really. Trucking is still kind of like a brotherhood/camaraderie kind of a thing. Other truckers do talk with one another and usually it’s the same story (management/government regulations/complaining). That has also fallen by the wayside too. No, I don’t have a CB (and yes it is still called a handle). Reason why? There is honestly nothing good to listen too unless if you like listening to misogyny/xenophobia/homophobia/racism. It’s. Awful. When I did have one, this is all I heard. Just terrible. Thankfully, it shorted out and I never got one again.

JM: I’ve heard you’re supposed to flash your brights when passing a semi. Is that true?

SK: Yes and no. Depends on who you talk to. Cars do this if the person is impatient and don’t think I know they’re there. Trust me, I have 6 mirrors, I KNOW you’re there. Trucks do that (or dim their lights) to let the other truck has enough clearance to safely pass one another.

JM: What is your favorite part of the country?

SK: Ah, my favorite place(s) in America? It really depends. My favorite region of the US, by far, is the Pacific Northwest because of the beauty that is up there, particularly the Spokane, WA/Coeur d’Alene, ID area. It’s a perfect balance of city versus rural. Plus it’s green, all four seasons and weather is temperate enough and so are the people. I love it up there. But I’ve also enjoyed driving though the Bronx and watching the Sun start to rise through that part of NYC. It was almost like watching a movie. I also love driving along the Plains and being able to see “forever”. It’s an amazing sight. I also like being on the coast (Pacific, East or Gulf) and the smell of it. I love the smell of the ocean.

JM: You love music. How was that developed in your life? Who are your favorite bands?

SK: Music. Hmm, I’ve always been surrounded by music ever since I was little. Growing up as a kid in the South, it was mostly country that I listened too (we had 6 radio stations) and also growing up in a Christian household we listened to a lot of Christian music too, mostly contemporary Christian music, although my dad still had his record collection which was a lot of party-like 45’s (think Purple People Eater) and Stevie Wonder and his favorite country artist, Ronnie Milsap. Also, I did learn music as a kid, took piano lessons and I can still read (or at least figure out) musical notation. I’ve also taken guitar lessons at least 5 times, but it’s too time consuming, I’d rather enjoy music. That being said, I do enjoy it a lot. I’m always listening to something whether new or old. I’ve been collecting records (CD/vinyl) since about the time I moved here, about 13 years ago. I still love buying CDs mostly because it’s something you can hold onto, there’s artwork, liner notes. It’s much more than just a commodity or something you can download. It IS art. I really do love music though because of the way it can feel and make you feel too. See, I am more of a person who likes how a song is constructed (produced/mixed/built) versus what most people look for in a song (vocals/instruments). I look for what the music through its production and how it was produced is trying to say, what the underlying emotion is. And with that, a lot of the songs I enjoy are by artists who do it themselves or those who do a majority of their song craft themselves. I don’t really enjoy watching some corporate crap like “American Idol” because it is exactly what I hate about the modern music industry. Because there is no talent there, it’s all fake. Too me, it’s dehumanizing. It’s taking the person who has a great idea and warping it into a moment that maybe someone will remember for a few moments and then be forgotten. It’s sad to me. I like music that has more meaning and a lot less steps. I like the artist who shares his demos that he just recorded this morning just to see what other people think. That’s what I like.

JM: Who are some of your favorite musicians?

SK: Some of my favorite musicians/bands are Damien Jurado, Richard Swift, Starflyer 59, Radiohead, but generally I’ll listen to almost anything. *Almost*.

JM: Would you like to share an internet link?

SK:

Here’s my link(s): http://decknetwork.net/

It’s for The Deck, “The advertising network of creative, web and design culture”.

This is my link because I also like well-designed things and to me the websites served by this ad network are the best. My particular favorites are: kottke.org, waxy.org and themorningnews.org.

Also related: layertennis.com which is also brought to you by the same people who run The Deck. Layer Tennis is a great game of design. See the website for more information. It’s really neat.

Thank you to Scott for volunteering! Please feel free to ask him any questions you have in the comments below!

interview with dan

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My latest in the interview series is my friend Dan who I’ve known for about let’s say twelve or so years. I have no idea. I am sure we met sometime in college when we went to the same college church group. It sure feels like a lifetime ago. I used to hang out with Dan and his brother-they are two really funny guys. Some of my best memories of them are wandering around Magic Mountain. And telling pickle jokes. More on that later.

JM: Tell us a little about yourself.

DH: Name: Daniel Ryan Hunt

Age: 33 years

Hair: Reddish-brown, short

Eyes: Blue, two

Ears: Yes

Height: 5′ 10″

Weight: Plenty

Distinguishing features: Large sideburns, glasses, sardonic wit

Likes: Martial arts movies, video games, reading, writing, making people laugh, the spotlight, listing vague things like ‘reading’ and ‘writing’ as things I like to sound smart and/or creative

Dislikes: Unsolicited career advice, listing my previous work history, the word ‘douchebag,’ when Wikipedia is seen as a valid source of information

Favorite breakfast cereal: Cracklin’ Oat Bran

Outlook: Stoic, mostly

Demeanor: Pretty middle of the road

Marital status: Married to Sarah Hunt, going on 4 years

Highest education level: Some college

Current occupational status: Fledging stand-up comic, cab driver

I have been diagnosed with: schizoid personality, gout, 1 cavity

People think I have: Asperger’s syndrome, a sadistic streak, encyclopedic knowledge of computers and GPS-level knowledge of the Phoenix area, including locations of every building, everywhere

JM: So…you can’t just drop a completely unknown (relatively huge) fact like you have been diagnosed with schizoid personality on me without any details.

Can I ask you about it “on the record”?

Can you explain what it is?

When did you get diagnosed with it?

Did the diagnoses come with any emotions or a sense of clarity?

DH: You never knew…? I coulda swore… Okay.

From my understanding, being schizoid is where a person (me) levels out their emotional experiences. Lower highs, higher lows. The affected also have difficulty expressing emotions, having meaningful relationships, and other social awkwardnesses. I was diagnosed with this in my early to mid 20’s when I went to a therapist to seek help for depression I was going through. Well, it was the result of this test I took, SAT style, complete with bubble fill in sheet and #2 pencil.

When it comes to things like being schizoid, or depressed, or anti-social, or even things like possibly having Asperger’s Syndrome, I shrug it off. I’m okay with me, and I’m at a point where I realize all the crap that happened so far was for a reason. I am the person I am, and I can not, will not, nor want to be anyone else. I feel that there’s a certain beauty in sadness, when you think about how bad a thing (whatever) is, you realize there is another thing (whatever) that is, to quote Teen Girl Squad, SO GOOD that not only does it make up for the sadness you feel, it surpasses that sadness, and all the other sadnesses that you’ve had or will have. I get sad. It happens. I also get happy. Sometimes the sadness in my life outweighs the happiness in quantity, it never comes close to it in quality. I guess the ultimate question here is, where does that happiness come from? How can it be better? One word: Christ. Knowing that all this (living life in this world) leads to something greater (eternity with Christ) nullifies all the crap this life can throw at me. Sometimes I forget that for a while, but I always come back to the security I have in Christ and the Father. The Spirit, too, even if I have a hard time understanding It.

That, and the Keebler Elves released a line of cookies that are versions of the Girl Scout’s Samoas that are available all year round. How can that NOT make someone happy?

JM: Thanks-you saved a lot of people from looking that up on wikipedia. Speaking of happy, tell us a pickle joke, and give us the background on pickle jokes in your family.

DH: Who’s green, Egyptian, and married Marc Anthony? Cleo-pickle. Who’s green and was shot nine times? Pickle Cent. What’s green and hangs above a baby’s crib? A mo-pickle.

I come from two large families. Mom had five brothers and sisters, Dad has six. The vast majorities of these large families lived far away from where I grew up, mostly in Portland, Oregon and various parts of Oklahoma. A lot of childhood memories I have involve riding in cars on long road trips for family reunions. Going to see the extended family was always a treat for my brother and I. Well, when you’re ten hours into a 20-hour road trip with no stops, people get tired, and random things get hilarious. Pickle jokes were born out of these late night/early morning drives, and they are part of those random things that get hilarious.

JM: Why do you find yourself drawn to stand up?

DH: I like laughing and I like making people laugh. I was doing improv, which qualifies, but I think I’m drawn to stand-up now because I get to control everything that comes out of my mouth (in theory). So if it’s funny, it’s funny that came from me and wasn’t dependent on something or someone else. That’s not to say that I’ll never do improv again, but now is the season for stand-up (again).

My foray into stand-up started a lot earlier than I realized, when I stop to think about it. Back in the fifth grade, I asked my teacher if I could tell jokes in front of the class during lunch. She let me, and I proceeded to bomb day after day for pretty much the entire school year. Fast forward about three years, and while I was attending middle school, I was put in the gifted/accelerated class with the other nerds. One of the things we did every year was a career assignment, where we would pick something that we were interested in doing when we were older, then we would be paired with someone who did that for a living, and we’d spend time with them as they did their job. I selected to do stand up one year, and I was paired with a comic whose name I no longer remember. I tagged along while he did a corporate gig. He gave me a video from one of his open mic nights that he hosted, and I remember all the comics either being filthy or extremely bad. To wrap that assignment up, we had a ‘career night’ where we had presentations of what we learned. I did about three minutes of material that I ripped out of a joke book. I remember everyone was polite about it. Since then, my desire to get on stage and make people laugh has manifested itself in various ways, like being the ‘announcement guy’ at VI, or doing improv at a theater in Scottsdale. Around the end of September last year I happened upon a class for stand-up comedy taught by one Tony Vicich, comedian who was prolific during the stand-up boom of the 80’s. I took the introductory and the advanced classes, and was in two showcases, one at Dave and Busters up in North Phoenix, and one at the Tempe Improv. Currently, I have an open-mic night coming up on the 30th in Scottsdale, and a set at ToSo’s up in North Phoenix on the 4th. Maybe it’s the 5th. I should probably find out. I’ve been told that I’m ‘edgy’ for whatever that’s worth.

JM: What would be the ideal comic “job” for you?

DH: As fun as it would be to be a touring comic, I think that would take me away from my wife and soon-to-be daughter too much. I’d be perfectly content to work a singular city like Vegas, LA or New York if I could provide for my family doing it. I also wouldn’t argue with acting, voice acting, or directing. But not producing. Maybe gaffing. That’s a ways off, though, I’m still working my way into the shallow end of the comedy pool.

JM: Who are you influenced by comically?

DH: I am influenced by any comic that can make a room full of people laugh without resorting to excessive swearing or crude/sexual/scatalogical/racial material. It’s a mistake to think that doing clean comedy is talking about rainbows and kittens and peaches. I actually pulled off a joke in which there is a baby that is on fire. You can be dark and edgy without dropping an f-bomb. Or an s-bomb. Want examples of who I am inspired by? Sure! In no particular order:

Demitri Martin

Brian Regan

Eddie Izzard (I said excessive swearing)

Jim Gaffigan

Ken Kaz

Donald Glover

Christopher Titus

Steven Wright

Ritch Shydner

I’ve also had the joy of being able to learn from good comics, both veteran and not-as-veteran. Tony Vicich, like I mentioned before, along with Emily Galati, Kevin Odea, Joleen Lunzer, Mike Gillerman, Dave Thurston, Jim Bambrough, Mike Bengoeceha… lots of people named Mike, all said and done.

JM: Would you like to share an internet link?

DH: As much as I think that the internet is nothing more than 99.99% filler and a horrible time suck, here are a couple things I like looking at:

www.basicinstructions.net – One of the two funniest non-episodic webcomics ever.

www.xkcd.com – The other funniest non-episodic webcomic.

If you’re curious to see what I’ve done in stand up:

Shameless plug, I know.

And if you’re curious about stand-up classes, you can go here for more information:

www.comedyschools.com

Thanks Dan for participating in my interview series! Feel free to ask him any questions you have in the comment section below!

interview with joe

5 Replies

I knew who Joe was before I met him. He’s a bit of a local celebrity who dresses particularly and is known for his restaurants. But I knew him as the only person in my area who owned a Vespa. And I had just bought one. So about three years ago, I introduced myself, asked if I could go along on any group rides he was planning, and somehow found myself helping to open the future Liberty Market. But be careful! Once you are Joe’s friend, you must succumb to all kinds of crazy adventures-many of them involving blind taste tests of food. And believe me, this guy will wear you out! He’s made me visit more than five espresso joints in a day.

You can find many interviews with Joe and his journey of starting the Coffee Plantation, Joe’s Real BBQ, or the housing development complete with childhood-home-turned-restaurant Joe’s Farm Grill, but I would like to illuminate the more personal side of Joe. Because I dare to ask the questions!

JM: Please tell us a little about yourself.

JJ: That is an open question, so I’ll answer it a bunch of different ways.

I am happily married (to the lovely, talented, power-house: Cindy), have two married sons, and live in Gilbert.

I am chubby, moderate in build, wear a hat, have a titanium rod in my leg, blood pressure within the normal range.

I am self-deluded in thinking I can eat anything and not gain weight, that I am 30, that I am not dying, and certainly much more that I am oblivious to.

I am a visionary. I don’t mean that in a proud way any more than if I was to say that I am an artisan, a craftsman, or a farmer. The primary gift that God has given me is in the realm of ideas and how to advance them to become reality.

JM: I love the story of how you and Cindy met, would you mind sharing the tale?

JJ: At the time, I was an engineer and happily single, living in an apartment. I don’t mind being alone and don’t get bored easily, so I enjoyed working on cars and general tinkering. My mother was quite concerned that I would never get married. For one thing, she identified me as a nerd with fashion problems that might make me un-datable. To work on my fashion problem, she sent me to “Sincerely, Sandra”, a modeling and personal improvement shop at Dobson and Elliot. The basic idea was that the owner, Sandra, would color drape me and then teach me how to shop for clothes. Sandra is a vivacious lady of Lebanese ancestry. Through the process of figuring out that I was a “spring” and taking me shopping at Marshall’s, she decided I was a normal person, so she asked me if I would like to meet her sister. She hooked me up with her little sister, Cindy, who was living with Sandra and her husband at the time. It took me a while to get around to a first date. When we met, I thought she was beautiful … we got along fine. For many months we went out, just as friends and then we fell in love. That’s the best way.

JM: You have a distinct fashion style. Tell us how you created it and what your inspirations are.

JJ: My awareness of fashion started in the same way I met Cindy (see above). Since then, I have become more interested in fashion and have developed certain philosophies regarding dress:

1. Be comfortable with who you are and where you live.

I am a bit chubby (but cuddly), have a short inseam, a bald head, and ordinary looks (which I think of as a blessing). Doesn’t sound like a promising physique for fashion, but I have come to accept my situation and be happy about it. I also live in a warm state. Given these factors, I try to dress in ways that make sense. Being bald has opened up the world of hats, an area where people with hair seem timid to explore (except with the baseball cap [yuck!]). It protects from the sun and has many more options than hair. Being chubby, tight fitting clothes are a big no-no. Guayabera shirts are a favorite. They are loose fitting, a traditional shirt in warm climates, and come in great colors. I do not wear jeans. They emphasize the wrong part of my body. T-shirts: only at the gym.

2. Don’t go with the trends.

I used to wear classic Hawaiian shirts for the same reason as a Guayabera. Then they became popular and started showing up at Costco and all sorts of unstylish people started wearing them in horrible ways. I stopped wearing them. Hats have become popular again (I’ve been wearing them for 25 years), but most people buy cheap ones from China at Target, so it really hasn’t diluted quality hat wearing and I am not planning on abandoning hats. I avoid trends like “Affliction” shirts, Ed Hardy, and all of that stuff. I prefer classic, timeless pieces that go together well and last.

3. Buy quality.

I don’t buy poorly made stuff. It won’t last and it won’t feel good. That doesn’t mean it has to be expensive. Just be picky about quality, inspect your goods carefully, and then try to get the best price. For instance, my go-to fedoras are US made and are fashioned from wheat straw. They are very well made and cost about $35. Yes, that’s more than a Chinese “felt” fedora, but not that much more. It fits and lasts, plus you’re helping US workers. Some things are just plain expensive, but worth it. My LV “murse” is a great accessory that I use daily. It is SO well made and perfectly designed. It will last forever instead of some bad fitting, cheap mini-messenger bag. There’s some truth in the phrase “you get what you pay for”.

JM: Would you please share some Joe “before” pictures?

JJ:

JM: Would you like to share an internet link?

JJ:

Best food related periodical: http://www.artofeating.com/

Best antidote to Rachel Ray: http://bitchinlifestyle.tv/

Thanks again Joe for participating in my interview series! Please feel free to ask all your burning questions of Joe in the comments below!

And you can follow him on twitter (@realjoe)-although rumor is he might take a hiatus for a month in February!

interview with emily

8 Replies

I met Emily when I met her parents Jim and Joy. She’s the younger sister of Hannah, and she has two more younger sisters as well. Emily is a firecracker. She’s tough yet full of passion. She isn’t afraid to tell you what she’s thinking and I know this girl is going places. I enjoyed our interview, and I encourage you to share your thoughts or ask her questions in the comments below.

JM: Please tell us a little about yourself.

ES: i am almost sixteen (finally!) and i am a sophomore at a high school i love. i moved to this school from a dinky little charter school in Gilbert. the academic portion of the school was not up to par (and some of the kids weren’t that great either). i like to read and i do it constantly. writing is one of my favorite past times and i like to think I’m really good at it. i like school not just because of the friends I’ve made but because of my really cool teachers and just the feeling of being a part of a big school. i am in the ASL (American sign language) club and i am trying to find ways to become more involved in my school. i have a dog who is my pride and joy. she is such a character and i love her so very much. i like to sing and music is very important to me. i use it as an escape from my surroundings. walks are my favorite medicine and i take one whenever i can. I’ve been told that i always look upset and angry but I’m actually a quite serious person. i think a lot about everything. i am a very loud and opinionated person and i have no problem telling people what i feel. i am always there for my friends and i am (a lot of the time) the person they come to for help. i like being there and comforting them, and helping them through whatever problems i can. i may not seem like it sometimes, but i am a very compassionate person.

JM: Why did you choose to be in the ASL club?

ES: i’ve always been interested in learning a new language and i have yet to come upon one that is really interesting to me. i like the idea of knowing someone who can speak the same language as me but in a different way, like sign language. so i’ve begun with the group and next year i can take the actual class.

JM: This is the middle of your first year at a new high school. But you didn’t go to one of the feeder junior highs, you decided to leave a small charter school. Tell us about how and why you made that decision, and how has it panned out?

ES: my mom and i had been talking about me going to mountain view for a long time. it’s close to home and its where my mom used to go so she was a little biased. after my last year of junior high at a charter school in gilbert we decided that i would not be going back; mainly because the academics were not up to par. after a lot of struggling (on mostly my part) we decided mtn view would be the best place for me. it has worked out better than i expected. i fit in well and i have lots of friends. i enjoy doing all of the true high school things like joining clubs and going to football games. it’s a perfect fit.

(photo credit: Hannah Schroeder)

JM: You have a good relationship with your parents. What advice would you give to other kid’s parents if they wanted to have a good relationship with their kids?

ES: the reason i get along so well with my parents is because my parents are very open and that helps me to be open with them. they are very understanding and helpful and they do their best to not bring me down or get mad at me for my mistakes. they do their best to help me up, dust me off, and prepare me for the next big crisis (as a teenage girl i have a lot of those). parents just need to remember that every kid is different. they can’t hold their children back from who they want to be. and they can’t be condescending. children need help sometimes but parents can’t hold their hand throughout their whole lives. let go and let the child live and screw up. if parents hold on too tight their relationship with their children will become complicated and strained and that’s not good for anyone.

JM: You’ve been involved with some social activism in the last couple of years. Could you name a group that you are involved with and why you believe in the cause?

ES: i have been involved in some social activism. invisible children and laundry love are two of the organizations i have been involved with the most. laundry love is an organization my parents came upon that helps those who cannot pay for their laundry. my family, along with some other family friends, go to a local laundromat once a month and pay for people’s laundry. i have gone to a few protests and i always enjoy standing up for what i think is right. sticking up for the underdog is a priority of mine and when i feel like someone is being treated unfairly i will confront the situation head on. like when the person in charge of a peaceful protest is yelling at a pastor who made comments about our president and gay people. yes that has happened before. 🙂 people are people and we all need to be treated like what we are, human.

JM: What is Laundry Love?

ES: laundry love is an organization that my parents found out about from one of their friends. we go to a laundromat the first friday of every month and we pay for people’s laundry, whoever shows up. it’s been lots of fun and the people i’ve met are really nice and happy to share their stories.

JM: what do you think of those television shows about teen mothers and fathers?

ES: i find that the shows about teen parents are not trying to over glamorize the idea of becoming pregnant at a young age, like most of our society today. while giving them their own tv show and paying them may give others the idea to get pregnant and on tv is a bad idea, they don’t try to show that it’s a good thing. the tv shows show how complicated life will really be for everyone in the family. so yes i like them, but people may not have the best of intentions when trying to get on the show.

JM: Do you have an internet link you’d like to share?

ES: the only link i would like to share is for to write love on her arms. this organization is very important to me and has helped me a lot throughout the last 2 or 3 years. i want people to learn more about it and realize what they do and how they are helping people.

http://www.twloha.com/

to write love on her arms is a non profit organization that helps teens and adults with addiction, depression, and different forms of self mutilation. they have people you can email and talk to and if you go on their website you can share your story. the staff even travel and speak at different cities around the nation. their purpose is to create a community of people who can all talk and share stories and just be there for each other. sometimes sharing your story and admitting you have a problem is the hardest and most helpful part of the journey.

(photo credit: Hannah Schroeder)

interview with kiersten

8 Replies

I first met Kiersten over two years ago when I started working at Liberty Market. She has more energy than most people reminding me of a hummingbird. She constantly injects puns into her speech, and she forgets to eat often. You had better be ready to eat big though if you ever go to a restaurant with her and her husband because they will order EVERYTHING on the menu. They want to try it all!

(photo credit Jen of kreatid photography)

JM: Tell us a little about yourself.

KT: I grew up in Bozeman, Montana….the oldest of 4 kids. My Dad is a potter, and he and my Mom have owned and operated Mountain Arts Pottery since I was a kid. I grew up in a family where my parents were (and still are) very supportive and encouraging. Christianity was the foundation of all we did but we all knew our faith had to be ours…not just because Dad and Mom said so.

I did pretty well as a track athlete in high school and decided to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to run. I wasn’t very good at the check sheets in college and as such, ended up taking so many classes I have a Double Major in Elementary Education and Special Education as well as a minor in Deaf Education and a Master’s in Special Education/Learning Disabilities – and now I own a restaurant….go figure!

I moved to Arizona to work at ASU and met my husband at a dinner he was cooking for. Long story short…we got married and work together as co-owners of Liberty Market in Gilbert.

JM: How did you get involved with Special and Deaf Education?

KT: My younger sister, Becky, who is, as she likes to point out, exactly four years and eleven months younger than I am, was diagnosed with a learning disability soon after she was born. Referred to as Global Retardation, her disability affects each aspect of her life in different ways. Becky has a difficult time with her fine motor skills including printing and tying her shoes but reads at a college level.

She didn’t talk for the first three years of her life, and I remember with absolute distinction when she said her very first words….”Indian hat”. We were traveling to an art show and had stopped somewhere to fill up for gas. They must have had one of those plastic Indian hats with fake red, green and blue feathers sticking out of the top and when she pointed at it and said, “Indian hat”, my parents purchased it in absolute shock. Since then, I don’t think she’s stopped talking!!! 🙂

She has a job at Fuddruckers making the guacamole and helping in the kitchen and has told David more than once that he needs to learn the recipe she has memorized. Her memory is one that baffles all of our family. She has always corrected us when we would say something like, “Remember when we went to visit Grandma in 1985?” by saying, “It wasn’t 1985, it was 1984, and it was a Tuesday.” We would laugh it off until we started checking her dates and she was correct. She has more Civil War knowledge than the guides she used to drive with when visiting Gettysburg and her bible study teacher has stopped checking facts when Becky brings something up from the bible, because she’s always right.

The deaf education part of my life came into being as a result of my cousin Courtney’s deafness. I loved sign language and started learning it to communicate with her when she would visit in the summer. I would practice with my brothers on Sundays after church when my grandparents would take us out to lunch. We had no ipod, itouch, ipad, phone….etc. and would have to self-entertain. Practicing the alphabet forwards and backwards was ingrained in my head and in college I quickly learned I could forego the foreign language component by taking sign language!

It sat dormant in my mind between college and the opening of Liberty Market when we hired two employees who are deaf. Having a glassed-in kitchen is the greatest thing because I can communicate across the restaurant and into the kitchen! It does confuse guests, however, when I ask them if everything is alright or explain something to them and realize I haven’t said anything!!!

JM: You grew up in Montana. What’s it like? Do you see yourself moving back there?

KT: You hear a lot about people from small towns itching to leave never to return, but I never felt that. God has allowed some amazing opportunities to insert themselves into my life that have moved me to the next chapter in my life but never because I didn’t like the one I had just finished.

Bozeman is located in a valley surrounded by five mountain ranges and is amazingly beautiful. It’s cold and snows for half the year but there are three ski hills within thirty minutes of my house, the sledding hill is literally over the creek, through the park and across the street. I spent a lot of my summers in the Gallatin National Forest at our cabin. The back door opens up to the forest and the running water is connected to an underground spring so if you want it any warmer than ice cold, you have to heat it up on the stove.

It’s definitely a different world than Arizona. More REI-ish and less Fashion Square-ish. The magnitude of open space and sky is such a difference in comparison to Phoenix. It SMELLS….not bad….it just has a smell. When you get off the plane and walk out onto the tarmac (it’s a pretty little airport) it smells clean and clear, brisk and like pine. It’s one of the best parts of the whole area!!!

Will I ever move back….probably not permanently. David and I have this small little thing going on here that takes up a lot of our time – Liberty Market – however, we’d love to get to a place where we could spend time there over the summers. I’m not sure what that looks like but I can guarantee you that summer in Montana is significantly more enjoyable than summer in Phoenix!!!

JM: You trained a work dog once-what was that like?

KT: We raised a service dog through an organization here in Phoenix, and it was amazing. Johnny was a Golden Retriever that we trained as a “hearing dog” to work with an individual who was deaf. I only recommend doing this if you have TONS of time. We were in the process of opening Liberty Market and I had no set location at which I needed to work, so I was able to take him everywhere with me. As a result, he became extremely social which made him a better trained service dog.

The day David and I turned him in, we went and watched the tail end of the Iron Man Triathlon because we figured they were the only people more miserable than we were! If we ever do it again, I think we’ll do a dog with hospice. Even though we knew giving him up was in both ours and his best interest (we spent the first month of the restaurant opening working eighteen hours a day without a day off), it was the most ridiculously hard thing I’ve ever done!!!

JM: Your family is full of creativity-your dad and you knit, your parents have a ceramics studio and bakery, your brother is a photographer (what else am I missing?)-was creativity something your parents fostered?

KT: My brother Tim is amazingly musically inclined, and my sister Becky who has a learning disability has moved socialization with people to a whole new level!

My parents made us take piano lessons from Kindergarten through our senior year in High School and I say “made” because I am not gifted in that realm in any way! 🙂 Other than that, they just encouraged and loved us. More and more, I see that the family I thought “normal” growing up was and is anything but normal. My parents are together, they love us, they support us, they let us be us.

I hesitate to express how amazing it is to have a shelter to come back to during good and bad because there is no way to give it the credit it deserves without sounding goofy! When you see kids (and I see a lot of them in the restaurant, at church, in stores) you can tell those kids who don’t have to worry about the love of their family – whatever that family looks like. They are secure in the fact that they are loved and accepted. That was the world I grew up in. It wasn’t perfect…I can list my fair share of fights!!….but it was safe.

So….back to your question, did they foster creativity….not so much as they fostered us and creativity came out of that!

JM: Give us a list of some of your favorite restaurants and why you love them.

KT:

1 – El Pollo Supremo – Beef or Chicken? Flour or Corn? Those are your only options…great, inexpensive Mexican!

2 – Pizzeria Bianco – It’s our favorite because it affords us, as a couple, of at least 3 hours of uninterrupted “us” time. But….we always eat something first!

3 – Matt’s Big Breakfast – I hope my trainer doesn’t read this but I get the Hog + Chick with the ham steak, eggs scrambled on the side (and I give them to David) sourdough toast, hash browns and a waffle with bacon….but…I then don’t eat for the rest of the day. Mainly, because I can’t move.

4 – Houston’s/Chelsea’s Kitchen – in the vein of a little more costly, either of these two. Houston’s is the best chain/non-chain. They do a great job with everything and the service is impeccable! Chelsea’s Kitchen has the best Rib-eye Tacos I’ve ever had but I have a hard time justifying the price if I don’t split them!

5 – Café Wasabi – A little Japanese place on Southern and McClintock. It’s a nice place to get sushi at a reasonable price. You can get a salad and ten piece California Roll for $7 or $8.

JM: Is there an internet link you’d like to share?

KT: As a plug for how really great my parent’s pottery is….www.mtartspottery.com

I really recommend looking at the history behind the Blessing Jar!

interview with hannah

13 Replies

I met Hannah because she is the teenage daughter of my friends Joy and Jim. Hannah has become a friend of mine. She is smart and beautiful, and I can’t even begin to tell you what a creative and gentle soul she is. I have faith in the future because of her.

JM: Please tell us a little about yourself.

HS: I am currently a junior at Gilbert Classical Academy, a college prep school. And when they say college prep, they mean it. I can definitely say that the amount of work that is given to college students does not faze me at all, it is the idea of the adult-like maturity and responsibilities that I will need to quickly adapt to while living by myself that is scary. As you can tell, college has probably been the number one thing on my mind recently. (Or at least somewhere in the top five). I do not intend to go to school in state after I graduate. No, it is not that I have a problem with the local schools, in fact, they’re actually not bad. I have lived in Arizona my whole life and I almost feel that if I don’t leave when I have the chance, I will be stuck. And plus, I want some seasons other than summer. For college, I want to either go into the field of education or global public health…anything that has to do with helping kids. I love kids. After I get my BA or BS (whichever it happens to be…still in the process of deciding if I want to take a more artsy or medical route), I plan to join the Peace Corps. From there I think I will decide if I would rather get my Masters and continue on in my field on my own or stay with the Peace Corps. And somewhere in there, there will be a marriage and babies but that’s not necessarily something that can be planned.

That’s academic/goals side of me. I also enjoy music; listening and playing. I have been playing the cello for seven, going on eight years now, took bass guitar lessons for a couple years because it’s similar to the cello, I am a self-taught, amateur guitarist (don’t expect me to be a prodigy – I’m not), and recently I’ve had a fascination with trying to learn piano. The only instrument that I can read music for is the cello. All of my musical endeavors were started due to a sort of domino effect – the cello triggered the bass, the bass led to the guitar, the guitar led me to the piano. And none of it would have happened without my mom. When I was going into fourth grade, my mom told me that she had always loved cello music; loved the way the cello sounded. She wanted to play it when she was younger, but her teacher was mean, so she quit. And that was it for me. That year I joined the orchestra. And my very first year, I hated it. At first, I couldn’t understand how to read the music and I had to learn all my songs by ear, which really frustrated me. Of course, my mom wouldn’t let me quit. And thank God for that, because I would have quit in a heartbeat. It seemed unfair then, but I look back now and realize what a pivotal point that was for me. If it hadn’t been for my mom, I would never have thought to play a musical instrument. Ever.

So…there’s a little peek into the inner-workings of Hannah.

JM: You are a creative person. Since I’ve known you, you’ve explored music, painting, and photography. What does art mean to you?

HS: For me, art is a catharsis. It is expressing the elements about yourself that cannot be communicated through words. It’s my stress reliever; my hobby; It’s in my genes. It’s always on my mind. I view my world as a photograph – I am always trying to see the image in front of me as I would through my lens. I want to see the objects in front of me as the finished product in my head before I even pull the camera towards my eyes or put the pencil to paper.

Art is life. It is in everything everyone does all the time. Everyone does things in a different way…to me, that’s art. To take something – an essay topic, a room, a pair of shoes, a piece of paper, a website, a sandwich – and put a little bit of yourself into it is art. People are beautiful, and to take an object and make it show the elements of your unique beauty can only be defined as art. Art’s in everything and everyone. It is everything and everyone.

JM: You are a social activist. What drives you to care about others when so many teens are driven by popularity and the “mean girl” culture?

HS: For me, it’s difficult to understand why anyone would be motivated by the “mean girl” culture. It might be genetics; my parents are caring people. It could just be the way they were brought up, and likewise the way I was brought up. My parents always told me 1. to treat others the way I would like to be treated, 2. to put others first, and 3. would you like it if I did that to you? Of course, this all stemmed out of the “conservative Christian” way of life that they had at the time, but the lessons are still valuable and important to me. So naturally, I grew up asking myself if I would appreciate it if so-and-so was mean to me, and acting on those thoughts versus whether or not what I was about to do would make me happy. I can really appreciate the example my parents set for me when the church wasn’t able to. Some of it is just being willing to acknowledge my own hypocrisy and that of others, and trying to deal with it instead of turning a blind eye. It’s amazing to me how a church Sunday-school can teach children songs about wanting to be sheep (followers of Jesus) versus Pharisees, yet turn out the biggest batch of Pharisees I have ever seen in my life. It’s amazing how people can claim to follow Jesus – the guy who hung out with hookers, tax collectors, thieves, murderers and the like – yet so strongly oppose those very people – the out-casts, the different ones – that he had an explicit love for.

But back to teens…I’ll be honest, teenagers are selfish. Possibly the MOST selfish people on the face of the earth. American teens, that is. Or teens from any other country as privileged as America. And we’ll try to deny it, but it’s so obvious that the only person on our minds is ourselves. We’ve never had to work for anything, thus automatically assuming we deserve everything, and never appreciating that which we do have. And I think this goes for a lot of adults too. To me…something seems amiss with this whole mentality.

Some people see activism as a negative thing, which is something that I all together do not understand. How can the desire to help people be bad? I may be a “bleeding heart”, but at least I have a heart to bleed from. I don’t know…sometimes it seems that it should be common sense and common decency to treat others the way we want to be treated, to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, to care about people. I know for a fact that if I was a little girl in Africa who had contracted HIV and I knew there was someone out there rich enough to pay for my vaccination, I would want them to do so. I think we all need to go back to Kindergarten when we were taught to share with others, to be kind, to use our inside voices (notice how many people that get air-time are extremists?), to treat others with respect, and to be kind. Obviously, we didn’t get it the first time.

JM: can you attach a drawing or a photo that you’ve created?

HS: Sure can!

JM: Would you like to share an internet link with us?

HS: How about…5 million links? Just kidding, I don’t have THAT many, but I will have to narrow it down quite a bit…how about my top five?

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/about

http://www.endhumantrafficking.org/about

http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/about/aboutus-home

http://theywilldie.org/

http://www.toms.com/our-movement/
Funny story about the first link. I was just perusing photo bucket, looking for pictures of Africa for a school project/presentation type thing when I came across a picture that said children are born with these arms (picture of arms) not these (picture of guns). This really piqued my interest, so I typed in the web address that was in the corner (invisiblechildren.com) and read all about it…it’s incredible, really. As an American, it’s so hard to imagine that people live like that…anyways. You just have to check it out. Educate yourselves…the websites for those organizations are EXPONENTIALLY cooler than Facebook can ever dream to be.

I want to thank Hannah for taking the time to answer my questions and be so open and honest. Please feel free to ask her any questions in the comments below.

interview: travis

4 Replies

Travis is someone that I’ve worked with at Liberty Market for quite awhile although we didn’t really become friends until I started expediting, and he began working the sandwich station. We bonded over the similarities of labor in Starbucks and In-N-Out Burger; only to discover we have the same immature, name-calling, “that’s what she said” sense of humor. Keep your eye on this one because he’s going to run a sweet restaurant someday soon.

JM: Tell us a little about yourself.

TT: I’ve just completed my third year at Arizona State University. My degree will be in Design Management and a minor in Urban Planning. I had always wanted to be an architect since I was in eighth grade. I took that passion through high school and completed drafting and design courses to prep myself for architecture in college. I went through my first year at ASU as an architecture student, and I dreaded it. It was no what I had anticipated; however, I still loved design. I quickly switched my major to Design Management which allowed me to stay in the design field and was essentially going to allow me to oversee a lot of design aspects without focusing on one particular area of study. I decided to minor in Urban Planning to fill up my elective hours because I think the layout and planning of a city is fascinating.

I’ve lived in Arizona my entire life; I’m a fourth generation native. My family has held farm land in Glendale, and I’ve grown up in the area and in north Phoenix. I am the oldest child in my family with one younger brother, Luke, who is seven years younger. We’re definitely not the same. People say we look the same, but I am definitely a first born and he is clearly the second child haha. I love him to death though. My parents are awesome and have been supportive and encouraging in everything I have ever pursued or worked towards. This you don’t find often: I’ve lived with the same two roommates for over two years (this coming June will be three years). These guys are my best friends and brothers; I don’t know where I’d be without companions and godly men to grow with. They’ve been a blessing to me, and I value our friendships.

Ehhh, why not, let’s give a little plug to the girl that means so much to me: Taylor Sossaman. She’s awesome and definitely pushes me to be a better man, while encouraging me and being right by my side in what I hope to accomplish. She’s great.

I’ve been working at Liberty Market in Gilbert, Arizona for a little over a year now. It’s a fabulous place to work. There’s an incredible staff built by amazing owners: David & Kiersten Traina and Joe & Cindy Johnston. This is a place you can go and hang out, have a great cup of coffee and a fabulous meal, all while getting to know the staff on a different level than anyone else. Chef and Joe have both been instrumental in mentoring me and teaching me ways of the restaurant business that are invaluable and I could learn nowhere else. Liberty Market is a hidden (well, not so much anymore) gem in the Valley and all things aside, I think they deserve a lot more credit than they seem to get.

JM: You want to open a restaurant someday. How did you make that decision?

TT: Yes, I definitely want to open my own restaurant someday. I have a few different concepts in mind, and I am working through those right now. It’s such an exciting and scary adventure to be an entrepreneur, especially in this economy haha. How did I make that decision… well it was about a year and a half ago that I thought I’d start down this scary path. Through some turn of events I spent an entire summer finding local hot spots and cool restaurants throughout the Valley, with one of my roommates. Liberty Market was one of the places that intrigued me, along with The Vig and Postino’s, and even the then-new St. Francis. As I frequented these places something drew me in, it was the people and sense of community within these restaurants. The staff was nice and knowledgeable, engaging with customers, and there was also great food and drink being served. I got very inspired and thought it would be great to have one of these own “community hangouts” of my own. I’ve always loved food and cooking and I figured, “Hey, I’m young, why not?” So since then I have been plugging away at creating what I hope to achieve.

JM: Would you like to share any details about the type of restaurant you want to open?

TT: I have ideas for multiple restaurants-all being different concepts throughout the Valley. The concept I am currently working on could be defined as a gastro pub, but with a little more emphasis on food. I’d also like to do a boutique wine bar, maybe something with simple fare such as burgers, and maybe an old-school bar concept.

JM: What is your earliest memory about food?

TT: My earliest memory of food… To be honest, it’s making homemade ice-cream on the floor of my grandma’s house on Fourth of July. Simply the best, pure bliss for a young boy. However, food became prevalent in the house when Saturday night was “guy’s night” in the kitchen. This was the night of the week when Dad and I would cook dinner and do the dishes for mom. It started with steak and sautéed mushrooms at a young age and grew from there.

JM: Can you describe a foochebag? Are you friends with any?

TT: Foochebag by definition can be found here.

“Portamanteau of ‘foodie’ and ‘douchebag,’ typically referring to foodies who are categorized by attention-seeking, elitism, and superficiality. Basically, arrogant food bloggers and Twitter users.”

To me, a foochebag is someone who is pretentious and pretends to know more than they do about food in an attempt to gain recognition. They don’t even necessarily need to be in the food-service industry, but just someone who frequents the establishments. Am I friends with any… Sure. I think I am, and at the very least I have to admit that I am acquaintances to a handful of Valley foochebags. I also have to admit that I have been called a foochebag before, and there is definitely a hint of validity to it. It’s something I have had to realize, the fact that I don’t know anything or even close to what I think I know. It’s a humbling thing to be called such especially when I know I have much to learn. My goal has been to become a listener and learner and not a corrector of people in the food area. I used to be legitimate friends with some foochebags, and I came to that realization and decided to call them out on it. And as I’m sure you can imagine, they don’t talk to me anymore, but I don’t want to be known for that. I’d like to be a person who has a passion for great food and creating such dishes, but without the pretention as to think that I am better than anyone else in the industry or even a customer. I’ve come to the point where I would rather work on my craft, skill and knowledge of food than to show anyone how great I think I am in the kitchen.

JM: What would be your last meal?

TT: My last meal would be the twenty-nine course tasting menu that I had the pleasure of enjoying at Binkley’s in Cave Creek. This meal was hands down, the most amazing food experience I have ever had. The only reason I would be okay with this being my last meal is because of the food hangover I had the following morning haha. Here’s a link to a blog (Jess Harter) on our meal. Thanks to Ty Largo for the invitation to the dinner.

JM: That‘s a clever answer, a bit in the vein of “I’d wish for more wishes” though. Let’s pretend you were only allowed to have one last dish. What would it be?

TT: Okay that’s fair enough.

My last meal would probably a dish my dad makes: Moroccan Rack of Lamb. He roasts a rack of lamb with a Moroccan rub which consists of spices such as cinnamon and cumin. When it’s roasted there’s a crust/shell of spices that will melt in your mouth. It’s to die for. I’ve always admired my dad, and really he’s the one who got me into cooking, so it’s only fair that my last meal come from him.