Kjristi Nash

March 9, 2017

A lovely friend of mine (Thanks, Sarah!) recommended Kjristi (pronounced Sherstee) to me. She passed along my information and encouraged Kjristi to reach out. She did right away and we spent a couple of weeks organizing a time to meet. In the end, I ended up going to her home and met her for the first time in her driveway. She was immediately warm and kind and very hospitable. Her home is packed with musical instruments and art and sewing materials. It's a lived-in and lovely home and it's obvious that really cozy times happen in there.

Who are you?

My name is Kjristi Nash and I'm 35. I'm a mom. I have two kids. My oldest son's name is Spri and he's 14 and my youngest son is Wylder and he's 8. My husband's name is Dan. I've lived in Bend for 13.5 years, so I feel like I'm from Oregon now.

Where do you come from?

I'm from Washington State, Ephrata. It's a small town, sort of central Washington. When I grew up, there were maybe 4,000 or 5,000 people. Kind of small - farm and agriculture pretty much. I kind of grew up on a farm. Kind of not. My dad actually worked for my grandparents on their dairy farm, so we were there all the time playing around and helping out, but we didn't actually have too much to do at home that was farm-like, but we did have pigs and chickens for a while. Kind of funny.

What brought you to Bend?

When I was 21 and Dan was 20, we had Spri, so we were pretty young. And we were living in our hometown with his mom and we didn't really know what we were doing (laughs). We didn't really have any money. He was working part-time and trying to save up money to figure out where we were going to go because we knew we didn't want to live where we grew up. Previously, we had been living in Bellingham, Washington, which is by Seattle. And we knew we didn't want to live there. Dan's dad moved to Oregon - to Madras. He had been here for like a year and invited us to stay with him for the summer. Dan got a job rebuilding the middle school because part of the building had collapsed that winter. And we just kind of moved to Oregon, like in one day. We didn't have any furniture. We had no real possessions or anything, so we just packed what we had and drove to Oregon and moved in with his dad for the summer. Eventually we kept coming to Bend for things, like there would be music or we'd come to the river and just hang out. Bend kept drawing us, so we figured we should just move here. At the end of the summer, we found rent in Sun River and just moved here and we've stayed ever since.

What do you like about Bend?

I really like how there's a river through town. I think it really brings people out and gets them outside. It feels good. It brings a certain kind of people. People that appreciate it and want to take care of it, too. It felt like a friendly area and people were pretty nice here. At the time, rent was really cheap (laughs). So that was cool. It was affordable. Something about it just felt good. We kept continuing to find good places to rent. People were always suggesting we buy a house or settle down, but we never really felt like we were choosing that. It was just kind of happening. And it's still happening (laughs). It's fun to have a music scene, too. It brings different kinds of people in. And that's fun. I don't go out a lot, but when I want to, it's fun.

How do you contribute to the community?

I feel like I probably haven't contributed to the community as much as I could. I'm just kind of getting into that more. I was a stay-at-home mom for a long time, so raising kids really kept me preoccupied. Now I feel like I'm more prepared to get into town more and I want to be a part of it more. Whereas before, it was just kind of easier to kind of do my thing with the kids and family stuff - not participate as much, maybe. It's gone by so fast. It's weird to think that the kids are already older. I'm a helpful person. Volunteering in school - that's helpful to the teachers. Helping people in town - random things that I see that I can do, I like to do that. I like to help out.

Do you have favorite activity here?

I really like camping out at Todd Lake. It's a beautiful, small lake up passed Mt. Bachelor. All spring it's got these little, teensy tiny streams that come down with really cold water. It's so much fun to camp up there. You can drink the fresh water and you can hike around back there. It's easy. Fun. Relaxing. It's a good time.

What do you wish for the future?

I really do hope that the rent situation can somehow change. I hope it can be less of a stress on people. And people will be able to afford to live here better. A lot of people have tried to make this a really good area, so I feel like that will happen. I hope it continues to be a beautiful place. And I hope people continue to take care of the land and keep providing the fun things that are here. The trails are amazing. People really care about taking care of all the outdoor things that you can do. I really like that the music scene is growing. That is really great. That's a huge thing to keep bringing in good music, like, all year around. It's good and I think it can keep getting better.

I just want to be happy. Really and truly, I just want to keep finding things that feel good to do and I want to be a happy person. I want to keep growing. Honestly, I don't ever want to stop evolving. I want to keep being a good parent. I feel like I'm a pretty good parent. I care about people. It builds more appreciation and love in everyone's lives. And it just gets better, hopefully. Ultimately, I just want to be a happy person.

Do you have thoughts regarding Bend's growth?

I was one of those people, 13 years ago, moving here. We all were those people. I think that's the thing that we forget. One area doesn't just belong to somebody. Having a big growth of people, we do need to be careful about properly managing the land and keeping it at its best. I think it's weird that people decide to be super negative. It's a shame because, really, they could be doing the opposite and they are choosing not to. We could all have a really amazing area, whether it grows bigger or not. Yeah, the more the merrier. I don't know, as long as people have good attitudes. But, if they don't, then that sucks to me. Just because I've been here for a little while, doesn't mean it's my town. People need to share (laughs). We need to share better. Why is that so hard? I don't know. There's a lot of negativity. Finding ways to stay positive and to make an area a great area is everybody doing that. It takes everybody working together.

Tawna Storey

March 6, 2017

I walk the streets of downtown Bend on a daily basis. I started doing that the night I arrived in town. I walked up Minnesota Ave in absolutely frigid temperatures and found a few spots that night that I would later frequent. I walked by Bendy Dog one day and, as I have an adorable dog named Pal, had to take a look inside. We met Tawna and immediately became friends. She's a laugher. And so bright and cheerful. And very encouraging. Pay her a visit. I can almost guarantee that she'll brighten your day.

Who are you?

I am definitely in transformation. That's for sure. I'm Tawna. I own Bendy Dog. I have a lot of history behind me. I'm a positive person that likes to try to influence the world in positive ways and share things that I enjoy with other people. It's fun to share.

Where do you come from? What brought you to Bend?

I'm from Southern California - born and raised. I lived in several different places down there. I went to school in San Bernardino. I lived in Pasadena. And worked in Burbank. So I've experienced a lot of those communities down there and done the whole Southern California deal. And I was just tired of it. I started to realize that I just did not feel happy. And I needed to do something about it. I was 40 and I needed to take some control and make some changes that I felt would make me happier in the long run. It was hard. My dad died in 2010 and that gave my mom and I an opportunity to get out of there. It's too hustle bustle. The mentality down there is different. The people are less invested in anybody else. I just was ready to have more of a community. When I came to visit a friend here, I was blown away by the community feel and the celebration, kind of. People are kind and they wave you across the street and they let you into traffic. And it's beautiful. Like, it feeds the soul. It was a perfect move for me. My mom felt that, too. After my dad passed away, there was nothing other than family holding us there, and you can always stay in touch with family and that never changes. So, I was just happy to go. It was enlightening and I felt like I had a ton of rocks off my back. And I still feel like that and it has been three years now. We moved here in 2014. I worked on my business plan for almost a year, sitting at The Lot, having beers and eating Thai food. I'm never looking back. I have no intention of going back. If I have to drive to California, I get to La Pine, and I just don't want to go... I'd rather turn around and go back home. I'm happy to be here. And I'm happy to be part of the community here. It's a real positive experience.

What do you like about Bend?

I'm all about Bend. There is so much anonymity in SoCal because there are so many people - you just get lost in the crowd. It's hard to feel passionate about doing anything because there are so many damn other people. You are just so invisible there. And here, people are friendlier. I feel like in general they're happier, so they're more open to other people. There's more eye contact here. Things like that make people feel welcome. I'm happy to be a part of that. I feel like it makes me a better person to contribute to that. It makes my community a better place. I have my little dog shop. I am passionate about dogs. It may be silly to some people, but they make my heart happy. I feel like that comes through. When you come in my door, I'm happy to see you. I'm really happy to see your dog. And that's completely genuine and sincere. If I give them a genuine and sincere smile and show some interest in who they are or what brought them here and then they take that out on the street and they talk to somebody else and it influences them to do the same thing... it's almost like a pay it forward thing. And if we are all just a little bit better for it, then great. I'm not a community activist... I enjoy what I do and in general, I like people and their dogs. Hopefully that comes through and perpetuates itself through the community.

Do you have a favorite memory or activity here?

This is silly. I really like going to the Michael Franti concerts once in a year. I look so forward to that! There's such a mainline of positivity, surrounded by people who are also so pumped to be there. I'll walk around on a cloud for two days after that dumb concert. And I will go every year until I die. Every year he comes here, I will go. Just because I feel like my soul needs it. It's such a great experience. I love all the festivals and the festivities - the Munch & Music and the things that bring the community together. Where I'm from, they don't have that. What could be bad about walking down to Drake Park on a summer evening and sitting on a blanket with a thousand people listening to some music and eating some food and having a beer? I mean, come on. It's simple. It's so simple and yet it's such an influence. It's a magical activity because I am just so not used to feeling a part of any community.

I have a lot of favorite haunts. I discovered El Sancho recently. Whaaaat? Try the chilaquiles, they're amazing! The back spot at McMenamins with all the fire pits is a fantastic place to go and kick it and have a drink. They make the best Screwhounds (half Greyhound, half Screwdriver). And I like places like Atlas and Crux and GoodLife where you can go sit outside and just chill and enjoy the experience.

What do you wish for the future?

I'm pretty happy right now with the direction my life is going. I hope that I find a little more direction with the shop. I hope that it becomes a business that sustains me. As of yet, I haven't made a dime. They say it takes about three years. At the three year mark, I'm hoping I can pay myself. Otherwise, I can't do this forever. This is just kind of a spot in time if it doesn't become profitable. I'd like to become a bit more business savvy. A good balance is hopefully in my future. I would hate to think that Bend blows up and becomes some sort of Mecca. Honestly, no matter how big it gets, it's still going to have that draw. It's in a beautiful area. In general, the people that are here have an inherent goodness and happy souls. For the most part - way more than I've experienced in other places. I know some people get really upset about how many people are here. And especially people coming from southern areas. I'm just not going to worry about it. I love Bend. So wherever it goes, I can't see it making a hard right and turning into something I'm not going to enjoy. Everything evolves. It's just evolving. Hopefully it's getting better.

Rod Ray

March 2, 2017

I met Rod when I photographed him for another story. In the course of making those photos, Rod learned of this project and expressed interest in participating. I would have been a fool to say no to a guy like Rod: warm-spirited, friendly, kind, a staple of this community, and a strong leader. He's got a big heart and he's interested in a healthy future for us all. And he continues to work towards that.

Who are you?

I am a consultant and I teach a leadership class. And I do whatever I can for the community, particularly the OSU (Oregon State University) and the school system. And, above all else, I really have the time... I'm trying to be a much better husband and father. In my previous life it was hard to do as good a job. I've got time now, so I spend a lot of time with my son.

What brought you to Bend?

I was born in Portland and lived there until I moved to Bend when I was nine, in 1965, with my mother and my sister. My mother was a single parent and she started the registered nursing program at COCC (Central Oregon Community College). I grew up in Bend from the time I was nine until I went off to college at 18. Bend was around 10,000 people and a mill town then. The boundaries of Bend were between Pilot Butte and Aubrey Butte. It was a great place to grow up. We rode our bikes everywhere. Wherever we were at dinner time, we had dinner. A lot of the families, and particularly fathers, around town took care of me because they knew I didn't have a dad around. Fireman, college professors, teachers, and other people around town would make sure I got skiing, and make sure I got to Boy Scouts. It was just a tight community.

I went off to Oregon State and got a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering and then to the University of Colorado and got a PhD. I came back and started a full-time career at Bend Research, where I had worked through the summers in college, in 1983. I stayed at Bend Research, eventually becoming the CEO, until I retired in 2015. Then I became a consultant for them. Along the way, both through the company and Lori (my wife) and I, we've always done as much as we could for the community. Both with money and also using Bend Research's firepower in science education, which has always been the focus for us in the community. When I was in high school, it was very isolated here, in an absolute sense, but particularly in science and engineering. There just wasn't anything really going on here, so we had to work at it. We always wanted kids to be exposed to that. If Lori and I have any kind of legacy, it would be doing as much of that as possible.

I have two kids: a daughter who is 27 and an intensive care nurse and a son who is 17 at Bend High School, where I graduated from. I'm very happy my son goes to my old high school. It's really cool. The best award I ever got in my whole life was the Distinguished Alumni Award at Bend High. Which means I'm on the wall and my son has to walk passed the poor schmuck every day (chuckles). That feels good.

What do like about Bend?

When I think about the history all the way through, what I like about Bend is that everyone here has always tried to do the right thing. I would differentiate it from other communities that way. It is still true now. With all the growth and all of that, the community leaders are always trying to figure out what the best thing to do is. I believe that to be true of the city leadership, the school leadership, the county leadership, and all of the people underneath them: sheriffs, chiefs of police, it's true of the hospital, it's true of the businesses. A very, very large fraction of all the businesses and business people and shops, everybody, is always trying to the right thing. There is very little taking advantage of each other going on here. Even with the growth.

Do you have a favorite memory from here?

My overall favorite memory of Bend is Mt. Bachelor in the winter. I've skied since 1965 at Bachelor. And in the summer it would be being in the mountains, climbing all the mountains you can see from Bend and more. And Elk Lake, sailing up there. Being in the local environment. Those are my favorite memories outside of family memories, which are, of course, almost always your very best ones. There is a particular memory or two: graduating from high school at Bend High, how that felt. Graduating from Oregon State University and how that felt. Having the honor to lead a company that has as good of people as Bend Research had in it - that's another memory that is really poignant. And my relationships. This is a town that is based on relationships - I sometimes wonder if I have too many. I have a lot of memories of great relationships all the way through.

What do you wish for the future?

I wish for my health and success for my family and my kids and my granddaughter. I also wish to pay Lori back for all her support by us having the time and the money to go do some things. Both here and all the places she'd like to travel - I actually prefer to stay here (laughs). I want to see Ian (my son) do well and he will - he's doing great. For the community, you know, this place has a soul. A lot of towns really don't. This place does. My wish for this community, as it grows, is that the soul continues. I'm pretty happy with that right now. I know the city people and the county people and all the school guys and all those people are all under a lot of pressure. They never have enough resources and they have to manage the growth. But, in fact, they really try to do that right. That's part of the soul of the place. I just hope that continues as new people come in. Most people do.

When I was in high school here no one had any money at all. You can tell that by going around and looking at the houses that are inside that boundary I told you about. All of them were the same. Nobody had any money. We didn't know we didn't have any money, you know? If we can keep the housing supply so that there are places for people to live and the prices of those are reasonable, then yeah, I think people can figure it out here. There aren't a lot of factories and mills and those kinds of jobs here, so it tends to be better for people with an education. But there is industry moving in. I'd like to see more of that. The non-professional type jobs tend to be tourism based and that's tough for people. I know the wages are going up because I hear that all the time when I talk with people that know what's going on in the community. There is competition for good people here. When someone would join us at Bend Research who would have a high performing, professional type spouse or a spouse with a particular trade, I would tell them that they would find something. It might take you a year, don't expect it in two months, but it will come. And now I think it takes less than that.

Do you have thoughts on Bend's growth?

This place will continue to grow - sometimes slower, sometimes faster. There is no reason to think it won't. There is plenty of water, despite what you hear sometimes. The issue here is the supply and demand. We are constrained between the BLM land to the east and the National Forest to the west. It's really important that the land use planning gets done right and in a timely manner, which is probably the biggest problem. If it's too slow you get pressure that tends to be not as high quality. It's gonna grow. The planning for growth has to be done right. The infrastructure needs to be put in and, therefore, everybody's got to pony up and pay for it. To that point, we do need a balance of people that come here and raise families and make a living wage, people who come in and out, but we also need the wealthier people because they help us pay for all this. The numbers help pay, the wealthier help pay. It costs money to grow. Everybody's got to pay for that. I think the balance is really important. The only other thing I would say is people who move here need to engage. What is somewhat destructive is people who just sort of have a bedroom here and don't really engage in the community. Some of that's fine. You have a responsibility, if you have space in a community, to do your part. Whatever that is.

Up until just recently I flew airplanes for a long time, for like 30 years. I was always flying my airplane into Bend. The thing about flying your own plane is you see out the front. So you really see what's going on. I watched Bend grow from the air over the last 30 years. If you just squint a little bit, Bend doesn't look any different now than it did 30 years ago from the air. Mountains are still there, the forests are still there, the BLM is still there. There's a long strip of developed, La Pine to Madras, land. If you sharpen your eyes and look, yeah, okay fine, it has grown, but it really doesn't look that much different. Especially if you travel east, like I did, for business and you watch the growth that goes on back there. Things like traffic - we don't have any traffic jams here even though we all say we do. The road to Bachelor can get crowded at 8:30 in the morning on Saturday, but in fact, compared to anywhere else... I don't think it's actually changed that much. If you know how to drive this place, you can drive across town anytime of the day and be just fine. You just have to know how to do it. I know the city is going to continue to work on the east/west access and all that. That's back to the planning. I still can go all day long in the mountains, all day, like 25 miles, and not run into one person. That was the case in 1970 when I started doing that and that is the case now in 2017, when I'm 60. It hasn't changed at all up there, not one bit. I get tired of that, actually. It's changed so much. It's ruined. It's just not true. We've got growth issues, but we'll be fine. The most important thing, is that people are working together to do the right thing. I really believe that is true here. And it's true to the extent where if you see somebody not doing that, it really stands out. They get kicked out of town. You know?

Jeffrey Murray

February 25, 2017

As I'm a frequent explorer of the streets of downtown Bend, I walk by Jeffrey's gallery on Minnesota Ave. nearly every single day. I met him simply because of my curiosity to see his work. He's a very kind man and graciously accepted my invitation to participate in this project. Make an effort to visit his gallery. If for some reason you can't, you can see his beautiful work at his website.

Who are you?

I'm Jeffrey Murray. I'm a photographer. I'm a husband. I'm a father. Pretty basic guy... there's not much too fancy about me (laughs).

Where do you come from?

I'm originally from the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, but since then, I've lived all over the place. In Arizona for a while. I lived in Seattle for a while. After that I basically lived on the road for five years straight: traveling the country, going to a new state, every National Park, every day waking up in a new place. That really got me doing photography the way I wanted to do it. I went to school at Northern Arizona University, got my degree from there. Worked for a couple publications out of there - some newspapers and some magazines. And then basically hit the road to photograph the country how I wanted to see it. Put in the time that it took to do it right.

What brought you to Bend?

Through traveling I found something everywhere I went that I liked. I found towns like Bend all across the country. Every state I went to I found something that was worth seeing, worth exploring, worth checking out. I'm from the West Coast, so I spent most of my childhood and younger years traveling the West Coast. I feel at home here - it's where my family is. And to be honest, the skiing brought me here. I'm a big skier. For my style of skiing, it doesn't get better than Mt. Bachelor. Being able to be up there in half an hour and being able to basically see my house from there is pretty nice.

How do you contribute to the community?

I do photography and I love every minute of it, but I treat it like a job. I go to work and I do my job. I take pictures and I do the gallery thing and I go home and I do my family. When I'm not at work, I don't think about work, and, well, when I am at work I do think about my family. I try to find that healthy separation to keep the photography from consuming my life and being my identity. It's basically a job that I take a lot of pride in and really enjoy.

Do you have a favorite memory from here?

I come from a family of five kids. There was one time, recently, (my brothers don't all live here) we were all up here and able to ski together. Me, my brothers Eric, Kyle, and Ryan, and, for lack of a better term, we can ski (smiles). I have a memory of this perfect powder day and we were doing laps literally from the minute they opened until the minute they closed just skiing as fast and hard as we could. Me and my three brothers in a line, going down the mountain, going up the mountain, going down the mountain. I remember skiing and looking and seeing two of my brothers in front of me as we bounced through the powder in the trees and one of my brothers behind me - I turned back and saw him and was a pretty nice moment to be out having one of the best ski days ever with my three brothers that I grew up skiing with but I hadn't skied with them all at once as adults. Being able to go up and spend the day on the mountain as a family. My parents were out skiing, too. But it was pretty fun being able to ski with my whole family.

How do you feel about Bend's growth?

A lot of people have reservations about where Bend is going. I'm not a born and bred, die-hard, keep Bend how it is type of person - I know that's an unpopular way of looking at things. I like Bend. I like towns with growth. Towns are always going to grow. I go to my hometown that I grew up in and it's the same thing as Bend - it's completely different now. I drive down the main street and everything looks different, there's new buildings, and there's tons of people, and there's traffic. It has all the different growth things that any town will have. I have seen a lot of towns growing similar to Bend. I don't see it as a bad thing. I like it. I like the way Bend is growing, that it's catering towards… good people are coming here. Good people are staying here. People love this town. A town can either grow or it can sit stagnant and eventually, sitting stagnant, it will start going down hill. I personally like the way Bend is going. I don't mind the growth. The summer times out here are so fun. The winter times are so fun. People love it. I think we all know why people love it. It's got basically everything you'd want in terms of weather, in terms of recreation, it terms of anything. I don't see any reason to necessarily fight that. Especially because I like the way Bend is growing. I'm not one to have any trouble with people coming in. We all came here at one point. Obviously some people were born and raised here, but everyone's come at some point and there's no point in stopping it. I know that's not a popular way of thinking...

What do you wish for the future?

I have a three-month old son right now so he's pretty much all I think about in terms of my future. I want to provide him the same situation that I was provided from my parents. I want him to grow up and be smart, be kind - all that stuff. I want him to grow up to be a respectable person that people look up to. I want you to one day be going and interviewing him because he did something that you wanted to see. I want him to be ambitious. Basically, right now, my future is one hundred percent getting him locked-in to being a good person. Because we've got enough of the bad people around. I don't want him to be one of them.

Oscar Gonzalez

February 21, 2017

A mutual friend recommended Oscar to me. I initially invited him to participate in this project over E-mail and then we later chatted in person to set up the interview. He took a little convincing as he was surprised at the idea and didn't think of himself as worthy. This project is intended to spread positivity and, as you'll read below, Oscar is working very hard to do his part. His deep care for his fellow Latinos is very obvious. He serves as the Empowerment Programs Manager at the Latino Community Association.

Who are you?

I am Oscar Jesus Gonzalez. And I am from Nuevo Leon, Mexico. When I was four years old I was brought over to South Chicago. My parents had were part of a huge contingent of Mexican steel workers that were brought over by US Steel and Bethlehem Steel back in the 40s and 50s. This is why South Chicago to this day is the second largest Mexican community behind Los Angeles. It was interesting to start of living in there - in the snow and cold. Unfortunately that didn't mix with little Oscarito and my parents courageously decided to move to the west coast. In the 60s we moved from place to place to avoid increasingly popular criminal activity and gang activity and they didn't wall me falling into the wrong ranks with other boys in the neighborhood. They found a small community just southeast of East L.A. called Cudahy. When we moved onto that block we were the second Mexican family on that block. This was 1966 - I was a second-grader. That was a tough transition, given that there were very few brown kids in the neighborhood. We were challenged. Sometimes we had to defend ourselves, myself and my sister. I had a best friend named Leo who could do no wrong. He was the best athlete, he was the fastest runner. He was voracious and bold and he was just a born leader. And I was his side-kick. I was a chubby guy, kind of uncoordinated, not as swift on my feet. But over time, that changed. We spent time on the baseball fields and basketball courts and later the football fields and that's what really kept us out of trouble.

Eventually the gang element took over. I was beginning to have some issues, so my parents felt compelled to rescue me and put me into St. Gertrude's Elementary School in the 6th grade. I protested, but it didn't matter. My parents had made up their minds. Looking back, it was the best damn thing they ever did for me. The nuns were very impactful and significant during my formative years - from 11 to 14 - as I transitioned into high school. I had become a pretty decent football player and happened to go to a parochial high school in Downing, California, that was part of the best high school football league in California and maybe the nation. I transferred to a different high school to play football with my best friend, Leo, who had become the quarterback of their high-ranking varsity team. I knew I wanted to go to university, but that high school didn't have the advanced placement classes that I needed. I ended up transferring back to my previous high school with the help of a teacher. I was able to go to a community college in the evenings and that was the first time I ever took a Chicano Studies class. That opened up my mind. I ended up going to Loyola Marymount University and my parents were so, so, so happy (laughs) that I decided to stay within the Catholic family and would be coming home just about every weekend.

I started taking more Chicano Studies classes and going to MEChA (Chicano Student Movement) meetings. They were politically charged at the time. There were a lot of things going on that I really wasn't aware of. But it really helped me to come to terms with who I was as an individual. Up until that point my whole life's focus was football, surfing, rock-n-roll, and girls, basically. At 19, being exposed to a different perspective of history, of psychology, of all the social sciences, just totally blew my mind wide open. I came to the realization that I hadn't been told the whole story. I ended up with a degree in International Political Economy with a minor in Chicano Studies with a vision to go on to law school.

After I graduated from Loyola, I ended up teaching and coaching at my old high school. At the end of that first year, I went to Monterrey to live with my relatives and I studied Spanish at the Universidad de Monterrey in Mexico. When I came back, I worked as a law clerk at a firm in Los Angeles. While doing that I met a woman who would become my wife. I was supposed to start law school that fall. We got pregnant and married three months into my first year of law school. Our first daughter was born as a six-month, premature two-pounder. She had to remain in the hospital for two and a half months. She's now very successful and is one of the top administrators for Teach for America in Manhattan. I'm very proud of all my three daughters. I took a leave of absence from law school because we got pregnant again. In the meantime, my sister had moved to Houston, and I helped her get through a serious case with Child Protective Services and the Department of Human Services. At the end of a year of working with her through that, her case manager asked me if had ever thought about working in Social Services because they were looking for bilingual investigators. This was in 1988. I was about 28 years old. It sounded like a good deal, not a lot of money, but a steady job for a young father. So that was my segue into Social Services. So it's going to be 30 years, which is incredible.

What brought you to Bend?

My wife and I ended up divorcing after 25 years of marriage. And, later, what brought me to Oregon was love. That was in 2011. An old high school sweetheart was living on the coast, so we reunited. But that only lasted about six months. We figured out early that we weren't teenagers anymore. One of my mentors in Eugene was quick to remind that a blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty got me to Oregon but I came here for a bigger purpose. I lived in Salem and Newport and Albany and eventually ended up in Eugene for a few years. I couldn't find steady, full-time work which made it difficult to lay down roots. A posting came out for a full-time position with the Latino Community Association here in Bend and when I read it I felt it pretty much mirrored my entire career of over 30 years in terms of what I had done as a counselor, as a teacher, as a program director, as an athletic director, as a coach. I was offered the position and came out to this side of the Cascades. The difference is like night and day. This has been so remarkably beautiful and different. The fact that the sun comes out almost daily, regardless as to how the day may start up or end up. I truly feel this has some sort of effect on people's persona and outlook and feelings. And I've become a huge craft beer fan. I didn't drink when I was a father, living in Texas. Coming out here, I've acquired or developed a taste for fine craft beer. I enjoy that and I enjoy music and I think Bend has a wonderful opportunity for those of us that indulge (laughs) in such activities. I feel comfortable and I feel very welcome wherever I go.

What do you like about Bend?

People are just really happy to live here. Despite the tough economy. Despite the depressed wages that still inflict central Oregon. I've heard of the term poverty with a view and I guess I'm there. I'm not where I was at when I was working in Houston for twenty plus years, making more than twice as much as I make now. But, you know, my life has changed since my daughters have all grown up and graduated from great colleges and universities. I'm very proud of that because of the fact that I am an immigrant. I'm a first generation American and navigated those tough waters and came out of it ahead. I only wish upon all Latino, Spanish-speaking, all immigrant families to realize their American dream. I personally believe that is still out there. It's hard to overcome those obstacles, but I don't think it's impossible.

I grew up in the city where we played on concrete. Grass was at a minimum. If we wanted water, we went to the riverbed. That's where we would ride our bikes and hang out. I talk to local kids about appreciating all the trees and the fact that there is mostly blue sky here. The beauty of it - the different terrain and the river running through the city. It's just majestic. I grew up under the freeways in L.A. We were in neighborhoods that people just drove over to get to Santa Monica or Hollywood or wherever they were going. They weren't necessarily going to our neighborhoods. Having said that, there are pockets of Bend that kind of remind me of parts of Houston or even parts of L.A. where the housing has been dilapidated. I don't know if it's a landlord issue or what. But a lot of our local latino families reside in trailer parks, living in squalor. It kind of troubles me. When so many folks are living in those congested conditions it breeds all kinds of other issues. This is kind of a microcosm of a bigger urban setting. I only wish that more of Bend would know that certain pockets of Bend still leave a lot to be desired in that respect. Overall, it's beautiful. It's wonderful. I'm always looking out and trying to have a voice for the underdog, for the folks that don't have much say-so or power or leverage. I'm trying to step up and be part of the solution.

What do you wish for the future?

I would like to see some sort of rent control imposed. Working class and, to a certain degree, middle class folks aren't able to afford to live in the community they grew up in. Let alone other folks coming in, like myself, for employment reasons or what have you are barely making it because rent is so prohibitively high. And beyond that, the occupancy rate is very, very low. It's a double-whammy. It's very competitive. I ran into it when I first moved here. I have been able to deal with it, but I look at some other families who may not speak English as well or may not have the proper documentation, and wonder how it is that they are able to navigate those troubled waters. I ponder about these things. Through our Community English Tutoring program, we are able to connect folks living in Bend to our Latino citizens to help them learn English or improve their computer skills or help them become citizens of the United States. That gives me a lot of hope. For the most part, our neighbors here in Bend are welcoming and are open to diversity and are tolerant and understand that with diversity comes newness and freshness. It makes all of us that much more interesting to each other.

When I was a kid, Latinos were about 10% of the population in California, but now we are the majority there. In my lifetime, everything has changed. And I foresee that happening here, too. I look forward to building community amongst all folks, regardless of your background, your culture, your language, or your religion. In this political climate, it is challenging. Our leaders in government are espousing ideas that aren't as embracing or tolerant as we all need to be. Many of our folks, as a result, are very afraid for themselves and their children of the possibility of being deported and having their family being torn apart. That's a horrific thing. There's nothing tougher. I hope it doesn't come to that, but we are preparing ourselves for the worst. We are always on the lookout to recruit other folks who are not Latinos, who are non-Spanish speakers, but have a concern and also want to be part of the solution and not just stand by and allow things to fester. These are folks who come in and ally with us and become our tutors and develop relationships with our clients and families. Initially it's a teacher-student relationship, but it evolves very quickly into a mentor relationship and blossoms into a true friendship. That's a really beautiful thing. I really believe that education, at the end of the day, is the key. I am troubled by the amount of kids who are leaving school before finishing. And by the fact that very few of our students are going directly to a four-year university. If they are lucky, they'll end up at a community college. And from there, I'm not sure how many are actually getting certificates or degrees. We are trying to make a difference here.

Teryce Kilby

February 20, 2017

I met Teryce early in my Bend days. I had failed to read a parking sign correctly and overstayed my 2-hour limit in one of downtown Bend's spots. I had a ticket on my windshield, but as it was my first offense, it was just a warning. I didn't understand what I had done wrong, so I approached the parking enforcement agent and asked her to explain it to me. She kindly did and I thanked her for the warning. I chat with her every time I see her now. She exudes joy and doesn't stop smiling. And she chuckles a lot.

Who are you?

My name is Teryce Kilby. Who am I (laughs)? I am a mother of three boys. A grandmother of four children. I'm single. I have a job. I love to work. I love to hike. I love my job. I do the parking enforcement downtown in Bend. And I spread joy and happiness (laughs). I've been doing that for nine years. I get to interact with all the people downtown and all the tourists and the customers. It's just really fun. I love to hike. I like to walk. So I'm walking all day long at work. And I walk on my weekends. I go hiking. I like to climb mountains.

What brought you to Bend?

I've lived in Bend my entire life. My parents are here and all my family, so here I am. I was actually born in West Virginia, but my dad was on a transfer because he worked for the Forest Service. He transferred there for a short time. We moved back here when I was a little over a year old. When I got older, when I moved out of the house, I thought that the grass was greener on the other side and had to go explore a little bit. I've never lived anywhere more than a year away from Bend. Until recently - I just bought a house in La Pine. I love the trees. I like pine trees and the mountains. I like being in the forest. I'm not much of a sage brush and juniper person. Although, I do have a new-found love for juniper trees. I had to grow that. They're like snowflakes, not everyone of them are the same (laughs). I have a different outlook on them now from my exploring and hiking and being outside a lot.

What do you like about Bend?

I like that everything that you could possibly do is just a short distance away. We've got the desert. We've got motorcycle riding. We've got race cars nearby. We've got the mountains. Skiing. Lakes. Snowmobiling. Boating. Fishing. Hunting. Hiking. I don't know, everything you could ask for. And if you like the beach, go to the beach - it's only a couple hours away. You know? Everything's here. The mountains are beautiful. It doesn't rain a lot. It's always blue sky… most of the time (laughs).

How do you contribute to the community?

I spread joy and happiness through the interactions that I have with the people during the day at work. Most of the people when they leave my side, they leave with a smile. Everybody's always asking me for directions, where things are, where to go, where to eat. You know... what to do. I can provide them with all that information because I've lived here my whole life. I can pretty much tell them where everything is. If not, I'll Google it for them (laughs). I like to give people a hard time, joke around with them and stuff. It's just fun making people smile. Yeah, I do have to give them a couple tickets along the way sometimes. Those people don't smile as much, but when I do give them the information they need, they usually say thank you. Nobody likes getting a parking ticket, but that's my job. The interaction is the best.

Do you have a favorite activity or memory from here?

I've done so many different hikes. I've hiked Three Fingered Jack. I've hiked Broken Top. I've hiked South Sister. I've hiked Gray Butte. I've hiked up Black Butte. All these different hikes. I think South Sister's a little overrated (laughs). Although the view was spectacular, the coming down was not. I think Broken Top is my favorite. Proxy Falls - those are beautiful waterfalls. Although the hike is not very long, the falls are beautiful. I don't know if I have a favorite. Everything is just so beautiful around here. Looney Beanis my favorite coffee shop in all of like ever. I don't think there has ever been a better coffee shop.

What do you wish for the future?

I wish for happiness. Everybody get along! I just hope everybody quits fighting. I don't like all the fighting and all the political stuff that's going on right now. I'm not into that at all. Acceptance. I think everybody could get along. Love and kindness will take over. I believe that. That's what everybody wants.

Do you have any thoughts regarding Bend's growth?

Bend is growing really fast because everybody wants to be here. Because it is a beautiful place to live. My concern is that those people that come here, they come here because people are friendly and they’re happy - I just hope they can continue that. Look at people in the eye when they walk by. Tell them hello. Don't ignore them and look down. That's what makes Bend beautiful.

Spring Olson

February 4, 2017

I met Spring as I was leaving Locavore after interviewing Megan. I could tell right away she was one of the go-getters. I asked her to pick a location that made sense for her. She thought up this greenhouse. Just perfect. While we chatted, snow kept sliding down the plastic walls as the sun slowly warmed the space.

Who are you?

I'm Spring Alaska Olson, born and raised in Valdez, Alaska. I moved to Bend from Breckenridge, Colorado. I spent about 10 years in Telluride and Breckenridge. Then I moved here in 2006. I have been well-seasoned in the natural resource management fields of agriculture and water quality. And over the last few years I’ve started a few small businesses. I'm a mother. I've got a little one who's 10. That's where my focus is - keeping us fed and happy and raising her to be a good leader and to be responsible.

What brought you to Bend?

Breckenridge exploded. It used to take 45 minutes to an hour and a half to get from Breckenridge to Denver and then it was three hours. And then it was four hours. And the traffic was just getting packed and the ski resorts were getting completely overrun and it was just time to go. I didn't really want to move back to Alaska because I was really enjoying taking the things I had learned in college there and then applying them down here. There aren’t the same opportunities up there like we have down here in the lower 48. So I didn't want to go home quite yet. Bend looked like a great place that would offer a similar fun lifestyle that I had been enjoying in the ski towns. Bend is a little bit bigger. Most of those towns have between a thousand and a few thousand people. It was just too busy in Breckenridge. There wasn't a lot to do there. Just full tourism.

I was in the science industry, and it being so seasonal, I could only do so much. I was building rivers all through my time in Colorado. You can only restructure or revegetate a river one time. I would do that in one town and then I would move. I restructured the Blue River in Breck and the San Miguel in Telluride and the Uncompahgre in Ridgway. It was not a place I could see myself staying for a long time because it's quite Disneyland-like and it's extremely costly. Bend was really quiet when we got here in 2006. It was a very sleepy town. I think the population has almost doubled since I've been here. Maybe. I don't know the complete population count at this point because I'm in denial, but I can feel it. I can feel the presence of a lot more people coming in.

What do you like about Bend?

I like Bend because it has all the aspects of what I was raised in and became accustomed to from living in ski towns. It's a big playground. You can bike, ski, fish, climb, swim. There are lakes everywhere. There are a ton of activities. We've got lots of breweries, lots of concerts. It feels like we're living in Colorado again, we're just not making the big drive to get there. There is a ton to do and it keeps getting better every day. For sure.

How do you contribute to the community?

I started the Central Oregon Seed Exchange, so I have a lot of networks with farmers. I saw there was a seed shortage in Deschutes County and there were literally no locally grown seeds available for sale (other than Round Butte Seed Company, but a lot of their seed is imported from Idaho and different regions). I have access to free seed - I started asking local farmers to donate their locally grown, cold-climate, organic seed. Then I set up a vector of transport at Central Oregon Locavore. We have a vintage seed fridge there from which we can give away and redistribute that seed. I myself am broke still and the economy is not doing so well, so the intent was to make sure the people who were struggling to eat healthy food weren't going to struggle to access it. I’ll give it away for free to enforce that old style of living where you grow your own food, you get the kids involved, you get them outside - off the iPad, off the phone that they're glued to 24 hours a day - and engaged with their community and family again. Giving them free seed was a cool project and a good option. I started teaching seed saving classes and pollinator classes. We give away a lot of seed to elementary schools. We work with Deschutes County with the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program and a variety of other nonprofit groups. We give away a lot of vegetable and flower seed.

I also volunteer as the chair of the Deschutes County Noxious Weeds Advisory Board. I've been on that board for eight years. I also volunteer with the Living on a Few Acres Farming Conference with Oregon State University. I help plan and design small classes for that. And I work with the Department of Agriculture Intertribal Agricultural Council - a Native advisory council to increase food sovereignty and solve food production issues for tribes. It's a national program. I also own Sakari Botanicals - another Native American business. I do a lot of farming and agricultural consulting. I assist land owners in Deschutes County on natural resource management issues - on how to basically start from scratch. If you buy a piece of property, you've got to work on soil quality, weeds, learn how to use water, implement energy efficiency, learn what to grow, what not to grow, how to manage your farm, and set up a business plan.

Do you have a favorite memory from here?

My favorite memory from here was a Fourth of July many years ago: I skinned up Mt. Bachelor and skied down. Then I went down to Phil's Trail and mountain biked, did a little loop. Then I went across the street to Dillon Falls on my kayak and scooted up the river a little bit and checked that out. The three-event day. This place is awesome. I just killed it! That's what's great about Bend - you can go skiing and then as you're headed down the Cascades Lake Highway you can pull over and fly fish. And then you can go to the brewery. And then you're done - wrap that whole rockstar day up. It was basically free. It took 10 years to accumulate a bunch of crappy gear to get to that point and I had to build a skill set, but yeah, it was a free experience. That was before it cost money to park on those public lands, so it really was free. Or I was cheating - one of the two.

What do you wish for the future?

I wish for people to communicate better. I've noticed that it's been very difficult to create change in this county. We have this big influx of young people in the farming and nonprofit industries and they are really go-getters. And then we're dealing with this old demographic of the bean counters, I call them. This is how it is. This is how it's going to be. I'm retiring so I don't care. I don't think they were ever change-makers. I'm noticing that communication is a huge barrier. The change isn't going to happen unless people communicate. We are working with two different concepts of change: one that doesn't want to and one that is happening. Megan from Locavore is a huge change-maker. We have a lot in common. We'll see a need for something and it's gonna get done. That's the end result. We're doing it. Oh, it's done now. So... next. I'd like to see people communicate better. Drop their guard a little bit, be open to more ideas, work together more, lose the fear factor, the ego needs to come down a little bit. That will actually bring the community together to get to the end of whatever your goal is. Whatever your intent is, just try to communicate better with people. It seems like poor communication holds a lot things up.

Megan French

January 29, 2017

I met Megan at Lone Pine Coffee as I'm becoming a regular there and she bags their coffee when she's not making things happen on the local food front. She told me about Locavore and, after looking into it, I asked her to participate in this project. She's dedicated to improving her community and obviously working hard to do so.

Who are you?

My name is Megan French. I'm an Oregonian. I've lived all over Oregon. I'm often described as a hippy, though I don't feel like that at all. The reason being called a hippy bothers me so much is because when I say I care about something, that makes me a hippy. I've been realizing this with the recent political jargon... why does it make me liberal to give a shit about people in general? Or about the environment? Why is it liberal for me to think that everybody has the same basic values...? I lived in Eugene, so I know what the hippies I think of are - on the porch, smoking pot every day, talking about what they're going to do and never doing it. I hope that I can diversify myself from that image and actually help make the community a better place.

I care a lot about a lot of things. I'm über sensitive - I think I tried to avoid that for a really long time, but now that I've embraced it, it makes things a lot less complicated. I've been going down this local food path. I think that's what really introduced me to who I am. It started off in Eugene. I got a scholarship to go to school there and thought I was going to be a journalist. While I was getting that degree I was doing a bunch of other things that were completely unrelated. The first thing I did when I got there was look for green space on campus because I'm not very good at being around a lot of people. I found the urban farm there.

I grew up in Marion where everybody had acreage. We'd go across the street and pick beans and can them and that kind of stuff. Finding the farm took me back to that and got me started on my path. Then I was volunteering for non-profits over there. And working in every urban garden I could find. I ran a bakery for four years. Got out of school with that journalism degree that didn't really mean much. I keep trying to making it mean something, but it doesn't. (Laughs) I lived in Bend from middle school through high school. When I came back here from Eugene it was a way different place with way more opportunity. A lot more farms, a lot more... I hate to use the word culture, but people cared about a lot more things. Still going down that path with local food, which introduced me to environmental consciousness and led to my meeting all sorts of like-minded people in town.

What brought you to Bend?

I was born here and soon moved to Marion. My family moved to Colorado for a couple of years and came back to Bend because my aunt and my grandma both became ill. I did most of my growing up here - from 11 to 18. When I moved to Eugene it was nice to get out of town because it was getting kind of sad here. It was when the bubble popped and my dad was a contractor and we had the highest levels of unemployment in Oregon and that kind of thing. I was actually super nervous to come back - I had been in Eugene for almost eight years. I didn't know if I could come back to Bend. There used to be bar fights and you couldn't go out without something rowdy happening. The last couple times I came back, there was stuff popping up and I realized the air smells right. I don't know if that makes sense, but it smells like home. The burnt sage and you can tell it's going to be hot when it smells sweet outside. It feels like home, so I decided to try it out. It was funny because I knew all the roads in town, but I didn't know what was on them anymore. It felt like home, but it was way different than I remembered, which is probably a good thing. A lot more energy and a lot less sadness. A lot more motivation and entrepreneurship and that sort of thing, so it's been a really cool experience being back. I've been back just a couple of years, but it's crazy. It's so different. I don't see of the same people I used to see. It's all new faces. Every friend I have is somebody I met as an adult.

How do you contribute to the community?

Food is the center point of everything I care about. It has to do with the environment, quality, sustainability, community - breaking bread is the best thing you can do to meet new people - supporting a local economy. It's all about community building and creating the most healthy community that you can. Food is the epicenter of that. If we could change the way people think about food, then maybe they can start thinking about all these other things that are sort of revolving around it. My main goal is to make it so local food is accessible to people. It's still kind of seen as a little bit of a bougie thing and something you can't afford if you're under a certain pay level. I've been doing it since college. I don't know if that means putting a different value on food. I just try to take every case and make it work for them. One of my projects recently was the Fill Your Pantry event - a bulk-buying pop-up farmers' market. People get way better prices, they're able to eat that local food all winter long by buying a 40lb bag of onions or a 20lb bag of carrots. Trying to create things that are for people like me and changing the idea around it. That's why I was attracted to Locavore because there are so many different facets of it. The dinners - bringing people together, introducing the chefs to the farmers - trying to create that synergy. The food school classes - introducing people to new ways of eating or thinking about food or slowing down or trying to incorporate local food into their busy lifestyle. I enjoy the farmer programs that we have like Willing Workers on Local Farms - getting people who want to get their hands in the soil with people who need those extra hands for a few hours. My favorite part of this whole process has been taking people on an individual basis and trying to figure out what can work best for them.

Meeting all the farmers in the area, finding out why they do it, trying to make something that works for everybody. I found that here, at least, there's competition but it's seems like most of the farmers want to work together. They realize that no matter how much feed we can grow, it's going to get sold if we can further the movement. A lot of the farmers here are about community. They're not trying to fight against each other. The biggest battle is competing against Whole Foods or Safeway or others - not each other. So growing that local economy and community is what I like to do here.

Do you have a favorite memory from here? Or a favorite activity?

When I need a moment to myself I like going out to Meadow Camp and getting on the River Trail and taking my dog out there. There will be people there, but it still seems to say fairly quiet and people seem fairly contemplative when they're out there. I try to walk the Dillon Falls trail system completely once a year or so. I do archery and rifle hunting. That is my favorite time of year here. Really, archery hunting is endless side-hilling and beautiful sunrises. I haven't gotten anything yet, so (laughs) basically that's the point of going out. There are lots of beautiful places. I love the Ochocos. That's still a hidden gem. Everybody's up at Cascade Lakes partying and I go out that way and can be by myself and still see animals. It's really beautiful out there.

What do you wish for the future?

I'm always dreaming. I don't think I've ever been bored in my life. There are always a million things to do or think about. I like the direction that Bend is going. It excites me. When I go to things like the Rubbish Renewed Fashion Show and see how well it's doing and how many people are attending, when I go to the Green Drinks events at the Environmental Center, it's really fun to see so many people gathering just because they enjoy sustainability. My hope and dream is that we continue on this same trajectory.

At some point we might not be able to rely on tourists, so making sure to have locals frequent other local businesses should be a priority. I hate bringing this up, but especially with these recent political times, we need to put our money where our mouth is or vote with our dollar. Knowing that it might cost you a little bit more, but in the end, you are keeping your neighbors in businesses and keeping them happy. I think that is worth more money. Putting more value on things is really important. If people saw my food budget, they'd probably think it was absurd. It's really important to me. I live simply so that I can support those things. I like our trajectory and I think we need to continue to support our neighbors and not waiver from that because it's going to be more important in these next few years than it ever has.

Nick Nelson

January 28, 2017

I met Nick through his brother, Ebb. In an early conversation with Ebb, it became obvious that it was solely due to Nick's living here that he came to move here. Nick is soft-spoken and kind and currently going through some significant life changes, which are obviously weighing heavily on his heart.

Who are you?

I'm Nick. I'm a father of a 15-year old amazing son. Yeah… I’m the dude number two. (Laughs)

What brought you to Bend?

I was born in Santa Monica and lived there until I was eight or nine. Then my mom moved us to Salem, Oregon. I grew up there. I went to middle school and high school and lived there for a long time. 20 years or something, lived in the rain and the depressed weather.

My wife's mom lived here and said how amazing it was and how there were 300 days of sun - I'm definitely a sun guy. At the time, I was going through an addiction problem and my wife and I thought it might be good to just pack up and move and start fresh. So, we did. Her aunt had a place outside of Sisters with a little 5th-wheel camper and we stayed in there for like a month until we found something. My wife’s grandma had given us some money to find a place. At that time in Bend (6 or 7 years ago), the market was really good. We found this cheap mobile home and paid cash for it and moved in and just fell in love with this place.

What do you like about Bend?

I fell in love with the people, the weather - minus the snow thing right now. I'm not really a snow guy, but I can deal with it. The people… everyone is so nice. And the sun and the mountains. My son and I like to go adventuring. And there's a million places to go.

How do you contribute to the community?

I love helping people and giving. If I see someone that needs help, I'll help 'em. I guess I feel like that's my way of helping the community out. My wife got mad about it because I was helping so many people. Especially with the snow, you know? People are stuck, people are walking, I'm going to help them if I can. If I see something, I'm going to help. When it was really coming down outside and it was 5 degrees, a guy was walking, and I just pulled over and asked if he wanted a ride and I gave him a ride. Helped an old lady get out of a ditch. Helped clean off roofs for old ladies. (Laughs) Seems like all old ladies…

Do you have a favorite memory from here?

My brother used to live with us, my wife kicked him out and there were a couple years there where I didn't see him. And he lived like two miles away. My favorite memory right now is our breakfasts at Sidelines. It's silly, but it's just that knowing I have him. He's still here for me... after what all happened. And my favorite place with my son is the Twin Lakes - the North Twin. We go there in the summer and swim across the lake. It's a beautiful place. We love to swim.

What do you wish for the future?

I've got dreams to leave this place. I want to go adventure some more. I want to go to Idaho - I've got a friend who wants to buy some property out there and says how beautiful it is. Right now, I consider Bend home base. I'll always come back here. It's so amazing. I don't know if that's just because I got clean at one point here and fell in love and found myself. Found out how capable I am and what I can do with my hands and my brain. I have dreams. I want to go get lost in the middle of the forest. Get lost for a while and just survive.

I hate money, man. I'm so over the whole thing. My brother and I are good together. We are meant to do something, I just don't know what that something is yet. If it brings money in, cool. As long as I've got a warm bed and a little space, I'm fine.

Ebb Nelson

January 27, 2017

I met Ebb very early in my time here in Bend as we both frequent Lone Pine Coffee Roasters. His laugh is rapturous and his spirit warm and friendly. He is one of the first people I talked with about this project and became an early champion. He shared his story with me, which was so moving I thought he should be the project debut.

Who are you?

My name is Ebb Nelson. I'm a dude, (laughs) living in Bend. I was born in Los Angeles. I wouldn't say I'm necessarily just from Los Angeles. I moved around a lot as a kid, so it's hard for me to say I'm just from one place. Mostly I'm from Los Angeles.

What brought you to Bend?

I'm from a family that’s… quite interesting. I have a father who, what's the best way to put it? I like to tell people that he's a prolific sperm donor. And that he doesn't like doing that in one specific place. Over his existence he sired eight children and I'm in the middle of that bunch.

Growing up, I always knew I had brothers and sisters and once I got to be ten, eleven, twelve, I started meeting them. As time went on I felt that one of the things I wanted to do with my life was meet all of my brothers and sisters. I wasn't sure if I'd like them or that we would get along. Just thought, well, if I'm related to them it would be nice to meet them.

In 2008, when shit hit the fan and the economy took a crap, I was working for a company that went under and lost my job about a year later. So I decided to tool around and see what was going on. I offered to help another brother of mine who was going through a hard time. He lived in Boston, so I did a cross-country drive from LA to Boston.

At this point, I had met five of my brothers and sisters and had been talking with my Nelson family who are mostly from Minnesota, where my father is from. I arranged a meeting with them, so after about a month of traveling, I got to Minnesota and they had a party at my brother's house that had eight aunts and uncles, 30 first cousins, a sister I'd never met, a brother I'd never met - this whole houseful of people that were intimately related to me. They all knew me but I didn't know them. It was really weird, but really cool. I got to know everybody there and then I moved to Boston.

After six months, I was driving my car back and decided to stop back in Minnesota to hang out with my one of my cousins who I'd really connected with. We were chatting and started talking about how there was only one brother left who I hadn’t met. This was Nick. And nobody had been able to get in touch with him for years.

So I called my mom that night and I was telling her what was going on. She had met the family, of course, because she was married to my dad. I told her about Nick and not being able to find him. She said she would try to find him. I laughed it off because this entire other side of the family had come up with nothing after searching for so long, but 10 minutes later, she called and gave me his address and phone number. She was really into genealogy at the time and was on one of those sites with family trees and stuff and went to that program and it happened that Nick's wife had put up one on there as well.

I called Nick and he was shocked, but we chatted for a bit and made a plan to meet in Salem, Oregon, where he was living. Within like 15 minutes of us meeting it was like we knew that we had this weird connection. I was planning to just meet him and roll out that day, but I ended up staying with him for a week.

I visited a couple of times and Nick visited me in Los Angeles. Then Nick moved to Bend some years after that. I visited Bend a few times and had made plans to move here, but I was engaged to be married and things got in the way. A couple of years later, after the engagement fell apart, it seemed like moving to Bend was meant to be. So I moved here to get to know Nick and his family better and just to try a whole new existence. Why not? For some people that may have been a big jump and a crazy thing to do, but for me it wasn't necessarily that crazy because I had been doing that my whole life. But I really wanted to explore my love for my brother because we are very similar. We are very different people but at the same time I think our spirit is just connected in the strangest, most wonderful way. That's how I ended up here.

What do you like about Bend?

I've been in Bend for three and a half years now. I love it. Obviously it's a lot different from Los Angeles. It's a lot smaller. Most people think it's so beautiful here - the mountains, the trees, the desert, and all the wonderful things you can do outside. I'm not really an outside person so to speak. I've never been skiing, never been snowboarding, I don't know what a mountain bike looks like. (Laughs) For me, the lack of people, the lack of traffic, the fact that I'm not sitting in my car for 35% of my life which is pretty much your life in LA. You've got to love your car, because it is your second home. The fact that I can get anywhere I want just by walking, just by absorbing life without having to look through a windshield to do it is pretty awesome.

The people here are really generous. I've strangely met so many wonderful people here that I never thought I would. There are a lot of different artists here that do art that I've never even thought of. I have a friend who makes onesies for a living. I have all these friends that make jewelry. I've never had friends like that before. Most of my friends were into making movies - I was in the entertainment industry. They were artists, but you would have to be part of that community to find them and here I just kind of run into them.

It seems like everybody doesn't have just one thing - they have to have multiple things here because you can't live off the one thing here. It's a difficult place to work and be able to thrive. I've definitely seen that. Poverty with a view. Rent is getting so expensive that the people who are impoverished have to go to Redmond or other towns a little further away from Bend. But it is beautiful and just relaxing. That's what I enjoy about it.

Currently the job that I have, managing the Tin Pan Theater, is not something I thought I would be able to ever do. It had been a dream of mine some years ago to own my own theater. Make it a multi-entertainment space for live music and poetry and book-readings and have a bar and a stage and a theater. This place is not that but you can make it that. To be gifted this job...

I sit at the coffee shop, I'm a regular next door at Lone Pine Coffee Roasters. My best friend had introduced me to it about six or seven months into my living here and we became regulars there. We play Go, drink coffee, hang out, and then if you are there every day for a year, you are going to get to know a lot of people. You know? I eventually got to know the owners of the theater because they are right next door. One day I was sitting, drinking coffee, and the owner, comes up to me and asks if I would be interested in managing the movie theater. I was thinking to myself that this guy doesn't know me but I'm the perfect person for the job. I worked at Disney Land for 10 years, I was in the entertainment industry, I was a projectionist. It was shocking and I agreed to it. They don't remember it, but two years before that I had come in to see the theater because I had heard it was really cool and asked if they took volunteers and offered to work for free. They turned it down. (Laughs) Other than my brother and the relationships that I've made, this job keeps me here because it's a dream job. It's a job that I never thought I could ever get without having to fight a bunch of other people to get it and there it was, just offered to me on a silver platter. Bend has treated me well, for sure. And I'm lucky to be here.

What's your favorite memory from here?

For two years of my living here, I lived in a house with a couple other guys. We got along quite quickly. The owner of the house hadn't done anything to the house, it was mostly empty. And dirty. It was a blank slate of nothingness. He told my roommate and me to feel free to fill the house. We cleaned it and over the next year or so filled it full of art and furniture and lights and we turned the living room into a dance floor. And for a year we had dance parties three times a week. Because I was working at the Humane Society thrift store at the time, I had this incredible access to just crazy weird clothes. The weirdest clothes you could ever think of. I was never a crazy clothes guy. In LA, shorts and t-shirts and flip flops. That's all I ever wore. I never thought about wanting to wear costumes. Ever. Suddenly I have a huge closet full of costumes, just burgeoning everywhere. And we'd have these dance parties and people could only come if they allowed me to dress them in of these costumes. My favorite memory is dancing on that dance floor. Wearing ridiculous, fabulous outfits. I love moo-moos. Moo-moos are great to dance in! They billow really well when you spin. (Laughs) I knew I liked dancing but I never knew how much joy it gave me. Letting go, not having to worry about what people think. Just do what you want and be who you are. That feeling that I had was the same feeling that the other guys I lived with had. We three guys just wanted to exude this feeling of just being yourself. There was no judgment upon you. People that came to our house felt that, too. They wanted to come because they wanted to feel free. My favorite memory from there is being able to help foster a feeling for people to come to a place to just be. I miss it.

What do you wish for the future?

I'm not sure if I have any future dreams. I've had future dreams earlier in my life. My life has been such that every dream that I've had has been shattered. Been taken away from me. I don't have this giant, hopeful purpose for something any more. I'll want a certain thing and I'll definitely strive for it, but I don't put so much into it that, eventually, if it doesn't work out I don't know what to do with the rest of my life. I am more of a practical individual at this point. My hope for my continued existence here in Bend is to help Tin Pan Theater become more than it already is. To make it a community space. Bring in things other than movies so that people can come enjoy the space. Doing that and learning how to run my own business. I would like to know practically how that works. My hopes are to learn the practicalities of life so that I can once again learn to dream and make those dreams come true. I have a lot of different interests and do a lot of art. It's hard to choose one thing especially if you've done so many things and are good at those things. I can't choose. I'm trying to figure out how to blend all these things into something that will bring other people happiness, bring myself happiness, and financial stability, which is important. I'm trying to learn to be a practical individual at this point in my life. That's my dream.