It’s not easy to describe how it felt when California passed Proposition 8 – banning same-sex marriages – last week. The same happened in Oregon four years ago. We search for words to express how it feels to know that secretly (and openly) 52% of people hate us. We rage and we cry and we [...]

Mine is a pretty cynical generation. Most of us in our 30s have spent the majority of our lives in a recession, in a war over oil, facing climate change, and enduring political parties that fail to inspire much less to lead us to a better tomorrow. We’ve lacked hope that things will get better, [...]

Whatever you do today, wherever you are, get out there and vote! If you’re in a vote-by-mail state like me, then go hand in your ballot if you haven’t already. This is it, folks, this is your single chance to express your most precious right as an American. I don’t care what your politics are, [...]

Put aside ideas of “real Americans” and “pro-American” parts of the country and the divisive rhetoric from both political parties. Look around you. Take in what you see, and realize that we can’t become a better city, state, or nation without each other — in spite of our differences.
This is the change we need.
(Thanks to [...]

I sent this email to the Obama/Biden campaign earlier today after reading Obama’s stance on Proposition 8 in California, same-sex marriage, and his Faith & Family tour.

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Dear Obama/Biden Campaign,
I’ve been a big fan of the whole “change” campaign since the beginning, and feel like Obama can offer the nation some hope in the face of [...]

Maybe it’s that I’ve played team sports since I was 5, but I love me a team. Not watching teams, but being part of one. I love the cameraderie, the friendly competition, the way the whole transcends the sum of its parts to become something new, better, more awesome. Nothing brings this home for me [...]

When I was in the first grade, I was a Brownie. I remember two things clearly about that time: Brownie Camp and selling Girl Scout cookies. My grandparents were in town during cookie season that year and purchased an entire suitcase full of cookies! Cut to 25 years later when OakTree Digital asked me to [...]

When I decided I wanted to be a designer, I was going out on a limb. The year was 1997, and I’d just completed my bachelor’s degree in English, had no design experience, and had only created one (very hideous) web site. Back then, Amazon.com was still in its infancy and I wasn’t even sure [...]

Portland is a small small town in some ways. Working in the interactive industry only seems to exaggerate the smallness, since everyone has worked with everyone somewhere along the line. If I had a nickel for every time I met a prospective client who turned out to be best friends with a friend, friends with [...]

Sometimes, I learn about teamwork and collaboration in the least likely places. In the two years that I’ve been a volunteer dog walker at the Oregon Humane Society, I’ve walked with four different teams and had varying experiences on each.
The dog walking schedule is broken down into morning and evening “teams” that work on getting [...]