———————– ** Fresh Green Beans ** ———————– Grown in Kansas. Eaten Worldwide.

(edited from a previous version)

I live in Culver City, CA with my wife, Rebecca and our rescue mutt, Luke.

I was raised on Long Island until I was almost 13. My dad worked in radio. Having a dad who worked in the music business and having parents who both listened to music throughout my childhood, I was bred to be a music geek.

We moved to Winston-Salem, NC when I was 13. I attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I majored in Journalism and Mass Communication. After graduation, I left for the Big Apple to pursue a career in the music business. NYC did not agree with me, so I headed to LA.

I spent most of my career at Nettwerk Records as their west coast sales rep and then head of sales. I had a good time, but in the end, it wasn’t very fulfilling. I left the music business in April 2001. I had no idea what I wanted to do next.

In 2002 I started working for an ad agency as an account executive. I remained there for the next 3 1/2 years. It was a job. Passion had nothing to do with it. But, being who I am, I learned that I had to be passionate about my work.

I have always considered myself to be concerned about the environment. But I was pretty casual about it and I really didn’t own my impact on the earth.

Recently, I’ve come to realize that I am passionate about the environment. It has been a pleasure to make simple changes to my diet, to my light bulbs, to my shower heads, to my grocery bags, etc. This newly discovered passion, which is far deeper than my desire to work in the music business ever was, has driven me to keep moving further.

Rebecca and I plan to open a store that sells environmentally friendly clothing and accessories.

I thank Simran for inviting me to join, but I also thank the other authors for letting me participate.

By the way, Rebecca is from Kansas. In fact, she’s a Jayhawk. We were married on the campus of KU (in a small chapel) in April of 2004. Our reception was at Liberty Hall. I have enjoyed many a brew at Freestate. I cheer for Kansas whenever they’re not playing Carolina.

- David Shaw

Turns out that no matter how you slice it, or in on which language, my personality is measurably ambiguous. Concretely abstract.

I recently completed a personality test for my Spanish class and, like all personality tests before it– Myers Briggs to University Career Center-administered– it showed me to be smack in the middle of nearly all of the opposing characteristics.

I shared my results with my sister and she confided that she had a similarly defunct personality. Our middleness may suggest a rounded, balanced personality. However, after going through some of the catagories (categorías, en realidad), we concluded that it’s more the case that we’ve mastered the worst of both worlds.

We’re optimists, too.

One example–impulsiveness. I’m a bad decision-maker. I spend fifteen minutes picking out laundry detergent at Wal-Mart. And face-wash. And salsa. Yet conversely, every major trip I’ve taken has been an impulsive decision, made in less than thirty seconds.

My bogus personality might also account for my pan-situational sense of belongingness and alienation.

It’s really easy for me to get overwhelmed. When I “multitask” it’s more that I’m trying to do one thing and get distracted. Like when I sign on to make an “About Me” post and get an e-mail reminder about my Spanish homework and end up telling about myself from the inside out. Have I even mentioned where I live yet?

I’m from Overland Park, Kansas, and I think KU was the best mistake I ever made. I had big plans to move away for college, force myself out of my comfort zone and become independent (because it’s that easy). I chickened out– no, I visited my “dream school” in California, was really disappointed in the lack of creative energy on campus, and came to my safe choice, KU. How lucky I am to live so close to such a wonderful university. KU is my little land of opportunity, I’ve been really inspired by the people I’ve met (truly, each of you included), and I feel like this is a good step toward my independence. As far as my plan to get out of Kansas, I’m planning to live in Mexico for six weeks this summer then move away after undergrad. Maybe I’ll move back eventually. Kansas is fantastic, but the world’s far too big to plant your roots at birth. Or ever, I suppose.

Thanks for reading my meandering About Me. Maybe it lacks focus, but so do I. I’ll leave it as is and call it appropriate.
-Sonya English

I do not own an iPod. I do not use my cell phone to do anything but make phone calls. I have never owned a game system more advanced than the original Nintendo. And when I get home at the end of the day, the last thing I want to do sit down in front of a computer. Obviously the blogosphere is a whole new world for me.

This may have something to do with my upbringing. At last check, my hometown was still home to about 216 people. Although we weren’t in the sticks, we didn’t have cable television until I was in middle school (and even then, we didn’t get MTV). Instead we spent a lot of time outdoors - exploring the creek that ran through our backyard, riding our bikes out to our uncle’s farm, walking downtown to buy candy at the general store, and fishing on the Wolf River.

Those experiences certainly influenced my education and career path. Although I had planned on going to medical school from age 6, I learned in my first year at KU that I was more interested in how humans were impacting the planet than what was happening inside the human body. So I got my degree in Environmental Studies, and took my first job with Kansas StreamLink.

It was tough to beat splashing through Kansas creeks, catching critters and teaching kids about water quality, but after a few years I had the opportunity to come work for my alma mater. In my first job at KU I managed the Environmental Stewardship Program, working to increase recycling opportunities on campus and helping develop the ideas behind the Center for Sustainability. I am now Director of that Center, and plan on sticking around as long as they will keep me here. It’s pretty much my dream job.

Despite the lack of technology in my life, I do have a fairly extensive collection of CDs. Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Guster, Josh Ritter, and The Flaming Lips are among my favorites. When I get home at the end of the day, I prefer spending time with my wife (we met in the scholarship halls at KU), going to KU basketball games, and tromping through the trees behind the house with our dog Willa.

I did enjoy sitting down in front of a monitor recently to see sonogram images of our first baby girl (due in June). Of course, now I have a whole new set of environmental concerns to worry about - BPA in bottles, phthalates in baby lotion, and an ever growing ecological footprint. Who knows, maybe I’ll find time between changing diapers to blog about it.

- Jeff

In recent news, I convinced my mom to let me do the grocery shopping for my family so she could see how easy it is to buy better food without going to a “hippie” store like the Merc. We strutted in to Dillon’s together - OK, I pretty much dragged her in - and we picked out the local Iwig milk in the refillable glass bottles, the free range eggs, the organic potatoes and peppers - you get the drift. I even managed to fanagle her into buying reusable grocery bags to bring everything home in - she’s a plastic bag addict. I returned to Lawrence feeling pretty darned proud of myself, making a difference in my family’s life once and for all. You can imagine my shock when I returned home a week later to find a new carton of Roberts rBGH-ridden milk staring back out me from the top shelf of the refrigerator, rotted green peppers that never got cooked and - to really top it all off - the reusable grocery bags sitting in the garage with the rest of the recycling full of Dillon’s plastic bags. O, the irony.

Less recently, I was one of those precocious little kids who ran too fast, talked too much, and was always willing to argue. I was the weird kid in class who refused to let my mom get me ready in the morning and showed up in the hot pink stretchy pants - you know, with the elastic stirrup that went around your heels - and a bright red Power Rangers T-shirt, my hair pulled into two uncombed, lop-sided pigtails. (I was also the kid at the babysitters who didn’t understand why the boys could play in the sprinkler without their shirt on but I had to put mine back on.)

I suppose I’ve calmed down a bit, but not much, and try an stay involved with local food issues, fair trade, gardening, farming, cooking - OK, I love food and I love talking about it even more, but you’ll all find that out soon enough if you haven’t already. I hope to graduate within the next two years, but I keep adding degrees to my To Do list. I work at the Merc as a class host, cooking with chefs and going into the community to teach junior high schoolers why getting ketchup and pickles on your hamburger at lunch doesn ot technically count as eating vegetables. I also work on an organic farm, Hoyland Farms, with the Lominska family a few miles north of town. I would love love love to go to Grad school at UC Berkley and have Michael Pollan as a professor, so if anyone has a few thousand dollars and nothing to do with it, you know where to find me.

Other than the facts that I like to dance, I sing loudly and offkey (a dangerous combo), and watch movies instead of doing my homework, I can’t think of much more to say-I think I’ve already said too much.

–Jennifer

Ford Foundation international scholar, acquainting myself with some Kansas idiosyncrasies:

“Where you at?”

Always cracks me up. Oh, and the not so small matter of seeking to add value to my background through pursuit of a Master’s. Actually, am striving for lots more - a utopia that’s proven somewhat elusive. I thought I found it in a forest in the Czech Republic and later, a stone’s throw from Dracula’s castle in Transylvania, Romania but post Communist hangovers led to some unpleasant experiences so that idealistic notion was jettisoned.

My interest in the environment leans more towards an appreciation of conservation efforts to protect endangered flora and fauna, and so when rainforests are threatened by loggers and rhino populations by poachers, my instinct is to do what VP Cheney did to Harry Whittington, except my actions won’t be accidental. I just have to get over my dislike for guns. Talking of dislikes, I could add capital punishment, wars, extraordinary rendition, savory with sweet, soapies and sitcoms, toilet rolls that peel from the top down, bathroom cubicles that start six inches from the floor, fascists, AIDS denialists, corrupt dictators, cold coffee, being broke, umpteen uses of the word “like” in conversation, fat cat politicos riding the gravy train, Guantanamo Bay, predictable flicks, dentists and … men scratching in public.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not that finicky, and I am discreet about picking my nose. Eeeeeeewwwhhh, I can almost hear some of you say, but are there any among us who dispense with etiquette from time to time? Don’t flood my comment’s box yet with replies. Let’s talk about it over lunch, if that sounds a more palatable prospect. OK, enough of this waffling, I’m supposed to talk about myself. For kicks, I play soccer, but the cold spell has put paid to that. I compensate by pounding the treadmill with ill-fitting Saucony’s and for my exertions, I’ve lost a few toenails. I also cycle a lot, but the pitiful state of my bike is like my feet. The front wheel is wobbly and looks like it wants to fall off at the slightest effort, and it just doesn’t do a good job even aspiring to climb the smallest hill. It was given to me by a friend, so it’s treasured, but the time may yet arrive when sentiment might give way to common sense. I’ve tried teaching myself to play the didgeridoo, but my frustration at mastering the art of circular breathing has put paid to being in a band, which in turn means I’ll never have any groupies.

Well, I could ramble on, but I don’t want to sound facetious. I ought to know my limitations. Still, it’s insightful reading all the postings and hearing the wonderful personal snippets of information from classmates. And I thought you were all just a bunch of carrot-chomping hippies in disguise.

Am just messin’ of course. It’s a honor being around so many bright and creative minds and that is an education in itself.

-Denzyl

I’m a 21-year-old journalism student with reporting emphasis. This is my third year at KU and living in the U.S. I spent most of my life in Tokyo. Many people associate Tokyo with skyscrapers, overpopulation and Lost in Translation. But it’s a beautiful city, too, which has many parks, shrines and temples. Especially cherry blossoms in spring are very pretty!

I have also lived in Shanghai, China for three years because of my father’s job. It was an eye-opening experience in my life. At first, I found rejection to the different culture and shut myself in a small Japanese community. After a year or two, I realized I was missing out something important and decided to transfer to Chinese school. (technically international school but everybody spoke Chinese there) My Chinese level was like a five-year-old kid. I had a hard time communicating with people and lost 20 pounds from stress. Eventually I learned to speak some Chinese, got lifelong friends and learned to assimilate myself into a different environment.

Why I’m studying in an American college? Usually I just answer to study English or journalism. Well, there’s more than that. I wanted to see lives, values and decisions of ordinal Americans. When I was in Japan, I saw the U.S. through politics, economy and popular cultures. I had a mixed feeling toward America. I admired American pop culture and wealth. At the same time, I felt frustration and even anger at how America tried to reign over the world economy and politics, demonstrate its own justice and start war. My stereotypes about Americans were patriotic, aggressive, self-assertive, arrogant and ignorant. America’s influence over the world is huge after all. I wanted to see the country from inside. Now, I learned America, which I saw in the media, is not everything. I’ve met great people and learned values and wisdom which Japan could learn. From my experience of living in the three countries, I found some universal values. Things like meeting all of you who’re enthusiastic about the environment keep me update my view of America.

I’m interested in the environment partly from social-justice. But more than anything, it’s exciting. I feel thrilled at new technology, inventions and products that satisfy both environmentalists and businesses. If I were good at science, I’d be an architect and design green buildings.

I’m so happy to have chosen a journalism major. I still struggle with writing in English and meeting at deadlines. But I love to learn about new things, inform people and fill gaps between different cultures and values. Hopefully, I’ll be a foreign correspondent and get to travel around the world. 

Sachiko Miyakawa

(that’s me at the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv, Israel last January)

I come from a northwest suburb of Chicago (Buffalo Grove) of about 40,000 people. My graduating class in high school had over 1,000 people. Let’s just say there was never a dull moment. I am the daughter of a Rabbi (which I try to tell myself doesn’t mean anything…but it really does.) My father’s congregation has almost 1000 families (so our family motto is “You can run…but you can’t hide.”) If anyone likes bad television like myself and has seen the show 7th Heaven (which is no longer on TV, but has re-runs on ABC family)…that is my life in a nutshell (except for the fact that we don’t have random homeless, abandoned, or run-away people living in our house). Having my father be a local celeb, life has certainly been made for the public eye (which during my early teenage years I had to learn the hard way.)

I came to KU because I did not get into my top 2 schools (let’s just say KU was my safety.) It ended up being one of the best decisions I have ever made. I wanted to get away from home to start a new life. If anything, I have realized what is important. In the end, being Jewish has been apart of my everyday life and apart of everything that I believe. Being Jewish is how I got interested in the environment. The whole ‘environmenalist’ thing is still very new to me, and that is why I am taking this class. To learn and to be inspired. I am a junior majoring in Psychology with a minor in Judaic Studies. I am currently working at KU Hillel (a Jewish student organization on campus) as a cook. (I cook for Shabbat meals, events, etc.) Who knows where life will take me…

Likes: Days of Our Lives (I told you, I love bad TV), kitties, steak, my family, the colors green and purple, being Jewish, friends, laughing, being original, camp, coffee, Israel, traveling, deep discussions about the meaning of life, etc.

-Dena Hart

I am a 24-year-old graduate student who was born and raised in Kansas City, but had yet to step foot into Lawrence until I started school here in August 2006.

I went to college at Marquette University in probably my most favorite city in the world, Milwaukee. Don’t laugh if you have never been there because it is truly awesome. The people are friendly, there are tons of fun things to do, and there is literally a bar on every corner. My freshman dorm was closer to four bars then it was to class!

After graduating with a degree in broadcast journalism, I was pretty sure that people would be throwing jobs at me. Unfortunately, they weren’t.

I ended up meeting an ophthalmologist at the Royals Stadium Club (where I have worked for the past seven seasons) and was offered a job working in his office. After being there for two and a half years, I was very thankful that I had not gone into the medical field. On the upside, I did get free lasik out of the deal!

Last December, I got hired at Fox 4 as a production assistant and I absolutely LOVE my job. The only bad thing is that I have to wake up at 3 a.m. and go to bed at 6 p.m. There goes my night life.

Right now I am working hard to finish my thesis so that I can graduate in May and at the same time I am busy planning my wedding in September.  But I like being busy so it’s been kind of fun.

Some of my likes include reading US Weekly, taking my dogs for walks, going to the lake, and watching the Royals.

My dislikes include winter, driving long distances, Paris Hilton, and not getting enough sleep.

I absolutely love to travel and I just booked my first cruise for our honeymoon. I have been to Italy, Ireland, England, Canada, Mexico, and I lived in Australia for six months when I studied abroad one semester. I have been to 40 states and I hope to visit them all before I turn 30.

I am Catholic and recently gave up sweets for Lent so it was very hard for me to turn down the chocolate and cookies last week. I attended Catholic schools from kindergarten all the way through my senior year of college at Marquette. I even met my fiancee Tim in grade school when I was five years old.

And even though I aspire to be on television someday (I was on the Price is Right a few years ago and won a fridge) I sometimes get shy and kind of nervous when I have to talk to a group of people. So when I present in class next week, feel free to smile at me!

Lindsay

Well, I’ll start by giving a brief biography of myself. I’m a little bit older than most in this class. I’m *cough* 29 and have two kids, Bronson and Tyler (ages 10 and 12 respectively). My ex-wife Lydia lives in Boston with Bronson and Tyler. I miss them (and my beloved Red Sox!) but I’m adjusting to Kansas (and the Royals) well. After graduating from high school in Oregon and moving with Lydia to Boston, I became interested in environmental justice (and subsequently animal liberation efforts) after I noticed our local park’s bird feeder was inadquately serving the park’s burgeoning meadowlark population. The finches and the hornbills were gobblin’ up the good stuff leaving the meadowlark to scrounge around in the grass for crickets. After an intense letter writing campaign and phone calls to the parks and recreation department we finally got justice for the meadowlark. I’ve since dedicated my life to local and regional bird conservation efforts. This led me to a realization I still hold dearly. With a little sweat, tears (and bird seed!) anyone can fight the corporations … and win. As for my free time activities, I enjoy playing (semi)-competitive tetherball with my friends Otis and Desmond. We just got involved in a recreation league here in Lawrence. We call our team “The Ball and Chain Gang.”

As for my musical tastes, well, we’ll just say they are diverse. I like everything from late period Bee Gees to early Dave Mustaine-era Metallica. I’m also working on some of my own music. Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my bio.

Ok, I made all that up. I just wanted to see if anyone would actually read this far. My real life is pretty pedestrian. I’m 22 and I grew up in Overland Park, Kansas. One time when I was 15 I got the 10 and under menu at Denny’s. I’ll graduate in May with a degree in journalism: strategic communications. I love strategic communications. It fascinates the crap out of me. I’m a huge fan of Douglas Rushkoff. He’s a brilliant dude and one of the foremost thinkers on media, strategic communications, cyberculture and dozens of other things. His newest book “Get Back in the Box” is one of the best things I’ve ever read. I also realized I never ever want to do this strat. comm. stuff as a career. It’s a terrible fit. For one thing, I’m not very skilled at conversation. Especially phone conversation. Leave it me to me to pick a major I love studying for purely academic reasons that I have no interest in applying to my post-college life. This is why I’m set on going to graduate school. Either that or I’m pretty sure there’s an opening at the KFC on 23rd street. It is my strategic communication work, however, that got me interested in this class because of the project with CReSIS last semester. The CReSIS project was alternately infuriating and enlightening and got me interested. This class is great. I learn a lot just by listening. You all know so much, and I don’t know that much so I do posts about facial hair. In my free time I am a DJ at KJHK 90.7 FM, the radio station here at KU. I do a blues/soul/funk show called The Jookhouse on Sunday mornings from 10-Noon. I’ve gotten to interview some vaguely famous musicians over the past year which has been a huge thrill. Sometimes they stay at my house during the Wakarusa Festival. The Jookhouse is probably the lowest rated show on KJHK so call in requests to make me feel like I have a huge audience. I am also the station’s Development Director. For the past couple of years I have been a contributing writer for CHALK Magazine. The magazine’s editor has a fascination with psychoanalyzing me so the last few stories I’ve written involve me going to psychics and getting tarot card readings and stuff. Here are some favorites:

Comedians: George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Doug Stanhope, Jim Gaffigan, Steven Wright

Music: Bob Dylan, Todd Snider, MOFRO, Wilco, The Mother Hips, Toots & the Maytals, old soul music, Hound Dog Taylor, BB King, blues, folk and alt-country. Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane.

Books: Anything by Jack Kerouac and Chuck Klosterman. A Confederacy of Dunces, A Fan’s Notes, and this one book my mom used to read to me about a kid who eats too many pancakes (I can’t remember the name).

Thanks. Look forward to getting to know everyone better.

-Vince Meserko

Vital statistics

Name: Kimberly Wallace…but I go by Kim…sometimes Kimbo, Kimmie, or Kimmer (My name means “golden needle” in Vietnamese and “from the royal fortress” in American baby books.)

Age: 22 (my half birthday is May 27, if you’re interested in sending me a gift…)

Heritage: Scottish, Vietnamese, Chinese—multiracial American (Sometimes I just say Scasian…)

Birthplace: Fort Smith, Arkansas (Who leaves Arkansas for Kansas? It’s not even a new set of letters! And for the record, never say “Our Kansas” to me or make incest jokes. It’s annoying, kind of like the whole Wizard of Oz thing is annoying to Kansans. Seriously.) So yeah…I know a little about Mike Huckabee…

Class: Senior! Finally And a four-year, graduating-on-time senior at that.

Major: Journalism (news and information; magazine emphasis). Minor in sociology with an emphasis on gender studies and work inequality. I do lots of reading and writing…

Languages I’ve studied: Vietnamese (studied through conversation); English; Swedish; Latin

Languages I speak: English, jacked-up Vietnamese phrase-lings, jacked-up Swedish, pig-Latin

Job: I’m an editor at Natural Home (aha, it’s all making sense now…)

5-year goal: I plan to move to the city and edit a women’s health/beauty/lifestyle magazine.

Favorite colors: I could be cliche and say green…but I won’t, because it’s apparent by my couch/bed/curtains/dishes/towels that my favorite color is red.

Words that I live by: There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. (Words from an opera singer!)

Love of my life: Detective Elliott Stabler of Law & Order: SVU (Ask my coworkers about this obsession. It can’t be healthy.)

Other loves: My nerdy hax0r boyfriend, shoes, Scrabulous/Scrabble, Googling and chocolate. Not necessarily in that order.

I could keep going, but it’s just going to get weirder and weirder and weirder….

(From left to right: I was the number one hit at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.; With his toes, my boyfriend etches my name in the sand in Santa Cruz; Who wouldn’t be smiling after taking in the Northern California sunset?)

-Kim