Wild Horse No. 1

Portland: The 2 week experience

Starting tomorrow, I will be teaching for the next 9 school days at Peninsula School in North Portland. I am excited and nervous and excited and sick to my stomach and excited and worried. I guess that means I am ready.

The photo above was taken by a student at Obsidian Middle School. I loved that when we were in the process of creating it, it looked like it was not going to work. No one could really tell what was drawn and then the kids broke their hands apart after the student taking the photo took just one photo, but then... we got this. I love this photo. It reminds me of what it means to have faith. Give it try, maybe it will work. Sometimes, it does.

We Live Here, Too #8

Happy Earthday! Happy Birthday, Priscilla!

I met up with Priscilla in Farewell Bend Park this afternoon. One of the first things she said to me was "I was thinking I'd like to just hike up my pants and go right in the water for my photo." Do it, was my very first thought. The time we spent together was very much like that. She, Bob and I wandered through the water for awhile, enjoying the warm spring air on our faces and the cold spring water on our feet.

We Live Here, Too #7

Natty on the Deschutes

This weekend I was out at Caldera for a retreat for our high school students. It was so great to be there. The butterflies are popping out and the kids were smiling and the air was gentle. There was a moment this weekend, when I was walking from one of the studios to the Hearth, where I realized how easy I feel when I walk around out there. And when I say easy, I mean that I know that land and I have paths I like to walk because I know them so well. In the past few years, I have been working on perfecting the practice of being able to walk around camp at night without a lantern. I can safely do about 3/4 of it in various sections. I find it easier to feel part of the world that way, by touch sometimes, rather than sight. And you can also see the stars better.

Last Thursday while walking along the Deschutes with Natty, I enjoyed seeing how she was like that with the river. Easy. She knows that river and is close with it. I could see it in the ease in which she walked along rocks in the water and over higher ones above. With confidence and grace and comfort and respect and love.

It feels nice to feel connected like that to the Earth. Like you are simply a tree with your roots entwined with the soil-- connected. Yet we are more like lucky trees, because our roots live in our hearts and allow us to wander and explore and be awed.

We Live Here, Too #6

Nicole and her dog enjoying the open land behind her house.

Walking in the open area behind her house, Nicole reminded of the one thing that I'll never grow old of here in Central Oregon-- the big sky. (It was finally blue today!) She also grew up on the East coast where there is not big sky there the way it is here-- stretching from one end of the world to the other with so many different hues of blue, half of them have yet to be named by Crayola.

We Live Here, Too #5

Walter at Lava Island



Rhiannon and Friends in Harmon Park



Sara and Bella and Joanne at Farewell Bend Park

Years ago, when I first moved here, my friend Jenny was going to an outdoor wedding in early May. The weather was much like it is most springs here in Central Oregon; grumpy. Snow one day, sun the next, hail and sleet and rapid winds through out it all. "If you plan an outdoor wedding in May, you're just asking for trouble." I think the same can be said for setting up photo shoots in the spring in the Central Oregon outdoors.

Though it was cold, it was lovely to wake up early this morning and head out to Lava Island with Walter and Rosie, hos dog. The sky was gray and showing specs of blue. Steam was coming off the water and morning dew was frozen to the Dogwood trees. Its on those early gray mornings that you see the real hidden colors of this lace, with the bright green lichen and red red bushes that line the river.

This afternoon Rhiannon and a whole bunch of her friends met me in the park. They wanted to play on the playground at Harmon park. Too bad I didn't get a photo of when they dismounted that dinosaur. It really gave them a what for. Hysterical. I suddenly thought about my friends in high school and the way we laughed with each other. It was nice to be around this group of young folks (not that I am that old, but still...). It was so nice to see how they support and adore each other in the way you do with your friends when you are young-- like the world is perfect and this person in front of you is proof of that.

Bella suggested Farewell Bend Park to be photographed with her moms, Sara and Joanne. I asked her why and she told me they spent Mother's Day there a few years back and she really liked it there. We walked out to the bridge and Sara and Joanne pointed out the Water Council's project to help protect the wetlands along the river. I appreciated being able to photograph them in a place that was special to them as a family.

We Live Here, Too #4

Jessie, Lynda and Rio at home.


Bob at Smith Rock


Greg in Sawyer Park

It was a gray day here in Central Oregon, but somehow it felt sunny. This morning I headed over to the house of Jessie, Lynda and Rio in Southwest Bend. It was one of those days where the light snow flurries were accompanied by bright sun rays, like faeries defrosting and getting ready for spring. The cold did not stop the photo shoot, though. There was a boat and a bike and a scooter and roller skates and three lovely people who reminded me that one of the greatest ways you can show love for another person is for you to play together. Jessie, Lynda and Rio play together and it is a whole bunch of fun.

Next I headed off to Smith Rock with Bob. We walked around the rim, looking below on the rock climbers that looked like a colony of ants, busy at work fulfilling their duties to the universe. As we walked, Bob told me about his love for the outdoors that started when he was young and how he wanted to keep going until he couldn't, he just loved it. He told me a great story about how he took his wife Priscilla on her first backpacking trip when she was in her 60's. She loved it and they continue to backpack for weeks at time. They get stopped on the trails where they are hiking by younger hikers who are in awe of them. Again, a couple who just spent time together simply enjoying the world around them, themselves and each other.

Greg met me in Sawyer park later in the day. It had gotten quite chilly. The water was high and flowing rapidly, a sign of all the snow and rain and hail we've had lately. Sawyer park is such a wonderful spot and one of Greg's favorites. He told me he loved how, by coming here, he could so quickly be free from being in a city. While Bend is not a big city, I know what he means. It is so quiet in this park and the giant rocks make it feel like a hidden natural castle.

We Live Here, Too #3

Jenni and Morgaine

Today, I photographed the fearless director of the Human Dignity Coalition, Jenni Peskin and her lovely daughter Morgaine. We were lucky that the sun came out today after hail storms and heavy clouds all week. It was a perfect Central Oregon spring day, bright and sunny and surprisingly cold and crisp. We talked on the porch for awhile, sharing funny April Fool's Day stories and then took a little stroll through the neighborhood. One of the things I realized while we were on our walk is that I love living in a neighborhood where you can walk down the middle of the street. No need for sidewalks. Yet another perk of living here.

We Live Here, Too #2

This weekend I photographed Joe and Eric on Saturday and Connie on Sunday. I was suppose to photograph some more folks, but illness has fallen over Bend, and I will get to photograph them another day.

Connie took me through the neighborhood she grew up, just off Newport Ave, near Brooks Park. We went to one of her favorite spots along the river, just steps from the house she grew up in. This little nook, with the giant willow tree was a treasure for her growing up. Back then, she said, there were no fences and you could just run up and down the river, where now there are houses. I liked the way she described it, "Back then, everything was free."

Joe and Eric took me to the Welcome to Bend sign, the thing Joe felt was so beautiful when he first got here, because it announced that he was here. Eric grew up in Bend. He and Joe met in NYC and then Joe moved here to be with Eric. That's love. Having lived in NYC myself, I could see how that transition is a big one. Bend is like the wild west in comparison. One of my favorite things Joe said was how he liked that everyone here has a "How I got to Bend" story. That's how he feels connected to his community. He's right. We do all share that story. The stories are different, but they are all similar, in the sense that maybe we found a home when we got here or maybe a home inadvertantly found us.

We Live Here, Too #1

I began photographing the We Live Here, Too participants today. So far, I am learning that my own community is bigger than I thought. That's a nice feeling.

Today I was able to hang out with two couples that made me feel a little better about the world than I've been feeling in the past few years. That's a pretty nice feeling, too.

We Live Here, Too

A portrait series of the LGBTQ community, their friends, family and allies living in Central Oregon.
This is the project I am starting today in collaboration with the Human Dignity Coalition. Please keep yours eyes and ears open for the rest of this adventure in print and on radio. The final show will be on display for the Dignity Awards at The Mirror Pond Gallery, May 1. The project will then be on display at tdb Loft for the month of June.