| Gloria (Narimatsu) Spiwak After graduation, I discovered computers, a world that I was born for and existed in more than 16 years. My career with Pacific Telephone was broken by several years in the late 60's to become a pseudo flower child, helping to manage local rock bands, The Joy of Cooking and Country Joe and the Fish, among others. At age 35, wanting to try life in a rural setting, I moved to Washington State, where I live with a gem of a husband, an almost perfect dog, two selfish but wonderful cats, and a yard full of wild critters and birds. Bob is a writer with a weekly column in the local paper, the Methow Valley News. He's a professional photographer and golf writer with many publications in various magazines. We met through an ad in Mother Earth News more than 20 years ago. He is quite entertaining. I am a crafter. My cloisonne enamel and pine needle/feather baskets have been shown and sold in museums and galleries, but I dabble in many other media, including glass, clay, paper, weaving, and almost anything except sewing (which anyone in my sewing class would understand). About 20 hours a week are spent working at the Post Office in Winthrop. Life here is different than in a city. Most casual conversations are about the weather or nature and very few about traffic or politics. It's 50 miles to a movie theatre, but a few years ago we counted 13 public espresso machines in town, which is essentially 3 blocks long. Life is good in general, although some winters and summers can be stressful. I do think about growingup in Berkeley and have to ask, are we not among the luckiest people alive to have grown up when, where, and the way we did? |
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| Bob and I: A canoe trip on the Missouri River in Montana. |
| My son Michael: A gifted Systems Programmer by trade, here building STRINGS, an acoustic music club in Emeryville. |