Tagged interviews

Meet the Interns

How’d you get here?

Mackenzie: The Northridge Earthquake, which hit just before my before my scheduled due-date, urged my mother to go to her home town to have her lil’ baby.  Therefore, I was born in St. Louis Missouri rather than Los Angeles, my real hometown, but permanently moved back to the west coast shortly after my birth. Now, many years later, I go to school in Vermont, which enabled me to intern at Microcosm.  I drove up the 5 from Los Angeles all the way to Portland with my good ol’ friend Phil.

Elizabeth: Born in Texas, raised in Tennessee, schooled in Vermont – a drive to Albany, a flight to Cleveland, a drive to Knoxville, a flight to Denver, another to Seattle, another to Portland and here I am.

Phil: I’ve been an LA boy my whole life, but now I go to school in Vermont.  Mackenzie and I drove up to Portland with full hearts and a full car.   


Favorite Female Vocalist And Why?:

Mackenzie: Aaliyah, hands down, because she is a powerful independent woman who was tragically taken from this earth in her prime. Classics like Rock the Boat are always bumpin’ in my mind when I’m having a rough day or when I left too many receipts in my pockets in the wash.  She was a sweet angel.

Elizabeth: The Crutchfield sisters. They’re raw, they’re relatable, they’re pretty.

Phil: Julie Doiron because she makes me want to fall in love and move to Canada just to stay inside with a fire and tea while the snow falls outside.  


Early 2000s guilty pleasure:

Mackenzie: Blink-182 but I refuse to have any guilt over that.  

Elizabeth: It’s 1999, but “No Scrubs” was a semi-serious tattoo consideration last year…

Phil: Linkin Park


Who would you be if you were a cartoon character?:

Mackenzie: I would be Ein from Cowboy Bebop.  He’s just absolutely adorable, and that episode about him being found by Spike and Jet is a really good one.  It made me laugh because they talk about VHS and VHS beta and how its absolutely ancient and out-dated.


Elizabeth: In fifth grade when Dave the Barbarian was popular, a girl used to call me Fang. Maybe the uninhibited version of me.

Phil:  I would love to be a little Kodama from Princess Mononoke and just frolic around the forest all day.  



Things that you enjoy:

Mackenzie:  I really like putting Abba Zabbas and sticks of Now and Later candies in my pockets and skateboarding around town for a little while so they get warm and aren’t so hard to chew.  I also really like adult swim late at night. Phil also makes a mean cup of tea n’ chia. I enjoy these greatly.

Elizabeth: Loretta Lynn, carbohydrates, gender theory.

Phil: I like licorice induced asphyxiation, I like real life skittle rain pounding against my soft naked flesh, and bellyflops off of chocolate docks into the rocky road abyss below.


– phil

-Elizabeth

-mackenzie

Interview with Raleigh Briggs, author of Make It Last: Prolonging + Preserving What We Love

What was the inspiration to write about fixing things? Raleigh briggs

We were throwing around the idea of having a book about canning, I think. But there are a million books out there about canning. I started wondering why some preservation skills were so glamorous all of a sudden, while others went under the radar. So I decided to take that same great energy around canning, pickling and whatnot and expand it to include things like mending and home repair.

DIY always seems to be about creating and making, do you think the subject of maintaining has been overlooked?

Definitely. People see maintaining as more of a chore than anything else, which, to be fair, it often is. And it can be hard to create community around fixing things up. But humble as they are, those skills make you a great asset to the people in your life (and to yourself). They’re especially crucial when folks you know are struggling. Homemade food and clothes can be a huge comfort, but helping out with a broken window or a leaky toilet is an absolute godsend.

How did you learn all your tips, tricks, and methods?

I’d be lost without my lovely local library. My friends and family were a great resource, too–people have all sorts of secrets they use around their own homes. It’s really awesome to see all the McGyvers and repair whizzes come out of the woodwork.

What have you always wanted to learn how to do, but haven’t yet?

Play the cello. Edit video. Also, electrical stuff still confuses the crap out of me.

Do you think of your work as being feminist in nature, empowering women to fix faucets and doors? 

I’m a big flaming feminist, but I don’t think of Make It Last as speaking exclusively to women. Women have always done the lion’s share of domestic work, including household repairs. But more and more, men and women alike are encouraged to buy more stuff instead of making  simple and cheap repairs to the things they already own. That’s great for the companies that make those things, but not so great for the rest of us. I want to empower everyone to fix everything, or at least, to think about what they can fix and what they have to buy, and making an empowered decision that’s in line with their values.

 Make It Last: Prolonging + Preserving What We Love