Jose Amador is not a Seattle native, but has lived here long enough to feel like one. The majority of that time has been spent deeply immersed in the local theater scene, working as an actor, director, and occasionally as a playwright. In his spare time, he enjoys the music scene, movies, books and pines for the Sonics' return, but makes do with the Redhawks.

Morgen Schuler is a web developer by trade, and a concert writer/photographer by night. She grew up in a small town in Kentucky so appreciates all this amazing town has to offer, especially in the realm of music. There are so many amazing bands that are cropping up in the Seattle music scene, and she's very excited to be a part of such a rebirth of music. This town seems hungry for any tidbits about local and national acts they can get their hands on, and she intends on feeding them!

Sarah got her start in Seattle politics at age eight (anyone remember the Seattle Commons?) and has been cursed to remain in them forever. Formerly a full-time unpaid intern, Sarah enjoys pajamas, grocery stores, crosswords and video games. She lives in a brick treehouse in Pioneer Square.

Ronald Holden, Northwest native, Belltown resident and unreconstructed Francophile, has worked at KING TV, Seattle Weekly and Chateau Ste. Michelle, and has published five wine-country guidebooks. Ronald is editorial director for several websites, including his own blog, Cornichon, and DeliciousCity.com. He is also director of wine tours for The International Vineyard and restaurant critic for Belltown Messenger.

For someone who didn’t pay one bit of attention in photography classes in high school, Chris sure enjoys spending time capturing the moment on digital film. After arriving from his first flight to Seattle to visit his future wife, Chris asked if people could climb that big mountain in the backyard called Mount Rainier and said he would stand on top of that puppy if he moved out. And that’s exactly what he did. Chris is a weird mix between an early adopter technology obsessor and sweaty triathlete who happens to spend a good part of his life eating the many incredible and fine foods this planet has to offer. He enjoys listening to obscure electronic music and doesn’t like buying albums that are over three years old for some unknown reason.

Every now and then, Frank looks around and realizes he's the only native Seattleite in the room. And he's okay with that. As the son of a cab driver, Frank knows his way around town. When he's not obsessively nerding out over Star Wars, sneakers, or pop culture, he can be found over a bowl of noodles or rice. Or downing a glass of Monastrell. He also writes the blog, Going for Seconds, which means that he's probably eating or drinking as you're reading this.

Tamiko Nimura is a writer and editor, a closet northern Californian who moved to the Seattle area in 1998 to attend grad school in English at UW. Despite her Japanese name, she is half-Japanese American, half-Filipina American, making her a stealth Filipina. She likes to haunt used bookstores, ethnic restaurants, thrift stores and Japanese dollar stores, farmers markets, specialty grocery stores, and non-supermarket bakeries. Her writing has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle and Kartika Review. After three degrees in English, she is now writing her way through her own private MFA, Kikugirl.

Jenise grew up eating tomatoes straight off the vine just like an apple – and she still does in her Interbay P-Patch. She penned the financial planning guide Women & Money and has been writing about food and the arts for a numbers of years. As a trained cook who spent her professional career in brand management she loves the change of pace of working with chefs, farmers, and farmers markets promoting sustainable Ag and culinary education. She’s worked with Queen Anne Farmers Market, Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance, Pike Place Market, Dog Mountain Farm and PCC Cooks and is a founding member of Canning Across America.

Dikla was born in Israel, grew up in LA, went to school in Boston, San Fransico and Belgium, and landed here in Seattle in 2004. On her 6-month study abroad stint in Brussels back in 2002, she was bitten by the beer bug but it wasn't until she moved up to the Pacific Northwest that her snobbery developed (she blames PBR). When she not drinking beer or drudging through her days as a legal researcher, she can be found at her laptop surfing the internet and watching Star Trek or playing Dungeons and Dragons with her once-a-week game group. But really, beer can be incorporated in all of her other hobbies and activities...including the shower!

Gina comes from a long line of Seattlites going all the way back to Gino Corsiglio - the local music/film/pasta critic in Ye Ole Seattle Times and Seattle founding father. SIKE! She is from somewhere else like everyone you know. She was scraped clean from the barnacles of the SF Bay and floated north to Seattle in the early aughts to pursue the fountain of knowledge and/or a college education. Had she been concerned with securing anything that is not an internship she maybe wouldn’t have studied art history and French. Gina is a Pisces who enjoys long walks on wet sidewalks, anything non-muggle related and getting her Pho on.

Lily recently moved to Seattle from San Francisco, where she worked at a taxidermy store and taught writing workshops on fairy tales to children, while running a music venue out of her living room for touring bands and trying to track down old copies of Sassy magazine at the library. Goals for the future include starting a T.Rex cover band and mastering a chocolate whisky cake recipe, but for now she's more than content obsessively locating all of the places Twin Peaks was filmed in Washington, getting lost in Ravenna park and thinking about ancient Egypt. She is very happy to be here.

Though he calls himself an aficionado of fine arts and music, Aaron enjoys anything that involves lengthy discussions with other laypeople who like to exercise and open their minds to wonderful, scientific, awkward and/or strangely powerful things, including but not limited to: black holes and the multiverse, anthropology, the brain, modern technology, political allegories, weird words and unidentifiable sounds, moving human achievements, odd musical instruments, and just about anything covered on TED. He’s addicted to learning, and he’ll trade you for some. His five-year plan consists mainly of writing a novel, creating a self-portrait, and moving to a foreign country. If you see him, wish him luck.

Sam recently moved to Seattle from Bellingham, where he spent his days covering the local beat as News Director of the college radio station.  Now that he's in Seattle, he's broadened his horizons quite a bit; when he's not reporting on newsworthy happenings in the Emerald City, he can be found running his small cassette label, Most Gross Records, volunteering with Books to Prisoners, and eating bahn mi at his local Vietnamese eatery, where he one day hopes to be named "Customer of the Decade."

A Seattle native, Everett is a recent returnee from five years of exile in Washington, DC and Brussels, Belgium. During his time away, he co-edited The George Washington University's (now defunct) music magazine: The Cellar, and was a crime reporter for The Daily Colonial. Everett moved to Capitol Hill when he was five years old; way before it was cool. He will talk your ear off about food, beer, politics, movies and the Mariners.

Omar Willey is a freelance photographer and writer. Born and raised in Seattle, he has worked at KCMU as their resident theater critic, has headed the Puget Sound Cinema Society and has been a staff writer at Earshot Jazz, 5/4 Magazine, The Tablet and other local publications. He has also published two books of poetry and directed six feature films, among other endeavors, and is currently working on a massive project to photograph all 403 parks in the city of Seattle. He also believes sleep is overrated.

Kim is a recent transplant to the Pacific Northwest, having gradually made her way across the country from the suburbs of Washington, D.C., by way of Chicago. She started pointing out typos in her Baby-Sitters Club books to her parents when she was 6 years old, and since graduating from Northwestern University with degrees in journalism and English she has attempted to make a living as a word nerd. So far, so good.

Jen is a freelance writer who dreams vividly of the day when she can quit her day job and write full time. Until that time comes, she stays busy writing for a handful of print and online publications, and as the fiction editor for local literary journal Crab Creek Review. Some of her all-time favorite things include: the New York Times crossword, dinner parties, traveling, Japanese pop, and really really good books. She hates being asked about her favorite book since there are too many, and hopes to someday write a food novella.

A little bit restless by nature, Heather has spent the last six or so years shuffling between Boston, New York City, and Portland. Now back to her misty hometown, she’s focused on expanding her culinary horizons (a girl can’t live on pasta alone), developing her canine-walking skills, and embracing her inner-bookworm. Heather has been a Food writer and an Arts & Entertainment writer for Seattle Weekly, Willamette Week and New York Press, makes a mean espresso drink, and always puts The Magnetic Fields on when she’s getting ready in the morning. Always.

Sarah grew up in Eastern Washington (go nuclear power!) and lived in a town where the vast majority of college bound kids went to Washington State University; she opted for University of Washington (go Huskies!) in 2001 and has been here ever since. Outside of working as a web designer at a start-up web company in Pioneer Square, she spends most of her time baking, scootering, wandering Capitol Hill or websiting. Interests: hydroplanes, sandwiches.

Raised by a pack of wild jazz musicians in Kansas City, Laura left Cowtown to pursue degrees in English and Media Studies in Chicago. Upon graduation, she and her best friend packed up the car and headed westward for the rain-soaked, overly-caffeinated Seattle lifestyle. Laura has an unnatural mental capacity for film factoids, really enjoys parks and is much nicer than she looks here.

AJ Tigner was born and bred in the Pacific Northwest, prying himself away from Seattle for only a brief semester away to Galway so he could ask countless Irish what Colin Farrell is like. His personal journalistic exemplars are Edward R. Murrow, Karl Pilkington and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Between his brief stint as an intern at Seattle International Film Festival and a day job at Davis Wright Tremaine, he has gotten coffee for the absolute best and brightest that Seattle has to offer. Also a regular contributor to Seattle Weekly's Voracious, AJ is aimlessly seeking a place in local journalism history -- ideally somewhere between Lindy West and whoever does the crossword puzzles for Real Change.

After five cities in four years, Annie settled in Seattle for a number of reasons. One of those reasons was not the abundance of victorious sports teams, but no city is perfect. In addition to athletic pursuits, she also loves museums, travel, microbrews, details, the color green, and random trivia. When she's not covering Seattle area museums and sports, Annie is a grad student and writes for her own site: Museumist.com.

Rob’s a native. He grew up in Burien, completed undergrad in Bellingham and did a long stint at Microsoft. Somewhere in there he spent a number of years in Tokyo and was certified fluent in the native tongue. Over at zombiezodiac he’s squirreled away almost half a life of weird stuff mostly related to urbanism. He’s finishing off a graduate degree in project management. His recurring feature, Re:Take, looks at the intersection of history, place, and photography.

Cameron is a fashion designer, and writes about fashion and shopping for Seattlest and Seattle Picks. Her cocktail and ballgown line has been featured in Seattle magazine, Seattle Fashion Week and the Seattle Art Museum Remix Show. When she's not crunched over a sewing machine, she is either out supporting the Seattle fashion community or worrying about forgetting something really, really important.

Farm-raised, schooled in hard knocks, baptized by the city’s bright lights, Alex Hudson is an amalgamation of practicality, creative energy and perfect manners. The girl knows how to have a good time, and she’ll never say no to a chance to cross something off her bucket list. Whether she’s hanging with her wisdom-dolling grandma or busting out her hottest hot pants, Alex is doing it to the fullest. She loves dancing, birds, taxidermy, skin care products, the non-profit sector and Four Loko. Look for her at dive bars and ballet events throughout Seattle; she’ll be the Elizabeth Taylor look-alike.

Tyson writes Blue Notes at the Seattle P.I., hosts a program of music and poetry called Blues & Bluster on Hollow Earth Radio, and helps organize HONK! Fest West. When lesser men are sleeping, he plays music with The End Times, The Donner Vixens, The Psychotronics, and Slap & Tickle.

Jim Jewell is a freelance writer, producer and communications professional, and has been producing and promoting art in Seattle for over 13 years. Past clients and partners range from Seattle Repertory Theatre and Book-It Repertory to Dappin’ Butoh and Seattle-based alt-rock band Levator, in addition to countless individual artists. During his time with Shunpike, he launched their Accountability & the Arts series of discussions and workshops, and was a founding organizer of the no-hold-barred community forum SH!TSTORM. He is a frequent participant, former Steering Committee member and current webmaster for 14/48 – The World’s Quickest Theater Festival, and most recently spent four seasons as the Marketing & PR Manager for Seattle Children’s Theatre.

Kim Dixon was born and raised in Tacompton, WA. After graduating from Pacific Lutheran University in 2006 she ventured north to Bellevue to pursue a career in PR/Advertising. When she’s not busy writing, she spends her time volunteering, traveling, shopping and quoting Adam Sandler movies. Her other loves include music, photography, coffee, social media and all things pop culture. If you haven’t seen the 1995 film “Empire Records” she advises you do immediately as it will change your life (well not really, but it’s really good, so watch it!)

It wasn't exactly fate that brought Amy to Seattle; rather, she came here to check on something and decided to stay. Hailing from the flatlands of the Midwest, she has only recently learned how to walk up hills efficiently (long strides are the key) and to work the gear shifter on her bike. She enjoys doing whatever she wants - it's true! You can be her friend as long as you are nice, and interesting. Amy lives in Phinney where the beds are soft, the porridge is hot, and the rent is just right - all necessities for a starving grad student.

Executive Editor and co-founder: Jen Chung

Publisher and co-founder: Jake Dobkin

Technology director: Neil Epstein

Logo: Sam Park