CONTRIBUTORS

Chris Van Vechten - The Washington State Chiropractic Association (WSCA), The Pierce County Arts Commission, State Senator Steve Hobbs (D, 44^th LD), State Representative Dennis Flannigan (D, 27^th LD), The Tacoma Education Association (TEA), The Simple Majority 4204 Campaign, The I-937 Clean Energy Initiative, The Democratic Party, The Sexual Assault Center of Pierce County(SACPC), Peace Community Center and 90.1 FM KUPS Tacoma are but a few of the multiple organizations and individuals Chris is or has been personally associated with since moving to Pierce County in 2004.

 A graduate of the University of Puget Sound, he received a BA in history following a review of his thesis: "Rendered, Redeemed & Transformed: The Social History of Whale Carcass Disposal on Northwest Shores."

 

Chris currently lives in Puyallup, Washington.

 

Walker Lindley is a computer science and philosophy student in his last semester at the University of Puget Sound. After living in Washington, D.C. for a few years during high school, he got very interested in politics. While at UPS, he has gotten involved in local politics, interned with Darcy Burner's campaign for Congress, and worked on research to use computers to prevent gerrymandering. He's also pursued his other passion, video games, interning with a video game studio in Seattle. Who knows what he'll be doing after graduation, but it's sure to be interesting.

 

Electric Elliot is the founder of The Melon Online, and was born in the Chicago-land area. He is was co-host and co-founder of KUPS 90.1FM's first talk show The Melon. Elliot draws a weekly (monthly as of late) comic called Bob the Dog  which appeared in the University of Puget Sound's newspaper The Trail.

With a background in poetry, comedy, painting, film and other creative mediums  Elliot is a virtuoso of the creative arts...whatever that means. Some of Elliot's creative work can be seen at chapermelon.com.

Elliot is also an avid Ultimate player and a talented voice actor.

Glynnis Kirchmeier is a junior at the University of Puget Sound, where she is studying Economics, African American Studies, and History. She hopes to study abroad in Vietnam next spring. She also has an internship at the non-profit Earth Economics, which calculates ecosystem service valuations for the Puget Sound region and sensitive ecosystems around the world, as well as promoting the principals of ecological economics.

Glynnis is the secretary of UPS’s chapter of Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood, and writes a sexual health column in the school newspaper The Trail. Occasionally she contributes to Race Readers, a campus group dedicated to examining racism. She also volunteers for Planned Parenthood’s Visibility Team and one day hopes to become an employee (at least for a little while). Her passion is promoting sexual health and defending reproductive freedom, and her personal hero is Mechai Viravaidya, a Thai development economist, politician, and family planning activist.

Joe La Sac is an economics and philosophy student at the University of Puget Sound and a native to Cascadia. In 2003 he worked on a campaign with the Seattle Green Party to bring instant run-off voting to the city, sparking his participation in regional and national politics. He is an affiliated videographer with Seattle Indymedia Presents, a local independent television show, and involved with political activist groups such as Tacoma Students for a Democratic Society. He is also a media consultant with Instructional Technology at UPS, and a staff member for Praxis Imago, a campus video/media group. His personal blog can be found at aeconomics.blogspot.com

Peter Braun is a graduate of University of Puget Sound and has a B.A. in History with a minor in German. He is a recipient of the Presidential academic scholarship as well as being a University Summer Research Scholar, having been awarded and completed a grant to conduct research on the rise of Japanese nationalism in the 19th century. Outside of the university he has been recognized as one of the top 5 students participating in the Northwest Youth Leadership Conference held at Pacific Lutheran University, and a contestant in the Oregon State Geography Bee.

Outside of academics Peter has written for the university newspaper: The Trail, participated in student theater, and taken part in an exchange program with a Frankfurt high school. He is deeply interested in politics, and service to ones community. After graduation he hopes to pursue a career in law enforcement.

Last semester Peter "the replacement" Braun stood in for beloved "Electric" Elliot. With the tragic departure/graduation of notable wedge Chris Van Vechten, Peter has been asked to co-host the Melon radio show for the remainder of its run at the University of Puget Sound. He is greatly looking forward to bringing news, humor, genius and humility to the people in equal quantities.

Matt Stevens works at a food manufacturing facility in the Tacoma area. Working with chocolate for eight hours a day has cause him to dive into the world of great beers and the great books that go with them as an escape. Stevens is originally from Okoboji, Iowa, but escaped to the West Coast and has since put down rather fragile roots. Matt has an overpowering love of baseball, and he will tell you about it if you just give him half the chance. Perhaps you shall be lucky enough to see him out in Stadium District on is beloved green bike enjoying a beer or a glass of wine. If so, say "Hey Beer Man" and he'll be at your service.

Emily Knudsen is a lifelong Western Washington resident. She’s currently learning a bit about the legal field working at a criminal defense law office in downtown Seattle. She graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 2007 with a double major in International Political Economy (IPE) and Foreign Language and International Affairs. In 2006, she was awarded the IPE summer research grant to study the effects of immigration on the Danish welfare economy. Emily was a communications intern with John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2003 and is now volunteering for Barack Obama’s campaign.

She loves living in West Seattle and she’s always up for trying exotic, unusual desserts.

 

J. Anthony is a Washington transplant, having grown up as a Navy brat and left his hometown of San Diego, California at age 17.  He enlisted in the U.S. Army as a Forward Observer in 1995 and progressed to the senior noncommissioned officer rank of Sergeat First Class, serving at numerous locations, including Fort Lewis.  As an Airborne Ranger having parachuted onto the smallest foreign drop zones - some hostile - in the dark hours of the night on numerous continents, Dahlonega likes to think he has somewhat of a world view.  This is probably why the arrogant bastard feels he can write the way he does.  Not long after becoming an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter pilot,  he decided that spending time in Washington with his then four year-old daughter was something he could no longer risk losing.  In 2004, Chief Warrant Officer 286 left the Army to return to the South Puget Sound.

Now a resident and property tax payer of Puyallup, Dahlonega majored in Economics and Political Science at the University of Washington, Tacoma, and is currently working on his MBA at Colorado State University, specializing in Finance.  Dahlonega spends his days working to make housing more affordable to more people.  He recently had the pleasure of serving on the Tacoma Housing Task Force, where he was appointed by the Tacoma City Council to help examine the city's barriers to affordable housing.  In what little spare time he has outside of work and school, Dahlonega serves on a number of boards and councils, enjoys participating in community events, and is active in Pierce County and state politics.  To the best of his knowledge, he is the only conservative contributor to The Melon Online, however, he truly enjoys maintaining friendships with people of all persuasions.  He and his now eight year-old daughter enjoy wrestling, football, magician! s, and country music, among other things. 

Dahlonega is planning to write his first book - an account of the life of Justin Hebert, a native of rural Snohomish County, who in the fall of 2003 became the first official American soldier from Washington State to die in Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Hebert, then 20 years old, was a member of Dahlonega's team in the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade, when he was killed by a rocket-prepelled grenade.  The 173rd is credited with opening up and securing the war's northern front in Bashur, Iraq, where it conducted the largest combat airborne operation (paradrop) since Vietnam after U.S. ground forces were refused entrance through Turkey in early 2003.

Liam Rosen is a member of the class of 2009 at the University of Puget Sound. A German and International Affairs Major, he is currently living and studying abroad for a year at the Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg in Freiburg, Germany. His interests include languages and linguistics, local politics, and progressive voting systems. He is a member of the Tacoma Students for a Democratic Society. As a Portland, Oregon native, he is particularly interested in Oregon politics.

Harvard West is a 2002 graduate of Yale University who is currently employed by SeaTac Airport to control the low-flying bird population with my shotgun.

RR Anderson is considered “THE Tacoma cartoonist" and is master of the universe.

See his creative work here: http://www.holisticforgeworks.com/

Check out his blog here: http://i.feedtacoma.com/NineInchNachos/

Ben Garmisa has been deeply involved in politics since the age of six when his mother was first elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. After her inauguration, Ben sat in her leather-bound chair on the floor of the Illinois House of Representatives, looked up at the dais and knew immediately that policy was where his life was headed. After helping out in various capacities on his mother's five campaigns, Ben finally set his own career in motion as an intern with Congressman Dennis Moore's (D-KS) 5th successful campaign.

After that election, Ben decided to take some time off from his college education and pursue an internship with a prominent United States Senator in Washington, DC. After serving as an intern for three months, Ben was offered a staff position in that Senator's office. In August of 2007, after working in the Senate for nearly a year, Ben decided to return to school in order to finish his degree. Despite his return to full-time studies, Ben's political drive has not paused. Ben currently serves as Deputy State Coordinator of Kansas Students for Barack Obama.

In addition to his campaign duties, Ben serves as music editor of his school's entertainment magazine, a contributing writer for The Melon Online, and as a freelance photographer.

His photography can been seen at http://bengarmisaphoto.com/

Andrew Miller is high school English teacher in Federal Way Washington specializing in rhetoric and composition. He also teaches literature and poetry at the secondary level. He also serves as the Vice President for Stonewall Democrats of Washington and the LGBT Representative for Pierce County Executive Board. In addition to writing for the Seattle Gay news and covering LGBT issues in politics, he enjoys poetry by Billy Collins and Octavio Paz, and progressive poltico by George Lakoff and Robert Riech. Andrew is also an established vocal jazz singer who sings with Bluestreet Jazz Voices and the Seattle Jazz Singers where he performs at places as The Triple Door, Kirkland Performing Arts center, Tula's Jazz Club and other Puget Sound venues.