MEMBER BIOGRAPHIES

Doug Huston & Karen Jacobsen

Karen and Doug live in Medford with their two sons Zander (7) and Cedric (5). Karen is 46 years old and has been a labor and delivery nurse for the past 11 years. Karen enjoys working with women at a powerful and important time in their lives. Currently, she is focusing on improving her Spanish to serve the growing Latino population in the RogueValley . Karen has a certification in infant massage and briefly instructed parents on infant massage before Cedric was born. She is interested in conscious parenting, small trips with family and friends, Spanish language acquisition, riding bikes and gardening.

Doug is 50 years old and completed his graduate degree in Social Work in 2000. He previously spent a dozen years in the construction trades. Doug has a small business that helps subsidize his meager social service income. His non-work interests include reading, music, parenting, eating/cooking, and basketball (sadly no longer able to play). Doug actually enjoys the consensus decision-making process and previously belonged to a collective.

We have shared an interest in cohousing for several years. We moved to the valley from the Bay Area in 2000, and look forward to living in cohousing for the social network and camaraderie for ourselves, being closer to Karen¹s mother, socialization for our kids, and sharing parenting.

Cecile Shohet

I am a 42-year-old lover of wild places. I've always seemed to gravitate towards a community lifestyle because it made sense. I've lived in community in Israel (Moshav Safsufa), Humboldt County, California (Petrolia High School), and Takilma, Oregon (Magic Forest Farm), and am grateful to be part of this Co-Housing project. We humans need each other to laugh with, learn from, grow with, and to support one another. I'm always ready to go backpacking or native plant and mushroom id'ing. I really enjoy thought provoking conversation, a good adventure, cooking and eating. I've lived in many places and fell in love with the free spirit, easy going lifestyle, and serpentine lands of Southern Oregon. I grew up in New York City, still go back to see my family, and love visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History.

Leah Schindler

I live in Bear Grass Village with my 2 dogs, Pogo and Darwin. I moved here from eastern Arizona via just about every other town in the west. I never lived in an intentional community but before moving to Oregon I lived on the Apache reservation for 5 years and felt a strong sense of community with the rest of the employees of the reservation hospital. I enjoy yoga, hiking, rafting, gardening and cooking. I am originally from NYC and still have the Seinfeldesque sense of humor. I work as a nurse practitioner at La Clinica Del valle, a not-for-profit clinic in Medford. Pogo likes swimming and Darwin likes stuffed animals and the dog park.

Sarah Breckenridge

I got involved in cohousing because I want to be part of a close-knit community whose members can find the time to talk, work and play together. For me, growth usually occurs as a result of interpersonal connections, either through learning from the example of a valued friend or taking on the challenge of facing and working through differences and conflicts within relationships. FSCC has delivered on all of these counts! I currently am on the commons and landscape committee. I'm the "senior" member of our community (age: tell you later!) and my 23 year old son is living in Montana. I'm a clinical social worker at the Children's Advocacy Center, and am grateful for having work that I love..

Jan Jacobs

I grew up in Evanston, IL, went to school in Boston at 17, and stayed for 26 years until moving to Ashland in November 2003. I was drawn to Ashland in large part because of the opportunities I saw to create and be part of community. I see co-housing as a tremendous way of creating connection, while diminishing my use of the earth’s resources. I feel blessed to have found such an amazing group of people. I’m a clinical psychologist and after many years doing psychotherapy, I now provide professional development and executive coaching and training. A particular area of interest is the development of Emotional Intelligence in the workplace. I sing with the Rogue Valley Chorale. I’m thrilled with the accessibility of great theatre here. I love to travel, read, and when my back cooperates, bike, hike and ski. I’m 49.

Benjamin, Sheryl, Jayden and Anjali Grunde

Sheryl and Ben moved to Ashland from San Diego in 2002, seeking supportive, conscious community in which to raise their family. Ben and Sheryl are both licensed massage therapists, and Sheryl is a yoga instructor, specializing in pre- and post-natal classes. Jayden is a sweet, sensitive, 7-year old boy who loves bike riding and building rockets with his legos. He goes to Willow Wind, the charter school down the road, where his favorite subject has been Eager Beavers (woodworking.) Anjali is a joyful, 5-year old girl who loves to dance and sing and make up stories. In the fall, she will be attending Walker Elementary school for kindergarten. We have been working on creating our community for years, and this project is the manifestation of another level of the dream for us.

Karen and Lyle Scheer

Lyle and Karen moved to Southern Oregon from the Bay Area in 2002 seeking a slower pace and a higher quality of life in which to raise our family. In 2003, our son, Jonathan was born at home in the Colestin Valley. Our second son, Morgan, was born on Christmas, 2007, right here in Cohousing. We have enjoyed living rurally with our dog Carly and cat Tigger, but look forward to enjoying the many benefits of small town life. Both Karen (38) and Lyle (39) work from home. Lyle is a Test Engineer for Sun Microsystems. Using a satellite internet connection and a cell phone, Lyle collaborates with engineers worldwide to create quality computer servers. Lyle likes to make home brew beer, juggle and play in dart tournaments at the Black Sheep. Lyle is also an advanced skier and hopes to join the Mt. Ashland Ski Patrol. Karen earned a BA in Literature from UCSC and has been a Licensed Massage Therapist since 1996. Karen has a growing private practice which she strives to balance with a busy home life. She enjoys independent films, historical fiction and southwestern art, and loves to take advantage of any opportunity to have outdoor adventures. Jonathan loves to laugh and actually looks forward to most cohousing meetings. He says he wants to have his "own meetings," a desire we are sure he will fulfill in the near future.

We are interested in Cohousing as a way to create a living situation which provides opportunities for rich interaction and friendship with our neighbors, support for parenting, and an opportunity to reduce our use of automobiles.

Eugene Wier and Karsten Peterson

Eugene was born in New Zealand but grew up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. The first son of a zoo curator and an avid outdoorsman, Eugene learned to appreciate animals and wild habitats from a young age. That love of nature led Eugene to spend thousands of hours in back country settings, to travel the world in search of wildlife encounters and to solidify his commitment to conserving and protecting wild lands. Eugene moved to Ashland in 1998 and returned to university in 2000 after first obtaining an associates degree from Columbia College in the mid 90s. Since graduating from SOU Eugene has worked as a Research Biologist for federal agencies, universities and as a private contractor. Eugene loves the outdoors and is passionate about both his work and his personal interests, which range from philosophy and spiritual exploration to fly-fishing, mountain climbing, river running, snowboarding, backpacking, woodworking and music.

Karsten was raised in both Washington and Oregon. She moved to Ashland in 1997 to attend Southern Oregon University. There, she was inspired by peace and social justice work after volunteering with Peace House and starting a peace club at the University. After realizing her passion for both local and international community development, she earned research credits in South America, studied a year in Spain, and graduated with majors in International Studies and Political Science and minors in Human Communication and International Peace Studies. She then spent time in Central America, New Zealand and Australia. Her work has ranged from grant writing and project development green micro-enterprise development, alternative education and adventure travel guiding. She is currently working as a mediator and program manager for Mediation Works. Karsten has found a natural fit and growing passion in her conflict resolution work. She is also on the board of United Nations Southern Oregon Chapter. Her personal interests include arts, nature, yoga, religious studies, and alternative healing.

Eugene and Karsten met in 1999 in Tai Chi class and fell in love. Their 3-year old son, Bodhin, enjoys lots of physical activity, as well as fishing and Batman. They are now celebrating the birth of their baby boy Drake Fisher Wier. He was born Aug. 2, 2009, and is the youngest member of the community!

Melanie Mindlin & Julien

I was raised in Bethesda, Maryland and lived in Santa Cruz, California for 17 years before moving to Ashland in 1992. During that time I was a student, small business consultant and anti-nuclear activist. I was gave nonviolence trainings and worked with consensus process. I studied solar energy and organic gardening and had a small homestead where I practiced these skills. I moved to Ashland with my former partner and birthed Julien, now 13 years old. I became in involved in home design and construction. I am the originator of this cohousing project and served as investor, designer, promoter and project manager during the 5 years of its creation. I feel honored to have a chance to live in a community with these loving, trusted friends. I'm on the Ashland Planning Commission, and am an active member of Transition Town, and the Siskiyou Permaculture Guild. I look forward to developing our community garden and edible landscaping for serious food production. My other interests include camping, dancing, travel, discussing ideas, and good food. I'm seeking work in the field of sustainability. Julien is a student at Willow Wind CLC, an alternative education program, and is interested in games, reading and computer design.

Kate, Jack and Emmett Sullivan

Kate - Originally from the Northeast, Kate has enjoyed a variety of life experiences that have allowed her to crew on boats in the Caribbean, work as an actress in the “little” theaters of New York and New England, develop excellent skills in the restaurant industry, freelance in film production in New York and Los Angeles, and guide and cook for backcountry expeditions on the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni reservations.
Currently, Kate works as a special education teacher in a self-contained classroom for the Ashland School District.
Kate practices Tibetan Buddhist meditation and enjoys cooking, travel, films, theatre, hiking and short runs.

Jack - Also from the Northeast, Jack’s early draw to yoga and meditation led him to live at several retreat centers. His interest in travel prompted him to live and teach first in South Korea as an EFL instructor, and later in Thailand as a secondary school teacher working for the Peace Corps.
At the present time, he teaches in the Medford School District. He enjoys his third graders’ enthusiasm, humor and spontaneity.
Jack is an avid cyclist who loves challenging himself on the mountains of southern Oregon. He also practices Tibetan Buddhist meditation to temper his competitive edge.

Kate and Jack met in Flagstaff in 1998 while attending graduate school. They moved to Ashland in 1999 drawn by the beautiful downtown, the mountains, the theatre and the climate. Emmett is from Thailand and joined them in 2004. Emmett’s joy for life is apparent in everything he does. He is an active, physical, imaginative 7-year old. Presently, Emmett’s favorite activities are eating, Legos, Star Wars, riding his bicycle, and books.

Claire Bloom and Matt Hunter

Claire, 31, was born in Washington, D.C., but was whisked away 3 months later by her foreign-service family. She grew up in India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and the U.S. Her first foods were rice and dahl; bedtime stories came from the Ramayana; friends were of all colors and creeds. Though a tropical girl at heart, she has learned to love the mountains. She is a liberal arts poster child with a degree in Letters (history, literature, philosophy) from Wesleyan University. Luckily she also had a strong theatre background (mostly tech, no acting since high school) and was therefore able to actually get a job. After living in Denver, Boston, and Rome, she ended up with Matt in Santa Fe, NM, and went back to school to become a teacher. Now she teaches history, literature, and philosophy (see, that degree was useful!) to 11-15 year-olds at Willow Wind CommunityLearning Center. She is still growing up, and still learning how to best save the world and have a fabulous time in the process. Dancing always helps.

Matt, 33, was born in Hershey, PA, but was whisked away 2 months later by his foreign-service family. He grew up in Germany, Switzerland, and the U.S. Though a mountain man at heart, he has learned to love the tropics. He, too, is a liberal arts poster child with a degree in French fromWesleyan University (it has not proved to be very useful, but that was never the intention!). He spent several years following an outdoor education and recreation path. While living in Santa Fe, NM, he went back to school to learn about eco-groovy things and has since participated in several natural building workshops and events. Now he works as a timberframer and hopes to someday combine his love for handcrafted wood with other natural building materials. He is unlikely to ever grow up, after all he moved to Oregon for the beer!

We met in college and have been sharing this grand adventure of life for 13 years, joined by our dog Zola in 2003. We found our way to Ashland in 2006, after 7 months in a campervan in New Zealand. We look forward to sharing this newest adventure with many others.

Marika and Brian Mooyman

I (Marika) was born in the Netherlands in 1952, emigrated to Australia in 1959 for a year, then again to California in 1965. Those (for me) difficult experiences of leaving family and culture definitely shaped my current values: I highly value interdependence and the sense of extended family wherever you land. When cohousing first appeared in the SF Bay Area in the early 90's with the idea of intentional neighborhood and close relationships, I was hooked!

Brian (born 2001) lived his first three months in the Marshall Islands with his large birth family within a strongly connected social community. The Marshallese live community and relationships - individual competition is unheard of - so cohousing is in Brian's blood. Soon after I adopted Brian, convinced that a single parent family is not a healthy living choice for either parent or child, I joined the East Bay cohousing group, also to move to a geographical area with lots of diversity. After a year of hard work, money and energy spent (and potential land having fallen through), and Brian getting older, I had to expand my search to find the right spot for us. After many visits to cohousing communities, it took all of one weekend to fall in love with Ashland and know that Bear Grass Village was where we were going to share our lives! We moved in summer of 2006.

Marika's background work-wise is various management positions in telecommunications, project management, licensed therapist, and some dabbling in teaching. I have just started doing adoption home studies for Journeys of the Heart in southern Oregon. I love to talk adoption and parenting, any kind of reading, and lots of outdoor activities with my kid. Oh, and I'm also increasingly taking care of my elderly parents who recently moved here.

Brian's loves are his friends, any sports with balls, bicycling, skateboarding, aikido, videogames, and candy. He is highly active, exhausting his "old Mom." He views life as a full glass of joy every single day. His sweet and gentle nature comes out with babies, animals and anyone who is hurt - he loves to do first aid.

Michael, Georgia, Brighten, and Jovi Young

Mike and Georgia met in Chiropractic college in 1998 and were married the day after graduating in March of 2002. They both enjoy the outdoors, entrepreneurial projects, and good food. During free time, Mike plays soccer, guitar, and loves a quite hour or two in a hammock. Georgia enjoys soccer, social events, and learning just about anything new.

Since the arrival of their two children, the family spends most of their free time at home and on family outings. Brighten, age 4, loves playing with other kids, and going to the park; Jovi, age 1, is full of smiles for everyone and is an adventure seeker. Chiropractic work is now a “break” for the parents... luckily, both love their work!