Blog: Abby Quillen
By Abby Quillen
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07.14.10, 9:58am
Paul Adkins rode a Yamaha 60 motorcycle when he was five and bought his first car when he was 14. Growing up in Kent, Ohio, he and his four brothers spent their weekends working on cars.
Now, at 44, Paul lives with his wife Monica and their four kids in Eugene, Oregon. They have a black Labrador, some chickens, and a two-story house near the Willamette River - but no car.
By Abby Quillen
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05.20.10, 9:21am
“Where are all of the cars?” asks Paul Adkins as we pedal down a quiet tree-lined street in Eugene, Oregon on a sunny May afternoon.
Adkins is leading a three-mile Kidical Mass bicycle ride. I’m one of 19 participants; more than half are kids. Adkins is navigating for the group and helping his four-year-old son Dare, who’s new on two wheels, learn the rules of the road.
“There’s a stop sign. We’ll come to a stop, then look, signal, and turn left,” Adkins says.
By Abby Quillen
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05.17.10, 6:35am
In 2008, an interviewer admitted to Alfie Kohn that she considers herself a competitive person. “As long as you acknowledge that’s a problem to be solved; it’s not a good thing about us,” he responded. “People say to me, ‘Oh I’m really a competitive person,’ not realizing that it’s as if they’re saying, ‘I have a drinking problem.”
By Abby Quillen
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04.14.10, 7:49am
John Williams calls himself an aquarium fanatic. “I have six tanks right now - a 125 gallon, a 55 gallon, a 30, a 16, a 29…. The 125 gallon is ridiculously huge, especially because it’s all glass,” Williams says. “I stick with fresh water. Something like 75% of the world is covered in salt water, so I find fresh water more exotic.”
By Abby Quillen
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04.12.10, 6:44am
Aprovecho is a 40-acre center 15 miles south of Eugene, Oregon dedicated to researching and teaching sustainable living practices and green skills.
Rosie Kirincic works there with six other staff members. She lives with four of them on-site. Those six people are coordinating the construction of a 2,500 square foot community-meeting hall using natural building methods. They manage rotating crews of work-traders who come to help with the project through the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) organization.
By Abby Quillen
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03.15.10, 6:36am
Over a hundred years ago, H.G. Wells famously quipped, “When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.”
When Wells wrote his novel Cycles of Change in 1896, the world was in the throes of a bicycling craze. James Kemp Starley’s 1885 invention of the modern bicycle enabled the working classes to travel quickly and cheaply for the first time. Women who had been constricted in corsets, hoops, and petticoats were donning bloomers and discovering a newfound freedom of movement.
By Abby Quillen
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02.04.10, 12:06pm
Off the Waffle in Eugene, Oregon is not your typical waffle house. You won’t find pads of butter, bottles of fake maple syrup, or sides of hash browns and eggs here.
The owners, brothers Omer and Dave Orian, are in their mid-twenties and usually sport matching red afros. They and their seven employees serve traditional Belgian Liège waffles made from yeast-leavened batter. They use pearled sugar imported from Belgium, which caramelizes through the waffles, making them crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside.
By Abby Quillen
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11.22.09, 2:56pm
Foster Road in Southeast Portland, Oregon is lined with wrecking yards, auto body shops, gas stations, cheap appliance stores, and vacant lots.
It’s not the place you’d expect to find a six-acre working farm or a ten-acre wetland preserve. But that’s where Zenger Farm is, nestled between a huge warehouse and a cluster of residential housing.
United States
Abby Quillen is a freelance writer. She lives in Eugene, Oregon with her husband, son, two cats, and four chickens. She blogs about simple, healthy, and sustainable city living at www.newurbanhabitat.com.
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