Name & Age: Amy Hardy, 29
Hometown: New England
Current Neighborhood: Goose Hollow
How do you pay the rent and what is your slash? I’m a student nurse about to graduate, so I pay rent with student loans for one more month. I’m especially interested in emergency health, reproductive health and public health nursing. Ideally, after graduation I will pay my rent with nursing income. My slashes are probably painter and mapmaker.
What do you create? I create learning opportunities for my nursing colleagues and recently have been working on organizing educational events. Lifelong learning is important in health care, so I’m glad to be gaining these skills now.
In terms of art, my work is divided evenly into two parts. The first half is art that focuses on landscape—mountains, water, maps and characteristically Pacific Northwestern treelines. The second focus of my art is beautiful medicine: surgeries, anatomy, blue scrubs contrasting with bright red blood.
Finally, I worked as a mapmaker for years and I’m returning to this as a hobby. I love type, history and geography; the making of maps is where these interests meet.
How did you land in Portland? I was raised in the northeast, and I have been visiting far eastern Oregon for years. Two years ago, the start of a nursing program became an opportunity to live in Oregon. Portland is chock full of art, music and food that is both accessible and interesting. I had options to stay back east, but I really couldn’t say no to Portland.
What is the last book you read? Charles Frazier’s Thirteen Moons, inspired by seeing Frazier speak at Powell’s a few weeks back.
Name your favorite tattoo. Someone else’s? I never fail to appreciate state- or country-shaped tattoos. I especially enjoy Oregonian ones.
What was the last thing you ate at a food cart? Last week, I had a very tasty half-sandwich from the People’s Pig cart in the Alder pod downtown. I bought it on the cartworker’s suggestions and it was perfect. They call the sandwich porchetta: soft salty pork with lemon and arugula, my favorite salad green, on a crusty roll.
Oregonian, Willamette Week, or Mercury? Willamette Week, from a stylistic perspective. I read both weeklies weekly, in print, and the Oregonian only occasionally.
What is your favorite bridge and why? For now, the Hawthorne. There’s some intimacy in the steel spans of that bridge.
Stumptown Coffee or _________? Sterling Coffee is in my neighborhood so I tend to visit them (or Coffeehouse Northwest, their brick-and-mortar location) to enjoy what I’m convinced is the city’s best coffee, served with suspenders and a smile. I’ve also been known to enjoy a Stumptown 8-oz. mocha with whipped cream on rainy winter afternoons.
Coast or Mountains? Historically, coast. This summer something clicked and all I can think of is camping by high mountain lakes. The coast feels like home, and mountains are my new love.
Only in Portland moment? There are so many… I guess my favorite moment happens almost daily, when I hear people say “thank you” to the Trimet driver. It’s really exceptional.
A favorite local business? The Portland Farmer’s Markets, where I get to meander through and spread my support to many local vendors. I like knowing that the vendors receive every penny I pay them, with no middleman.
Are you a car person or a bike person? I use public transport and walk a lot. I’m moving towards biking in Portland, and rely on other people’s cars to get to far-away places.
If you could change one thing about Portland, what would it be? I would bring my loved ones from back east to this coast. That’s about it.
And finally, where can we find you on the web? http://about.me/amyhardy
