Kniss Ink » Portland

New Digs

Mindie Kniss — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:36:06 +0000

I just moved into my new office at 1308 NW 20th Ave in NW Portland’s Alphabet district. It’s in this cute blue house on the corner of 20th & Overton. The new location offers a ton of flexibility so I am now offering evening and weekend sessions.

Here’s my name on the sign… yay! (rockin’ Suite 5)

This is the entryway… how cute are these blossoms?

Can you tell I’m excited to be here? =)

Filed under: Kniss Integrative Coaching, Photos, Portland Tagged: alphabet district, new location, nw portland

Blog Challenge: Best Night Out

Mindie Kniss — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:12:38 +0000

from Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Blog Challenge

The Question: Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?

There were probably a few nights, now melded in memory, from my last residency at Pacific in June. There was the uncontrollable laughter–the kind that you’re almost concerned about whether or not you’ll be able to take another breath, but the thought of losing consciousness owing to oxygen shortage makes everything even funnier… the kind that makes your obliques hurt more than they have from abdominal crunches.

When I laugh that hard tears stream down my cheeks.

There was that time when Aaron raised his hand, and we just lost it. There were homemade brownies. There was red wine in real wine glasses thanks to Eric. There was that all night conversation… To say that that night, or nights, rocked my world, would be vastly understated.

Pictured here with my fiction writing friends, Jason Sandefur and Alissa Nielsen.

Posted in Life, MFA, People, Portland, Writers Tagged: #best09, aaron kier, alissa nielsen, blog challenge, gwen bell, jason sandefur, laughter, low residency MFA, night out, Pacific University

Breakfast in Bridgetown

Mindie Kniss — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:07:59 +0000

My interview with Paul Gerald, author and publisher of Breakfast in Bridgetown: The Definitive Guide to Portland’s Favorite Meal, aired yesterday on pdx.fm. I love that he has a whole radio show dedicated to breakfast!

We talked about all my favorite breakfast/brunch places in Portland, and which restaurants the PDX Breakfast Club meetup has visited to enjoy their first meal of the day.

My top picks: Tin Shed on NE Alberta and Veritable Quandary downtown. Holy yum!

If you missed the show, grab the podcast here: http://www.breakfastinbridgetown.com/?p=641

Posted in Books, Breakfast, Portland Tagged: Breakfast, brunch, Paul Gerald, pdx.fm, Portland, radio

Of Life and Laughter

Mindie Kniss — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:51:10 +0000

Seriously?? Life is so frickin’ weird. Hilarious actually… like I can’t stop laughing. As Sean Stephenson says in his kick ass book, Get Off Your “But,” “I’ve learned to focus my focus on one solitary question: What’s funny about this? This puts all my conscious awareness on seeing the comical side of any situation and the resulting laughter takes care of the stress.”

Two weeks ago this guy is serenading me with gorgeous songs and a guitar on his front porch in SE Portland, asking about dating me, and today he’s joined a Franciscan monastery. Awesome…

The guy I swore I would not date has won my heart and the one I thought I would date shrouds himself in tortured unavailability.

Funny stuff.

I am thinking about the power of our souls to pull exactly what we need out of this life experience. And from this perspective, all I can do is chuckle.

There is harmony in the flow of the universe… If we allow ourselves to relax into it, to become one with the music. There is only the current, the pouring out of love and the experience we came here to partake of. In that, there can only be gratitude… and laughter.

Posted in Life, People, Portland Tagged: flow, gratitude, harmony, laughter, Sean Stephenson

102 Degrees

Mindie Kniss — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:08:18 +0000

It’s 102 in Portland right now, and it feels like my brain cells are sweating out of my pores. Lovely image, right?

Everything today feels surreal, like a film stuck in slow-motion. I may as well have moved to Phoenix — what’s another 10 degrees once it’s over 100? Hot is hot.

Posted in Portland Tagged: hot, Portland

Portland Sunshine and Modern Magick

Mindie Kniss — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 05:41:59 +0000

Whoo! The sun comes out in Portland and people pop up on sidewalks like weeds through the cracks. I hit Powell’s for a new journal and a used copy of Castaneda’s Teachings of Don Juan in preparation for James Ray’s Modern Magick: The Dreamer and the Dream. The conference starts Monday and I’ll be posting various updates throughout the week.

Can’t wait to hear what Stephen LaBerge (Stanford PhD superstar of lucid dreaming research) has to say. I’m also curious about how lucid dreaming compares to dream yoga. Is it the same thing? Well, I’m off to Dana Point, California to find out….

Posted in Awaken Consciousness, Portland Tagged: california, Carlos Castaneda, dream yoga, Dreamer and the Dream, James Ray, lucid dreaming, Modern Magick, Portland, Powell's, Stephen LaBerge, Teachings of Don Juan

Earth Hour is Tonight!

Mindie Kniss — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:11:35 +0000

From the Earth Hour website:

VOTE EARTH

YOUR LIGHT SWITCH IS YOUR VOTE

This year, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world’s first global election, between Earth and global warming.

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

March 28th, 8:30 PM, Local Time

More info: www.earthhour.org

#voteearth on Twitter and your Blog!

Posted in Green, Portland Tagged: climate, earthhour, environment, Portland, vote, voteearth

Dorothy Allison on “Place”

Mindie Kniss — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:04:00 +0000

I never met a writer who said “fuck” more than Joe Millar or Pete Fromm… until today. Dorothy Allison‘s talk on place at Tin House was nothing short of awesome.
She reminded us that writing about place is so much more than getting the details right. It’s not just the type of tile used in a truck stop or the manicured gardens at a college. It’s our reaction and response to those things that creates meaningful story.
She also issued a challenge: “We’re only getting Portland out of Charlie.” (Charles D’Ambrosio) “You people gotta get to work.”
Right now, Portland is easy for me because I just showed up. Stumptown, Powell’s, the Hawthorne Bridge… everything is a new experience and I’m taking it all in, noticing the detail. What my own challenge will be is to begin to write myself into the picture, whether as a character in fiction or as narrator in memoir. Me experiencing and responding to my place.

Fireworks

Mindie Kniss — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 06:15:00 +0000

I am like a little kid when it comes to fireworks. I cannot help the foolish grin as they’re exploding across the sky. I especially like the ones that surprise me, those that look like nothing as they shoot up then take over my whole vision field as they burst colored flame.

I carried a book and a blanket the few blocks to the Willamette waterfront. The fireworks were set off from barges on both sides of the Hawthorne Bridge so there couldn’t have been a bad seat in the area. The people-watching was good too. I didn’t read much of the 1000+ pages of Didion I toted. With the Blues Fest jamming in the background, I scoped out my new city neighbors till dark then waited for the magic to begin.