Contributors
Lauren Bremer was born and raised in Northbrook, IL and began coming to the county as a child with her family. At an early age she fell in love with the quiet forests, still waters, and engaging culture of life in Door County. After earning her degree from the University of Dayton in English Education with a minor in Environmental Studies, she made Door County her permanent home. Lauren currently teaches 11th and 12th grade English and coaches volleyball at Gibraltar High School. When not in the classroom or on the court, she can usually be found in her kayak, doing a crossword puzzle on the front porch, or spending time with her husband, Joel, at his restaurant, Good Eggs.
Julia Chomeau was born and raised in Door County. She is an active member of the local community and serves many organizations on a volunteer basis. Julia is the mother of two darling but exhausting children and is thrilled to be raising part of the next generation of activists for our county. She lives in Ephraim with her husband, Steve, and their children, Ian and Gretchen.
Melissa Ripp is a native of Door County and, after graduating from college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, decided to come back to the place she grew up. The county hasn’t been the same since. An avid writer, Melissa lives her life by word counts and is a regular contributor to the Peninsula Pulse and Door County Living, as well as the owner of her own creative services company, Peapod PR & Marketing. When she’s not under deadline, you can find her cruising the county in her green Element, waiting tables at the Mission Grille in Sister Bay, or traveling to far-flung places such as Madison, Milwaukee, and Portland.
Myles Dannhausen Jr. was born and raised in the tourism industry of Door County. A growing interest in local history, and a beloved former teacher, inspired his look at the grass-roots effort to tell the story of Sister Bay’s past by a few folks who saw possibility in a long-abandoned farmhouse. Dannhausen also writes for the Peninsula Pulse and coaches Boys Basketball at Gibraltar High School in Fish Creek.
Jacinda Duffin has lived in Door County all of her post-collegiate life, and has had the good fortune of wearing many hats: restaurateur, art gallery owner, playwright. She is an avid reader, crossword puzzler, freelance writer, and theater-goer. Jacinda spends entirely too much time buying and selling real estate – both personally and professionally – and is a broker/owner and partner at True North Real Estate in downtown Fish Creek.
Mariah Goode is the Director of the Door County Planning Department. She is a member of the Door County Economic Development Corporation Attainable Housing Committee and the Door County Green Fund board. When she used to have free time (before she and husband Sam had two children, Thelonious Jacob Goode and Trenowith Blair Perlman), she liked to walk the beach with their dog Lucy, watch Law & Order, do yoga, read, drink wine, travel, and spend time in the darkroom.
A bona fide tree-hugging dirt worshipper, Bob Bultman spends as much time as possible working and playing in the great out of doors. He believes that frequent immersion in wild nature brings the sanity we all crave.
The study of nature has been a lifelong pursuit for Roy Lukes. Learning, photographing and teaching about the natural history here since 1964 has sharpened his awareness and knowledge of the excellent biodiversity in Door County and the urgent need for stronger continuing stewardship of this great peninsula.
Megan O’Meara started coming to Door County for family vacations as a child. During a Thanksgiving stay in 1998, she discovered that the Irish House (now O’Meara’s Irish House) was for sale and purchased it. Before moving to Door County from Chicago, she worked for an electrical contracting company. Megan graduated from St. Ambrose University with an English and French degree. Most of her time is spent in her store; however, she does find time to write, read and take in the occasional Door County view.
Katie Dahl is an itinerant writer and musician who spends as much time as possible in Door County. In addition to various seasons of work on the peninsula with Door Shakespeare, Base Camp Coffee Shop, and the Peninsula Pulse, Katie has worked in Minneapolis, Boston, and southern France as an English teacher, librarian’s assistant, editor, and folksinger. This summer, Katie plans to celebrate the end of her first full Door County winter by performing and assistant stage managing for American Folklore Theatre in Peninsula State Park. She is also completing work on her first solo CD.
Katie Lott Schnorr lives on the outskirts of Kolberg, in southern Door County, with her husband and two young daughters. She is a second grade teacher at Sawyer School in Sturgeon Bay. Katie recently appeared in Isadoora’s Theatre Company’s production of She Loves Me.
Dan Eggert, currently the Photo Editor of the Peninsula Pulse, has been working with Door County Living from the beginning of its publication history. He is a freelance photographer working with clients ranging from local Door County businesses to artists and musicians, and will shoot an occasional wedding now and then.
Garth Gilster fell in love with the game of golf on Peninsula State Park’s pristine fairways. Born and raised in Fish Creek, Garth now lives in Eagle River, WI with his fiancée Beth and chipmunk-chasing dog Bailey. Garth remains involved in the golf industry through his work with Chicago-based software company Fore! Reservations and San Antonio, TX based 1-2-1 Marketing.
After graduating from Grinnell College, Caleb Whitney left academia to earn his living with his hands and back in Door County. Restaurant shifts, carpentry, and even grave digging have finally settled into 10 years as a self-employed landscape gardener. Along with his ever-patient wife, Kristen Peil, Caleb is a gardening lecturer “for hire,” and their business, Green Side Up, has been featured four times on Wisconsin Public TV’s Wisconsin Gardener hosted by Shelley Ryan. His photographs have also appeared on three covers of the Peninsula Pulse. When not trying to keep up with his daughter Ida, Caleb serves as captain of the Baileys Harbor Fire Department. His most recent poetry endeavors appear in the spring 2009 issues of Wisconsin People and Ideas and Free Verse.
Gary Jones is a Northern Door writer and teacher. By avocation he is a distance runner, a gardener, and a poet.