Kim was born on Long Island, raised in Florida, and has spent her adult life moving from Buffalo to Portland, NYC to New Orleans, back to Florida, and finally to Seattle in 2003. Eight years of touring the States as a folksinger gave way to her new life as a freelance writer. She's the About.com Folk Music Guide, a monthly contributor to Sound magazine, and has had work in Billboard, Performer and at RollingStone.com. She spends her spare time watching reality TV and worrying about politics.

Dan was born in Chicago and lived there until 2000 when he moved west in search of fame and fortune. Instead he landed in Seattle, where he spends the majority of his day trying to remember which version of The Man he's reporting to. He's currently dividing his time between an IT job, Seattlest, and writing freelance.

Abbey is one of those rare people who was actually born and raised in Seattle. Occasionally, she feels as if she should be put in a museum as an example of the quintessential Seattleite: a coffee-addicted, subaru driving, jeans and t-shirt wearing rock'n'roll worshipper, who doesn't own an umbrella. Proud editor and photographer for Sound on the Sound she is more in love with her hometown than ever before, and is head over heels for the music being created in Seattle today. She's pleased to bring you Seattle news everyday: all presented in the royal we, with just a sprinkle of sarcasm.

Audrey was Chicago-born and –raised, but doesn’t miss the weather one bit. She went to college in Iowa for a quality liberal arts education before heading out to Seattle, where she spends a great deal of time watching free movies and quoting Arrested Development.

She still mourns Gene Siskel’s death, because as time goes by and the phrase “two thumbs up” is even further depreciated, it becomes increasingly clear that Siskel was the one with discerning tastes. Additionally, she always tries to keep on hand at least two pounds of Tillamook extra sharp cheddar cheese.

Jack spent his angst-ridden teens listening to Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden. Throw in an unhealthy fascination with Mount St. Helens, and it was only a matter of time before he and his '76 El Camino found their way here from the high plains of Wyoming (that is, after a year-long stint as Arizona's most thievingest security guard). He's got a hot wife, loves camping, and absolutely hates "popped" collars. Seriously.

Michael moved to Seattle in 1987, and has lived on or around Capitol Hill ever since, except for a few years in South Capitol Hill (i.e., San Francisco). His unofficial-writer-in-residence vita includes stints at B&O Espresso, Bauhaus, Vivace, and Victrola, betraying a lifelong tendency to skip to the end. After working in the arts, print media, and online media, he is now a communications consultant with Newbridge Partners. He will not make you read his novel.

David is a Seattle native who has worked for political consulting firms and managed campaigns around town. He has also lived in Philadelphia and for higher educational purposes Walla Walla. He spent the last two plus years in Los Angeles where he made a series of questionable decisions. A member of the sketch comedy group The Habit he enjoys watching the local sports teams, drinking tea, and wanting a dog.

Seth is one of the few people in Seattle who was actually born and raised in the city. He moved to New York in his teens, but returned recently because he missed Saturdays at Husky Stadium too much. Seth sometimes writes for Seattle Metropolitan, The Stranger and the P-I.You can read his ramblings about Seattle sports daily at his blog, Enjoy The Enjoyment.

Matt Silvie was born in Pinellas County, FL, proud scene of the worst persecution case against a cartoonist in American history. He has worked off and on in various capacities for Fantagraphics Books for more than ten years, including a stint as editor of the 2005 Special Edition of The Comics Journal and the Kristine McKenna interview collection Talk to Her.

Katelyn was born in Tulsa to two pastors; in an unlikely turn of events, she is now an irreverent, slightly poverty-stricken anatomy geek in love with the internet, sandwiches, and hiphop. She loves listening to all kinds of music, arguing about religion, spending money at bookstores, and watching Bravo; she is also happy eating pizza. In the past, Katelyn has been a full-time massage therapist downtown, hawked bagels on Broadway, and written innumerable parking tickets in Bellevue Square's garages. These days, she mostly spends her time going to shows and obsessively hitting "refresh" on her favorite blogs.

James arrived in Seattle in '94, drawn in by a redhead, Singles, and affection for a grey-shaded weather palette. Now he's got a redheaded wife, a daughter, a corporate writing career, and a gig hosting a pub quiz. He's smitten with the women in his life, restaurants, movies, graphic novels, iced tea, New York, radio, and hard cider. He's a fox -- as in the opposite of a hedgehog. He misses Milwaukee's frozen custard and thunderstorms, but the sacrifice continues to be worth it.

Courtney is an erstwhile academic scientist, originally from Salt Lake City, Utah (no, she’s not). Growing up in the high-desert mountain terrain of Utah with some outdoorsy parental types led to a lifelong predilection for trying nearly anything that can be done outside involving expensive gear. Already well on her way to being an obsessive amateur mountain-biker/freerider, she spends her “inside time” working for a variety of instantiations of The Man as a producer for a small web development agency. Sometimes she thinks she’d like to move to Canada. Typically this occurs each time she takes a trip to Canada, which is frighteningly often.

Donte has been blending into Seattle backgrounds since 2001. He was born and raised in Virginia (no, he doesn't have an accent), and moved here after developing his appreciation for Thomas Jefferson at The University. When not out listening to bands or DJs, he enjoys brunches, documentaries, and referring to himself in the third person.

Ronald Holden, Northwest native, Belltown resident and unreconstructed Francophile, has worked at KING TV, Seattle Weekly and Chateau Ste. Michelle, and has published five wine-country guidebooks. Ronald is editorial director for several websites, including his own blog, Cornichon, and DeliciousCity.com. He is also director of wine tours for The International Vineyard and restaurant critic for Belltown Messenger.

Jay Friedman is a freelance food writer who does monthly restaurant reviews for Seattle Sound magazine. He is often found in his kitchen playing with a takoyaki grill pan, or one of his three woks and four waffle irons. Born and raised in New York and a long-time resident of the land of Ben and Jerry's, Jay tells friends and family he came to Seattle in 1999 because "there's great produce here." From chu-toro to chocolate, Jay eats everything (this liver lover doesn’t think offal is awful) and appreciates holes-in-the-wall as much as fine dining establishments.

After four edifying winters in upstate New York and culinary school in NYC, Rachael returned to her hometown--this town--a simple place where you can pick your weight in blackberries every August. Formerly pastry chef at the Herbfarm, Rachael teaches cooking classes and dreams of a day when people won't say, "You spell your name like Rachael Ray!"

Jeremy was born in Portland and once he left home made it no further south than Ashland and no further north than Seattle. A former shipping clerk, theatre artist, sometime journalist, and editor, he now makes his living at a large Seattle tech company answering email and playing with something called a "spreadsheet," for which, apparently, a college education is required. When otherwise not engaged in work or pseudo-work, Jeremy spends time with his two cats, Lucy and Magda, and his red-headed super-heroine girlfriend K.P., who is not in high school.

Geoff moved to Seattle about 2 years ago from the land of steak, pizza and Old Style, otherwise known as Chicago. While he misses the Cubs, he loves $7 Mariners tickets, mountains and the insane selection of beer in Seattle. The 1st beer he ever had was a can of Schlitz; now that's quality.

Clint was born in California to live in Seattle. First it was the sunburns, then the creative facial hair and flannel shirts. After years of academic floundering and retail hell, he moved to Seattle in 2000, long after every local band he loved—but one!—had called it quits. Once settled, Clint got a dotcom job, met his future wife, and finally started writing to chip away at his student loans. He maintains unhealthy obsessions with Dodgers baseball, 90s Seattle rock and microbrewed beer.

Like every third Seattleite, Tom hails from the great inland Third Coast -- specifically, the gritty Midwestern capital, Chicago. Ostensibly looking to escape deadly summertime humidity, Tom has adopted his evergreen home despite its startling lack of abundant Polish delis. Since he has no taste for the civilian work world, he's consigned himself to several years of poverty, which some call "Pile Higher and Deeper". He actually likes working with undergraduates. When not hiding behind a viewfinder or a snarky keyboard, Tom enjoys being a flaneur, petting kitties and strangers on the streets, visiting other cities, and driving aimlessly on two-lane highways.

Tera was born in Alaska but spent 16+ years living along the West Coast in cities such as Portland, Bellingham, and Seattle. Inevitably, the snow-capped mountains, the Puget Sound, and the area’s unbeatable culinary culture made her call Seattle home. Tera represents Seattlest’s Eastside voice, as she lives in Bellevue and commutes daily to Pioneer Square in Seattle. She loves it when people correct her, stating: “You are not from Seattle, you are from Bellevue. It’s so not the same thing.” Tera is a self-proclaimed cupcake addict and concurs with her pastry chef sister in-law that bakeries are the world's greatest pleasure.

Charles grew up in New York City and sincerely hopes you'll give him a chance anyway. Though he'll always love the city of his youth, he thinks that since he knows the back routes in the city and how to give directions (landmarks only people), he qualifies for at least "Seattleite" status. If it helps, he spent some time growing up on the Olympic Peninsula, but was too young to appreciate it and spent most of that time of his life wishing he could find a good bagel. He writes for Sustainable Industries and runs a business blogging for small businesses. He has a Web site at charlesredell.com.

Born in the slums of East King County, John Hieger is a lifelong Washington resident and an avid couch potato. Having blogged the Kerry Campaign for The Seattle Times into the ground back in 2004, he considers himself a recovering political geek with a fierce loyalty to Seahawks football and our region’s plentiful outdoor activities. John’s hobbies include extremely low-budget filmmaking (not porn), and dive bars.

Publisher and co-founder Jake Dobkin