Q+A
Laura Amiton
WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING?
Owner of Healthy Pets Northwest (the Alberta
Street location)
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN PORT-
LAND? WHAT DO I LOVE/HATE ABOUT
IT?
I was born and raised in Portland. I did leave
for three years to get my second bachelors... and
then moved back.
I love how Portland seems to draw creative
people to it — like a magnet. I love how open-
minded we are and how crazy happy we can be.
What truly does bother me about Portland at
this time is how unclean the streets are. For a
moderate-sized city, not a large one, and one that
claims to be so environmental, I am appalled and
downright outraged at how much trash is strewn
about all over the place. This is a newer problem.
Portland has lost some of its pride. My first im-
pression of our city, should I be a tourist would
most certainly be littered, well, with litter.
WHAT'S YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING MO-
MENT OR PASSION THAT NO ONE WOULD
GUESS?
I am already living my passion. I love my store
and my customers, both two and four-legged. A
very close second would be being a women's bas-
ketball coach.
WHO DO YOU LOOK UP TO IN THE GAY
COMMUNITY OR HISTORICALLY?
As a teenager in the 80's, I idolized (and still do)
groups like The Eurythmics, most notably, An-
nie Lennox. Music is such a conduit and Annie,
being so open-minded herself and so androgy-
nous — I was just mesmerized. There was some-
one who stood for being different and it just
resonated with me on so many levels.
Photo by Horace Long
HAVE YOU EVER EXPERIENCED GAY
BASHING?
The most noticeable was when I was fired from
my first job out of college. I know it was because
they found out I was gay. The reason I was told
never lined up and I was pretty angry for a long
time and I let it play with my self esteem for far
too long. §
December 2012
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