Great Profiles

At first glance, observing the Larsons is like watching any other family. With an enthused mom, energetic dad, adorable daughter, two affectionate dogs, and a nice house, they seem to live every family’s dream of a normal American life. Watch the Larsons for a little bit longer and you’ll see how things aren’t quite as normal. It began nearly six years ago with the birth of their daughter Mikaslyn.

“We really didn’t think there was anything wrong until she was about three months,” says Mikaslyn’s mother, Kristine. “It was almost like she didn’t have a backbone.” In fact, by the time Mikaslyn reached three months she still couldn’t hold herself up or push herself up on her arms. Rick and Kristine took Mikaslyn to her doctor in Missoula to find out what was wrong. They didn’t know it was going to be the first of many appointments and doctor visits for her. Full profile

He may be in a tepee. Or on an abandoned boulevard. Or in the governor’s office. Or perhaps at a desk. Maybe even in a cathedral in Helena. But one day, 30 years ago, Steve Loken found himself on the shore of Lake Koocanusa and that one day led to many things.

In the mid-1970s, Loken was bicycling across Montana. Sixteen miles out of Libby, he stopped at Lake Koocanusa. The mighty stone wall of the dam had been erected, but the reservoir had not been filled. And there was the source, the rushing Kootenai River, that was soon to power the dam’s turbines.

He recounted, “All of the reservoir impoundment area behind the dam was empty except for this silver river flowing at the bottom of it. There were just smoking piles of slash and clearcuts for 90 miles along both sides of that river.” Full profile

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With the sun shining down, and trout rising for mayflies, Dan Shepherd can’t help but smile as he gets ready to make the perfect cast. Standing in the middle of one of his favorite rivers, he has no idea that this will be a day he will never forget.

The river peacefully flowing by all around him, Shepherd spots a large fish rising near the bank. His excitement building, he wades a few steps to his left to get in position to make a cast. As he bring his rod forward his line shoots out and he lays his fly down perfectly. All he has to do is wait for it to float right over the fish’s head. He holds his breath. Time seems to stand still. All of a sudden, the river explodes around his fly as a monster cutthroat trout devours it. The fight is on. Full profile

John Masterson, like an ever-growing number of Missoulians, is not from Montana. He moved here in the summer of 1993 to pursue a graduate degree from the University of Montana. Since then he has entwined himself with several areas of the community, from his volunteer work with the Montana chapter of the National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws (NORML), to his successful web-hosting company, Modwest Inc.

Masterson earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Miami in his home state of Florida. In the summer of 1993, he came to Missoula where he earned a master of arts in communications studies at UM.

In the summer of 1998, Masterson felt he had something to contribute to the long-standing struggle to end the prohibition of marijuana. He approached NORML about resurrecting the Montana chapter of the organization. NORML is a non-profit organization founded in 1970 that works to change marijuana laws by lobbying state and local government and educating the public about the many benefits of the plant. Full profile

“Caller number 2, what country do you want to go to?” Call KBGA on Friday nights to request a song during The Mandela Experience and you may well hear that question. Mandela Leola van Eeden, globetrotter and junior marketing major at The University of Montana, has a passion for music. Through her extensive travels abroad, visiting more than 150 countries, Mandela has brought world culture to UM with her weekly radio program on KBGA and the didgeridoo club in which she has created.

It’s not often you hear someone from Montana say how fortunate they are to have been born in the United States. Mandela was supposed to be born in South Africa where her parents lived. By chance, Mandela’s mother, a flight attendant, happened to be in San Francisco when she went into labor, giving Mandela immediate citizenship. “I was lucky. I got citizenship easily. It took my dad 13 years to get his,” said Mandela. Soon after she was born, the family returned to South Africa where Mandela spent her far-from-ordinary childhood. Full profile

The dining area of the Hot Club Coffee Shop in Troy, Mont., is already packed to the gills at quarter to seven. Although the concert isn’t scheduled to begin for another 15 minutes, latecomers will have a difficult time to find seating. The buzz of discrepant conversations among the various patrons fills the area. Waitresses, unaccustomed to the flurry of business, hurry back and forth with drinks and dishes.

The venue is a simple green building in need of a new coat of paint with a gray metal roof. However, the plain exterior belies its true spirit. Guitars, music posters, and landmark rock and roll records line the walls of the shop. The walls are painted with warm colors and the lighting is generally kept low. A large stage is located to the left, while patrons can order food and coffee at a small bar in the far right corner. The Hot Club markets itself to music lovers and reveals an unexpected undercurrent of culture within the small town’s borders.

At 7 p.m. sharp, the lights dim down and the conversation quiets. Spotlights turn to the stage, where Peter Mason has taken the center, sitting on a stool with his acoustic six-string guitar on his knee. Behind him, Angelo Chiverinni, the son of the coffee shop’s owners, leans forward in a folding chair with a djembe between his legs. Full profile

For the University of Montana bookstore in Missoula, and for university bookstores throughout the nation, there is no busier time during the semester than the first week of class.

Woe to the young freshman, slow and naïve, who is trampled beneath the heels of the upperclassman during the great stampede toward anthologies, pens, erasers, notebooks, all the shiny jewels of academia that lie on shelves like gemstones at a jeweler’s. But the most sought-after gem of all is the textbook.

The textbooks will go on to a variety of uses. Students use them for doorstops, propping up various pieces of furniture and technology, fending off attacks from their roommate, initiating attacks on their roommates…almost anything goes. Full profile

A dull, dark green tattoo etched between the knuckles of Jonathan Saltz’s thumb reads H.C.F. 4. It stands for hope, courage, faith. The number 4 is his lucky number. The self-inflicted permanent mark is a constant reminder of just how far he has come and how far he will go.

A rugged pink scar cuts up from the corner of his mouth to the middle of his right cheek; a mass of thick brown hair tossed in a chaotic fashion shows the untamed spirit of a young man. School is the only real thing that keeps him focused. Being a good student. It is the constant urge to succeed that drives him. He is unwilling to fail, reluctant to hit rock bottom again. Full profile

I realized that writing could be about the contemporary world rather than Wordsworth or Shakespeare or Pope or Chaucer and that you could write about running around looking for drugs and pussy and getting drunk and I went, oh yeah, of course.

–Bryan Di Salvatore on the day he decided to become a writer:

Probably not the most traditional response, but then again, Bryan Di Salvatore is not a traditional writer. He didn’t grow up wanting to be a writer. If you cast a gaze over his 6-foot, 230-pound frame, writer would be the last thing to come to mind. When he walks you can see his knees are stiff, victims of numerous injuries. It could be the breadth of chest or the powerful shoulders that throw people off, chances are just as good it’s the horseshoe moustache and the unkempt tussle of gray hair. In the deep South he’s even been mistaken for Wild Bill Hickock. “Bryan reminds me of the Wild West outlaw: not only does he wear the prototypical moustache,” said University of Louisiana at Monroe English graduate student Shane Thompson, “but he’s also damn accurate when he needs to discharge a few words.” Full profile