Who Is Leslie Jones?

Recently Jon Sampson relied on Leslie to polish a draft he'd written about some of his experiences as a Boy Scout, an Army Officer, and a retiree. It was his own version of his obituary, actually, but he's only 73, so should last another 20 years to match his father's longevity. Anyway, he had met Leslie before, when he checked in to Honeyman Park where she was working as  park ranger.  But then he asked about Leslie, who gave us the short version in the following paragraphs:

Man, coastal Finns sound like a bunch of rabble rousers. 

As for me. Well, growing up in Alaska I went skiing a lot. It's cold and dark, so a winter sport is a must to avoid cabin fever. Nevertheless, there was a lot of indoor time and I read voraciously, still do, journaled too much, started and didn't finish writing short stories and fairy tales - that's probably how I wound up pursuing this writerly thing still today.

I still like to get outside when I can -- hiking and backpacking and beach-combing are favored activities, although I don't get to enjoy them as much since I started living the city life in college. I cook a lot and also like to eat out a lot.Here in Texas you can get great Mexican, Tex-Mex, fusion cuisine served out of food trucks, and there's a great Vietnamese pho place walking-distance from my apartment.

Jobs? Being a ranger aide at Honeyman State Park was a pretty good gig, but journalism has been good to me too. Through my various journalism jobs I've been able to visit North Korea, far west China, rural Chinese villages. I've met NFL players and chatter on the phone with pop stars. And I've gleaned life stories from people from all walks of life. The pay is crap, but it's never dull. After college I lived in Seattle for a summer, Taipei for a year, Shanghai for 2 years, and Beijing for six months. 

I live with my boyfriend James. We've been dating since high school i.e. for a decade. He's a graphic designer in graduate school for advertising at the moment. We're hoping to move back to the west coast when he graduates this coming spring, but we're open to all major US cities, or to going back to Shanghai if things don't pan out here. 

Cheers,

Leslie