A long-time observer, critic, and champion of the local scene, Audrey Van Buskirk has spent the last 20 years rooting out Portland's hottest restaurants, coolest bars, quirkiest monuments, and wildest places. She has paddled the Deschutes to the Columbia, survived Hood to Coast, eaten crickets, pondered the lessons of Star Wars as seen through the eyes of a five-year-old, and explored the metaphysics of pole dancing. She has also been a writer and editor for Willamette Week, the Portland Tribune, MIX, Portland Monthly, the Santa Fe Reporter, and the Seattle Weekly. She lives in Southeast Portland with her husband and three sons, and she has a bird on her phone.