By Mandi Johnson

Weekly editor

Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world, I took the midnight train going anywhere. No, wait, that’s a Journey song. Huh.

Well, at any rate, I am legally Amanda, but I go by Mandi. Mandi Lou if I’m feeling especially southern.

I am “from” southern Oregon, Grants Pass to be exact. I use from in quotes because I’m really an Army brat who has lived in six states (that statistic includes Washington).

Anyway, I graduated Southern Oregon University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in communication, with an emphasis in photojournalism. The “science” part of the degree stems from my passion for all things geology. You may remember reading my article about my reaction to December’s earthquake a few weeks back.

I’ve spent much of the past four-and-a-half years in a variety of customer service positions, while searching for a newspaper to give me the opportunity to show off my mad skills. I couldn’t be more thankful that Colleen Armstrong, our publisher, found me. I also have year-and-a-half experience in graphic design. I worked for a jewelry-supply company named Fire Mountain Gems, until I was laid off in April 2014.

On a more personal note, I’m a geek, love going to comic conventions and my all time favorite movie is “Labyrinth” (I was absolutely devastated when David Bowie died). I love a large variety of music (no, seriously, I know everyone says that, but I actually mean it). I also have a comic strip I color called Yuki the Destroyer (it’s about cats). I love animals, especially my two cats, Mistie and Mika, and wolves. I love to travel, go to concerts and play video games on my Super Nintendo, N64 and PlayStation. Well, that’s me in a nutshell.

I look forward to getting to know everyone and learning more about the community. You can contact me any time at mjohnson@islandsweekly.com.