By Mary Pannabecker Steiner

When did you first move to Bluffton? Why?

I moved to Bluffton when I was 11 years old with my family. Dad had bought what used to be Gratz's Shoe Store. We lived in Swanton, Ohio, prior to that. [As an aside, underneath one of the windows in what used to be Bazzy's Shoes is one of those old machines that would X-ray your foot.]

When did you graduate from BHS?

'83! '83! EightyEightyEightyEighty 83!!

Share some favorite stories about your school years: teachers, classmates, silly things that happened, things you did that no one ever knew about.

Band was one of my favorite things about my school years in Bluffton. It's an experience I appreciate even more as an adult. I want to play music with friends today! Band camp, football games, regional competitions, bus rides, crashing cymbals and four part bass drum lines. Eight steps between yard lines. Drum cadences up and down College Avenue. The shared experience felt so like it bonded us all together.

My memories are so many bits and pieces otherwise. I have very very positive feelings about my school years but some of my strongest memories as I sit here now are more random. Still strong.

I once threw up in the hallway at Beaverdam Middle School. It was after the last bell and the halls were full. This was in front of EVERYONE. Cori Hardesty asked me if I was okay. Oh, the teenage humiliation of it all.

I had so many truly good teachers. I feel lucky for the solidity of my education.

You went to ONU to study pharmacy, right? When did you switch to law? Why? What was the most important thing you learned in college?

I was the oldest of five to an immigrant father. I knew what was expected of me. Dad picked pharmacy and I complied. I lasted a semester. The switch to pre-law was a combination of actual interest and a further attempt to keep making my father happy. Didn't outlearn that for awhile. The thing I value most from my college education was my major in Philosophy. That truly did, and still does, satisfy me. That gave me tools that surpass the "vocational education" aspect that is law school. I am prouder of that degree.

Where did you work in the summers or were you always in school?

I worked at Suter's summers, even through college. Or there was always Bazzy's Shoes.

You then went to the University of Toledo...what made you choose UT over some other law school? What kind of legal work did you want to do?

I chose UT in part because they accepted me. And it was an inexpensive alternative to another private school.

How did you get from Ohio to the Indian reservation? When did you decide to leave lawyering behind you? Do you think you might return to that at some point?

I wanted to get away from home. I knew I wanted to work with the poor all through law school. I was never interested in corporate lawyering. I moved to Arizona because my friend Nita, an old college roommate from Ohio Northern, and her husband were living there and offered to house me until I found a job.

The Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation had its own Legal Services office. The reservation was an hour outside of Tucson. I interviewed and got the job on the same day. I loved my years there and I grew up a lot. It gave me a firsthand experience with the class issues in this country as well as with race.

For my job, I lived on the reservation. My cases ranged from family law, housing, wills, Social Security representation etc. One of the first clients I ever saw on the rez was the wife of one of the tribal judges who wanted a divorce from her husband. That was jumping in feet first! New lawyer against a sitting judge. Yuck!

They reconciled before the divorce happened and the judge and I became good friends. I have dear dear friends back on the rez. I haven't visited in years but now that Mom is on the eve of spending her first winter in Arizona, I don't think a visit is far off.

I ended up in Minnesota through an old law school friend who lived there. I had been seeing a lot of domestic abuse related cases on the reservation and wanted to get more specialized training in that area.

My friend, Kate, knew of a two-year funded position with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services in St. Paul, Minnesota, that specialized in only domestic abuse representation and training. Once in Minnesota, I fell in love with the cities and life here and stayed. That was 1994.

Much of the next eight years was focused on working either as a representative for battered women and children or managing a non-profit legal program for battered women. That work took its toll on me emotionally. By 2002 I wanted to get out of the law, get out of working in the system. Even that took a few years. Changing careers was a challenge.

How did you end up in Minnesota? Tell us about your current job. What do you like about the Twin Cities? How is it like/unlike Bluffton?

Now, I work in a small cafe and coffee shop. There is a small staff and I love the community of it. And I love that it I never take it home at the end of the day. I am never emotionally burdened serving coffee. I love Minnesota. I love living and working in St. Paul/Minneapolis for the diversity of the city and the intellectual and emotional stimulation living here gives me.

I like being around a lot of different kinds of people. It is like Bluffton in that even for a big city you can have your community and everyone in it can know you and care about you.

What are you driving these days?

I know you just got a new car and recently got a new bike.

Do you bike to work? How do you get to work when the snow hits? I drive a 2003 Pontiac Vibe. I try and ride my bike to work as often as possible. The commute is different in a big city by bike but we have a very bike commuter-friendly city. There are lots of bike trails that allow many commuters to not have to be on the surface streets. Like many snow cities, life goes on when the snow flies. Some people bike all year round. I don't.

You've also trained as a bartender. Why did you get into that and have you ever professionally tended bar?

I did a couple gigs. But bartender hours are too hard for me. I need my sleep during the night, not the day. That is a whole other life, bar hours. At 40+, not for me anymore. I enjoyed being a coat check "girl" way more. But even that was too late a gig for me.

Trying to figure out what to do to craft a living after eliminating the law was a challenge. I sold high end furniture for a year, too.

You're an artist. Tell me about your artwork -- what type of media are you working in? Do you hope to sell your work and/or have you already done so?

I do a lot of pen and ink work. Drawing and sketching. Any journaling I do is always in a sketchbook format. I also love to paint and most of that is acrylic or mixed media. A few years back I got into doing mixed media work with broken auto glass.

Now, I like to work on big brightly colored graphic pieces. I haven't sold anything yet, but I am still producing things that I would want to sell. I will be putting some pictures up on Facebook by mid-December.

I have also designed and painted a 9' x 40' mural on the side of a barn in Wisconsin. I enjoyed that process a lot and would like to do more wall size work.

When did you most recently visit Bluffton? How often do you do that? How has the town changed since your childhood?

I most recently was in Bluffton in September for a family wedding. The town had changed and it hasn't. When I was growing up in Bluffton there were no fast food restaurants and not quite as many housing developments as there are now. But in lots of ways, very little has changed.

Main Street lined with flags is always one of the visual memories that comes up when I think of my home town.

You're quite vocal as a feminist --I'm not sure that's the right word, but you know what I mean. What does that mean to you? How is that a part of you?

I am not nearly as politically active as I was in my 20's and 30's, but I have remained active in Amnesty International, a relationship that started in college. It was hard, once I'd done anti-oppression work, to not have it inform a lot of different parts of me.

I first became politicized in college, like lots of people. This led to leaving law school with the intent to do serve the under-served. Working on the reservation with Native Americans (American apartheid) was a whole other layer of understanding. Years of working for justice for battered women means I rarely can keep quiet about the systems in place everywhere that oppress or exploit women.

I am a humanist so by definition also a feminist. I believe in human rights, gender equality, racial equality and rationality.

During your college years, you often brought your "international" friends to our house...Nita, Pramesh, etc.Do you stay in touch with them?

Nita and her family live in Hawaii. Her daughter that was born when I was in Arizona is now in college. I still talk to Nita regularly and never lost touch with her. Pramesh is lost. Both Nita and I have tried to reconnect and find Pramesh many times over the years but no luck so far. I wonder about him a lot.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? In 10 years, I want a life that lets me make a living not tied to one place. I want to deepen my existing relationships with my friends and family.

I see myself spending lumps of time in all the places I love, Minnesota, Bluffton, Arizona. Maybe I'll have a little Airstream I pull around.

I guess I had better get painting. What I ask for could be what I get!