Who the heck is Amanda Reckonwith anyway?
Here it is, in no particular order:

• She has been in the computer-book publishing business for the past eight years, mostly with Peachpit Press where she befriended the bestselling author / mother-extraordinaire Robin Williams who dedicated this appropriately basement-leveled page just for Amanda.

• She has published her newsletter, The Pit Stop, to 7,000 academic educators across the US

• She is an outreach coordinator/sex educator for the STOP AIDS Project of San Francisco, CA

• She has been a freelance writer for the Oakland Tribune newspaper

• She is a former member of the MBLGA (multi-cultural, bisexual, lesbian, gay alliance) at UC Berkeley

• She completed UC Berkeley Extension's copyediting program (both mechanical and substantive editing) and continues in the overall publishing program

• She was the literary associate for the Eureka Theatre Company (a progressive, experimental, nonprofit theatre organization which originally commissioned Tony Kushner's two-time Tony award-winning Angels in America)

• She possesses a B.A. in English literature (with an emphasis on modern drama and creative writing) from the University of California, Santa Barbara

• She is a published poet in a local anthology of aspiring writers

• an avid volunteer supporter for the following East Bay social services: The Names Project, Harvey Milk Institute, GLAAD, Pacific Center for Human Growth

• She contributed to the press release for Frameline's Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 1998

• She worked on the promotions committee for WiGsToCk WeSt (a fundraising benefit for The STOP AIDS Project of San Francisco)

• She has worked as a Jean-Paul Gaultier-sponsored Macy's fashion model for the 1996 runway show/ presentation for Le Male cologne launch

• She was Match.com's month-long featured member for outstanding dating qualifications

• She has been crowned Ms Delores Beach in the summer of 1997, representing San Francisco's queer community, as elected by The STOP AIDS Project and the Mission Delores park crowds

• She has been featured in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bay Times, B.A.R. (Bay Area Reporter), TIME Magazine, Q-San Francisco; and featured live in the public service documentary "In the Life" for PBS--all for her above-and-beyond, extraordinary public service endeavors.

But there's more:
The aforementioned experiences do not solely comprise Amanda Reckonwith's eligibility for the authorship of the Come Down To My Level advice page. For the past four years she's been volunteering with the STOP AIDS Project of San Francisco where she continues to do outreach in specific communities, asking strangers to confess all aspects of their sexual histories. As you can imagine, there's very little she hasn't heard; and that which happens to be new to her she finds fascinating and is eager to learn more. The primary target audience of the STOP AIDS Project outreach endeavors is the young, gay and bisexual male community of San Francisco. They do, however, interview women and absolutely everything in between--but the primary focus group continues to be the former, the most directly affected by HIV and the AIDS pandemic. Amanda's sensitivity to the multi-cultural, bisexual, transgender, lesbian and gay community is about as broad and unrestricted as these communities themselves tend to be. She thrives in areas of diversity, and enthusiastically accepts the challenges involved in maintaining strong dialogues between polarized as well nonpolarized communities. Amanda's experiences in outreach work have provided her with a security heretofore unparalleled in any of her other experiences and that enables her to communicate and articulate with today's drug abusers and medical students; cross-dressers and homophobes; street hustlers and aspiring clergy members; right-wing fundamentalists and AIDS activists; homeless persons and entrepreneurials--and all done in a compassionate, understanding, nonjudgemental manner. Whenever appropriate, she offers resources for solutions to people who need help beyond her capabilities; and whenever possible, she conveys solid, productive advice to people who just need that "third set of ears." And above all else--although not directly evident heretofore in this particular bio--Amanda Reckonwith has a witty zest inherent in her advice that lends to a particularly enjoyable read for most, if not all, audiences.

Further details involving Amanda's qualifications can be directed to: Jimbo Norrena, mackiemac@aol.com

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