Esmeralda Rupp-Spangle is a photographer, writer, and multimedia artist who was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. Aside from a five-year stint in northern Washington, she has lived in Southeast Portland her whole life. She was fortunate enough to be raised by poets and artists who coddled her desires to both write and make strange art since she was a child. Esmeralda's self-published a book of memoirs, Diary of a Pet Fiend, is available on lulu.com. She lives contentedly in an old house in Felony Flats with her amazing boyfriend and a small herd of cats. She blogs regularly under the username esmeralda_m at livejournal.