Kathleen Vyn

Grizzly Guy
Ranger Rick, 1999

How would you like to be dressed if you met a grizzly bear? How about a suit of armor? That's what a scrap metal dealer named Troy Hurtabise wears and here's why: In 1983 he was attacked by a grizzly bear. It knocked him down and walked away.
After that close encounter, Troy spent seven years and $150,000 building a grizzly-proof suit. The suit is made of metal, rubber,plastic and an inner layer of air bags.

Starwood Program Earns High Marks
Sales and Marketing News and Strategies
October 1999


The Starwood Preferred Guest Loyalty Program launched in February with a $55 million marketing budget. Just four months later, it was voted the No. 1 Frequent Guest program by USA Today. The Starwood program now has a grand total of 3 million active members, occupancy rates at Starwood properties have increased almost three percent and, most notably, program members have spent nearly 20 percent more at the hotels than nonmembers.

Powercise or Powder keg?
American Health, November 1990

Over the past few years, more and more fitness centers have incorporated bounding exercises or "plyometrics" into their aerobics classes. Often advertised as "power moves", they're used to make the workouts more demanding and varied. But some fitness experts worry that these moves may cause injuries.
Bounding drills were developed by Soviet track coaches to improve the springing ability of their triple jumpers and high jumpers. These drills range from ankle hops, during which the athlete jumps upward on one foot while extending the ankle joint, to high-intensity depth jumps during which the athlete jumps off the box, then immediately springs forward upon hitting the floor.

Inn's Ambience, solitude are the stuff of romance
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, February 4, 1996

Hazel Green- If you ask J. Orion Brunk, owner of Ambrosia Inn, what there is to do at his inn, he'll say "nothing."
That's because he created his country inn five years ago as a romantic getaway for couples.
He's spent years perfecting the ambience of the inn, flower-laced walkways with bannisters and trellises and pre-Raphaelite-style fountains, Bird feeders hang from the rafters outside the dining room. Beside the swimming pool is a large white treehouse.

Playing the Name Game: Networking
Office Solutions, November 2000

In business,it's not who you know, it's who knows you, according to Winny Ary, president of the Ary Group.
A former vice president of sales, Ary is now training salespeople in successful networking techniques for companies like A,T,&T, Bank One, Spring and Levi Strauss. In 1995, her "Prospecting and Developing New Business" sales training program proved so successful that Ashland Chemical, Allied International and Steelcase, Inc. asked her to develop customized versions for their companies. Her book "We Shoot Every Third Salesperson- The Second One Just Left" was published in 1997 and is now in its third printing.

Simply Stickley
Colorado Homes & Lifestyles, February 1995

Like the decor of the Victorian era, the design of the 1980's was flashy and extravagant. But as a reaction to 19th century excess, the pendulum of style swung the simple Arts & Crafts movement into popularity. And now after the opulent 80's, the spare, well-crafted style is back.

Starr & Strips Forever
The San Francisco Examiner, 1993

Like her character Brenda Starr, Dale Messick, illustrator and writer, doesn't seem to get old. At 89 she's busy writing another strip, Granny Glamour, and her autobiography, "Still Stripping at Eighty."

Last year the Santa Rosa resident was honored by the Southern California Cartoonists' Association in La Jolla as the "Grand Dame of the Comics." This past April a retrospective of her work was shown in Chicago where she lived while drawing the strip.

The Iconmaker
The Chicago Tribune. Tempo, 1984

Nativity scenes and angels are not just a Christian event for Sorin Belciu, a Romanian iconographer, who has been painting the interior of the 10-year-old St. Joseph's Ukrainian Church on the Northwest Side since March 1984. He will not finish until sometime in 1986. During the time he is painting, he and the congregation will pray and fast. His paintings are sermons in color in the Orthodox Christian tradition, depicting the mystery of God, the moment when God intervenes in human affairs.

The Prairie Community
published by Julian Messner, A Division of Simon & Schuster, 1978.

The Prairie Community is a fast moving book probably appealing to 3rd to 7th graders. Each sentence paints a picture, "The grass ocean is gone and nothing can bring it back," but Ms. Vyn and Mr. Ivenbaum have made a good try. Judith Juers, The Education Committee, THe Illinois Audubon Society

Spring in the High Sierras
published by Julian Messner, A Division of Simon & Schuster, 1980

A National Park Service helicopter hovered over the Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park. Its rotor blades smacked the air in a wide circle. In the cockpit, two park rangers, a young man and woman, looked through the canopy of the Sierra Nevada mountains below them. They were searching for a lost hiker.
The mountains wind through California for 500 miles and include within their two other national parks--Sequoia and Kings Canyon. The slope climbs to over 14,450 feet. from the warm foothills to the cold summits. Yosemite is in the central part of the mountains, 150 miles east of San Francisco. From Yosemite National Park southward, the mountains are sometimes called the High Sierras. All the highest peaks are in this area.