Mountain Profile: Dr. Paula Noel Macdhubhsidhe (Macfie)

Place of birth: Salem, Oregon

How long on the Mountain? 56 years; my entire life, as we have always had a cabin on the ZigZag and we have had two of them.

If you were not brought here as a child, what brought you to the Mountain? I was adopted at a month old and the family that raised me brought me to the Old Forest from the time I was an infant.

Profession: Philosopher, Researcher, Consultant, and Homeowner Board Member of Proud Ground (Community Land Trust).

Other professions: I am an advocate for people with disabilities as I navigate several of my own.

Favorites:

• Movie/and or Musical: Movie = Whale Rider and The Secret of Roan Inish + Musical = Moulin Rouge

• Actress and Actor: Hannah Waddingham and Caleb Landry Jones

• TV show: Hands down it’s TED LASSO.

• Book: The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You by Dorothy Bryant and Dreamtime by John Moriarty

• Type of music: House Music all night long! GenX club kid from Portland and I LOVE house dance music. I STILL like to go out dancing! I helped start the “rave scene” in Portland in 1989-1990, and I have promoted Reggae and Irish bands. I love KMHD and I have recently been listening to Laufey thanks to my daughter.

• Food: Koya Kitchen on the Mountain (the BEST food on the mountain plus the most righteous gift shop and selection of stickers and mushrooms) and Cibo (Italian) in Portland: chef’s kiss EVERY time I eat there.

• Hobbies: Medicinal gardening, remedy making, hot springs + geothermal pools, Doodles, puzzles, mushrooms, disco balls, producing music, vintage thrifting, and dancing to house music!

If offered a dream vacation, where would you go, and why? Iceland because I have been dreaming it. I LOVE the variety of landscapes, I love walking the edge of volcanic craters and I LOVE soaking in mineral springs and geothermal pools!

Best lesson learned as a child: A bear DOES crap in the woods and patience IS a virtue (thanks dad for both).

Defining moment in your life or your greatest accomplishment: Giving unexpected birth to two daughters and raising them on my own with disabilities and the support of my parents. Completing my PhD in Recovery of Indigenous Mind. AND being the first female in history to patent a suppository mold invention.

A memorable dinner: Sitting at a dinner table in graduate school at Volcano House on the edge of Kilauea Crater with my dissertation committee - Choctaw Elder Mary Jones, Hawaiian Chief Hale Harry Kealohalani Makua and Oneida/Gaul Elder Dr. Pamela Colorado - eating steak. And realizing I am one of them and an Elder in training.

A funny moment from your life that you can share: Swimming with dolphins at Ho’okena Beach on Winter Solstice in 2004, getting caught in a wave swimming in and having the ocean spit me out with my bikini completely flipped up (now naked) and someone walking by saying, “Oh my, it’s a mermaid!” AND we actually come from a lineage of selkies from Iona, Scotland!

If you could invite anyone (past or present) to dinner, who would it be, and why? My grandma, my brother, and Hale Makua who have all passed away and are now Ancestors. And Jesus. Dinner with Jesus. I want to check the facts lol.

Describe yourself in one word: WarriorWizard (it’s one word lol)

When you're not reading The Mountain Times, what book/author/magazine/other do you read: Currently = The Hobbit by Tolkien, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, ANYTHING Archeoastronomy (my favorite topic) and whole food recipe books.

If your life were made into a play or movie, what would the title be: Remembering Our Ancestors

Pet peeve: Cell phones that are not flip phones and lack of potlucks + old school house parties. Sleeping in rooms that don’t have windows that open.

Bad habit you’d like to break: Info-dumping, feeling socially awkward and cringing at small-talk.

Famous person(s) you have met, and the circumstances: I presented at the State of the World Forum in NYC in September 2000 with Gorbachov, Queen Noor and other world leaders ~ met Jane Goodall in the Ceremonial Room with elders and have her stickers and shirts from the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network.

Favorite quote: My Kupuna (doctoral advisor who was Chief of Kilauea Crater) = “Love all that you see, live what you feel, and know what you possess because what you possess, possesses you.” ~Hale Harry Kealohalani Makua~ He also said, “Choose Easy.”

Favorite part of The Mountain Times: Getting to my mailbox and seeing The Mountain Times in it and the excitement to get to the cabin, get unpacked, put on my slippers and get some tea – and read it cover to cover!