ations and other dtizen groups, and there was continued involvement with Responsible Urban Neighborhood Technology, the Portland integral urban house project that previous RAIN staffers had helped to start in 1978. Most important, there was the transformation of the Rainhouse into a community resource center. The resource center idea began to take shape as the RAIN library took shape in the early months of 1980. By that time, most staffers no longer lived in the Rainhouse, and reorganized living/working arrangements meant extra space for information resources. As John Ferrell and a succession of interns proceeded to organize RAIN'S thousands of books, periodicals, and files, the magazine's role as a local information provider (which actually stretched back to Eco-Net days) grew increasingly prominent. During office hours, the Rainmakers alternated between performing editorial functions and assisting a stream of visitors in search of good information on alcohol fuels, solar greenhouses, raised-bed gardens, or decentralist politics. Re-enter Steve Johnson. Since leaving RAIN in 1977, Steve had undertaken a number of local information projects, including compilation of The Portland Book, a comprehensive community resource directory. Now, together with Steve Rudman (formerly of the Grants- manship Center in Washington, D.C.) and Nancy Cos- per (formerly of the Cascadian Regional Library in Eugene, Ore.), Steve was co-administering a new organization called the Portland Community Resource Center (PCRC). RAIN and PCRC clearly had much in common: each had extensive information resources, considerable staff skills, and a strong desire to assist in the building of community self-reliance in Portland and the Northwest. In late 1980, in an odd twist of RAIN serendipity, the two organizations agreed to merge—much as RAIN and the Full Circle Community Resource Center had agreed to merge some years earlier. Certainly Steve Johnson reflected on the Full Circle analogy as he found his own life circling back into the life of RAIN. The expanded Rain Umbrella, Inc., had a full-time staff of seven and a formidable combined collection of information resources—all crowded into the Rainhouse. Carlotta Collette, Mark Roseland, and John Ferrell— together with Laura Stuchinsky, who had first joined RAIN'S staff as an intern in early 1980—continued to have primary responsibility for the magazine. Steve Johnson, Steve Rudman, and Nancy Cosper had primary responsibility for the new Rain Community Resource Center (RCRC). But there was immediate staff crossfertilization as everyone set about meeting the ambitious goals of a one-and-a-half-year Community Self-Reliance Project, funded in part by RAIN's original benefactor, the Northwest Area Foundation. (For details on the current activities of the Resource Center, see Rob Baird's "State of the Umbrella" article elsewhere in this issue.) Staff cross-fertilization reached its creative peak with the publication of Knowing Home: Studies for a Possible Portland in the fall of 1981. Plans for a 16-page pamphlet on "community self-reliance in Portland" had grown into plans for a full-scale book that traced a wide range of questions relating to community values, economics, ecology, and sense of place. Knowing Home received much favorable attention both locally and nationally. It also did much to establish RAIN in its own city as a voice worthy of attention. But the magazine was now on the verge of another of its "transition" years. During the course of 1982, Carlotta, Mark, and Laura each moved on to new adventures. Finally, late in the year, John left, and the magazine's third-generation staff was completely gone. RAIN's first editor, Steve Johnson, resumed his old role, and was assisted by the entire Rain Community Resource Center staff. The fourth-generation Rainmakers continued to refine some recent changes in RAIN's features and format. With the October/November 1982 issue, the magazine had moved to a bimonthly (as opposed to a 10-issue-per-year) schedule. It had also adopted an expanded 40-page format, added some new features (the "Pacific Northwest Bioregion Report" and an advertising section), and revived an old feature (the "Touch & Go" humor column that had last appeared in RAIN in 1976). To these changes, the new magazine staff added regular review sections for organizations and periodicals, a "Calendar" section, and a redesigned "Rush" page. Oct./Nov. 1983 RAIN Page 9 The early eighties saw an evolution in RAIN's relationship to self-reliance efforts in its own community. By 1983, as RAIN approached its 10th year, it could look back upon hundreds of articles and thousands of reviews on almost every conceivable subject. It could also look back upon three separate subtitles: Monthly Newsletter of Eco-Net," "A Monthly Bulletin Board," and "Journal of Appropriate Technology." But in an important sense, RAIN was still what it had always been: a magazine deeply concerned with information— the kind of information that could help its readers to "lead more simple and satisfying lives, make their communities and regions more economically self-reliant, and build a society that is durable, just, and ecologically sound." On a more personal level, RAIN had evolved into a rich bond of common experience for dozens of former editors, office managers, graphic artists, interns, contributors, and stringers. Each of these people, whether mentioned by name in this brief history or not, left something of value at RAIN: an enduring idea, a confin- uing feature title, a graphic style, an improved office procedure—or a mysterious box in the Rainhouse basement. To all of the former Rainmakers, we dedicate this history and extend our thanks. □ □
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