Member Name: Justin Burton
Location: Jersey City
Beard Type (style): Thick, bushy, redish.
Member since:2007

Do you feel like you are treated different with a beard (by:girlfriend/boyfriends, the public, your pets etc)?
One of my favorite parts of having a bearded grill is the fact that panhandlers tend to overlook me. Either they're intimidated by the beard or they think I'm one of them.

Who are your beard heroes?
I would have to say my brother Dan, who happens to be a new member this year. He's growing a beard now, but in the Orlando area, he's renowned for sporting the weird cousin of the beard, the mustache. To me, the stache area is the most obtrusive part of the beard and he managed to grow one out for over a year once. It was pretty inspiring.

Being a man who works in the digital realm (i.e. on a computer all hours of the day), does the hermit lifestyle aid in your beard growing? It must be said that annually you sprout an extremely impressive beard.
I would say it definitely helps. Most workplaces wouldn't be ok with me growing one so massive, but I haven't had any complaints, not yet. Also I'm a freelancer, so it helps me stand out among all the other bald faces. I haven't kept track of the numbers or anything, but I'm sure the ratio of me getting job offers to the length of my beard are astounding.

Any words of wisdom for your fellow members?
Growing a beard is like making love. You cut it off too short, and nobody is happy. Grow hard, grow long, grow true.

Member Name: Ben Ruggiero
Location: Austin, Texas
Beard Type (style): The Hulihee, extended friendly chops, the Pushbroom.
Member since:Early to mid- 19th century

Do you feel like you are treated different with a beard (by:girlfriend/boyfriends, the public, your pets etc)?
Absolutely. I'm not even sure how to treat myself. Honestly almost nobody has any idea how to receive this one, and I live Austin. I often grow mustaches just for the enjoyment of being greeted as "Sir" by conveyance store clerks but the Hulihee is a total transformation. My dad whom has had a beard my entire life made fun of it.

Who are your beard heroes?
Frederic Church, young Alexander Graham Bell, Nicholas the II, and since he began growing one at the age of 14, Robert Ruggiero. I have a lifelong emasculating jealousy of my brothers shaping options.

Artistic minds have often used their beards as canvases to put forth their own personal or political agenda?
Which artist of group of artist best echos your beliefs about facial hair? All of the men from the Hudson River School Painters. I've come to see their movement as a period of "Bromanticism". This beard is in fact made in direct reference to recreate photographs of Frederic Church for an art project entitled "After Icebergs with a Painter" on representation so I think that it actually qualifies as a "conceptual beard", or "conceptual bearding"

Any words of wisdom for your fellow members?
The hulihee is not for the faint of heart. It's pretty low on the Beard Trustworthiness scale- especially when worn grown out. I haven't trimmed much for months so it happens very painfully every time I have a burger. Unless you're looking to speak more clearly into your most recent invention -the telephone- or need to be ready at a moments notice to participate in a Dickensian Festival or Civil War re-enactment there is no functional reason to shave only your chin and loose out on your conversational handle. It is almost impossible for people to take you seriously. With your chin exposed does this actually qualify as a beard? Straws are your friends. Carry a handkerchief.

Member Name: Burnside
Location: Currently Bay Area, but Manhattan, normally
Beard Type (style): Variable, but most often Natural with the occasional Abstract Impression.
Member since:Year Two, or was it One? How do you score that?

Do you feel like you are treated different with a beard (by:girlfriend/boyfriends, the public, your pets etc)?
I'm not going to lie, the current ladyfriend is a bit of a hater, but in past seasons the beard has been very, very good to me. Let's leave it at that.

Who are your beard heroes?
Tom Waits on any of his album covers from the 1970s, Bukowski (and more recently ChinaskiSez), Richard Nixon (the guy lost a presidential election over stubble, man)

Do you find your facial hair helps or hinders you in journalistic endeavors? Do you find subjects more intimidated, impressed or even comforted by your beard? Please explain.
Well, I have to say it has caused some trouble. In full wintertime Natural growth-mode I have lost an interveiwee or two in my full cheek locks, only to find them days later, clinging to my beard hairs like a stray piece of pork. At least they were kept warm.

Any words of wisdom for your fellow members?
Never dye your beard. Never try to make money from writing. Look at least one way before crossing the street ("both" is over-rated and cliche).