{"id":21,"date":"2012-06-27T01:38:22","date_gmt":"2012-06-27T01:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2012.grandrapids.wordcamp.org\/?page_id=21"},"modified":"2012-11-06T08:46:09","modified_gmt":"2012-11-06T12:46:09","slug":"speakers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/grandrapids.wordcamp.org\/2012\/speakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Speakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t

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Aaron Holbrook<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Aaron is a Chicago WordPress web developer\/designer, gamer and father<\/a>. He builds amazing WordPress themes and applications<\/a> with his company A7 Web Design and has been working with WordPress since 2005.<\/p>\n

With clients across the globe, he has had the opportunity to work on many different types of WordPress sites and has discovered his passion for all things WordPress.<\/p>\n

When Aaron\u2019s not coding, he loves eating hot wings, drinking cold beer, watching Day[9] and listening to Merlin Mann<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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AJ Morris<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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I\u2019ve been involved with WordPress since 2006 and evangelize it whenever I get the chance. WordPress is awesome and I’m the only MI resident I know of that has a WordPress license plate! I use WordPress on every project I work on and specialize in making it do some crazy things.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Andy Stratton<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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WordPress theme & plugin developer, coworker @sizeablespaces<\/a>, founder of Sizeable Interactive<\/a>. Growing JFDI padwan. Lover of animals\/art\/music\/film\/pb&j.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Benjamin Lotter<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Benjamin Lotter draws from 20 years of experience in leadership roles, customer service and training. Having worked in the automotive, manufacturing, travel, restaurant, religious, banking and financial services industries and having consulted with executives, management and teams, Benjamin gets the bigger picture and ties that to your daily activities as he inspires you to achieve excellence.<\/p>\n

Benjamin’s teaching is both passionate and practical making the learning fun and memorable. Even the skeptics warm up to his contagious energy and down-to-earth delivery style. Participants leave with a renewed belief in their abilities and the tools to perform at a higher level.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Brad Parbs<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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I’m Brad Parbs. I’ve been using WordPress for a few years, and I love it. I do custom themes and custom plugin development.<\/p>\n

I currently have 4 plugins on WordPress.org, with more on the way. WordPress is my passion, and it’s awesome.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Chad Warner<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Chad Warner is a freelance WordPress web designer<\/a> who creates websites for small businesses and nonprofits. He loves hiking, kayaking, entrepreneurship, and personal finance. Chad is an active member of WordPress Grand Rapids<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Chip Bennett<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Chip has been using WordPress since 2005, and has been a hobbyist web developer since the mid-90s. He has developed WordPress Themes and Plugins, and is a minor contributor to WordPress core. He is the community rep for the WordPress Theme Review Team that reviews\/approves Themes for inclusion in the WordPress Theme Repository. He can often be found in the WordPress.org support forums and at WordPress StackExchange. He is also a part-time freelance WordPress developer.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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David Tufts<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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David Tufts works full time as the web producer for a large international non-profit, RBC Ministries, and is a Co-founder at Rocketwood<\/a>, a web development agency.\u00a0 He is an ambitious developer who is always looking for creative ways to implement the tools at hand in new and interesting ways. Over the last 4 years he has enjoyed deploying dozens of sites using WordPress ranging from personal blogs to large scale corporate websites. David\u2019s latest WordPress project has been to develop an API for WordPress which can be found at kickpress.org.\u00a0 You can find David on his blog at davidscotttufts.com<\/a>, as well as on Twitter (@davidscotttufts<\/a>), Facebook<\/a>, Google+<\/a>, or LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Dustin Hartzler<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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I am a full-time WordPress developer who studies different ways to engage with audiences so I can build the perfect website for my clients.<\/p>\n

I also have a weekly WordPress podcast<\/a> where I field listeners questions and I have people who are interested in creating a website that they can use as a sales tool.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Jake Caputo<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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I\u2019m a husky designer and developer living in the Chicago suburbs with my wife and two cats. I\u2019ve been designing\/developing with WordPress for the past four or five years. I started at a small agency, moved to freelance client work, and currently spend 100% of my time creating commercial WordPress themes<\/a>. I operate out of designcrumbs.com<\/a>, co-host the occasional podcast at PleaseAdvise.fm<\/a>, and tweet<\/a> dumb stuff.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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John James Jacoby<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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A native Wisconsinite, John has natural love of beer, cheese, and a strong dislike for sub-zero temperatures. He is a lover of naps, puppies, puzzles, and things with wheels and gears. When he isn\u2019t helping build neat stuff with code, he enjoys traveling the world, taking pictures, a good cup-o-tea, and helping people use (and extend) WordPress, BuddyPress, and bbPress.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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John P Bloch<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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John P. Bloch is an in-house web developer at an agency in the Washington, DC area. He spends his days (and sometimes nights) making WordPress sing for fun and profit.<\/p>\n

John began using WordPress in 2008 and quickly found a laundry list of deficiencies that became projects. John started working with WordPress full time in 2009 and has been loving it ever since.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Jonathan Calvin<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Jonathan is a 28 year old front end developer at Gorilla Group<\/a>, Chicago.<\/p>\n

In his 4 years as a developer, his core focus has been WordPress theme development; working closely with frameworks such as Savant, Startbox, and the Woo collection.\u00a0 He specializes in HTML5, CSS3, as well as JavaScript, and has helped ship 100+ sites in his 4 years as a professional web developer.<\/p>\n

When he isn’t coding, it’s likely Jonathan is reading a dev book or hanging out with his lovely girlfriend Sara, and monstrous dog Lucy.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Justin Jones<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Justin Jones is a teacher from Fort Wayne, IN, has worked with non-profit organizations, and has been building sites with WordPress since 2007. He is a cohost of “The Weekly Theme Show” podcast<\/a> at WPCandy.com<\/a>, a serial WordCamp attendee, and recently spoke at WordCamp Columbus.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>

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Justin Razmus<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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I am an entrepreneur that has started several businesses including a real estate sales and investment company that employed 25+ people, and most recently a media and marketing company. My company<\/a> uses WordPress in almost all of the websites we develop. I also run several income and sales generating websites based on the WordPress platform (digital product download sales).<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Kimanzi Constable<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Kimanzi Constable is an author who has self-published two eBooks and sold over 50,000 copies. His first published book will be out this February (Sound Wisdom Books<\/a>). He is an international speaker (3 countries and 10\u00a0states), coach and consultant. His mission is to help people live the full and abundant life they deserve. You can find him at\u00a0Tales of Work<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Lisa Sabin-Wilson<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Lisa Sabin-Wilson is the founder of E.Webscapes Design Studio<\/a>, a blog and web site design and development company specializing in customized WordPress themes, made to order to your specifications. She has designed\/ developed over 1,000 personal and professional WordPress web sites.<\/p>\n

Lisa is the For Dummies brand (Wiley Pub) franchise author on all things WordPress; having worked with WordPress since 2003, she has extensive experience and knowledge on the platform and shares it in her several WordPress-related books. She is also a regular public speaker on topics such as: WordPress, blogging, design and social media. Follow Lisa on Twitter here: @LisaSabinWilson<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Mark Jaquith<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Mark is one of the Lead Developers on the WordPress core. He’s also an independent WordPress consultant, specializing in security, performance, scaling, deployments, and custom plugins. His personal goal is to bring intuitive, low-cost web publishing to everyone who has anything to say.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Paul Kortman<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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As a novice PHP\/HTML\/CSS developer I have launched over 100 WordPress sites for fun, self, and clients. I recommend WordPress to all my clients. My bio: 12 years in IT, 5 years in Digital Marketing, I know the technical aspects of SEO\/Social Media and other forms of inbound marketing.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Pippin Wiliamson<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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I’m a WordPress plugin developer from Lawrence, KC. I’ve been working with WP for 4-5 years and have written more than 50+ plugins.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Reid Peifer<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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I’m a partner with Modern Tribe<\/a>, a ridiculously awesome digital agency specializing in industrial strength WordPress projects. We’ve built one off brochure sites, giant blogs, massive MU networks, iPad magazines, and launched a thriving premium plugin all on top of WordPress.<\/p>\n

I’ve been lucky enough to work on WordPress builds for Gigaom, MTV, Steelcase, iOne, InStyle, and Busters (a sweet bar in my neighborhood) to name just a few.<\/p>\n

When not designing, coding, or wrangling pesky freelancers, I run a lot with my goofy dog, and am trying to watch as many bad 80’s action movies as I can before my newborn son is old enough to know what’s what.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Ross Johnson<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Ross Johnson has been designing websites professionally for over fifteen years. He brings a unique and comprehensive view to design, shaped by a lifelong love for fine arts and his education in technology, business and social science. This diverse background brings insight to all aspects of design including practicality, business implications and psychology of how people interact with computers.<\/p>\n

For the past seven years Johnson has run a global design firm called 3.7 DESIGNS<\/a>. The firm has serviced companies across the globe including General Motors, Sandals and The Detroit Zoo. He currently teaches at Michigan State University and Washtenaw Community College.<\/p>\n

Johnson’s expertise extends into the WordPress arena having picked up the platform in 2006. Johnson is a co-organizer of WordPress Ann Arbor, WordCamp Detroit and has authored several WordPress plugins and countless themes.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Ryan Imel<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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I run WPCandy.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Tharon Rodriguez<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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I am currently an application developer at Blue Sphere Solutions, Inc.<\/a> I have been building WordPress sites for the past 5 years using a high level of customization, custom plugins and themes, and complex filters and functions. I have roughly 2 dozen WP site in the wild and have built several sites for large, Fortune 500 companies in the GR area.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Tim Shangle<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Tim Shangle is the Interactive Media Developer at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He has extensive experience working within large academic institutions to create cutting-edge media. His latest project was working with three organizations (Asbury Seminary, Eastern University, and Bread International) to develop and launch the Evangelical Advocacy website<\/a>. This site is powered by WordPress and fully responsive. Tim has also authored the ebook 5 Easy Steps to a Church Website<\/a>, and the resource Surviving the Hunger Games which was featured on the local news broadcast and newspaper.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Timothy Burns<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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I live here in GR, in the U.S. Heartland, writing and speaking to mentor writers, influence culture, and build my clients’ brand awareness through integrated social media strategies. I use WordPress sites exclusively for my online platform, and lead a community of writers, all of whom get started on WordPress blogs. I am not a designer or developer. I am an experienced user who successfully integrates WP and other social media tools to create a professional online platform that reaches over 10,000 people through my various brands.\u00a0 Socially conservative, culturally relevant and well researched, my business is telling your story, and helping other small businesses and creatives tell their story online.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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Topher DeRosia<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Topher has been a web developer since before Netscape 1.0.\u00a0 He started using PHP\/MySQL soon after PHP 2.0 came out, but didn’t really fall in love with WordPress until WP3.0.<\/p>\n

Since then he’s developed dozens of\u00a0 sites with WordPress, stretching the CMS metaphor at every opportunity.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":648209,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"template-full-width.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2g32f-l","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandrapids.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandrapids.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandrapids.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandrapids.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/648209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandrapids.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/grandrapids.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851,"href":"https:\/\/grandrapids.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions\/851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandrapids.wordcamp.org\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}